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The Road Through Wonderland
by Kate Bosworth Dawn Schiller Val KilmerPainstakingly honest, this chilling memoir reveals how a teenager became immersed in the bizarre life of legendary porn star John Holmes. Starting with a childhood that molded her perfectly to fall for the seduction of "the king of porn," this autobiography recounts the perilous road that Dawn Schiller traveled-from drugs and addiction to beatings, arrests, forced prostitution, and being sold to the drug underworld. After living through the horrific Wonderland murders of 1981, she entered protective custody, ran from the FBI, and turned in John Holmes to the police. This is the true story of a young girl's harrowing escape from one of the most infamous public figures, her struggle to survive, and her recovery from unthinkable abuse.
The Road To Freedom
by Lesa Cline-RansomEmma and her mother know that their only hope of staying together is to run away from their slave master. Their journey will be brutal, but if they are ever to be free, they must place their lives in the hands of people they have never met.
The Road To Nab End
by William WoodruffWilliam Woodruff had the sort of childhood satirised in the famous Monty Python Yorkshireman sketch. The son of a weaver, he was born on a pallet of straw at the back of the mill and two days later his mother was back at work. Life was extrememly tough for the family in 1920's Blackburn -- a treat was sheep's head or cow heel soup -- and got worse when his father lost his job when the cotton industry started its terminal decline. Woodruff had to find his childhood fun in the little free time he had available between his delivery job and school, but he never writes self-pityingly, leaving the reader to shed the tears on his behalf. At ten his mother takes him on his one and only holiday -- to Blackpool. He never wonders where they get the money to do so, only where she disappears to with strange men in the afternoons, before taking him to the funfair, pockets jingling an hour or two later. NAB END is certainly not all grime and gloom however, there's a cast of great minor characters from an unfrocked vicar to William's indomitable grandmother Bridget who lend some colour and humour -- and all against the strongly rendered social backdrop of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Road To Nab End
by William WoodruffWilliam Woodruff had the sort of childhood satirised in the famous Monty Python Yorkshireman sketch. The son of a weaver, he was born on a pallet of straw at the back of the mill and two days later his mother was back at work. Life was extrememly tough for the family in 1920's Blackburn -- a treat was sheep's head or cow heel soup -- and got worse when his father lost his job when the cotton industry started its terminal decline. Woodruff had to find his childhood fun in the little free time he had available between his delivery job and school, but he never writes self-pityingly, leaving the reader to shed the tears on his behalf. At ten his mother takes him on his one and only holiday -- to Blackpool. He never wonders where they get the money to do so, only where she disappears to with strange men in the afternoons, before taking him to the funfair, pockets jingling an hour or two later. NAB END is certainly not all grime and gloom however, there's a cast of great minor characters from an unfrocked vicar to William's indomitable grandmother Bridget who lend some colour and humour -- and all against the strongly rendered social backdrop of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Road To St. Mihiel [Illustrated Edition]
by Christ K. StamasIncludes The Americans in the First World War Illustration Pack – 57 photos/illustrations and 10 mapsIN THE ROAD TO ST. MIHIEL, Christ Stamas takes “the road back” and with a retrospective eye views his personal experiences in “No Man’s land” during the cataclysmic years of World War I.
The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling
by Joe Animal Laurinaitis Andrew William Wright Precious Paul ElleringDelivering an inside account of one of wrestling's most famous fighters, this autobiography offers a rare chance to learn about Joe "Animal" Laurinaitis's life both inside and outside the ring. Revealing riveting stories about his participation in the 1980s and 1990s superstar wrestling team the Road Warriors, it recounts memorable fights with his partner Mike "Hawk" Hegstrand. He describes how he and Mike rose to become a revolutionary tag team-reinventing themselves with spiky accessories and wearing face paint before it was popular-and chronicles famous rivalries, movement between different wrestling associations, and dealing with Mike's longtime struggle with drugs and alcohol. He also invites fans into his personal life and discusses his family and newfound Christian faith. Featuring stories of incredible physical feats and deep-felt companionship, this testimony will help fans relive the glory days of a wrestling legacy.
