Best of
Survival

2003

A Pennyworth of Sunshine


Anna Jacobs - 2003
    But danger threatens Keara as she starts the search for her lost sisters.

Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species


Mark Elbroch - 2003
    How to find, identify, measure, and interpret the clues mammals leave behind--explained and illustrated like never before. Includes essays that contextualize tracking as a developing science continually garnering more interest and participation; included also are instructive anecdotes from the author's work as a tracker and wildlife expert. An invaluable resource for beginning or professional trackers and wildlife enthusiasts in all North American locations.

Enemies Foreign And Domestic


Matthew Bracken - 2003
    A police marksman kills the sniper, a mentally unbalanced Desert Storm veteran holding a smoking assault rifle. It's an open and shut case, or so America is led to believe... In the aftermath of the stadium massacre, an outraged public demands an end to the threat posed by assault rifles, and Congress passes emergency legislation banning their private possession. American gun owners have one week to turn in their semi-automatic rifles, or face mandatory five year federal prison terms. Jimmy Shifflett, the alleged stadium sniper, is linked to a shadowy "gun club" in southeastern Virginia, which the FBI believes is a cover for a secret right wing militia terror group. Those who knew Shifflett the best don't believe he was a member of any militia, or that he was guilty of the horrific mass murder. But if he didn't fire the "assault rifle" into the stadium, who did, and why? A small band of Virginians, thrown together by fate, is forced to undertake a desperate odyssey through a minefield of government blackmail, official deception and covert death squads, to discover the truth behind the stadium massacre, and save their own lives.

Essential Bushcraft


Ray Mears - 2003
    Now he has adapted the bestselling BUSHCRAFT to create a handy portable compendium of vital skills and wisdom from around the world. Packed with essential wilderness techniques, this book is an invaluable companion on any expedition.

Escaping the Giant Wave


Peg Kehret - 2003
    Kyle's perfect vacation becomes a nightmare while he's babysitting his sister, BeeBee. An earthquake hits the coast and starts a fire in their hotel. Can Kyle and BeeBee outwit and outrun nature's fury to save themselves from tsunami terror?

Hear the Wind Blow


Mary Downing Hahn - 2003
    A wounded Confederate soldier appears at the family’s Virginia farm, and Haswell convinces his mother and sister to take the man in, despite the certain repercussions if the enemy Yankees were to catch them in such a “traitorous” act. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happens, setting off a horrific chain of events that leaves Haswell’s mother dead and the farmhouse burned to the ground.After leading his younger sister to safety with relatives, Haswell sets out on his journey in search of his older brother, a Confederate soldier. His quest is also a passage into manhood, as he experiences the last bloody days of the Civil War. Skillful storytelling, well-developed characters, and a fast-paced plot distinguish this compelling family story by an award-winning author.

Second Chances: More Tales of Found Dogs


Elise Lufkin - 2003
    Many of these animals end their days without ever knowing a caring human hand, but some are fortunate enough to be found and given a second chance. And these dogs, often rescued from death's door, seem to have even more than the usual canine capacity for love and loyalty. Second Chances, is full of wonderful photos and words by people who have adopted dogs in myriad ways. Celebrities from Julio Iglesias, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Donna Shalala, and Oscar de la Renta to everyday heroes who have found dogs--from sleek greyhounds to scruffy mix-breeds--that have become service dogs, protectors, and friends, offering solace, aid, companionship and inspiration. SECOND CHANCES is a moving tribute to the power of love between people and dogs-how that love has transformed dogs who were lost, and the people who were lucky enough to find them.

Victory


Stephen CoontsR.J. Piñeiro - 2003
    Here you will meet the men and women who fought and won World War II and truly made the world safe for democracy, in thrilling stories of war as it was really fought.An exciting sequel to Stephen Coonts’s bestselling Combat, Victory brings together today’s greatest military, espionage, and technothriller writers in all-original thrilling tales of World War II—great short novels that range from the home front to the battlefields of Europe to the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Join Stephen Coonts, Ralph Peters, Harold Coyle, Harold Robbins, R. J. Pineiro, David Hagberg, Jim DeFelice, James Cobb, Barrett Tillman, and Dean Ing in a book filled with nonstop action and adventure.Stephen Coonts asks what happens when you load a Catalina flying boat with five tons of bombs, a half-dozen machine guns, and a crew that walks a fine line between valor and suicide. In the Pacific theater of war, the Japanese Navy is about to discover the answer to that question.Ralph Peters follows a German officer in the starving days after World War II as he makes his way on foot back home, where a defeat more terrible than the Allied victory awaits him.Harold Coyle takes us to the fierce fighting in the Pacific where the Japanese and the Americans clash over a strategic airfield on the island of Guadalcanal. Their battlefield will earn the nickname Bloody Ridge for both sides . . . Harold Robbins goes back to a time before the war was fought—when a doctor is brought in to diagnose a very special patient, one whose survival could cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of others. Now caught between his ethics and his humanity, he must make a choice with the fate of the world at stake.R. J. Pineiro brings the Eastern Front to light as a young American pilot is ordered to train Russian pilots in the new American made P-39D Aircobras during the final months of the brutal battle of in during the winter of 1942.David Hagberg sends the OSS and MI6 behind enemy lines in Germany to stop the one weapon that can win the war for Hitler and Nazi Germany, an electromechanical guidance system that can launch missiles not only across countries, but across the ocean and hit the United States.Jim DeFelice takes us to the height of the war when information was bought dearly on both sides. When an American pilot parachutes into Germany to gather information, he lands right in the middle of the viper’s nest—a place more deadly than anything he could have found in the skies above.James Cobb sends a special detail of PBY Catalina flying boats hunting for a hidden enemy radar station that provides the Japanese Navy with an edge in the war for the Pacific.Barrett Tillman brings us into a gruesome fight as a Marine Corps flamethrower unit fights Japanese defenders on Tarawa Atoll in November 1943.Dean Ing takes into the world of espionage as the Army Air Force becomes convinced that a Nazi superweapon can reach New York and Washington. As an interceptor is rush developed, a plane-crazy young Texan begins to suspect that someone on the team has an agenda all his own. . . . Here they are: ten bestselling military, espionage, and technothriller authors paying tribute to the Greatest Generation of Americans.

