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Dancing with the Queen, Marching with King: The Memoirs of Alexander "Sam" Aldrich (Excelsior Editions)
by Sam AldrichWhen he was twenty-five, Sam Aldrich danced with Queen Elizabeth II in London. By the time he was thirty-seven, he was marching with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. Recounting the journey between and beyond those two points, and musing over the irony of the contrast they represent, is the subject of this remarkable and entertaining memoir.After a cosseted childhood in New York's silk stocking district, including weekends on Long Island's Gold Coast and summers in Dark Harbor, Maine, Aldrich was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a career in high finance. "Dancing with the queen of England was just a small function of the privileged life and family into which I was born," he writes, "and events such as this would be a regular part of my upper-class, well-traveled social life." Instead, and to his parents' chagrin, he chose decades of hard work in the public sector, serving as deputy police commissioner in New York City, director of the New York State Division for Youth, executive assistant to Governor Nelson Rockefeller, president of the Brooklyn Center of Long Island University, and commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, before entering teaching full-time at midlife.Illustrated with photographs from Aldrich's personal collection, this lively memoir offers personal insights into New York State politics and history. Whether working to develop an effective system for rehabilitating juvenile offenders in New York City, trying to find an environmentally sound means for development in the Hudson River Valley, or teaching public policy at SUNY's Empire State College, Aldrich shows what it means to follow one's passions and interests, and to take the gifts one has been given and use them to try to make this world a better place.
Dandelions Help
by Eve McBrideEve McBride has received hundreds of letters about her columns, but what really touched her was finding a column tacked to the inside of a friend's kitchen cupboard door. Her "poignant, often humorous glimpses at human complexity" had hit home again. Through the columns we see the passage of a personal journalist from the '80s to the '90s, her insightful reflections in a mutating society. Dandelions Help is a collection of columns from the Gazette and the Toronto Star selected to reflect reader response over the years. "Dandelions Help" generated the most mail, closely followed by "Satin Shoes". Eve McBride's path has taken her from Ontario to Whitehorse to Toronto to Montreal. In the Yukon with her husband and four daughters, she was Curator of the Art Gallery of the Whitehorse Library. Back in Toronto, she worked with Peter Gzowski on CBC's Morningside, then went on to write her newspaper columns. Her success, says Peter Gzowski, comes from her being "a graceful and perceptive observer". Read her and find out about "First Bra," "Last Grad," "Worms," "Police Chase," and "Bryan Adams." Eve McBride would also quote Virginia Woolf: "The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." Eve McBride shows us those two edges, where she paints for us life's unpredictable canvases.
Dandy in the Underworld: A Memoir (P. S. Ser.)
by Sebastian Horsley'Like Salvador Dali's confessions, only far funnier and more self-deprecating, Dandy in the Underworld entertains as much as it revolts, is as tender as it is shocking, and as genuine as it is false.' IndependentSure to shock and surprise, Sebastian Horsley recounts his life story with excruciating self-knowledge and a savage wit.'One of the funniest, strangest and most revolting memoirs ever written.' Sunday TimesGrowing up at High Hall, in Hull, with his alcoholic mother, who regularly attempted suicide, his stepfather, a cult member dressed in orange, and his father, a crippled millionaire, Sebastian Horsley couldn't wait to leave home. Searching for happiness, meaning and a good outfit he embarked on a doomed career as a punk guitarist, had a stormy relationship with a notorious Scottish gangster, enjoyed a wildly successful period as a stock-market entrepeneur and experienced a near fatal stint as a shark-hunter. Sebastian charts his years as a dandy, an artist, a male escort and a brothel connoisseur. There are the love affairs, with Rachel 1 and Rachel 2, and a harrowing descent into heroin and crack addiction. Dandy in the Underworld evokes his desperate attempts to get clean, culminating in his crucifixion in the Philippines.
