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The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays
by Kelly McMastersA memoir in intimate essays navigating marriage and motherhood, art and ambition, grief and nostalgia, and the elusive concept of home. Kelly McMasters found herself in her midthirties living her fantasy: she’d moved with her husband, a painter, from New York City to rural Pennsylvania, where their children roamed idyllic acres in rainboots and diapers. The pastoral landscape and the bookshop they opened were restorative at first, for her and her marriage. But soon, she was quietly plotting her escape. In The Leaving Season, McMasters chronicles the heady rush of falling in love and carving out a life in the city, the slow dissolution of her relationship in an isolated farmhouse, and the complexities of making a new home for herself and her children as a single parent. She delves into the tricky and often devastating balance between seeing and being seen; loss and longing; desire and doubt; and the paradox of leaving what you love in order to survive. Whether considering masculinity in the countryside through the life of a freemartin calf, the vulnerability of new motherhood in the wake of a car crash, or the power of community pulsing through an independent bookshop, The Leaving Season finds in every ending a new beginning.
The Journal of Ann McMath: An Orphan in a New York Parsonage in the 1850s (Excelsior Editions)
by Ann McMathIn 1851, fourteen-year-old orphan Ann McMath was sent to live with her uncle and his family in their parsonage in Horseheads, New York. Lonely and full of self doubt, anxious to establish female friendships in a new place, and questing for intellectual and moral perfection, she began keeping journal when she was seventeen and wrote in it regularly for the next five years, until she was married. A fascinating example of "biography from below," McMath's journal offers a rare glimpse of of life in the 1850s as it was lived by ordinary women, told in the authentic voice of a young woman coming of age in the Burned-Over District of Western New York. In addition to the journal itself, the book includes an introduction by editor C. Stewart Doty, as well as a geneaology, notes on the text, and a section entitled "People in the Life of Ann McMath," which gives brief biographies of everyone mentioned in the journal.
The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West, 1917-1940
by Sean McmeekinWilly Münzenberg--an Old Bolshevik who was also a self-promoting tycoon--became one of the most influential Communist operatives in Europe between the World Wars. He created a variety of front groups that recruited well-known political and cultural figures to work on behalf of the Soviet Union and its causes, and he ran an international media empire that churned out enormous amounts of propaganda and raised money for Communist concerns. Sean McMeekin tells Münzenberg's extraordinary story, arguing persuasively that his financial chicanery and cynical propaganda efforts weakened the non-Communist left, enraged the right, and helped feed a cycle that culminated in Nazism. Drawing extensively on recently opened Moscow archives, McMeekin describes how Münzenberg parlayed his friendship with Lenin into a personal fortune and how Münzenberg's mysterious financial manipulations outraged Social Democrats and lent rhetorical ammunition to the Nazis. His book sheds new light on Comintern finances, propaganda strategy, the use of front organizations to infiltrate non-Communist circles, and the breakdown of democracy in the Weimar Republic. It is also an engrossing tale of a Communist con man whose name once aroused fear, loathing, and admiration around the world.
Stalin's War: A New History of World War II
by Sean McMeekinA prize-winning historian reveals how Stalin—not Hitler—was the animating force of World War II in this major new history.We remember World War II as a struggle between good and evil, with Hitler propelling events and the Allied powers saving the day. But Hitler's armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit the spoils of war. That role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have unleashed Armageddon, but as celebrated historian Sean McMeekin shows, the conflicts that emerged were the result of Stalin's maneuverings, orchestrated to unleash a war between capitalist powers in Europe and between Japan and the Anglo-American forces in the Pacific. Meanwhile, the United States and Britain's self-defeating strategy of supporting Stalin and his armies at all costs allowed the Soviets to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism.A groundbreaking reassessment, Stalin's War is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the roots of the current world order.
