Bitter Fruit

Bitter Fruit is a comprehensive and insightful account of the CIA operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954. First published in 1982, this book has become a classic, a textbook case of the relationship between the United States and the Third World. The authors make extensive use of U.S. government documents and interviews with former CIA and other officials. It is a warning of what happens when the United States abuses its power.

A Man Booker Prize finalist. “[A] deeply unsettling novel about the new South Africa . . . The people and their stories are unforgettable” (Booklist, starred review). With the publication of Kafka’s Curse, Achmat Dangor established himself as an utterly singular voice in South African fiction. His new novel, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the IMPAC-Dublin Literary Award, is a clear-eyed, witty, yet deeply serious look at South Africa’s political history and its damaging legacy in the lives of those who live there. The last time Silas Ali encountered Lt. Du Boise, Silas was locked in the back of a police van and the lieutenant was conducting a vicious assault on Silas’s wife, Lydia, in revenge for her husband’s participation in Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress. When Silas sees Du Boise by chance twenty years later, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is about to deliver its report, crimes from the past erupt into the present, splintering the Alis’ fragile peace. Meanwhile Silas and Lydia’s son, Mikey, a thoroughly contemporary young hip-hop lothario, contends in unforeseen ways with his parents’ pasts. “In the vein of J.M. Coetzee’s novels, but from the perspective of black South Africans,” Bitter Fruit is a harrowing story of a brittle family on the crossroads of history and a fearless skewering of the pieties of revolutionary movements (Publishers Weekly). “A haunting story of a family disintegrating, wonderfully authentic . . . its progress like slow dancing.” —The Independent “Bitter Fruit has a shocking ability to surprise the reader with the persistence of racial feeling in South Africa.” —The Guardian

An examination of escalating conflicts between Blacks and Koreans in American cities, focusing on the Flatbush Boycott of 1990. Claire Jean Kim rejects the idea that Black-Korean conflict constitutes racial scapegoating and argues instead that it is a response to white dominance in society.

William Grimshaw offers an insider's chronicle of the tangled relationship between the black community and the Chicago Democratic machine from its Great Depression origins to 1991. What emerges is a myth-busting account not of a monolithic organization but of several distinct party regimes, each with a unique relationship to black voters and leaders.

A stunning debut - part psychological thriller, part detective novel - from a powerful and distinctive new voice. The murder of a first-year university student shocks the city of Durham. The victim, Emily Brabents, was from the privileged and popular set at Joyce College, a cradle for the country's future elite. As Detective Inspector Erica Martin investigates the college, she finds a close-knit community fuelled by jealousy, obsession and secrets. But the very last thing she expects is an instant confession . . . The picture of Emily that begins to emerge is that of a girl wanted by everyone, but not truly known by anyone. Anyone, that is, except Daniel Shepherd. Her fellow student, ever-faithful friend and the only one who cares. The only one who would do anything for her . . . * * * Praise for Bitter Fruits: 'There is a gripping, economic precision in this highly charged thriller.' Ralph Fiennes 'Grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go. A compelling read, beautifully written ... A tense, captivating tale, brilliantly told' Rachel Abbott 'Once I started reading it I couldn't stop. A brilliantly plotted and utterly gripping thriller.' Emma Kavanagh 'Superbly gripping ... A very assured page-turning storm I read in one sitting.' Stav Sherez 'A psychological police procedural ... An intelligent and thrilling debut.' Peter Guttridge, author and former Observer crime critic 'Intriguing and sinister with masterful plotting and tension. A bittersweet read by a new crime author I can't wait to read again.' Mel Sherratt 'A thought-provoking, atmospheric and emotional page turning thriller - brimming with mystery and suspense. I absolutely loved this novel, and devoured it from cover to cover.' Paul Pilkington

Nelly Roussel (1878–1922)—the first feminist spokeswoman for birth control in Europe—challenged both the men of early twentieth-century France, who sought to preserve the status quo, and the women who aimed to change it. She delivered her messages through public lectures, journalism, and theater, dazzling audiences with her beauty, intelligence, and disarming wit. She did so within the context of a national depopulation crisis caused by the confluence of low birth rates, the rise of international tensions, and the tragedy of the First World War. While her support spread across social classes, strong political resistance to her message revealed deeply conservative precepts about gender which were grounded in French identity itself. In this thoughtful and provocative study, Elinor Accampo follows Roussel's life from her youth, marriage, speaking career, motherhood, and political activism to her decline and death from tuberculosis in the years following World War I. She tells the story of a woman whose life and work spanned a historical moment when womanhood was being redefined by the acceptance of a woman's sexuality as distinct from her biological, reproductive role—a development that is still causing controversy today.

The most widely read and the most translated writer in Urdu, Saadat Hasan Manto constantly challenged the hypocrisy and sham morality of civilized society.

A study of the increasing international opposition to and growing domestic disaffection from the death penalty in America