Title search results
Showing 161 - 180 of 12389 items
Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska’s Ladd Field on a test flight. Only one ever returned:…
Leon Crane, a city kid from Philadelphia with little more than a parachute on his back when he bailed from his B-24 Liberator before it crashed into the Arctic. Alone in subzero temperatures, Crane managed to stay alive in the dead of the Yukon winter for nearly twelve weeks and, amazingly, walked out of the ordeal intact. 81 Days Below Zero recounts, for the first time, the full story of Crane’s remarkable saga. In a drama of staggering resolve with moments of phenomenal luck, Crane learned to survive in the Yukon’s unforgiving landscape. His is a tale of the human capacity to endure extreme conditions and intense lonelinessand emerge stronger than before.Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt for Kids: Her Life and World, with 21 Activities (For Kids series)
By Simonetta Carr. 2018
Cleopatra has been called intelligent and scheming, ambitious and ruthless, sensual and indulgent. This unique biography captures the excitement of…
her life story, including portions that have been largely neglected, such as her interest in literature and science and her role as a mother, and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt for Kids also includes maps, time lines, online resources, a glossary, and 21 engaging hands-on activities to help readers better appreciate the ancient culture and era in which Cleopatra lived. Kids will: - Create a beaded Egyptian-style necklace - Build a simple Nile River boat - Prepare homemade yogurt - Construct a model shadoof, a tool used to raise water to higher ground for irrigation - Translate their names into hieroglyphs for a cartouche bookmark - "Mummify" a hot dog - Write an Egyptian love poem - And more!Behind Nazi Lines
By Denise George, Andrew Hodges. 2015
In 1944 hundreds of Allied soldiers were trapped in POW camps in occupied France The odds of their…
survival were long The odds of escaping even longer But one-man had the courage to fight the odds An elite British S A S operative on an assassination mission gone wrong A Jewish New Yorker injured in a Nazi ambush An eighteen-year-old Gary Cooper lookalike from Mobile Alabama These men and hundreds of other soldiers found themselves in the prisoner-of-war camps off the Atlantic coast of occupied France fighting brutal conditions and unsympathetic captors But miraculously local villagers were able to smuggle out a message from the camp one that reached the Allies and sparked a remarkable quest by an unlikely--and truly inspiring--hero Andy Hodges had been excluded from military service due to a lingering shoulder injury from his college-football days Devastated but determined Andy refused to sit at home while his fellow Americans risked their lives so he joined the Red Cross volunteering for the toughest assignments on the most dangerous battlefields In the fall of 1944 Andy was tapped for what sounded like a suicide mission a desperate attempt to aid the Allied POWs in occupied France--alone and unarmed matching his wits against the Nazi war machine Despite the likelihood of failure Andy did far more than deliver much-needed supplies By the end of the year he had negotiated the release of an unprecedented 149 prisoners--leaving no one behind This is the true story of one man s selflessness ingenuity and victory in the face of impossible adversityAviation: Cool Women Who Fly
By Carmella Van Vleet, Lena Chandhok. 2016
Have you ever looked up into the sky, seen an airplane, and wondered where it was going and who was…
flying it? Aviation is the study of the design, development and production, and operation of aircraft. In Aviation: Cool Women Who Fly, children ages 9 to 12 learn about this fascinating field and meet three successful women working in aviation. Meg Godlewski is a master certified flight instructor, Kristin Wolfe is a pilot in the Air Force, and Taylor McConnell is a production support engineer.Nomad Press books in the Girls in Science series supply a bridge between girls' interests and their potential futures by investigating science careers and introducing women who have succeeded in science. Compelling stories of real-life aviation experts provide readers with role models that they can look toward as examples of success.Aviation: Cool Women Who Fly uses engaging content, links to primary sources, and essential questions to whet kids' appetites for further exploration and study of aviation. This book explores the history of aviation, the women who helped pioneer flight, and the multitude of varied careers in this exciting and important field. Both boys and girls are encouraged to let their imaginations and dreams soar.The Pacific
By Hugh Ambrose. 2010
Penguin delivers you to the front lines of The Pacific Theater with the real-life stories behind the HBO miniseries. Between…
America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home. In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of the five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as The Pacific and the brave men who fought. Some considered war a profession, others enlisted as citizen soldiers. Each man served in a different part of the war, but their respective duties required every ounce of their courage and their strength to defeat an enemy who preferred suicide to surrender. The medals for valor which were pinned on three of them came at a shocking price-a price paid in full by all. View the HBO trailer Watch a Video View a video with Hugh Ambrose Watch a Video .American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop
By Caroline De Margerie. 2011
The fascinating story of one of the grand dames of Georgetown society and a true Washington insider Henry Kissinger once…
remarked that more agreements were concluded in the living room of Susan Mary Alsop than in the White House. A descendent of Founding Father John Jay, Susan Mary was an American aristocrat whose first marriage gave her full access to post-war diplomatic social life in Paris. There, her circle of friends included Winston Churchill, Isaiah Berlin, Evelyn Waugh, and Christian Dior, among other luminaries, and she had a passionate love affair with British ambassador Duff Cooper. During the golden years of John F. Kennedy’s presidencyafter she had married the powerful journalist Joe Alsopher Washington home was a gathering place for everyone of importance, including Katharine Graham, Robert McNamara, and Henry Kissinger. Dubbed the second lady of Camelot,” she hosted dinner parties that were the epitome of political power and social arrival, bringing together the movers and shakers not just of the United States, but of the world. Featuring an introduction by Susan Mary Alsop’s goddaughter Frances FitzGerald, American Lady is a fascinating chronicle of a woman who witnessed, as Nancy Mitford once said, history on the boil. ” .Battleground Atlantic
By Richard N. Billings. 2006
On June 24, 1944, U. S. Navy warplanes patrolling the Atlantic attacked and sank a Japanese submarine, the I-52. It…
was an event of enormous strategic importance. The I-52's mission was to return to Japan with the ingredients of a radiological bomb. Purchased from the Germans, this doomsday weapon-classified secret by the U. S. government for years after the war-could have contaminated vast areas of America for decades, killing millions slowly and painfully. Japan had intended to use it in an attack on the California coast until the mission was detected in an Allied intelligence coup equal to the breaking of the Enigma code. The I-52's resting place was discovered in 1995 by ship salvager Paul R. Tidwell. Author Richard N. Billings has worked with Tidwell-whose attempts to salvage the I-52's precious gold cargo continue-in bringing her secret mission to light. Finally, this is the story of how the I-52 mission may have influenced President Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The Mascot
By Mark Kurzem. 2007
Part thriller, part psychological drama, part moral puzzle, The Mascot tells the remarkable true story of Mark Kurzem's father, Alex.…
At five years old, in 1941, Alex escaped a German execution squad in Latvia, ran into some nearby woods and, the next morning, watched his Jewish mother and siblings being shot. He survived alone amongst the trees for nearly nine months before falling into the hands of an SS unit, the soldiers of which treated him kindly and adopted him as their mascot. With his custom-made SS uniform, peaked cap and full belly, Alex went with them everywhere as they shot and raped Jews wherever they could find them. He was even used in Nazi propaganda films. . . Ultimately, after the War, he made a new life in Australia, and kept silent about his childhood secrets, not even telling his wife and sons. Was he a collaborator, or just a little boy? Nearly 60 years later he flew across the world to visit his academic son Mark at Oxford University and, from then on, tiny details, long buried in his memory, began to surface. Mark was astonished, and began to help him rediscover and unravel his past. This included a return to his original village in Latvia to search for his mother's grave, and being tailed by Mossad agents and members of the Simon Weisenthal Centre. Eventually Mark made a film called The Mascot which won Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival and has also written this gripping account of what he and his father have been through in order to tell the truth at last.Yalta: The Price of Peace
By S. M. Plokhy. 2011
A major new history of the eight days in February 1945 when FDR, Churchill, and Stalin decided the fate of…
the world Imagine you could eavesdrop on a dinner party with three of the most fascinating historical figures of all time. In this landmark book, a gifted Harvard historian puts you in the room with Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt as they meet at a climactic turning point in the war to hash out the terms of the peace. The ink wasn't dry when the recriminations began. The conservatives who hated Roosevelt's New Deal accused him of selling out. Was he too sick? Did he give too much in exchange for Stalin's promise to join the war against Japan? Could he have done better in Eastern Europe? Both Left and Right would blame Yalta for beginning the Cold War. Plokhy's conclusions, based on unprecedented archival research, are surprising. He goes against conventional wisdom-cemented during the Cold War- and argues that an ailing Roosevelt did better than we think. Much has been made of FDR's handling of the Depression; here we see him as wartime chief. Yalta is authoritative, original, vividly- written narrative history, and is sure to appeal to fans of Margaret MacMillan's bestseller Paris 1919.A Soldier's Dream
By William Doyle. 2011
For six months in 2006, a charismatic young U. S. Army captain and Arab linguist named Travis Patriquin unleashed a…
