For eighty-two long days the Imperial Japanese Army and American forces clashed. This monumental battle cost the lives of 95,000 Japanese troops and 12,510 Americans. But what actually happened at Okinawa between April 1 and June 22, 1945? What strategies were implemented by marine forces who undertook the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of the war? Chas. S. Nichols Jr. and Henry I. Shaw Jr.’s account of this battle provides in depth analysis into the final major battle of the Second World War. Their works draws upon many hours of interviews and conversations that Nichols and Shaw conducted with marines of various ranks in the weeks and months after the battle had ended. This is the definitive history of the battle of Okinawa. “extremely interesting and profitable reading.” Japan Quarterly Chas. S. Nichols Jr. was a major who served with the USMC in the Second World War. Henry I. Shaw Jr. was a prominent military historian who wrote many books on World War Two. Their book was first published in 1955. Nichols passed away in 1997 and Shaw passed away in 2000.

    Following the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, Allied military strategists turned their attention to southern Italy. Winston Churchill famously described the region as the “soft underbelly of Europe,” and claimed that an invasion would pull German troops from the Eastern Front and help bring a swift end to the war.   On July 10, 1943, American and British forces invaded Sicily. Operation Husky brought the island under Allied control and hastened the downfall of Benito Mussolini, but more than one hundred thousand German and Italian troops managed to escape across the Strait of Medina. The “soft underbelly” of mainland Italy became, in the words of US Fifth Army commander Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, “a tough old gut.”   Less than a year after landing with the US Marines on Guadalcanal Island, journalist Richard Tregaskis joined the Allied forces in Sicily and Italy. Invasion Diary documents some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, from bombing runs over Rome to the defense of the Salerno beachhead against heavy artillery fire to the fall of Naples. In compelling and evocative prose, Tregaskis depicts the terror and excitement of life on the front lines and recounts his own harrowing brush with death when a chunk of German shrapnel pierced his helmet and shattered his skull.   An invaluable eyewitness account of two of the most crucial campaigns of the Second World War and a stirring tribute to the soldiers, pilots, surgeons, nurses, and ambulance drivers whose skill and courage carried the Allies to victory, Invasion Diary is a classic of war reportage and “required reading for all who want to know how armies fight” (Library Journal).  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Richard Tregaskis including rare images from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.

    How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. Bestselling author and cartoonist Randall Munroe explains how to predict the weather by analyzing the pixels of your Facebook photos. He teaches you how to tell if you're a baby boomer or a 90's kid by measuring the radioactivity of your teeth. He offers tips for taking a selfie with a telescope, crossing a river by boiling it, and getting to your appointments on time by destroying the Moon. And if you want to get rid of the book once you're done with it, he walks you through your options for proper disposal, including dissolving it in the ocean, converting it to a vapor, using tectonic plates to subduct it into the Earth's mantle, or launching it into the Sun.By exploring the most complicated ways to do simple tasks, Munroe doesn't just make things difficult for himself and his readers. As he did so brilliantly in What If?, Munroe invites us to explore the most absurd reaches of the possible. Full of clever infographics and amusing illustrations, How To is a delightfully mind-bending way to better understand the science and technology underlying the things we do every day.

    

    Following his escape, suspicion falls upon Adalia and she is detained in his place, along with her two children, and imprisoned in Fort Santiago. Facing torture and starvation, Adalia contacts the Filipino underground and agrees to help them from inside the prison in return for much-needed food and medicine. With a talent for manipulating her captors, Adalia is able to evade detection long enough to provide for herself and her children, as well as other detainees in urgent need of sustenance, until the deliverance of V-J Day.

    The story is based on the fragmentary remains of Fray Antonio Agapida's contemporary chronicles and other historical documents.

