21 Feb 2012
Congratulations to Katharine Quarmby who has been short-listed for Private Eye’s The Paul Foot Award for Campaigning Journalism 2011. The first prize of £5,000 will be presented at a ceremony in London on Tuesday 28 February, with each of the runners-up receiving £1,000. More details at
21 Feb 2012
Congratulations to Harry Keeble and Kris Hollington whose Hurting Too Much:Shocking Stories from the Frontline of Child Protection is no 14 and Casey Watson whose Crying for Help: The Shocking True Story of a Damaged Girl with a Dark Past is no 16 this week.
16 Feb 2012
Alan White’s One Blood orginally published under the pseudonym John Heale has just been reissued by his publishers Simon & Schuster in a revised edition. He has been writing about the book’s findings in a succession of articles as follows:
New Statesman: We need to talk seriously about crime
The Guardian: The Met’s gang raids are a PR stunt. Better the carrot than the stick
16 Feb 2012
John Bradley’s After the Arab Spring: How the Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolt has been attracting enormous coverage including:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9HFxTrt-VI
http://rt.com/news/arab-spring-islamist-revolution-723/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGWVIhruY5M
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9041649/Have-the-Arabs-lost-their-Spring.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhIHdGuUWqo
http://rt.com/news/syria-nato-iran-russia-149/
On Amazon it is:
• #1 in Books > History > Political History > Revolutions & Coups • #1 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > Middle East • #1 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Civil Liberties & Political Activism > Protest Movements
15 Feb 2012
Sam Carter at Biteback has bought World English rights from the agency in a book which Carter feels makes a very strong case for the identity of Jack the Ripper. In The Man Who Would Be Jack, David Bullock forensically examines fresh evidence to advance a new candidate for Jack the Ripper ; Thomas Cutbush worked in Whitechapel, was suspected at the time of the Ripper crimes, his description closely matched that given for the Ripper and he was sent to Broadmoor for similar crimes, where he died in 1903, after which the murders ceased. The book also reveals the cover up to prevent the identity of the Ripper being revealed and why.
Bullock, an actor who appeared in the BBC series Friends and Crocodiles and was a finalist in Reading’s Festival of Crime Writing, now works for Thames Valley Police. He has been researching the book for fifteen years and is the first person to have been granted access to the Broadmoor files on which the book is based.
Andrew Lownie said “Over the last twenty-five years, I have been offered countless books on Jack the Ripper but this one has the ring of truth. David Bullock convincingly shows that his candidate fits all the known evidence .”
David Bullock stated “My hope is to show the Jack the Ripper case in a brand new light and bring to the reader the fresh and intriguing tale of Thomas Hayne Cutbush, as well as dispelling the biggest myth of all - that Jack the Ripper was never caught.”
Sam Carter comments: “David and Andrew took me on a chilling tour of Whitechapel and got me hooked on this fresh and convincing take on an endlessly fascinating story. We’re delighted to have this book on the list for August this year.”
14 Feb 2012
Congratulations to Casey Watson whose Crying for Help is no 13 in this week’s paperback non-fiction list.
11 Feb 2012
The latest edition of Words with JAM with Andrew Lownie’s column can be found at
http://issuu.com/wordswithjam/docs/wwjfebruary2012online?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage
10 Feb 2012
Hodder & Stoughton have acquired world rights in the memoirs of Sam Pivnik, one of the few living British Holocaust survivors and it will be a major book for them at the London Book Fair.
Non-fiction Publisher Rupert Lancaster says ‘No one could read this enthralling book and remain unmoved. Sam Pivnik was 13 when the Nazis invaded Poland and changed his life forever. He survived two ghettoes, Auschwitz, working in Fürstengrube mine, the death march and the sinking of the prison ship Cap Arcona which the RAF believed was carrying fleeing members of the SS. It’s an extraordinary testimony and I believe the book will come to be recognized as an important contribution to our knowledge of that terrible period’.
Sam Pivnik will write the book with the established author, writer and broadcaster, M. J. Trow and Hodder will publish the book, now provisionally titled Ultimate Survivor in August.
09 Feb 2012
Summersdale have bought Paul Jones’s British Trivia Atlas.