Under the Coconut Tree


Marissa De Luna - 2015
    Detective Arthur Chupplejeep and Police Officer Pankaj are called to investigate. From their experience this should be a straightforward case, but in a small village like Utol, everybody has something to hide. Suspects soon start coming out of the woodwork. Bala, the pau wallah, has a history with the deceased that he has taken great care to conceal. Then there is Sandeep Shah’s lover and her jealous partner. Even the victim’s family seem to have a good enough motive to kill. To top it all, the telephone number of local moneylender, Sanjog Viraj, is found tucked under the victim’s bed. He looks like a key suspect, but everybody knows Sanjog is more like a Pomfret than a shark. Detective Chupplejeep and Pankaj have their work cut out, sifting through village life, rumour and gossip to get to the truth. But along with solving the case, Detective Chupplejeep has his own problems. His girlfriend, Christabel, is growing impatient with his failure to put a ring on her finger and with his fortieth birthday fast approaching and a recent black mark against his name from the Inspector General of Police, Chupplejeep is having doubts about his professional competence. His dream of being Goa’s answer to Poirot is far from becoming a reality. As the mystery of the body deepens, and the pressures at home begin to weigh on the Detective’s mind, will Chupplejeep be able to solve the case and return peace to the sleepy village of Utol once again?

All Things Wild And Wonderful


Kobie Krüger - 1996
    After eleven years in the remote Mahlangeni region they are transferred, first to Crocodile Bridge and then to Pretorius Kop. Fully at peace in the wild and lonely landscapes of the North, Kobie fears she will never adapt to the relatively people-populated southern area. It takes time, but eventually she is able to acknowlege that the move has shown her "other Edens" and has given her a store of the new and precious memories. Foremost among these memories is the unique experience of raising Leo, an abandoned lion cub. It is a facinating and emotional encounter with the king of the beasts, which brings her and her family equal measures of joy and sorrow.

I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen--My Journey Home


Shoshana Johnson - 2010
    Johnson's story, which was largely ignored at the time because Jessica Lynch became the media darling, is a gritty recounting of her capture, her wounds, and the challenges she faced when she came home. Post Traumatic Stress, treatment and the negative attitude from those who blamed her and her fellow soldiers for being captured in the first place.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire


H.W. Crocker III - 2011
    It was built by an incredible array of swashbuckling soldiers and sailors, pirates and adventurers who finally get their due in H. W. Crocker III’s panoramic and provocative view of four hundred years of history that will delight and amuse, educate and entertain. Strap on your pith helmet for a rollicking ride through some of history’s most colorful events.Bet your teacher never told you: The Founding Fathers didn’t rebel against British imperialism; they looked forward to the transfer “of the great seat of Empire to America”The original Norman English invasion of Ireland was approved by the popeSir Charles Napier, commander in chief of the British Army in India, abolished the Hindu custom of widow-burningField Marshal Sir Gerald Templer’s “hearts and minds” counter- insurgency strategy was instrumental in defeating the Communists in MalayaThe breakup of the British Empire led Winston Churchill to conclude that he had achieved “nothing” in his life

Rise and Fall: A History of the World in Ten Empires


Paul Strathern - 2019
    Through these we examine humanity's will to power in forms both infamous and poorly understood, and trace the evolution of the imperial impulse as it moves from the blunt military aggression of the ancient empires to the subtle but far-reaching cultural influence of today's superpowers.We encounter empires in all their contradictions - like the Mongol Empire, the largest land empire the world has ever seen, and yet also the most short-lived. Rise and Fall also reveals striking, often completely unrelated historical parallels: pyramids found not just in Egypt but also in Babylon, Mexico and China; unmistakable echoes of the infant discovered in a basket myth which occur in the Old Testament, the Akkadian origin myth, as well in Hinduism. Above all, we see how the ambition of imperial greatness everywhere - from the Roman emperors to Hitler - is rooted in dreams of utopia and immortality.Every empire contains the seeds of its own destruction: so what precisely is social progress? Who benefits from it, and who suffers? Rise and Fall reminds us that the progress of humankind takes many forms, and that - perhaps - the systems we take for granted today are far from being the only or inevitable course of future civilisation.

Belonging


Sameem Ali - 2008
    When she was told that her family wanted to take her back she couldn't wait to start her new life with them. Instead, she returned to a dirty house where she was subjected to endless chores. Her mother began to beat her and her unhappiness drove her to self-harm. So Sameem was excited when she boarded a plane with her mother to visit Pakistan for the first time. It was only after they arrived in her family's village that she realised she wasn't there on holiday. Aged just thirteen, Sameem was forced to marry a complete stranger. When pregnant, two months later, she was made to return to Glasgow where she suffered further abuse from her family.After finding true love, Sameem fled the violence at home and escaped to Manchester with her young son. She believed she had put her horrific experiences behind her, but was unprepared for the consequences of violating her family's honour . . . Belonging is the shocking true story of Sameem's struggle to break free from her past and fight back against her upbringing.

Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History


Patrick Hunt - 2007
    The Rosetta Stone, Troy, Nineveh's Assyrian Library, King Tut's Tomb, Machu Picchu, Pompeii, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Thera, Olduvai Gorge, and the Tomb of 10,000 Warriors--Hunt reveals the fascinating stories of these amazing discoveries and explains the ways in which they added to our knowledge of human history and permanently altered our worldview. Part travel guide to the wonders of the world and part primer on ancient world history, Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History captures the awe and excitement of finding a lost window into ancient civilization.

