Kirjahaku

It is a tale that is rarely told, of an immigrant family's journey from rags to riches: the story of the British Dream.Legacy charts the rise and fall of one of the most influential dynasties in British history through the lives of five astonishing generations, bound together by an unbreakable code.

On 14 June 2006, police were called to 9 Downshire Hill in Hampstead. The owner, Allan Chappelow, was a writer and notorious recluse who had not been seen for several weeks. Inside the darkened house, officers found piles of rubbish, trees growing through the floor, and the body of Chappelow, battered to death, partially burned and buried under four feet of paper.The man eventually arrested on suspicion of his murder was a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam, who claimed to be the grandson of one of Mao's closest aides. His trial was the first in modern British history to be held `in camera': closed, carefully controlled, secret. Wang Yam was found guilty, but has always protested his innocence. Did Wang Yam do it? Or was he framed for a crime he didn't commit? When everything is hidden, how do we know what's really true?

Moving from the Middle-Eastern campaigns of the First World War to bohemian Berlin in the 1920s, to the horror of the concentration camps and the trials in Belsen and Nuremberg, this book tells the story of two German men whose lives diverged, and intersected, in an unusual way.

In July 2012 Thomas Harding's fourteen-year-old son Kadian was killed in a bicycle accident.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2015LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2016A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hanns and Rudolf - a gripping true story of unsolved murder, war, and injustice in Nazi-occupied Florence'I absolutely devoured The Einstein Vendetta... Remarkable. Totally compelling' Edmund de Waal'Can't express how moved I am. An absolute triumph. So much more than a mere book' Allan Little'Thomas Harding is a researcher of the first rank' Daily Express'Harding evokes time and place beautifully, while paying forensic attention to detail. The result is a slow burn of cliff-hangers to keep the pages turning’ Spectator'The Einstein Vendetta will tug at your heartstrings and prompt righteous outrage. Harding captures beautifully the general atmosphere of wartime Tuscany' Telegraph__________Italy, Summer 1944A unit of German soldiers arrives at a villa near Florence. Villa Il Focardo is home to Robert Einstein, cousin to the most famous scientist in the world, Albert Einstein – a prominent enemy of the Nazi regime. Having renounced his German citizenship a decade earlier, Albert’s safely in America, well beyond Hitler’s reach.The same is not true for his cousin.Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead. This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived.Who ordered it? Who was involved?And why did they get away with it?This is the untold story of the Einstein vendetta.__________Praise for Thomas Harding:Hanns and Rudolf'A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history' John le Carré'Thomas Harding has shed intriguing new light on the strange poison of Nazism, and one of its most lethal practitioners... Meticulously researched and deeply felt' Ben Macintyre, Times Book of the Week'Fascinating and moving...This is a remarkable book, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesThe House by the Lake'The narrative drive of a great novelist and the meticulous research of a great historian' The Herald'A passionate memoir about Germany' Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation'I loved this book. I admire the elegance of it, the hope, the honesty and the generousness with which every resident is given his or her place. It has made me think about our individual parts in the bigger story, and the coming and going-ness of things. It is a book that will stay with me for a very long time' Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book' Tom Holland, author of Rubicon

'The global protest movement is growing because activists are learning to tell their own stories, to capture their triumphs on tape, and share them with others around the world. This book is about media that doesn't just cover activism, it is activism, a crucial part of the process of reclaiming public space and communities.' Naomi Klein, author of No Logo 'Crucially, Harding covers not just the 'hows' and 'whats' of vid-activism, but also the vital 'why' question. Why do it? Because this is about democracy and empowerment. Vid-activism is about circumventing the hopeless conventionality, commercialism and conservatism of the mainstream media ...Buy it. Read it. Act on it. Your world will never be the same again.' Charles Secrett, Director, Friends of the Earth This second edition of the highly popular The Video Activist Handbook includes numerous examples of contemporary video activism from around the world. The first book to provide the basic skills and know-how required for beginning video activism, it also offers a wealth of ideas on video strategies to those with some prior experience. Whether you are involved in campaigning, non-violent direct action, or simply want to know how to make use of video as a political tool, this book is for you. * Covers the key topics in a step-by-step guide - from choosing and using the right equipment and planning when and where to shoot, to supplying to TV, making a campaign video and legal considerations * Combines clearly written and illustrated practical advice, backed up by a wealth of resources, with first-hand examples of successful video activism * Critically assesses the mainstream media agendas and offers a lively survey of the international video activist scene

In July 2012, Thomas Harding's fourteen-year-old son Kadian was killed in a bicycle accident. Shortly afterwards Thomas began to write. This book is the result. Beginning on the day of Kadian's death, and continuing to the one-year anniversary, and beyond, Kadian Journal is a record of grief in its rawest form, and of a mind in shock and questioning a strange new reality. Interspersed within the journal are fragments of memory: jewel-bright everyday moments that slowly combine to form a biography of a lost son, and a lost life. Kadian Journal is a document of startling bravery and candour--a description of a family dislocated and united by tragedy, and a beautiful and moving tribute to a son.

