David Aaronovitch Books

For Mrs Janice Kelly and her family, the death of her husband David in woods near their Oxfordshire home in July 2003 was a personal tragedy. For the wider worlds of government, intelligence and the media it triggered a political earthquake. David Kelly, a weapons inspector in Iraq, was at the centre of the allegations that 10 Downing Street, seeking to justify the imminent war in Iraq to an unconvinced public, had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.Lord Hutton's inquiry into the circumstances of Kelly's death became the most compelling piece of political theatre of modern times, as witnesses from the highest reaches of government, the Civil Service, the intelligence services and the BBC gave their versions of events, exposing the inner workings of their hitherto secret worlds. And the conclusions of his Report, published in January 2004, took most pundits by surprise.The Guardian's coverage of the Hutton inquiry was widely regarded as the best informed and most comprehensive of any newspaper, with its top reporters and analysts providing unrivalled reporting. In this specially commissioned book they give a comprehensive account of the inquiry, describing the evidence, analysing the ramifications and assessing the lasting effect it will have on the often stormy relationship between the government and the media.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY AWARDDavid Aaronovitch grew up in Communist Great Britain - a Britain hidden from view for most, but for those on the inside it was a life filled with picket lines, militant trade unions, solidarity rallies for foreign Communists, the Red Army Choir, copies of the Daily Worker, all underpinned by a quiet love of the Soviet Union. In this idiosyncratic blend of memoir, history and biography, David Aaronovitch uncovers the story of his family's life by picking through letters, diaries and secret service files, which in turn unleash vivid childhood memories of a lost and idealistic world. Party Animals is about personal life and political life becoming tragically intertwined, and one family's search for meaning in the twentieth century.

We see conspiracy everywhere from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. This book carefully probes and explores 12 major conspiracy theories.

In November 2017, a serial climate change denier and anti-vaxxer was elected President of the United States. The rise of Donald Trump marked the beginning of a new American epoch: the age of the conspiracy theorist. Now, Anna Merlan goes undercover in America's sprawling network of conspiracy theorists and uncovers their secrets. She meets the UFOlogist who claims to have travelled to Mars with a young Barack Obama. She chats with the 'pizzagate' truthers who think Washington D.C.'s favourite pizzeria is run by a satanic paedophile ring. And she bumps into Alex Jones, the YouTube impresario who thinks the state is using chemical warfare to turn the population gay - and who happens to be on first-name terms with the leader of the free world. Merlan reveals a world of innuendo and propaganda lying just beneath the surface of US culture. It might just help explain the political turmoil of our time