Braver Than You Think: Around the World on the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime


Maggie Downs - 2020
    “You are braver than you think,” her mother always insisted. That statement would guide her as, over the course of one year, Downs backpacked through seventeen countries―visiting all the places her mother, struck with early–onset Alzheimer’s disease, could not visit herself―encountering some of the world’s most striking locales while confronting the slow loss of her mother. Interweaving travelogue with family memories, Braver Than You Think takes the reader hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, white–water rafting on the Nile, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary in Bolivia, praying at an ashram in India, and fleeing the Arab Spring in Egypt.By embarking on an international journey, Downs learned to make every moment count―traveling around the globe and home again, losing a parent while discovering the world. Perfect for fans of adventure memoirs like Wild and Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, Braver Than You Think explores grief and loss with tenderness, clarity, and humor, and offers a truly incredible roadmap to coping with the unimaginable.

Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone


Kenneth Cain - 2004
    Andrew strives for a better world through his life-saving work as a doctor. Heidi, a social worker, is in need of a challenge and a paycheck, and Ken is fresh from Harvard and brimful of idealism. As their stories interweave through the years, from Rwanda, Bosnia and Somalia to Haiti, the trio reveal a world of witnessed atrocities, primal fear, desperate loneliness and base desires. They fend off terror and futility with revelry, humour and sex; ask hard questions about the world order America has created, the true power of the UN, and whether there is any possibility for change.This is a startling celebration of the power of humour and friendship, of the limits of human compassion, and the need for a warm body and a cold beer during a Condition Echo lockdown. A book that shows the human cost of global politics and the tragic truth that wars are much more avoidable than our governments would ever admit. A brilliant, provocatively funny and fast moving book.

Karachi Halwa


Prabhu Dayal - 2015
    Ambassador Prabhu Dayal shares his recollections of that period and keeps you laughing throughout his account of the bumpy ride of Pakistan’s domestic politics and its relationship with India. He tells you how a Sahiwal cow was brought into the equation, and where an elephant comes in.He says, ‘The past, the present and the future are in one continuous motion. Whatever I witnessed in Pakistan during Zia’s rule extends its long shadow not only over the present times but will do so well into the future also’. He poses the ultimate question whether the two South Asian giants can live as friends, offering his own suggestions.

The Profiler Diaries: From the case files of a police psychologist


Gérard Labuschagne - 2020
    

North of South: An African Journey


Shiva Naipaul - 1978
    Through his experiences, the places he visited and his various encounters, he aimed to discover what 'liberation', 'revolution' and 'socialism' meant to the ordinary people. His journey of discovery is brilliantly documented in this intimate, comic and controversial portrayal of a continent on the brink of change.

One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our Children


David Elliot Cohen - 1999
    A meandering, serendipitous journey around the globe with the people you love most. No mortgage, no car payments, no pressure. Though it sounds like an impossible dream for most people, one day David Cohen and his family decide to make it a reality. With his wife and three children, Cohen sets off on a rollicking journey, full of laugh-out-loud mishaps, heart-pounding adventures, and unforeseen epiphanies. Readers join the Cohen family and trek up a Costa Rican volcano, roam the Burgundy canals by houseboat, traverse the vast Australian desert, and discover Istanbul by night. Through it all, the family gets the rare opportunity to get to know each other without the mundane distractions of television and video games, discovering the world through new eyes and gaining fresh perspective on life and priorities.

A Family Affair: A Novel


Sue Nyathi - 2020
    As leaders of their church, The Kingdom of God, Pastor Abraham and his wife Phumla are guiding the community of Bulawayo in faith, while trying to keep the different branches of their family intact.Independent and feisty Xoliswa returns home, after a hiatus abroad, hoping for a fresh start and a chance to steer the family business; rebellious Yandisa has met the love of her life and is finally getting her act together; while dutiful newlywed Zandile is slowly becoming disillusioned with her happily ever after.The Mafus always present a united front, but as their personal lives unravel, devastating secrets are revealed that threaten to tear the family apart. For how long will they be able to hide behind the façade of a picture-perfect family?

Red Star Over the Third World


Vijay Prashad - 2017
    There has never existed such a revolution of such significance and scale in the history of humanity’. – Hồ Chí Minh From Cuba to Vietnam, from China to South Africa, the October Revolution remains as an inspiration. After all, that Revolution proved that the working class and the peasantry could not only overthrow an autocratic government but that it could form its own government, in its image. It proved decisively that the working class and the peasantry could be allied. It proved as well the necessity of a vanguard party that was open to spontaneous currents of unrest, but which could guide a revolution to completion. This book explains the power of the October Revolution for the Third World. It is not a comprehensive study, but a small book with a large hope – that a new generation will come to see the importance of this revolution for the working class and peasantry in that part of the world that suffered under the heel of colonial domination. Vijay Prashad is the Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Darker Nations: A Biography of the Short-Lived Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (both from LeftWord). He is a columnist for Frontline and Alternet. He is Chief Editor at LeftWord Books.