The Vietnam War is long over, but many of its wounds still cannot be healed. This book tells the story of the lives of the people behind the front lines, North and South, from the perspective of the eventual victors in the war. The Vietnam War is long over, but many of its wounds still cannot be healed. As war raged for decades throughout Vietnam, it transformed the lives of all its people, in the countryside and in the cities, from the soldiers in the battlefields, to the women and children behind the frontline. The destruction was immense, and the effects are still felt to this
An epic, genre-bending, and transformative new series that reimagines World War II with female soldiers fighting on the front lines. World War II, 1942. A court decision makes women subject to the draft and eligible for service. The unproven American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering: Rio fights to honor her sister; Frangie needs money for her family; Rainy wants to kill Germans. For the first time they leave behind their homes and families—to go to war. These three daring young women will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, they will discover the roles that define them on the front lines. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known. Perfect for fans of Girl in the Blue Coat, Salt to the Sea, The Book Thief, and Code Name Verity, from New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant.
Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting his men. He thought that he would only kill the enemy, but in the ruins of the strike, he discovers his mistake and uncovers a tragedy. For most of his deployment in Iraq, Lt. Meehan felt that he had been made for a life in the military. A tank commander, he worked in the violent Diyala Province, successfully fighting the insurgency by various Sunni and Shia factions. He was celebrated by his senior officers and decorated with medals. But when the U.S. surge to retake Iraq in 2006 and 2007 finally pushed into Baqubah, a town virtually entirely controlled by al Qaida, Meehan would make the decision that would change his life. This is the true story of one soldier's attempt to reconcile what he has done with what he felt he had to do. Stark and devastating, it recounts first-hand the reality of a new type of warfare that remains largely unspoken and forgotten on the frontlines of Iraq.
What is it like to drive a Challenger tank over desert terrain for six days in a row? Or hover an Apache AH1 attack helicopter a hundred metres above enemy ground? How quickly can a Sapper clear a field of unexploded devices, or build a bridge - or blow one up? What is it like to fix bayonets, and engage in hand to hand combat, or train a 5.56 mm SA80 sniper sight on an enemy soldier, and pull the trigger? How do you find out what a soldier must learn on his way to war...? Ask him. In this extraordinary book, Danny Danziger interviews the people who fight our wars for us, providing a unique insight into the reality of what we ask of our armed forces. Groundbreaking and utterly compelling, WE ARE SOLDIERS takes the reader to the heart of the 21st century soldier's experience.
Front-line employees who deal directly with customers are the face of any organization. Not only do they have the most impact on how a brand is perceived, but they are also the most valuable source of insight into what customers want and how to give it to them. Unfortunately, as management experts Chris DeRose and Noel M. Tichy explain, most organizations don't know how to evaluate the risk of giving employees more autonomy. Many of those who are willing to try haven't even invested resources in ensuring that-once the shackles are off-front-line employees make good judgments. Tichy and DeRose offer powerful examples of front-line leadership, such as: How Zappos trusts its people to do anything in service of a customer, including providing free product or reimbursing for mistakes How Mayo Clinic of Arizona enabled its nurses to challenge the hierarchy in order to improve patient care
Since 2000, John Weaver has been A Flame on the Front Line sharing God's love in Afghanistan. He serves as a Team Leader for Shelter Now, which has been helping Afghans for over 25 years. John is the happy husband of Jeanne, whom he met and married in Afghanistan. "I saw John Weaver for the first time in October 2001 on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. When John's face appeared on the screen, I knew there was something special about him. I could see it in his eyes, his smile, and his interaction with the Afghan people." - Franklin Graham, President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. Journey from America to Afghanistan is an invitation to step into an incredible adventure led by the Sovereign King. The voyage features views of earthly struggles and saving grace; painful experiences and purposeful excursions; disappointing failures and dreams fulfilled. It also explores aspects of life in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. This inspiring story is both enjoyable and unforgettable. Join us inside... John and Jeanne Weaver, with their three sons, live and work as a family of flames. You can contact them at [email protected]. Proceeds from this book support the work of Shelter Now Afghanistan.
