"Pure gold," "enduring literature," "spell binding," "deeply moving," "insightful," "heartfelt," "riveting," & "one of the most interesting stories to come out of World War II" are some of the reader responses to this poignant memoir. It traces the transformation of a typical small-town boy into a seasoned B-29 tail gunner flying 21 bombing missions over Japan -- one of which ended in the death of three crewmates. This book is more than a war story: it is rich in boyhood & wartime humor & nostalgia, recounts the amazing innocence, patriotism & values of the author's generation, & comments on revisionist historians & the need to use the atomic bomb. It asks -- & answers -- the question of why men risk their lives time & again in the face of great danger. Dedicated to the lost crewmen, this gem of a book is a timely, perceptive & inspirational account of a 19-year-old's experiences in the most costly & destructive war in history. To order contact: Tall Tree Press, 4072 Scripps Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 or phone (415) 494-3897.
A BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF AMERICA'S CRITICAL EFFORT TO BUILD AN AFGHANISTAN NATIONAL ARMY DISCOVER: - WHY THE U.S. IS BUILDING AN AFGHANISTAN NATIONAL ARMY - WHY AMERICAN TROOPS CAN'T LEAVE AFGHANISTAN YET - HOW YOUR TAX MONEY IS BEING SPENT Written from the unique vantage point of the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, this book reveals the inside story of the United States' army-building efforts. As the first comptroller responsible for funding the Afghanistan National Army, Mick earned the Bronze Star Medal while spending $400 million taxpayer dollars and planning the spending for $2.1 billion more. Mick has appeared on: - National Public Radio - CNN International - Armed Forces News
Although they share a love of poetry and problems with their parents, a shy high school senior's attraction to a popular classmate is tempered by her fear of his moody, self-destructive side.
If ten girls were asked to describe the “perfect” girl, they would likely rattle off an eerily similar list of qualities—from hair, skin, and weight to a cute button nose. That’s a problem, because God has given girls a desire to be desirable. If girls think that they will be most wanted if they fit a one-size-fits-all image of “perfection,” they will continually chase that proverbial carrot their entire lives. Backwards Beauty examines ten cultural lies young women listen to regarding beauty to help them unpack how they’re looking at themselves through the wrong lens. The “tips to feel ugly” range from “compare yourself to every other girl” to “eat junk and diet, diet, diet.” Reading a book by Jessie Minassian is like sitting down with a friend and talking about the hard things in life. Girls will be able to find freedom and hope in the midst of a culture that idolizes beauty.
Originally setting out to write the very book that he would have wanted to own as a young infantryman, the author penned On Tactics as a remedy for navigating the chaotic and inchoate realm of tactical theory. Challenging centuries-old conventional wisdom regarding the principles of war, tactics, and the roles of strategy, doctrine, experiential learning, and military history, Friedman's work offers a striking synthesis of thinking on tactics as well as strategy. Part One of the book establishes a tactical system meant to replace the Principles of War checklist. First, the contextual role of tactics with regards to strategy and war will be established. This will necessarily lean on major strategic theories in order to illuminate the role of tactics. This section will be formed around the Physical, Mental, and Moral planes of battlefield interaction used by theorists such as J.F.C Fuller and John Boyd. Each plane will then be examined in turn, and many of the classic Principles of War will be discussed along with some new ones. It will present some standard methods that tacticians can use to gain an advantage on the battlefield using historical examples that illustrate each concept. These "tactical tenets" include maneuver, mass, firepower, tempo, surprise, deception, confusion, shock, and the role of the moral aspects of combat. Finally, Part One will circle back around by discussing the role of tactical victory- once achieved- in contributed to a strategy. Part One is short by design. It is intended to be both compelling and easily mastered for junior non-commissioned officers and company grade officers, while still rich enough to be interesting to both specialist and non-specialist academics. It is a book meant not just for bookshelves but also for ruck sacks and cargo pockets. Part Two builds on Part One by exploring concepts with which the tactician must be familiar with such as the culminating point of victory, mission tactics and decentralized command and control, offensive and defensive operations, and the initiative. Part Three will conclude the book examining implications of the presented tactical systems to a variety of other issues in strategic studies.
Why has America stopped winning wars? For nearly a century, up until the end of World War II in 1945, America enjoyed a Golden Age of decisive military triumphs. And then suddenly, we stopped winning wars. The decades since have been a Dark Age of failures and stalemates-in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan-exposing our inability to change course after battlefield setbacks. In this provocative book, award-winning scholar Dominic Tierney reveals how the United States has struggled to adapt to the new era of intractable guerrilla conflicts. As a result, most major American wars have turned into military fiascos. And when battlefield disaster strikes, Washington is unable to disengage from the quagmire, with grave consequences for thousands of U.S. troops and our allies. But there is a better way. Drawing on interviews with dozens of top generals and policymakers, Tierney shows how we can use three key steps-surge, talk, and leave-to stem the tide of losses and withdraw from unsuccessful campaigns without compromising our core values and interests. Weaving together compelling stories of military catastrophe and heroism, this is an unprecedented, timely, and essential guidebook for our new era of unwinnable conflicts. The Right Way to Lose a War illuminates not only how Washington can handle the toughest crisis of all-battlefield failure-but also how America can once again return to the path of victory.
Darkus and his friends continue their unforgettable adventure in this final installment of the Beetle Boy trilogy. The final installment in the Beetle Boy trilogy!Cruel beetle fashionista Lucretia Cutter is still at large with her yellow ladybird spies. And now that she's brainwashed Darkus's father to stay by her side -- he, Virginia, and Bertolt are determined to stop her... once and for all. The final installment in the Beetle trilogy flies readers to Lucretia's secret Biome hidden in the Amazon rain forest. If they can't stop Lucretia, she will release her hoard of giant Frankenstein beetles, and the planet will never be the same again...Hope rests on an army of beetles and three determined children. Can Darkus and his friends, human and beetle alike, find it before it's too late?
In the early 2000's, we find our hero - Mathias Canopy (aka Peter Batton), the host of a scandalous reality game show called $ell Your $oul - feeling lost amid tabloid rumors, contract renegotiations, staged love affairs, a new name, a new face, escort services, camera crews, loved ones, blood loss and diarrhea. When he comes back home to Baltimore he rediscovers his family, who rediscover their prodigal son and sibling in the meantime. Every now and then, you have to $ell Your $oul to get a new one...or not.
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; it was first published in 1887. According to Erich Fromm, Looking Backward is "one of the most remarkable books ever published in America".
