With its strident motto "Export or Die!" The Ambassador magazine Promoting Post-War British Textiles and Fashion has been described as "probably the most daring and enterprising trade magazine ever conceived" and this luxurious volume published by the V&A Museum shows us how accurate an epithet this was. With its innovative design and swashbuckling editorial approach driven by the vision of its founder, Hans Juda, and his wife Elsbeth, who was the brains behind its striking photography, its aim was to promote British fashion, textiles and design in a full-on, pulling-no-punches manner, focussing on the strengths of British industry with no lights hidden under any bushels. From March 1946 to August 1972 the Judas used their plentiful connections to the fashion and artistic worlds to set up ambitious photoshoots to highlight innovations in textiles and showcase the latest couture fashions, and the magazine featured many works from luminaries such as John Piper and Graham Sutherland who produced art especially for it. The Judas sold the magazine to the multinational publisher Thomson in 1961 who, as well as being less interested in cultural nuance and creative vision than their predecessors, also inherited a shift in economics and politics that saw most of the world's textile manufacturing shift to the Far East and, albeit gradually, The Ambassador's raison d'être faded. With hundreds of illus in colour and b/w taken from the magazine's archive, here are some of the most striking and iconic photos, designs, artworks, advertisements and people, together with contributary essays from seven experts from the V&A's art, fashion, design and photography departments. The photoshoots are quite superb, but some of the more ephemeral items are equally fascinating, such as Lacrinoid "opalite" buttons - " for every garment... retain their brilliance in spite of sun, rain and extremes of heat and cold" - marvellous! 240 opulent 9¼"×12½" pages.

With tremendous speed the Islamic State has moved from the margins to the centre of life in the Middle East. Despite recent setbacks its ability to conquer and retain huge swathes of territory has demonstrated its skilful tactical manoeuvring, ambition and staying power, yet we still know too little about ISIS, particularly about its deeper ideology. In this book Wasserstein offers a penetrating analysis of the movement and looks closely at the 1,000 year old form of Islamic apocalyptic messianism the group draws upon today. He shows how ISIS is not only a military and political movement but also and primarily a religious one with a coherent world view, a patent strategy, and a clear goal - the recreation of a medieval caliphate. Connecting the group's day-to-day activities and the writings and sayings of its leaders with the medieval Islamic past, Wasserstein provides an unprecedented perspective on the origins and aspirations of the Islamic State. His chapters cover women, children, Christians and Jews and he does much to stimulate concern and illuminate what we Westerners do not yet know. His book demonstrates two interlinked elements, one the Western involvement with the world of Islam which stretches from the beginnings of Islam to ongoing adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. The term 'crusader' as a label for Westerners, some of whom are Christians, reduces our understanding of that involvement to one of hostility and destructiveness, mutual ignorance and irreconcilable faith claims, power relations and intolerance and suspicion. The truth is that the connection has been far more complicated and messy ever since the birth of Islam. The subject of this book is a moving target. 266pp, and map of areas under Islamic State control.

The leaves of the coca plant from Peru are the organic source from which cocaine is synthesised but it also has medicinal and healing properties, just without the same addictive qualities or negative side effects. Its most famous commercial appearance was in the 19th century when Corsican pharmacist Angelo Mariani produced 'Vin Mariani', a coca-based tonic wine which was praised by prominent figures such as Pope Benedict XV, Sarah Bernhardt, Thomas Edison, H. G. Wells, William McKinley and Emile Zola. This illustrated history explores a fascinating history, from the coca plant's medical applications to the creation of the tonic wine. Hailed as the 'vogue beverage of la Belle Époque' the tonic wine was in fact created by the infusion of coca leaves in Bordeaux wine, and notably became the forerunner for Coca-Cola. It found success through a genius marketing practice which included advertising using hundreds of postcards illustrated by famous artists, silver and bronze medals and objects magnificently engraved such as silver jewellery. Mariani's first success with the wine came when Dr Charles Fauvel recommended him to Georges Régnal, a female singer, who tasted his new preparation, meditated for a while and, after a moment, said: 'It is excellent, you'll send me a dozen bottles.' The wine's success went so far that, after the 1889 influenza outbreak in Paris, the coca wine was one of the most highly recommended drugs and Dr Fauvel humorously christened it 'the lightning rod of the flu'. It was not always easy for Mariani and, in 1903, a pharmacist in Marseilles called Antoine Mariani took advantage of having the same last name and launched a tonic wine 'à la coca de Pérou' that he sold misleadingly in a bottle with a label similar to the original. In the end, Angelo had to reluctantly take the plagiarist to court and, on 4 August 1905, the fraud was found guilty. Mariani's work not only went into medicinal wines but also into the Orphelinat des Arts association in 1882 which he took care of. The organisation was founded in 1880 by the actress Marie Laurent, with the help of friends such as Sarah Bernhardt, and it was an education centre for young girls who were the children of dramatic artists, painters sculptors, architects, writers, musicians, journalists and literary people. There are also stunning images used in the book, including a drawing from a New York magazine advertising the bottle and a poster for 'Elixir Peruvien' by Leonetto Cappiello in 1902, to a photo of an authentic advertisement for Coca-Bola chewing gum. 8" x 10", gorgeous colour images, posters and Art Deco designs, 246pp.