Longlisted for the Orwell Prize Named a Best Book of the Year by The Times (London), New Statesman (London), Daily Express (London), and Commonweal MagazineIn the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding traveled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been a holiday home for her and her family, but in the 1930s, she had been forced to flee to England as the Nazis swept to power. Nearly twenty years later, the house was government property and soon to be demolished. It was Harding's legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over--a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it? When Harding began to make inquiries, he unearthed secrets that had lain hidden for decades about the lives of the five families who had lived there: a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widow and her children, and a Stasi informant. The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. As its story began to take shape, Harding realized that there was a chance to save it, but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family's feelings towards their former homeland--and a hatred handed down through the generations.

"The incredible story of how a house was witness to German history" Telegraph"A touching picturebook which shows children that large events can have repercussions even in small and unheralded places" Wall Street JournalA beautiful picture-book adaptation of Thomas Harding's Costa-shortlisted biography for adults, exquisitely illustrated by Britta Teckentrup.On the outskirts of Berlin, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a century, this little house played host to a loving Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, wartime refugees and a Stasi informant; in that time, a world war came and went, and the Berlin Wall was built a stone's throw from the cottage's back door. Thomas Harding first shared this remarkable story in his Costa-shortlisted biography The House by the Lake – now he has rendered it into a deeply moving picture-book for young readers. With words that read like a haunting fairy-tale, and magnificent artwork by Britta Teckentrup, this is the astonishing true story of the house by the lake."An atmospheric and ultimately uplifting tale with delicate, ethereal images" The Financial TimesPRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE: A Radio 4 Book of the WeekNamed a Best Book of the Year by: The Times >> New Statesman >> Daily Express >> Commonweal magazineShortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2015Longlisted for the Orwell Prize 2016Over 50 five-star reviews on Amazon"A passionate memoir." – Neil MacGregor"A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book." – Tom Holland"A book that will stay with me for a very long time." – Rachel Joyce"A superb work of social history." – The Sunday Times "Diamond brilliant ... an extraordinary book." – Sunday Express"A deft history of a cabin containing many secrets." – Independent"A fascinating window on a tumultuous period" – Financial Times"Original, personal, moving and uplifting" – Literary Review"This is a history that is often poignant, sometimes heartening, and never other than intimate." – Spectator"An extraordinary book…. Harding has extracted the past from the dust that collects between floorboards and from layers of peeling wallpaper.” – Washington PostSEE ALSO THOMAS HARDING'S NEW BIOGRAPHY, LEGACY:"I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history." – Nigella Lawson"Written with love and imagination ... a masterclass in historical empathy." – TLS"Nobody quite stirs the soup of historical detail like Harding." – Express

Florence, August 1944. Fifteen miles southeast of the city, a unit of German soldiers arrive at Il Focardo, the home of Robert Einstein, first cousin of the famous scientist Albert Einstein. Nearby, Robert is hiding out in the Tuscan countryside, while his wife and daughters remain in the villa. Twelve hours later, Nina, Luce, and Anna-Maria are brutally murdered. In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding recounts the story of an unthinkable crime, one that unspools to reveal Italy's brutal wartime history--its fall to fascism, antisemitism, and bitter partisanship--and a family's search for justice. Vividly told, Harding threads history and detective story to build an unquiet, haunting testimony.

The story of the slave uprising that took place in the British colony of Demerara - now Guyana - in the Caribbean in 1823, and its momentous consequences

When Thomas Harding discovered that his family had profited from slavery, he set out to interrogate the choices of his ancestors and Britain's role in this terrible history. His investigation took him to Demerara (now Guyana), the site of an uprising by enslaved people in 1823, the largest in the British Empire and a key trigger in the abolition of slavery. Charting the dramatic build-up to this landmark event through the eyes of four people - an enslaved man, a missionary, a colonist, and a slaveholder - Harding lays bare the true impact of years of unimaginable cruelty and incredible courage and asks how those who benefitted from slavery can take responsibility for the White Debt.

