Bob Burton

Fred Rosen

The complete history of soldiers for hire. From Biblical times and the Crusades through the American Revolution up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, mercenaries-professional soldiers who contract themselves out to the highest bidder-have played a vital role in most, if not all, military and paramilitary campaigns, helping to determine the victors and the vanquished. Contract Warriors reveals their compelling story for the first time. * Why they fight (and for how much) * How they fight * The unique lifestyle of mercenaries both on and off the battlefield * The spoils and business of war * The current role of mercenaries in the world's arms trade * The significance of the mercenary in popular culture and film Featuring a special afterword by W. Thomas Smith Jr. and his interview with Richard Marcinko, military consultant and author of the bestselling book Rogue Warrior

How Mercenaries Changed History and the War on Terrorism

Contract Warriors

Corporate and government spin doctors invisibly influence just about every news story we read, see and hear. Perhaps even more significant is what they manage to keep out of the news altogether. Bob Burton peers inside the hidden world of corporate and government spin to reveal the extraordinary impact of the PR industry. He illuminates the hardball and soft tactics used by PR companies to smother dissenting viewpoints, mask sponsors, attack corporate competitors and influence politicians. Through aseries of detailed case studies from both private and public sectors, he shows just how much PR controls what we see, hear and think about the organisations that manage our society.

The Dark Underbelly of the PR Industry

Inside Spin

Nicky Hager

What can Americans concerned about the environment learn about a campaign to promote clearcutting in New Zealand? This book offers a playbook for a PR effort that could take place anywhere -- and demonstrates the lengths logging firms and governments will go to get what they want. It's a blueprint for an end run around democracy in New Zealand, in Europe, in the United States.Most of us have no way of knowing what goes on behind the news: what isn't true, what we are not being told and who is pulling the strings. This book changes that. Using the example of environmental controversy -- in this case logging of West Coast native forests by the New Zealand state-owned Timberlands West Coast -- Nicky Hager and Bob Burton have produced a remarkable expose of how governments and business interests can use public relations to manipulate political debate. The story that emerges, of unscrupulous PR tactics by the international PR firm Shandwick and a casual policy of telling the public what is useful rather than what is true, serves as a warning and an example of the same forces at work in the United States.Using hundreds of pages of internal PR documents that were leaked by insiders offended at what they saw happening, Secrets and Lies provides a unique window on how PR muscle can steamroll public opinion. We see Timberlands systematically attacking critics, arranging the creation of an 'independent' pro-logging community, group, cultivating allies in academia, government and environmental groups, compromising the independence of politicians and journalists and much more -- all for the unworthy cause of keeping native forest logging going after most New Zealanders believed it should end.

Secrets and Lies

David McKnight

Guy Pearse

Australia’s dirtiest habit is its addiction to coal. But is our dependence on it a road to prosperity or a dead end? Are we hooked for life? And who is profiting from our addiction? Former lobbyist and political insider Guy Pearse, media and politics commentator David McKnight and environment writer Bob Burton cut through the spin to expose the underbelly of an industry whose power continues to soar while its expansion feeds catastrophic climate change. They dissect the charm offensive (and muscle) the coal industry uses to get its way, and reveal the myth of ‘clean coal’ – and the taxpayer-funded PR machine behind it. They chart the stratospheric rise of a new generation of coal barons (some high-profile, others faceless). And they lay bare the desolation in regional communities as prime farming land and much else is strip-mined along with the coal. Most contentiously of all, they explore how Australia can break its dirtiest habit and move towards a prosperous, sustainable-energy future.

Australia's Dirtiest Habit

Big Coal

What can Americans concerned about the environment learn about a campaign to promote clearcutting in New Zealand? This book offers a playbook for a PR effort that could take place anywhere -- and demonstrates the lengths logging firms and governments will go to get what they want. It's a blueprint for an end run around democracy in New Zealand, in Europe, in the United States. Most of us have no way of knowing what goes on behind the news: what isn't true, what we are not being told and who is pulling the strings. This book changes that. Using the example of environmental controversy -- in this case logging of West Coast native forests by the New Zealand state-owned Timberlands West Coast -- Nicky Hager and Bob Burton have produced a remarkable expose of how governments and business interests can use public relations to manipulate political debate. The story that emerges, of unscrupulous PR tactics by the international PR firm Shandwick and a casual policy of telling the public what is useful rather than what is true, serves as a warning and an example of the same forces at work in the United States. Using hundreds of pages of internal PR documents that were leaked by insiders offended at what they saw happening, Secrets and Lies provides a unique window on how PR muscle can steamroll public opinion. We see Timberlands systematically attacking critics, arranging the creation of an 'independent' pro-logging community, group, cultivating allies in academia, government and environmental groups, compromising the independence of politicians and journalists and much more -- all for the unworthy cause of keeping native forest logging going after most New Zealanders believed it should end.

Bob Burton

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