Beyond the Legend
Beyond the Legend

Author: Derek Hunt

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2013-09-02

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0752497340

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Beyond the Legend is the authorised biography of William (Bill) Speakman,who was awarded one of only four Victoria Crosses for action in the Korean War. It covers his sometimes controversial life, from his childhood in Altrincham, Cheshire, to his later life in South Africa – about which little has been known previously. Authors Derek Hunt and John Mulholland also explore the myth of the ‘beer bottle VC’ (in which Speakman was said to have fended off the Chinese Communist Army by throwing empty beer bottles at them after they ran out of grenades), bringing to light what really happened on United Hill in November 1951. Speakman held the attacking Chinese army at bay for over four hours and led a final charge that allowed his company to withdraw from the hill. After Korea, he saw active service in Malaya, Borneo and Aden before retiring from the army, with the rank of sergeant, in 1968. Bill Speakman is one of only two surviving VC holders of the British Army and a true British hero.

Gordon MacQuarrie
Gordon MacQuarrie

Author: Keith Crowley

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2018-09-17

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 087020534X

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Although his typewriter has been silent for nearly fifty years, Gordon MacQuarrie’s words continue to inspire generations of hunting and fishing enthusiasts. Through his “Stories of the Old Duck Hunters,” most of which are still in print, MacQuarrie captured the intangible, emotional qualities of the outdoor life in a way that made him unique among his peers. As a result, his audience and his legend continue to grow. Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter is the first full-length biography of this literary legend. It explores the relationships he nurtured and treasured; records his coming of age during Theodore Roosevelt’s Conservation Movement; documents his rise to national prominence as the first full-time, professional outdoor writer in America; and follows his life as journalist, storyteller, husband, father, outdoorsman, and conservationist. Complete with rarely seen photographs and a comprehensive timeline of his writings, this book is a fitting companion to MacQuarrie’s own Stories of the Old Duck Hunters anthologies.

The Serial Killer Files
The Serial Killer Files

Author: Harold Schechter

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2003-12-30

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0345465660

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THE DEFINITIVE DOSSIER ON HISTORY’S MOST HEINOUS! Hollywood’s make-believe maniacs like Jason, Freddy, and Hannibal Lecter can’t hold a candle to real life monsters like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and scores of others who have terrorized, tortured, and terminated their way across civilization throughout the ages. Now, from the much-acclaimed author of Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved, comes the ultimate resource on the serial killer phenomenon. Rigorously researched and packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this innovative and highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers—from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, “trophies” to trading cards. Discover: WHO THEY ARE: Those featured include Ed Gein, the homicidal mama’s boy who inspired fiction’s most famous Psycho, Norman Bates; Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi, sex-crazed killer cousins better known as the Hillside Stranglers; and the Beanes, a fifteenth-century cave-dwelling clan with an insatiable appetite for human flesh HOW THEY KILL: They shoot, stab, and strangle. Butcher, bludgeon, and burn. Drown, dismember, and devour . . . and other methods of massacre too many and monstrous to mention here. WHY THEY DO IT: For pleasure and for profit. For celebrity and for “companionship.” For the devil and for dinner. For the thrill of it, for the hell of it, and because “such men are monsters, who live . . . beyond the frontiers of madness.” PLUS: in-depth case studies, classic killers’ nicknames, definitions of every kind of deviance and derangement, and much, much more. For more than one hundred profiles of lethal loners and killer couples, Bluebeards and black widows, cannibals and copycats— this is an indispensable, spine-tingling, eye-popping investigation into the dark hearts and mad minds of that twisted breed of human whose crimes are the most frightening . . . and fascinating.

The John Ford Encyclopedia
The John Ford Encyclopedia

Author: Sue Matheson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-12-02

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1538103826

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The winner of four Academy Awards for directing, John Ford is considered by many to be America’s greatest native-born director. Ford helmed some of the most memorable films in American cinema, including The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Quiet Man, as well as such iconic westerns as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In The John Ford Encyclopedia, Sue Matheson provides readers with detailed information about the acclaimed director’s films from the silent era to the 1960s. In more than 400 entries, this volume covers not only the films Ford directed and produced but also the studios for which he worked; his preferred shooting sites; his World War II documentaries; and the men and women with whom he collaborated, including actors, screenwriters, technicians, and stuntmen. Eleven newly discovered members of the John Ford Stock Company are also included. Encompassing the entire range of the director’s career—from his start in early cinema to his frequent work with national treasure John Wayne—this is a comprehensive overview of one of the most highly regarded filmmakers in history. The John Ford Encyclopedia will be of interest to professors, students, and the many fans of the director’s work.