Dandy in the Underworld: A Memoir
by Sebastian Horsley'Like Salvador Dali's confessions, only far funnier and more self-deprecating, Dandy in the Underworld entertains as much as it revolts, is as tender as it is shocking, and as genuine as it is false.' IndependentSure to shock and surprise, Sebastian Horsley recounts his life story with excruciating self-knowledge and a savage wit.'One of the funniest, strangest and most revolting memoirs ever written.' Sunday TimesGrowing up at High Hall, in Hull, with his alcoholic mother, who regularly attempted suicide, his stepfather, a cult member dressed in orange, and his father, a crippled millionaire, Sebastian Horsley couldn't wait to leave home. Searching for happiness, meaning and a good outfit he embarked on a doomed career as a punk guitarist, had a stormy relationship with a notorious Scottish gangster, enjoyed a wildly successful period as a stock-market entrepeneur and experienced a near fatal stint as a shark-hunter. Sebastian charts his years as a dandy, an artist, a male escort and a brothel connoisseur. There are the love affairs, with Rachel 1 and Rachel 2, and a harrowing descent into heroin and crack addiction. Dandy in the Underworld evokes his desperate attempts to get clean, culminating in his crucifixion in the Philippines.
Danger Close: My Epic Journey as a Combat Helicopter Pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Amber SmithInspiring and “riveting…vivid and harrowing” (Sean Parnell, author of Outlaw Platoon), Danger Close is the first memoir of active combat by a female helicopter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan. New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor raves, “Men and women alike will love this incredible tale of heroism, humility, and high-octane feats of bravery.”Amber Smith flew into enemy fire in some of the most dangerous combat zones in the world. One of only a few women to fly the Kiowa Warrior helicopter—whose mission, armed reconnaissance, required its pilots to stay low and fly fast, perilously close to the fight—Smith deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and rose to Pilot-in-Command and Air Mission Commander in the premier Kiowa unit in the Army. She learned how to perform and survive under extreme pressure, both in action against an implacable enemy and within the elite “boy’s club” of Army aviation. In Danger Close, Smith “covers each mission with edge-of-your-seat detail and a coolness that demonstrates how she gained the respect of fellow pilots and soldiers on the ground” (Library Journal). Smith’s unrelenting fight for both mastery and respect delivers universal life-lessons that will be useful to any civilian, from “earning your spurs” as a newbie to “embracing the suck” through setbacks that challenge your self-confidence to learning to trust your gut as a veteran of your profession. Intensely personal, cinematic, poignant, and inspiring, Danger Close is “the captivating story of one woman’s fight to serve her country in the direct line of danger” (Dana Perino, co-host of The Five on Fox News).
Danger Close: The True Story of Helmand from the Leader of 3 PARA
by Stuart TootalColonel Stuart Tootal is the first senior commander to provide an account of the fighting in Afghanistan. A gritty portrayal of unforgiving conflict, Danger Close captures the essence of combat, the risks involved and the aftermath. 3 PARA was the first unit into Helmand in 2006. Sent on a peace mission, it became engaged in a level of combat that has not been experienced by the British Army since the end of the Korean War. Undermanned and suffering from equipment shortages, 3 PARA fought doggedly to win the break in battle. Numerous gallantry decorations were awarded, but they were not without cost. On returning from Afghanistan, Tootal fought to get proper treatment for his wounded and feeling frustrated with the Government's treatment of its soldiers, he resigned from the Army. This is a dramatic, and often moving, insight into the leadership of soldiers and the sharp end of war.
Danger Close: The True Story of Helmand from the Leader of 3 PARA
by Stuart TootalColonel Stuart Tootal is the first senior commander to provide an account of the fighting in Afghanistan. A gritty portrayal of unforgiving conflict, Danger Close captures the essence of combat, the risks involved and the aftermath. 3 PARA was the first unit into Helmand in 2006. Sent on a peace mission, it became engaged in a level of combat that has not been experienced by the British Army since the end of the Korean War. Undermanned and suffering from equipment shortages, 3 PARA fought doggedly to win the break in battle. Numerous gallantry decorations were awarded, but they were not without cost. On returning from Afghanistan, Tootal fought to get proper treatment for his wounded and feeling frustrated with the Government's treatment of its soldiers, he resigned from the Army. This is a dramatic, and often moving, insight into the leadership of soldiers and the sharp end of war.