Leadership: Achieving Life-Changing Success from Within
by Alford L. Mcmichael"Take one look at him, listen to him speak, watch him act, and you'll follow him. Why? Because throughout his life and military career, Sergeant Major Al McMichael has proven himself to be a visionary who develops and nurtures ideas to fruition.... Anyone who is charged with leading, teaching, mentoring, managing or caring for people should read the inspiring story of Al McMichael in Leadership." -- Dean Mark Pizzo, National Defense University in Washington, D.C. There is only one sergeant major of the Marine Corps at any one time. It is the highest rank an enlisted Marine can achieve. From 1999 to 2003 the USMC's 14th sergeant major, and the first African American to attain the position, was Alford L. McMichael. Now, Sergeant Major McMichael shares how the values taught to him around the dinner table and in the hard times of his dirt-poor Southern childhood took him to the top of his field and made him one of the most respected and valued leaders of our time. This is not a guide that speaks only to military personnel. This is not a guide that only CEOs will cherish. The magic of McMichael's life lessons is that anyone can relate to and build success from them, because McMichael himself learned them in the most modest of beginnings: growing up in the 1950s with nine siblings in a single-parent, one-story home in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was the best training he could have received for the Marines, and with down-to-earth practicality and an engaging anecdotal style, McMichael demonstrates how the morals, work ethic and self-discipline he learned from his mother and grandmother gave him the life skills for groundbreaking success. Practice dinner table values...Find your compass...Rely on intelligence over emotion...Prepare so you can prosper...Impress yourself first...Give power to your people...Lead from the heart...These are among the pragmatic and distinctive nuggets of truth McMichael imparts in Leadership, and whatever your walk in life, they are the foundation for making great things happen. Are you ready to experience the phenomenal results when you ask the best of yourself and those around you?
Leadership
by Alford L Mcmichael"Take one look at him, listen to him speak, watch him act, and you'll follow him. Why? Because throughout his life and military career, Sergeant Major Al McMichael has proven himself to be a visionary who develops and nurtures ideas to fruition.... Anyone who is charged with leading, teaching, mentoring, managing or caring for people should read the inspiring story of Al McMichael in Leadership." -- Dean Mark Pizzo, National Defense University in Washington, D.C. There is only one sergeant major of the Marine Corps at any one time. It is the highest rank an enlisted Marine can achieve. From 1999 to 2003 the USMC's 14th sergeant major, and the first African American to attain the position, was Alford L. McMichael. Now, Sergeant Major McMichael shares how the values taught to him around the dinner table and in the hard times of his dirt-poor Southern childhood took him to the top of his field and made him one of the most respected and valued leaders of our time. This is not a guide that speaks only to military personnel. This is not a guide that only CEOs will cherish. The magic of McMichael's life lessons is that anyone can relate to and build success from them, because McMichael himself learned them in the most modest of beginnings: growing up in the 1950s with nine siblings in a single-parent, one-story home in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was the best training he could have received for the Marines, and with down-to-earth practicality and an engaging anecdotal style, McMichael demonstrates how the morals, work ethic and self-discipline he learned from his mother and grandmother gave him the life skills for groundbreaking success. Practice dinner table values...Find your compass...Rely on intelligence over emotion...Prepare so you can prosper...Impress yourself first...Give power to your people...Lead from the heart...These are among the pragmatic and distinctive nuggets of truth McMichael imparts in Leadership, and whatever your walk in life, they are the foundation for making great things happen. Are you ready to experience the phenomenal results when you ask the best of yourself and those around you?
Amazing Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline: A Collection of the Greatest Bears Stories Ever Told (Tales From The Team Ser.)
by Steve McMichael John MullinMore than just a football team, the Chicago Bears are a vital part of Chicago culture. After close to a century of play, the Bears have won more regular season games than any other NFL franchise. With twenty-seven players in the Hall of Fame and fourteen retired jerseys, it’s no wonder the Bears are a beloved, storied franchise.But the Bears, like Chicago, are not just people: they are true personalities. In Amazing Tales From the Chicago Bears Sideline, Bears fans can read about the men who have made the Bears one of the greatest teams in pro football—George Halas, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka, Jay Culter, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, and many others.Former Bears star Steve McMichael takes a front row seat in this collection of stories. Readers get an opportunity to relive the glory years of a charter NFL franchise—as seen through the eyes of a legendary player. McMichael covers it all, from training camp misadventures in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Platteville, Wisconsin, and Ditka’s locker room tirades to nights on the town with teammates, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of historic moments. From first kick-off to overtime play, Amazing Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline covers some of the franchise’s greatest moments, and is a must-have for any true Bears fan.
