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Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale Of Pigeons, Obsession, And Greed Along Coastal South Africa
by Matthew Gavin Frank“Unforgettable. . . . An outstanding adventure in its lyrical, utterly compelling, and heartbreaking investigations of the world of diamond smuggling.” —Aimee Nezhukumatathil For nearly eighty years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed “overmined” and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling?particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air. Entering Die Sperrgebiet (“The Forbidden Zone”) is like entering an eerie ghost town, but Frank is surprised by the number of people willing—even eager—to talk with him. Soon he meets Msizi, a young diamond digger, and his pigeon, Bartholomew, who helps him steal diamonds. It’s a deadly game: pigeons are shot on sight by mine security, and Msizi knows of smugglers who have disappeared because of their crimes. For this, Msizi blames “Mr. Lester,” an evil tall-tale figure of mythic proportions. From the mining towns of Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth, through the “halfway” desert, to Kleinzee’s shores littered with shipwrecks, Frank investigates a long overlooked story. Weaving interviews with local diamond miners who raise pigeons in secret with harrowing anecdotes from former heads of security, environmental managers, and vigilante pigeon hunters, Frank reveals how these feathered bandits became outlaws in every mining town. Interwoven throughout this obsessive quest are epic legends in which pigeons and diamonds intersect, such as that of Krishna’s famed diamond Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, and that of the Cherokee serpent Uktena. In these strange connections, where truth forever tangles with the lore of centuries past, Frank is able to contextualize the personal grief that sent him, with his wife Louisa in the passenger seat, on this enlightening journey across parched lands. Blending elements of reportage, memoir, and incantation, Flight of the Diamond Smugglers is a rare and remarkable portrait of exploitation and greed in one of the most dangerous areas of coastal South Africa. With his sovereign prose and insatiable curiosity, Matthew Gavin Frank “reminds us that the world is a place of wonder if only we look” (Toby Muse).
Flight of the Patriot: Escape from Revolutionary Iran
by Yadollah SharifiradThis is a gripping, page-turning memoir of a US-trained Iranian fighter pilot who flew in the Shah of Iran’s and the Ayatollah Khomeini’s air force. Sharifirad was shot down in the Iraqi-Iranian war in the early 1990s. Saved by a group of local Kurds, he returned to Iran where he became a national hero. A movie, called Eagles, based on his rescue, was made in Iran in 1984. Sharifirad’s story was also published in Iran in a book called Crash on the Fortieth Mission. Shortly after his return to Iran, the Ayatollah sent him to Pakistan as military attaché. When he returned toTeheran, he was accused of being a CIA spy and was imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured. Sharifirad served a prison term and upon his release, despite constant surveillance, managed to smuggle his family out of the country. Eventually, he too managed a harrowing escape from Iran via Turkey to Canada, where he now lives with his family in Vancouver. The book also provides an absorbing historical and cultural backdrop to Iran.
Flight of the Rondone: High School Dropout VS Big Pharma: The Fight to Save My Son's Life
by Patrick GirondiFlight of the Rondone is a true rags to riches tale the New York Times stated is &“meant for television.&” The protagonist, a high school dropout, is nicknamed in Italian U Carneveil (Walking Circus) for his entertaining and eccentric nature. Patrick Girondi starts his career shining shoes, stealing car parts, and escaping life-threatening situations while outwitting the Chicago police. He claws up to being a famous success story on the Oprah Show. His fortunes quickly change when his eldest son, Santino, is diagnosed with a fatal blood disease. Girondi hunts for a cure in a drama that has boundless implications in the world of gene therapy. As Girondi writes, &“I&’d been strangled, shot at, skated more than twenty arrests, made it through 3 FBI witch-hunts and went from the docks to trading and big money. I would see my son cured. How hard could it be?&” After decades of struggle, he delivered the world&’s first commercial batch of vector with the potential to cure Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia. But again, the success of the cure—and the fate of his son—is imperiled, in a world of lab jackets, mysterious deaths, and cut-throat Wall Street banksters. This is a story of love, beating the odds, or as Girondi calls it, pure luck. It is a gritty and realistic tale told with little regard for empire or etiquette.
Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales Edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent
by Ambrose Bierce Stephen King Roald Dahl Ray Bradbury John Varley Dan Simmons Michael Lewis Richard Matheson Joe Hill Tom Bissell Bev Vincent Cody Goodfellow E.C. Tubb Sir Arthur Conan Doyle David Schow Peter Treemayne James L. DickeyFasten your seatbelts for an anthology of turbulent tales curated by Stephen King and Bev Vincent.This exciting new collection, perfect for airport or aeroplane reading, includes an original introduction and story notes for each story by Stephen King, and brand new stories from Stephen King and Joe Hill.Stephen King hates to fly.Now he and co-editor Bev Vincent would like to share this fear of flying with you.Welcome to Flight or Fright, an anthology about all the things that can go horribly wrong when you're suspended six miles in the air, hurtling through space at more than 500 mph and sealed up in a metal tube (like - gulp! - a coffin) with hundreds of strangers. All the ways your trip into the friendly skies can turn into a nightmare, including some we'll bet you've never thought of before... but now you will the next time you walk down the jetway and place your fate in the hands of a total stranger.Featuring brand new stories by Joe Hill and Stephen King, as well as fourteen classic tales and one poem from the likes of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Dan Simmons, and many others, Flight or Fright is, as King says, "ideal airplane reading, especially on stormy descents... Even if you are safe on the ground, you might want to buckle up nice and tight."Book a flight for this terrifying new anthology that will have you thinking twice about how you want to reach your final destination.Contents:Introduction by Stephen KingCargo by E. Michael LewisThe Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleNightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard MathesonThe Flying Machine by Ambrose BierceLucifer! by E.C. TubbThe Fifth Category by Tom BissellTwo Minutes Forty-Five Seconds by Dan SimmonsDiablitos by Cody GoodfellowAir Raid by John VarleyYou Are Released by Joe HillWarbirds by David J. SchowThe Flying Machine by Ray BradburyZombies on a Plane by Bev VincentThey Shall Not Grow Old by Roald DahlMurder in the Air by Peter TremayneThe Turbulence Expert by Stephen KingFalling by James L. DickeyAfterword by Bev Vincent(P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio
Flight to Arras
by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Lewis GalantièreA memoir by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Written in 1942, Flight to Arras recounts the author's role in the French Air Force as a pilot during the Battle of France in 1940.
Flight to Arras
by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThe World War II aviator and author of The Little Prince tells his true story of flying a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940. When the Germans first invaded France in May of 1940, the French Air Force had a mere fifty reconnaissance crews, twenty-three of which served in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry&’s Group II/33. After only a few days, seventeen of the crews in Saint-Exupéry&’s unit had already perished. Flight to Arras is the harrowing story of a single mission over the French town of Arras, an endeavor Saint-Exupéry realized the futility of even as he witnessed it unfolding. Filled with tension, emotion, philosophy, and historical detail, and penned by a master storyteller, this extraordinary memoir serves as a record of a little-known chapter of the Second World War, and an unforgettable portrait of the brave souls who fought despite desperate odds.
