{"title":"Al J Venter","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the thrilling world of Al J. Venter, a master of military history and contemporary conflict. Delve into gripping accounts and insightful analyses of global hotspots and the realities of modern warfare.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"somalia-book-al-j-venter-9781526707949","title":"Somalia","description":"When the world held its breath It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944 long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was, and is, the Horn of Africa Few countries in Africa have had such powerful links with both the Soviet Union and United States each for several years at a stretch as Somalia. From a quiet Indian Ocean backwater that had once been an Italian colony, it remained aloof from the kind of power struggles that beset countries like Ghana, the Congo, Guinea, Algeria and others in the 1970s. Overnight, that all changed in 1969 when the army, led by Major General Siad Barre, grabbed power. His first move was to abrogate all security links he might have had with the West and to invite Moscow into his country as an ally.The Soviets moved quickly, establishing several air bases in the interior and stationing their ships in Somali ports. Baledogle, a small airport north of Mogadishu, became a major air base from where Soviet military aircraft operated through much of the Indian Ocean. An impetuous man, Siad Barre believed his links with Moscow were secure enough to annex several neighbouring regions. But when he invaded Ethiopia s Ogaden Province Addis Ababa was then Washington s staunchest friend in Africa s Horn the Soviets had had enough. To the consternation of the West they abandoned Somalia and embraced Ethiopia, which resulted in the Russians giving full support in the Ogaden War to Addis Ababa and establishing the largest airlift of arms to an African country since the Six-Day War.  For more than a decade thereafter conditions within Somalia deteriorated. Various tribal leaders established themselves as  war lords , some with Soviet support, others getting succour from Western sources.  It got so bad that in 1992 the United Nations eventually stepped in with Operation Restore Hope, a multi-national force created for conducting humanitarian operations in Somalia.The move was always controversial with many tribal leaders retaining either clandestine Soviet links or receiving aid from radical Arab forces that included al-Qaeda. Though the United Nations and the African Union (AU) both maintain a strong presence in the country, hostilities and killings go on.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49532221260049,"sku":"GOR008751838","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53001528279313,"sku":"GOR014689167","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526707942.jpg?v=1750990765"},{"product_id":"iraqi-war-debrief-book-al-j-venter-9780620307352","title":"The Iraqi War debrief","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49562004160785,"sku":"GOR004229993","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0620307358.jpg?v=1751230981"},{"product_id":"african-stories-by-al-j-venter-and-friends-book-al-j-venter-9781869198428","title":"African stories by Al J.Venter and friends","description":"Al Venter regards himself an African a white African, but as much a part of the fascinating and often troubled continent on which he was born as his Zulu and Swahili speaking contemporaries. There is no country in Africa that he has not visited. During his half-century career as a foreign correspondent, working for media outlets on four continents, he has given his version of unfolding events from many of them, for, inter alia, Britain s Jane s Information Group, the Daily Express and Daily Mail of London, United Press International, Geneva s Interavia, the BC, SABC, NBC (radio), as well as scores of magazines. His love for Africa stems in part from his childhood. At the age of 14 - while on vacation in what was then still Northern Rhodesia - he hitched-hiked back to boarding school in Johannesburg in a race with his schoolmates who travelled by train. And he won. Seven years later, after completing three-years in the navy, he explored East Africa and ended up in Mombasa in Kenya and cadged a lift on a freighter to Canada. Then, after qualifying professionally in London, he travelled overland through West Africa all the way to London. Along the way he met many notables including Ghana s Kwame Nkrumah and the man who hosted Graham Greene at his derelict hotel in Liberia then all but an American colony, where the greenback was the official currency as well as the great Dr Albert Schweitzer. The author spent a week at his jungle clinic at Lambarane in Gabon.Venter includes many of these adventures in this new book. He also delves into some of his military adventures and has invited several of his old colleagues to add some of their thoughts to this bundle of travel, adventure and excitement to create a remarkable insight to a continent that that, though briefly tamed by Europe, was never really subjugated. In that anomaly too, there lies many a stirring yarn.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49595583791377,"sku":"GOR013737885","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1869198425.jpg?v=1751028212"},{"product_id":"mercenaries-book-al-j-venter-9781612002446","title":"Mercenaries","description":"Mercenaries have been a part warfare for centuries, and though the names have changed, continue to play a part in global military conflicts. In today s world these soldiers for hire are an attractive alternative when Western governments are reluctant to put their militaries at risk for obscure causes that would otherwise be difficult to explain to their electorates.In this book noted author and foreign correspondent Al Venter provides a fascinating look at modern merc actions in the Middle East and Africa. From brushfire wars in the Congo to outright genocides in Biafra, highly skilled mercenaries were called upon to fight for order, and also for a living. Whether facing