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Red One: A Bomb Disposal Expert on the Front Line
by Kevin IvisonThe gripping true story of bomb disposal work that won Ivison a George Medal - and started a living nightmare...When two of his colleagues are killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, young bomb disposal officer Kevin Ivison is called in to defuse a second even deadlier bomb just a hundred yards from the bodies of his friends. To make things worse, the entire area is under fire from snipers, and a crowd of angry Iraqis have begun to hurl petrol bombs...With little chance of living through this impossible task, Kevin leaves final messages for his loved ones and sets out alone towards the bomb that he is sure will be the last thing he sees. In this gut-wrenching and terrifying true story of heroism and survival, Kevin Ivison explains why he chose to be a bomb disposal expert in the first place, how he found the courage to face his death, and the unendurable stress that has given him nightmares ever since.
Red One: The bestselling true story of a bomb disposal expert on the front line in Iraq
by Captain Kevin IvisonThe British Hurt Locker. In the Iraq War, Cpt Kevin Ivison defused bombs and IEDs left by the Taliban. Each time he took the 'longest walk' to a bomb, it could have been his last. How many times can a man stare death in the face before he breaks? Even the most skilful operators can only roll the dice so many times before they get unlucky . . . This was my bomb, my task and my fate alone. There was nothing left to do but walk.When two of his colleagues are killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, young bomb disposal officer Kevin Ivison is called in to defuse a second, even deadlier bomb just a hundred yards from the bodies of his friends. To make things worse, the entire area is under fire from snipers, and a crowd of angry Iraqis have begun to hurl petrol bombs...With little chance of living through this impossible task, Kevin leaves final messages for his loved ones and sets out alone towards the bomb that he is sure will be the last thing he sees. In this gut-wrenching and terrifying true story of heroism and survival, Kevin Ivison explains why he chose to be a bomb disposal expert in the first place, how he found the courage to face his death, and the unendurable stress that has given him nightmares ever since.An absorbing, honest, true story of life on the front lines in the Iraq War. Perfect for fans of The Hurt Locker, Sniper One and Bomb Hunters.'The honesty with which Kevin relays his fear, his overwhelming sense that he is going to die, is impressive . . . unpretentious and accessible' Daily Telegraph'Absorbing ... At the heart of the book is a taut, riveting account of the events of a single day - February 28, 2006 - when Ivison rushed to the scene of an IED ambush on a road known as RED ONE' - DAILY MAIL'RED ONE is plain-spoken, heart-thumping stuff' - THE TIMES
Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler
by Anne NelsonThe poignant story of a circle of ordinary Germans in Berlin who, through their contacts in film, theater, propaganda, academia, government, and the military, conspired to bring down the Nazis.
Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk
by Sasha LaPointeAn Indigenous artist blends the aesthetics of punk rock with the traditional spiritual practices of the women in her lineage in this bold, contemporary journey to reclaim her heritage and unleash her power and voice while searching for a permanent homeSasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe has always longed for a sense of home. When she was a child, her family moved around frequently, often staying in barely habitable church attics and trailers, dangerous places for young Sasha. With little more to guide her than a passion for the thriving punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and a desire to live up to the responsibility of being the namesake of her beloved great-grandmother—a linguist who helped preserve her Indigenous language of Lushootseed—Sasha throws herself headlong into the world, determined to build a better future for herself and her people. Set against a backdrop of the breathtaking beauty of Coast Salish ancestral land and imbued with the universal spirit of punk, Red Paint is ultimately a story of the ways we learn to find our true selves while fighting for our right to claim a place of our own. Examining what it means to be vulnerable in love and in art, Sasha offers up an unblinking reckoning with personal traumas amplified by the collective historical traumas of colonialism and genocide that continue to haunt native peoples. Red Paint is an intersectional autobiography of lineage, resilience, and, above all, the ability to heal.