One of the most notorious and yet mysterious events of WWII was the "Blut Gegen Waren" Blood for Trucks (Goods) plot of 1944, an ultimately unsuccessful scheme hatched between SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann and the group of Hungarian Zionists known as "Va'ada", led by young Jewish businessmen Joel Brand and Rezso Katzner. While Hungary remained part of the Axis it was relatively safe for Jews and Brand and his group organised safety for some 700,000 European Jews there. However, in the Spring of 1944 as the tide was turning against Hitler, Germany invaded Hungary to prevent it deserting the Axis and Adolf Eichmann led a special SS unit to Budapest to begin the transport of thousands of Hungarian Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in southern Poland in cattle trains. The majority were gassed, then incinerated. But just as the trains were about to start, Brand and Katzner asked the SS to negotiate, a previously unthinkable scenario. Even more surprisingly, Eichmann made an astonishing offer - "a million Jews for 10,000 trucks". The trucks to be supplied by the Allies would be used solely on the Eastern front, a clear indication of how he saw events unfolding and that the non-Soviet Allies would see the post-war advantage of this. So Brand flew to Istanbul but was arrested by British police and interrogated in Cairo. Their story of the barter provoked utter incredulity, confusion and dismay amongst the highest echelons in London and Washington. And even if it were true, how, on the eve of the D-Day landings, could the Allies cope with the release of almost a million Jewish refugees? Both were arrested as German spies and immediately Eichmann and his henchmen began their murderous business, sending 12,000 men, women and children a day to their terrible fate. But was Eichmann's offer made in good faith? What was his real motivation? Hale explores Eichmann's plot and unveils murderous deceit on an unimaginable scale, and particularly how he manipulated Brand and Katzner, decent men but completely out of their depth here. Hale presents a new account of the ?Brand Mission? based on evidence in the national archives of Germany, Hungary, Britain and the United States and takes the reader through the myriad connections which makes this story so compelling and an impressive addition to Holocaust literature. 448pp, photos.

Charles A. Lindbergh's transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his Ryan monoplane is given the Owners' Workshop Manual treatment in this comprehensive account of the flight, the plane, the context and the personalities. The first non-stop Atlantic crossing had been achieved in 1919 by Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy bomber, winning them a Daily Mail prize of £10,000. This prompted Raymond Orteig to offer a bigger prize for the first flight from New York to Paris, and the race was on. A German airship made a transatlantic flight in 1924, though it did not quality for the prize, and in 1926 Sikorsky pilot Rene Fonck attempted a crossing which ended in tragedy for two of his crew as the overloaded plane crashed on take-off. In the following year Lindbergh finally claimed the prize, only just beating his rival Charles Levine whose Wright Bellanca was grounded by legal wrangles. Several other transatlantic flights quickly followed, including Ruth Elder's attempt which ended in her ditching in the Atlantic, but Lindbergh's is the name that has passed into history. Lindbergh had entered the US Army Air Service aged 22, and in 1926 took a job with the newly formed Air Mail, which entailed navigating at night over poorly marked routes, an experience which stood him in good stead on the transatlantic crossing. In the run-up to the flight, Ryan airlines met Lindbergh's deadline of a 60-day construction period for the Spirit of St Louis, which had a wider wingspan and undercarriage than its prototype. The construction process is illustrated by archive photos and also numerous shots of a reconstructed model. On the flight Lindbergh had to contend with storm clouds cutting off his vision and above all the urge to sleep, but the final touchdown at Le Bourget entered the history books. Lindbergh's later life was complex and tragic, including the sensational murder of his son in 1932. 180pp, numerous photos in black and white and colour, diagrams, maps.

Sub-titled 'Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business', Paul Jarvis left the traditional world of business when he realised that devoting his days to a high-pressure, high-profile corporation was not his idea of success. He quickly discovered for himself the immense benefit of deliberately cutting out the outdated corporate hierarchy that constantly demands more productivity, more output and more annual growth. His book is a refreshing new approach to running a successful business that focusses on getting better rather than bigger. Jarvis shows how remaining small can provide the freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and help you avoid the headaches that routinely arise in the day-to-day grind of a traditional growth-orientated business. Learn how to set up your business, determine your desired revenues, deal with an unexpected crisis, keep your key customers happy, and of course accomplish all of this on your own terms. His chapters cover what is required to lead, growing a company that doesn't grow, determining the right mindset, personality, scalable systems, teaching everything you know, utilising trust and scale, and the hidden value of relationships. He gives one example of the oldest continuously run hotel in the world, in existence for about 1,300 years (it opened its doors in AD705) which has been managed by 52 generations of the same family in the picturesque countryside of Japan's Yamanashi prefecture where the focus has been on customer service. Penguin paperback, 249pp.

