Best of
True-Story

2003

Where the Birds Never Sing: The True Story of the 92nd Signal Battalion and the Liberation of Dachau


Jack Sacco - 2003
    After more than a year of fighting, but still only twenty years old, Joe had become a hardened veteran. Yet nothing could have prepared him and his unit for the horrors behind the walls of Germany's infamous Dachau concentration camp. They were among the first 250 American troops into the camp, and it was there that they finally grasped the significance of the Allied mission. Surrounded by death and destruction, the men not only found the courage and will to fight, but they also discovered the meaning of friendship and came to understand the value and fragility of life.

Diary of a Psychic


Sonia Choquette - 2003
    The author differs from other psychics in that she has developed her skills to see beyond predicting the future ...she works with her clients to help them identify their specific soul path to ensure that they make the most of all the opportunities that are available and helps them dissolve the blocks that stop them being who they truly are.

No, Daddy, Don't!: A Father's Murderous Act of Revenge


Irene Pence - 2003
    The horrifying true story of an abusive husband who committed the ultimate act of violence and betrayal by murdering his two young daughters, as their mother helplessly listened on the telephone.

Crucible of Terror


Max Liebster - 2003
    After his arrest, followed by four months of solitary confinement in a Nazi prison, Liebster plummets headlong into the nightmare

Alone Yet Not Alone


Tracy Michele Leininger - 2003
    On this particular day the whole valley seemed to rejoice in the fullness of the season—but suddenly Barbara and Regina’s peaceful frontier life is changed forever. General Braddock and his army had been defeated and soon the Pennsylvania settlers would suffer the bloody effects of the French and Indian War. On October 16, 1755, a band of Indians, led by Allegheny warriors, stormed through Buffalo Valley, burned the Leiningers’ log cabin, and captured the sisters. Few survived the Penn’s Creek Massacre and even fewer lived to tell the story. Regina makes a promise to her older sister just before they are unwillingly separated—each to endure different fates. Barbara is taken deep into the wilderness, but holds on to the hope that she will find her little sister. Though she is adopted into the Indian tribe, there is a longing deep inside that cannot be denied. She must escape—but the penalty if caught is certain death. No one expresses Barbara’s apprehensions better than her own words, written in 1759: “If one could not believe that there is a God, who helps and saves from death, one had better let running away alone...The extreme probability that the Indians would pursue and recapture us, was two to one compared with the dim hope that, perhaps, we would get through...even if we did escape the Indians, how would we ever succeed in passing through the wilderness, unacquainted with a single path or trail…"

Americanized '72: A Generation X Coming of Age (& Identity) Adoption Story


Janine Vance - 2003
    Their challenges begin in 1984 when their dad falls 100 feet from a hang-gliding accident, prompting the twins at the age of twelve to take on the role of full-time caregivers. His recovery, post-traumatic brain injury, is long and difficult and compounded by their mom's hoarding. Raised in a religious household, the twins are obligated to honor their parents, but whom do they obey when the parents disagree? Around high school graduation, the twins' mother finally reveals her secrets. Then they receive shocking news about themselves. What happens when you're not the person your adoptive parents always hoped you would be?

Self Portrait Che Guevara


Ernesto Che Guevara - 2003
    Unique among the many books about Che Guevara, this self-portrait reveals his remarkable candor, irony, dry wit, and, above all, his passion. Edited by prominent Latin American poet and intellectual Victor Casaus, with the assistance of Che’s children and widow (Aleida March). "Che was the most complete human being of our age."—Jean-Paul Sartre "This beautiful, enlightening volume humanizes Che." —RAIN TAXI

Animals and the Afterlife: True Stories of Our Best Friends' Journey Beyond Death


Kim Sheridan - 2003
    Each time she faced the death of a beloved pet, along with the pain came the same questions, to which she could find no answers. Then, mysterious things began to happen that she couldn’t explain, which led her on an incredible journey to uncover the truth. Along with her own extraordinary experiences, she compiled heartwarming and meaningful true stories of everyday people around the world, and discovered compelling evidence that forever erased her own doubts about an afterlife for animals.      This book provides enormous comfort and reassurance to anyone who has ever cherished a pet, and food for thought for anyone who has ever questioned the place of these beloved creatures in the larger scheme of things, both here on Earth and beyond.

Out of the Dark


Linda Caine - 2003
    As a contented wife and mother, she should have everything to live for. Yet a blackness has started to leak into her thoughts. Images flash through her head leaving her stunned and breathless. On the face of it there is no rational explanation for the way she feels. Linda believes there is something malign inside her. But in the back of her mind a voice tells her over and over again that everything will be OK. When it finally gets too much, she can always simply die. 'How shall I die if that time comes? I need to know these things. They have to be planned.' It must look like an accident. She will deliberately drive off the road on her way home from her weekly shopping trip. After all, who commits suicide with a load of groceries in their car?The raw and powerful journey Linda takes with her psychotherapist Robin Royston to discover what lies at the heart of her deptression will leave you shocked. The secrets in her African childhood and adolescence are buried so deep that to reveal them may destroy her completely. Together Linda and Robin race to unravel the clues, before it is too late.OUT OF THE DARK is Linda Caine's remarkable and uplifting story from the agonies of mental breakdown to the painful piecing together of the past that was vital for her survival. Both her courage and Robin's persistence during the process show the power of the human spirit at its most indomitable and inspiring.

Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx


Heidi B. Neumark - 2003
    Despite living and working in a milieu of overwhelming poverty and violence, Neumark and the congregation encounter even more powerful forces of hope and renewal.This story of a community creating space for new life and breath is also the story of a young woman-working, raising her children, and struggling for spiritual breathing space. Through poignant, intimate stories, Neumark charts her journey alongside her parishioners as pastor, church, and community grow in wisdom and together experience transformation.

