I Just Want You To Be Happy


Amy Cross - 2018
     Desperate to find a room she can rent, Hazel answers an advert placed by reclusive widower Michael Emery. When she visits Michael's home, Hazel is given a shocking offer: she can live there rent-free, with no bills to pay, provided she agrees to spend one night with him in his bed each week. Although she's shocked and turns the offer down, a few years later she sees the advert again. And this time, a disillusioned and broken Hazel makes a very different decision... Before long, however, Hazel discovers that Michael's dead wife might not be gone after all. Something else seems to be living in the house, something that is by turns both angry and devoted. Does the ghost of Jessica Emery really haunt her husband and, if so, what did she really mean when she whispered her dying words to him all those years ago?

No Sweat Pants Allowed - Wine Club


Jan Romes - 2015
    They quickly become friends and form the No Sweat Pants Allowed - Wine Club. This newly found alliance brings about some humorous escapades, a few tears, and a bond so strong no man can break as they try to cling to the past and finally step out of their comfort zones to find a happiness they thought they'd never feel again. Discover Elaina Samuels, Tawny Westerfield, Stephanie Mathews, and Grace Cordray.

Saving Freedom: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for the Future of Europe


Joe Scarborough - 2020
    Suddenly inaugurated the leader of the free world, the plainspoken Truman candidly told reporters he, “felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.” He faced a hostile world stage. Even as World War II drew to a close, the Cold War was around the corner. The Soviet Union went from America’s uneasy ally to its number one adversary. Through shrewd diplomacy and military might, Joseph Stalin gained control of Eastern Europe, and soon cast an acquisitive eye toward the Balkans—and beyond. Newly liberated from fascism, Europe’s future was again at risk, its freedom on the line. Alarmed by the Soviets’ designs, Truman acted. In a speech before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, he announced a policy of containment that became known as the “Truman Doctrine”—a pledge that the United States would “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” In Saving Freedom, Joe Scarborough moves between events in Washington and those in Europe—in Greece, where the U.S.-backed government was fighting a civil war with insurgent Communists, and in Turkey, where the Soviets pressed for control of the Dardanelles—to analyze and understand the changing geopolitics that led Truman to deliver his momentous speech. The story of the passage of the Truman doctrine is an inspiring tale of American leadership, can-doism, bipartisan unity, and courage in the face of an antidemocratic threat. Saving Freedom highlights a pivotal moment of the Twentieth Century, a turning point where patriotic Americans worked together to defeat tyranny.

One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon


Tim Weiner - 2015
    In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon's demise were inextricably linked. From the hail of garbage and curses that awaited Nixon upon his arrival at the White House, when he became the president of a nation as deeply divided as it had been since the end of the Civil War, to the unprecedented action Nixon took against American citizens, who he considered as traitorous as the army of North Vietnam, to the infamous break-in and the tapes that bear remarkable record of the most intimate and damning conversations between the president and his confidantes, Weiner narrates the history of Nixon's anguished presidency in fascinating and fresh detail.A crucial new look at the greatest political suicide in history, One Man Against the World leaves us not only with new insight into this tumultuous period, but also into the motivations and demons of an American president who saw enemies everywhere, and, thinking the world was against him, undermined the foundations of the country he had hoped to lead.

The Wise Book of Whys


Today I Found Out.com - 2013
    This and 98 other fascinating questions are answered in detail inside, along with some interesting Bonus Facts related to each topic to fully satisfy even the most learned of trivia buffs.

Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America


Douglas Brinkley - 2016
    Now, in Rightful Heritage, Brinkley turns his attention to the other indefatigable environmental leader—Teddy’s distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, chronicling his essential yet under-sung legacy as the founder of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and premier protector of America’s public lands. FDR built from scratch dozens of State Park systems and scenic roadways. Pristine landscapes such as the Great Smokies, the Everglades, Joshua Tree, the Olympics, Big Bend, Channel Islands, Mammoth Cave, and the slickrock wilderness of Utah were forever saved by his leadership.Brinkley traces FDR’s love for the natural world from his youth exploring the Hudson River Valley and bird watching. As America’s president from 1933 to 1945, Roosevelt—consummate political strategist—established hundreds of federal migratory bird refuges and spearheaded the modern endangered species movement. He brilliantly positioned his conservation goals as economic policy to combat the severe unemployment of the Great Depression. During its nine-year existence, the CCC put nearly three million young men to work on conservation projects—including building trails in the national parks, pollution control, land restoration to combat the Dust Bowl, and planting over two billion trees.Rightful Heritage is an epic chronicle that is both an irresistible portrait of FDR’s unrivaled passion and drive, and an indispensable analysis that skillfully illuminates the tension between business and nature—exploiting our natural resources and conserving them. Within the narrative are brilliant capsule biographies of such environmental warriors as Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ickes, and Rosalie Edge. Rightful Heritage is essential reading for everyone seeking to preserve our treasured landscapes as an American birthright.

Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices


Noah Feldman - 2010
    A Klansman who became an absolutist advocate of free speech and civil rights. A backcountry lawyer who started off trying cases about cows and went on to conduct the most important international trial ever. A self-invented, tall-tale Westerner who narrowly missed the presidency but expanded individual freedom beyond what anyone before had dreamed. Four more different men could hardly be imagined. Yet they had certain things in common. Each was a self-made man who came from humble beginnings on the edge of poverty. Each had driving ambition and a will to succeed. Each was, in his own way, a genius. They began as close allies and friends of FDR, but the quest to shape a new Constitution led them to competition and sometimes outright warfare. SCORPIONS tells the story of these four great justices: their relationship with Roosevelt, with each other, and with the turbulent world of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. It also serves as a history of the modern Constitution itself.

The People Next Door


Bettye Griffin - 2005
    Until, that is, the new neighbours arrive - just what is it about Brad Betancourt that Lisa finds so familiar?

Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter


Randall Balmer - 2014
    A former peanut farmer and born-again Christian, Carter won the presidency in 1976 thanks in large part to America’s evangelicals, who responded to Carter’s open religiosity and his rejection of the moral bankruptcy of the Nixon White House. But in 1980 evangelical voters overwhelmingly abandoned him in favor of Ronald Reagan, and in doing so rejected the long and noble tradition of progressive evangelicalism Carter represented.Esteemed religious historian Randall Balmer presents a compelling new biography of the 39th President, showing how Carter’s defeat signaled the eclipse of progressive evangelicalism and the rise of the Religious Right, a political force that continues to reign today. In this fresh, insightful look at Carter’s life and career, Balmer reveals Carter as the embodiment of a liberal evangelical tradition, now sadly overshadowed by right-wing militancy.

When the Center Held: Gerald Ford and the Rescue of the American Presidency


Donald Rumsfeld - 2018
    America had experienced a decade of horrifying assassinations; the unprecedented resignation of first a vice president and then a president of the United States; intense cultural and social change; and a new mood of cynicism sweeping the country—a mood that, in some ways, lingers today. Into that divided atmosphere stepped an unexpected, unelected, and largely unknown American—Gerald R. Ford. In contrast to every other individual who had ever occupied the Oval Office, he had never appeared on any ballot either for the presidency or the vice presidency. Ford simply and humbly performed his duty to the best of his considerable ability. By the end of his 895 days as president, he would in fact have restored balance to our country, steadied the ship of state, and led his fellow Americans out of the national trauma of Watergate. And yet, Gerald Ford remains one of the least studied and least understood individuals to have held the office of the President of the United States. In turn, his legacy also remains severely underappreciated. In When the Center Held, Ford’s Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld candidly shares his personal observations of the man himself, providing a sweeping examination of his crucial years in office. It is a rare and fascinating look behind the closed doors of the Oval Office, including never-before-seen photos, memos, and anecdotes, from a unique insider’s perspective—“engrossing and informative” (Kirkus Reviews) reading for any fan of presidential history.

