VT-8 rose from the ashes of the Battle of Midway to become an indispensable air arm in the series of engagements for the Solomon Islands and beyond. In three months, the crack squadron carried out thirty-nine attack missions, sixteen against ships, twenty-three against ground targets. Their motto following the tragedy at Midway was "Attack and Revenge." Herman Wouk paid homage to the squadron in his 1971 novel War and Remembrance, referring to the pilots as, "The soul of America in action." *Includes annotations and images.

    They built lavish villas designed by the best Beaux Arts–style architects of the time, including Richard Morris Hunt, Charles McKim and Robert Swain Peabody. America’s elite delighted in referring to these grand retreats as “summer cottages,” where they would play tennis and polo and sail their yachts along the shores of the Ocean State. The coachman had an important role as the discreet outdoor butler for Gilded Age gentlemen—not only was he in charge of the horses, but he also acted as a travel advisor and connoisseur of entertainment venues. From the driver’s seat, author and guide Edward Morris provides a diverse collection of biographical sketches that reveal the outrageous and opulent lives of some of America’s leading entrepreneurs.

    Read her entire life story - the ups and the downs - from her birth to her final days. Victoria Arbiter, CNN Royal Correspondent praises At Home with Diana: “Packed full of historical facts, touching anecdotes and top tips for visiting, ‘At Home with Diana’ is the perfect addition to any royal lovers’ library. Taking readers on a poignant journey from home to home it serves as the perfect guide to the life and times of a shy young girl the world came to know as the People’s Princess. I thoroughly enjoyed it!"

     On a steamy August day in 1953, Rick Snedeker, then just three years old, stepped off an Arabian American Oil Co. (Aramco) company airliner with his family into a life as different from what they left behind as sandpaper is to silk. It was to prove fabulously exotic and at the same time just like “home” in many ways. In his charming memoir — 3,001 Arabian Days: Growing up in an American Oil Camp in Saudi Arabia (1953-1962) — author Snedeker describes via a series of vignettes his fond and strange remembrances of living for nearly a decade in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Aramco, then the fledgling national oil company, was in those years run by several American oil giants including Standard Oil, and was hastily hiring American experts to develop the far-flung Saudi oil fields. To ease life for the new residents, Aramco built comfortable communities, some aspects of which were reminiscent of how families lived in the States. While a child, Snedeker considered the camels, endless sand dunes and kindly Saudis that filled his childhood in the desert as nothing unusual. Kids enjoyed the live Nativity pageants at King’s Road baseball field; Santa’s arrival on a camel or by helicopter at Christmas; the crowded, boisterous annual tri-camp desert fairs; Pep Flakes cereal, powdered whole milk, and chocolate milkshakes churned in his dad’s new-fangled Waring blender; the Dining Hall’s culinary delights. Then, too, Aramcons occasionally had to confront dangerous diseases, some unknown in America (polio, for example, ravaged Dhahran children in the fifties). But everywhere, watchful eyes looked out for the kids, creating an enveloping sense of safety and security and, Snedeker recalls, a great deal of happiness. Aramco provided generous biannual “long vacations,” allowing round-the-world travel to visit the planet’s most glittering metropolises, unusual getaways and remote hideaways. London. Hong Kong. Zurich. Honolulu. Asmara. Bangkok. Venice. Hofuf. Bahrain. New York City. Being raised in the unique, exotic environment of oil-camp Dhahran made the kids who grew up there different from other American children. When the expatriate Aramco dependents returned to the U.S., they were often seen as “other” by their untraveled peers. But it all turned out fine, as the entertaining read of 3,001 Arabian Days makes clear.

    All forces are converging in Chennai.Santosh, a regular engineer turned political assassin.Maria, an aspiring pilot turned spy.Swapna, a medical student turned into the city’s highest-priced madam. Sandeep and Amit, CBI officers turned commandos.Shyam Agarwal, a respected industrialist turned conspirator.In the eye of the storm is the all-powerful, Power Minister, Salem Palaniswamy whose lust for power and money corrupts the lives and dreams of the innocent.With love, honour and revenge in the air, and a 1000 crores of unaccounted money at stake, the question is… will there be murder tonight?

    Then Charlie's business empire crashes and he vanishes. While their privileged beautiful daughters Olivia and Emma have to come to terms with being broke, eleven-year-old Mac refuses to talk about what happened. When Charlie's estranged mother, Vera opens her doors to the broken family, secrets emerge that reveal there was more to Charlie than meets the eye. But Charlie's shell shocked family aren't the only ones asking questions . . . The darkly enigmatic Russian billionaire Lukaz Mihailov arrives in Dublin with some unfinished business. What better way to track down Charlie than befriend his pretty and very vulnerable, abandoned wife Shelley . . . Is blood is always thicker than water? Maybe Charlie's family are simply better off without him ....

