Book picks similar to
Rail Power by Steve Barry
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Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's Coolest Creation
Steve Lehto - 2010
They built a fleet of turbine cars--automobiles with jet engines--and loaned them out to members of the public. The fleet logged over a million miles; the exercise was a raging success. These turbine engines would run on any flammable liquid--tequila, heating oil, Chanel #5, diesel, alcohol, kerosene. If the cars had been mass produced, we might have cars today that do not require petroleum-derived fuels. The engine was also much simpler than the piston engine--it contained one-fifth the number of moving parts and required much less maintenance. The cars had no radiators or fan belts and never needed oil changes. Yet Chrysler crushed and burned most of the cars two years later; the jet car's brief glory was over. Where did it all go wrong? Controversy still follows the program, and questions about how and why it was killed have never been satisfactorily answered. Steve Lehto has interviewed all the surviving members of the turbine car program--from the metallurgist who created the exotic metals for the interior of the engine to the test driver who drove it at Chrysler’s proving grounds for days on end. Lehto takes these first-hand accounts and weaves them into a great story about the coolest car Detroit ever produced.
The Texicans
Jinx Schwartz - 2005
Decades before Crockett, Bowie or Houston even set foot in Texas, Frederick Stockman was already there. Author Elizabeth Schwartz, a ninth-generation Texan, has delved deep into her ancestral roots to create this moving story of the Frederick Stockman familys' courageous determination to make Texas their home during the turbulent period between 1806 and 1836. The Texicans was inspired by a Texas history book calling her ancestral clan a "congenial society for evil"--rogues "skilled in many forms of villainy" for their role in the tumultuous years of first Spanish, the Mexican rule. Frederick Stockman and his family immigrate to Spanish Texas in 1806 to ranch, but soon find themselves inexorably drawn into the bitter conflict between Mexico and Spain. They join forces with a dashing young Spanish deserter, Miguel Gonzales, in his successful campaign to liberate Mexico and Texas from Spanish rule. Their ties are further cemented when Gonzales marries into the family. As Heroes of Mexico, the Texicans--staunch supporters of Mexican rule for Texas--find themselves vilified by North American settlers illegally flocking across the unprotected border. These newcomers, calling themselves Texians, view Mexico, Mexicans and Texicans as the enemy. Targets of bigotry, the Texicans themselves are torn along cultural lines as their hero-turned-despot, General Santa Anna, propels them towards a deadly showdown.
Olive Oatman: Explore The Mysterious Story of Captivity and Tragedy from Beginning to End
Brent Schulte - 2019
She is the girl with the blue tattoo.The story behind the distinctive tattoo is the stuff of legends. Some believed it was placed on her face during her captivity, following the brutal murders of her family members and the kidnapping of her and her sister. Others believe it was placed on her after her return.Rumors swelled. Her tattoo became a symbol of Native barbarianism and the triumph of American goodness, but like many stories of that era, the truth is far more complicated.This short book details the murders, her captivity, the aftermath, and her baffling return to her captors. Unravel the mystery of the woman who would become famous for all the wrong reasons and discover what her life story says about cultural identity, the power of resiliency, and what happens when fact and fiction bend and twist to muddy the waters.Read on to find out the truth!
Lou Reed: The Last Interview and Other Conversations
Lou Reed - 2015
In conversation with legendary rock critics and authors he respected, Reed’s interviews are as pithy and brilliant as the man himself.
Where the Rivers Run North
Sam Morton - 2007
Morton's extensively researched fiction carries the reader through three eras in the history of Abraska, or what is now southern Montana and northern Wyoming. From the days when Native American tribes dominated the landscape to the hardships of fledgling pioneer life to times of fast-paced modern development, Where the Rivers Run North introduces a shifting cast of characters as intriguing as they are diverse. One thread runs throughout--the figure of the horse, whether running wild on the plains or competing on the racetrack.
Blood on the Tracks
Cecelia Holland - 2011
Focusing on events in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, this essay brings this dramatic and bloody confrontation to life, as ordinary people, driven to the wall by oppression, rose against their masters. This was the opening act in long years of savage struggle for the rights of labor that continue to this day.
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-69
Stephen E. Ambrose - 2000
It is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad—the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.The U.S. government pitted two companies—the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads—against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomotives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes vibrantly to life.
