Best Selling Books by Ian Williams

Rum arguably shaped the modern world. It was to the eighteenth century what oil is to the present, but its significance has been diminished by a misguided sense of old-fashioned morality dating back to Prohibition. In fact, Rum shows that even the Puritans took a shot now and then. Rum, too, was one of the major engines of the American Revolution, a fact often missing from histories of the era. Ian Williams''s book -- as biting and multilayered as the drink itself -- triumphantly restores rum''s rightful place in history, taking us across space and time, from the slave plantations of seventeenth-century Barbados (the undisputed birthplace of rum) through Puritan and revolutionary New England, to voodoo rites in modern Haiti, where to mix rum with Coke risks invoking the wrath of the gods. He also depicts the showdown between the Bacardi family and Fidel Castro over the control of the lucrative rights to the Havana Club label. Telling photographs are also featured in this barnstorming history of the real "Spirit of 1776."

A new and dangerous computer bug is sweeping the internet. But this bug is different. Smart, quick, sophisticated, and developed by elite hackers working for a cybercrime syndicate, it can break through an unknown flaw in the world''s most secure computer chips and cripple any system within seconds-the ultimate cyber weapon. Reluctant American cyber sleuth Chuck Drayton unwittingly finds himself caught in the deadly crossfire of an unfolding cyber war, with no idea what lies ahead. Chuck and his small team of investigators join a desperate race against the great cyber powers, and an unscrupulous tech entrepreneur, to stop the zero-day, before it''s too late.

This CSIS report looks at Russia’s evolving missile campaign against Ukraine from the opening days of the invasion to present day, the sources of Russian underperformance, and the specific missile systems Russia has deployed.

A Boston Globe Best Book of 2021: “Lyrical, closely observed” essays on being Black in the US, Canada, and Trinidad, and how those experiences differed (Kirkus Reviews). Finalist for the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction With that one eloquent word, disorientation, Scotiabank Giller Award winner Ian Williams captures the impact of racial encounters on racialized people—the whiplash of race that occurs while minding one’s own business. Sometimes the consequences are only irritating, but sometimes they are deadly. Spurred by the police killings and street protests of 2020, Williams offers a perspective that is distinct from that of US writers addressing similar themes. Williams has lived in Trinidad (where he was never the only Black person in the room), in Canada (where he often was), and in the United States (where as a Black man from the Caribbean, he was a different kind of “only”). He brings these formative experiences fruitfully to bear on his theme in Disorientation. Inspired by the essays of James Baldwin, in which the personal becomes the gateway to larger ideas, Williams explores such matters as the unmistakable moment when a child realizes they are Black; the ten characteristics of institutional whiteness; how friendship forms a bulwark against being a target of racism; the meaning and uses of a Black person’s smile; and blame culture—or how do we make meaningful change when no one feels responsible for the systemic structures of the past. Disorientation is a book for all readers who believe that civil conversation on even the most charged subjects is possible. Employing his wit, his empathy for all, and his vast and astonishing gift for language, Ian Williams gives readers an open, candid, and personal perspective on an undeniably important subject. “Honest, vulnerable, courageous and funny.” —Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes

“With subtlety and wit, [a] prizewinning debut” novel set in 1970s Toronto “explores a liaison across race and class divisions in Canada” (The Guardian, UK). Felicia and Edgar come from different worlds. She’s a nineteen-year-old student and Caribbean immigrant while he is the impetuous heir to his German family’s fortune. When their ailing mothers are assigned the same Toronto hospital room, their chance encounter leads to an unlikely relationship full miscommunications, misunderstandings, and very surprising results. Years later, Felicia’s son Armistice—“Army” for short—is a teenager fixated on get-rich-quick schemes, each one more absurd than the next. The. Edgar finally re-enters Felicia’s life, at yet another inopportune moment, putting this “witty, playful and disarmingly offbeat” saga on the path to its heartfelt conclusion (The Toronto Star, CA). Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize

With its unique aroma and heady buzz—the perfect accompaniment to even the spiciest tacos—tequila has won its way into drinkers’ hearts worldwide. There are few places on earth besides Mexico that have the climate and terrain to evolve the agave plant that makes tequila—and there are even fewer people who have the patience to wait the seven years or more that it takes “the tree of marvels” to grow. In this book, Ian Williams presents a lively history of this potent and popular drink. Beginning with pulque, the drink fermented by the Mayans, Olmecs, and Aztecs and reserved for pregnant women and priests—and their sacrifices—he traces how the Mexicans distilled tequila and mezcal (mescal) and began its heady surge into global popularity. From twenty-year añejos to giggle-inducing margaritas to the bravado—and regret—of that round of shots, he offers a history as gripping as the drink itself. Williams visits countless tequila producers, distributors, and connoisseurs to tell the story of how tequila started in the agave lands of Mexico, became an icon of youthful inebriation, and developed, today, into a truly artisanal product drawing the most discerning drinkers. Peppered throughout are illustrations that capture tequila’s Mexican heritage and commercial image. Including recipes for tequila-based cocktails, as well as advice on the buying, storing, tasting, and serving of tequila, this history will delight any beverage aficionado or anyone interested in the history of Mexico and its culinary riches.

