This is the book nobody wants you to read.

An unparalleled deception took place in the 1980s, while U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev was negotiating for the Chemical Weapons Convention. This treaty was supposed to destroy chemical weapons of the world and ban new ones. The Moscow institute that developed chemical weapons at that same time was secretly developing newer and greatly more toxic ones known anecdotally as Novichok and new binaries. Dr. Vil Mirzayanov, a scientist there, was responsible for developing methods of detecting extremely minute traces in the environment surrounding the institute. He decided this dangerous hypocrisy was not tolerable, and he became the first whistleblower to reveal the Russian chemical weapons program to the world. His book, State Secrets, takes a startling detailed look at the inside workings of the Russian chemical weapons program, and it tells how the Russians set up a new program in Syria. Mirzayanov’s book provides a shocking, up-close examination of Russia’s military and political complex and its extraordinary efforts to hide dangerous weapons from the world. State Secrets should serve as a chilling cautionary tale for the world over.

“The persecution of Dr. Mirzayanov stands in direct contradiction of the Clinton Administration’s commitment to strengthen democratization efforts in the former Soviet Union, and halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I am confident that you share my deep concern over the treatment of this courageous scientist, and I call on you to personally appeal for his release.”– From the Letter of John Conyers, Jr., Chairman of the Congressional Legislation and National Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, to Warren Christopher, the U.S. Secretary of State, October 19, 1993.

“I personally feel a strong common bond with this courageous man, recognizing that his motives are the same as those that led me to release the Pentagon Papers.

The Mirzayanov case is an immediate legal litmus test of emerging Russian democracy. He is an individual in the true tradition of Andrei Sakharov, a man persecuted under the former regime for telling the truth, but now, rightfully, universally honored.”– By Dan Ellsberg, author of “Secrets – A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers”

“I was proud to add my voice to that of the many scientific and human rights organizations that have worked to free Dr. Mirzayanov.– Senator Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senate (Congressional Record. Proceedings and Debates of the 103d Congress, First Session. Vol.140, No. 28. Washington, Tuesday, March 15, 1994.)

“…in recognition of his courage and his singular demonstration of the moral responsibility of individual scientists in uphold the integrity of scientific knowledge in an emerging democratic society”. The 1994 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientific Award of The New York Academy of Sciences.– Signed by Chairman Cyril M. Harris and President Joshua Lederberg.

“Cavallo Foundation Inc. takes great pleasure in presenting a Certificate of Special Recognition for Moral Courage in Business and Government to Vil Mirzayanov.”– From the Text of the Award in June 1993.

“For his integrity as a scientist, strength of character, and exceptional personal courage that served to promote the health, safety, and welfare of the Russian people and of all humankind.”– From the Text of the 1995 AAAS Freedom and Responsibility Award.

From the revered New York Times bestselling author comes a touching, insightful, and humorous memoir of an unlikely racewalker and world traveler.

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing offlimits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

In this newest installment of the Battlefields & Blessings series, Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan is a 365 day collection of inspiring stories of courage perseverance and faith based on first-hand accounts of more than seventy individuals who have served in the war. Through multiple, never-before-told stories, readers will uncover the personal challenges of the battlefield. In Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan you will discover the experiences and perspectives of deployed soldiers, chaplains, military wives and parents, organizers of humanitarian efforts, and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.It has won the prestigious 2010 Gold Medal Award from the MWSA (Military’s Writers Society of America) and the 2010 Silver Medal Award from the Branson Stars and Flags Book Award.Through multiple, never-before-told stories, readers will uncover the personal challenges of the battlefield. In Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan you’ll find the experiences and perspectives of deployed soldiers, chaplains, military wives and parents, organizers of humanitarian efforts, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, loved ones of fallen soldiers, and more. You'll meet:• The crew member on a Marine transport vessel combating a dust storm during the invasion.• A major overcoming bureaucratic challenges to stand up the Iraq Air Force.• A three-star general motivating his team to build a stronger Iraq through reconstruction projects.• The mother of a Navy SEAL who herself demonstrated tremendous courage under fire after her son’s death.• And a congressman heralding the founding principles of our nation, ones he passed along to his son who served in Iraq.Readers will come away appreciating those who have lived loudly for liberty.