The Woods: A Year on Protection Island
by Amber Mcmillan"The Woods is the cure-all to Perfect Island Getaway nostalgia. It's a story of everyday domestic survival, peopled by both loveable eccentrics and possibly murdersome cranks, foregrounding the little-known history of violence on Protection Island. Amber McMillan's writing balances an eye for the unusual and resiliently beautiful with a sympathy for the frailties common to all her islanders." --Kevin Chong, author of Baroque-a-Nova, Neil Young Nation and Beauty Plus Pity*The Woods: A Year on Protection Island is a book of non-fiction stories that probes and witnesses the unique and sometimes unsettling atmosphere of small town-island life in the Georgia Strait. The measure of one's success here doesn't rely on status or income, but on the skillful handling of neighbours, the resourcefulness for survival, and the adaptation to both the rigorous outdoors of the Pacific Northwest and equally challenging human community of need, trade, and negotiated civility.These are stories of the people and families who sought refuge here, for different reasons and with different outcomes: Keith, a cross-dressing retired sea captain who can't overcome the death of his wife; Steve, the contractor who escapes his deaf wife and the silence of his domestic life by perfecting his physical property, using only the loudest of electric chainsaws and lawnmowers from morning until dusk; Cris, the seventy-six-year-old library curator who has recently discovered scotch whiskey and sex again after twenty-five years; and of various other transplants making their way through the murky terrain of living on an island.Like no other community on Earth, this small place is packed with secret corners, eerie histories and a whispering darkness. This is the complicated convergence of human capacities: from homicides (both in the same house, unrelated and years apart) to some of the greatest gestures of generosity, social reform and equality. This is the place of the close-up encounter of who we are stripped of distractions and escapist entertainment; who we are in the woods.
The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan: An American Memoir
by Cecily McmillanCecily McMillan didn't come from much: she had a hardscrabble life bouncing between the members of a broken family scattered from Texas to Atlanta. Her relationship with her parents became increasingly strained, and at sixteen she was legally emancipated and taken in by a beloved teacher. She became politically active at a young age, leading walkouts against the Iraq War in high school and protesting against union busting in college. When she moved to New York for a masters degree at the New School, she found herself planning what would later become Occupy Wall Street.On St. Patrick's Day, 2012, her life changed forever. Cecily swung by Zuccotti Park to pick up friends on her way to meet others at a nearby Irish pub—but she never made it out. The celebration was cut short by a police raid that cleared the square. In the melee, she was grabbed from behind by a police officer. Two years later she faced a Kafkaesque trial and was sentenced to three months at Rikers Island.Inside Rikers, Cecily grew close to her fellow inmates, women with precarious lives who took her under their wings and taught her how to navigate life in prison. Through them, she remembered where she came from and who she was fighting for. And through them, she found her voice. The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan is an intimate, brave, bittersweet memoir of a remarkable young woman trying to make sense of her place in the world.
Fathers and Sons
by M. E. McmillanThis book traces the rise of the political dynasty in the Middle East and, in the process, provides the context for the current Arab uprising. The author shows that a father-to-son transfer of power has no basis in Islam, and yet the idea of dynastic power became entrenched in the Middle East.
Why Not Me?: The Battle for My Life and My Baby
by Mandy McMillanMandy McMillan was not a fighter. She was ordinary: a hairdresser, a party girl, a bit of a coward when it came to all things medical. The worst she'd ever fought was a cold. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27 - the second in her group of five friends to be struck down by the disease. She'd had a one in 1,900 chance of getting it. Her cancer was incurable; chemotherapy almost killed her, her body was so ravaged that she almost gave up, but Mandy battled on. Her one stroke of good fortune? The arrival of new wonder-drug, Herceptin. Then a miracle happened: Mandy gave birth to Britain's first Herceptin baby, a little girl conceived, carried and born to a mum on long-term treatment. A drug saved Mandy McMillan, now a daughter called Holly is keeping her alive. And she will fight every single day to see her child grow up.
Why Not Me?: The Battle for My Life and My Baby
by Mandy McmillanMandy McMillan was not a fighter. She was ordinary: a hairdresser, a party girl, a bit of a coward when it came to all things medical. The worst she'd ever fought was a cold. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27 - the second in her group of five friends to be struck down by the disease. She'd had a one in 1,900 chance of getting it. Her cancer was incurable; chemotherapy almost killed her, her body was so ravaged that she almost gave up, but Mandy battled on. Her one stroke of good fortune? The arrival of new wonder-drug, Herceptin. Then a miracle happened: Mandy gave birth to Britain's first Herceptin baby, a little girl conceived, carried and born to a mum on long-term treatment. A drug saved Mandy McMillan, now a daughter called Holly is keeping her alive. And she will fight every single day to see her child grow up.