This inaugural volume in the Graphic Medicine series establishes the principles of graphic medicine and begins to map the field. The volume combines scholarly essays by members of the editorial team with previously unpublished visual narratives by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, and it includes arresting visual work from a wide range of graphic medicine practitioners. The book’s first section, featuring essays by Scott Smith and Susan Squier, argues that as a new area of scholarship, research on graphic medicine has the potential to challenge the conventional boundaries of academic disciplines, raise questions about their foundations, and reinvigorate literary scholarship—and the notion of the literary text—for a broader audience. The second section, incorporating essays by Michael Green and Kimberly Myers, demonstrates that graphic medicine narratives can engage members of the health professions with literary and visual representations and symbolic practices that offer patients, family members, physicians, and other caregivers new ways to experience and work with the complex challenges of the medical experience. The final section, by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, focuses on the practice of creating graphic narratives, iconography, drawing as a social practice, and the nature of comics as visual rhetoric. A conclusion (in comics form) testifies to the diverse and growing graphic medicine community. Two valuable bibliographies guide readers to comics and scholarly works relevant to the field.

From Ian Williams, author of Reproduction, winner of the Giller Prize and a June 2020 Indie Next Great Read Frustrated by how tough the issues of our time are to solve – racial inequality, our pernicious depression, the troubled relationships we have with other people – Ian Williams revisits the seemingly simple questions of grade school for inspiration: if Billy has five nickels and Jane has three dimes, how many Black men will be murdered by police? He finds no satisfaction, realizing that maybe there are no easy answers to ineffable questions. Williams uses his characteristic inventiveness to find not just new answers but new questions, reconsidering what poetry can be, using math and grammar lessons to shape poems that invite us to participate. Two long poems cut through the text like vibrating basenotes, curiosities circle endlessly, and microaggressions spin into lyric. And all done with a light touch and a joyful sense of humour.

An image goes viral in China It threatens the ruling Communist Party... Internet rumours take on a life of their own and online revenge becomes a weapon of dissent in a city where truth and reality are as clear as the thick smog around them in this gripping cyber thriller. When a young blogger who lives his life behind a screen posts an image online, he has no idea of the impact it will have on the nation – or that his life will collide with a delusional British businessman trying to sell the crumbling China miracle, and an American diplomat tasked to chase cyber spies. When the image takes on a life of its own, it threatens them all – but most terrifyingly, the Communist Party. The power of online ridicule and rumour in a society where fake news clouds reality is revealed; the veil beneath which corrupt politicians struggle for power, spies stalk cyberspace, and a bubble economy is at bursting point. From Beijing’s smoggy streets to Shanghai’s historic Bund, from the casinos of Macau to the grim factories of southern China, this novel captures the madness, corruption and dangers of the People’s Republic and sheds light on the Westerners who have grown rich by looking the other way…

Enough small talk. Let’s get right to it: Why can’t we talk to each other anymore? What makes good communication? And how do we restore the lost art of conversation? In contemporary society, much of our communication exists in a new dimension, the online space, and it’s changing how we regard each other and how we converse. In the digital realm, we can be anonymous, we can make false and hurtful comments yet evade consequences in a hurried scroll of clicks and swipes. But a good conversation takes time and patience, courage, even. We need to realize that one-half of our conversations is, in fact, listening. And aren''t the best conversationalists—like the best musicians—good listeners? With What I Mean to Say, award-winning novelist and poet Ian Williams seeks to ignite a conversation about conversation, to confront the deterioration of civic and civil discourse, and to reconsider the act of conversing as the sincere, open exchange of thoughts and feelings. Alternately serious and playful, Williams nimbly leaps between topics of discussion and, along the way, is discursive, digressive, and endlessly generous—like any great conversationalist.