In this newest installment of the Battlefields & Blessings series, Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan is a 365 day collection of inspiring stories of courage perseverance and faith based on first-hand accounts of more than seventy individuals who have served in the war. Through multiple, never-before-told stories, readers will uncover the personal challenges of the battlefield. In Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan you will discover the experiences and perspectives of deployed soldiers, chaplains, military wives and parents, organizers of humanitarian efforts, and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.It has won the prestigious 2010 Gold Medal Award from the MWSA (Military’s Writers Society of America) and the 2010 Silver Medal Award from the Branson Stars and Flags Book Award.Through multiple, never-before-told stories, readers will uncover the personal challenges of the battlefield. In Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan you’ll find the experiences and perspectives of deployed soldiers, chaplains, military wives and parents, organizers of humanitarian efforts, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, loved ones of fallen soldiers, and more. You'll meet:• The crew member on a Marine transport vessel combating a dust storm during the invasion.• A major overcoming bureaucratic challenges to stand up the Iraq Air Force.• A three-star general motivating his team to build a stronger Iraq through reconstruction projects.• The mother of a Navy SEAL who herself demonstrated tremendous courage under fire after her son’s death.• And a congressman heralding the founding principles of our nation, ones he passed along to his son who served in Iraq.Readers will come away appreciating those who have lived loudly for liberty.

A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but—more importantly—as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure.Published shortly after the war’s end, Storm of Steel was a worldwide bestseller and can now be rediscovered through Michael Hofmann’s brilliant new translation.• First time in Penguin Classics• Acclaimed new translation based on a new authoritative text• Widely viewed as the best account ever written of fighting in World War I

This series of books is about a world on fire.The carefully chosen volumes in the Bantam War Book Series cover the full dramatic sweep of World War II. Many are eyewitness accounts by the men who fought in a global conflict as the world’s future hung in the balance. Fighter pilots, tank commanders and infantry captains, among many others, recount exploits of individual courage They present vivid portraits of brave men, true stories of gallantry, moving sagas of survival and stark tragedies of untimely death.In 1933 Nazi Germany marched to become an empire that was to last a thousand years. In only twelve years that empire was destroyed, and ever since, the country has been bisected by her conquerors. Italy relinquished her colonial lands, as did Japan. These were the losers. The winners also lost the empires they had so painfully seized over the centuries. And one, Russia, lost over twenty million dead.Those wartime 1940s were a simple, even a hopeful time. Hats came in only two colors, white and black, and after an initial battering the Allied nations started on a long and laborious march toward victory. It was a time when sane men believed the world would evolve into a decent place, but, as with all futures, there was no one then who could really forecast the world that we know now.There are many ways to think about war. It has always been hard to understand the motivations and braveries of Axis soldiers fighting to enslave and dominate their neighbors. Yet it is impossible to know the hammer without the anvil, and to comprehend ourselves we must know the people we once fought against.Through these books we can discover what it was like to take part in the war that was a final experience for nearly fifty million human beings. In so doing we may discover the strength to make a world as good as the one contained in those dreams and aspirations once believed by heroic men. We must understand our past as an honor to those dead who can no longer choose. They exchanged their lives in a hope for this future that we now inhabit. Though the fight took place many years ago, each of us remains as a living part of it.This low-priced Bantam Book has been completely reset in a type face designed for easy reading, and was printed from new plates. It contains the complete text of the original hard-cover edition.NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

Septyniolikmetė Suada pirmą kartą įsimyli, ir jos meilė sulaukia atsako. Tačiau kaime, kuriame ji gyvena – kaip ir daugelyje kitų Palestinos kaimų, – įsimylėti iki vestuvių tolygu pasirašyti mirties nuosprendį. Todėl Suados šeima nusprendžia „garbę praradusią“ merginą nužudyti.

Kitą dieną po nuosprendžio vidiniame namų kiemelyje besitvarkančią merginą giminaitis apipila benzinu ir padega. Tačiau turėjusi mirti „dėl garbės“ Suada ir jos kūdikis per stebuklą išgyvena, ir, sulaukę vienos prancūzės pagalbos, pabėga nuo savo šeimos į Europą. Tačiau ir čia mergina negali jaustis saugi – gimtosios šalies papročiai jos giminaičius įpareigoja nužudyti ją bet kokia kaina...