Flight to Heaven: A Plane Crash... a Lone Survivor... a Journey To Heaven--and Back
by Ken Gire Dale BlackImagine getting a glimpse of heaven, a preview of life in God's presence. Could life here ever be the same? Capt. Dale Black has flown as a commercial pilot all over the world, but one flight changed his life forever--an amazing journey to heaven and back. The only survivor of a horrific plane crash, Dale was hovering between life and death when he had a wondrous experience of heaven. What he saw, what he heard, and what he learned there continues to ripple through his life and touch others. Against all odds, Dale miraculously recovered from his injuries and learned to fly again. Now, with his life as a testament, he shares his inspiring story--offering hope and encouragement for those dealing with serious injuries or the loss of a loved one, and those looking for assurance about this life and the next. Experience a Life-Changing Vision of Heaven
Flight to the Top of the World: The Adventures of Walter Wellman
by David L. BristowIn his day Walter Wellman (1858–1934) was one of America’s most famous men. To his contemporaries, he seemed like a character from a Jules Verne novel. He led five expeditions in search of the North Pole, two by dogsled and three by dirigible airship, and in 1910 made the first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air—which the self-styled expert on aerial warfare saw as a mission of world peace. He endured hardships, cheated death on more than one occasion, and surrounded himself with a team of assistants as eccentric and audacious as he was. In addition to his daring adventures, Wellman became a nationally known political reporter and unofficial spokesman for the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations. He was not the first newspaper-sponsored adventurer, but more than any of his predecessors he turned exploration into a real-time media event, and his reputation both flourished and suffered because of it. Wellman lived during a time of rapid social and technological change, when explorers were racing to fill in the last remaining blank spots on the map and when aviation promised to fulfill humanity’s greatest hopes and darkest fears. Flight to the Top of the World is a window into Wellman’s time and illuminates many of its dreams and contradictions.
Flight: The Journey Of Charles Lindbergh
by Robert BurleighFlight. Loneliness. Fear. Danger. Courage. Charles Lindbergh considered all these things and more when he set out for Paris on the morning of May 20, 1927, with only two compasses and the stars for his guides. Experience all the drama of Lindbergh's history-making flight with startling intimacy as you travel along with the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, and follow the courage and endurance of one man who dared to make his dream come true.
Flightless Falcon: A Novel
by James Charles SmithIn this Vietnam-era coming of age novel, a young man abandons military life and becomes an eyewitness to America&’s deep divisions over the war. Adrift and alone in 1969 America, a young man takes to the road. When Sam Roberts resigns from the Air Force Academy, his father is furious. His mother is understanding but offers little support. All Sam knows is he doesn&’t believe in the US&’s involvement in the Vietnam War and he can&’t be part of it any longer. Cut loose from a life he once believed in and the woman he once loved, Sam hitchhikes across the country in search of himself. As a passenger in the countless cars who stop to offer rides, he encounters people from all walks of life: Hispanic youths on their way to a quinceañera, retired WWII veterans with surprisingly different perspectives on the war, even a hippie who just left the military himself. His journey is an eye-opening tour through the polarized politics of 1960s America, a transporting exchange of ideas that sends Sam on his way to becoming the man he&’s meant to be.
Flights from Fassberg: How a German Town Built for War Became a Beacon of Peace (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by Colonel Wolfgang W. SamuelWolfgang W. E. Samuel, Colonel, US Air Force (Ret.), interweaves his story and that of his family with the larger history of World War II and the postwar world through a moving recollection and exploration of Fassberg, a small town in Germany few have heard of and fewer remember. Created in 1933 by the Hitler regime to train German aircrews, Fassberg hosted Samuel’s father in 1944–45 as an officer in the German air force. As fate and Germany's collapse chased young Wolfgang, Fassberg later became his home as a postwar refugee, frightened, traumatized, hungry, and cold.Built for war, Fassberg made its next mark as a harbinger of the new Cold War, serving as one of the operating bases for Allied aircraft during the Berlin Airlift in 1948. With the end of the Berlin Crisis, the airbase and town faced a dire future. When the Royal Air Force declared the airbase surplus to its needs, it also signed the place's death warrant, yet increasing Cold War tensions salvaged both base and town. Fassberg transformed again, this time into a forward operating base for NATO aircraft, including a fighter flown by Samuel's son.Both personal revelation and world history, replete with tales from pilots, mechanics, and all those whose lives intersected there, Flights from Fassberg provides context to the Berlin Airlift and its strategic impact, the development of NATO, and the establishment of the West German nation. The little town built for war survived to serve as a refuge for a lasting peace.