fanatics in Somalia or revolutionaries in Rhodesia, staving off cannibals in Sierra Leone or assisting a civil war in Angola the mercs put their lives on the line for a cause.Many mercenaries freelanced, but under talented freebooting leaders some groups became crack outfits. South Africa s Executive Outcomes became a legend in its own time like a quasi military itself, as it dispatched fighters throughout the continent. Like an ad hoc Foreign Legion, fighters came from all countries around the globe to participate in the combats. In the US, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine organized repeated expeditions from Laos to Peru. In Afghanistan the renowned helicopter gunship pilot Nellis has recently lent his skills after almost singlehandedly defeating gruesome insurgencies in Africa.In this book Al Venter, who was actively involved in the direction and production of segments of the TV series Mercenaries, provides both background to this unique class of warriors, and a fascinating look at their methods and actions.REVIEWS ...should please nonfiction readers who enjoy in-depth military works... well researched and methodically executed.Portland Book Review ...takes the reader into the mercenary world into their real-life exploits and lifts the curtain on their operations in a fascinating read, one in which their true exploits are more impressive than fiction.Small Wars and Insurgencies","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49616127885585,"sku":"GOR013586528","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51325493018897,"sku":"CIN1612002447VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1612002447.jpg?v=1750720414"},{"product_id":"iran-s-nuclear-option-book-al-j-venter-9781932033335","title":"Iran'S Nuclear Option","description":"Non-proliferation Treaty  Questions why and how the Islamic Republic of Iran eluded     the West in its quest for the atom bomb Exposes the extraordinary amount of trafficking in illegal nuclear    materials which involves dozens of countries  The United States remains convinced that Tehran has been pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49619455541521,"sku":"GOR010172372","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50098317361425,"sku":"GOR002760063","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51691012325649,"sku":"CIN1932033335VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51727580102929,"sku":"CIN1932033335G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1932033335.jpg?v=1750835482"},{"product_id":"biafra-genocide-book-al-j-venter-9781526729132","title":"Biafra Genocide","description":"One of the great tragedies of Africa is not only the fact that a million people-mostly civilians and a large proportion of them children-died in one of Africa's first post-independence wars, but that until it happened the world thought Nigeria was immune from the wasting disease of tribalism. It certainly was not because the Biafran War is still the most expansive tribal conflagration that the continent has experienced-barring perhaps the ongoing Great Lakes conflict-involving the forces of East and West, only this time, with the British siding with the Soviets.  Worse, some of the religious differences that emerged before and after that dreadful carnage are still with us today. During the course of hostilities that lasted almost four years, a lot of other shortcomings surfaced in Africa's most populous nation, including the kind of corruption that, until then, had always been linked to countries rich in oil. Disunity, incompetence and instability-from which Nigeria never really recovered-also emerged. Two bloody army coups followed after the rebels capitulated, together with an appalling series of massacres, mostly of southern Christians by Muslim northerners. Half a century later the slaughter continues.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49634488090897,"sku":"GOR009991112","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49734796509457,"sku":"NGR9781526729132","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53396564771089,"sku":"CIN152672913XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53396730216721,"sku":"CIN152672913XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/152672913X.jpg?v=1751244468"},{"product_id":"soldier-of-fortune-book-al-j-venter-9780352306562","title":"Soldier of Fortune","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640091648273,"sku":"GOR003294819","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0352306564.jpg?v=1750738737"},{"product_id":"allah-s-bomb-book-al-j-venter-9781599212050","title":"Allah's Bomb","description":"Many, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and various former Soviet Republics, have been linked to extreme Islamic militant groups. This volume examines the progress of these countries towards nuclear capability, and the repercussions the situation may have on global society.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49648987210001,"sku":"GOR007826222","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51195485258001,"sku":"GOR006491667","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52107193581841,"sku":"CIN1599212056G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1599212056.jpg?v=1751455187"},{"product_id":"biafra-s-war-1967-1970-book-al-j-venter-9781910294697","title":"Biafra's War 1967-1970","description":"Almost half a century has passed since the Nigerian Civil War ended. But memories die hard, because a million or more people perished in that internecine struggle, the majority women and children, who were starved to death.Biafra's war was modern Africa's first extended conflict. It lasted almost three years and was based largely on ethnic, by inference, tribal grounds. It involved, on the one side, a largely Christian or animist southeastern quadrant of Nigeria which called itself Biafra, pitted militarily against the country's more populous and preponderant Islamic north.These divisions - almost always brutal - persist. Not a week goes by without reports coming in of Christian communities or individuals