When John Furlong and his family emigrated from Ireland in 1974, the customs officer greeted them with "Welcome to Canada. Make us better," an imperative that has defined Furlong's life ever since. A passionate athlete with a track record of community service, he was roped into acting as spokesperson for Vancouver's incipient Olympic bid movement back in 1996, and then spent the next fourteen years living and breathing the Olympics. Furlong and his organizing team, including some 25,000 volunteers, orchestrated a remarkable Winter Games. Patriot Hearts is the story of how they did it.
When Martha Dandridge Custis marries her second husband, George, she never suspects that the soft-spoken Virginia planter is destined to command the founding of a nation—or that she is to be “Lady Washington,” the woman at the first President’s side. Only a select inner circle of women will know the cost of sharing a beloved man with history . . . and each will draw strength from the unique treasure given to them by a doomed queen. Seeing farm and family through each harsh New England season, Abigail Adams is sustained only by the fervent reunions stolen between John’s journeys abroad. She will face the terror of an ocean crossing to join her husband in France—and write her own page in history. And there she will cross paths with kings, commoners—and young Sally Hemings. Just as Sally had grown from a clever child to a beautiful woman, so had her relationship with Thomas Jefferson grown from a friendship between slave and master to one entangled in the complexities of black and white, decorum and desire. It is a relationship that will leave Sally to face an agonizingly wrenching choice. Dolley Madison, too, must live with the repercussions of a forbidden love affair—although she will confront even greater trials as a President’s wife. But Dolley will become one of the best-loved ladies of the White House—and leave an extraordinary legacy of her own. A lushly written novel that traces the marriages tested by the demands of love and loyalty, Patriot Hearts offers readers a dazzling glimpse behind the scenes of a revolution, from adversity and treachery to teatime strategies, as four magnificent women shape a nation’s future.
"In an adrenaline-charged tour de force, Navy SEAL turned covert Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath must race to locate an ancient secret that has the power to stop militant Islam dead in its tracks." "June 632 A.D.: Deep within the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat in Mecca, the prophet Mohammed shares with his closest companions a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated." "September 1789: U.S. minister to France Thomas Jefferson, charged with forging a truce with the violent Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast, makes a shocking discovery - one that could forever impact the world's relationship with Islam." "Present day: When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian cafe, Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried so desperately to leave behind." "Saving the intended victim of the attack, Harvath becomes party to an amazing and perilous race to uncover a secret so powerful that militant Islam could be defeated once and for all without firing another shot, dropping another bomb, or launching another covert action. But as desperate as the American government is to have the information brought to light, there are powerful forces aligned against it - men who are just as determined that Mohammed's mysterious final revelation remain hidden forever."--BOOK JACKET.
Japan and China are thrown close to the brink of war when a Japanese warship is attacked. Meanwhile top Covert-One operative Jon Smith is sent to recover mysterious material from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear reactor. Smith vanishes, and CIA agent Randi Russell goes on an unsanctioned mission to find him. She discovers that the missing samples may be evidence that Japan, led by Chief of Staff Masao Takahashi, has been developing next-generation weapons systems in preparation for a conflict with China. The Covert-One team must prevent Takahashi from sparking a war, or the world will be dragged into a battle certain to kill tens of millions of people and leave much of the planet uninhabitable.
An eye-opening, meticulously researched new perspective on the influences that shaped the Founders as well as the nation's founding document From one election cycle to the next, a defining question continues to divide the country’s political parties: Should the government play a major or a minor role in the lives of American citizens? The Declaration of Independence has long been invoked as a philosophical treatise in favor of limited government. Yet the bulk of the document is a discussion of policy, in which the Founders outlined the failures of the British imperial government. Above all, they declared, the British state since 1760 had done too little to promote the prosperity of its American subjects. Looking beyond the Declaration’s frequently cited opening paragraphs, Steve Pincus reveals how the document is actually a blueprint for a government with extensive powers to promote and protect the people’s welfare. By examining the Declaration in the context of British imperial debates, Pincus offers a nuanced portrait of the Founders’ intentions with profound political implications for today.
Presents a comprehensive timeline of American and world history with facts and quotes, contributions to science and the arts, wars and military conflicts, and popular culture, and includes a collection of patriotic poems, speeches, and song lyrics.
Summer 1944. Special Operations Executive agent Johannes Sneijder is ordered to parachute into occupied Holland and kill high-ranking SS officer Obersturmbannfuhrer Albrecht Koestler. But Sneijder is a broken man, haunted by the loss of his family and the things the war has made him do. From the moment he lands behind enemy lines his world begins to crumble around him, and when Sneijder falls in love with Koestler's daughter things take a turn for the worse. Sneijder soon finds himself torn between the mission and his own personal demons, and with Koestler on his tail a deadly duel begins...
I'm a soldier.A cattle rancher.A Hayden.My family's legacy is spread out in front of me, just waiting for me to seize it. If it weren't for one outdated rule, I'd be the owner of the Hayden Cattle Company and my aging father could retire.When Dakota Wright shows up to buy and develop twenty acres of Hayden land, I see more than a pretty mouth and strawberry blonde hair. I see a way around the decree keeping me from getting what I want.And, as luck would have it, Dakota has a big problem of her own. We strike two deals: one for the land, and a second that'll make both our problems a distant memory.It isn't too long before I realize I'm in over my head. I've convinced myself the ends should justify the means, but everything begins to fall apart when my birthright is no longer all that I'm after.I never thought there'd be anything I could love more than my ranch and my country. I was wrong.Turns out, I want it all.Including her.
Army Ranger and bestselling author Kris Paronto reveals the values and creed shared by special forces for self-improvement and living a purposeful life. When Kris Paronto began talking with civilians about his experiences fighting the terrorist attack on the US State Department Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, he was surprised at how often people told him that the story of his extraordinary battle gave them courage to face tough times in their everyday lives. "The odds were stacked against us that night but the truth is that we refused to quit and we beat them with faith, teamwork, and the principles that were first instilled in me when I joined the Army. You can find those in the Rangers Creed and the Army Values," he says, "and you don't have to be a Special Operations soldier to use them." In The Patriot's Creed, Kris Paronto uses the seven core Army Values that all soldiers learn in Basic Combat Training, and the experiences of other servicemen and women and First Responders, to explain how anyone can improve themselves, the world around them, and live a heroic life. The stakes are dramatic for the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to fight for America, and too many of their acts of courage and honor are unknown. The examples of their persistence and discipline will be inspiring to anyone facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. At a time of national polarization, Kris Paronto draws attention to values all readers can share and use, and to the honor, integrity and courage of true patriots who have gone to great lengths to protect and serve. They embody the best of us and make Kris Paronto proud to be an American soldier.
