Matthew Sweet – författare

Operation Chaos is an untold Cold War story: how the CIA tried to infiltrate a radical group of U.S. military deserters, an audiobook that leads from a bizarre political cult to the heart of the Washington establishmentStockholm, 1968. A thousand American deserters and draft-resisters are arriving to escape the war in Vietnam. They’re young, they’re radical, and they want to start a revolution. Some of them even want to take the fight to America. The Swedes treat them like pop stars—but the CIA is determined to stop all that.It’s a job for the deep-cover men of Operation Chaos and their allies—agents who know how to infiltrate organizations and destroy them from inside. Within months, the GIs have turned their fire on one another. Then the interrogations begin—to discover who among them has been brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate-style, to assassinate their leaders.When Matthew Sweet began investigating this story, he thought the madness was over. He was wrong. Instead, he became the confidant of an eccentric and traumatized group of survivors—each with his own theory about the traitors in their midst. All Sweet has to do is find out the truth. And stay sane. Which may be difficult when one of his interviewees accuses him of being a CIA agent and another suspects that he’s part of a secret plot by the British royal family to start World War III. By that time, he’s deep in the labyrinth of truths and half-truths, wondering where reality ends and delusion begins.

A captivating anthology of programmes, painting a multi-faceted portrait of a unique countryJapan is a land of complexity, contrast and contradictions. The world''s third-largest economy, it is a powerhouse of innovation and a pioneer in technology, fashion and pop culture. But it also has a rich, ancient heritage and a deep reverence for custom, ritual and tradition. This illuminating 2-part radio collection traverses the different aspects of this fascinating country, from its famous historical figures to its diverse cultural landscape.Part 1: History opens with Japan in Five Lives, in which cultural historian Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from the country''s past to answer the question ''Who are the Japanese''? In Killing Time in Imperial Japan, he explores early 20th Century Tokyo, a bustling, cosmopolitan capital where the meaning of ''time'' was hotly contested. Dark Blossoms sees him examining the doubts and misgivings accompanying Japan''s rapid embrace of modernity, while in Japanese Tsunami, broadcasters Richard Lloyd Parry and Matthew Sweet discuss the devastating natural disaster that rocked the country in 2011. In Land of the Rising Sums, Alex Bellos visits Kyoto to ask why Asian cultures seem so much better at maths; in Japan and Religion, Roy Jenkins discusses the place of religious traditions in modern Japan; and in Supernatural Japan, Christopher Harding looks at how the Japanese have used ghosts and ghost stories to make sense of their world.Part 2: Culture celebrates Japan''s art, literature and film. In Japan Now 2020, Philip Dodd talks to writers Hiromi Ito and Yukiko Motoya and photographer Tomoko Sawada about women''s roles in Japanese culture today. Meanwhile, in Images of Japan, illustrator Fumio Obata and manga translator Jocelyne Allen discuss Japanese comic book imagery, and we join novelists Kyoko Nakajima and Yuya Sato in conversation with Christopher Harding. Landmark: Seven Samurai and Landmark: Rashomon see Matthew Sweet and Rana Mitter investigating the stories behind Akira Kurosawa''s two most influential films, in the company of guests including film scholar Ian Christie and authors SF Said, David Peace and Natasha Pulley. The Tale of Genji takes us into the shimmering world of mediaeval Japan, as Rana Mitter explores Murasaki Shikibu''s masterpiece, widely considered to be the world''s first novel. Finally, in Godzilla and Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Harding considers cinematic depictions of Japanese fear, as exemplified by the legendary monster king and the 2013 animated film The Wind Rises.ContentsJapan in Five LivesKilling Time in Imperial JapanDark BlossomsJapanese TsunamiLand of the Rising SumsJapan and ReligionSupernatural JapanJapan Now 2020Images of JapanLandmark: Seven SamuraiLandmark: RashomonThe Tale of GenjiGodzilla and The Wind Rises© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Adapted from the major television series created by Mark Gatiss - out now!''A delicious read'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READER REVIEWLondon, 1946. Gabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way.He does not work alone. Book''s shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - some of whom bring mysteries of their own to his door. There''s Nora, sometime bookseller and true crime enthusiast; Dog, connoisseur of ginger biscuits and then Jack, whose arrival at the shop forces Book to confront a loose end from his own past.Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.