Burned Alive


Souad - 2003
    In her village, as in so many others, sex before marriage was considered a grave dishonour to one's family and was punishable by death. This was her crime. Her brother-in-law was given the task of arranging her punishment. One morning while Souad was washing the family's clothes, he crept up on her, poured petrol over her and set her alight.In the eyes of their community he was a hero. An execution for a 'crime of honour' was a respectable duty unlikely to bring about condemnation from others. It certainly would not have provoked calls for his prosecution. More than five thousand cases of such honour killings are reported around the world each year and many more take place that we hear nothing about.Miraculously, Souad survived rescued by the women of her village, who put out the flames and took her to a local hospital. Horrifically burned, and abandoned by her family and community, it was only the intervention of a European aid worker that enabled Souad to receive the care and sanctuary she so desperately needed and to start her life again. She has now decided to tell her story and uncover the barbarity of honour killings, a practice which continues to this day.Burned Alive is a shocking testimony, a true story of almost unbelievable cruelty. It speaks of amazing courage and fortitude and of one woman's determination to survive. It is also a call to break the taboo of silence that surrounds this most brutal of practices and which ignores the plight of so many other women who are also victims of traditional violence.

Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul: Amazing Sea Stories and Wyland Artwork to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit (Chicken Soup for the Soul)


Jack Canfield - 2003
    For some, it's a place for reflection or romance. For others, it's the thrill of watching surf crash against a sandy white beach or studying the kaleidoscope of life among a tropical coral reef. This ability of the ocean to change our lives, to inspire us and to fascinate us is what led us to create Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul, a collection of stories from around the world that celebrate the magic of our ocean planet. The sea, from the beginning of time, has inspired great art and amazing stories. Our relationship with the ocean lies deep within our consciousness and, in fact, is in each of us. Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul has captured some of these great stories to warm your heart and touch your soul. This book has amazing stories of swimming eye to eye with great whales, sharks and manatees, as well as legends of dolphins saving man. So get ready to dive in with Jack, Mark and Wyland, the world's most acclaimed marine-life artist, as they guide you on a journey of discovery and stories that will lift your spirit and awaken your senses like the healing sea itself. At last, a Chicken Soup for the Soul book for ocean lovers like you!

Remembering Jack: Intimate and Unseen Photographs of the Kennedys


Jacques Lowe - 2003
    A stirring collection of never-before-seen photographs of the Kennedy family presented in this seminal work by JFK's personal photographer, Jacques Lowe.

The Kiss of Heaven: God's Favor to Empower Your Life Dream


Darlene Zschech - 2003
    In this book she shows readers how they can experience God's favor as they pursue the dream He has planted in their hearts. Practical biblical teaching explains how the God-given dream will come to life as people devote themselves and their desires to God.

Latin American Writers at Work


The Paris Review - 2003
    These fascinating conversations were compiled from the annals of The Paris Review and include a new, lyrical Introduction by Nobel Prize–winning author Derek Walcott.

Everest: Summit of Achievement


The Royal Geographic Society - 2003
    400+ photos.

Shattered: Reclaiming a Life Torn Apart by Violence


Debra Puglisi Sharp - 2003
    Nino, her husband of twenty-five years, got in the way and was shot. The man then attacked and raped Debra, placed her in the trunk of his car, and drove away. Kept hog-tied in her abductor's house, Debra finally learned of her husband's murder from a newscast on a radio that the man blared to muffle her screams while he was out. After five excruciating days, Debra's mounting rage at her captor -- and the wrenching thought of her children burying their father alone -- gave her the courage and strength she desperately needed. She loosened her ties, groped her way to the phone...and dialed 911. Shattered is an indelible portrait of hope, determination, and the agonizing journey back to life. Struggling to heal from her horrendous ordeal and the devastating loss of her husband, Debra also had to endure an agonizing court trial, the raw grief of her children, and her own crippling fear. But through her work in hospice care and as an advocate for victims of violence and trauma, she has slowly discovered the measure of her own strength. A compelling survival story -- tragic and ultimately heroic -- Shattered represents one woman's attempts to make sense of a senseless crime.

Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks


Mick Conefrey - 2003
    Imagine a time when the Alps were as remote as the Himalayas and the Himalayas as remote as the moon. Traversing a century of climbing that began with the Victorian enthusiasts and ended with the conquest of the great Himalayan peaks, Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan take us back to that (not-so-distant) world to tell the stories of the extraordinary men who were the first to climb the world's best-known mountains -- the Matterhorn, McKinley, Everest, and K2. Their quests provide welcome historical context and very modern thrills for readers of adventure narratives. Accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, Mountain Men invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us the stories with all their romance and stupidity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation, intact. Meet the Mountain Men: Albert Smith was an impresario who climbed Mont Blanc with the help of 16 guides, 18 porters, and 90 bottles of spirits; his Piccadilly shows turned mountaineering from a folly into a sport. Edward Whymper, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian climbers, was the first to summit the Matterhorn, but not an hour later he lost four members of his party in a horrible accident that would shadow him for the rest of his life. The Duke of Abruzzi, heir to the Italian throne, reached the intimidating slopes of K2 in 1909 but concluded that no one could climb it in his lifetime -- he was right. Mount McKinley was claimed by not one but several climbers, including America's great explorer -- and, it turned out, fraudster -- Dr. Frederick Cook, who had his porters take pictures of him on a look-alike crevasse many miles away from the actual mountain. The eccentric Maurice Wilson, convinced that he enjoyed God's protection, decided to climb Everest alone -- just as soon as he taught himself to fly and got himself smuggled into Nepal. He got further than anyone could have dreamed, but his body was discovered frozen a hundred feet from a food cache left by an earlier party.