The captivating story of the famed publisher who transformed not only publishing but the culture of ideas, from his struggles as an Austrian-Jewish refugee in London to his rise as a world-renowned literary figure

After arriving in London just before the Second World War as a penniless and friendless Austrian-Jewish refugee, George Weidenfeld went on to transform not only the world of publishing but the culture of ideas. The books that he published include momentous titles such as Lolita, Double Helix, The Group and The Hedgehog and the Fox, with authors he championed ranging from Joan Didion, Mary McCarthy and Edna O'Brien to Henry Miller, Harold Wilson, Saul Bellow and Henry Kissinger.In this first biography, Thomas Harding provides a full, unvarnished and at times difficult history of this complex and fascinating character and crafts a portrait of the publisher's life that is inextricable from the efforts and intricacies of putting a book into the world. Structured around twenty books associated with George Weidenfeld, and intercut with explorations of contemporary concerns such as the right to publish, freedom of speech and separating the art from the artist, The Maverick tells the captivating story behind the life of this iconic publisher.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The "compelling," untold story of the man who captured and brought to trial Rudolf H ss--one of Nazi Germany's most notorious war criminals and subject of the Oscar-nominated film The Zone of Interest--"fascinates and shocks" (The Washington Post). May 1945. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the first British War Crimes Investigation Team is assembled to hunt down the senior Nazi officials responsible for the greatest atrocities the world has ever seen. One of the lead investigators is Lieutenant Hanns Alexander, a German Jew who is now serving in the British Army. Rudolf H ss is his most elusive target. As Kommandant of Auschwitz, H ss not only oversaw the murder of more than one million men, women, and children; he was the man who perfected Hitler's program of mass extermination. H ss is on the run across a continent in ruins, the one man whose testimony can ensure justice at Nuremberg. Hanns and Rudolf reveals for the very first time the full, exhilarating account of H ss's capture, an encounter with repercussions that echo to this day. Moving from the Middle Eastern campaigns of World War I to bohemian Berlin in the 1920s to the horror of the concentration camps and the trials in Belsen and Nuremberg, it tells the story of two German men--one Jewish, one Catholic--whose lives diverged, and intersected, in an astonishing way. This is "one of those true stories that illuminates a small justice in the aftermath of the Holocaust, an event so huge and heinous that there can be no ultimate justice" (New York Daily News).

Charting 400 years of history, this is the astonishing true story of the Anne Frank House, beautifully illustrated by Britta Teckentrup.In the middle of Amsterdam, stands a tall, narrow house on a canal. Over the course of four centuries the house has been a home to many – from poor families to wealthy couples, and those hiding from persecution. Like the family of a young Jewish girl who sought refuge in the annexe and wrote in her diary of the “old house on the canal”. The girl’s name was Anne Frank, and her diary became world famous.

History comes home in a deeply moving, exquisitely illustrated tale of a small house, taken by the Nazis, that harbors a succession of families--and becomes a quiet witness to a tumultuous century. The days went around like a wheel.The sun rose, warming the walls of the house. On the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a hundred years, this little house played host to a kind Jewish doctor and his family, a successful Nazi composer, wartime refugees, and a secret-police informant. During that time, as a world war came and went and the Berlin Wall arose just a stone's throw from the back door, the house filled up with myriad everyday moments. And when that time was over, and the dwelling was empty and derelict, the great-grandson of the man who built the house felt compelled to bring it back to life and listen to the story it had to tell. Illuminated by Britta Teckentrup's magnificent illustrations, Thomas Harding's narration reads like a haunting fairy tale--a lyrical picture-book rendering of the story he first shared in an acclaimed personal history for adult readers.

A house reveals the story of its inhabitants, including Anne Frank--and honors four centuries of history--in a moving and exquisitely illustrated picture book from the creators of The House by the Lake. In the middle of Amsterdam is a house on a canal with a green door. Over four hundred years, it has quietly witnessed love, desperation, and historic change. Sometimes the narrow house was splendidly decorated, humming with life and love; other times, it stood empty, in near ruins. Sometimes the green door was open and inviting; other times, it was closed against cold and plague or to conceal the victims of wartime persecution. The house's last occupant, a young girl with a sweet smile, would famously document her time there. In her diary, Anne Frank wrote of "the old house on the canal," and today people come from far and wide to visit what stands as a universal symbol of hope and resilience. Thomas Harding's lyrical text and concise back matter reveal history through the changing face and fortunes of a remarkable structure. Impeccably researched, Britta Teckentrup's dreamy mixed-media collages, including a map and archival imagery, perfectly echo the layered narrative and capture the ethereal nature of time and circumstance.