Book picks similar to
Hopeless but Optimistic: Journeying through America's Endless War in Afghanistan by Douglas A. Wissing
history
non-fiction
travel
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The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan
Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller - 2019
But after her mother, unsettled by growing political unrest, leaves for medical treatment in India, the civil war intensifies, changing young Enjeela’s life forever. Amid the rumble of invading Soviet tanks, Enjeela and her family are thrust into chaos and fear when it becomes clear that her mother will not be coming home.Thus begins an epic, reckless, and terrifying five-year journey of escape for Enjeela, her siblings, and their father to reconnect with her mother. In navigating the dangers ahead of them, and in looking back at the wilderness of her homeland, Enjeela discovers the spiritual and physical strength to find hope in the most desperate of circumstances.A heart-stopping memoir of a girl shaken by the brutalities of war and empowered by the will to survive, The Broken Circle brilliantly illustrates that family is not defined by the borders of a country but by the bonds of the heart.
A Field of Innocence
Jack Estes - 1987
He was a kid, eighteen years old. Married, broke, flunking out of college-and about to become a father. The Marines seemed like a good way out. He figured the Nam couldn't be any worse than home. He was wrong.Publishers Weekly says "Chilling...It tells how a youngster from Portland, Oregon matured in the crucible of combat...The reader is given a sense of what it's like to fight an unseen enemy who might appear anytime, anywhere and start shooting from ambush." Karl Marlantes, New York Times best selling author of "Matterhorn" calls "A Field of Innocence", "Powerful ...and riveting."Tim O'Brien, New York Times best selling author of "The Things They Carried" says, "With its raw realism and heartbreaking honesty...one of the finest Vietnam memoirs."Kirkus Review says A Field of Innocence is "Exciting and Impressive."
La Doctora: An American Doctor In The Amazon
Linnea Smith - 1998
Linnea Smith went to Peru on an ecotourism vacation. She was so moved that she abandoned her thriving medical practice in Wisconsin to serve the Yagua Indians in the deepest part of the Amazon rainforest of Peru-alone.Taken straight from the pages of Dr. Smith’s journal, La Doctora offers readers a rare glimpse into the suspense and drama of practicing medicine in a culture far removed from the sophisticated supplies and supports of 20th-century medicine.Learn how Dr. Smith evolved from a “strange white woman” to an adopted member of the indigenous community. Her story of adventure, self-discovery and service creates inspiring testimony to one person’s power to make a lasting difference.
Lincoln's Story: The Wayfarer
Vel - 2012
He did not claim he was God’s agent. Did he believe in God? Did he look for a sign when he was desperate? Did he follow the Divine Will? Many believers are not followers; many followers are not believers. Is he a believer or a follower or both?
The Tin Ring: How I Cheated Death
Zdenka Fantlova - 2010
Enamored with a man named Arno, Zdenka Fantlová, a young Czech-Jewish woman, is separated from her soul-mate due to the German invasion. During a brief reunion, Arno proposes to 19-year-old Zdenka with a ring made from tin. Following Zdenka from Terezin through Auschwitz and Kurzbach to Bergen–Belsen, this heartbreaking account dwells less on the horrors of extermination camps and more on the compassion of the friends and family who shared in her ordeal.
Diary of Indignities
Patrick Hughes - 2007
With full-color photo essays, the author guides readers past good taste, sense and even logic into the magical, mayhem-ridden world known as his life.
The Soccer War
Ryszard Kapuściński - 1969
Between 1958 and 1980, working primarily for the Polish Press Agency, Kapuscinski covered twenty-seven revolutions and coups in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Here, with characteristic cogency and emotional immediacy, he recounts the stories behind his official press dispatches—searing firsthand accounts of the frightening, grotesque, and comically absurd aspects of life during war. The Soccer War is a singular work of journalism.
The Road to Villa Page: A He Said/She Said Memoir of Buying Our Dream Home in France
Cynthia Royce - 2020
Our story begins with falling in love with France, specifically the enchanting Dordogne. We weren’t the first and we won’t be the last. The region was an inspiration to prehistoric man, as the earliest known works of art are to be found in the nearby caves of Lascaux. From the 1000 chateaux perched on towering cliffs overhanging the meandering Dordogne River to the countless plus beaux villages (most beautiful villages) dotting the region, it is truly a magical place.The first book is a roller-coaster ride of the ups and downs of making the dream a reality, beginning with, Oh my God, are we really doing this?! To looking for the home, getting a loan, wading through the red tape of actually moving, and studying French! Finally, the most important part of making “our” dream come true, adopting a baby girl to make the journey complete.
