Are you excited for 2024? Looking at Biteback’s list, we certainly are!
Secure your next political read, be it a timely, election-based one with Iain Dale’s British General Election Campaigns 1830–2019 or Why Vote. Or why not something from the broader political spectrum, such as Screwed: Britain’s Prison Crisis and How to Escape It or the first-ever biography of Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner, Red Queen?
Outside the political arena, we have plenty of other non-fiction titles too. Relive the glory of West Ham’s Europa Conference League victory last year with Massive or go behind the scenes of one of the most dangerous sports, boxing, in Death of a Boxer. Confront challenging subjects with Nadeine Asbali’s book about being visibly Muslim in Britian, Veiled Threat, or Geoffrey Robertson KC’s The Trial of Vladimir Putin. A fan of espionage? Discover the scandalous story of civil-servant-turned-spy John Vassall in Sex, Spies and Scandal, Nigel West’s surprising life story in Classified! or the tale of the circus director and spy, Cyril Bertram Mills.
Take a closer look at what’s coming up below:
Politics
Why Vote by Jo Phillips and David Seymour
If younger people turned out to vote in the same numbers that older people do, this country would be a very different place. Jo Phillips and David Seymour guide the reader through the workings of government and Parliament and make a passionate case for the power of democracy. Their argument is that young people should take back control of the future, hold politicians to account and get involved.
British General Election Campaigns 1830–2019: The 50 General Election Campaigns That Shaped Our Modern Politics by Iain Dale
This remarkable book, edited by one of the UK’s leading political commentators, takes us on a deep dive into nearly 200 years of British political history in its most dramatic expression: the general election. The British general election is the linchpin of our liberal democracy, and its results are often fundamental to how we live.
From the general election of 1830, in which electoral reform was the centrepiece, to the so-called Brexit election of 2019, Iain Dale delivers a showcase of all fifty general elections, with an essay for each of them written by key political writers including John Curtice, Julia Langdon, Simon Heffer, Peter Snow, Sue Cameron, Vernon Bogdanor, Adam Boulton and many others.
Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner by Michael Ashcroft
Angela Rayner is one of the most arresting figures in British politics today. Rayner’s life story has earned her a reputation as an authentic working-class voice and, thanks to her own power base and combative performances in the Commons chamber, she is widely considered to be a standout figure among Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow Cabinet.
But who is the real Angela Rayner? What does she actually believe in? What is she like behind the scenes? Can she unite the factions of her party to endorse the Starmer project? And does she harbour ambitions for the top job? This careful examination of her background and career seeks to answer these questions and many more.
Current Affairs
Veiled Threat: On being visibly Muslim in Britain by Nadeine Asbali
Nadeine’s life changed overnight. As a mixed-race teenager, she had unknowingly been passing as white her entire life: until she decided to wear the hijab. Then, in an instant, she went from being an unassuming white(ish) child to something sinister and threatening, perverse and foreign.
Combining a passionate argument with personal experience, Veiled Threat is an indictment of a divided Britain that dominates and systematically others Muslim women at every opportunity.
Screwed: Britain’s Prison Crisis and How to Escape It by Ian Acheson
Screwed is the inside story of the collapse of HM Prison Service told from the front line. Ian Acheson served as both officer and Governor in a twenty-year career that saw him move from the landings to the boardroom. This hard-hitting account looks at the politics and the operational decision-making that have caused our prisons to descend into places where extreme violence, indolence and victimisation are normalised.
He concludes that the situation is not beyond repair and describes how a new corporate culture and mission can achieve a much-needed revolution in the way the service is run.
The Trial of Vladimir Putin by Geoffrey Robertson KC
There have been dozens of books about the Russian President Vladimir Putin since he launched his illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some have examined the historical aspects of the conflict, others have analysed its military and geopolitical importance. However, so far, none have looked solely at the legal consequences of that disastrous action.
Geoffrey Robertson looks at the difficulties of bringing Putin to trial and why the popular campaign for a court to try him in absentia would not work.
Espionage
Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall Affair by Alex Grant
This is the story of John Vassall, a civil servant who was unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1962. Having been photographed in compromising positions while working at the British embassy in Moscow in 1954, Vassall was blackmailed into handing over secrets from the British Admiralty to his Soviet handlers, both in Moscow and in London, for more than seven years.
This is an explosive tale of sexual violence, betrayal, cover-up, homophobia and hypocrisy that blows open some of the British establishment’s darkest secrets.
Classified! The Adventures of a Molehunter by Nigel West
As action-packed as the lives of the spies he has written about, Classified! Is the surprising life story of one of our most celebrated writers, Nigel West.
“This book will become a spooks’ bible. There has not been a single espionage-related scandal, prison breakout, treble cross, decryption breakthrough, unmasking, heroic exfiltration or sensational event over more than half a century that Nigel West has not either been involved with or written something insightful about.” Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
The Spy Who Came in from the Circus: The Secret Life of Cyril Bertram Mills by Christopher Andrew
For almost half a century, Bertram Mills Circus was a household name throughout Britain among both children and adults and it’s Director, Cyril Bertram Mills, was one of the best-known and most influential names in the country’s entertainment business.
But for forty years, Cyril Mills also enjoyed a top-secret and wide-ranging career in British intelligence. In this remarkable true story, Christopher Andrew, best-selling author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5and official historian of the security service, brings to life one of the most surprising and fascinating tales of espionage ever told.
Sport
Massive: The Miracle of Prague by Pete May
Massive charts West Ham’s tumultuous 2022–23 season and epic triumph in the Europa Conference League Final in Prague, their first trophy in forty-three years and first European trophy in fifty-eight years.
“Pete May is a master West Ham storyteller. That night in Prague will stay with me for ever, and Pete captures it perfectly.” Iain Dale
Death of a Boxer by Pete Carvill
Explore the psychology of those who choose to fight and what draws them towards the most dangerous of pursuits: boxing.
Pete Carvill has written extensively on boxing and combat sports for fifteen years and in this new book, he takes off his own gloves and picks up a pen to explore the lives of fighters, meeting those at the early stages of their careers in amateur clubs, established professionals, those down on their luck and the retired fighters still hankering for what once came so easily to them.
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