King Costa

Vinnie Miller is a successful drug importer on the Costa del Sol. He lures his son John into the firm, although he didn't want anything to do with the gang. Due to the hatred John has for Vinnie, he plans the takeover of the business with the help of a gang member. John tracks down his long lost brother, and between the three men, they con Vinnie into believing that a load of cannabis has been seized by the Spanish police. In a fit of anger, Vinnie kills two of his mules, but doesn't tell John what he's done. John perpetuates the illusion that the police are onto them. Vinnie disappears to his villa in Barbados. In a drink and drug binge, he beats up his new Barbadian girlfriend and leaves her scarred for life. With the help of Troy, a local man, John and his brother plan the horrific death of their father. Troy's friend is arrested for another murder and informs on him. Troy informs on the brothers, and the whole thing falls apart when arrests are simultaneously made in Spain and the UK.

The Portuguese encounter with the peoples of South Asia and Brazil set foundational precedents for European imperialism. Jesuit missionaries were key participants in both regions. As they sought to reconcile three commitments—to local missionary spaces, to a universal Church, and to the global Portuguese empire—the Jesuits forged a religious vision of empire. Ananya Chakravarti explores both indigenous and European experiences to show how these missionaries learned to negotiate everything with the diverse peoples they encountered and that nothing could simply be imposed. Yet Jesuits repeatedly wrote home in language celebrating triumphal impositions of European ideas and practices upon indigenous people. In the process, while empire was built through distinctly ambiguous interactions, Europeans came to imagine themselves in imperial moulds. In this dynamic, in which the difficult lessons of empire came to be learned and forgotten repeatedly, Chakravarti demonstrates an enduring and overlooked characteristic of European imperialism.

Portugal’s poor military performance in the First World War, notably in Africa, restricted Afonso Costa's (1871-1937) ability to secure his diplomatic aims which, in any case, were highly unrealistic. Nevertheless, his loyal press in Portugal described him as the ‘leader of the small nations’, and reported his every statement as a major triumph. Afonso Costa’s most important intervention took place in May 1919, when he denounced the Allies' unwillingness to make Germany pay for all the damage she had caused during the conflict; this speech led to a number of newspaper interviews in which Costa restated his position. The final draft of the Treaty was a complete shock to Portuguese public opinion: It effectively spelt the end of Costa’s political career. This book considers the political implications of Portugal’s participation in the First World War and of the ‘defeat’ in Paris. Reconciliation between the rival parties – and between factions within parties – became impossible, as did, as a result, the formation of a stable cabinet.

A fascinating exploration of the evolution of the Portuguese economy over the course of eight centuries, from 1143 to 2010.