Savo ruožtu žiauraus nuosprendžio vykdytojas vietos gyventojų akyse yra didvyris, nes jo nežmoniškas nusikaltimas yra „nusikaltimas dėl garbės“. Nuosprendžio vykdytojas niekuo nerizikavo, nes dėl jo veikos niekas niekada nesikreips į teisėsaugą.

Per metus pasaulyje įvykdoma gausybė panašių nusikaltimų, visuomenė kasmet sužino apie 5000 tokių įvykių, bet niekas negali pasakyti, kiek jų lieka nutylėta...

Per stebuklą likusi gyva Suada išdrįso papasakoti savo istoriją. Tai didvyriškas poelgis, nes pasauliui papasakodama apie savo tragediją moteris rizikuoja būti surasta giminių. Tačiau Suada įsitikinusi – ji privalo kalbėti. Tai vienintelis būdas atkreipti pasaulio dėmesį į barbariškus papročius, kasmet beprasmiškai pražudančius tūkstančius moterų, ir pradėti su jais kovą.

A wry, moving collection of letters from the late J. F. Powers, “a comic writer of genius” (Mary Gordon)Best known for his 1963 National Book Award — winning novel, Morte D’Urban, and as a master of the short story, J. F. Powers drew praise from Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O’Connor, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth, among others. Though Powers’s fiction dwelt chiefly on the lives of Catholic priests, he long planned to write a novel of family life, a feat he never accomplished. He did, however, write thousands of letters, which, selected here by his daughter, Katherine A. Powers, become an intimate version of that novel, dynamic with plot and character. They show a dedicated artist, passionate lover, reluctant family man, pained aesthete, sports fan, and appreciative friend. At times wrenching and sad, at others ironic and exuberantly funny, Suitable Accommodations is the story of a man at odds with the world and, despite his faith, with his church. Beginning in prison, where Powers spent more than a year as a conscientious objector, the letters move on to his courtship, marriage, comically unsuccessful attempt to live in the woods, life in the Midwest and in Ireland, an unorthodox view of the Catholic Church, and an increasingly bizarre search for “suitable accommodations,” which included three full-scale emigrations to Ireland. Here, too, are encounters with such diverse people as Thomas Merton, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Lowell, Theodore Roethke, Sean O’Faolain, Frank O’Connor, Dorothy Day, and Alfred Kinsey.

Without aiming to be a survival guide, romance or autobiography, Sunbathing in Siberia manages to be all of them and none. Told completely from the Trans-Siberian and a series of Russian jets, this is the story of a young British poet, who, after becoming engaged to his translator over 3500 miles east, embarks on a journey into the very heart of Siberia to marry his fiancée. However, in place of the desolate wasteland he expected to find, Michael discovers the side of Siberia little known outside of Russia. After 30 years of British rain, Michael has finally to learn the art of sunbathing, in the last place on Earth anyone would think to take a pair of flip-flops.With little knowledge of post-Soviet Russia, or its language; and without any survival skills, Michael has to adapt to the Siberian way of life. As Russia struggles to find its new identity, Michael too is forced to recreate himself, while finding the tools needed to live with parading nuclear missiles, wild bears, and a host of extreme dangers.Review‘Mao’s seemingly ceaseless ability for honest and frank prose is one of this book’s real strengths – Sunbathing in Siberia situates itself between two cultures at a time in which it is most necessary to do so, interrogating and exploring national identities. Insightful and hilarious, the memoir prompts the reader to re-evaluate their approach to the East.’– New Welsh ReviewAbout the AuthorMichael Oliver-Semenov served as the first poet in residence for Blown, the magazine of cultural intelligence, and has since been published in a plethora of magazines and journals worldwide, including the Morning Star, Orbis, Mandala Review, and Ink Sweat and Tears. He is a freelance English teacher and occasionally contributes to the Siberian Times.

In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of Jewish race,” was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit. Included in this new edition is an illuminating conversation between Philip Roth and Primo Levi never before published in book form.

This is a remarkable and unique story of Jim Brigginshaw. Having been captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in 1942, Jim was first sent to work in Burma, to build what has become known as the Death Railway. Unlike many of his comrades, Jim survived this ordeal, only to be transferred to Nagasaki, Japan, where he was sent to work in the mines of Sendryu.

