Chamron Phal was a carefree teenager when Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge overthrew Cambodia's capital, forever changing his life. Almost immediately, Chamron and his family, along with millions of Cambodians, were ejected from their home, herded into the forest, and forced to labor under torturous conditions. With barely enough food to survive, Chamron watched helplessly as members of his family died and countless individuals were dragged from camp, never to be seen again. Yet through each trial and near-death circumstance, Chamron marveled as one miracle after another saw him through. Eventually daring to risk escape, Chamron journeyed into the unknown, promising God that if he survived, he would serve Him the rest of his life. Would the God he hardly knew spare his life once more?
Former Air Force captain and New York Times bestselling author Dale Brown is an acknowledged master when it comes to bringing military action to breathtaking life and he has received glowing accolades since his debut publication, Flight of the Old Dog. Tiger’s Claw proves once again that every rave has been well deserved. Set in the near future, Tiger’s Claw imagines a scenario in which tensions escalate between an economically powerful China and a United States weakened by a massive economic downfall, bringing the two superpowers to the brink of total destruction. Brown’s popular protagonist, retired Air Force lieutenant-general Patrick McLanahan (of A Time for Patriots, Rogue Forces, and other Brown bestsellers), is back with his son Brad McLanahan and they’re preparing for the impending apocalyptic clash of men and military technology. The incomparable Dale Brown scores again with a frighteningly possible story of war and global politics that’s ideal for fans of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor.
When Cody is 14, he runs away from home, leaving behind his abusive mother, and flees across the country. He doesn’t stop until he hits Texas and the Sam Houston Tiger Ranch. Under the guidance of Sunny, the ranch’s owner, he cares for the animals in ways he never imagined. He feeds them a diet of raw, bloody meat. He cleans out their cages. He takes them for exercise. He finds out how to get a tiger to back down, and when he should back down himself. But there is another lesson Cody has to learn—sometimes people are harder to handle than tigers.
This newest book of the War-Torn series focuses on the aftermath of the Last War, in which every realm in the Eberron setting fought a bitter and long-lasting battle. Original.
World War II saga, In the Claw of the Tiger, is a creative-nonfiction written by G. Thomson Fraser, based on the true story of Massachusetts resident, Franklin "Porky" LaCoste, a survivor of the Bataan Death March and POW camps in the Philippines and Japan. Porky joined the Army Air Corps in October 1940 with six high school buddies out for a good time, adventure, and an escape from their Depression-era hometowns. Determined to go to Hawaii and the Philippines, they live a life straight out of their fantasies - until December 7, 1941 changed their lives forever when Japan attacked Hawaii and soon afterwards U.S. outposts in the Philippines. Like a grown-up Tom Sawyer thrust into the brutal machinations of a world at war, Porky survives adventure after adventure often with a trusted companion by his side. Porky perseveres through the Battle of Bataan and the Death March - where thousands die - as well as in the malaria and dysentery infested POW Camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan. He is pitched into a Hell Ship bound for Japan and lives the danger plagued existence of a miner living in rat infested, near starvation conditions. His spunk and determination often land him in trouble. (At one point he is court-martialed at Imperial Army Headquarters in Tokyo.) He survives through native optimism, gut instinct, an ability to accept life as he finds it, but most of all, because of an unquenchable desire to help those around him. Along with suffering at the hands of enemy forces, to his surprise Porky is helped on occasion by an unlikely source - the enemy. Later, in a dramatic twist of fate, while working at the copper mines in Ashio, Japan, Porky saves the life of the 4-year old son and only child of one of the village guards which earns him the respect of friend and foe alike. In the Claw of the Tiger contains 150 photos, many of which had been stored away for six decades. The three part narrative reads like a novel and feels like a docudrama, complete with historical references and candid shots of the friends together, National Archive, Department of Defense, Library of Congress and other photos and illustrations. Remarkably, out of the seven friends who joined the service and plotted and planned to stick together, five survived the ordeal. G. Thomson Fraser holds degrees in theater/playwriting and communications. She is a former editor of a weekly news magazine, an investigative journalist, exhibits developer, environmental writer and former aide to a state senator. She has served both as college staff and faculty. During the five years Fraser spent interviewing Franklin "Porky" LaCoste, parts of the narrative were developed through improvisational theater techniques designed to evoke intimate details as well as the dramatic elements of the story. Many more years were spent in extensive research of historical events and details of time and place. The end result is an intimate portrayal of coming-of-age in the midst of the Pacific Theater, during one of the greatest struggles of the 20th century. Trapped in a war for which he and the country were ill-prepared, In the Claw of the Tiger is a remarkable tale of courage, hope, and reconciliation in the midst of horror.
The cabin door crashes open-and in a few minutes Regina's life changes forever. Allegheny Indians murder her father and brother, burn their Pennsylvania home to the ground, and take Regina captive. Only her mother, who is away from home, is safe. Torn from her family, Regina longs for the past, but she must begin a new life. She becomes Tskinnak, who learns to catch fish, dance the Indian dance, and speak the Indian tongue. As the years go by, her new people become her family . . . but she never stops wondering about her mother. Will they ever meet again? "A first-person narrative based on the true story of a young woman held by Indians from 1755-1763, related with all the impact of a hard-hitting documentary . . .Wonderful reading." (School Library Journal) "I Am Regina is an enthralling and profoundly stirring story, historical fiction for young people at its very finest." (Elizabeth George Speare, Newbery Award-winning author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond)
It's December 1997 and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia's Far East. The tiger isn't just killing people, it's annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. To their horrified astonishment it emerges that the attacks are not random: the tiger is engaged in a vendetta. Injured and starving, it must be found before it strikes again, and the story becomes a battle for survival between the two main characters: Yuri Trush, the lead tracker, and the tiger itself. As John Vaillant vividly recreates the extraordinary events of that winter, he also gives us an unforgettable portrait of a spectacularly beautiful region where plants and animals exist that are found nowhere else on earth, and where the once great Siberian Tiger - the largest of its species, which can weigh over 600 lbs at more than 10 feet long - ranges daily over vast territories of forest and mountain, its numbers diminished to a fraction of what they once were. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers - even sharing their kills with them - in a natural balance. We witness the first arrival of settlers, soldiers and hunters in the tiger's territory in the 19th century and 20th century, many fleeing Stalinism. And we come to know the Russians of today - such as the poacher Vladimir Markov - who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching for the corrupt, high-paying Chinese markets. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters and how early Homo sapiens may have once fit seamlessly into the tiger's ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator, and the grave threat it faces as logging and poaching reduce its habitat and numbers - and force it to turn at bay. Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger is a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest.
The author who revealed the secret lives of dogs in the best-selling The Hidden Life of Dogs offers a journey into the hidden life of cats and reports that cats, surprisingly, are not solitary beings. Reissue.