The Road Years: A Memoir, Continued . . .
by Rick MercerRick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoirAt the end of his memoir Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career. Having overcome a serious lack of promise as a schoolboy and risen through the showbiz ranks—as an aspiring actor, star of a surprisingly successful one-man show about the Meech Lake Accord, co-founder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada—he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet. The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become Rick Mercer Report. Plans for the show, of course, included political satire and Rick&’s patented rants. But Rick and his partner, Gerald Lunz, were also determined to do something that comedy tends to avoid as too challenging: they would emphasize the positive. Rick would travel from coast to coast to coast in search of everything that&’s best about Canada, especially its people. He found a lot to celebrate, naturally, and was rewarded with a huge audience and a run of 15 seasons. The Road Years tells the inside story of that stupendous success. A time when Rick was heading to another town—or military base, sports centre, national park—to try dogsledding, chainsaw carving, and bear tagging; hang from a harness (a lot); ride the &“Train of Death;&” plus countless other joyous and/or reckless assignments. Added to the mix were encounters with the country&’s great. Every living prime minister. Rock and roll royalty from Rush to Randy Bachman. Olympians and Paralympians. A skinny-dipping Bob Rae. And Jann Arden, of course, who gets a chapter to herself. Along the way he even found the time to visit several countries in Africa and co-found and champion the charity Spread the Net, which has gone on to protect the lives of millions. Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer&’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.
The Road from Coorain
by Jill Ker ConwayJill Ker Conway is a noted historian, specializing in the experience of women in America, and was the first woman president of Smith College.
The Road from Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival, and Hope
by David KherdianDavid Kherdian re-creates his mother's voice in telling the true story of a childhood interrupted by one of the most devastating holocausts of our century. Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian was born into a loving and prosperous family. Then, in the year 1915, the Turkish government began the systematic destruction of its Armenian population.
The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl
by David KherdianAn extraordinary biography, this is also a record and reminder of yet another infamous holocaust in our century. Veron Dumehjian was born to a prosperous Armenian family, who lived in the Armenian quarter of the city of Aziziya, Turkey. Her early childhood was idyllic, until 1915, when the Turkish government, after years of persecuting its Christian minorities, decided to rid Turkey of its Armenian population. Veron was deported with her family and survived incredible hardship and suffering until, at the age of 16, she left for America as a "mail-order" bride. Poet-anthologist David Kherdian's story of his mother is a unique and gripping story of courage, survival and hope.<P><P> Newbery Medal Honor book
The Road from Raqqa: A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging
by Jordan Ritter ConnCrossing years and continents, the harrowing story of the road to reunion for two Syrian brothers who—despite a homeland at war and an ocean between them—hold fast to the bonds of family. <P><P>“The Road from Raqqa had me gripped from the first page. I couldn&’t put it down.”—Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo <P><P>The Alkasem brothers, Riyad and Bashar, spend their childhood in Raqqa, the Syrian city that would later become the capital of ISIS. As a teenager in the 1980s, Riyad witnesses the devastating aftermath of the Hama massacre—an atrocity that the Hafez al-Assad regime commits upon its people. <P><P>Wanting to expand his notion of government and justice, Riyad moves to the United States to study law, but his plans are derailed and he eventually falls in love with a Southern belle. They move to a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, where they raise two sons and where Riyad opens a restaurant—Café Rakka—cooking the food his grandmother used to make. But he finds himself confronted with the darker side of American freedoms: the hardscrabble life of a newly arrived immigrant, enduring bigotry, poverty, and loneliness. Years pass, and at the height of Syria&’s civil war, fearing for his family’s safety halfway across the world, he risks his own life by making a dangerous trip back to Raqqa. <P><P>Bashar, meanwhile, in Syria. After his older brother moves to America, Bashar embarks on a brilliant legal career under the same corrupt Assad government that Riyad despises. Reluctant to abandon his comfortable (albeit conflicted) life, he fails to perceive the threat of ISIS until it’s nearly too late.The Road from Raqqa brings us into the lives of two brothers bound by their love for each other and for the war-ravaged city they call home. <P><P>It’s about a family caught in the middle of the most significant global events of the new millennium, America's fraught but hopeful relationship to its own immigrants, and the toll of dictatorship and war on everyday families. It’s a book that captures all the desperation, tenacity, and hope that come with the revelation that we can find home in one another when the lands of our forefathers fail us.