Flights of Fantasy: The Unauthorized but True Story of Radio & TV's Adventures of Superman
by Michael J. HaydeSuperman isn't going away anytime soon. The Man of Steel thrives, outlasting flagging comic magazine sales, mediocre box office returns, dwindling Nielsen ratings and repeated attempts to give him a makeover. His owners kill him off, and he refuses to stay dead. He's still the consummate superhero; the most recognizable comic book character of all time and one of American literature's most famous creations. How did that happen? This book will answer that question.
Flim Flam: Canada's Greatest Frauds, Scams, and Con Artists
by Mark BourrieFlim Flam explores the world of Canadian white-collar crime, a place inhabited by hustlers, wild gamblers, and crazy dreamers. It takes the reader to the Vancouver Stock Exchange, where dream salesmen have peddled wild stories of easy money, through the "moose pasture" scams of northern Canada, to the con artists who have been drawn to Toronto’s financial district. Along the way, you’ll meet crooked politicians, a young con man who confessed to a church congregation after he was "born again," disbarred lawyers, and the creator of a huge paper fortune who was left with nothing but a wolfskin coat when his real estate empire fell apart. Greed is a powerful motivator that has taken some Canadians down strange roads. Some have ended up pocketing millions, but many more of Canada’s con artists have self-destructed, taking with them the fortunes of the people they bilked. In the end, they’ve usually fooled themselves, too. Flim Flam shows that Canadians aren’t nearly as dull as we’d like to believe. When it comes to conning each other, we have some of the most colourful and interesting hucksters in the world. This book contains stories from all regions of the country. It will appeal to business and true-crime readers, as well as people who are students of human nature.
Flim-Flam Man: A True Family History
by Jennifer VogelOne frosty winter morning, Jennifer Vogel opened the newspaper and read that her father had gone on the run. John Vogel, fifty-two, had been arrested for single-handedly counter-feiting nearly $20 million in U.S. currency -- the fourth-largest sum ever seized by federal agents -- and then released pending trial. Though Jennifer hadn't spoken to her father in more than four years, the police suspected he might turn up at her Minneapolis apartment. She examined the shadows outside her building, thought she spotted him at the grocery store and the bus stop. He had simply vanished. Framed around the six months her father eluded authorities, Jennifer's memoir documents the police chase -- stakeouts, lie detector tests, even a segment on Unsolved Mysteries -- and vividly chronicles her tumultuous childhood while examining her father's legacy. A lifelong criminal who robbed banks, burned down buildings, scammed investors, and even plotted murder, John Vogel was also a hapless dreamer who wrote a novel, baked lemon meringue pies, and took his ten-year-old daughter to see Rocky in an empty theater on Christmas Eve. When it came time to pass his counterfeit bills, he spent them at Wal-Mart for political reasons. Culling from memories, photo albums, public documents, and interviews with the handful of people who knew the real John Vogel, Jennifer has created an intensely moving psychological portrait of a charismatic, larger-than-life figure -- a father who loved her and whom, in spite of everything, she loved back.
Flinders: The Man Who Mapped Australia
by Rob MundleFLINDERS brings to life the fascinating story of this exceptional maritime explorer ? from the drama of epic voyages and devastating shipwrecks; his part in the naming of Australia; his cruel imprisonment by the French on Mauritius for six long and harrowing years; the heartbreaking separation from his beloved wife; and the comfort he got from his loyal cat, Trim; to his tragic death at just forty, before ever seeing the publication of his life's work. Flinders is a true hero whose name is forever woven into the fabric of Australian history. This is a gripping adventure biography in the style of the bestselling BLIGH: MASTER MARINER.