    Until now..."The year is 1929. As the world teeters on the brink of a global recession, Bletchley Park plays host to a rather special event. MI5 is celebrating its twentieth anniversary and a select band of former and current employees are gathering at the private estate for a weekend of music, dance and heavy drinking. Among them is Sir Hilary Manningham-Butler, a middle aged woman whose entire adult life has been spent masquerading as a man. She doesn’t know why she has been invited – it is many years since she left the secret service – but it is clear she is not the only one with things to hide. And when one of the other guests threatens to expose her secret, the consequences could prove disastrous for everyone.

    But Kate Hardy, a successful young writer, soon finds a world of rivalries beneath the surface calm.

    Historical novel, set in Portugal, during the Peninsular War, in which the British battled the armies of Napoleon.

    Michener lights up nature's most awesome and beguiling handiwork--from the sublime shaping and reshaping of earth's land and seas to the ridiculous armadillo whose assault on a bit of Texas real estate paid off handsomely. Chosen from Michener's most popular books--including one story never before published in paperback--these mini-masterpieces take us deep into the secret lives of animals and the hidden world of nature. In them we hear the music of the spheres and feel the heartbeat of creation.

    While the Final Solution was a unique and unparalleled horror, German atrocities did not end there. The Nazis terrorized their own citizens, tortured and murdered POWs, and carried out countless executions throughout occupied Europe. Lord Russell of Liverpool was part of the legal team that brought Nazi war criminals to justice, and from this first-hand position, he published the sensational, bestselling The Scourge of the Swastika in 1954. Liverpool shows that the actions of the Third Reich, including the Holocaust, were illegal, not merely immoral.

    Something new, to keep true love alive.They need Paris Beaufont.However, this fairy loses her lunch if she watches a romantic comedy. Love songs give her hives. She punched the last guy who tried to flirt with her.Needless to say, Paris Beaufont isn’t the romantic type.But she’s going to have to learn how to create budding love for others or she’s going to jail.When a series of criminal offenses forces Paris to attend fairy godmother college, she has to learn not to just stomach romance, but to master it.What this fairy godmother in-training learns isn’t just about love. And what she does for the college might change the planet forever— It is love that makes the world go round, after all.

    Content to spend her time escaping into a good book to escape her micromanaging boss, the very last thing she expects is to be cornered by a group of terrifying strangers hunting down a journal that belonged to her late father.It turns out Dad was keeping a secret or two… most importantly, that he was a wizard, and that Rory has a hidden magical family she's never met. When her witchy relatives invite her to live with them in their enchanted library, it's literally a dream come true.Until she stumbles upon a dead body hidden behind a bookshelf.Juggling a new family and job would be enough of a challenge without also having to deal with a murder mystery, cranky familiars, and the attention of the local reaper -- even if he is the hottest guy in town.It's up to Rory to embrace her new witchy powers to help catch a killer before she loses the new life she never knew she wanted.This box set contains the first three books in the Library Witch Mysteries series: Spells & Shelves, Charms & Chapters and Sorcery & Stories.

     Scuba divers travel from all over the world to visit the little island of Bonaire, with its crystal-clear waters and a host of beautiful marine life. After three years in the “Divers Paradise”, divemaster Boone Fischer thought he’d seen it all; but on a routine afternoon dive, he spots something that will turn his tranquil life upside down.From the arid shores of the ABC Islands to the tropical jungles of Venezuela—from the ocean depths of the Southern Caribbean, to the lush islands of the Northern Leewards, Deep Shadow takes Boone and the reader on an action-packed adventure filled with danger and suspense."The age-old adage of ‘write what you know’ becomes very important when you write about a technical subject like scuba diving. When you get all the details right, and throw in just the right amounts of action, humor, romance, and suspense, you have a novel like this." - Wayne Stinnett, bestselling author of Fallen Out.

    When grieving widow Clara O'Hare moves into her new home, little does she know she is opening the door to a world of paranormal curses and murder. With a psychic named Wesley at her side, she finds herself enmeshed in a supernatural conspiracy leading back to her husband's death. Join Mrs. O'Hare on this haunting four book adventure written by USA Today Bestselling author Kate Danley. This complete penny dreadful serial features A Spirited Manor, Spirit of Denial, Distilled Spirits, and In High Spirits.