Whisper Mountain
Vivian Higginbotham Nichols - 2017
Because it was extremely difficult to verbalize the events to her own children years later, her adult family knew very little of the details until 30 years after her passing in 1967. That is when her granddaughter discovered her writings and promised to tell the story of what she endured.
The Lightless Sky: My Journey to Safety as a Child Refugee
Gulwali Passarlay - 2018
Fast delivery through DHL/FedEx express.
The Kerracher Man (Non-Fiction)
Eric MacLeod - 2008
Biography
The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty City
Luther Campbell - 2015
His uncle Ricky did not want him trapped by the "invisible chains" of systemic racism, so Ricky schooled him on the necessity of a black man running his own life, controlling his livelihood, and owning property.Embracing these lessons, Campbell discovered his gift for entrepreneurship: He created one of the first hip-hop record companies, Luke Records, which started out of a shed in his mom's backyard and grew into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. As a rapper on his own label, Luke became known as the "King of Dirty Rap" and helped pioneer the worldwide phenomenon of Miami Bass. He went on to become the front man and manager for the rap group 2 Live Crew, and was key to the success of the group's controversial platinum recording As Nasty As They Wanna Be.His hugely popular and provocative music infuriated the Man, and Luke was marked as public enemy number one when hip-hop crossed the color line into white America. Campbell would spend more than a million dollars of his own money fighting cops and prosecutors, and he went all the way to the Supreme Court to protect his—and every other artist's—right to free speech, setting landmark legal precedents that continue to shape the entertainment industry to this day.In Campbell's clear and honest voice, he shares unforgettable stories of his rise to celebrity status, including illicit tales from his raunchy concerts. He also breaks down how he lost his fortune, but in the process gained a better perspective on life. His father taught him to be responsible for his actions and to be proud of himself. Campbell expressed this by being cocky and holding his head up high, but, as he acknowledges, "America has never been an easy place for a black man who doesn't know how to apologize."Touching on some of the most pressing issues of our time, The Book of Luke is a raw and powerful memoir of how one man invented southern hip-hop, saved the First Amendment, and became a role model for the disenfranchised people of the city he calls home.
The Storyteller's Daughter: One Woman's Return to Her Lost Homeland
Saira Shah - 2003
Saira Shah is the English-born daughter of an Afghan aristocrat, inspired by his dazzling stories to rediscover the now lost life their forebears presided over for nine hundred years within sight of the minarets and lush gardens of Kabul and the snow-topped mountains of the Hindu Kush. Part sophisticated, sensitive Western liberal, part fearless, passionate Afghan, falling in love with her ancestral myth-chasing Afghanistan-Shah becomes, at twenty-one, a correspondent at the front of the war between the Soviets and the Afghan resistance. Then, imprisoning herself in a burqa, she risks her life to film Beneath the Veil, her acclaimed record of the devastation of women's lives by the Taliban. Discovering her extended family, discovering a world of intense family ritual, of community, of male primacy, of arranged marriages, and finding at last the now war-ravaged family seat, she discovers as well what she wants and what she rejects of her extraordinary heritage.About the Author: Saira Shah lives in London and is a freelance journalist. She was born in Britain of an Afghan family, the daughter of Idries Shah, a writer of Sufi fables. She first visited Afghanistan at age twenty-one and worked there for three years as a freelance journalist, covering the guerilla war against the Soviet occupiers. Later, working for Britain's Channel 4 News, she covered some of the world's most troubled spots, including Algeria, Kosovo, and Kinshasa, as well as Baghdad and other parts of the Middle East. Her documentary Beneath the Veil was broadcast on CNN.
Medic!: The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War
Ben Sherman - 2002
A conscientious objector who served as a medic during the Vietnam War offers an unflinching, compelling account of his experiences on the battlefield, describing his work with the injured and dying in the heart of combat.
The Wars of the Green Berets: Amazing Stories from Vietnam to the Present Day
Robin Moore - 2007
They take us from firefights on the Cambodian border during the Vietnam War to the streets and alleyways of Iraq today. They teach us what it was really like to patrol the streets of Mogadishu in the days of Black Hawk Down. They show the horror that was Saddam’s Iraq during the first Gulf War. They take us to the moonscape that is Afghanistan in search of the Taliban. The Wars of the Green Berets continues the saga of Moore’s classic The Green Berets, revealing more than a few tantalizing secrets and anecdotes for the first time.