The narrative begins in a remote jungle training camp deep within a remote rain forest in Puerto Rico, but has as its source the wisdom of Africa. There are no easy missions but this Special Forces mission was successful because it was a mission carried out in Africa using the wisdom of Africa as its Genesis. More important, unlike most previous counter-insurgency operations, no more insurgents succeeded in gaining a foothold in the tribal area in which the mission was carried out. This was because the same wisdom that was used in finding the insurgents was used in eradicating them. This is also a book about the authors journey back to Africa in search of the wisdom needed to ensure the success of the Special Operations mission. It is a search in which he unlocks for readers the fascinating mystery of what enabled the famed Selous Scouts, a Special Operations unit in which the author served for many years, to terrorize the terrorists to such an extent that they were too afraid even to mention the unit s name. They referred to its soldiers simply as skuz-apo, or those who have stolen our identity. Of greater interest, the author reveals the crucial role played by the tribes in the units astonishing success. Readers can accompany the author during the countless days and nights he spent huddled around cooking fires in the company of tribal elders in the uncompromising remoteness of the African bush trying to unlock the puzzle of how to gain the tribal support needed to win the Rhodesian bush war.

    Burroughs, author of some of the most notorious literature of the 20th century. Its importance in the creation of the Cut-up Method and Burroughs’ view of language as a virus is undermined by the omission of details regarding his interest in the religion over the course of a decade – certainly the most creatively fertile period of his life. Instead, biographers and critics tend to focus on his other obsessions in the realm of fringe science, and on the period during the early 1970s when Burroughs left the religion and began a public crusade against it.However, Burroughs’ involvement with L. Ron Hubbard’s organization was no fleeting interest; he was a fully-fledged member and even obtained the rank of ‘clear’ – a prestigious achievement for a Scientologist. Scientology ultimately inspired the plot, the structure, and various elements of some of Burroughs’ most important works, including The Soft Machine and The Wild Boys. His fascination was genuine, and his progress through the hierarchical structure of the Church signals a dedication that he would later downplay after being excommunicated in 1969.Now, for the first time, his life and literature are reexamined in the light of newly uncovered information about Burroughs’ fascination with this ‘weird cult,’ as he once described it.