In 1984, at the age of 78, world-renowned rose grower Hilda Murrell was found brutally murdered in the Shropshire countryside. She had just gained an approval to testify on the unsolved problems of radioactive waste at the first British planning enquiry into a new nuclear plant at Sizewell, Suffolk.The police theory that a lone, panicking burglar robbed and abducted Hilda in her own car for petty cash erupted into a sensational political conspiracy involving Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's plans for British nuclear energy and the controversial sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War. The West Mercia police took until 2005 to secrure the conviction of Andrew George as Hilda's unlikely murderer - in 1984 he was a 16 year-old truant from a local foster home who could not drive. The case spawned numerous books, plays and TV programmes as it became one of the most baffling British murders of the 20th century.Now, Hilda's nephew Robert Green - a former Royal navy Commander who operated nuclear weapons before holding a key position in Naval Intelligence during the Falklands War - tells the story of his extraordinary pursuit of the truth. Believing that Hilda was abducted by those who wanted to find out what she knew about the Falklands conflict and problems in the Sizewell nuclear power plant, and undeterred by ongoing harassment, Green exposes the implausibility of the police theory and uncovers new evidence that should have acquitted Andrew George.This is the incredible true story of Hilda Murrell - and of one man's quest to find out how and why his beloved aunt met with such a violent and bizarre death.

A Thorn in Their Side is Robert Green's extraordinary pursuit of the truth about how and why his aunt Hilda Murrell, a noted English rose grower, met a violent and bizarre death. In 1984, at the age of 78, Hilda Murrell was found brutally murdered in the Shropshire countryside. She had just gained approval to testify on the unsolved problems of radioactive waste at the first British planning inquiry into a new nuclear power plant. The police theory that a lone, panicking burglar robbed and abducted Hilda in her own car for petty cash erupted into a sensational political conspiracy involving PM Margaret Thatcher's plans for British nuclear energy and the controversial sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War. The West Mercia Police, accused of initial negligence, a bungled investigation and ignoring key evidence, took until 2005 to secure the conviction of Andrew George as Hilda's unlikely murderer - in 1984 he was a 16-year-old truant from a local foster home who could not drive. The case has spawned numerous books, plays and TV programmes as it became one of the most baffling British murders of the 20th century. Now Robert Green exposes the implausibility of the police theory; how key witnesses were leant on to change statements, and information suggesting political motives was dismissed. He has also uncovered explosive new evidence that George should have been acquitted.

Dispelling myths along the way, an ex-covert special operations lead with Canada's Security Intelligence Service reveals what life as a spy is really like, sharing his on-the-ground experience of becoming a CSIS member and how he rose up the ranks to leading missions.

In this introduction to post-war fiction in Britain, Dominic Head shows how the novel yields a special insight into the important areas of social and cultural history in the second half of the twentieth century. Head's study is the most exhaustive survey of post-war British fiction available. It includes chapters on the state and the novel, class and social change, gender and sexual identity, national identity and multiculturalism. Throughout Head places novels in their social and historical context. He highlights the emergence and prominence of particular genres and links these developments to the wider cultural context. He also provides provocative readings of important individual novelists, particularly those who remain staple reference points in the study of the subject. Accessible, wide-ranging and designed specifically for use on courses, this is the most current introduction to the subject available. An invaluable resource for students and teachers alike.

As such things happen, several manuscripts in the present volume were under review prior to the ones that appeared in Volume I of the Annals. A major difficulty encountered in the preparation of these volumes apart from working up to three years in advance of publication-is elic iting appropriate commentary. If this format is to succeed, the com mentary must be both engaging to the reader and satisfying to the author. It is not yet clear how successful we have been in this regard and, indeed, we do not feel bound to publish commentary with each manuscript that is accepted for publication. Nevertheless, we do invite readers' commentaries on published materials. The contributions by Jan Smedslund and Benjamin Wolman in this volume have been through an inordinately long publication lag. We have been in receipt of both manuscripts since early in 1981 and Dr. Smedslund, especially, has since clarified and advanced his views else where in print. K. B. Madsen and Joseph Rychlak submitted their man uscripts in the fall of 1981 while Michael Hyland and J. Philippe Rushton had first drafts of their manuscripts accepted for publication in the fall of 1982. We are grateful to our contributors for their expressed com mitment to the Annals and assure potential contributors that the delay in publication is a mere matter of getting the series off the ground.

Cornell University is fortunate to have as its historian a man of Morris Bishop's talents and devotion. As an accurate record and a work of art possessing form and personality, his book at once conveys the unique character of the early university—reflected in its vigorous founder, its first scholarly president, a brilliant and eccentric faculty, the hardy student body, and, sometimes unfortunately, its early architecture—and establishes Cornell's wider significance as a case history in the development of higher education. Cornell began in rebellion against the obscurantism of college education a century ago. Its record, claims the author, makes a social and cultural history of modern America. This story will undoubtedly entrance Cornellians; it will also charm a wider public. Dr. Allan Nevins, historian, wrote: "I anticipated that this book would meet the sternest tests of scholarship, insight, and literary finish. I find that it not only does this, but that it has other high merits. It shows grasp of ideas and forces. It is graphic in its presentation of character and idiosyncrasy. It lights up its story by a delightful play of humor, felicitously expressed. Its emphasis on fundamentals, without pomposity or platitude, is refreshing. Perhaps most important of all, it achieves one goal that in the history of a living university is both extremely difficult and extremely valuable: it recreates the changing atmosphere of time and place. It is written, very plainly, by a man who has known and loved Cornell and Ithaca for a long time, who has steeped himself in the traditions and spirit of the institution, and who possesses the enthusiasm and skill to convey his understanding of these intangibles to the reader." The distinct personalities of Ezra Cornell and first president Andrew Dickson White dominate the early chapters. For a vignette of the founder, see Bishop's description of "his" first buildings (Cascadilla, Morrill, McGraw, White, Sibley): "At best," he writes, "they embody the character of Ezra Cornell, grim, gray, sturdy, and economical." To the English historian, James Anthony Froude, Mr. Cornell was "the most surprising and venerable object I have seen in America." The first faculty, chosen by President White, reflected his character: "his idealism, his faith in social emancipation by education, his dislike of dogmatism, confinement, and inherited orthodoxy"; while the "romantic upstate gothic" architecture of such buildings as the President's house (now Andrew D. White Center for the Humanities), Sage Chapel, and Franklin Hall may be said to "portray the taste and Soul of Andrew Dickson White." Other memorable characters are Louis Fuertes, the beloved naturalist; his student, Hugh Troy, who once borrowed Fuertes' rhinoceros-foot wastebasket for illicit if hilarious purposes; the more noteworthy and the more eccentric among the faculty of succeeding presidential eras; and of course Napoleon, the campus dog, whose talent for hailing streetcars brought him home safely—and alone—from the Penn game. The humor in A History of Cornell is at times kindly, at times caustic, and always illuminating.