diplomatic and cultural charm offensive upon the Sunni Arab sheiks of Anbar province, the heart of darkness of the Iraqi insurgency. He galvanized American support for the “Sunni Awakening,” the tribal revolt against Al Qaeda that spread through the province and eventually across Iraq, a turning point that led to dramatically lower levels of violence in the country. The Awakening may not have succeeded without Patriquin, who was so beloved by Iraqis that they adopted him into their tribes and loved him as a brother. This is the true story of a man who loved Iraq, and a soldier who helped engineer the turning point of the Iraq War. It is the story of America’s T. E. Lawrence—Travis Patriquin. .Partners in Command
By Mark Perry. 2007
A unique look at the complex relationship between two of America?s foremost World War II leaders The first book ever…
to explore the relationship between George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, Partners in Command eloquently tackles a subject that has eluded historians for years. As Mark Perry charts the crucial impact of this duo on victory in World War II and later as they lay the foundation for triumph in the Cold War, he shows us an unlikely, complex collaboration at the heart of decades of successful American foreign policy?and shatters many of the myths that have evolved about these two great men and the issues that tested their alliance. As exciting to read as it is vitally informative, this work is a signal accomplishment. .Remarkable Women of Stockton (American Heritage)
By Mary Jo Gohlke. 2014
Women played prominent roles during Stockton's growth from gold rush tent city to California leader in transportation, agriculture and manufacturing.…
Heiresses reigned in the city's nineteenth-century mansions. In the twentieth century, women fought for suffrage and helped start local colleges, run steamship lines, build food empires and break the school district's color barrier. Writers like Sylvia Sun Minnick and Maxine Hong Kingston chronicled the town. Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers. Harriet Chalmers Adams caught the travel bug on walks with her father, and Dawn Mabalon rescued the history of the Filipino population. Join Mary Jo Gohlke, news writer turned librarian, as she eloquently captures the stories of twenty-two triumphant and successful women who led a little river city into state prominence.A Bus of Our Own
By Shawn Costello, Freddi Williams Evans. 2001
Based on real events, this story celebrates the spirit of the African Americans who lived in rural Mississippi in the…
late 1940s and early 1950s. Though they paid taxes and many owned land, they received separate and unequal public services and educational opportunities.Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall
By Kjerstin Gruys. 2013
A scholar, fashionista, and bride-to-be spends a year without mirrors to get a better view of herself, her life, and…
what's really important. When Kjerstin Gruys became engaged to the love of her life, she was thrilled--until it came time to shop for a wedding dress. Having overcome an eating disorder years before, Gruys found herself struggling to maintain a positive self-image as her pending nuptials imposed a new set of impossible beauty standards. She decided to embark on a bold plan for boosting her self-esteem while refocusing her attention on the beautiful world around her. A memoir of discovery, Mirror Mirror Off the Wall charts Gruys' awakening as she vows to give up mirrors and other reflective surfaces, relying instead on her friends and her fiancé to help her gauge both her appearance and her outlook on life. The result? A renewed focus on what truly matters, regardless of smeared makeup, crooked eyebrows, or messy hair. In the honest, witty, self-aware voice that has made her blog so popular, Gruys explores what it means to be a feminist in a society where femininity is subject to destructive ideals of beauty and sex appeal. Having worked in the fashion industry before becoming a sociologist, Gruys draws on her frontline expertise to explore the gender inequities created by society's obsession with a flawless female body image. Putting a human face on an important issue with humorous and poignant scenes from Gruys' life, Mirror Mirror off the Wall sparks important conversations about body image and reclaiming the power to redefine beauty.To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian
By Stephen E Ambrose. 2002
In To America, Stephen E. Ambrose, one of the country's most influential historians, reflects on his long career as an…
American historian and explains what an historian's job is all about. He celebrates America's spirit, which has carried us so far. He confronts its failures and struggles. As always in his much acclaimed work, Ambrose brings alive the men and women, famous and not, who have peopled our history and made the United States a model for the world. Taking a few swings at today's political correctness, as well as his own early biases, Ambrose grapples with the country's historic sins of racism, its neglect and ill treatment of Native Americans, and its tragic errors (such as the war in Vietnam, which he ardently opposed on campus, where he was a professor). He reflects on some of the country's early founders who were progressive thinkers while living a contradiction as slaveholders, great men such as Washington and Jefferson. He contemplates the genius of Andrew Jackson's defeat of a vastly superior British force with a ragtag army in the War of 1812. He describes the grueling journey that Lewis and Clark made to open up the country, and the building of the railroad that joined