Red Partisan: The Memoirs of a Soviet Resistance Fighter on the Eastern Front
by Nikolai I. Obryn'baA memoir of a Soviet artist who became a resistance fighter against Nazi Germany during World War II. The epic World War II battles between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are the subject of a vast literature, but little has been published in English on the experiences of ordinary Soviets?civilians and soldiers?who were sucked into a bitter conflict that marked their lives forever. Their struggle for survival, and their resistance to the invaders&’ brutality in the occupied territories, is one of the great untold stories of the war. Written late in the author&’s life, Nikolai Obryn&’ba&’s unforgettable, intimate memoir tells of Operation Barbarossa, during which he was taken prisoner; the horrors of SS prison camps; his escape; his war fighting behind German lines as a partisan; and the world of suffering and tragedy around him. His perceptive, uncompromising account lays bare the everyday reality of war on the Eastern Front.Praise for Red Partisan&“[Obryn&’ba&’s] descriptions of life in a German POW camp offer unique insights into a little-discussed aspect of the Eastern Front.&” —Military Review&“Obryn&’ba&’s simple and candid yet gripping memoir presents a credible mosaic of vivid images of life in the Red Army during the harrowing first few months of war and unprecedented details about his participation in the brutal but shadowy partisan war that raged deep in the German army&’s rear. A must read for those seeking a human face on this most inhuman of twentieth-century wars.&” —David M. Glantz, historian of the Soviet military
Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor
by Clinton RomeshaThe only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen hour firefight at the Battle of Keating by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.<P><P> "'It doesn't get better.' To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost whose strategic and tactical vulnerabilities were so glaringly obvious to every soldier who had ever set foot in that place that the name itself—Keating—had become a kind of backhanded joke."<P> In 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost (COP) Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the U.S. military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after its construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: it was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend. <P> On October 3, 2009, after years of constant smaller attacks, the Taliban finally decided to throw everything they had at Keating. The ensuing 14-hour battle—and eventual victory—cost 8 men their lives. <P> Red Platoon is the riveting first-hand account of the Battle of Keating, told by Romesha, who spearheaded both the defense of the outpost and the counter-attack that drove the Taliban back beyond the wire, and received the Medal of Honor for his actions. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Red Pockets: A Tale of Inheritance, Ghosts and the Future
by Alice MahSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITINGA poignant personal narrative about family, cultural history, and ecology, and a quest to understand what we owe our ancestors and our descendants from an unforgettable new voice."Part of me knew what the hungry ghosts wanted all along, what they still want. It is not vengeance. No, they want something else, but we refuse to listen. They want us to face up to our broken obligations." Every spring during the Qingming Festival, people return to their home villages in China to sweep the tombs of their ancestors. They make offerings of food and incense to prevent their ancestors from becoming hungry ghosts that could cause misfortune, illnesses and crop failures. Yet for the past century, the tombs of many overseas Chinese have been left unattended because of the ruptures of war and revolution. Following a record year of wildfires, Alice Mah returns to her family's rice village in South China, ninety years after her grandfather's last visit and fifty years after her last relative died in the village. While she finds clan members who still remember her family, there are no tombs left to sweep. Instead, there are incalculable clan debts to be paid. In Red Pockets, Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of South China to her home in post-industrial England, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she grew up, to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives. As years pass and fires rage on, she becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors' neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief. A haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration, Red Pockets confronts the hungry ghosts of our neglected ancestors, while searching for an acceptable offering. What do we owe to past and future generations? What do we owe to the places that we inhabit?
Red Quarter Moon
by Hiroaki Kuromiya Anne KonradAnne Konrad's Red Quarter Moon is the gripping account of her search for family members lost and disappeared within the Soviet Union. Konrad's ancestors, Mennonites, had settled the Ukrainian steppes in the late 1790s. An ethno-religious minority, they became special objects of Soviet persecution. Though her parents fled in 1929, many relatives remained in the USSR.Konrad's search for these missing extended family members took place over twenty years and five continents - on muddy roads, lonesome steppes, and in old letters, documents, or secret police archives. Her story emerges as both haunting and inspiring, filled with dramatically different accounts from survivors now scattered across the world. She aligns the voices of her subjects chronologically against the backdrop of Soviet policy, intertwining the historical context of the Terror Years with her own personal quest. Red Quarter Moon is an enthralling journey into the past that offers a unique look at the lives of ordinary families and individuals in the USSR.
