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  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780091909222
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99

As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela

Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade



Taking up the baton from Michael Moore, the UK's foremost political comedian has written a corruscatingly funny expose of the arms trade

Mark Thomas is one of the UK's most effective and best-known political activists, as well as being a highly successful stand-up comedian. His show, The Mark Thomas Product, ran for six highly acclaimed series on Channel Four. Amazingly, this is his first book.

As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela is a deeply funny, deeply disturbing account of Mark's rampage through the arms trade. Under a fairly flimsy disguise and with the use of some worryingly poor accents, Mark set off on a journey of discovery in the company of arms dealers, torture victims, politicians, cops, crusties and geeks. The result is a shockingly entertaining read.

Embedded within the sharpness of his humour is the truth of an industry fraught with loopholes, complacency and greed; that allows corrupt regimes to kill, maim and displace, but whose deals are often subsidised by the British taxpayer.

Hard-hitting, laugh-out-loud funny and extremely unsettling, As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela is never anything less than compulsive.

  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780091909222
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas is an award-winning stand-up comedian and political activist. He has been performing for over 30 years, and has had several shows on radio and television, including six series of The Mark Thomas Comedy Product for Channel 4 and five series of Mark Thomas: The Manifesto for BBC Radio 4.

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Praise for As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela

John Pilger with laughs

Guardian

Thomas, in essence, is a brilliant investigative journalist disguised as an angry, shouty comedian ... very funny indeed

Daily Telegraph

A genuine eye-opener

Mail on Sunday

Courageous book ... A humorous yet heartfelt polemic ... Thomas' revelations are riveting

Independent

Thomas's investigations are gripping

Daily Telegraph

A very readable account

Time Out

His outrage translates brilliantly on the page ... Profoundly disturbing, even moving but ultimately the main thing is it's a hugely entertaining read

City FM

[A] funny and daming expose

Glasgow Herald

Intelligent, funny and disturbing

TNT Magazine

Deeply funny, deeply disturbing ... a shockingly entertaining read

Notion

Amazing ... Brilliantly explained

Jason Byrne

Rude, funny, furious

New Internationalist

His self deprecating humour laces a blistering criticism of the network of government fibs and gaping legal loopholes facilitating horrific acts

Observer

An entertaining and shocking investigation

Good Book Guide