Philip Ackman's The Man in a Spider Web Coat is a hilariously funny and engaging, satirical tale of the rise to power of how nations deal with each other—or not—on the way to independence. Titus Buchanan, a professor who runs a think tank at Williams College, believes he's figured out how to stage a successful revolution. When the United Nations adopts a historic vote spelling the end of colonialism, Buchanan seizes the opportunity to test his theory. His laboratory will be the Splendid Islands, a collection of palm-fringed cays scattered across three quarters of a million square miles of the South Pacific. Its inhabitants will be his lab rats. But complications arise. The Splendids belong to New Zealand, and New Zealand has no intention of giving them up. The United States has its own secret "space age" agenda for the islands. The Queen of England is bound to support New Zealand, but she doesn't want Britain to fall out with the Americans, who favor independence. Meanwhile, the islanders, gripped with revolutionary fever, have ideas about self-rule. Reverend Geoffrey Brown, originally recruited by Buchanan to run the revolution, joins forces with an unlikely crew of locals and sets out to match wits with powerful opponents. "A beautifully crafted story by an extraordinary writer who not only sees the world as it really is but who eviscerates those in authority with his razor-sharp wit. Phil Ackman begins dissecting the machinations of the powerful from the get-go, leaving readers wondering how much of their own lives are orchestrated by puppeteers in faraway places." -- Geoffrey Smart, former senior partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, London.