5 May, 2026
HEYWOOD HILL LAUNCHES “REFUSE TO BE SCARED” — A GLOBAL BOOK SUBSCRIPTION CHOSEN BY THE WORLD’S LEADING JOURNALISTS
Heywood Hill, the Mayfair bookshop, today announces the launch of Refuse To Be Scared, a new international book subscription created in association with the Truth Tellers Summit.
Convening some of the world’s most respected journalists and writers, the subscription features twelve inspirational books, each selected by a speaker at the 2026 Truth Tellers, the Sir Harry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit.
Refuse To Be Scared is designed to inspire and to sustain independent thinking in the age of big tech through the power of well-chosen good books.
Contributors to the reading list include globally recognised journalists and editors such as Patrick Radden Keefe, Christiane Amanpour, Anne Applebaum, Kara Swisher, Emily Maitlis, Mishal Husain, Katharine Viner, Emma Tucker, Walter Isaacson and Michael Gove, and Tina Brown, among many others. (See below for a selection of book choices and quotes.)
The title of the subscription is drawn from a remark made at last year’s summit by Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic:
“The only way to operate in this environment is to refuse to be scared.”
At a time of information overload, misinformation and algorithm-driven content, Refuse To Be Scared offers something hopeful and human: a reading list shaped by human judgment, experience, and courage.
A READING LIST FOR INDEPENDENT MINDS
Each contributing speaker has chosen a book that shaped their thinking in some way— from landmark works of investigative reporting to contemporary analyses of power, propaganda and technology.
The result is an inspirational group of books that spans journalism, history, politics and memoir, a shelf designed to help readers, particularly young people, think clearly in an uncertain world.
WHAT SUBSCRIBERS RECEIVE
Subscribers — or gift recipients — will receive:
The subscription is available globally via www.heywoodhill.com/subscriptions and is priced at £195 plus postage.
RECLAIMING INDEPENDENT THINKING
Nicky Dunne of Heywood Hill said:
“Feed your mind, not an algorithm. This is a subscription for independent minds. We are thrilled and honoured to be working with Truth Tellers, the superb media summit marshalled by the indefatigable and magnificent Tina Brown.”
“At a time when so much of what we read is shaped by big tech, we all must work harder to reclaim and maintain our intellectual independence. This book subscription is about doing just that. These books have been chosen by people who have spent their lives asking difficult questions and refusing to be intimidated.”
Tina Brown CBE, editor, author, and co-founder of the Truth Tellers summits, said:
“We are delighted to work on establishing this very special book subscription for Truth Tellers with Heywood Hill, one of the great bookshops of the world. Our summit speakers have all responded brilliantly to the question, ‘Which book has inspired you most and why?’”
A DISTINCTLY TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE
With contributors drawn from leading media organisations across the United States, the United Kingdom and beyond, the subscription reflects an international outlook — long central to Heywood Hill’s identity.
For decades, the Mayfair bookshop has served a global readership, with a particularly strong following in America. Refuse To Be Scared continues that tradition: a London-curated reading experience with global relevance.
SELECTION OF BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Anne Applebaum A World Apart by Gustav Herling – ‘A striking memoir by a Polish novelist who spent many months in the Soviet Gulag, but preserved his humanity and his morality, even in the face of inhumane and immoral repression.’
Michael Gove Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens - ‘Christopher Hitchens was a brilliant writer, fearless truthteller and enduring example. Hitch 22 is his life, told his way, - beautifully written, arresting, candid, moving, courageous and a reminder of what the English language can do in the voice of a master.’
Kiana Hayeri The Return by Hisham Matta – ‘It is a quiet, precise book about loss, exile, and the long shadow of a country that does not let you go. Mattar writes about returning to Libya in search of his disappeared father, but what stays with me is not only the search, it is the feeling beneath it: the way a homeland can live inside you even when it is fractured, distant, or dangerous. As an Iranian, I have lived with that tension for much of my life. The pull of a place that shapes you, and the grief of watching it unravel from afar, or change in ways you no longer recognize. Over the past year, as war has finally arrived to my homeland, that sense of dislocation and attachment has only deepened. Mattar’s writing reminds me that longing is not weakness. That to care, to remember, to insist on connection, even when it hurts, is a form of resistance. His clarity and his refusal to look away from complexity continue to shape how I think, and how I try to see.’
Mishal Husain The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs by Ahron Bregman and Jihan El-Tahri - ‘This was first published in 1998 and even though we are long past the 50-year milestone it marked; it is still an invaluable reference point. Co-written by an Israeli and an Arab historian, its pursuit of the true historical record - by looking widely at multiple accounts and perspectives - has inspired me.’
Walter Isaacson All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward – ‘I love it because it is a book on two levels. First, a tale of corruption and power. Second, the tale of exactly how two fearless journalists covered the story. It helped shape a generation of journalists.’
Emily Maitlis Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Giuffre and Amy Wallace – ‘Virginia could have chosen to stay in the shadows with her pain and just try to find her own path to sanity and recovery. Instead, she went public: she turned the shame on her abusers - to give voice to every other woman it happened to, is happening to - or could still happen to in a future that has barely changed.’
Anna Nemzer Patriot by Alexei Navalny – ‘I cannot say that I myself refuse to be scared — it feels to me that I am scared every day of my life. Every day I know that these heroic formulations do not apply to me. So, even with fear fully present in my life, I find my strength not in heroic examples, but in the simple things I love — my favorite books and music. When you realize that in a crazy world Mozart is still Mozart, and the book Guns, Germs and Steel still explains how civilization works, it becomes a little easier, and a little less frightening.’
Nandhini Srinivasan Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista – ‘In this gut-wrenching book, Filipina trauma journalist and investigative reporter Patricia Evangelista recounts her reporting on extrajudicial death squads and vigilante killings under Rodrigo Duterte, who was indicted on charges of crimes against humanity last year at The Hague.’
Patrick Radden Keefe News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez – ‘Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a journalist before he was a novelist, and this extraordinary 1997 book marked his return to nonfiction, a carefully reported, beautifully observed account of a tumultuous period in Colombian history that is full of tension and nuance. It was a big reference for me when I was writing Say Nothing.’
Emma Tucker Stasiland by Anna Funder – ‘This remains the book I wish I had written. When I lived in Berlin in the early 00s, my curiosity about the fast- disappearing GDR was insatiable, yet every book I picked up was dry and told from the point of view of the policy makers. Stasiland was a revelation. it recounted emotional, human stories of life behind the wall, some so heart breaking that I remember having to put the book down to take deep breaths. It was the finest of oral histories told with great sensitivity by a very good writer.
Sigrid van Aken I Choose My Beginning by Nadia Murad – ‘My choice is a book which hasn’t yet been published. I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of I Choose My Beginning by Nadia Murad, which is due to be published in September. It’s a book which everyone who is active in the field of human rights and international aid should read. I found it inspiring and humbling — and I recommend it highly.