As a young man from a loving, middle class family living in a small English village, Ben Rogers appeared to have it all....but then he found drugs. As his life descended into chaos and despair, Ben began to chronicle his daily struggles with the aid of a video camera. He was hopeful that one day his experiences could be used to educate others. Ben lost his battle against addiction and died when he was 34 as a result of medical withdrawal. His family decided to release the tapes in the hope that other families could benefit. The result was the highly acclaimed, award winning SKY documentary, 'Ben, Diary of a Heroin Addict' which was shown on national television 27 times and ultimately across the world. Ben's mother, Anne, received hundreds of letters and messages, not only from addicts but also from families saying that the documentary had helped them realise that they weren't alone. The film took Ben's mum to the Home Office, with interviews on national television, radio and the press. She has spoken with many young offenders desperate to educate other youngsters about addiction and to honour her son's wishes. The book includes writings and drawings by Ben which give a unique insight into the chaos surrounding drug addiction. His brother and sisters contribute too to the story of a family living on the edge. 'Ben, Diary of a Heroin Addict – A Mother's Fight' is both an attack against the government's tolerance of addiction and a powerful and moving depiction of one family's love.

This compelling book chronicles a young boy’s journey from the horrors of Jamaican slavery to the heart of London’s literary world, and reveals the unlikely friendship that changed his life. Francis Barber, born in Jamaica, was brought to London by his owner in 1750 and became a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although Barber left London for a time and served in the British navy during the Seven Years’ War, he later returned to Johnson’s employ. A fascinating reversal took place in the relationship between the two men as Johnson’s health declined and the older man came to rely more and more upon his now educated and devoted companion. When Johnson died he left the bulk of his estate to Barber, a generous (and at the time scandalous) legacy, and a testament to the depth of their friendship. There were thousands of black Britons in the eighteenth century, but few accounts of their lives exist. In uncovering Francis Barber’s story, this book not only provides insights into his life and Samuel Johnson’s but also opens a window onto London when slaves had yet to win their freedom.

How states are making their legal systems more equitable, seen through the story of a Black man falsely imprisoned for thirty years for murder. In 1987, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t commit. From the day of his arrest, Spencer insisted that it was “an awful mistake.” The Texas legal system didn’t see it that way. It allowed shoddy police work, paid witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct to convict Spencer of murder, and it ignored later efforts to correct this error. The state’s bureaucratic intransigence caused Spencer to spend more than half his life in prison. Eventually independent investigators, new witness testimony, the foreman of the jury that convicted him, and a new Dallas DA convinced a Texas judge that Spencer had nothing to do with the killing, and in 2021 he was released from prison. As Spencer’s fight to clear himself demonstrates, our legal systems are broken: expedience is more important than the truth. That is starting to change as states across the country implement new efforts to reduce wrongful convictions, and one of the states leading the way is Texas. Award-winning journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty has spent years digging into this issue, and she has immersed herself in Spencer’s case. She has combed police files and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and had extensive conversations with Spencer, and in Bringing Ben Home she threads together two narratives: how an innocent Black man got caught up in and couldn’t escape a legal system that refused to admit its mistakes; and what Texas and other states are doing to address wrongful convictions to make the legal process more equitable for everyone. By turns fascinating and enraging, personal and provocative, Bringing Ben Home is the powerful story of one innocent man who refused to admit that he was guilty of murder, and how his plight became part of a paradigm shift in how the legal system thinks about innocence as it institutes new methods to overturn wrongful convictions to better protect people like Ben Spencer.

Can most believers give a rational explanation for their faith? Have most skeptics ever heard convincing answers to their arguments? Author Ben Young creates an intriguing and insightful dialogue between a skeptic, Mike, and a Christian friend working through Mike's questions with thoughtful, biblical answers. Along the way, readers will discover responses to the most common reasons people say they are not a Christian- It's true for you, but not for me All Christians are hypocrites Evolution is true The Bible is full of myths All paths lead to God, not just one Open-minded skeptics looking for answers or Christians looking for a way to articulate their beliefs more effectively will want this on hand.

Beginning with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Logan experienced a massive change and shifting population. The racial boiling point in Philadelphia was ten years later in 1978. Ben's is set in the summer of that year when turf wars, crime and political upheaval were rampant in the city. The central character, Torch, is a small-time numbers writer who works for Bah-Bah, the head of a lucrative gambling and loan shark operation in south Philadelphia. When Bah-Bah is forced to change the location of his business and go underground, he runs into some tense situations with the members of Ben's. They are a loosely organized group of young men-including Torch-who are engaged in various types of petty crime and hustles. The situation is made more complicated and dangerous by the existence of a hidden meth lab and several, local, rogue cops who want to find it and rip it off.

Bestselling author Ben Elton's most personal novel to date, Two Brothers transports the reader to the time of history's darkest hour. Berlin 1920 Two babies are born. Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood. As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice... Which one of them will survive?