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2023 As seen in The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, and on Tonight with Andrew Marr (LBC) Under President Xi Jinping, China''s global ambitions have taken a dangerous new turn. Bullying and intimidation have replaced diplomacy, and trade, investment, even big-spending tourists and students have been weaponised. Beijing has strengthened its alliance with Vladimir Putin, supporting Russia''s aggression in Ukraine, and brooks no criticism of its own flagrant human rights violations against the Uyghur population in western China. Western leaders say they don''t want a cold war with China, but it''s a little too late for that. Beijing is already waging a more complex, broader and more dangerous cold war than the old one with the Soviet Union. And it is intensifying. This thought-provoking and alarming book examines this new cold war''s many fronts – from Taiwan and the South China Sea to the Indian frontier, the Arctic and cyberspace. In doing so it proclaims the clear and sobering message that we must open our eyes to the reality of China''s rise and its ruthless bid for global dominance.

Environmental Chemistry provides a comprehensive, balanced introduction to this multi-disciplinary area of chemistry. Intended not only for chemists, but also for environmental and other science students, this text carefully introduces the chemistry needed to fully appreciate this subject, placing it in an applied and practical setting. Written in an accessible and readable style, the book assumes only a basic knowledge of chemistry, with the more advanced chemical concepts carefully introduced as needed. Opening with a general introduction to the subject and the practical skills that need to be known, the text then moves on to cover areas of specific interest to environmental chemists. Each chapter starts by covering the theory and concepts, and then describes a selection of experiments that can be undertaken. Environmental Chemistry: * Provides a comprehensive introduction to environmental chemistry, covering all the key areas. * Includes a balanced coverage of both the theoretical and experimental aspects. * Maintains a careful and logically-structured approach, with theory being covered first, followed by laboratory experiments and student problems. * Assumes only a basic knowledge of chemistry, with more advanced chemical concepts introduced as needed. Environmental Chemistry will be invaluable to students in the chemical and environmental sciences, as well as engineering, physical, life and earth science students interested in environmental chemistry.

Fast electric model power boats have long outclassed other boat types in terms of speed, and racing them is becoming an ever-more popular pastime. Success in this exciting hobby relies not just on the skill of the boat''s handler, but on the design and build of the boat as well. Illustrated with numerous photographs and diagrams showing technical details, this book looks at all aspects of building a model electric power boat, including How to choose a model and spot design flaws, especially in moulded hulls, and how to repair many of those faults, Brushed and brushless motors, and their speed controllers, drive systems and propellers, Guidance on rechargeable cells and the correct chargers, and safety tips for lithium polymer cells, Tips on construction and how to set up a boat for racing, Detailed instructions for building a wooden three-point outrigger hydroplane and Radio systems, wiring and connectors. While the emphasis of this book is on performance for competition use, beginners and recreational boaters are well catered for as many of the chapters start from first principles, rather than assuming a high level of initial competence. It covers all aspects of fast electric boating, from hull design right through to racing at world championships and setting speed records. Therefore, whether you are looking to compete or operate fast electric power boats as a hobby, it is a must-have addition to your library.

Cartoonist and doctor Ian Williams introduces us to the troubled life of Dr Iwan James, as all humanity, it seems, passes through his surgery door. Incontinent old ladies, men with eagle tattoos, traumatized widowers – Iwan''s patients cause him both empathy and dismay, as he tries to do his best in a world of limited time and budgetary constraints, and in which there are no easy answers. His feelings for his partners also cause him grief: something more than friendship for the sympathetic Dr Lois Pritchard, and not a little frustration at the prankish and obstructive Dr Robert Smith. Iwan''s cycling trips with his friend Arthur provide some welcome relief, but even the landscape is imbued with his patients'' distress. As we explore the phantoms from Iwan''s past, we too begin to feel compassion for The Bad Doctor, and ask what is the dividing line between patient and provider? Wry, comic, graphic, from the humdrum to the tragic, his patients'' stories are the spokes that make Iwan''s wheels go round in this humane and eloquently drawn account of a doctor''s life.

Any individual seeking change and growth through personal coaching will embrace this book as a fresh approach to a market that is arguably overcrowded in self help material. Ian Williams has cleverly taken the four areas of Passion, Potential, Power and Performance, and broken each one into 13 sections (linked for easy reference and memory to the standard playing cards suits which in turn throughout the ages have been linked with the elements of air, water, fire and earth). At every page turn you are presented with a new topic within these four areas, exploring in detail subjects such as values, balance, character, persistence, vocation and so on. 52 subjects are covered in detail questioning and explaining how they impact on us as individuals, with well researched and relevant quotes provided throughout the book to further enhance the teaching contained within. The photos, full colour pages and exquisite sentiments throughout this book make it an ideal gift for any one at any time of life, or as a personal treat when searching for fresh perspectives on life and living well.