Flip Your Life: How to Find Opportunity in Distress—in Real Estate, Business, and Life
by Tarek El MoussaHGTV star real estate investor Tarek El Moussa reveals how the grounding principles that make him such a successful house flipper are also applicable to improving our personal lives. With over a decade of experience, flipping close to 1,000 properties, selling over 1,000 houses, and owning multiple apartment buildings and self-storage facilities, Tarek El Moussa is a successful entrepreneur, real estate expert, and investor. It will surprise Tarek&’s fans to learn that it wasn&’t an easy road to the top. A young and aimless Tarek had no clue what he wanted to do with his life. In Flip Your Life, Tarek uses his story—that of a lost man trying to find his way in the world—to take us through the steps of how we can achieve our own goals. Whether in real estate or life, Tarek reveals his proven four-step process: 1. Evaluate 2. Emulate 3. Renovate 4. Duplicate A natural coach and teacher, Tarek offers us a candid look behind the camera, making Flip Your Life a practical, easy-to-use guide to help readers everywhere learn how to turn their lives from desultory, unhappy &“flops&” into focused, meaningful, and hugely fulfilling success stories.
Flip the Script: Lessons Learned on the Road to a Championship
by Ed OrgeronThe path to success is never easy. In Flip the Script you will learn the life-changing lessons of leadership and determination Coach O discovered on the road to a championship. Ed Orgeron, head coach of the record-breaking national champion LSU Tigers football team, tells the inspiring story of reversing the team's fortunes and culture, as well as his own remarkable leadership journey from disappointment and setback to the apex of college sports.The storybook football season for the LSU Tigers in 2019 was the stuff of legend: a team with recently unmet expectations became the undefeated national champion with a Heisman trophy-winning transfer quarterback under the leadership of a coach whose previous coaching stops had been disappointments. Yet that coach, Ed Orgeron, had turned everything around. He flipped the script, transforming a program that lately had not reached its potential into a team of unprecedented dominance. Flip the Script is the story of how it happened, with lessons for anyone who wants to succeed. Telling the story of his own journey that culminated in the Cinderella season, Orgeron highlights the traits he learned are necessary for success:an ability and willingness to learn from mistakes,the necessity of perseverance,recognizing and focusing on what you&’re truly good at,building unity, andovercoming hardship.The road to success is never easy, as Ed Orgeron's life reveals. But his life also shows that with determination and a willingness to learn from experience, your trajectory can change--your script can be flipped--and you can achieve more than you ever dreamed.
Flip! How the Frisbee Took Flight
by Margaret MuirheadThis charming picture book biography about the inventor of the Frisbee follows the twists and turns of innovation and highlights the persistence it takes to succeed. Fred Morrison is credited with inventing this classic toy, but for centuries folks have been flipping for flying discs. Ancient Greeks flicked discs, and beginning in the 1920s, college kids at Yale University were tossing pie tins. Fred's invention quest began in 1932 after tossing a tin popcorn lid around the backyard. For more than twenty years, Fred and his wife, Lu, tried and failed to perfect a flying-disc concept. Eventually they created what we know today as the Frisbee. Fun and fact-filled, this Frisbee origin story is sure to delight sports and STEM fans alike.
Flip-Flops After Fifty: And Other Thoughts on Aging I Remembered to Write Down
by Cindy EastmanWho hasn&’t experienced life&’s painful jabs—especially those of us who have rounded the corner into middle age? Emotional family events, stress from lousy jobs, the bittersweet feelings when the kids leave home, body image issues, and turning the big 5-0 . . . it&’s all covered here in Cindy Eastman&’s collection of personal and insightful essays. In Flip-Flops After Fifty, Eastman tackles the sublime and the ridiculous, the sacred and the profane, with her own brand of easy humor. From her 30th high school reunion to her daughter&’s wedding to running away to a cabin in Maine to figure out what she wants to do with her life, Eastman braves the ups and downs of midlife, and she comes out of it changed—for the better. At turns wry, hilarious, and poignant, Flip-Flops After Fifty will amuse and enlighten readers, even as it inspires them to think more deeply about the topics that affect us all.
