The only biography of Britain's celebrated female spy – now fully updated with previously classified materials. From being raised in a Tanzanian shack, to attaining MI6's most senior operational rank, Daphne Park led a highly unusual life. Drawing on first-hand accounts of intelligence workers close to agent Park, Hayes reveals how she rose in a male-dominated world to become Britain's Cold War spy master. With intimate, nail-biting details Queen of Spies captures both the paranoia and on-the-ground realities of intelligence work from the Second World War to the Cold War, and the life of Britain’s celebrated female spy.

Nuked recounts the long-term effects of radiological exposure in St. Louis, Missouri—the city that refined uranium for the first self- sustaining nuclear reaction and the first atomic bomb. As part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II, the refining created an enormous amount of radioactive waste that increased as more nuclear weapons were produced and stockpiled for the Cold War. Unfortunately, government officials deposited the waste on open land next to the municipal airport. An adjacent creek transported radionuclides downstream to the Missouri River, thereby contaminating St. Louis’s northern suburbs. Amid official assurances of safety, residents were unaware of the risks. The resulting public health crisis continues today with cleanup operations expected to last through the year 2038. Morice attributes the crisis to several factors. They include a minimal concern for land pollution; cutting corners to win the war; new homebuilding practices that spread radioactive dirt; insufficient reporting mechanisms for cancer; and a fragmented government that failed to respond to regional problems.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS "GOLD DAGGER" AWARD FOR NON-FICTION CRIME WRITING Uncover the story behind the death of renowned diplomat and UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in this true story of spies and intrigue surrounding one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. On September 17, 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld boarded a Douglas DC6 propeller plane on the sweltering tarmac of the airport in Leopoldville, the capital of the Congo. Hours later, he would be found dead in an African jungle with an ace of spades playing card placed on his body. Hammarskjöld had been the head of the United Nations for nine years. He was legendary for his dedication to peace on earth. But dark forces circled him: Powerful and connected groups from an array of nations and organizations—including the CIA, the KGB, underground militant groups, business tycoons, and others—were determined to see Hammarskjöld fail. A riveting work of investigative journalism based on never-before-seen evidence, recently revealed firsthand accounts, and groundbreaking new interviews, The Golden Thread reveals the truth behind one of the great murder mysteries of the Cold War.

A wide-ranging political biography of diplomat, Nobel prize winner, and civil rights leader Ralph Bunche. Ralph Bunche is one of the most prominent Black Americans of the twentieth century. He was not only a legendary diplomat, scholar, and civil rights leader, but also the first African American to obtain a political science Ph.D. from Harvard, and before the Second World War, he provided extensive research assistance to Gunnar Myrdal for his landmark work on race in America, An American Dilemma. He worked for the OSS--the precursor to the CIA--during the early years of the war as well as the State Department. Yet he is far better known for his diplomatic work at the United Nations, even though his many contributions and innovations have never received their full due. In The Absolutely Indispensable Man, Kal Raustiala tells the story of Bunche's dramatic life, from his early years in prewar Los Angeles to Harvard, Howard, the US State Department, and eventually the UN. As a high-ranking UN official, Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize for his ground-breaking mediation of the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948-49. In the years to follow, he was a key player in many of the most important developments in the international order and did pioneering work for the UN on conflict management and the development of UN peacekeeping. But as Raustiala argues, his most enduring achievement was his work to dismantle the European empire. As a scholar and civil rights activist, Bunche perceptively saw colonialism as a central issue of the 20th century, and decolonization as a project of global racial justice. His work for the UN during the decolonization era--which stretched from the end of World War II to the 1960s--was crucially important, and Raustiala places it at the center of his account. From marching with Martin Luther King to advising presidents and prime ministers, Bunche shaped our world in lasting ways. This definitive biography gives him his due. It also reminds us that decolonization and the end of empire not only fundamentally transformed world politics, but also powerfully intersected with America's own civil rights struggle.

The only comprehensive and up-to-date book of its kind with the latest information.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'One of the mysteries I've long been fascinated by, and I am so grateful that Ravi Somaiya has cracked it open so brilliantly' David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon A PLANE CRASH IN THE JUNGLE. A LEGENDARY STATESMAN DEAD. A TRAGIC ACCIDENT... OR THE ULTIMATE CONSPIRACY? In 1961, a Douglas DC-6B aeroplane transporting the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, disappeared over the Congolese jungle at the height of the Cold War. Soon afterward, Hammarskjöld was discovered in the smoking wreckage, an Ace of Spades playing card placed on his body. He had been heralded as the Congo's best hope for peace and independence. Now he was dead. The circumstances of that night have remained one of the Cold War's most tightly guarded secrets for decades. Now, with exclusive evidence, investigative journalist Ravi Somaiya finally uncovers the truth, with dark implications for governments and corporations alike.

A sweeping history of our enduring passion for diamonds—and the exploitative industry that fuels it. Blood, Sweat and Earth is a hard-hitting historical exposé of the diamond industry, focusing on the exploitation of workers and the environment, the monopolization of uncut diamonds, and how little this has changed over time. It describes the use of forced labor and political oppression by Indian sultans, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil, and Western industrialists in many parts of Africa—as well as the hoarding of diamonds to maintain high prices, from the English East India Company to De Beers. While recent discoveries of diamond deposits in Siberia, Canada, and Australia have brought an end to monopolization, the book shows that advances in the production of synthetic diamonds have not yet been able to eradicate the exploitation caused by the world’s unquenchable thirst for sparkle.

Jamaica A "Spy" Guide - Strategic Information and Developments

Netherlands A "Spy" Guide - Strategic Information and Developments

Moldova A "Spy" Guide - Strategic Information and Developments