    Dietz, the New York Times bestselling author of the America Rising novels, comes RED DRAGON, the third book in the Winds of War series following RED FLOOD. World War III is a few months month old. After attacking, and sinking the Destroyer USS Stacy Heath, the Chinese seize control of Nepal and Bhutan and push into India where the Allies manage to stop them. But for how long? Pakistan is attacking from the north--and China is preparing for the "big push” from the east. Worse yet, China’s Ministry of State Security has orders to assassinate the Dalai Lama, rather than run the risk that he will inspire a Buddhist rebellion in Tibet. As a team of assassins close in on the Dalai Lama, Green Beret Captain Jon Lee and his men are behind Chinese lines in Nepal, battling to rescue a downed fighter pilot before enemy troops can capture him.   The entire subcontinent is at risk if the assassins succeed…  And, if the region falls, hundreds of thousands of people will die--even as millions more are lost to the Axis.  Together with a self-centered army doctor named Wendy Kwan, and a team consisting of both green berets and Gurkhas, it will be Lee's responsibility to navigate treacherous terrain--and prevent Chinese Agent Fan Tong and his special ops team from changing the course of the war.

    0 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer.

     An ancient war, older than humankind, is about to spill out of the shadows into broad daylight...And the fate of the entire creation of Oorja--the Primordial Light--rests upon two complete strangers from different worlds: Abhay Rajvardhan, a seemingly ordinary young man will discover his dead father’s secrets and his connection to a clandestine army dating back to the ages long before the epic battle of the Mahabharata. Abhay’s interaction with a magical artifact--a Chakra forged from an unknown but sentient metal--triggers an unforeseen event whose ripples are felt light-years away. As her kindred prepare to go after the Artifact on Prithvi, Dhwani, a 600-year-old Angiri warrior will find herself chasing an unknown mole hiding in their midst and working alongside the Enemy. To protect the divine artifact of the gods--the Ultimate Weapon--the two will embark upon a quest fraught with nameless perils, fighting the demonic forces of Andhakar that are bent upon destroying them. The lines between myth and reality will blur, a forgotten history will shape a new reality. The Three will unite as One to unleash the Destroyer of Worlds: the Brahmāstra, the weapon to end all weapons--and the world as we know it."

    Petersburg, Russia: The Shalakov family are moving from Moscow to start new lives. A family of musicians and violin makers in the traumatic early years of the 20th century, they’re faced with war and revolution, gruelling hardship and the breakdown of relationships and values caused by these most harrowing of events.A tale of unlikely loves and of unforgiving hatreds. Of bravery and cowardice, of innocence betrayed and of courage that will outface the harshest of adversity and the ever-present threat and shadow of death. A compelling family saga of the valour of the human spirit and of the magic of music that can do so much to sustain and support it. Perfect for fans of Josephine Cox, Lily Graham and Natasha Lester.

    One of the players, Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Gordon-Cumming Bt, Scots Guards, is accused of cheating. A classic Victorian melodrama: vast amounts of money, illegal gambling, the Royal Family, mistresses, bed-hopping, cover-up, deception and blackmail. The saga ranges from the wind-swept remoteness of Gordonstoun in Scotland, big game hunting in Africa and India, to life in the Guards in London and action in the Zulu Wars and Egyptian Campaign of 1882. For the first time, the Gordon-Cumming family papers are brought to light, including many of Sir William’s diaries and letters, as well as letters from The Royal Archives at Windsor Castle that detail the anxieties amongst the Royal Family. Previously undiscovered, there are more than mere coincidental connections between Gordon-Cumming and the Intelligence community. What was he really up to and why didn’t the Prince, his close confidant and friend, bail him out? Views of present-day descendants of those involved are also revealed for the first time. Was Gordon-Cumming a cheat or not? Or was he the scapegoat for something which is shrouded in even more mystery?

    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.

    Taking his own spiritual journey as a starting point, Professor Ayoub explores all aspects of Islam; from the Qur'an and Islamic law to the epic poetry of the Sufis; from the spread of Islam worldwide to reform movements in the US and Europe.

    This textbook provides a lucid and integrative analysis of the central topics in pragmatics - deixis, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, and conversational structure. A central concern of the book is the relation between pragmatics and semantics, and Dr Levinson shows clearly how a pragmatic approach can resolve some of the problems semantics have been confronting and simplifying semantic analyses. The exposition is always clear and supported by helpful exemplification. The detailed analyses of selected topics give the student a clear view of the empirical rigour demanded by the study of linguistic pragmatics, but Dr Levinson never loses sight of the rich diversity of the subject. An introduction and conclusion relate pragmatics to other fields in linguistics and other disciplines concerned with language usage - psychology, philosophy, anthropology and literature.

    He tells much of the story from the perspective of the Italian leaders who guided and fought for their people's progress, reacquainting readers with pivotal historical figures like James V. Donnaruma, founder of the key North End newspaper La Gazetta (now the English-language Post Gazette) , and politician George A. Scigliano. The book's final section is devoted to interviews with today's influential Boston Italian Americans, including Thomas M. Menino, the city's first Italian American mayor.The story of the Boston Italians is among America's most important, vibrant, and colorful sagas, and necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand the heritage of this ethnic group.