Looking for something new to read? Browse our non-fiction picks for January! Includes books about George Orwell, true stories from Auschwitz, and anti-inflammatory recipes.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations.
George Orwell: Life and Legacy
Robert Colis
George Orwell remains a work in progress.
He is, or has become, a meme, a global writer, a national treasure, a London statue, a scholarly society, a Prize and a Journal, a trope and a show, various movies and murals, too many misquotations, two adjectives, at least half a dozen fictions, and most recently a dead metaphor with plenty more accolades to come.
George Orwell: His Life and Legacy by Robert Colls is an intellectual biography which offers an original account of Orwell’s life and work from his birth in the high noon of British imperialism in 1903, to his death on the eve of the Cold War in 1950.
Everybody Loves Our Dollars: How Money Laundering Won
Oliver Bullough
Without the existence of money laundering, few crimes of acquisition would be worth the trouble. South America’s drug cartels would be stuffed without it, as would Nigerian kleptocrats, Afghan terrorists, American tax evaders and a whole bestiary of human (and animal) traffickers the world over.
And yet, estimates of the dirty portion of world GDP have held steady at 2%-5% for decades. All efforts at legislation, diplomacy, prosecution and compliance have been a complete flop. It’s not a lack of will to stamp it out. It’s a lack of insight.
So join investigative journalist Oliver Bullough on a perspective-altering adventure through the flipside of the global economy.
Medal Man
Mark Smith
Part war story, part memoir, telling the story of Mark’s father’s RAF flying boat crew on special duties operations in the Indian Ocean.
Through the lens of his relationship with his father and the stories he would share with young Mark when they looked through his logbook together, Mark will bring to life the lives of the men he served with – including the death of his father’s best friend in an attack with a Japanese fighter.
It will set their story against the wider war fought by the RAF, SOE and the wider war fought by British and Commonwealth forces in the Burma theatre, while weaving in Mark’s own friendships with the survivors after the war and his efforts to record and pay tribute to their service and sacrifice as part of his growing interest in medals.
Later Life Letter
Luke Wright
What is a later life letter? Written by a child’s social worker to be opened at an appropriate age, it details their journey from birth to adoption.
When Luke was given one as a teenager, he didn’t make much of it. But now, married to a social worker and seeing the care she takes composing these letters, he re-examines his own past – and the life he might have had.
Should he feel close to the biological brothers he has only seen through Facebook stalking? Do his beginnings in a notorious tower-block estate counteract the privilege of his sheltered suburban upbringing? How grateful should he be to his adopted parents, who are – in the end – just parents?
In this memoir in poetry, no emotion is simple or expected. Luke writes with a pinpoint honesty that teases out the nuances of family, memory and belonging – and in the process, he uncovers the gaps between the usual beats of an adoption story.
Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber in Auschwitz
Mike Calvin
Early on the morning of October 9, 1944, 700 boys, aged between 13 and 17, were taken out of Block 11 at Auschwitz. The night before, during a visit by Dr Josef Mengele, their identification cards had been stamped with a solitary German word – gestorben – ‘died’ in English.
They were then marched by 25 bayonet-wielding SS men to Crematorium 5, stripped, and herded into a gas chamber. This book is the story of a true-life miracle of the 51 boys who were pulled from that gas chamber – the only Holocaust survivors known to have escaped such a close brush with the Nazi killing machine – and given a second chance at life.
A life, of course, that would be so horrifically snatched from those around them.
Helenio Herrera: Football’s Original Master of the Dark Arts
Richard Fitzpatrick
Nicknamed ‘Il Mago’ (the Wizard) after bringing European Cup glory to Internazionale in successive years, Helenio Herrera was hailed as one of the finest minds in football.
This book explores the enigma of an incredibly charismatic figure: a philanderer, charlatan, trash-talker and serial winner mired in controversy, whose stellar career was halted by the death of one of his star players and his subsequent trial for manslaughter.
‘HH’, as he was also known, revolutionised football coaching. He prepared his teams meticulously, was obsessed with his players’ mental toughness and introduced idiosyncratic psychological techniques.
Comprehensively researched, ‘HH’ reveals how Herrera surrounded himself with sinister men, including Dezsö Solti, a former kapo for Dr Josef Mengele in Auschwitz, and was the original master of the game’s dark arts.
The Anti-Inflammatory 30 Day Reset: Simple Steps to Transform Your Health For Good
Sophie Richards
Are you ready to uncover the secret to a healthier, happier life that’s free of pain, bloating, inflammation and other uncomfortable symptoms?
This practical and empowering guide from women’s health practitioner, Sophie Richards (IG @sophie.richards), will help you understand how inflammation is at the root of countless health issues and show you how to reset your diet and make simple but transformational lifestyle tweaks for a lasting, life-changing impact.
Inspired by her journey from daily pain and discomfort to vitality and recovery, Sophie shares scientific insights and her own personal testimony to reveal the true impact of inflammation on gut and hormonal health.
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