Jim describes how the conditions in the ‘Hell pits of Sendryu’ were even worse than those experienced in Burma, but were ultimately the reason why he survived the war. On the 9th August 1945, the Americans, dropped the second nuclear bomb on Nagaski. Jim was fortunately underground at the time, but through this book re-lives the harrowing aftermath of the attack when the ground shook violently.

Eva Mozes Kor was just ten years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Subjected to sadistic medical experiments, she was forced to fight daily for her and her twin’s survival. In this incredible true story written for young adults, readers learn of a child’s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil.The book also includes an epilogue on Eva’s recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working for causes of human rights and peace.

Nothing prepares a man for war and Private Charles Waite, of the Queen’s Royal Regiment, was ill-prepared when his convoy took a wrong turning near Abbeville and met 400 German soldiers and half a dozen tanks. “The day I was captured, I had a rifle but no ammunition.” He lost his freedom that day in may 1940 and didn’t regain it until April 1945 when he was rescued by Americans near Berlin, having walked 1,600 kms from East Prussia.Silent for seventy years, Charles writes about his five lost years: the terrible things he saw and suffered; his forced work in a stone quarry and on farms; his period in solitary confinement for sabotage; and his long journey home in one of the worst winters on record, across the frozen river Elbe, to Berlin and liberation. His story is also about friendship, of physical and mental resilience and of compassion for everyone who suffered.Part of that story includes the terrible Long March, or Black March, when 80,000 British POWs were forced to trek through a vicious winter westwards across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany as the Soviets approached. Thousands died. There are simply no memoirs of that terrible trek—except this one.

Сьюзен Зонтаг, американский литературный критик, режиссёр театра и кино, стала самым настоящим отражением эпохи, призмой, через которую мы разглядываем прошлый век, легендой своего поколения. Масштаб её личности восхищает, многогранность – покоряет и вызывает отрицание. Зонтаг писала философские и критические эссе, выступала на баррикадах в Сараево, ставила спектакль по Беккету, снялась в картине Вуди Аллена, тесно общалась с Иосифом Бродским и Энди Уорхолом. Её жизнь – это бесконечный внутренний поиск границы между искусством и искусственным, метафорой и реальностью, правдой и ложью.

Изданная осенью 2019 года и уже ставшая бестселлером Amazon, «Susan Sontag. Женщина, которая изменила культуру XX века» рассказывает обо всех гранях женщины, которая была истинным феноменом в американской и мировой культуре.

With bullets flying, wounded soldiers scream out in pain as the Chinook comes in to land in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. At the machine’s controls is one man and if he doesn’t stay calm then everyone could die. That man is Flt Lt Alex ‘Frenchie’ Duncan and he’s been involved in some of the most daring and dangerous missions undertaken by the Chinook force in Afghanistan. In this book he recounts his experiences of life under fire in the dust, heat and bullets of an active war zone.At 99ft long, the Chinook is a big and valuable target to the Taliban, who will stop at nothing to bring one down. And yet Frenchie and his crew risk everything because they know that the troops on the front line are relying on them. Sweating the Metal is the true story of the raw determination and courage of men on the front line – and it’s time for their story to be told.

With bullets flying, wounded soldiers scream out in pain as the Chinook comes in to land in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. At the machine’s controls is one man and if he doesn’t stay calm then everyone could die. That man is Flt Lt Alex ‘Frenchie’ Duncan and he’s been involved in some of the most daring and dangerous missions undertaken by the Chinook force in Afghanistan. In this book he recounts his experiences of life under fire in the dust, heat and bullets of an active war zone.At 99ft long, the Chinook is a big and valuable target to the Taliban, who will stop at nothing to bring one down. And yet Frenchie and his crew risk everything because they know that the troops on the front line are relying on them. Sweating the Metal is the true story of the raw determination and courage of men on the front line – and it’s time for their story to be told.

Книга посвящена Сиду Барретту, отцу-основателю легендарной группы Pink Floyd

Книга посвящена Сиду Барретту, отцу-основателю легендарной группы Pink Floyd

Название – пушкинское. И именно при чтении Пушкина пришла мне в голову мысль последовать его примеру и записать отдельные вспомнившиеся мне мелочи из нашего литературного житья-бытья. Получилось то, что французы определяют словами «le petite histoire», но что, может быть, пригодится и для «большой» истории русской литературы.Записи эти я мог бы продолжить, дополнить, и думая о многом, уже полузабытом, жалею, что не вел дневника.Г.А.