Watersheds of World History


John L. Taylor - 2012
    This is a kaleidoscope of human events to be enjoyed by everyone but especially by those who have little or no background in world history and would like to appreciate and understand how the fragments of major events form a unified whole. Read the high reviews on Amazon.

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Campaigns of the Civil War - VI


Abner Doubleday - 1882
    Although the fierce resistance by the First Corps during the bloody late afternoon of July 1 never received its due praise, Doubleday's account of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg stands as a passionate, uncompromising tribute.Excerpt from Chancellorsville and Gettysburg In writing this narrative, which relates to the decisive campaign which freed the Northern States from invasion, it may not be out of place to state what facilities I have had for observation in the fulfilment of so important a task. I can only say that I was, to a considerable extent, an actor in the scenes I describe, and knew the principal leaders on both sides, in consequence of my association with them at West Point, and, subsequently, in the regular army. Indeed, several of them, including Stonewall Jackson and A. P. Hill, were, prior to the war, officers in the regiment to which I belonged. As commander of the Defences of Washington in the spring of 1862, I was, owing to the nature of my duties, brought into intimate relations with the statesmen who controlled the Government at that time, and became well acquainted with President Lincoln.

Dark Seed


Lawrence Verigin - 2013
    Nick Barnes and Morgan Elles learn that the man behind these organizations means to intentionally harm the global population, and he eliminates all opposition without hesitation or remorse.As they uncover proof of the unscrupulous plan, Nick and Morgan quickly find themselves fighting for their lives. They have to stay one step ahead of the security force ordered to terminate all original research. And them.Grab hold for a wild ride with this exciting, high concept story that tackles one of the biggest issues of our time. Winner – 2014 Chanticleer CLUE Thriller Award for International Intrigue/World Events.Finalist – 2015 Eric Hoffer Book Award Montaigne Medal for Thought-Provoking Books that Illuminate, Progress, and Redirect Thought.

The Bookie's Son


Andrew Goldstein - 2012
    All twelve-year-old Ricky Davis wants to do is play stickball with his friends and flirt with the building super's daughter. But when his father crosses gangster Nathan Glucksman and goes into hiding, Ricky has to take over his father's bookie business and figure out a way to pay back his debt-before the gangsters make good on their threats. Meanwhile, Ricky's mother, Pearl, a fading beauty of failed dreams, plots to raise the money by embezzling funds from one of her boss's clients: Elizabeth Taylor. Fast-paced, engrossing and full of heart, The Bookie's Son paints the picture of a family forced to decide just how much they're willing to sacrifice for each other-and at what cost.

The Fighting Tenth: The Tenth Submarine Flotilla and the Siege of Malta (Submarine Warfare in World War Two)


John Wingate - 2021
    

Your Life Isn't for You: A Selfish Person's Guide to Being Selfless


Seth Adam Smith - 2014
    With a mix of humor, candor, and compassion, he reveals how, years before his marriage, his self-obsession led to a downward spiral of addiction and depression, culminating in a suicide attempt at the age of twenty. Reflecting on the love and support he experienced in the aftermath, as well as on the lessons he learned from a difficult missionary stint in Russia, his time as a youth leader in the Arizona desert, his marriage, and even a story his father read to him as a child, he shares his deep conviction that the only way you can find your life is to give it away to others.

Long Promised Road: Carl Wilson, Soul of the Beach Boys: The Biography


Kent Crowley - 2015
    While he is often unjustly overlooked as a mere adjunct to his more famous brothers Brian and Dennis, Carl was a major international rock star from his early teens.The proud owner of one of the greatest voices in popular music--one that graced some of the most important records of the pop era, including 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations'--Wilson was also one of the first musicians to bring the electric guitar to the forefront of rock'n'roll. His musical skills provided The Beach Boys' entree into the music business, from which he then stewarded their onstage journey through the ups and downs of the 60s to their comeback in the 70s and into the role of 'America's band' in the 80s. Along the way, Carl quietly endured his own battles with obesity, divorce, substance abuse, and ultimately terminal cancer, all the while working to protect his family's business and legacy. This major new biography reveals the true story of modern rock'n'roll, lived from the center of the most important decades of popular music.

