Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 3800 items
Quirky British author of The Missing of the Somme (DB 76938) and Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (DB 74532)…
details his residency aboard the American aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. Describes the people he met and the experiences in which he engaged. 2014
Sky sailors: true stories of the balloon era
By David L. Bristow, David Bristow. 2010
Discusses human flight before the invention of the airplane. Recounts the balloon-based travels of daring men and women from 1783…
to the early 1900s, including two children who went up by accident. Describes the dangers posed by high winds, lightning, lack of oxygen, and extreme cold. For grades 4-7. 2010
Legacy of ashes: the history of the CIA
By Tim Weiner. 2007
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter investigates sixty years of the Central Intelligence Agency. Uses archival documents and interviews to illustrate that the…
agency's mission of gathering intelligence has faltered due to blunders, structural flaws, and philosophical conflicts. Posits that national security is jeopardized by the CIA's disarray. National Book Award. Bestseller. 2007
Sleeping with the enemy: Coco Chanel's secret war
By Hal Vaughan. 2011
American diplomat and foreign correspondent uses overseas archives to document French fashion designer Coco Chanel's collaboration with the Nazis during…
World War II. Discusses Chanel's childhood; emergence on the social scene as a couture, perfume maker, and mistress of titled men; anti-Semitism; and involvement with the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS). 2011
Newspaperman examines his unique relationship with his hiking partner, miniature schnauzer Atticus M. Finch. Explains how a fund-raising effort after…
a friend's death started man and dog's years of climbing in New Hampshire's White Mountains--188 peaks over three winters. Some strong language. 2011
The triple agent: the al-Qaeda mole who infiltrated the CIA
By Joby Warrick. 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist details the December 30, 2009, gathering in Khost, Afghanistan, of CIA and U.S. military officials…
and Pakistani and Afghani operatives to meet Jordanian pediatrician and spy Humam Khalil al-Balawi. Relates Balawi's subsequent suicide bombing, which killed himself and seven CIA personnel. 2011
Author retraces the travels of English adventurer Sir John Mandeville, who left for the Holy Land in 1322 and returned…
in 1356 with tales of countries throughout Asia that he claimed to have visited. Discusses the influence Mandeville had on explorers and writers in his day. 1996
Big Chief Elizabeth: the adventures and fate of the First English Colonists in America
By Giles Milton, Picador. 2001
Chronicles the sixteenth- and seventeenth- century sea voyages of English adventurers to North America, beginning with Richard Hore's 1536 expedition…
that ended when starvation drove his men to cannibalism. Discusses the court of Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Ralegh's Roanoke enterprises, and the settlement of Jamestown. Some violence. 2000
You are the first kid on Mars
By Patrick O'Brien. 2009
Describes a future trip that a child might take to Mars: taking a space elevator to a space station, traveling…
in a rocket, wearing a space suit, and learning about the scientific search for Martian life. Discusses the Mars environment and a habitat created for humans. For grades 2-4. 2009
The company we keep: a husband-and-wife true-life spy story
By Robert Baer, Dayna Baer. 2011
The author of See No Evil (DB 53770), the basis for the movie Syriana, and his wife Dayna share their…
anecdotes of working for the CIA. They describe their first meeting while on assignment in the Balkans and recount falling in love years later. Some strong language. 2011
Author of Wildflower (DB 70537) investigates the case of Christian Gerhartsreiter, who came to America from Germany in 1978 and…
adopted a series of blue-blood identities. Details Gerhartsreiter's schemes, including his last and biggest, when he posed as "Clark Rockefeller" and kidnapped his own daughter. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2011
Framed by an account of housewife and mother Greta Kuckhoff, this chronicle of resistance to the Nazis by a group…
of artists, intellectuals, and German government workers in Berlin details the actions and risks these ordinary citizens took to protest anti-Semitism--and relates the consequences. 2009
33 men: inside the miraculous survival and dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners
By Jonathan Franklin. 2011
Franklin, an American reporter stationed in South America for fifteen years, investigates the August 5, 2010, copper-mine explosion in northern…
Chile that trapped thirty-three men underground for ten weeks. Describes the miners' ordeal and highlights the rescue attempt that brought them to the surface. 2011
Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail
By Cheryl Strayed. 2012
Author recounts the three-month, 1,100-mile solo hike she took on a whim in 1995, after years of devastating personal losses.…
Describes her encounters with rattlesnakes, locals, fellow hikers, and her own thoughts during her trek from Los Angeles to Washington State on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strong language. Bestseller. 2012
Twelve individuals share their real-life adventures. Teenager Bethany describes losing her arm in a shark attack in 2003 while surfing.…
Dad Phil relates being struck by lightening in 2005 as he was rock climbing with his family in Wyoming. For grades 5-8. 2011
Double cross: the true story of the D-day spies
By Ben Macintyre. 2012
Author of Operation Mincemeat (DB 71406) recounts the deception the Allies used to keep secret the planned location of their…
1944 invasion of France. Details the efforts of Tommy "Tar" Robertson of Britain's MI5 to turn playboys, party girls, and eccentrics--all of whom were Nazi spies--into double agents. Bestseller. 2012
Damn few: making the modern SEAL warrior
By Ellis Henican, Rorke Denver. 2013
Retired Lieutenant Commander Denver describes the training and attitude it takes to be a successful Navy SEAL. Discusses his missions…
in the Middle East and his later duty directing the SEAL's training program. Relates his role in making the movie Act of Valor. Violence and strong language. 2013
Hunting the jackal: a special forces and CIA soldier's fifty years on the frontlines of the war against terrorism
By Tim Keown, Billy Waugh. 2005
Army Special Forces and CIA operative Billy Waugh chronicles his half-century career, which took him to sixty-four countries and included…
covert missions trailing Osama bin Laden in 1991 and 1992 and a pivotal role in the 1994 capture of Carlos the Jackal. Some violence and some strong language. 2004
Meat eater: adventures from the life of an American hunter
By John Brecher, Steven Rinella. 2012
Journalist chronicles his relationship with nature from age three to adulthood, recounting specific hunting and fishing adventures, including a caribou…
hunt on the North Slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Discusses his attempt to make a living from trapping and provides serving suggestions for game meats. Some violence. 2012
Iranian author--writing under a pseudonym and changing some details to avoid retaliation--recounts the years he spied for the CIA in…
Iran. Explains why he grew disillusioned with the Revolutionary Guards and offered to help the United States, where he had studied in the 1970s. Some violence. 2010