Red Ribbon on a White Horse: My Story
by Anzia YezierskaThe autobiography of the important Jewish immigrant novelist. Here is Anzia Yezierska's life story, from the Polish ghetto to the sweatshops of New York's Lower East Side, from success as a writer in Hollywood in the 1920s to disillusionment and a return to poverty. With courage and emotion, Yezierska reveals what success and failure felt like and what they meant to her, as a woman and as an artist.
Red River Girl: The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine
by Joanna JollyA gripping account of the unsolved death of an Indigenous teenager, and the detective determined to find her killer, set against the backdrop of a troubled city.On August 17, 2014, the body of fifteen-year old runaway Tina Fontaine was found in Winnipeg's Red River. It was wrapped in material and weighted down with rocks. Red River Girl is a gripping account of that murder investigation and the unusual police detective who pursued the killer with every legal means at his disposal. The book, like the movie Spotlight, will chronicle the behind-the-scenes stages of a lengthy and meticulously planned investigation. It reveals characters and social tensions that bring vivid life to a story that made national headlines.Award-winning BBC reporter and documentary maker Joanna Jolly delves into the troubled life of Tina Fontaine, the half-Ojibway, half-Cree murder victim, starting with her childhood on the Sagkeeng First Nation Reserve. Tina's journey to the capital city is a harrowing one, culminating in drug abuse, sexual exploitation, and death. Aware of the reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, Jolly has chronicled Tina Fontaine's life as a reminder that she was more than a statistic. Raised by her father, and then by her great-aunt, Tina was a good student. But the violent death of her father hit Tina hard. She ran away, was found and put into the care of Child and Family Services, which she also sought to escape from. That choice left her in danger.Red River Girl focuses not on the grisly event itself, but on the efforts to seek justice. In December 2015, the police charged Raymond Cormier, a drifter, with second-degree murder. Jolly's book will cover the trial, which resulted in an acquittal. The verdict caused dismay across the country. The book is not only a true crime story, but a portrait of a community where Indigenous women are disproportionately more likely to be hurt or killed. Jolly asks questions about how Indigenous women, sex workers, community leaders, and activists are fighting back to protect themselves and change perceptions. Most importantly, the book will chronicle whether Tina's family will find justice.
Red River: Blazing Guns On The Chisholm Trail
by Borden ChaseThe book that launched the classic Howard Hawks western starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.—HALF A CATTLE EMPIRE—for a son...Now Dunson turned that blunt gaze on Tess. He let the gray eyes run slowly over her shoulders and breasts and hips...“What would you say, Tess Millay, if I offered you half of an empire in exchange for a son?”“...Your son?”“Yes.”The great State of Texas is dying...herds of cattle run wild...an uncharted trail leads to nowhere—but Colonel Dunson would fight on to save his empire, just so long as he had this woman by his side.Here is a Western that has been cut out of the lonely stretches of Texas, patterned from the lives of great giants of the land. A smashing story that pounds like the drumming hoofs of 10,000 cattle—a yarn that will hold you through the 100-day drive along the historic Chisholm Trail.
Red Road from Stalingrad: Recollections of a Soviet Infantryman
by Mansur AbdulinA Soviet infantryman offers a raw and candid look at life and death on the Eastern Front of WWII in this harrowing military memoir. While the average Soviet infantryman survived the battlefield for mere weeks before being killed or wounded, Mansur Abdulin fought on the front ranks for an entire year—and survived to tell his remarkable story. His extensive service pitted him against the German invaders at Stalingrad, Kursk and on the banks of the Dnieper. He therefore saw and engaged in some of the most bitter fighting in all of World War II. Abdulin&’s vivid inside view of the ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting as well as the tactics and mentality of the Soviet army. In his own words and with a remarkable clarity, Abdulin describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy.