This book is a biography of Magnum, told largely in the words of its photographers. It offers a unique perspective on half a century of world history from an extraordinary group of men and women who were front line witnesses at virtually every major event in the last fifty years. Wars, famines, natural disasters, social, political and environmental crises - Magnum photographers were there. They have been acute observers of the human condition, photographing the richest people in the world, the poorest, the least known and the most celebrated, from Marilyn Monroe to Che Guevara, JFK to Nelson Mandela, Picasso to Krushchev. This is a multi-layered story. At one level, it tells how a small group of photographrs - among them Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson and George Rodger - came together, established and nurtured a co-operative photographic agency that has survived against all the odds to become the most famous in the world. At a secondary level, it is the richly anecdotal story of the photographers themselves, their adventures around the world and their feelings about, and reactions to, their assignments.
An intense and dramatic exploration of what life on the frontline is like for soldiers of all ranks, filled with voices of veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Falklands, the Gulf wars, and many other conflicts Glorified and vilified, everyone has an opinion about soldiers, but this collection looks behind the headlines and heroism to find out who they really are. From the last man killed in World War I to a young man running the risk of improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan today, this is an examination of the pressures, fears, camaraderie, and isolation of fighting battles. It is split into three parts, the first a collection of instances of extreme courage from veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The second part uses archive material from the armed conflicts of the last 90 years to examine how life at the front has changed, while the third is an assortment of observations on heroism from war correspondents and commentators today. The journey of a soldier is traced from enlistment through training, battlefield arrival, facing enemy fire, the end of service, and life after the military. Including contributions from former soldiers who have received treatment for physical and mental health problems, the book explores how the troubles of war can affect everyday life and is a moving and fascinating tribute to the men and women of the Army, Navy, and Royal Air Force.
#1 International Bestseller: A frontline trauma surgeon tells his “riveting” true story of operating in the world’s most dangerous war zones (The Times). For more than twenty-five years, surgeon David Nott has volunteered in some of the world’s most perilous conflict zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993 to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out lifesaving operations in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major metropolitan hospital. He is now widely acknowledged as the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. War Doctor is his extraordinary story, encompassing his surgeries in nearly every major conflict zone since the end of the Cold War, as well as his struggles to return to a “normal” life and routine after each trip. Culminating in his recent trips to war-torn Syria—and the untold story of his efforts to help secure a humanitarian corridor out of besieged Aleppo to evacuate some 50,000 people—War Doctor is a heart-stopping and moving blend of medical memoir, personal journey, and nonfiction thriller that provides unforgettable, at times raw, insight into the human toll of war. “Superb . . . You are constantly amazed that men such as Nott can witness the extraordinary cruelties of the human race, so many and so foul, yet keep going.” —Sunday Times “Gripping and fascinating medical stories.” —Kirkus Reviews
A Washington Post Bestseller Three Principles for Managing—and Avoiding—the Problems of Growth Why is profitable growth so hard to achieve and sustain? Most executives manage their companies as if the solution to that problem lies in the external environment: find an attractive market, formulate the right strategy, win new customers. But when Bain & Company’s Chris Zook and James Allen, authors of the bestselling Profit from the Core, researched this question, they found that when companies fail to achieve their growth targets, 90 percent of the time the root causes are internal, not external—increasing distance from the front lines, loss of accountability, proliferating processes and bureaucracy, to name only a few. What’s more, companies experience a set of predictable internal crises, at predictable stages, as they grow. Even for healthy companies, these crises, if not managed properly, stifle the ability to grow further—and can actively lead to decline. The key insight from Zook and Allen’s research is that managing these choke points requires a “founder’s mentality”—behaviors typically embodied by a bold, ambitious founder—to restore speed, focus, and connection to customers: • An insurgent’s clear mission and purpose • An unambiguous owner mindset • A relentless obsession with the front line Based on the authors’ decade-long study of companies in more than forty countries, The Founder’s Mentality demonstrates the strong relationship between these three traits in companies of all kinds—not just start-ups—and their ability to sustain performance. Through rich analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows how any leader—not only a founder—can instill and leverage a founder’s mentality throughout their organization and find lasting, profitable growth.