persecuted by Islamic zealots. It was also a conflict that saw significant Cold War involvement: the Soviets (and Britain) siding and supplying Federal Nigeria with weapons, aircraft and expertise and several Western states - Portugal, South Africa and France especially - providing clandestine help to the rebel state.For that reason alone, this book is an important contribution towards understanding Nigeria's ethnic divisions, which are no better today than they were then. Biafra was the first of a series of religious wars that threaten to engulf much of Africa. Similar conflicts have recently taken place in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Senegal (Cassamance), both Congo Republics and elsewhere.As the war progressed, Biafra also attracted mercenary involvement, many of whom arriving from the Congo which had already seen much turmoil. Western pilots were hired by Lagos and they flew the first Soviet MiG-17 jet fighters to have played an active role in a 'Western' war.Al Venter spent time covering this struggle. He left the rebel enclave in December 1969, only weeks before it ended and claims the distinction of being the only foreign correspondent to have been rocketed by both sides: first by Biafra's tiny Swedish-built Minicon fighter planes while he was on a ship lying at anchor in Warri harbour and thereafter, by MiG jets flown by mercenaries.Among his colleagues inside the beleaguered territory were the celebrated Italian photographer Romano Cagnoni as well as Frederick Forsyth who originally reported for the BBC and then resigned because of the partisan, pro-Nigerian stance taken by Whitehall. He briefly shared quarters with French photographer Giles Caron who was later killed in Cambodia.Prior to that Venter had been working for John Holt in Lagos. It is interesting that his office at the time was at Ikeja International Airport (Murtala Muhammed today) where the second Nigerian army mutiny was plotted and from where it was launched. From this perspective he had a proverbial 'ringside seat' of the tribal divisions that followed as hostilities escalated.Venter took numerous photos while on this West African assignment, both in Nigeria while he was based there and later in Biafra itself. Others come from various sources, including some from the same mercenary pilots who originally targeted him from the air.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49681233510673,"sku":"GOR009684657","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1910294691.jpg?v=1750803769"},{"product_id":"al-qaeda-in-the-islamic-maghreb-book-al-j-venter-9781526728739","title":"Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb","description":"Insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere-the majority linked to al Qaeda-are in the news on an almost daily basis. But very little surfaces about a festering insurgency that has been on the go for six years in West Africa under the acronym of AQIM, or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This low-level series of guerrilla conflicts is widespread and sporadic, covering an area as vast as Europe. Nigeria has been drawn into the equation because its Boko Haram insurgent faction maintains close ties with AQIM and Islamic State.  For now though, the focus is on Mali where several jihadist groups-despite formal peace agreements-remain active. Involved is the French army and air force as well as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) as well as the European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP).  The insurrection that fostered all this broke out early 2012 when President Fran�ois Hollande announced the beginning of Operation Serval. Five hours later the first squadrons of French Gazelle helicopter gunships began attacking Islamist columns. A day later French fighter jets based in Chad, almost 2,000 kilometres away, were making sorties against rebel ground targets in northern Mali.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49734547472657,"sku":"NGR9781526728739","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50840272371985,"sku":"GOR012545882","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526728737.jpg?v=1751430403"},{"product_id":"last-of-africa-s-cold-war-conflicts-book-al-j-venter-9781526772985","title":"The Last of Africa's Cold War Conflicts","description":"Portugal was the first European country to colonise Africa. It was also the last to leave, almost five centuries later. During the course of what Lisbon called its  civilizing mission in Africa  the Portuguese weathered numerous insurrections, but none as severe as the guerrilla war first launched in Angola in 1961 and two years later in Portuguese Guinea. While Angola had a solid economic infrastructure, that did not hold for the tiny West African enclave that was to become Guine-Bissau. Both Soviets and Cubans believed that because that tiny colony- roughly the size of Belgium - had no resources and a small population, that Lisbon would soon capitulate. They were wrong, because hostilities lasted more than a decade and the 11-year struggle turned into the most intense of Lisbon's three African colonies.  It was a classic African guerrilla campaign that kicked off in January 1963, but nobody noticed because what was taking place in Vietnam grabbed all the headlines. The Soviet-led guerrilla campaign in Portuguese Guinea was to go on and set the scene for the wars that followed in Rhodesia and present-day Namibia.