In this fun, irrepressible collection, author Michael Stahl has delved into the world of the man who was instrumental in shaping Australia's media landscape.For 30 years, Kerry Packer controlled television’s perennial ratings leader Channel Nine and up to half of the nation’s magazines. So much of what Australians watched, read and believed came through the prism of this gigantic man.Beneath all the billionaire clutter, though, Packer had plenty in common with the man in the street: a cheeky humour, a competitive drive, a deep love for his kids and a passion for sports and television. In business, Packer would fight to the last dollar in a deal. Yet the same man would take his private jet to Las Vegas and lose $20 million in a week – then leave a $1 million tip. He could verbally dissect a hapless executive in front of his peers, yet no less often, would step in silently and invisibly when hardship or tragedy befell a loyal staff member or their family.This book is a collection of stories on the Big Fella, gathered from people who knew him, from those who documented him, and from the folklore that inevitably grew up around him.Michael Stahl is a journalist who during the 1980s worked at Packer’s ACP headquarters in Park Street, Sydney, where his career highlights included riding in the lift with the chairman. Stahl was named Journalist of the Year in 2011 by Publishers Australia and is currently features editor of Qantas The Australian Way and contributing editor to Wheels magazine.

    Luis was too quick. Before they could move, he had pounced on the ball and fired a shot into the top corner.' Suarez follows the Uruguayan's winding path from love-struck youngster to Liverpool hero to Barcelona star. Grabbing goals and headlines along the way, this is the inspiring story of how the world's deadliest striker made his mark.Ultimate Football Heroes is a series of biographies telling the life-stories of the biggest and best footballers in the world and their incredible journeys from childhood fan to super-star professional player. Written in fast-paced, action-packed style these books are perfect for all the family to collect and share.

    The Civil War is igniting, and the young wife is suddenly left to manage his rice plantation and "his" slaves. The War's growing turbulence brings danger close to home - - rapes, hangings, and harrowing escapes through the Underground Railroad. Sara's abolitionist mother pleads with her daughter to return to the safety of the North.But Sara will remain on the plantation, as she, herself, becomes a mother. The plantation welcomes a daughter. As Lilly Grace grows, so does a friendship with a young slave, Little Bubba. He introduces her to the lively Gullah culture, rich with chants, trickster lore, and spiritualism. His mother, a medicine woman and conjurer, chillingly foretells the hardships to come. As the war approaches, Lilly Grace and Little Bubba form a bond of blended insights well beyond their years. How they come to use this knowledge will affect many lives.This is a frenzied era as time honored traditions crumble. The women of the plantation push on and on to save their homes from perils in many forms. Their brave decisions and courageous actions change the course of history.It's time their voices are heard.

    From the best selling author of Fancy comes another most scandalous tale, often upsetting and disturbing.Resigned to the life of a mistress of a rich, white, Southern gentleman, Winnie decides that to better her life no sin is too great, no crime too horrendous, turning her back on man and God.

    Winter was coming quickly and in Minnesota, winters could be severe. What was the big rush? She wrote a letter to the governor of the state exposing the abuse at the orphan home but more importantly, the administrator was feeding poison to the infants. When she confronted the administrator with a copy of the letter, stabbing it to the top of his desk, and telling him she exchanged the nursery milk with his own, she had to leave immediately. She walked south for a hundred miles over several months when she became desperate to find a place to stay for the winter. She was told to avoid the Rex Morgan farm unless she wanted to be run off his land. As she left the town, it began to snow. An early winter storm turned into a blizzard. She was lost, cold, and hungry when she found a barn that had a bunkroom. Little did she know it was the very farm she was warned about.

     In the midst of a deteriorating war in 1967 a senior CIA operative seeking to rearm the Mekong Delta’s anti-communist Buddhists in the hopes of transforming a failing military strategy is killed under mysterious circumstances. This changes everything for Navy Commander Michael Teague who was about to work with the Buddhists who’d been disarmed over a decade ago by Saigon. Within hours of the death of the CIA operative, Teague is recruited to lead the clandestine mission, code named The Third Force, knowing the secret operation to rearm the Buddhists is opposed by Saigon and MACV. By taking the assignment he accepts that it could cost him his career and might well trigger a major, bloody war-within-the-war in the jungles of the Mekong Delta. With the support of the powerful young female Buddhist leader, Thi Xam, the operation grows and spreads. It success triggers an explosive conflict between the CIA backed Buddhists and Saigon’s Special Forces who are supported by the American military command led by Colonel Stennride, to put an end to the Buddhist rebellion and continue with a strategy of body count.