Red Robinson: The Last Deejay
by Robin BrunetRed Robinson: The Last Deejay details the life and career of Red Robinson, one of Canada's most celebrated pioneers of rock and roll. Robinson began spinning hits while in high school in the early 1950s, laying the foundation for what would become a glamorous, impossible-to-stop and ultimately fulfilling career that has made him a household name west of the Rockies. <p><p> Raised by a single mother, Robinson worked as a delivery boy to help support the family. From such humble beginnings, he developed a strong work ethic and unflappable moral core that enabled him to pursue a career that has endured. Here is the account of how Robinson pranked his way into his first radio job. Readers will be delighted by behind-the-scenes stories from close encounters with Vancouver's visiting celebrities, like the time Robinson spent an hour with Elvis Presley in the BC Lions dressing room talking cars, women, movies and opera, or when Robinson nearly killed Roy Orbison and Bobby Goldsboro in a 1962 Grand Parisienne convertible while speeding to catch the Nanaimo ferry. <p> Robinson's vast career highlights are remarkable, from introducing The Beatles to the stage, ushering Randy Bachman to the status of superstardom, and as part of EXPO '86, presenting The Legends of Rock'n'Roll featuring Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Righteous Brothers. Red Robinson: The Last Deejay recalls the highs, hurdles and triumphs of a celebrated time in rock-and-roll history, presented by the man who dug into the guts, glory and glitz that only a champion of the frontlines of music really can.
Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg
by Kate EvansA graphic novel of the dramatic life and death of German revolutionary Rosa LuxemburgA giant of the political left, Rosa Luxemburg is one of the foremost minds in the canon of revolutionary socialist thought. But she was much more than just a thinker. She made herself heard in a world inimical to the voices of strong-willed women. She overcame physical infirmity and the prejudice she faced as a Jew to become an active revolutionary whose philosophy enriched every corner of an incredibly productive and creative life—her many friendships, her sexual intimacies, and her love of science, nature and art.Always opposed to the First World War, when others on the German left were swept up on a tide of nationalism, she was imprisoned and murdered in 1919 fighting for a revolution she knew to be doomed.In this beautifully drawn work of graphic biography, writer and artist Kate Evans has opened up her subject&’s intellectual world to a new audience, grounding Luxemburg&’s ideas in the realities of an inspirational and deeply affecting life.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today's China
by Desmond ShumIn the headline-making and bestselling tradition of Bill Browder&’s Red Notice comes a riveting memoir from a man who rose within the ranks of China&’s ultra-rich only to see his business partner-wife mysteriously disappeared. After the Communist Revolution, Desmond Shum&’s grandfather, a lawyer, had one chance to leave China, and instead chose to stay. The government shut down his law firm and seized his house. Officials marked his family as belonging to a 'black category' that included former landlords and rich peasants, meaning the Shums would be stigmatised and impoverished. As Desmond was growing up, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity Shum went to college in America and returned to China to make his name in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, powered by a set of relationships they formed with top members of the Red Aristocracy, vaulted into China&’s billionaire class. Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that by developing one of Beijing&’s premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, travelling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles and artwork. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while residing overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had been disappeared - consigned to some unknown fate - along with three co-workers.In Red Roulette Desmond Shum pulls back the curtain on China&’s ruling elite and tells the story of a remarkable woman who rose to prominence in a strongly patriarchal society. Written from a desire to reveal the real truth of what is happening inside China&’s wealth-making machine, this eye-opening tale features a memorable cast of real-life characters.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
by Desmond ShumA unique and incendiary memoir from an entrepreneur who rose to the highest realms of power and money in China and whose wife was disappeared, Red Roulette reveals the truth of what is happening inside the country&’s wealth-making machine. After the Communist Revolution, Desmond Shum&’s grandfather was marked as belonging to a &“black category&” that included former landlords and rich peasants—meaning the Shums would be stigmatized and impoverished. As Desmond was growing up, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity Shum earned an American college degree and returned to China to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China&’s male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of the red aristocracy, vaulted into China&’s billionaire class. Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that feat with the creation of one of Beijing&’s premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, traveling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles, and art. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while residing overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had vanished along with three coworkers. This is both Desmond&’s story and Whitney&’s, because she cannot tell it herself.
