Military Academy is not like other college football teams. At other schools, athletes are catered to and coddled at every turn. At West Point, they carry the same arduous load as their fellow cadets, shouldering an Ivy League–caliber education and year-round military training. After graduation they are not going to the NFL but to danger zones halfway around the world. These young men are not just football players, they are soldiers first.New York Times sportswriter Joe Drape takes us inside the world of Army football, as the Black Knights and their third-year coach, Rich Ellerson, seek to turn around a program that had recently fallen on hard times, with the goal to beat Navy and "sing last" at the Army-Navy game in December. The 2011 season would prove a true test of the players' mettle and perseverance.Drawing on his extensive and unfettered access to the players and the coaching staff, Drape introduces us to this special group of young men and their achievements on and off the field. Anchoring the narrative and the team are five key players: quarterback Trent Steelman, the most gifted athlete; linebacker Steve Erzinger, who once questioned his place at West Point but has become a true leader; Andrew Rodriguez, the son of a general and the top scholar-athlete; Max Jenkins, the backup quarterback and the second-in-command of the Corps of Cadets; and Larry Dixon, a talented first-year running back. Together with Coach Ellerson, his staff, and West Point's officers and instructors, they and their teammates embrace the demands made on them and learn crucial lessons that will resonate throughout their lives—and ours.

    You’re awakened by a noise. Someone is in your house. What do you do?When it happens at 148 Maple Drive, homeowner Jeff Shaw gets his gun and goes downstairs to investigate while his wife calls 9-1-1. It’s their home, after all. Jeff has to protect it. He finds two men in the kitchen and shoots them both. Dead.The incident puts great strain on Jeff and his family. He wants to believe they just need to get on with their lives and everything will return to normal. But it’s not that easy. The dead intruders belonged to a gang, ANG, “Ain’t No Game,” that now wants revenge. And one of the gang, an ex-con who goes by the name I-Man, knows more about the break-in than he’s letting on.It starts with a threatening phone call. Then it gets worse. The police, unable to protect the Shaws, suggest they move away for a while. But Jeff isn't going to be intimidated from his house. Homeowner With a Gun takes the reader on a suspense-filled thrill ride as this everyman fights to save himself and his family, while something a detective said plays in the back of his mind: Maybe the intruders broke into the wrong house. Happens all the time. You wouldn’t believe how often...

    Bennett's sensational trial pitted an aggressive, mercurial county prosecutor against the author's father, a civil trial attorney who had never before defended anyone for murder. The book not only recreates the tension and excitement of this courtroom battle, but also highlights the uncertain edge that often divides guilt from innocence. The author was ten years old when he answered the phone late at night when Bennett called his father from jail, seeking his legal representation. Forty years later and long after his father's death, the author found the Bennett file in the bottom of his mother's closet. From the moment he began reading the papers, the long-forgotten drama cast a spell on him. As he uncovered more and more of the facts, the story he had known as a child disappeared, replaced by one far different. The Edge of Innocence takes the reader through the criminal justice system and ultimately to the trial where the reader, like a juror, must sift through competing claims and conflicting evidence. Full of twists and turns and colorful characters, The Edge of Innocence is all the more entertaining because it tells a true story.

    BASE jumping in Europe. Climbing big walls in Yosemite. Riding bulls in Texas. These first-person stories from acclaimed climber and adventurer John Long may be vastly different in content, but they share an identifiable emotional texture, tone and delivery, and fundamentally are of one piece. This is storytelling at its best--nonfiction that reads like fiction. In Stories from the Dirt, the action leaves you breathless, but it's the characters that really leave a lasting mark. Like all stories worth a damn, this collection is all about the people.

    Although Italian-American criminals are covered, this is not just another Italian mafia book. The book covers the Jewish gangsters as well (who truly were the pioneers of organized crime) and the Irish gangs, who were one of the first ethnic groups to run the New York City rackets. Joe even presents a few "lady gangsters" too.Most of all, “ Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps-Volume 1- New York City" is easy to read. The short-chapter format is a stroke of genius. It is interesting, informative, entertaining, and to the point. You won't be bored reading it. Joe Bruno has hit the mark in presenting Old New York the way it really was. Rough and bloody! Mathew J. Mari - Criminal Attorney

    Condo" to his Chicago condominium clients, Donnie Rudd was at the top of his game. Charming, offbeat, and eccentric, he appeared on his own television show and taught at a local college. But behind the public persona of a successful lawyer, Donnie Rudd's life was unraveling as police investigated the death of his second wife, the murder of a local woman, and claims of fraud by several clients.The fascinating memoir by Donnie's step daughters describes the chaos of life with a sociopath as the allegations of infidelity, madness, and murder against Donnie interrupt their lives again and again. The sisters recount the riveting true story of events over a span of 40 years that will leave readers breathless and wondering how Rudd was able to evade accountability for so long. In the midst of the madness also lies a story of redemption and triumph as the family overcomes the dysfunction of their early tumultuous life.Check out the Investigative Discovery Channel Documentary with Keith Morrison: Who is Donnie Rudd? It will give you more insight into the story.Purchase bookwww.livingwiththedevil.com

    Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch and subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. Their step-father kept a loaded rifle by the door to make sure the young girls were too terrified to try to escape. No rescue would ever come since the few people who knew they existed did not care.When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community. Devastated to again find herself in a world of fear, cruelty, and abuse, Misty was sexually assaulted by the bishop. As Misty recalls, "Amish sexual abusers are only shunned by the church for six weeks, a punishment that never seems to work... I knew I had to get help, and one freezing morning in early March, I made a dash for a tiny police station in rural Minnesota. After reporting the bishop, I left the Amish and found myself plummeted into a strange modern world with only a second-grade education and no ID or social security card."