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49736885928209,"sku":"NGR9781526772985","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50039878320401,"sku":"GOR013063313","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51205783257361,"sku":"CIN1526772981VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53370583580945,"sku":"GOR011263914","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526772981.jpg?v=1750718392"},{"product_id":"biafra-s-war-1967-1970-book-al-j-venter-9781912174720","title":"Biafra's War 1967-1970","description":"Almost half a century has passed since the Nigerian Civil War ended. But memories die hard, because a million or more people perished in that internecine struggle, the majority women and children, who were starved to death.Biafra's war was modern Africa's first extended conflict. It lasted almost three years and was based largely on ethnic, by inference, tribal grounds. It involved, on the one side, a largely Christian or animist southeastern quadrant of Nigeria which called itself Biafra, pitted militarily against the country's more populous and preponderant Islamic north.These divisions - almost always brutal - persist. Not a week goes by without reports coming in of Christian communities or individuals persecuted by Islamic zealots. It was also a conflict that saw significant Cold War involvement: the Soviets (and Britain) siding and supplying Federal Nigeria with weapons, aircraft and expertise and several Western states - Portugal, South Africa and France especially - providing clandestine help to the rebel state.For that reason alone, this book is an important contribution towards understanding Nigeria's ethnic divisions, which are no better today than they were then. Biafra was the first of a series of religious wars that threaten to engulf much of Africa. Similar conflicts have recently taken place in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Senegal (Cassamance), both Congo Republics and elsewhere.As the war progressed, Biafra also attracted mercenary involvement, many of whom arriving from the Congo which had already seen much turmoil. Western pilots were hired by Lagos and they flew the first Soviet MiG-17 jet fighters to have played an active role in a 'Western' war.Al Venter spent time covering this struggle. He left the rebel enclave in December 1969, only weeks before it ended and claims the distinction of being the only foreign correspondent to have been rocketed by both sides: first by Biafra's tiny Swedish-built Minicon fighter planes while he was on a ship lying at anchor in Warri harbour and thereafter, by MiG jets flown by mercenaries.Among his colleagues inside the beleaguered territory were the celebrated Italian photographer Romano Cagnoni as well as Frederick Forsyth who originally reported for the BBC and then resigned because of the partisan, pro-Nigerian stance taken by Whitehall. He briefly shared quarters with French photographer Giles Caron who was later killed in Cambodia.Prior to that Venter had been working for John Holt in Lagos. It is interesting that his office at the time was at Ikeja International Airport (Murtala Muhammed today) where the second Nigerian army mutiny was plotted and from where it was launched. From this perspective he had a proverbial 'ringside seat' of the tribal divisions that followed as hostilities escalated.Venter took numerous photos while on this West African assignment, both in Nigeria while he was based there and later in Biafra itself. Others come from various sources, including some from the same mercenary pilots who originally targeted him from the air.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738133504273,"sku":"NGR9781912174720","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51466588848401,"sku":"GOR010349700","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1912174723.jpg?v=1751631001"},{"product_id":"battle-for-angola-book-al-j-venter-9781914059025","title":"Battle for Angola","description":"Following the publication of Al Venter's successful \u003ci\u003ePortugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa\u003c\/i\u003e - shortlisted by the New York Military Affairs Symposium's 'Arthur Goodzeit Book Award for 2013' - his \u003ci\u003eBattle for Angola\u003c\/i\u003e delves further still into the troubled history of this former Portuguese African colony.For the sake of continuity, the author has included several chapters on that colonial struggle in this work, with the main thrust on events before and after - including the civil war that followed Lisbon's over-hasty departure back to the metrópole, as well as the role of South African mercenaries in defeating the rebel leader Dr Jonas Savimbi (considered by some as the most accomplished guerrilla leader to emerge in Africa in the past century). He is helped by several notable authorities, including the French historian Dr René Pélissier and the American academic and former naval aviator Dr John (Jack) Cann. With their assistance, he covers several ancillary uprisings and invasions, including the Herero revolt of the early 20th century; the equally-troubled Ovambo insurrection, as well as the invasion of Angola by the Imperial German Army in the First World War. An important section deals with the South African Border War, because without Angola, that would never have happened - nor 'Operation Savannah' and the invasion of Angola from the south. Finally, the role of the Cuban Revolutionary Army receives the attention it deserves.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49739822039313,"sku":"NGR9781914059025","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1914059026.jpg?v=1751632737"},{"product_id":"portugal-s-bush-war-in-mozambique-book-al-j-venter-9781636241104","title":"Portugal'S Bush War in Mozambique","description":"Portugal fought a bush war in Mozambique - one of the most beautiful countries in the world - for over a decade. The small European nation was ranged against formidable odds and in the end was unable to muster the resources required to effectively take on the might of the Soviet Union and its collaborators - every single communist country on the planet and almost all of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, Al Venter argues, Portugal did not actually lose the war, and indeed fought in difficult terrain with a good degree of success over an extended period. It was radical domestic politics that heralded the end.     Mozambique is once again embroiled in a guerrilla war, this time against a large force of Islamic militants, many from Somalia and some Arab countries, and unequivocally backed by Islamic State and the lessons of Mozambique’s bush war are still relevant today.