Danger Pay
by Carol Spencer Mitchell"You're going where?" Carol Spencer Mitchell's father demanded as she set off in 1984 to cover the Middle East as a photojournalist for Newsweek and other publications. In this intensely thoughtful memoir, Spencer Mitchell probes the motivations that impelled her, a single, Jewish woman, to document the turmoil roiling the Arab world in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as how her experiences as a photojournalist "compelled [me] to set aside [my] cameras and reexamine the way images are created, scenes are framed, and how 'real life' is packaged for specific news stories. " In Danger Pay, Spencer Mitchell takes us on a harrowing journey to PLO military training camps for Palestinian children and to refugee camps in the Gaza Strip before, during, and after the first intifada. Through her eyes, we experience the media frenzy surrounding the 1985 hijackings of TWA Flight #847 and the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. We meet Middle Eastern leaders, in particular Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan, with whom Spencer Mitchell developed close working relationships. And we witness Spencer Mitchell's growing conviction that the Western media's portrayal of conflicts in the Middle East actually helps to fuel those conflicts-a conviction that eventually, as she says, "shattered my career. " Although the events that Spencer Mitchell records took place a generation ago, their repercussions reverberate in the conflicts going on in the Middle East today. Likewise, her concern about "the triumph of image over reality" takes on greater urgency as our knowledge of the world becomes ever more filtered by virtual media.
Danger Stalks the Land: Alaskan Tales of Death and Survival
by Larry KaniutAlaska is like no other state and few countries; men experience greater risk in her arms. This one-of-a-kind anthology captures the spine tingling adventures of daring men and women who venture into Alaska's vast wilderness and look death in the eye. Danger Stalks the Land relates gripping episodes of animal attacks, avalanches, aircraft disasters, fishing, hunting, and skiing accidents, and chronicles risky climbs and reckless mountaineering amid Alaska's fantastic peaks. Through exhaustive research and interviews, author Larry Kaniut has captured in one volume, the terror and beauty of man's attempt to explore a vast and unforgiving land.
Danger to Elizabeth
by Alison PlowdenElizabeth I is perhaps England's most famous monarch. Born in 1533, the product of the doomed marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was heir to her father's title, then disinherited and finally imprisoned her half sister Mary. But in 1558, on Mary's death, she ascended the throne and reigned for forty-five years. Respected by her subjects and idolised by future generations, Gloriana's fierce devotion to her country and its people truly make her England's fairest queen and icon. In the wake of the Reformation Europe lay deeply divided by religion. This, the second volume of Alison Plowden's acclaimed Elizabethan quartet, charts the dramatic and multi-faceted struggle between Elizabeth and the Catholics of England and the rest of Europe who, denouncing the queen as a heretic, a bastard and a usurper, threatened to overthrow her and re-establish the supremacy of Rome in all Christendom.
Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psychiatrist
by Paul R. LindeThe psychiatric emergency room, fast-paced as a combat zone with pressure to match, thrusts its medical providers into the outland of human experience where they must respond rapidly and decisively in spite of uncertainty and, very often, danger.
Dangerous Adventure! Lindbergh's Famous Flight
by Ruth Belov GrossWhen Charles Lindbergh was 25 years old, he did something that no one had ever done before. He climbed into his small airplane, and then he flew all the way from New York City to Paris, France, without stopping. It was a dangerous adventure.
Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power
by Susan HertogBorn in the 1890s on opposite sides of the Atlantic, friends for more than forty years, Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West lived strikingly parallel lives that placed them at the center of the social and historical upheavals of the twentieth century. In Dangerous Ambition, Susan Hertog chronicles the separate but intertwined journeys of these two remarkable women writers, who achieved unprecedented fame and influence at tremendous personal cost. American Dorothy Thompson was the first female head of a European news bureau, a columnist and commentator with a tremendous following whom Time magazine once ranked alongside Eleanor Roosevelt as the most influential woman in America. Rebecca West, an Englishwoman at home wherever genius was spoken, blazed a trail for herself as a journalist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. In a prefeminist era when speaking truth to power could get anyone--of either gender--ostracized, blacklisted, or worse, these two smart, self-made women were among the first to warn the world about the dangers posed by fascism, communism, and appeasement. But there was a price to be paid, Hertog shows, for any woman aspiring to such greatness. As much as they sought voice and power in the public forum of opinion and ideas, and the independence of mind and money that came with them, Thompson and West craved the comforts of marriage and home. Torn between convention and the opportunities of the new postwar global world, they were drawn to men who were as ambitious and hungry for love as themselves: Thompson to the brilliant, volatile, and alcoholic Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis; West to her longtime lover H. G. Wells, the lusty literary eminence whose sexual and emotional demands doomed any chance they may have had at love. Tragically, both arrangements produced troubled sons, whose anger and jealousy at their mothers' iconic fame eroded their sense of personal success. Brimming with fresh insights obtained from previously sealed archives, this penetrating dual biography is a story of twinned lives caught up in the crosscurrents of world events and affairs of the heart--and of the unique trans-Atlantic friendship forged by two of the most creative and complex women of their time.From the Hardcover edition.
The Dangerous Animals Club
by Stephen TobolowskyIf you ran into Stephen Tobolowsky on the street, you would not be mistaken: Yes, you've seen him before. A childhood dentist? A former geometry teacher? Your local florist? Tobolowsky is a character actor, one of the most prolific screen and stage presences of our time, having appeared in productions that range from Deadwood to Glee, from Mississippi Burning to Groundhog Day. But Stephen Tobolowsky, it turns out, is not just an actor; he is also a dazzlingly talented storyteller and writer. He has earned a devoted base of fans for his original stories, told in front of live audiences as well as in a popular podcast. Now, for the first time, he has assembled those stories here. The result is creative mitzvah, a work of art, and a narrative feat that combines biography and essay, ranging in tone from the hilarious to the introspective. To read these pages is to enter an astonishing world that, like all art, is universal yet individual, familiar yet disquieting. A dangerous world, indeed.
Dangerous Boobies: Breaking Up with My Time-Bomb Breasts
by Caitlin Brodnick Rachel BloomAfter watching too many family members die of cancer, at age 28, public speaker and comedian Caitlin Brodnick was tested for the BRCA1 gene mutation and tested positive, indicating an 87% chance she'd likely be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. She had a preventative double mastectomy, thereby becoming an everywoman's Angelina Jolie.Dangerous Boobies: Breaking Up with My Time-Bomb Breasts goes in depth into her experience from testing to surgery and on to recovery. With a warm, funny, and approachable voice, Caitlin tells readers the full story, even sharing what it was like to go from a size 32G bra--giant, for a woman who is barely over five feet tall!--to a 32C. Engaging and open, she admits to having hated her breasts long before her surgery, and enjoying the process of "designing" her new breasts, from the shape of the breasts to the size and color of the nipples. While Caitlin's primary narrative explores the BRCA gene and breast cancer, her story is also one about body acceptance and what it takes to be confident with and in charge of one's body. Her speaking engagements and comedy routines have shown that the wider topic of breasts, breast size, and personal identity is resonating with younger readers.
