EDWARD STOURTON

Almost all of us have a hobby horse we like to ride into battle against Political Correctness, and yet the PC phenomenon just seems to keep on growing, touching every facet of our lives from our pleasures to our politics. Why? Could it be that this much derided scourge of the modern world contains a germ of goodness? Edward Stourton finds examples in all walks of life and explodes a few myths along the way. His witty and thought-provoking manoeuvres through the pros and cons of PC are both entertaining and at times unexpectedly disturbing.

Thoughtful witty occasionally comic often effortlessly profound not a conventional journalistic memoir Sunday Times If you value the perspective and judgment of one who has covered often from the frontline the major events of the past four decades then snap up a copy Mail on Sunday A book brimming with surprises and insight Nicholas Coleridge Edward Stourton was born into a life of privilege The son of expat parents in colonial Nigeria Ed was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth at the time when it was latter revealed the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases He then went up to Cambridge where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers judges and newspaper editors As a young journalist he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones witnessing the events making international headlines from Haiti to Hong Kong before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4 s Today During this time the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement men only clubs have been replaced by Me Too and instead of a choice selection

The mountain paths are as treacherous as they are steep the more so in the dark and in winter. Even for the fit the journey is a formidable challenge. Hundreds of those who climbed through the Pyrenees during the Second World War were malnourished and exhausted after weeks on the run hiding in barns and attics. Many never even reached the Spanish border. Today their bravery and endurance is commemorated each July by a trek along the Chemin de la Liberte the toughest and most dangerous of wartime routes. From his fellow pilgrims Edward Stourton uncovers stories of midnight scrambles across rooftops and drops from speeding trains; burning Lancasters, doomed love affairs, horrific murder and astonishing heroism. The lives of the men, women and children who were drawn by the war to the Pyrenees often read as breathtakingly exciting adventure, but they were led against a background of intense fear, mounting persecution and appalling risk. Drawing on interviews with the few remaining survivors and the families of those who were there, Edward Stourtons vivid history of this little-known aspect of the Second World War is shocking, dramatic and intensely moving.

"An engaging, balanced and thoroughly researched history. It is often a moving and amusing tale containing plenty of mavericks and colourful episodes." (Lawrence James, The Times)Aunties War is a love letter to radio. The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British institution unlike any other, and its story during the Second World War is also our story. This was Britains first total war, engaging the whole nation, and the wireless played a crucial role in it. For the first time, news of the conflict reached every living room sometimes almost as it happened; and at key moments:- Chamberlains announcement of war- The Blitz- The D-Day landings - De Gaulles broadcasts from exile- Churchills fighting speechesRadio offered an incomparable tool for propaganda; it was how coded messages, both political and personal, were sent across Europe, and it was a means of sending less than truthful information to the enemy. Edward Stourton is a sharp-eyed, wry and affectionate companion on the BBCs wartime journey, investigating archives, diaries, letters and memoirs to examine what the BBC was and what it stood for. Aunties War is an incomparable insight into why we have the broadcast culture we do today.A BBC RADIO 4: BOOK OF THE WEEK

If you are accompanied by a dog you can talk to anyone, and anyone can talk to you about anything And they do. Edward Stourtons walks with, Kudu, his dog, become an opportunity for wonderfully unlikely encounters, and reflecting on the world from the dog-walkers perspective proves remarkably illuminating. Ed and Kudus small trips to the park offer up big insights into romantic attachment, honour and heroism, guilt and depression, our sense of duty, beauty and the hard facts of lifes pecking order. Diary of a Dog-Walker is witty, wise and will be utterly irresistible to any man or woman with a dog.

Thoughtful, witty, occasionally comic, often effortlessly profound - not a conventional journalistic memoir.Sunday TimesIf you value the perspective and judgment of one who has covered, often from the frontline, the major events of the past four decades, then snap up a copy.Mail on SundayA book brimming with surprises and insight. - Nicholas Coleridge*Updated for paperback to include new postscript chapter from the author*-------------------------------------------------------------------Edward Stourton was born into a life of privilege.The son of expat parents in colonial Nigeria, Ed was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth, at the time when, it was latter revealed, the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases. He then went up to Cambridge, where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers, judges and newspaper editors. As a young journalist, he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones, witnessing the events making international headlines, from Haiti to Hong Kong, before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4s Today.During this time, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels, we have millions of voices on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.The world has changed, and so has Ed. Brought face to face with the author of his obituary and his own inevitable mortality, Ed is prompted to reflect on the life he has led and the events that have shaped him.In Confessions, he describes this remarkable journey with candour, humour and the insight that only forty years experience of writing and reporting can provide.A searingly honest insight into the life of one of our great journalists. Hugely entertaining too. John Humphrys

The riveting new exploration of American history and how it has led to the era of Donald Trump from the award-winning political broadcaster.A well argued and elegant answer to the question, how did America get to this place? Justin Webb, presenter of AmericastPithy, entertaining and informative GuardianTrumps second term, even more than his first, is often called unprecedented. But history shows that Trump and his policies are as American as apple pieMuch of what Donald Trump does seems maverick and even mad. His actions and policy pronouncements are a stark rupture from the American style of leadership that we have lived with all our lives. Plenty of people on both sides of the Atlantic have argued that he will destroy his countrys democracy. But whether we like them or not, his trade tariffs, his determination to deport tens of thousands of people, and his apparent contempt for the rule of law are deeply rooted in American history.Made in America shows how the ideal of liberty has been tested in past generations, from the first intolerant Pilgrims to the brutal invasion of Mexico, and reveals the dark side of the American Dream in order to offer urgent lessons to our turbulent present.Heres what readers are saying about Made in AmericaEssential read about Trump . . . informative and frightening Brilliant. A great romp through the not so sparkling history of the US A very well written and informative book

Author, journalist and BBC presenter Ed Stourton delves into the Hodder & Stoughton archives to tell the human story of 150 years of publishing. From the day in June 1868 when Matthew Henry Hodder and Thomas Wilberforce Stoughton first founded the company, through numerous encounters with authors from John le Carre to Jodi Picoult, and several staff sports days - this will be an entertaining and enlightening read for any book lover.

Essential reading for anyone anxious to understand the background to the Brexit debateTabletWith all the political infighting in British politics over Brexit dominating the news cycle, we almost forgot who we were negotiating with. Now, in Blind Mans Brexit, we get to see and hear exactly what was going on in the corridors of power in Brussels, and how the EU comprehensively outmanoeuvred the UK government. When Lode Desmet met Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliaments representative on Brexit, about filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary on the negotiations, he could never have imagined the unique access he would be granted and the extraordinary story that he would end up filming. As the cameras rolled, Lode sat in on private conversations with chief negotiator Michel Barnier and saw first hand how Theresa Mays governments negotiating positions were knocked back time after time. The results were aired in the BBC documentary series Brexit: Behind Closed Doors. Written with distinguished political commentator Edward Stourton, who also provides a British perspective on events, Blind Mans Brexit goes beyond the documentary to reveal a staggering and unprecedented failure of diplomacy on one side and contrasts the very clearly defined aims and goals of the EU side. Many books have attempted to tell the story of what happened, but this one has completely unfiltered access to events as viewed by the EU, and shows exactly why, how and where the Brexit negotiations went so spectacularly wrong, resulting in our departure from the EU being delayed beyond 29 March 2019 as the UK was left in limbo and its political system in disarray.