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49741289226513,"sku":"NGR9781636241104","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52139500601617,"sku":"CIN1636241107G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1636241107.jpg?v=1750800061"},{"product_id":"gunship-ace-book-al-j-venter-9781612000701","title":"Gunship Ace","description":"\"The days of Congo and Angola when you had the image of mercenaries as drunken guys going around shooting up the place... has gone – the people you find now... are well-trained, professional soldiers, special forces trained.\" – Neall EllisPraise for Al J. Venter:\"A disturbing insight into the ever growing world of unconventional private armies. Like it or not, Venter tells it to us the way it is.\" – John Le Carre“…a gripping and hugely informative read. …highly recommended. …impressive and enlightening.” – The HeraldA former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s, Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he has fought in the Balkan War (for Islamic forces), flown Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and thereafter an Mi-8 fondly dubbed “Bokkie” for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. For the past two years, as a “civilian contractor,” Ellis has been flying helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he has had more close shaves than in his entire previous four-decade career; twice he turned the enemy back from the gates of Freetown, effectively preventing the rebels from overrunning Sierra Leone’s capital. Known as Nellis to his friends, he was also the first mercenary to work hand-in-glove with British ground and air assets in a modern guerrilla war. This book describes the full career of this storied aerial warrior, from the bush and jungles of Africa to the forests of the Balkans and the merciless mountains of today’s Afghanistan. Along the way the reader encounters a multi-ethnic array of enemies ranging from ideological to cold-blooded to pure evil, as well as well as examples of incredible heroism for hire.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49744345923857,"sku":"GOR005724706","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52981148811537,"sku":"CIN1612000703G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1612000703.jpg?v=1764845346"},{"product_id":"takka-takka-bom-bom-book-al-j-venter-9781636243801","title":"Takka Takka Bom Bom","description":"The worlds oldest still-active war correspondent shares the real stories behind half a century of headlines from the front lines.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49747163447569,"sku":"NGR9781636243801","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49975290528017,"sku":"GOR013827146","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53481694953745,"sku":"CIN1636243800G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1636243800.jpg?v=1750960778"},{"product_id":"portugal-s-guerilla-wars-in-africa-book-al-j-venter-9781910294734","title":"Portugal'S Guerilla Wars in Africa","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49777657282833,"sku":"NGR9781910294734","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50308197646609,"sku":"GOR013920761","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/191029473X.jpg?v=1751315222"},{"product_id":"war-dog-book-al-j-venter-9781932033908","title":"War Dog","description":"Mercenaries have been with us since the dawn of civilization, yet in the modern world they are little understood. While many of today’s freelance fighters provide support for larger military establishments, others wage war where the great powers refuse to tread. In War Dog, Al Venter examines the latter world of mercenary fighters effecting decisions by themselves. In the process he unveils a remarkable array of close-quarters combat action.  Having personally visited every locale he describes throughout Africa and the Middle East, Venter is the rare correspondent who had to carry an AK-47 in his research along with his notebook and camera. To him, covering mercenary actions meant accompanying the men into the thick of combat. During Sierra Leone’s civil war, he flew in the front bubble of the government’s lone Hind gunship—piloted by the heroic chopper ace“Nellis”—as it flew daily missions to blast apart rebel positions. In this book the author not only describes the battles of the legendary South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes, he knew the founders personally and joined them on a number of actions. After stemming the tide of Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA army in Angola (an outfit many of the SA operators had previously trained), Executive Outcomes headed north to hold back vicious rebels in West Africa.  This book is not only about triumph against adversity but also losses, as Venter relates the death and subsequent cannibalistic fate of his American friend, Bob MacKenzie, in Sierra Leone. Here we see the plight of thousands of civilians fleeing from homicidal jungle warriors, as well as the professionalism of the mercenaries who fought back with one hand and attempted to train government troops with the other, in hopes that they would someday be able to stand on their own.  The American public, as well as its military, largely sidestepped the horrific conflicts that embroiled Africa during the past two decades. But as Venter informs us, there were indeed small numbers of professional fighters on the ground, defending civilians and attempting to conjure order from chaos. In the process their heroism went unrecorded and their combat skill became known only to each other.  In this book we gain an intimate glimpse of this modern breed of warrior in combat. Not laden with medals, ribbons, civic parades, or even guaranteed income, they have nevertheless fought some of the toughest battles in the post- Cold War era. They simply are, and perhaps always will be,“War Dogs.”  AL J. VENTER has been an international war correspondent for nearly thirty years, primarily for the Jane’s Information Group. He has also produced documentary television films on subjects from the wars in Africa and Afghanistan to sharkhunting off the Cape of Good Hope.