Dangerous Bride: A Memoir of Love, Gods and Geography
by Lee KofmanWhat do you do when your husband claims to be madly in love with you, but doesn't desire you sexually? When your therapist is more interested in opening an online sex-toy shop with your husband than in saving your marriage? Do you try yet another counsellor, get divorced or settle for a sexless marriage?Lee Kofman, rebellious daughter of ultra-orthodox Jews, has always sought her own way. True to her Bohemian dream where love can coexist with sexual freedom, she decided to experiment with an open marriage . . . despite the fact that her previous non-monogamous relationship ended in disaster.Our cultural mores suggest that love without monogamy is impossible, but Lee hoped she could do better the second time round and embarked on a personal exploration to find out whether she could save her marriage while being non-monogamous in an ethical way. For several months she talked to swingers, polyamorists, cross-dressers, suburban families, artists and migrants—in short, to anyone who has ever been involved in an unconventional relationship.Set during Lee's first years in Australia, it is also the story of migration, and an exploration of the eternal conflict between our desire for security, but also for foreign places—in love and elsewhere. The Dangerous Bride tells the story of her quest.
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: Based on the Yale Conference, Two Dozen Mental Health Experts Assess a President
by Bandy X. LeeThe New York Times bestseller! More than two dozen psychiatrists and psychologists offer their consensus view that Trump's mental state presents a clear and present danger to our nation and individual well-being. This is not normal. Since the start of Donald Trump's presidential run, one question has quietly but urgently permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the American Psychiatric Association's "Goldwater rule," which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to answer this question have shied away from discussing the issue at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. In THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP, twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health experts argue that, in Mr. Trump's case, their moral and civic "duty to warn" America supersedes professional neutrality. They then explore Trump's symptoms and potentially relevant diagnoses to find a complex, if also dangerously mad, man. Philip Zimbardo and Rosemary Sword, for instance, explain Trump's impulsivity in terms of "unbridled and extreme present hedonism. " Craig Malkin writes on pathological narcissism and politics as a lethal mix. Gail Sheehy, on a lack of trust that exceeds paranoia. Lance Dodes, on sociopathy. Robert Jay Lifton, on the "malignant normality" that can set in everyday life if psychiatrists do not speak up. His madness is catching, too. From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. It's not all in our heads. It's in his. "There will not be a book published this fall more urgent, important, or controversial than The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. . . profound, illuminating and discomforting" --Bill Moyers
Dangerous Charisma: The Political Psychology Of Donald Trump And His Followers
by Jerrold Post Stephanie DoucetteThe long-time head of psychological profiling at the CIA puts President Trump under the psychiatric microscope, examining the unique connection between Trump and his base. Offering an in-depth psychological and political portrait of what makes Donald Trump tick, Dangerous Charisma combines psychoanalysis with an investigation into the personality of the current American president. This narrative not only examines the life and psychology of Donald Trump, but will also provide an analysis of the charismatic psychological tie between Trump and his supporters. While there are many books on Donald Trump, there has been no rigorous psychological portrait by a psychiatrist who specializes in political personality profiling. As the founding director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, Dr. Post has created profiles of world leaders for the use of American presidents during historic events. As once stated by Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, who characterized Dr. Post as “a pioneer in the field of political personality profiling,” “he may be the only psychiatrist who has specialized in the self-esteem problems of both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.” In this new book, the psychiatrist who once served under five American presidents applies his expertise to profiling the current resident in the White House, with surprising and revelatory results.