The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy
by Munro Price“Through brilliant detective work, Price has uncovered documents that shed a definitive light on the French Crown's policy toward the revolution.” —Library JournalIn acclaimed historian Munro Price's powerful new book, he confronts one of the enduring mysteries of the French Revolution—what were the true actions and feelings of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as they watched their sovereignty collapse?Dragged back from Versailles to Paris by the crowd in October 1789, the king and queen became prisoners in the capital. They were compelled for their own safety to approve the Revolution and its agenda. Yet, in deep secrecy, they soon began to develop a very different, and dangerous, strategy. The precautions they took against discovery, and the bloody overthrow of the monarchy three years later, dispersed or obliterated most of the clues to their real policy. Much of this evidence has until now remained unknown.The Road from Versailles reconstructs in detail, for the first time, the king and queen's clandestine diplomacy from 1789 until their executions. To do so, it focuses on a vital but previously ignored figure, the royal couple's confidant, the baron de Breteuil. Exiled from France by the Revolution, Breteuil became their secret prime minister, and confidential emissary to the courts of Europe.Along with the queen's probable lover, the comte de Fersen, it was Breteuil who organized the royal family's dramatic dash for freedom, the flight to Varennes. Breteuil's role is crucial to an understanding of what Louis and Marie Antoinette secretly felt and thought during the Revolution. To unlock these secrets, The Road from Versailles draws on highly important unpublished and previously unknown material.
The Road is Good: The powerful and inspiring memoir from the Orange Is The New Black star
by Uzo AdubaA powerful, timely memoir of Black immigrant identity, maternal love, and a unique coming-of-age story by Emmy-winning Orange Is the New Black star Uzo Aduba. Actress Uzo Aduba - known for Emmy-winning roles in Orange Is the New Black and Mrs. America - grew up in one of the few Black families in a white Massachusetts suburb. But she and her siblings were also grounded by a fierce sense of belonging and worth that stemmed from their mother's powerful vision for her children, and by their connection to generations of family in Nigeria. The alchemy of being out of place yet driven by fearless conviction powered Uzo to success - and fuels her intimate and inspiring memoir.Deeply mining her family history and the gripping tales handed down to her by her mother, aunts and uncles, Uzo weaves together a moving story filled with guiding lessons that are both personal and profoundly universal. Framed by two powerful turning points - Uzo's mother's illness and her eventual death - The Road Is Good is both a story of a young woman determined to survive early adulthood and create an identity for herself, and a testament to matriarchal power and the guiding light of maternal love.
The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs
by Marcus BoonFrom the antiquity of Homer to yesterday's Naked Lunch, writers have found inspiration, and readers have lost themselves, in a world of the imagination tinged and oftentimes transformed by drugs. The age-old association of literature and drugs receives its first comprehensive treatment in this far-reaching work. Drawing on history, science, biography, literary analysis, and ethnography, Marcus Boon shows that the concept of drugs is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and reveals how different sets of connections between disciplines configure each drug's unique history. In chapters on opiates, anesthetics, cannabis, stimulants, and psychedelics, Boon traces the history of the relationship between writers and specific drugs, and between these drugs and literary and philosophical traditions. With reference to the usual suspects from De Quincey to Freud to Irvine Welsh and with revelations about others such as Milton, Voltaire, Thoreau, and Sartre, The Road of Excess provides a novel and persuasive characterization of the "effects" of each class of drug--linking narcotic addiction to Gnostic spirituality, stimulant use to writing machines, anesthesia to transcendental philosophy, and psychedelics to the problem of the imaginary itself. Creating a vast network of texts, personalities, and chemicals, the book reveals the ways in which minute shifts among these elements have resulted in "drugs" and "literature" as we conceive of them today.