     When he murders Martin Pound, a corrupt politician, he considers it to be just another job. His days are spent drinking, reading and visiting his late wife's grave. Devlin has nothing to live for. Then he meets Emma, "a good Catholic girl". Everyone deserves a second chance. But the hunter is about to become the hunted. The Parker brothers, the criminal family who put the hit out on the politician, want to tie-up loose ends. Devlin must kill or be killed. Nothing To Lose is a literary thriller, set in South London. Thomas Waugh has created a hero (or anti-hero) who will seem human to some readers and inhuman to others. You decide.

    For centuries the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833 it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist, spy, one of the most respected scholars in Asia, and the greatest of nineteenth-century travelers.On the way into one of history's most extraordinary stories, he would take tea with kings, travel with holy men and become the master of a hundred disguises; he would see things no westerner had glimpsed before and few have glimpsed since. He would spy for the East India Company and be suspected of spying for Russia at the same time, for this was the era of the Great Game, when imperial powers confronted each other in these staggeringly beautiful lands. Masson discovered tens of thousands of pieces of Afghan history, including the 2,000-year-old Bimaran golden casket, which has upon it the earliest known face of the Buddha. He would be offered his own kingdom; he would change the world, and the world would destroy him.This is a wild journey through nineteenth-century India and Afghanistan, with impeccably researched storytelling that shows us a world of espionage and dreamers, ne'er-do-wells and opportunists, extreme violence both personal and military, and boundless hope. At the edge of empire, amid the deserts and the mountains, it is the story of an obsession passed down the centuries.

    For the next 14 years, he was a loyal street soldier, immersed in dangerous and profitable criminal activities: burglary, forgery, extortion, loan sharking, car theft, bank robbery, counterfeiting, drug dealing, credit-card and insurance fraud, witness tampering, weapons possession, and attempted murder.He was also involved in the underworld gambling operations, which took in millions dealing dice and cards, booking sports and horses, and running numbers. Between these pages you’ll find the most in-depth look at Mob gambling ever.At age 31, DiDonato ran afoul of both the law and his friends, turning him into a hunted man on two fronts. After 17 months on the run, the law caught him first.Surviving the Mob is a cautionary tale of the harsh reality of a criminal, inmate, fugitive, and witness who—so far—has lived to tell the tale.

    From the authors of the bestselling original "Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" cookbook, comes this collection of easy dinner solutions to tame the mealtime rush. Discover new ways to make quick and healthy meals the whole family will love. Mouth-watering full-color photos and nutritional data included for every recipe. Delicious meals include: Taco Soup Posh Mache Salad Arugula Pesto Pasta Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi Shrimp Lettuce Wraps My Big Fat Greek Quiche Mushroom Faux Risotto Mom's Meatloaf Sesame Toasted Sugar Snap Peas Loco for Coconut Rice Low Fat Wide Awake Coffee Shake Eggs Bueno-dict Baked PearFection Lemon Ricotta Almond Cake Balsamic Strawberries

    Reprint. NYT.

    Sheriff’s Sergeant Cliff Yates Ride along with a real DEPUTY Have you ever wondered what it would be like to patrol the streets of south-central LA? What if you could go behind the scenes and see what life is really like on the Sunset Strip? ”DEPUTY” 35 years as a Deputy Sheriff from upstate NY to LA is the first-hand account of Cliff Yates, a thirty-five-year law enforcement veteran. His story begins in rural upstate New York, then takes a drastic turn that leads him to the mean streets of LA and the surrounding area. This memoir invites readers into his world and see what he saw, experience what he experienced. Each story is real. Some may be tough to read. Others will make you laugh-out-loud. But all serve as a lesson Cliff will carry with him for the rest of his days. If you’ve ever wondered what life is like for men and women in the law enforcement community, this book will answer most of your questions and give you great insight from someone who has been there. Fast, riveting and exciting.

    Spec is an ordinary 16 year old residing underground in the Hive, a modern day colony where he and 73 other human beings survive. Every day is the same for Spec. Wake up. Mine for clay and insects. Sleep. That’s why he has decided to venture outside of the colony with his best friend, Cotta. Spec plans on going where there are no ceilings and no walls, a place where there are no barriers. He plans on going to the mythical surface.

    A few months later, Pussy Riot hit headlines around the world when they were arrested following their anti-Putin demonstration in a Russian Orthodox cathedral. The vicious battle for Russia's soul continues to this day.In the first book to take the reader straight to the beating heart of the opposition movement, journalist and long-time Moscow resident Marc Bennetts introduces a new generation of Russian dissidents, united by their hatred of Putin and his bid to silence all political adversaries. We meet a bustling cast of urban youth working to expose the injustices of the regime and a disjointed bunch of dissenters – from 'It Girl' hipsters to 21st-century socialists. Featuring rare interviews with everyone from Pussy Riot and top protest leaders to Kremlin insiders, Bennetts' compelling narrative is an astonishing journey through Russia's new protest movements.