A Dangerous Country: An American Elegy
by Ron KovicRon Kovic, author of Born on the Fourth of July and one of the country's most powerful and passionate antiwar voices, completes his Vietnam Trilogy with this poignant, inspiring, and deeply personal elegy to America. WHEN EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD RON KOVIC enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1964, he couldn’t foresee that he would return from Vietnam paralyzed and in a wheelchair for life. His best-selling 1976 memoir Born on the Fourth of July became an antiwar classic and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Tom Cruise as Kovic. His follow-up, Hurricane Street, chronicled his advocacy for Vietnam veterans’ rights. A Dangerous Country: An American Elegy completes Kovic’s Vietnam Trilogy, delving deep into his long and often agonizing journey home from war and eventual healing, forgiveness, and spiritual redemption. The book opens with Kovic’s never-before-revealed Vietnam diary (July 7, 1967–July 26, 1968). His entries from this period portray a patriotic young soldier with a strong moral and religious conscience. Kovic then recalls his political awakening after his return from Vietnam confined to a wheelchair following his horrific injury. He also chronicles the tremendous guilt he feels over his accidental killing of a fellow Marine while on patrol. This killing psychologically torments him as much as his severe disability. After years of social, political, and sexual turmoil—and on the brink of suicide—Kovic experiences a powerful epiphany that gives him a reason and purpose to live; a renewed faith and strength to carry on. Although his trauma is severe, his third memoir is ultimately the inspirational story of a survivor finding a way to rise above his depression and despair, forgiving his enemies and himself, and growing deeply committed to a new life.
Dangerous Dossiers
by Herbert MitgangDangerous Dossiers is as powerful and relevant today as it was when it first made worldwide headlines 25 years ago: a chilling reminder of the dangers of unfettered government intrusion into the lives and beliefs of private citizens, whether famous or not. This shocking account by award-winning author and former New York Times cultural reporter Herbert Mitgang provided hard evidence for the first time of the decades-long cultural war waged by the FBI and other federal intelligence-gathering agencies against scores of the world's most renowned writers and artists. Using the Freedom of Information Act to pry loose actual surveillance files kept by the FBI, Mitgang documented that the targets of government snooping included a who's-who of the literary and artistic worlds whom J. Edgar Hoover and his red-baiting legions suspected of communist leanings or outright disloyalty, usually with no basis whatsoever. They included: Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Thornton Wilder, Carl Sandburg, Norman Mailer, Robert Frost, and Allen Ginsburg; and artists including Alexander Calder, Georgia O'Keefe, and Henry Moore. Called "a fascinating, illuminating and above all, morally decent book" by The New York Times, and "first-class journalism" by The Associated Press, this exposé and the many "dangerous dossiers" it contains reveal no evidence of guilt on the part of the targets of the FBI witch-hunts. But Mitgang finds plenty of proof of the paranoia, political bias, and cultural illiteracy of those who controlled the nation's most powerful investigative agencies.
Dangerous Faith: 50 Powerful Believers Who Changed the World
by Susan HillWorld-changers. Rebels. Rejecters of the status quo. Throughout history, Christians were never meant to have a safe faith. Highlighting 50 people throughout the millennia, this book is a compilation of faith, facts, and art that celebrates the faith lives of spiritual giants and inspires you to grow in your own personal faith.Dangerous Faith is a collection of essays and inspiration about Christians who have changed the world. This four-color gift book features:the exploration of 50 diverse heroes of the Christian faith, including historical figures, cultural icons, political leaders, saints, and martyrsbiographical information on the 50 people featured, including Coretta Scott King and Susan B. Anthonyportraiture art and an easy-to-follow layouta presentation page for gifting and a ribbon markerThis valuable resource is perfect for:men and women interested in learning more about the Christian faith, church history, and spiritual disciplinehomeschooling families or parents wanting to teach their children about historical Christianitya baptism gift or welcome gift for new church membersgifting to loved ones who enjoy biographies and historyBe inspired by spiritual heroes from many eras in history up to today and make their strength your own. If you enjoy this book, check out Dangerous Prayers.