The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The story of a Cambodian heroine.
by Somaly MamA portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation.A riveting, raw, and beautiful memoir of tragedy and hopeBorn in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. Trapped in this dangerous and desperate world, she suffered the brutality and horrors of human trafficking--rape, torture, deprivation--until she managed to escape with the help of a French aid worker. Emboldened by her newfound freedom, education, and security, Somaly blossomed but remained haunted by the girls in the brothels she left behind.Written in exquisite, spare, unflinching prose, The Road of Lost Innocence recounts the experiences of her early life and tells the story of her awakening as an activist and her harrowing and brave fight against the powerful and corrupt forces that steal the lives of these girls. She has orchestrated raids on brothels and rescued sex workers, some as young as five and six; she has built shelters, started schools, and founded an organization that has so far saved more than four thousand women and children in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Her memoir will leave you awestruck by her tenacity and courage and will renew your faith in the power of an individual to bring about change.To learn more about how you can help fight human trafficking, visit the foundation's website: www.somaly.org.
The Road to Burgundy
by Ray WalkerAn intoxicating memoir of an American who discovers a passion for French wine, and gambles everything to chase a dream of owning a vineyard in Burgundy Ray Walker had a secure career in finance until a wine-tasting vacation ignited a passion that he couldn’t stifle. Ray neglected his work, spending hours poring over ancient French winemaking texts, learning the techniques and the language, and daydreaming about vineyards. After Ray experienced his first taste of wine from Burgundy, he could wait no longer. He quit his job and went to France to start a winery—with little money, a limited command of French, and virtually no winemaking experience. Fueled by determination and joie de vivre, he immersed himself in the extraordinary history of Burgundy’s vineyards and began honing his skills. Ray became a pioneer in his use of ancient techniques in modern times and founded Maison Ilan. In 2009, Ray became the first non-French winemaker to purchase grapes and produce a wine from Le Chambertin, long considered to be one of the most revered and singular vineyards in the world. Along with his struggle to capture his wine’s distinct terroir, Ray shares enthralling stories of late-night tastings, flying down the Route National on a vintage Peugeot bicycle with no brakes, and his journey to secure both the trust of his insular Burgundian neighbors and the region’s most coveted grapes. Capturing the sunlight, the smell of the damp soil, and the taste of superlative wine, The Road to Burgundy is a glorious celebration of finding one’s true path in life, and taking a chance—whatever the odds. .
The Road to Cooperstown: A Father, Two Sons, and the Journey of a Lifetime
by Tom StantonAs he did with his award-winning book, The Final Season, Tom Stanton again tells a magical tale of fathers, brothers, and baseball heroes certain to resonate with sports fans everywhere. Every true baseball fan dreams of visiting Cooperstown. Some make the trip as boys, when the promise of a spot in the lineup with the Yankees or Red Sox or Tigers glows on the horizon, as certain as the sunrise. Some go later in life, long after their Little League years, to glimpse the past, not the future. And still others talk of somedays and of pilgrimages that await. For Tom Stanton, the trip took nearly three decades. The dream first grabbed hold of him in 1972, in the era of Vietnam and Watergate and Johnny Bench and the Oakland Athletics. Stanton, then an eleven-year-old Michigan boy who lived for the game, became fascinated by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the sport's spiritual home, the place to which great players aspire. He plotted ways to convince his father to take him to the famous village along Lake Otsego. But his plans for that season never materialized. They disappeared in the turmoil caused by his mother's life-threatening illness and his brother's antiwar activities. Still, the dream lingered through the summers that followed. Twenty-nine years later, he invited the two men who had introduced him to the sport, his elderly father and his older brother, to join him on a trip to the Hall. Finally, they embarked on their long-delayed adventure. The Road to Cooperstown is a true story populated with colorful characters: a philanthropic family that launched the museum and uses its wealth to, among other things, ensure that McDonald's stays out of the turn-of-the-century downtown; the devoted fan who wrote a book to get his hero into the Hall of Fame; the Guyana native who grew up without baseball but comes to the induction ceremony every year; the librarian on a mission to preserve his great-grandfather's memory; the baseball legends who appear suddenly along Main Street; and the dying man who fulfills one of his last wishes on a warm day in spring. This adventure, though brief, provides a true bonding experience that is the heart of a sweet, one-of-a-kind book about baseball, family, the Hall of Fame, and the town with which it shares a rich heritage.
