Tom Miller – författare

Havana knew me by my shoes," begins Tom Miller's lively and entertaining account of his sojourn for more than eight months traveling through Cuba, mixing with its literati and black marketers, its cane cutters and cigar rollers. Granted unprecedented access to travel throughout the country, the author presents us with a rare insight into one of the world's only Communist countries. Its best-known personalities and ordinary citizens talk to him about the U.S. embargo and tell their favourite Fidel jokes as they stand in line for bread at the Socialism or Death Bakery. Miller provides a running commentary on Cuba's food shortages, exotic sensuality, and baseball addiction as he follows the scents of Graham Greene, José Marti, Ernest Hemingway, and the Mambo Kings. The result of this informed and adventurous journey is a vibrant, rhythmic portrait of a land and people too long shielded from American eyes.

By 2030, China's cities will be home to 1 billion people - one in every eight people on earth. What kind of lives will China's urban billion lead? And what will China's cities be like?Over the past thirty years, China's urban population expanded by 500 million people, and is on track to swell by a further 300 million by 2030. Hundreds of millions of these new urban residents are rural migrants, who lead second-class lives without access to urban benefits. Even those lucky citizens who live in modern tower blocks must put up with clogged roads, polluted skies and cityscapes of unremitting ugliness. The rapid expansion of urban China is astonishing, but new policies are urgently needed to create healthier cities.Combining on-the-ground reportage and up-to-date research, this pivotal book explains why China has failed to reap many of the economic and social benefits of urbanization, and suggests how these problems can be resolved. If its leaders get urbanization right, China will surpass the United States and cement its position as the world's largest economy. But if they get it wrong, China could spend the next twenty years languishing in middle-income torpor, its cities pockmarked by giant slums.

By 2030, China's cities will be home to 1 billion people - one in every eight people on earth. What kind of lives will China's urban billion lead? And what will China's cities be like?Over the past thirty years, China's urban population expanded by 500 million people, and is on track to swell by a further 300 million by 2030. Hundreds of millions of these new urban residents are rural migrants, who lead second-class lives without access to urban benefits. Even those lucky citizens who live in modern tower blocks must put up with clogged roads, polluted skies and cityscapes of unremitting ugliness. The rapid expansion of urban China is astonishing, but new policies are urgently needed to create healthier cities.Combining on-the-ground reportage and up-to-date research, this pivotal book explains why China has failed to reap many of the economic and social benefits of urbanization, and suggests how these problems can be resolved. If its leaders get urbanization right, China will surpass the United States and cement its position as the world's largest economy. But if they get it wrong, China could spend the next twenty years languishing in middle-income torpor, its cities pockmarked by giant slums.

"China", Napoleon once remarked, "is a sleeping lion. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world." In 2014, President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared the lion had awakened. Under his leadership, China is pursuing a dream to restore its historical position as the dominant power in Asia.From the Mekong River Basin to the Central Asian steppe, China is flexing its economic muscles for strategic ends. By setting up new regional financial institutions, Beijing is challenging the post-World War II order established under the watchful eye of Washington. And by funding and building roads, railways, ports and power lines—a New Silk Road across Eurasia and through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean—China aims to draw its neighbours ever tighter into its embrace.Combining a geopolitical overview with on-the-ground reportage from a dozen countries, China’s Asian Dream offers a fresh perspective on the rise of China’ and asks: what does it means for the future of Asia?

In 1986, Rangers FC made a bold move that changed Scottish football forever. The appointment of Graeme Souness as player-manager marked the end of a nine-year title drought and the beginning of a new era atIbrox. Backed with serious investment and a clear mandate, Souness won the league in his first season and reignited the club's ambition.This book revisits that transformative period, when Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee United were the dominant forces. With fresh insight from Rangers legends such as Terry Butcher, Ian Durrant and John Brown, and reflectionsfrom rivals including Souness's former international teammate Alan Rough, we explore the battles on the pitch and the drama behind the scenes. Former Rangers player and then-Hearts boss Alex MacDonald also shareshis memories of how his old club changed almost overnight.Forty years on, we uncover stories never told before, with Souness himself at the heart of it. Featuring a foreword by iconic captain Richard Gough, and a postscript from Rangers record goal scorer Ally McCoist, this is a compelling look at the revolution that reshaped Rangers. As Ian Ferguson put it, 'I could have gone to Man Utd., but when Souness trapped up at Ibrox, there was only one destination for me.'

In 1986, Rangers FC made a bold move that changed Scottish football forever. The appointment of Graeme Souness as player-manager marked the end of a nine-year title drought and the beginning of a new era atIbrox. Backed with serious investment and a clear mandate, Souness won the league in his first season and reignited the club's ambition.This book revisits that transformative period, when Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee United were the dominant forces. With fresh insight from Rangers legends such as Terry Butcher, Ian Durrant and John Brown, and reflectionsfrom rivals including Souness's former international teammate Alan Rough, we explore the battles on the pitch and the drama behind the scenes. Former Rangers player and then-Hearts boss Alex MacDonald also shareshis memories of how his old club changed almost overnight.Forty years on, we uncover stories never told before, with Souness himself at the heart of it. Featuring a foreword by iconic captain Richard Gough, and a postscript from Rangers record goal scorer Ally McCoist, this is a compelling look at the revolution that reshaped Rangers. As Ian Ferguson put it, 'I could have gone to Man Utd., but when Souness trapped up at Ibrox, there was only one destination for me.'

‘China’, Napoleon once remarked, ‘is a sleeping lion. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.’ In 2014, President Xi Jinping triumphantly declared that the lion had awoken.From holding its ground in trade wars with the US, to presenting itself as a world leader in the fight against climate change, a newly confident China is flexing its economic muscles for strategic ends. With the Belt and Road initiative, billed as a new Silk Road for the 21st Century, China is set to extend its influence throughout Eurasia and across the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. But with the Chinese and US militaries also vying over the Pacific, does this newfound confidence put China on a collision course with the US?Combining a geopolitical overview with on-the-ground reportage from a dozen countries, this new edition of China’s Asian Dream engages with the most recent developments in the ongoing story of China’s ascendency, and offers new insights into what the rise of China means not only for Asia, but for the world.

Jim Baxter - the legendary 'Slim Jim' - was arguably Scotland's greatest-ever footballer, a left-footed genius who became a Rangers icon and helped Scotland humiliate world champions England at Wembley in 1967 - with some famous keepie-uppie along the way. And although much has been written about Slim Jim over the years, the real story behind his life is now revealed for the first time. When Jim Baxter joined Rangers in 1960 for a record fee of £17,500, he quickly proved his worth, helping the team to ten trophies over the next five years. It was the start of a glittering career and a hard-drinking, hard-living lifestyle in the big city, where he fully enjoyed the fruits of his success. But behind the glamour on and off the park, Jim Baxter hid a secret that would torment him for most of his life, a secret he only discovered the full truth about when he was fifty years old. What is beyond doubt is that Slim Jim Baxter will forever be revered for his unbelievable footballing talent. He will also be remembered for his ability to live life to the full and beyond. But had he uncovered the truth earlier about the family secret that left him shattered, the life of this footballing genius might have been very different both on and off the pitch.