Primitive Living, Self-Sufficiency, and Survival Skills


Thomas J. Elpel - 2003
    A field guide to primitive living skills

War Child: Growing Up in Adolf Hitler's Germany


Annelee Woodstrom - 2003
    These kind people in America wanted to hear about Adolf Hitler, the man who was despised everywhere in the world. During her adolescene, constant propaganda and strictly enforced censorship influenced her thinking. As a young adult, the bombings and all the consequential suffering caused by World War II affected Annelee deeply. How could Annelee tell them that as a child, during 1935, she wanted nothing more than to be a member of Adolf Hitler's Jung Maidens' organization?

Snake Pilot: Flying the Cobra Attack Helicopter in Vietnam


Randy R. Zahn - 2003
    First deployed in Vietnam in 1967 and loaded with a formidable arsenal of weaponry, the Cobra was the first helicopter designed from inception as an attack aircraft. It dramatically changed the nature of the war in Vietnam by offering the Army, for the first time, its own powerful and highly accurate weapons platform for close-air-support missions. Randy Zahn arrived in Vietnam shortly before the 1970 U.S. invasion of Cambodia, one of the most impressive demonstrations by the Cobra in the war. He describes his stunning transformation from a naive, middle-class teenager from southern California to a hardened killer during his tour in Vietnam. Unlike the pilots who flew the fast-moving strike jets, Zahn experienced the war “up close and personal,” witnessing the grisly effects of the Cobra’s firepower on enemy soldiers. The author does not glorify killing but rather explains in sharp relief the kaleidoscope of emotions associated with combat: fear, revenge, hate, remorse, pity, and even ecstasy. He captures many of the ironies and nuances inherent in Vietnam, especially during the final years of the conflict. Zahn displays a sensitivity rarely found in memoirs written by battle-hardened warriors. This human element, combined with the vast amount of archival research and interviews with members of his former unit, ensures that Snake Pilot will become the definitive account of the role helicopters played in Vietnam.

We Asked for Nothing: The Remarkable Journey of Cabeza de Vaca


Stuart Waldman - 2003
    For the next eight years, he lived among the native tribes of the Southwest while he journeyed towards the safety of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. He and three companions survived starvation, sickness and slavery thanks to the generosity of native peoples along the way.When Cabeza de Vaca finally reached the Spanish, he was a changed man and led the struggle against the feudal-like exploitation of the New World populations. Stuart Waldman tells the fascinating story of two journeys: one covering 2,500 miles through unexplored territory, the other the transformation of a man's heart.Excerpts from Cabeza de Vaca's journals make the reader's immersion into this mystifying world complete. The gatefold map allows the reader to follow the journey while reading.

How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life


Larry Benoit - 2003
    A plain-talking, commonsense, chock-full-of-good-advice book on hunting  whitetail deer.

Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics


Kevin M. Dunn - 2003
    They crafted intricate tools from stone and brewed mind-altering elixirs from honey. Their descendants transformed clay into pottery, wool into clothing, and ashes into cleansers. In ceramic crucibles they won metal from rock, the metals lead to colored glazes and glass. Buildings of brick and mortar enshrined books of parchment and paper. Kings and queens demanded ever more colorful clothing and accessories in order to out-class clod-hoppers and call-girls. Kingdoms rose and fell by the power of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. And the demands of everyday folk for glass and paper and soap stimulated the first round of chemical industrialization. From sulfuric acid to sodium carbonate. From aniline dyes to analgesic drugs. From blasting powder to fertilizers and plastics. In a phrase, From Caveman to Chemist. Your guides on this journey are the four alchemical elements; Fire, Earth, Air and Water. These archetypical characters deliver first-hand accounts of the births of their respective technologies. The spirit of Fire, for example, was born in the first creature to cultivate the flame. This spirit passed from one person to another, from one generation to another, from one millennium to another, arriving at last in the pages of this book. The spirit of Earth taught folks to make tools of stone, the spirit of Air imparted knowledge of units and the spirit of Water began with the invention of spirits. Having traveled the world from age to age, who can say where they will find their next home? Perhaps they will find one in you.

Everest: Summit of Achievement


The Royal Geographic Society - 2003
    400+ photos.