Tony Lazzeri
Tony Lazzeri

Author: Lawrence Baldassaro

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2021-04

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1496226208

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Before there was Joe DiMaggio, there was Tony Lazzeri. A decade before the “Yankee Clipper” began his legendary career in 1936, Lazzeri paved the way for the man who would become the patron saint of Italian American fans and players. He did so by forging his own Hall of Fame career as a key member of the Yankees’ legendary Murderers’ Row lineup between 1926 and 1937, in the process becoming the first major baseball star of Italian descent. An unwitting pioneer who played his entire career while afflicted with epilepsy, Lazzeri was the first player to hit sixty home runs in organized baseball, one of the first middle infielders in the big leagues to hit with power, and the first Italian player with enough star power to attract a whole new generation of fans to the ballpark. As a twenty-two-year-old rookie for the New York Yankees, Lazzeri played alongside such legends as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He immediately emerged as a star, finishing second to Ruth in RBIs and third in home runs in the American League. In his twelve years as the second baseman for Yankee teams that won five World Series, he was their third-most productive hitter, driving in more runs than all but five American Leaguers, and hitting more home runs than all but six. Yet for all that, today he is a largely forgotten figure, his legacy diminished by the passage of time and tarnished by his bases-loaded strikeout to Grover Cleveland Alexander in Game Seven of the 1926 World Series, a strikeout immortalized on Alexander’s Hall of Fame plaque. Tony Lazzeri reveals that quite to the contrary, he was one of the smartest, most talented, and most respected players of his time, the forgotten Yankee who helped the team win six American League pennants and five World Series titles.

Legends of Pro Wrestling
Legends of Pro Wrestling

Author: Tim Hornbaker

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

Published: 2012-07

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 1613210752

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Details the lives and careers of the best professional wrestling figures of the last one hundred fifty years, including Bruno Sammartino, The Undertaker, and John Cena.

Allen Klein
Allen Klein

Author: Fred Goodman

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0547896867

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An account of the heyday of rock & roll through the lens of Allen Klein, the business manager, producer, and gadfly who "broke up the Beatles" and showed the Rolling Stones how to become the pre-eminent dynasty in popular music.

Houston Legends
Houston Legends

Author: Hank Moore

Publisher: Morgan James Publishing

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 163047469X

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Two hundred years of Houston history through the prism of business, entrepreneurship, and innovation in this essential and epic overview. The first Houston history book to be written from a business perspective, where the stories behind the city’s many legendary successes are told. Moore presents historical perspectives in several key industries—from real estate to banking to music and sports—in the Bayou City’s dynamic growth. Each topic offers chronicles the economic impact, the business contributions, and the people who have made a mark in the nation’s fourth largest city. Recurring themes include entrepreneurial spirit, business survival, strategies, growth and vision. The names, dates, and events are intertwined with memorable anecdotes applicable to modern business practices. Common themes include giving back generously to the community, stages in the evolution of a business, creativity, and mentoring the next generation of leaders. A unique, informative, and instructive approach to corralling the breadth and scope of Houston’s outstanding history and the people who led the way, Houston Legends is an indispensable entry into one of the modern world’s great cities.

Of Kindred Celtic Origins
Of Kindred Celtic Origins

Author: Jodie K. Scales

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2001-06

Total Pages: 702

ISBN-13: 0595185738

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A compelling and evocative history of an ordinary 21st century American family detailing its varied and diverse historical and cultural elements through out history. An enthralling journey through time and culture giving a strong narrative account of the similar Celtic roots of many American families. Using records and tools as varied as archeology, anthropology, ethnology, etymology, geology, mythology, legends and historical documentation, Scales embarks on a fascinating quest to link together the pieces of a vast jigsaw of the forgotten Celtic heritage of many American families while developing a chronological framework to historical events and family bloodlines. With an astonishing insight into the cultural effects of the travels and historical events of our founding fathers, more than a dozen separate family lines are identified with their earliest American ancestors and which part of the ancient Celtic world those families came from. Reaching as far back into the origin of the Celtic people as the Sumerian Culture of 4000bc to their arrival in Ireland, Germany and Scotland sets a framework for the detailed history of the Picts and Scots who's blood still runs in many American veins.