Dangerous Friends: My Father and the Cambridge Spy Ring
by Jenny ReesOriginally published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODYA fascinating true story of one man's connection to the Cambridge Spy Ring and his daughter's search for the truth.'A book which deserves nothing but praise' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'What makes [this book] memorable is Rees's moving account of her own attempt to come to terms with her father's "secret" ... her poignant memoir gives a rare insight into the experiences of families whose fathers joined the ranks of "Stalin's Englishmen"' SUNDAY TIMESSince Goronwy Rees's death, his daughter Jenny has had to cope with the frequently made allegation that her father was another of the spies recruited at Cambridge in the 1930s. He never disguised his friendship with Guy Burgess who, with Donald Maclean, had defected to Moscow in 1951, and in 1979 Rees helped Andrew Boyle unmask Anthony Blunt, the Fourth Man. So, was Rees himself actually a spy? The opening of KGB files has acted as a spur to Jenny Rees in her quest to exorcise the past. The result is full of unexpected revelation, made all the more moving as she discovers for the first time the secret life of her father.Previously published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODY
Dangerous Friends: My Father and the Cambridge Spy Ring
by Jenny ReesOriginally published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODYA fascinating true story of one man's connection to the Cambridge Spy Ring and his daughter's search for the truth.'A book which deserves nothing but praise' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'What makes [this book] memorable is Rees's moving account of her own attempt to come to terms with her father's "secret" ... her poignant memoir gives a rare insight into the experiences of families whose fathers joined the ranks of "Stalin's Englishmen"' SUNDAY TIMESSince Goronwy Rees's death, his daughter Jenny has had to cope with the frequently made allegation that her father was another of the spies recruited at Cambridge in the 1930s. He never disguised his friendship with Guy Burgess who, with Donald Maclean, had defected to Moscow in 1951, and in 1979 Rees helped Andrew Boyle unmask Anthony Blunt, the Fourth Man. So, was Rees himself actually a spy? The opening of KGB files has acted as a spur to Jenny Rees in her quest to exorcise the past. The result is full of unexpected revelation, made all the more moving as she discovers for the first time the secret life of her father.Previously published as LOOKING FOR MR NOBODY
Dangerous Frontiers: Campaigning in Somaliland & Oman
by Bryan RayIn Part 1 of his book the author describes his life as a young officer in the Somaliland Scouts in the (then) British Protectorate of Somaliland. At that time tribal quarrels, generally over water, were taking place in the troubled strip of country between the Protectorate and Ethiopia; the Ogaden. It was the Scouts' difficult task to keep the warring clansmen apart. It gives a vivid account of a nineteen-year-old in command of Somali troops in a fascinating and unpredictable country.The second part of the book deals with the Author's second period of service with Muslims, a quarter of a century later. This time in the Southern Province of Oman—Dhofar. Here he commanded the Northern Frontier Regiment of the Sultan's Armed Force in a limited but fierce war against Communist Insurgents. It shows how the tide was turned against a brave enemy fighting on their home ground—the savage wadis and cliffs of the jebel.Dangerous Frontiers will appeal to a wide audience, including those interesting in military and world history and in those two little known areas—the Horn of Africa and Southern Oman. In both campaigns it reflects the mutual liking and respect that the handful of British officers had for their Muslim soldiers and the soldiers for their leaders. It is written with humor and an understanding of other cultures.
A Dangerous Game: Growing Up East of the Oder Under the Nazis and Soviets
by Luise UrbanLuise Urban was born in 1933 into a world about to be turned upside down. Her family lived east of the river Oder. Fatefully, her family were not Nazi Party members and suffered as a result. As the Third Reich crumbled and the Red Army advanced, she was one of 15 million Germans trapped in a war zone during the terrible winter of 1945. Weakened by starvation and forced to flee their home, it was only the bravery of Luise’s mother that saved the family from total destruction.The Oder–Neisse line (Oder-Neiße-Grenze) is the German–Polish border drawn in the aftermath of the war. The line primarily follows the Oder and Neisse rivers to the Baltic Sea west of the city of Stettin. All pre-war German territory east of the line and within the 1937 German boundaries was discussed at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Germany was to lose 25 per cent of her territory under the agreement. Crucially, Stalin, Churchill and Truman also agreed to the expulsion of the German population beyond the new eastern borders. This meant that almost all of the native German population was killed, fled or was driven out by force.In A Dangerous Game, Luise relives that harrowing time, written in memory of her mother, to whom she owes her life. It is the story of a child, but it is not a story for children.