Riding in Africa captures the escapades of more than twelve journeys to Africa. Author Ian Williams offers sage-if somewhat tongue-in-cheek-advice on how to get from one end of an African horse safari to the other without killing yourself. Read about African flora and fauna, evolution, history, language, the eccentricities of human character, and above all, the perspectives of a scientist-adventurer who puts himself on life''s edge. Williams tells of succumbing to pneumonia in the foothills of Mount Kenya, his experiences in a small African cottage hospital and later in the Nairobi Hospital, part of which he spends in morphine-induced delirium and part in the hospital room reserved for former Kenyan strong man, Daniel arap Moi. Williams also shares stories of adventures with horses and people while riding through the savannahs of Kenya, the mountains of Malawi, the swamps of Botswana, the deserts of Namibia, and the Lapalala Wilderness, home to the fearsome black rhino. Riding in Africa is about middle passages: the leap from one side of fifty to the other and the fine line between life and death.

Deserter looks objectively at the military record of George W. Bush, his role in the armed forces, and his treatment of them. Over the past year, Bush’s military poses have been contrived to convince the American public that he is a National Security President. Others have found his playacting less convincing. While George W. Bush supported the Vietnam War, his contribution was to enlist in a nepotistic unit of the Texas National Air Guard, which, short of World War III, was guaranteed never to see military action. Even in this safe position, Lieutenant Bush broke under the strain and went AWOL for the best part of a year. In contrast, American National Guardsmen have not only been called up for frontline action in Iraq, but they have had their terms of service extended. While the military budget soars, the war is being fought with a dangerously inadequate number of troops. The dead and disabled are shipped home under cover of darkness; those who eventually return in one piece find that their veterans’ medical benefits and facilities are being axed. Deserter strips away the illusion of Bush as “commander-in-chief” to reveal a hypocrite who has betrayed his troops and his country.

This book analyzes George Orwell’s politics and their reception across both sides of the Atlantic. It considers Orwell’s place in the politics of his native Britain and his reception in the USA, where he has had some of his most fervent emulators, exegetists, and detractors. Written by an ex “teenage Maoist” from Liverpool, UK, who now lives and writes in New York, the book points out how often the different strands of opinion derive from “ancestral” ideological struggles within the Communist/Trotskyist movement in the 30’s, and how these often overlook or indeed consciously ignore the indigenous British politics and sociology that did so much to influence Orwell’s political and literary development. It examines in the modern era what Orwell did in his–the seductions of simplistic and absolutist ideologies for some intellectuals, especially in their reactions to Orwell himself.

Mental Health and the Christian takes a look at the brain, mind, and soul as interchangeable entities and the effects of external and internal stimuli on homeostatic functions. Human beings are consumers. We consume through three gates: eyes, ears, and mouth. How everything we ingest affects what genes are turned on and off in the mind and body is called epigenetics. Achieving homeostasis or balance is the ultimate goal. For Christians, the health, growth, and development of the spirit man calls for a healthy thought process together with a diet beneficial to achieving homeostasis in our lifestyle. This book attempts to broach the subject by removing some of the misconceptions about mental health as it pertains to the lifestyle of Christians, eliminating some of the taboos and erasing the shame. This is nothing more than a rudimentary tool to be used to open dialogue about how we as Christians perceive mental health, thereby equipping us to approach and understand ministering to those among us who may be suffering in secret. The aim is to bring them out of the shadows and into the light, delivering them.

This established textbook offers a one-stop, comprehensive coverage of air pollution, all in an easy-reading and accessible style. The fourth edition, broadly updated and developed throughout, includes a brand-new chapter providing a broader overview to the topic for general reading, and presents fresh materials on air pollution modelling, mitigation and control, tailored to the needs of both amateur and specialist users. Retaining a quantitative perspective, the covered topics include: gaseous and particulate air pollutants, measurement techniques, meteorology and modelling, area sources, mobile sources, indoor air, effects on plants, materials, humans and animals, impact on climate change and ozone profiles and air quality legislations. This edition also includes a final chapter covering a suite of sampling and laboratory practical experiments that can be used for either classroom teachings, or as part of research projects. As with previous editions, the book is aimed to serve as a useful reading resource for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses specialising in air pollution, with dedicated case studies at the end of each chapter, as well as a list of revision questions provided at the end as a complementary section.