it and produced great riches for a few barons. Ambrose explains the misunderstood presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, records the country's assumption of world power under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, and extols its heroic victory of World War II. He writes about women's rights and civil rights and immigration, founding museums, and nation- building. He contrasts the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout, Ambrose celebrates the unflappable American spirit. Most important, Ambrose writes about writing history. "The last five letters of the word 'history' tell us that it is an account of the past that is about people and what they did, which is what makes it the most fascinating of subjects." To America is an instant classic for all those interested in history, patriotism, and the love of writing.Holocaust: An American Understanding
By Deborah E. Lipstadt. 2016
Immediately after World War II, there was little discussion of the Holocaust, but today the word has grown into a…
potent political and moral symbol, recognized by all. In Holocaust: An American Understanding, renowned historian Deborah E. Lipstadt explores this striking evolution in Holocaust consciousness, revealing how a broad array of Americans--from students in middle schools to presidents of the United States--tried to make sense of this inexplicable disaster, and how they came to use the Holocaust as a lens to interpret their own history. Lipstadt weaves a powerful narrative that touches on events as varied as the civil rights movement, Vietnam, Stonewall, and the women's movement, as well as controversies over Bitburg, the Rwandan genocide, and the bombing of Kosovo. Drawing upon extensive research on politics, popular culture, student protests, religious debates and various strains of Zionist ideologies, Lipstadt traces how the Holocaust became integral to the fabric of American life. Even popular culture, including such films as Dr. Strangelove and such books as John Hershey's The Wall, was influenced by and in turn influenced thinking about the Holocaust. Equally important, the book shows how Americans used the Holocaust to make sense of what was happening in the United States. Many Americans saw the civil rights movement in light of Nazi oppression, for example, while others feared that American soldiers in Vietnam were destroying a people identified by the government as the enemy. Lipstadt demonstrates that the Holocaust became not just a tragedy to be understood but also a tool for interpreting America and its place in the world. Ultimately Holocaust: An American Understanding tells us as much about America in the years since the end of World War II as it does about the Holocaust itself.A Hidden Life: A Memoir of August 1969
By Johanna Reiss. 2009
In 1969, Reiss made the trip to Holland to chronicle the two years, seven months, and one day she had…
spent hiding from the Nazis. Subtle and disturbing, the book is a powerful consideration of memory, violence, and loss, told in a stunning and sparse narrative style.The resilience of the lotus
By Eugen Fischer. 2015
This story tells the sad truth about a young, displaced woman from Manchuria, her life during the Japanese invasion 1931-1945…
and some years thereafter. Told to the author in Singapore in the late seventies, it is a harrowing tale of humanity's cruelty and the horrors of war, but also a testament that life always finds a way to survive. Her strength and courage in the horrendous circumstances of war and occupation are inspirational. Like the lotus flower, the human spirit has the potential to grow in the worst environment, and emerge from the muck to bloom again as a beautiful flower. There are so many victims in a war, and once the war is over, one doesn't know their names nor find their graves. The stench of war wilts all flowers. The stench of peace lets them bloom again.Churchill's Channel War
By Robert Jackson. 2013
From the beaches of Dunkirk to the launch of Operation Overlord the Channel saw continuous action during World…
War II and was the world s most fought-over waterway In this fascinating account Robert Jackson offers a study of the Channel War from 1939-45 detailing the German threats to British shipping the use of convoys and the extensive minelaying operations as well as the Battle of Britain the use of long-range artillery and everything in between As well as offering a study of the furious Channel War battles Jackson also reveals how the Channel was essential for the launch of Churchill s famed special forces Commandos who under the cover of darkness launched raids on Occupied France as well as the Channel Islands The Channel War bought together the Royal Navy and Air Force as they both battled to defend England and prevent a much feared German invasionOnward We Charge
By H. Paul Jeffers. 2007
The true story of one of the most charismatic commanders of World War II. Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and…
the Purple Heart, and posthumously promoted to Brigadier General by President Truman, Colonel William Darby was an indisputable hero. His elite battalion of Army Rangers paved the way for Ranger success in subsequent wars-and left an unforgettable legacy in its wake. Onward We Charge takes readers from the beachheads of North Africa to the bloody campaigns of southern Italy, and to Darby's tragic death by German shrapnel just eight days before V-E Day. This is the true story of a man who held his own beside the greatest military figures in history.