The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race
by Priscilla McmillanIn a groundbreaking book that recasts the history of the Cold War, bestselling author Priscilla J. McMillan exposes, for the first time, the truth behind J. Robert Oppenheimer's 1954 trial on charges of violating national security. Drawing on newly declassified papers and extensive interviews, McMillan places Oppenheimer's opposition to development of the hydrogen bomb at the heart of the story--opposition that made him the victim of government officials who, conspiring with rival scientist Edward Teller, deceived President Eisenhower and trapped the enigmatic genius who had done more than anyone to build the atomic bomb. A chilling exposé of the McCarthy-era conspiracy that helped propel the East-West arms race, this is a spellbinding work of history.
The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer: And the Birth of the Modern Arms Race (Johns Hopkins Nuclear History and Contemporary Affairs)
by Priscilla J. McMillanThis groundbreaking Cold War history reveals the government conspiracy to bring down America’s most famous scientist.On April 12, 1954, the nation was astonished to learn that J. Robert Oppenheimer was facing charges of violating national security. Could the man who led the effort to build the atom bomb really be a traitor? In this riveting book, Priscilla J. McMillan draws on newly declassified U.S. government documents and materials from Russia, as well as in-depth interviews, to expose the conspiracy that destroyed the director of the Manhattan Project.This meticulous narrative recreates the fraught years from 1949 to 1955 when Oppenheimer and a group of liberal scientists tried to head off the cabal of air force officials, anti-Communist politicians, and rival scientists, who were trying to seize control of U.S. policy and build ever more deadly nuclear weapons. Retelling the story of Oppenheimer’s trial, which took place in utmost secrecy, she describes how the government made up its own rules and violated many protections of the rule of law. McMilliam also argues that the effort to discredit Oppenheimer, occurring at the height of the McCarthy era and sanctioned by a misinformed President Eisenhower, was a watershed in the Cold War, poisoning American politics for decades and creating dangers that haunt us today.
Marina and Lee
by Priscilla Johnson Mcmillan Joseph FinderThe inside story of Lee Harvey Oswald's path to killing John. F. Kennedy. Reissued to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, Marina and Lee is an indispensable account of one of America's most traumatic events, and a classic work of narrative history. In her meticulous, at times even moment by moment, account of Oswald's progress toward the assassination, Priscilla Johnson McMillan takes us inside Oswald's fevered mind and his manic marriage. When Marina, only a few weeks after giving birth to their second child, hears of Kennedy's death and discovers that Lee's rifle is missing from the garage where it was stored, she knows that her husband has killed the President. McMillan came to the story with a unique knowledge of the two main characters. In the 1950s she had worked for Kennedy and had known him well for a time. Later, working in Moscow as a journalist, she interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald during his attempt to defect to the Soviet Union. When she heard his name again on November 22, 1963, she said, "My God! I know that boy!" Marina and Lee was written with the complete and exclusive cooperation of Oswald's Russian-born wife, Marina Prusakova, whom McMillan debriefed for seven months in the immediate aftermath of the President's assassination and her husband's nationally televised execution at the hands of Jack Ruby.The truth is far more compelling, and unsettling, than the most imaginative conspiracy theory. Marina and Lee is a human drama that is outrageous, heartbreaking, tragic, fascinating. . . and real.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers
by Tom McmillanGettysburg Rebels is the gripping true story of five young men who grew up in Gettysburg, moved south to Virginia in the 1850s, joined the Confederate army - and returned "home" as foreign invaders for the great battle in July 1863. Drawing on rarely-seen documents and family histories, as well as military service records and contemporary accounts, Tom McMillan delves into the backgrounds of Wesley Culp, Henry Wentz and the three Hoffman brothers in a riveting tale of Civil War drama and intrigue.