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49802499850513,"sku":"GOR002521916","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50402414821649,"sku":"CIN1932033904G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53643691557137,"sku":"GOR006568968","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1932033904.jpg?v=1751093904"},{"product_id":"the-chopper-boys-book-al-j-venter-9781909982680","title":"The The Chopper Boys","description":"Few military strategists have been prepared to concede the extraordinary role helicopter gunships have played in many African conflicts during the course of the past half-century. Mali's government was on the verge of collapse following a largely al-Qaeda-backed invasion of the country when the French went in, early 2013. Three weeks later they had battled all the way up to the gates of Timbuktu and driven the rebels into the desert. It was ground forces that were at the vanguard of that onslaught, but they would have taken months without the backing of France's legendary helicopter-orientated Armée de l'Air, details of which are to be found in the first chapter. It was exactly the same with Rhodesia's war. Without gunships that guerrilla struggle would have been over in a couple of years, ground forces overwhelmed by preponderate insurgent numbers. Again, in South Africa's Border War and the civil war that followed in Sierra Leone, it was gunships did most of the damage, as happened more recently with various mercenary groups fighting in Angola, Somalia and elsewhere. In Nigeria, a group of about 70 South African mercenaries went in against Boko Haram Jihadis in 2014. With chopper gunship-support they caused the rebels more damage in three months than the Nigerian Army achieved - or rather, did not achieve - in six years The Chopper Boys was first published a quarter century ago on three continents: Britain, the United States and South Africa. It went well, the original edition having become a collector's item, which is why this edition is now appearing, reinforced by six new chapters that cover some of the events that have since taken place.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50150541132049,"sku":"GOR013871922","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50152482308369,"sku":"GOR011778191","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1909982687.jpg?v=1751630506"},{"product_id":"war-stories-book-al-j-venter-9781869194109","title":"War Stories","description":"Venter's choice of military events is eclectic. He has four chapters on Afghanistan, three on Somalia, several on how Lisbon fought its desperate rearguard colonial wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea as well as several on the Rhodesian War. These include a tribute to his old friend Ron Reid-Daly, founder-commander of the Selous Scouts, a vivid profile of the RLI 'Incredibles' in a cross-border strike on enemy positions in Mozambique as well as a chapter by Colonel Brian Robinson, longest serving commander of the Rhodesian SAS. Venter also draws heavily on his experiences as a military correspondent for Britain's Jane's Information Group in the Middle East: he accompanied the IDF when it went into Beirut in 1982. Neall Ellis who flew helicopter gunships against the rebels in Sierra Leone and is currently flying support missions in Russian Mi-8s in Afghanistan, Al Venter going into combat with a bunch of South African 'Parabats' in a strike against enemy positions in Angola (where he was subsequently wounded), Mike Hoare's aborted invasion of the Seychelles a quarter of a century ago, an American mercenary in Iraq as well as a United States Navy rescue mission in Somalia are among more than 30 chapters that appear in this new book. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photographs and follows the publication of his earlier military titles War Dog (2006) and Barrel of a Gun (2010), both published by Casemate in the US and Britain.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50661984928017,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50661986304273,"sku":"GOR014027746","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1869194101.jpg?v=1751346643"},{"product_id":"lebanon-levantine-calvary-1958-1990-book-al-j-venter-9781526707826","title":"Lebanon: Levantine Calvary, 1958-1990","description":"When the world held its breath It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944 long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was the Levant It is axiomatic that the recent history of much of the Eastern Mediterranean is linked to the creation of the state of Israel in May 1948, incontestably so. The country emerged from a series of conflicts and these have continued intermittently ever since, fuelled as much by Arab Israeli enmity, national pride and territorial aspirations as hostile neighbours. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt and in the latter phases, Iran were all part of it.  There were rich pickings in the regions for the two great powers of the Cold War as they aligned with one side or the other, the Soviets in full support of Arab interests and the Jewish State enjoying the support of Washington.That combination not only led to several Middle Eastern wars but, as we are able to observe in today s news reports, the knock-on effect continues in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria especially. For much of the period under review it was Lebanon that took the brunt of it, with resident Christian, Sunni, Shi ite as well as Israeli interests deploying multiple levels of force much of it clandestine to jockey for predominance. Throughout, land, sea and air forces were involved.  