The Road to En-dor: A True Story Of Cunning Wartime Escape
by Neil Gaiman E. H. JonesThe incredible true story of two WWI POWs who used amateur magic to convince their captors that they were in touch with the spirit worldCaptured during World War I, Lieutenant E. H. Jones, a Welsh officer in the Indian Army, and Lieutenant C. W. Hill, an Australian serving in the R.A.F., were prisoners of war at the Yozgad prison camp in Turkey. Duty-bound as officers to attempt to escape, Jones sensed that what had previously been the harmless fun of fooling around with a homemade Ouija board could be turned into something much more productive. Playing on the credulous nature of their captors, Hill and Jones weaved an incredibly elaborate plot, hatched to plan their escape. Acting as mediums for the Ouija board, they attempted to convince their captors that they were gradually descending into insanity—which, had it been true, would have seen them repatriated. A true story of bravery, dedication, and extreme hardship, this book is a fascinating insight account of a daring escapade. As well as containing astonishing original materials including photographs, letters, and postcards, the book contains a preface by the author's grandson, as well as a foreword by Neil Gaiman who is linked to a film which is currently in pre-production. A free companion ebook is available to download from the Hesperus website (www.hesperuspress.com/the-road-to-en-dor) which includes back stories on the characters, maps, letters,and coded messages; and an exclusive short story written by Jones.
The Road to Happiness Is Always Under Construction
by Linda GrayTo celebrate her 75th birthday, Linda Gray, the iconic star of Dallas and timeless beauty, is sharing her road map to happiness in her revelatory memoir.When Linda Gray, iconic star of Dallas, was twenty years old, a magazine editor coldly rejected her as a model, writing that, perhaps one day, "you might shape into something." Since then, Linda has been evolving and growing, and has shaped into a role model for women of every age in her grace, beauty, generosity, and wisdom. She's been through more pain and tragedy than her longtime fans realize, having suffered paralyzing polio as a child, growing up with an alcoholic mother, landing in a emotionally abusive marriage at twenty-two and living by her husband's rules for sixteen years before she openly rebelled against him to take an acting class. At thirty-eight, Linda got her big break, as Larry Hagman's wife on Dallas. With fame came a bitter, public divorce, trouble at home with her two kids, and the loss of her beloved sister to breast cancer. Linda got through it all--the challenges of sexism in Hollywood and the pressures of being a single working mom--with a relentlessly positive attitude that kept her cruising, with a few speed bumps, to the place of serenity she thrives in now. To celebrate her seventy-fifth birthday, Linda is opening up about her life for the first time. Inside this book, she tells deeply personal stories with wit, humor, and candor, and reveals how she's learned to love every day as the blessing it is and to treat herself with the kindness she bestows on friends and strangers alike. Along with wisdom, Linda has accumulated a lot of practical tips about maintaining a healthy lifestyle--how to strengthen and detoxify your body, liberate your mind, and uplift your soul--and shares them as well. Her message to "give, love, and shine, baby, shine" will fill anyone with inspiration to live life to the fullest, and never stop pursuing honesty and joy.