Our Flag Was Still There: The Star Spangled Banner that Survived the British and 200 Years—And the Armistead Family Who Saved It
by Tom McMillanOur Flag Was Still There details the improbable two-hundred-year journey of the original Star-Spangled Banner—from Fort McHenry in 1814, when Francis Scott Key first saw it, to the Smithsonian in 2023—and the enduring family who defended, kept, hid, and ultimately donated the most famous flag in American history.Francis Scott Key saw the original Star-Spangled Banner flying over Baltimore&’s Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, following a twenty-five-hour bombardment by the British Navy, inspiring him to write the words to our national anthem. Torn and tattered over the years, reduced in size to appease souvenir-hunters, stuffed away in a New York City vault for the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the flag&’s mere existence after two hundred years is an improbable story of dedication, perseverance, patriotism, angst, inner-family squabbles, and, yes, more than a little luck. For this unlikely feat, we have the Armistead family to thank—led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, who took it home after the battle in clear defiance of U.S. Army regulations. It is only because of that quiet indiscretion that the flag survives to this day. Armistead&’s descendants kept and protected their family heirloom for ninety years. The flag&’s first photo was not taken until 1873, almost sixty years after Key saw it waving, and most Americans did not even know of its existence until Armistead&’s grandson loaned it to the Smithsonian in 1907. Tom McMillan tells a story as no one has before. Digging deep into the archives of Fort McHenry and the Smithsonian, accessing never-before-published letters and documents, and presenting rare photos from the private collections of Armistead descendants and other sources, McMillan follows the flag on an often-perilous journey through three centuries. Our Flag Was Still There provides new insight into an intriguing period of U.S. history, offering a &“story behind the story&” account of one of the country&’s most treasured relics.
The White Bonus: Five Families and the Cash Value of Racism in America
by Tracie McMillanA genre-bending work of journalism and memoir by award-winning writer Tracie McMillan tallies the cash benefit—and cost—of racism in America.In The White Bonus, McMillan asks a provocative question about racism in America: When people of color are denied so much, what are white people given? And how much is it worth—not in amorphous privilege, but in dollars and cents?McMillan begins with three generations of her family, tracking their modest wealth to its roots: American policy that helped whites first. Simultaneously, she details the complexities of their advantage, exploring her mother’s death in a nursing home, at 44, on Medicaid; her family's implosion; and a small inheritance from a banker grandfather. In the process, McMillan puts a cash value to whiteness in her life and assesses its worth.McMillan then expands her investigation to four other white subjects of different generations across the U.S. Alternating between these subjects and her family, McMillan shows how, and to what degree, racial privilege begets material advantage across class, time, and place.For readers of Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility and Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us, McMillan brings groundbreaking insight on the white working class. And for readers of Tara Westover’s Educated and Kiese Laymon’s Heavy, McMillan reckons intimately with the connection between the abuse we endure at home and the abuse America allows in public.
I Love You And I'm Leaving You Anyway: A Memoir
by Tracy McMillanTelevision writer Tracy McMillan’s comic literary road trip into the heart and soul of her relationship with her father—a convicted pimp, drug dealer, and felon—and what it has meant for her relationships with men. Like a cross between The Glass Castle and Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress, I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is funny, inspiring, and truly unique.
The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History
by Margot McMillenThe powerful story of the women who stood up for their right to vote in early twentieth-century Missouri—includes photos. It was June 14, 1916, a warm, sticky Wednesday morning. The Democratic Convention would soon meet in St. Louis. Inside the Jefferson Hotel, the men ate breakfast and met with their committees. Outside the hotel, thousands of women quietly took their places along both sides of Locust Street. They stood shoulder to shoulder, each one in a dress that brushed the pavement, shading herself with a yellow parasol and wearing a yellow sash that said &“Votes for Women.&” The all-male delegations may not have had a comfortable walk down the Golden Lane—but they were moved to add women&’s suffrage to the national platform. In this book, Margot McMillen tells the story of this fight for a right too often taken for granted and the part that Missouri women played in it.