Provides the basic education in the XSLT processing model that developers have requested The growth of XML content management applications is boosting the demand for XSLT and XPath skills. This beginning Wrox book provides a firm foundation in the XSLT processing model, giving developers an important skillset. If, like many developers, you''ve had trouble grasping the XSLT processing model, you''ll appreciate how this book focuses specifically on what you need to know. XSLT examples address the often-requested processing steps for typical XML document and data vocabularies. You will see exactly how XSLT relies on XPath, and how the processing model differs from most programming languages. A case study demonstrates how to build a static Web site using XSLT 2.0 elements and XPath 2.0 functions. Explains XSLT and XPath, covering both version 1.0 and 2.0 Covers using templates, control and branching, variable and parameters, sorting and grouping, and using modular stylesheets Also examines strings, dates, and numbers; working with multiple documents and text; generating identifiers; and testing and documentation All topics contain incremental code examples Addresses the much-requested processing steps for typical XML document and data vocabularies, including how the processing model differs from most programming languages Beginning XSLT and XPath: Transforming XML Documents and Data is the essential guide you need to thoroughly understand the important XSLT processing model. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

This text shows developers how to solve form design and implementation problems using InfoPath 2003, an important new Microsoft Office application tool for programmers working with XML.

In policy pronouncements over the last two administrations, the protection of the American homeland was regularly identified as the first priority of U.S. missile defense efforts. Homeland missile defense today is provided by the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program and other elements of the larger Ballistic Missile Defense System. The limited defenses fielded today have advanced considerably since limited defensive operations began in late 2004, but nevertheless they remain too limited and too modest relative to emerging threats. The Missile Defense Agency’s path to improve the system may require additional effort to stay ahead of even limited missile threats. This report explains how the current system works, as well as current and potential plans to modernize the system, and the authors offer recommendations for future evolution of the system.

In Tudor times, paupers who complained about their treatment would be whipped. In modern times, charities that campaign too vigorously on behalf of their beneficiaries are accused of "political activity," and risk their legal status and government funding being withdrawn. The Alms Trade looks at how the concept of charity turned full circle under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher''s campaign to bring back Victorian values. Just as how, in the 19th century, the government broke its own laws, stealing from the poor to endow public schools for the rich, modern judges have ruled that private hospitals, because they do not explicitly exclude the poor, are entitled to charitable status. Ian Williams identifies the legal concept of "bounty versus bargain" as representing the two conflicting approaches that underlie both the development of charity law and the welfare services, and the relationship between citizen and state. He also discusses how the archaic privileges of the state church were extended to all other religions and cults, with effect ranging from the comic to the disastrous, and how religious intolerance was converted by judges into the doctrine that charities may not engage in political activities. A lively, well-written examination of a neglected area of public interest, this is a work that, in the present political climate, is of critical importance. Liverpool born and educated, IAN WILLIAMS is a freelance writer specializing in activist journalism. Twice president and twice vice president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, he is a regular contributor to The Nation, China Economic Review, Middle East International, Salon, Open Democracy, AlterNet, and other publications. His books include Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 and Deserter: Bush''s War on Military Families, Veterans and His Past. He lives in New York.

Ian Williams’s Not Anyone’s Anything is a trio of trios: three sets of three stories, with three of those stories further divided into thirds. Mathematical, musical, and meticulously crafted, these stories play profoundly with form, featuring flash cards and musical notations embedded in texts, literal basements, and dual narratives, semi-detached. Roaming through Toronto and its surrounding suburbia, Williams’s characters wittily and wryly draw attention to the angst and anxieties associated with being somewhere between adolescence and more-than-that. They are disastrously ambitious, cutting the flaps of skin between their fingers to play Chopin; they are restless and bored, breaking into units of new subdivisions hoping for a score; they continually test the ones they love, and, though every time feels like the last time, they might be up for one more game.

Shortlisted for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize. These are not love poems. These are almost-love poems. Jittery, plaintive, and fresh, Personals is voiced through a startling variety of speakers who continually rev themselves up to the challenge of connecting with others, often to no avail. Williams writes in traditional poetic forms: ghazals, a pantoum, blank sonnets, mock-heroic couplets, and creates forms of his own: poems that spin into indeterminacy, poems that don’t end. With a deft hand and playful ear, Williams entices the reader to stumble alongside his characters as they search, again and again, for intimacy, for love, for each other.

Ian Williams writes challenging poetry. His poems address the crisis of young, black masculinity in cities, paint starkly urban portraits of live and break open stereotypes. Sly humor laces through this collection, and Williams is adept at playing with language to change meanings in unexpected ways. For him it''s easy to turn the word go into gone.

Great Stories Written Badly by Ian Williams At times funny and poignant, this is an evocative exploration of how art connects us with the world and how it can help heal a fractured society.

A set for upper primary children consisting of one big book and four identical smaller books defining a selection of legal terms in simple language. Includes a brief discussion of laws and law makers, and a glossary. One of the TLaw-makers, Law-breakers'' series of units.