Al Venter has devoted a good deal of his career towards covering these developments, from the early 1970s all the way through to the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1991. He has been to war with both Arab and Jew (he was with the IDF strike force headed by Ariel Sharon when he entered Beirut in 1982); spent time in Syria (visited that country s southern front adjacent to the Golan Heights); been on combat missions with the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army in the Druze homeland adjacent to Mount Heron and has been embedded with the Lebanese Force Command along Beirut s Green Line, where many of his photos used in this publication were taken.Venter also spent a lot of time in South Lebanon with UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, and was able to observe from up close the growing influence of the Pasdaran, Tehran s surrogate force in the region that eventually spawned Hezhollah.His last visit, in 1997, included contacts while hosted by Lebanese President General  mile Lahoud with senior Iranian-supported Hezbollah elements in Beirut, one of few Western correspondents to have achieved this distinction.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50779930722577,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50779931017489,"sku":"GOR014069098","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526707829.jpg?v=1751307892"},{"product_id":"nuclear-terror-book-al-j-venter-9781526723048","title":"Nuclear Terror","description":"These are frightening times for us all: Sarin nerve gas being sprayed on innocent civilians in Syria, threats that biological warfare agents might be spread about on the New York Subway and the most terrifying of all, three dirty bomb attacks thwarted in Russia. The reality of all these developments is that the environment in which we live today is being seriously threatened by the calculated use of weapons of mass destruction, and from a variety of dissident sources.  Many rogue nations have attempted to build the bomb, an enormously complex task. So far only Pakistan and North Korea have succeeded, with Iran right now on the cusp of making that breakthrough. South Africa built six atom bombs in the 1970\/1980s but with British, American and help from the International Atomic Energy Agency dismantled both the weapons and the entire programme shortly before Nelson Mandela came to power.  In Nuclear Terror, Venter assesses the developments over the past 10 years of different countries in their attempts to build a nuclear programme. Not inflammatory, or scaremongering, Venter takes an objective stance in chronicling these recent developments overseas and adds another valuable contribution to this conversation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50823277150481,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50823278231825,"sku":"CIN1526723042VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51663073214737,"sku":"GOR009071891","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526723042.jpg?v=1751055205"},{"product_id":"shark-stories-book-al-j-venter-9781869196929","title":"Shark Stories","description":"Al Venter has been free-diving (without cages) with sharks for 40 years and has had three of his friends killed by them. The international author known for his war writing now turns his efforts on highlighting their importance to the world s ocean ecosytems. He regards the shark as one our greatest oceanic assets: remove the shark from the maritime environment and an ecological disaster will follow. For decades, the waters around South Africa have had more sharks and a greater variety of these predators than any other coastline in the world. There are several reasons, one being the annual sardine run up the east coast. The sharks draw many South Africans and others from around the world, among them Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and King Abdullah of Jordan. Working with specialist divers and friends, as well as world-class photographers, Venter has created a book on sharks that is not only instructive but also breathtakingly beautiful and fascinating. Photographers who submitted work for publication include Fiona Ayerst, Morne Hardenberg and the diminutive shark warrior Lesley Rochat.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50893973946641,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50893974569233,"sku":"GOR008211081","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53025290092817,"sku":"NGR9781869196929","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1869196929.jpg?v=1751186488"},{"product_id":"iran-s-nuclear-option-book-al-j-venter-9788170492504","title":"Iran's Nuclear Option","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51359659360529,"sku":"GOR014238380","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8170492505.jpg?v=1751254714"},{"product_id":"the-zambesi-salient-conflict-in-southern-africa-book-al-venter-9780869780893","title":"The Zambesi salient;: Conflict in Southern Africa","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51365489344785,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51365489443089,"sku":"GOR014241290","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0869780891.jpg?v=1751234467"},{"product_id":"africa-in-the-line-of-fire-book-al-venter-9781636243276","title":"Africa - in the Line of Fire","description":"\u003cb\u003eExamines Africa's escalating conflicts, highlighting Jihadist insurgencies and their regional and global security implications.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Africa currently faces more wars, insurgencies, army mutinies, coups d'état and rebellions than at any time since World War II. Conflict in all forms has become endemic, now accentuated by a relative newcomer: Jihadism, increasingly linked to either Islamic State or al-Qaeda.The year 2020 saw a record high in state-based conflicts on the African continent: around 22,000 incidents of armed conflict recorded. There were two dozen country-based military struggles recorded, three or four more than in 2018. Of these, 13 battled over territory, the highest number ever. Incidents of conflict have risen each year since, and the broader canvas since Russia's invasion of the Ukraine suggests things will continue to worsen. Islamic Jihadist forces are responsible for much of this, involved in a succession of conflicts in Africa. These range all the way across the Sub-Sahara swathe, Mauretania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, the Sudans as well as Somalia. A more recent entrant to the fray is Tanzania, whose Dar es Salaam government in late 2021 appealed to the European Union for military help to counter an escalating Jihadist insurgency in its southern province.The upward trend is sobering. And there are long-term security implications both within and beyond Africa--if conditions do deteriorate, Europe will ultimately be threatened. Veteran war correspondent Al Venter brings his decades of experience to illuminate what Islamic Jihadist forces are effecting in Africa, and why, and what the future may hold.