The Vietnam War was New Zealand's longest and most controversial military engagement of the twentieth century. No Front Lineexplores this war like never before, from the perspective of New Zealanders who were there, in their own words- on operations, on a mission for good, on orders, or simply out for adventure. It relays military, civilian and domestic histories in a narrative that is at once sincere, direct and undeniable - sometimes shocking and always absorbing. These war stories take readers on operations with gunners, infantrymen, pilots and troopers who face fear and heartbreak, and who witness the devastation of a country at war. The book also includes important reflections from non-combatant engineers, medics, aid workers and administrators; it profiles civilian and service personnel treating Vietnamese casualties in provincial hospitals; it places on record the integral role of women in Vietnam- as nurses, doctors, aid workers, journalists and entertainers. Back home in New Zealand, veterans' families recall the war's reach into the suburbs - both then and now. Personal testimonies in No Front Line are drawn from a collectionof 150 oral history interviews recorded over five years. They present a fresh perspective on New Zealand's collective experience of the Vietnam War - an episode in history that cannot be ignored
Damien Parer was without doubt Australia?s greatest war photographer. He helped create the Anzac legend ? and many, many of our iconic war images are his photographs. He served his apprenticeship as a stills photographer on the famous Chauvel film, 'Forty Thousand Horsemen', and was appointed Official Photographer covering the Australian fighting in the early days of World War II in Greece and Syria, and Tobruk. His most famous documentary is 'Kokoda Front Line!' , made during the darkest days of the campaign in mid-1942 (it went on to win Australia?s first Academy Award). His photographs and films brought the war home to Australians ? and are now an integral part of our military history. He died in action ? shot by Japanese machine gun fire, as he filmed an American advance on Peleliu. Originally published as WAR CAMERAMAN: THE STORY OF DAMIEN PARER, and later in an expanded form as DAMIEN PARER'S WAR, this colourful and authoritative story of a great Australian includes many of his most iconic photographs.
From Vanessa Harbour comes Flight, a middle-grade historical fiction novel about a Jewish boy and a Roma girl leading a group of horses across mountains to escape Nazis during WWII. Everyone deserves to be free and feel safe, even horses. The year is 1945 in Austria, where an SS officer and some of his men visit a stable, determined to find the Jewish boy they believe the owner is hiding there. Luckily, just as Jakob—the boy in question—is about to be found, the men are called away...but not before the SS officer shoots and kills Jakob’s favorite horse. It’s very clear then, to Jakob and his guardian, that they are no longer safe there. Traveling through Nazi territory with that many horses will be incredibly difficult and risky, but the alternative—staying—is even more dangerous. After an orphaned Roma girl named Kizzy joins the pair, the three of them travel across woods and mountains in the hopes of finding safety. Along the way are life-threatening obstacles and an injury that could prove to be deadly. Inspired by a real mission, this is a story of courage, adventure, friendship, and dancing horses.
In 1970 Jerry Della Femina wrote this gossip-filled, insider's account of working on Madison Avenue during the golden age of advertising. It caused a sensation, became a bestseller and established itself as a cult classic. Years later, it inspired the multi-award-winning drama Mad Men.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories. It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat--by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them--everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.
Combining the sorcery of The Night Circus with the malefic suspense of A Secret History, Thorn Jack is a spectacular, modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad, Tam Lin—a beguiling fusion of love, fantasy, and myth that echoes the imaginative artistry of the works of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr. In the wake of her older sister’s suicide, Finn Sullivan and her father move to a quaint town in upstate New York. Populated with socialites, hippies, and dramatic artists, every corner of this new place holds bright possibilities—and dark enigmas, including the devastatingly attractive Jack Fata, scion of one of the town’s most powerful families. As she begins to settle in, Finn discovers that beneath its pretty, placid surface, the town and its denizens—especially the Fata family—wield an irresistible charm and dangerous power, a tempting and terrifying blend of good and evil, magic and mystery, that holds dangerous consequences for an innocent and curious girl like Finn. To free herself and save her beloved Jack, Finn must confront the fearsome Fata family . . . a battle that will lead to shocking secrets about her sister’s death.
A fully illustrated account of Middle East Command’s strike force as told by its pilots and airmen, from the author of Hunters Over Arabia. After two years servicing Vampire trainers at the RAF’s Central Flying School, Ray Deacon left Little Rissington and joined thirty fellow airmen for a voyage out to Aden aboard HMT Nevassa on her last sailing as a troopship. Posted to 8 Squadron at RAF Khormaksar, he spent the next two years living and working in the torrid heat of this desert outpost. It had its compensations, however—the opportunity not only to experience life on a busy front-line operational squadron while working on ground attack and fighter reconnaissance versions of the Hawker Hunter, but to savor the delights of a trip in aeronautical engineer Sydney Camm’s most versatile aircraft topping his list. In addition to defending the skies above Aden and its Protectorates, Middle East Command expended a large proportion of its energy supporting army activities in the mountains of the Aden hinterland: dropping supplies, transporting personnel between posts, and in the case of the Hunter squadrons, attacking dissident targets and patrolling the border with Yemen. It was against this background that Deacon wrote his first book on RAF Middle East Command operations, Hunters over Arabia. Tales from the Frontline: Middle East Hunters is a fully illustrated companion volume that comprises anecdotes, stories, and experiences of life on the Hunter squadrons as told by the pilots and airmen who flew and maintained the Hunter during its twelve-year tenure in Arabia.
“A vast amount of information on the German Naval Security Fleet, sicherungsstreitkräfte, producing what is a unique review in depth.” —Firetrench.com This study of the Kriegsmarine’s Sicherungsstreitkräfte, their security forces, fills a glaring gap in the study of the German navy in World War II. This wide array of vessels included patrol boats, minesweepers, submarine hunters, barrage breakers, landing craft, minelayers, and even the riverine flotilla that patrolled the Danube as it snaked towards the Black Sea. These vessels may not have provided the glamour associated with capital ships and U-boats, but they were crucial to the survival of the Kriegsmarine at every stage of hostilities. As naval construction was unable to keep pace with the likely demand for security vessels, Grossadmiral Erich Raeder turned to the conversion of merchant vessels. For example, trawlers were requisitioned as patrol boats (Vorpostenboot) and minesweepers (Minensucher), while freighters, designated Sperrbrecher, were filled with buoyant materials and sent to clear minefields. Submarine hunters (U-Boot Jäger) were requisitioned fishing vessels. More than 120 flotillas operated in wildly different conditions, from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, and eighty-one men were to be awarded the Knights Cross; some were still operating after the cessation of hostilities clearing German minefields. The author deals with whole subject at every level, documenting organizational changes, describing the vessels, and recounting individual actions of ships at sea, while extensive appendices round off this major new work. “Paterson offers a well researched narrative detailing both the large scale aspect of Security Forces operations interspersed with examples of key or typical engagement examples.” —The International Journal of Maritime History