Chickens in the Road: An Adventure in Ordinary Splendor
by Suzanne Mcminn"It was a cold late autumn day when I brought my children to live in rural West Virginia. The farmhouse was one hundred years old, there was already snow on the ground, and the heat was sparse—as was the insulation. The floors weren't even, either. My then-twelve-year-old son walked in the door and said, 'You've brought us to this slanted little house to die. '" Thus begins former romance writer Suzanne McMinn's wild ride into self-sustainable living halfway up a hill on one of the most remote dirt roads in West Virginia, with a cast including her children, an enigmatic partner, the "rural neighborhood" of quirky characters, and a whole slew of ridiculous and uncooperative farm animals. An unlikely adventurer, the suburban-born-and-bred author tackles one daunting challenge after another on her new forty-acre farm, from hatching chickens and milking a cow to herding sheep and making her own cheese. Whether she's trying to convince a goat to accept its baby or just get her ornery neighbor to move over and let her pass on the road, every page of her adventure is fraught with laughter, passion, drama, and the risk of losing it all before she figures out why she's doing it in the first place. And when she does lose it all, she discovers a triumph she never expected—along with the truth for which she'd been searching all along.
Prophets: Preachers for God
by Tom McminnFrom the author to the readers: "God used spokesmen called prophets in a special way. He wanted all people to know he loved them and would provide for them if they remained faithful to him and obeyed his laws." The writer associates each prophet with the message he told the people:" Elisha" emphasized that " God will provide for our needs"; "Amos" wanted people to "Seek good, not evil"; "Jeremiah" wanted people to "Be faithful to God and obey his laws"; "Jonah" showed that "God's love is for all people;" and "Micah" told the people that "God will provide a deliverer." In the book, McMinn writes about each prophet in terms of their unique purpose. After writing about a prophet, McMinn asks the readers a question that is designed to encourage them to explore their thoughts and feelings about each prophet. The questions also ask the readers to apply their insights to their own lives.
Leaving China: An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood
by James McMullanA memoir in paintings and words by internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and teacher James McMullan. A Booklist Top 10 Biography for Youth“It is this dreamlike quality of my memories that I wanted to capture in some way in the paintings that accompany the text--to suggest in the images that the events occurred a long time ago in a simpler yet more exotic world, and that the players in that world, including me, are at a distance.” Artist James McMullan’s work has appeared in the pages of virtually every American magazine, on the posters for more than seventy Lincoln Center theater productions, and in bestselling picture books. Now, in a unique memoir comprising more than fifty short essays and illustrations, the artist explores how his early childhood in China and wartime journeys with his mother influenced his whole life, especially his painting and illustration. James McMullan was born in Tsingtao, North China, in 1934, the grandson of missionaries who settled there. As a little boy, Jim took for granted a privileged life of household servants, rickshaw rides, and picnics on the shore—until World War II erupted and life changed drastically. Jim’s father, a British citizen fluent in several Chinese dialects, joined the Allied forces. For the next several years, Jim and his mother moved from one place to another—Shanghai, San Francisco, Vancouver, Darjeeling—first escaping Japanese occupation then trying to find security, with no clear destination except the unpredictable end of the war. For Jim, those ever-changing years took on the quality of a dream, sometimes a nightmare, a feeling that persists in the stunning full-page, full-color paintings that along with their accompanying text tell the story of Leaving China.
The Story of Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad
by Kate McmullanThis inspiring biography of Harriet Tubman tells how she helped free over 300 slaves as a "conductor" for the Underground Railroad and how she became a nurse, a scout and spy for the Union Forces during the Civil War.
Amazing Pace: The Story of Olympic Champion Michael Phelps from Sydney to Athens to Beijing
by Paul McmullenA vibrant portrait of American swimmer Michael Phelps—the dominant athlete at the 2004 Olympics—who has relentlessly pushed himself, promoted his sport, and appears poised to ultimately accumulate the most gold medals in Olympic historyBefore he was old enough to have a driver's license, Michael Phelps had a world record. Before he ever took a college class or turned 20, he had earned distinction by winning 8 medals—6 gold and 2 bronze—at the Athens Olympics, the most in non-boycotted Games. Along the way, he captivated an American television audience and confounded the critics who questioned his ambition.Amazing Pace:• provides the most revealing look yet at a young man who became a world-class athlete before he had the chance to grow up—by respected Baltimore Sun journalist Paul McMullen, who followed Phelps's rise from an obscure 14-year-old to the most scrutinized competitor at the world's biggest sporting event• details the plotting of his career, from turning professional at age 16, to the management of the first crises he encountered Paul McMullen's 5 years of observation add dramatic context to the life of a young athlete whose rise to prominence coincided with the tumult of the first Summer Olympics after 9/11. No Olympian has ever earned 10 gold medals in a career, but Michael Phelps is on pace to achieve that milestone at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China.