Flip: The Inside Story of TV's First Black Superstar
by Kevin CookThe rags-to-riches story of a groundbreaking, beloved entertainer When The Flip Wilson Show debuted in 1970, black faces were still rare on television, black hosts nonexistent. So how did Clerow “Flip” Wilson go from Jersey City grade-school dropout to national celebrity, heralded on the cover of Time as “TV’s First Black Superstar”? Flip is a candid, entertaining biography of a consummate comedian who changed the face of American popular culture. Kevin Cook chronicles Flip’s meteoric rise through the Chitlin’ Circuit of segregated nightclubs to his breakthrough on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show to his hit variety show, on which he created such outrageous and hilarious characters as the sassy Geraldine and flock-fleecing Reverend Leroy. As one of the biggest stars of his time, he performed and partied with Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and other stars of the 1970s. Drawing on interviews with family, friends, and celebrities, Cook delivers the inspiring story of a complex man who broke the prime-time color barrier, blazing a trail for generations of African American performers who followed him. .
Flipping the Script: Bouncing Back from Life's Rock Bottom Moments
by AJ GibsonThe TV host turned motivational speaker teaches you to change your life by changing your perspective in this entertaining and informative “must read!” (Vivica A. Fox, actress and bestselling author of Every Day I’m Hustling). Life can be complicated and messy, but every now and then it lands you on a major network syndicated talk show—and then fires you for being “all icing and no cake.” Sound familiar? AJ’s Hollywood career may be unique, but his many struggles are all-too relatable. And he shares them all in this rollicking, raw, and inspiring self-help memoir. AJ’s journey from a closeted gay boy in Ohio to that guy people kinda, sorta recognize from TV was anything but glossy. Let’s just say he knows what you feel like whenever you find yourself scrolling social media comparing yourself to others. Luckily, AJ has a gift for shifting his perspective and finding a way to persevere each time the world seems to be telling him he was born to fail. He also knows that we all have problems and he’s here to help. The true stories in Flipping the Script will make you laugh, encourage you to fight for happiness, and inspire you to turn your own rock bottom moments into your proudest accomplishments.
Flips and Tips: Fun Advice from Today’s Top Skaters and Gymnasts
by Pohla SmithHow to improve your athletic skills, with tips from famous skaters and gymnasts.
Flirting in Spanish: What Mexico Taught Me About Love, Living and Forgiveness
by Susan McKinney De OrtegaA woman of privilege falls in love with a much younger and uneducated man in Mexico. Together they discover that love has no boundaries. McKinney recounts the joys and struggles of crossing cultural borders and building a life she had never imagined.
Flirting with Danger
by Siobhan DarrowFormer star correspondent for CNN, Siobhan Darrow covered the world's hottest war zones over the last two decades, reporting from the front lines in Moscow, Chechnya, the Balkans, Albania, Israel, and Northern Ireland. Her fearless pursuit of stories placed her in countless life-threatening situations, prompting Darrow to wonder what about her character so attracted her to adrenaline, and so alienated her from the family life a part of her longed for. Darrow approaches this question with the same honesty-and seat-of-the-pants courage-that established her reputation as a premiere reporter, and the answers she arrives at form this riveting memoir of a woman assigned to cover history in the making, even as she chases down the most elusive "get" of all: her own happiness.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Flirting with Danger: The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy
by Janet WallachA NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE"A compelling story that pulsates with the energy of a thriller"—The Wall Street Journal"Suspense, élan and a generous helping of glamour: Think George Smiley in a mink-trimmed coat."—The New York Times Book ReviewThe true story of socialite Marguerite Harrison, who spied for U.S. military intelligence in Russia and Germany in the fraught period between the world warsBorn a privileged child of America&’s Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother&’s ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy.She arrived in Berlin immediately after the Armistice and befriended the enemy, dining with aristocrats and dancing with socialists. Late into the night she wrote prescient reports on the growing power of the German right. Sent to Moscow, she sneaked into Russia to observe the results of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although she carried press credentials she was caught and imprisoned as an American spy. Terrified when told her only way out was to spy for the Cheka, she became a double agent, aiming to convince the Russian rulers she was working for them while striving to stay loyal to her country.In Germany and Russia, Harrison saw the future—a second war with Germany, a cold war with the Soviets—but her reports were ignored by many back home. Over a decade, Harrison&’s mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison&’s daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.