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The astonishing life of the modest New Jersey businessman who anonymously gave away 10 billion dollars and inspired the "giving while living" movement. In this bestselling book, Conor O'Clery reveals the inspiring life story of Chuck Feeney, known as the "James Bond of philanthropy." Feeney was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to a blue-collar Irish-American family during the Depression. After service in the Korean War, he made a fortune as founder of Duty Free Shoppers, the world's largest duty-free retail chain. By 1988, he was hailed by Forbes Magazine as the twenty-fourth richest American alive. But secretly Feeney had already transferred all his wealth to his foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies. Only in 1997 when he sold his duty free interests, was he "outed" as one of the greatest and most mysterious American philanthropists in modern times, who had anonymously funded hospitals and universities from San Francisco to Limerick to New York to Brisbane. His example convinced Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to give away their fortunes during their lifetime, known as the giving pledge.
History always comes down to the details. And when it comes to the fall of the Soviet Union, the details are crucial, especially when such an era-defining event hinged on the bitter personal relationship between two powerful men, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. On the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Cold War, Conor O'Clery has built his compelling and brilliantly constructed narrative of the fall of the Soviet Union around one day, December 25, 1991, the date Gorbachev resigned and the USSR was effectively consigned to history. From there, O'Clery looks back over the events of the previous six years: Gorbachev's reform policies of glasnost and perestroika; Yeltsin's ignominious ...
The Soviet Union, 1962. Shoemaker Stanislav Suvorov is imprisoned for five years. His crime? Selling his car for a profit, contravening the Kremlin's strict laws of speculation. Laws which, thirty years later, his daughter Zhanna helps to unravel. In the new Russia, yesterday's crime is today's opportunity. On his release from prison, social shame drives Stanislav to voluntary exile in Siberia, moving his family from a relatively comfortable, continental life in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, to frigid, farthest-flung Krasnoyarsk. For some, it is the capital of the gulag. For others, it is the chance to start over again. These are the last days of a Soviet Union in which the Communist Part...
Conor O’Clery has been a witness to some of the major world events of the last thirty years, including the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the ending of the Cold War as viewed from Moscow; the reluctant opening up of China to the West; the Clinton years in the White House; and the 9/11 attacks. As foreign correspondent for The Irish Times, he was the first western journalist to open an office in Moscow at the height of Gorbachev’s glasnost, and he subsequently acted as correspondent from Washington, Beijing and New York. In May You Live in Interesting Times, O’Clery reveals the untold stories of life as a journalist on the cutting edge of history.
It was Ireland's biggest banking scandal and the fourth-biggest banking fraud in the world. John Rusnak, a lone wolf currency trader in Allfirst, a regional American bank owned by AIB, racked up losses of almost $700 million. This sort of thing was not supposed to happen in modern banking, and certainly not in a retail bank far from the world's financial centres. But it did.
Drawing on his access to all the decision makers from his years as a Washington reporter, O'Clery tells the story of backdoor diplomacy, international intrigue, and the monumental struggle between two world powers with his customary color, insight, and analysis.
A historical novel about William Keane, a journalist rebel during the 1790's in Northern Ireland. "The Star Man, an impressive blend of scholarship and inspiration, enumerates the causes of disruption and disaffection while keeping its tone lively and its narrative engaging"--Irish Times. "The novel is a vibrant mixture of the frolicsome and the horrific, leaving you with a feeling that you have been dancing on skulls"-- Sunday Times. "A wonderful book"--Gerry Adams.
Growing up in the Shankill area of Belfast and living through the sectarian turmoil of the late 1960s, Billy Hutchinson joined the UVF in the early 1970s. In 1974, at the age of just 19, he was sentenced to life in prison, and it was in the cages of Long Kesh that he first came under the influence of loyalist icon Gusty Spence. Hutchinson spent much of the 1980s as overall Commanding Officer of UVF/Red Hand Commando prisoners, and upon his release, became involved with the recently established Progressive Unionist Party. As an authentic link between the UVF and the PUP, he was at the forefront of negotiations that led to the Belfast Agreement and was the UVF’s point of contact during the weapons decommissioning programme. Written with candour and honesty, this is a lively first-hand account of an extraordinary life and reveals previously hidden episodes of both the Northern Ireland Troubles and the high-profile negotiations that led to the Belfast Agreement of 1998. rom Tartan gang member to leading loyalist paramilitary, and from progressive unionist politician to respected Belfast City Councillor, My Life in Loyalism is Billy Hutchinson’s remarkable story.