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51555011002641,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51555011199249,"sku":"NGR9781636243276","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1636243274.jpg?v=1770113052"},{"product_id":"angolan-war-of-liberation-book-al-j-venter-9781526728418","title":"Angolan War of Liberation","description":"When a large group of rebels invaded Angola from a recently independent Congo in 1961, it heralded the opening shots in another African war of independence. Between 1961 and 1974, Portugal faced the extremely ambitious task of conducting three simultaneous counterinsurgency campaigns to preserve its hegemony of Angola, Portuguese Guinea and Mozambique. While other European states were falling over themselves in granting independence to their African possessions, Portugal chose to stay and fight despite the odds against success.  That it did so successfully for thirteen years in a distant multi-fronted war remains a remarkable achievement, particularly for a nation of such modest resources. For example, in Angola the Portuguese had a tiny air force of possibly a dozen transport planes, a squadron or two of F-86s and perhaps twenty helicopters: and that in a remote African country twice the size of Texas. Portugal proved that such a war can be won. In Angola victory was complete.  However, the political leadership proved weak and irresolute, and this encouraged communist elements within the military to stage a coup in April 1974 and lead a capitulation to the insurgent movements, squandering the hard-won military and social gains and abandoning Portugal's African citizens to generations of civil war and destitution.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51681524056337,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51681524515089,"sku":"GOR009969398","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53347140731153,"sku":"CIN1526728419G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1526728419.jpg?v=1751022112"},{"product_id":"nuclear-terror-book-al-j-venter-9781399085335","title":"Nuclear Terror","description":"These are frightening times for us all: Sarin nerve gas being sprayed on innocent civilians in Syria, threats that biological warfare agents might be spread about on the New York Subway and the most terrifying of all, three dirty bomb attacks thwarted in Russia. The reality of all these developments is that the environment in which we live today is being seriously threatened by the calculated use of weapons of mass destruction, and from a variety of dissident sources.  Several rogue nations have attempted to build the bomb, an enormously complex task. So far only Pakistan and North Korea have succeeded, with Iran right now on the cusp of making that breakthrough. South Africa built six atom bombs in the 1970\/1980s but these were dismantled under British and American supervision together with help from the International Atomic Energy Agency before Nelson Mandela's African National Congress came into power.  In Nuclear Terror, Venter assesses the developments over recent decades of different countries in their attempts to build nuclear programmes. Not inflammatory or scaremongering, Venter takes an objective stance in chronicling these disturbing developments overseas and in the process adds another valuable contribution to this conversation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52863730221329,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52863730942225,"sku":"NGR9781399085335","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781399085335.jpg?v=1765236883"},{"product_id":"shipwreck-stories-book-al-j-venter-9781485300403","title":"Shipwreck Stories","description":"Not everybody is aware that the ships that rounded the South African coast over the past five centuries are as closely linked to the history of South Africa as gold and diamonds. They were treasures then, they are all treasures today. The difference is that about 3000 ships were lost rounding the Cape of Good Hope some centuries ago on their way to and from the Spice Islands of the East. It has taken a rare brand of adventurer to discover the undersea locations of many of them and Al Venter and his friends detail their activities. Following War Stories, Shark Stories and African Stories in the series, this book about shipwrecks and diving will make riveting reading like all of Al J. Venter's books. There are hundreds of illustrations, sketches, photos, diagrams, plans as well as five color sections. The book runs to 30 chapters and is the fourth in Al Venter's series of Southern African stories. Pulling together with a bunch of friends, Venter has created a book on shipwrecks that is both fascinating and beautiful.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53023710937361,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":53023711166737,"sku":"NGR9781485300403","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781485300403.jpg?v=1768397461"},{"product_id":"south-african-handbook-for-divers-book-al-j-venter-9781874800026","title":"South African Handbook for Divers","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53193536700689,"sku":"GOR005939033","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53193540862225,"sku":"GOR007928229","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781874800026.jpg?v=1772504437"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/de-de\/collections\/autor-buecher-von-al-j-venter.oembed?page=3","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}