Hailed by some as the 'indispensable man' whose advice has been sought by every president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian, the ultimate cold-blooded 'realist'. In this remarkable book, Niall Ferguson has created an extraordinary panorama of Kissinger's world, and a paradigm-shifting reappraisal of the man. Only through knowledge of his early life as a Jew in Hitler's Germany, a poor immigrant in New York, a GI at the Battle of the Bulge, an interrogator of Nazis, and a student of history at Harvard, can we understand Kissinger's debt to the philosophy of idealism. And only by tracing his rise, fall and revival as an adviser to Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller and finally Richard Nixon can we appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the theory of diplomacy, grand strategy and nuclear deterrence. Drawing not only on Kissinger's hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, this biography is a masterpiece which casts dazzling new light on an entire era. It was a trip to Vietnam that changed everything, and this essential account of an extraordinary life recasts the Cold War world and the Cuban Missile Crisis. 986pp in a magnificent Penguin softback, many photos. A book for every student of the history of our times.

The book asks who was John Lewis? Born into poverty, he was orphaned at the age of seven when his father died in a Somerset workhouse. Dreaming of a better life, the young man travelled to London at the start of what would become a retail revolution. From early years as a draper's apprentice, we see how Lewis's first pokey little business opened on Oxford Street in 1864, and expanded as an emerging middle class embraced the department stores as a recreational experience. Award-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning captures the toxic relationships that unfolded between Lewis and his two sons Spedan and Oswald, as they collided over the future of their retail empire. Their worst moments included emotional blackmail, face-slapping and a kidnapping, and much litigation between father and both sons. Behind the glass windows and displays of soft furnishings, she reveals the eccentricities of the family whose relationships became blighted by conflicts of epic proportions as their wealth bloomed. Yet the family never broke up, and Spedan's vision of a Partnership model to act as an ethical corrective and foster a community of happier, more productive workers was eventually realised and survives to this day and is now much copied in business as a model. This brilliant group biography has riveting details of this rags-to-riches story and a tempestuous family saga, all unfolding against the dramatic social and political worlds of 19th century London. The book concludes with an assessment of the position John Lewis holds in British sensibilities, and whether John Lewis and institutions like it have a place in our future. She also writes about the 157-year-old commercial enterprise famous for affordable haberdashery, wedding-list glassware, and more recently producing rather cute Christmas TV commercials. 16 pages of photos including colour and one of Spedan's radical new flagship store Peter Jones, now a listed building. Plus colour reproductions of original advertising on the endpapers, 338pp.

The comedian is best known for his alter ego The Pub Landlord. He co-hosts the hit history podcast 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk' with James Holland. Funny and clever, a little sarcastic, Al Murray looks at the causes and key points, effects and outcomes history has had in his own unique and irreverent tone. He begins with Doubleyou Doubleyou One, the Spanish Flu Pandemic 1918, the Treaty of Versailles 1919 (seemed like a good idea at the time), the Russian Revolution, Communism, Lenin, Stalin, the Jazz Age, the General Strike. Under a piece called 'Woke Royal Shocker': 'Weirdly, the General Strike featured what you might call a woke royal intervention. George V, not known for his general political grooviness, said, 'Try living on their wages before you judge them.' Move over Meghan Markle! Hitler, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the Suez Crisis, the invention of sex, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of JFK 1963, Beatlemania the same year, England wins the World Cup 1966, the Moon landings 1969, The Troubles, something Johnny Rotten in the state of England. Britain joins the EEC 1973, the Thatcher years, the Falklands War, the Satanic Verses Fatwa, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hong Kong Phooey, the Good Friday Agreement 1998 and the same number of topics again, each given a short factual appraisal alongside some cartoon illus. 317pp, paperback.

Shine a light on the design history of the famous Anglepoise lamp with its angled neck, now used by Pixar animation to bounce around and make us laugh. It is a hallmark of British design. In 1932 vehicle suspension engineer George Carwardine designed the spring, crank and lever mechanism that became the blueprint for the first Anglepoise lamp. Enchanting the world with its light-to-the-touch and anthropomorphic design, the unique and characterful form has adorned the work tables of everyone from James Bond who had one in his flat, writers to engineers to focus a pool of light on an individual's work or book. Chapters cover the Second World War and industry, the launch of the Anglepoise Model 1227 through advertising, the lamp?s development from the 1970s to the 2000s with collaborations with Paul Smith, Kenneth Grange and Margaret Howell, all beautifully depicted with dozens upon dozens of colour posters in this big picture book story. See the Type 80W3 wall light with three joints for flexibility by Sir Kenneth Grange and the set of the Abandoned Darkness campaign video, showcasing the lead lamp and the core and tendons then as now made of high-quality steel springs. A book that puts light just where you need it! Wonderfully nostalgic, beautiful quality and design, hundreds of colour and black and white images. 192pp, 19.5 x 25cm.
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