Crushed: An Amazing True Story of Determination and Survival


Kathryn Mann - 2013
    Crushed and left with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and compression fractures in his chest, spine, and pelvis, Bob pushed his arms forward, dug his fingers into the freezing mud and dragged his mostly paralyzed body forward. Saturated to the skin in freezing rain, far from help, and with the night fast approaching, Bob refused to give up.This includes photographs, documentation, and inspirational verses.This amazing true story was featured on the It's a Miracle series hosted by Richard Thomas. It aired on PAX Television as Chain Reaction in 1999.

Give Me Courage


Lenuta Hellen Nadolu - 2014
    You white people just have affairs. You lie and cheat. At least we're honest.' Lenuta 'Hellen' Nadolu has led a tumultuous life. A strong willed free spirit, she was born and raised in communist Romania, where women were supposed to know their place. At the age of nineteen, her life changed when she began an affair with a handsome African doctor named Victor and fell pregnant.To avoid the wrath of Hellen's domineering father and an unforgiving community, the couple married and then, against everyone's advice, moved to Ghana. But Africa was nothing like Hellen had imagined: Victor considered her merely a possession with few rights and expected her to turn a blind eye to his affairs. Pushed to the brink, she made a desperate decision - she would get a divorce and smuggle her three children out of the country. But no Western woman had ever divorced a Ghanaian man - let alone been granted custody of the children - and Victor's powerful family would not give her up without a fight ... Give Me Courage is an astonishing true story of bravery, resilience and determination.

The War at Home: A Wife's Search for Peace (and Other Missions Impossible)


Rachel Starnes - 2016
    Through constant relocations, separations, and the crippling doubts of early parenthood, Starnes effortlessly weaves together strands from her past with the relentless pace of Navy life in a time of war. Searingly honest and emotionally unflinching—and at times laugh out loud funny—Starnes eloquently evokes the challenges she faces in trying to find and claim a sense of home while struggling to chart a new path and avoid passing on the same legacy to her two young sons. At once a portrait of the devastating strains that military life puts on families and a meditation on what it means to be left behind, The War at Home is a brave portrait of a modern military family and the realities of separation, endurance, and love that overcomes.  Praise for The War at Home:“Rachel Starnes’s The War at Home navigates the joys, fears, compromises, and casualties that create the terrain of marriage. And if you are a military spouse, her memoir will reveal thoughts you never even knew you had. This is a wise and fearless book.” —Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone   “One of the most honest and genuine memoirs I’ve ever read, as well as one of the most finely written. There’s not a false note in these pages. Rachel Starnes’s story is at once both singular and emblematic. . . . The War at Home is that rare thing: a book about the here and now that promises to last well beyond next month or next year.” —Steve Yarbrough, award-winning author of The Realm of Last Chances and Safe from the Neighbors

The Proud Bastards: One Marine's Journey from Parris Island through the Hell of Vietnam


E.Michael Helms - 1990
    Michael Helms boarded a bus to the legendary grounds of Parris Island, where mere boys were forged into hardened Marines—and sent to the jungles of Vietnam. It was the first stop on a journey that would forever change him—and by its end, he would be awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Citation, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry. From the brutality and endurance-straining ordeals of boot camp to the endless horror of combat, Helms paints a vivid, unflinchingly realistic depiction of the lives of Marines in training and under fire. As powerful and compelling a battlefield memoir as any ever written, Helms's “grunt's-eye” view of the Vietnam War, the men who fought it, and the mindless chaos that surrounded it, is truly a modern military classic.