The Road to Home
by Vartan GregorianIn this humorous, learned, and moving memoir, Vartan Gregorian recounts his journey from an impoverished childhood as a Christian Armenian in Muslim Tabriz to cultured citizen of the world. Gregorian's odyssey begins in an obscure poor quarter of a provincial city (thought by some to be the location of the Garden of Eden). Childhood centered on his brilliant, beloved, illiterate grandmother who taught him so much, the beauty of Church, school, American movies, and the larger world he read about in his borrowed books. From there, he continued on to a Beirut lycée, Stanford University, and the presidencies of the New York Public Library, Brown University, and Carnegie Corporation. Like Jimmy Carter in An Hour Before Daylight, and in the tradition of Nabokov, Jill Ker Conway, and V. S. Naipaul, he tells us that education is an openness to everything, and describes his public and private life as one education after another. This is a love story about life.
The Road to J.O.Y.: Leading with Faith, Playing with Purpose, Leaving a Legacy
by Scott DrewScott Drew, head basketball coach of the NCAA National Championship-winning Baylor Bears, rebuilt a program mired in scandal by instilling a culture of putting Jesus first. More than a book about basketball, this is a road map for leading with, and living out, your faith in any context--in sports, in business, and in life.Nearly seventeen million viewers tuned into the 2021 NCAA National Championship to see the Baylor Bears, led by head coach Scott Drew, beat the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, who were undefeated heading into the championship game. The win was Baylor&’s first National Championship--the culmination of the biggest turnaround in college sports history. When Drew accepted the head coaching position at Baylor in 2003, the job was arguably the worst in all of college sports. The men&’s basketball team had been disgraced by scandal: one player murdered a teammate, and the head coach who lied about the details tried to conceal illegal cash payments to his players, including a false allegation that the murdered player had been dealing drugs. It was an unprecedented story and a national embarrassment. Still, Coach Drew had a confident vision of what the program could be, even in the face of such adversity, and he guided his team to the pinnacle of success while leading with, and living out, his faith. The Road to J.O.Y. shares:Biblical principles that have helped Coach Scott Drew lead well through challenging timesAn insider&’s look at the others-first culture that spurred Baylor&’s reboundCoach&’s wisdom for investing in others and creating a successful organizationThe leadership lessons Drew has learned from growing up in a famous basketball family and years of coachingHow faith is the foundation for everything Drew does With equal parts inspirational memoir and personal and professional growth, The Road to J.O.Y. is perfect for anyone who is looking to better live out their faith, lead a team, achieve a goal, or mentor others.
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
by Jeff Guinn2018 Edgar Award Finalist—Best Fact Crime&“A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable prey&” (The Boston Globe)—the definitive story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre, the largest murder-suicide in American history, by the New York Times bestselling author of Manson.In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially mixed, and he was a leader in the early civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California, where he got involved in electoral politics and became a prominent Bay Area leader. But underneath the surface lurked a terrible darkness. In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones&’s life, from his early days as an idealistic minister to a secret life of extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing, before the fateful decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November, 1978 when more than nine hundred people died—including almost three hundred infants and children—after being ordered to swallow a cyanide-laced drink. Guinn examined thousands of pages of FBI files on the case, including material released during the course of his research. He traveled to Jones&’s Indiana hometown, where he spoke to people never previously interviewed, and uncovered fresh information from Jonestown survivors. He even visited the Jonestown site with the same pilot who flew there the day that Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered on Jones&’s orders. The Road to Jonestown is &“the most complete picture to date of this tragic saga, and of the man who engineered it…The result is a disturbing portrait of evil—and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jones&’s malign charisma&” (San Francisco Chronicle).