The Prodigal Para: An Afghan War Diary
Andy Tyson - 2018
He was 47 years old. During his time on the ground he kept a diary. Humorous, authentic and sad, it is a warts and all account of infantry soldiering in a hot and dangerous place. This is his storty.
Cammie Up!: Memoir of a Recon Marine in Vietnam, 1967-1968
Steven A. Johnson - 2011
Only 17 when he enlisted in 1964, Johnson deployed to Vietnam with the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, and his tour included such now famous locations as Phu Bai, Khe Sanh, Nha Trang and Quang Tri, among others. With a sometimes humorous tone, Johnson describes a war of often terrified high school and college-aged youngsters faced with exotic plant and animal life, monsoon rains, harrowing reconnaissance missions and death. Details are plentiful about tactics, equipment, geography and, always, fellow Marines.
3rd Platoon, a Corpsman's Story of the Vietnam War
Keith Gum - 2020
A Hard Place (Revised Edition): A Sergeants Tale
Jacamo Peterson - 2009
They operated out of Chu Lai the sprawling base camp on the coast of South Vietnam, home to the 23rd Infantry Division and the 75th Rangers. Their missions were conducted in the northern provinces, dubbed by the military as 1st Combat Tactical Zone (1CTZ).From Rosemary's Point at Chu Lai, to Da Nang, to the Tuy Lon River and the White Mountains, across the Hai Van Pass to Phu Bai. They were both recon and striker unit, sometimes just looking for intell, sometimes attacking and sometimes being attacked. Often deployed to reinforce a small camp or firebase. Sometimes workng as convoy security.Mostly it was HOT! Life for them was either base camp boring, or "boonie rat" intense in full "battle rattle". Sometimes assigned missions to locate or capture specific targets. All of their missions were both classified and clandestine. Even their existence was denied. As much as possible their movements were hidden or camouflaged within larger unit operations and movements. Their operations were usually conducted with niether back-up, nor support readily available. They were required to move and survive on their bush skills, to adapt, over come, improvise, or if that failed E&E (escape and evade) back to a pick-up or rendezvous point for extraction. This story is about serving in Vietnam as professional soldiers in a "No Such Unit Exists" status. Part of the "other" Army in - South Vietnam, Republic of "A HARD PLACE."
Water from Heaven: An American woman's life as an Arab wife
Anne Schreiber Thomas - 2017
The year is 1982, and 20-year-old Cindy leaves home and family after her wedding with no idea what awaits her in her new life. Living with his family, immersed in a traditional Arab culture with an incomprehensible language while her new husband is away on a military base during the week, her future with Mohammed depends on the strength of her love, faith, and determination to be true to herself. This true story is told against the backdrop of three decades of profound change in the United Arab Emirates and crises in the Middle East. Beautifully written and moving, Water from Heaven is the story of a truly courageous woman as she adapts to her unexpected new life.
John Colter: Explorer, Mountain Man, and Trapper (1899)
Charles Griffin Coutant - 2015
John Colter ( 1774 – 1813) was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when he became the first known person of European descent to enter the region now known as Yellowstone National Park, and to see the Teton Mountain Range. Colter spent months alone in the wilderness, and is widely considered to be the first mountain man. Contents of this book: •THE FIRST AMERICAN TO ENTER WYOMING—•A MEMBER OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION—•REMAINS IN THE VICINITY OF THE YELLOWSTONE FROM 1806-10•HE TRAPS ALONG THE BIG HORN, BIG WIND RIVER, AND CROSSES THE RANGE TO THE PACIFIC SLOPE IN 1807—•RETURNS BY WAY OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, OF WHICH HE WAS THE DISCOVERER — •His ADVENTURE WITH THE BLACKFEET—•A RACE FOR LIFE—•RELATES HIS STORY TO CAPT. CLARK, BRADBURY AND OTHERS. This book originally published in 1899 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
Edge of Eternity: by Ken Follett (The Century Trilogy Book 3) Snapshot Summary Companion Book
Snapshot Books - 2015
The guide should be used with the novel, not instead of it, so please pick up a copy before buying this book if you haven’t already done so. Snapshot Books is meant to enhance the experience of fans as a refresher, and for use by book clubs. Inside you will discover: A book summary and analysis with commentary Character list A look at symbols, themes and motifs Commentary on the book as well as details on plot, settings and final thoughts Great for book club questions and discussion topics Snapshot Books introduces a companion to Edge of Eternity, by Ken Follett for fans and book clubs to enhance your reading experience.