Hacksaw Ridge : The True Story of Desmond Doss


Ronald Kruk - 2017
    His comrades claim that he saved 100. President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Congressional Medal of Honor upon his return to the United States, for his heroics on Okinawa, and the citation credits him with saving 75 lives, splitting the difference. "From a human standpoint, I shouldn't be here to tell the story," said Doss in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "No telling how many times the Lord has spared my life." During World War II, 16,112,556 American soldiers served their country and the cause of the Allies, and only 43 received the Medal of Honor. Doss, who held a powerful allegiance to Christ, and was a devoted member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, became the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. military's highest honor. Today, he is one of two conscientious objectors to have received it.

Mekong Mud Dogs: Story of: Sgt. Ed Eaton


Ed Eaton - 2014
    and Sniper with the River Raiders of the Mekong. His stories include the one which garnered him a recommendation for the Medal of Honor.

Flashing Saber: Three Years in Vietnam


Matthew Brennan - 1985
    The Blues, as they were called, were perpetually understrength and considered to be acceptable losses in hopeless situations—but their amazingly successful record proved otherwise.A firsthand account of mortal combat with the Ninth Cavalry, Flashing Saber is the remarkable story of the brave men who served in the First Air Cavalry Division's reconnaissance squadron. Included is an account of an air-ground raid that overran a regimental command post and killed more high-ranking enemy officers than any similar engagement of the war. The story begins when a teenager, an Eagle Scout and West Point Prep School student, goes to Vietnam in 1965. Motivated by patriotism and the desire to see combat firsthand, Brennan volunteers for front line duty and spends years as an artillery forward observer and infantryman. Promoted to sergeant and then to lieutenant, Brennan participates in hundreds of assault landings.An expansion and careful reworking of his previous work, Brennan's War, published in 1985, and in the vein of classic memoirs by Johnnie Clark and Frederick Downs, Flashing Saberis a harrowing firsthand account of life and death in war, one filled with breathtaking details about a renowned unit.

The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942


Nigel Hamilton - 2014
    Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR’s masterful—and underappreciated—command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes readers inside FDR’s White House Oval Study—his personal command center—and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.  Time and again, FDR was proven right and his allies and generals were wrong. When the generals wanted to attack the Nazi-fortified coast of France, FDR knew the Allied forces weren’t ready. When Churchill insisted his Far East colonies were loyal and would resist the Japanese, Roosevelt knew it was a fantasy. As Hamilton’s account reaches its climax with the Torch landings in North Africa in late 1942, the tide of war turns in the Allies’ favor and FDR’s genius for psychology and military affairs is clear. This intimate, sweeping look at a great president in history’s greatest conflict is must reading.

Special Boat Squadron


Barrie Pitt - 1983
     Only since the Falklands campaign have the initials SBS become known to the public. Yet this clandestine formation of Britain’s armed forces has been in existence since the Second World War. Barrie Pitt, who himself served with the SBS, describes how the it came into being in 1941. How they fought with distinction in the Aegean, where one of their exploits inspired The Guns of Navarone. How they earned rapport in the Adriatic, in Greece and in Italy. How the SBS was reorganised in 1946 as part of the Royal Marines and has since played a role in Korea, Borneo and the Falklands. Equally interesting is the author’s report of the training and specialized skills required by the boat units, and the essential tasks facing them — infiltration from the sea, reconnaissance, sabotage, survival, resistance to interrogation, escape from captivity — and the expertise and determination to complete them. As Barrie Pitt's superb account of the formative years of this elite force shows, these qualities have been present from the very beginning. Barrie Pitt (1918-2006) was well known as a military historian and editor of Purnell’s History of the Second World War and History of the First World War. His publications include 'Coronel and Falkland', 'Churchill and the Generals' and 'The Crucible of War', a trilogy covering the North African campaign of the Second World War. He was born in Galway and later lived near Ilminster in Somerset.