The Road to London Bridge: How I went from a life of violence to stopping the terror attack Fishmongers’ Hall
by Steve Gallant'Steve Gallant's exceptional act of courage on London Bridge speaks of both heroism and redemption' - Jon Snow, former anchor of Channel 4 NewsThis is a story of physical bravery, moral courage, and the power of redemption from the man who led the charge in stopping the terrorist attack at Fishmongers' Hall in November 2019. From cell fires to violent feuds and gang battles on prison wings, after being sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, what Steve witnessed at HMP Frankland made him change his life forever. After losing everything, he vowed to never use violence again. In November 2019, Steve's redemptive journey led him to a Learning Together event at Fishmongers' Hall, hosted by his mentor, Jack Merritt, and attended by Saskia Jones. It was here, on his first day out of prison on day release, that Steve was forced to break his vow as he bravely confronted and fought armed-terrorist Usman Khan on London Bridge. Armed just with a narwhal tusk, Steve wrestled and held Khan to the ground while he waited for the police to arrive.In October 2020 Steve was granted a royal prerogative of mercy in recognition of his actions at London Bridge. In August 2021 he was released from prison and in March 2023 he was awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal, the final civilian gallantry awards approved by the late Queen.This is Steve Gallant's powerful and inspiring story of redemption told in full for the first time.
The Road to London Bridge: How I went from a life of violence to stopping the terror attack Fishmongers’ Hall
by Steve Gallant'Steve Gallant's exceptional act of courage on London Bridge speaks of both heroism and redemption' - Jon Snow, former anchor of Channel 4 NewsThis is a story of physical bravery, moral courage, and the power of redemption from the man who led the charge in stopping the terrorist attack at Fishmongers' Hall in November 2019. From cell fires to violent feuds and gang battles on prison wings, after being sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, what Steve witnessed at HMP Frankland made him change his life forever. After losing everything, he vowed to never use violence again. In November 2019, Steve's redemptive journey led him to a Learning Together event at Fishmongers' Hall, hosted by his mentor, Jack Merritt, and attended by Saskia Jones. It was here, on his first day out of prison on day release, that Steve was forced to break his vow as he bravely confronted and fought armed-terrorist Usman Khan on London Bridge. Armed just with a narwhal tusk, Steve wrestled and held Khan to the ground while he waited for the police to arrive.In October 2020 Steve was granted a royal prerogative of mercy in recognition of his actions at London Bridge. In August 2021 he was released from prison and in March 2023 he was awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal, the final civilian gallantry awards approved by the late Queen.This is Steve Gallant's powerful and inspiring story of redemption told in full for the first time.
The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler's List
by Mietek Pemper“Don’t thank me for your survival, thank your valiant Stern and Pemper, who stared death in the face constantly.”—Oskar Schindler in a speech to his released Jewish workers in May 1945.Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Schindler’s List popularized the true story of a German businessman who manipulated his Nazi connections and spent his personal fortune to save some 1,200 Jewish prisoners from certain death during the Holocaust. But few know that those lists were made possible by a secret strategy designed by a young Polish Jew at the Płaszow concentration camp. Mietek Pemper’s compelling and moving memoir tells the true story of how Schindler’s list really came to pass.Pemper was born in 1920 into a lively and cultivated Jewish family for whom everything changed in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland. Evicted from their home, they were forced into the Krakow ghetto and, later, into the nearby camp of Płaszow where Pemper’s knowledge of the German language was put to use by the sadistic camp commandant Amon Goth. Forced to work as Goth’s personal stenographer from March 1943 to September 1944—an exceptional job for a Jewish prisoner—Pemper soon realized that he could use his position as the commandant’s private secretary to familiarize himself with the inner workings of the Nazi bureaucracy and exploit the system to his fellow detainees’ advantage. Once he gained access to classified documents, Pemper was able to pass on secret information for Schindler to compile his famous lists. After the war, Pemper was the key witness of the prosecution in the 1946 trial against Goth and several other SS officers. The Road to Rescue stands as a historically authentic testimony of one man’s unparalleled courage, wit, defiance, and bittersweet victory over the Nazi regime.