Don't Think Twice: Adventure and Healing at 100 Miles Per Hour


Barbara Schoichet - 2016
    Her life stripped bare, and armed with nothing but a death wish and a ton of attitude, Barbara pursues an unlikely method of coping. At the age of fifty she earns her motorcycle license, buys a Harley on eBay from two guys named Dave, and drives it alone from New York to Los Angeles on a circuitous trek loosely guided by her H.O.G. tour book and a whole lot of road whimsy. On the open highway—where she daily takes her speed to a hundred—Barbara battles physical limitations and inner demons on a journey that flows through the majestic Appalachian Mountains, the enchanting Turquoise Trail, and all along America’s iconic Route 66. She is awed by the battlefields in Gettysburg, stunned by the decadence of Graceland, and amused by a Cadillac graveyard in the middle of nowhere. She meets kind strangers, odd strangers, and a guy who pulls a gun on her for cutting him off. She is vulnerable but sassy, broken but determined to heal . . . or die trying.

The Paleo Chef: Quick, Flavorful Paleo Meals for Eating Well


Pete Evans - 2014
    However, following this way of eating doesn't mean sacrificing flavor or spending a long time in the kitchen. In The Paleo Chef, Pete Evans, one of Australia's leading chefs and food personalities, shows readers how to prepare gorgeous food that is satisfying, flavor-forward, and good for you. A graduate of New York's Institute of Integrative Nutrition and an enthusiastic supporter of the Paleo movement, Pete's mission is to revolutionize the way we eat and live. The Paleo Chef is his breakout book, a visually rich collection of more than 100 of his most inspired, no-sacrifice recipes for every meal of the day, from Sprouted Seed Bread to Chia Seed Pudding, Grilled Asparagus with Roasted Bone Marrow to Chocolate Beet Cake, and more.

LRRP Team Leader


John Burford - 1994
    All of Sergeant John Burford's missions with F Company, 58th Infantry were deep in hostile territory. As leader of a six-man LRRP team, he found the enemy, staged ambushes, called in precision strikes, and rescued downed pilots. The lives of the entire team depended on his leadership and their combined skill and guts. A single mistake—a moment of panic—could mean death for everyone.Whether describing ambushes in the dreaded A Shau Valley or popping smoke to call in artillery only yards away from his position, Burford demonstrates the stuff the LRRPs are made of—the bravery, daring, and sheer guts that make the LRRPs true heroes. . . .

Family Secrets: The scandalous history of an extraordinary family


Derek Malcolm - 2017
    The secret, though, that surrounded my parents’ unhappy life together, was divulged to me by accident . . .’ Hidden under some papers in his father’s bureau, the sixteen-year-old Derek Malcolm finds a book by the famous criminologist Edgar Lustgarten called The Judges and the Damned. Browsing through the Contents pages Derek reads, ‘Mr Justice McCardie tries Lieutenant Malcolm – page 33.’ But there is no page 33. The whole chapter has been ripped out of the book. Slowly but surely, the shocking truth emerges: that Derek’s father, shot his wife’s lover and was acquitted at a famous trial at the Old Bailey. The trial was unique in British legal history as the first case of a crime passionel, where a guilty man is set free, on the grounds of self-defence. Husband and wife lived together unhappily ever after, raising Derek in their wake. Then, in a dramatic twist, following his father’s death, Derek receives an open postcard from his Aunt Phyllis, informing him that his real father is the Italian Ambassador to London . . . By turns laconic and affectionate, Derek Malcolm has written a richly evocative memoir of a family sinking into hopeless disrepair. Derek Malcolm was chief film critic of the Guardian for thirty years and still writes for the paper. Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, he became first a steeplechase rider and then an actor after leaving university. He worked as a journalist in the sixties, first in Cheltenham and then with the Guardian where he was a features sub-editor and writer, racing correspondent and finally film critic. He directed the London Film Festival for a spell in the 80s and is now President of both the International Film Critics Association and the British Federation of Film Societies. He lives with his wife Sarah Gristwood in London and Kent and has published two books – one on Robert Mitchum and another on his favourite 100 films. He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television and a veteran of film festival juries all over the world.