Red Scarf Girl
by Ji-Li Jiang David Henry HwangWhen China's Communist Party detains Ji-Li's father, the 12-year-old is faced with a difficult choice.
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
by Ji-Li JiangIt's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains, tons of friends, and a bright future in Communist China. But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution-and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. When Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life. This is the true story of one girl's determination to hold her family together during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.
Red Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Joseph Pilyushin
by Joseph PilyushinA gripping memoir of a Soviet sniper who fought against the Nazis during the siege of Leningrad and throughout World War II. Joseph Pilyushin, a top Red Army sniper in the ruthless fight against the Germans on the Eastern Front, was an exceptional soldier. His first-hand account of his wartime service gives a graphic insight into his lethal skill with a rifle and into the desperate fight put up by Soviet forces to defend Leningrad. Pilyushin, who lived in Leningrad with his family, was already 35 years-old when the war broke out and he was drafted. He started in the Red Army as a scout, but once he had demonstrated his marksmanship and steady nerve, he became a sniper. He served throughout the Leningrad siege, from the late 1941 when the Wehrmacht&’s advance was halted just short of the city to its liberation during the Soviet offensive of 1944. His descriptions of grueling front-line life, of his fellow soldiers, and of his sniping missions are balanced by his vivid recollections of the protracted suffering of Leningrad&’s imprisoned population and of the grief that was visited upon him and his family. His narrative will be fascinating reading for anyone eager to learn about the role and technique of the sniper during the Second World War. It is also a memorable eyewitness account of one man&’s experience on the Eastern Front.
Red Snow: A Young Pole's Epic Search for His Family in Stalinist Russia
by Telesfor SobierajskiThis is a unique personal story of the horrors of Stalin''s invasion of Poland, through the eyes of 14 year old Telesfor Sobierajski. He tells of his epic journey the rough Siberia in search of his family and their flight from Stalinist Russia.
Red Sorrow: A Memoir
by NanchuAt the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, 13-year-old Nanchu watched Red Guards destroy her home and torture her parents, whom they jailed. She was left to fend for herself and her younger brother. When she grew older, she herself became a Red Guard and was sent to the largest work camp in China. There she faced primitive conditions, sexual harassment, and the pressure to conform. Eventually, she was admitted to Madam Mao's university, where politics were more important than learning. Her testimony is essential reading for anyone interested in China or human rights.
Red Spy Queen
by Kathryn S. OlmstedWhen Elizabeth Bentley slunk into an FBI field office in 1945, she was thinking only of saving herself from NKGB assassins who were hot on her trail. She had no idea that she was about to start the greatest Red Scare in U.S. history.Bentley (1908-1963) was a Connecticut Yankee and Vassar graduate who spied for the Soviet Union for seven years. She met with dozens of highly placed American agents who worked for the Soviets, gathering their secrets and stuffing sensitive documents into her knitting bag. But her Soviet spymasters suspected her of disloyalty--and even began plotting to silence her forever. To save her own life, Bentley decided to betray her friends and comrades to the FBI. Her defection effectively shut down Soviet espionage in the United States for years. Despite her crucial role in the cultural and political history of the early Cold War, Bentley has long been overlooked or underestimated by historians. Now, new documents from Russian and American archives make it possible to assess the veracity of her allegations. This long overdue biography rescues Elizabeth Bentley from obscurity and tells her dramatic life story.
Red Star Tattoo
by Sonja LarsenFrom hardscrabble Milwaukee to dreamy Hawaii, from turbulent Montreal to free-spirited California, Red Star Tattoo is Sonja Larsen's unforgettable memoir of a young life spent on the move. By the age of 16, Sonja joins a cult-like communist organization in Brooklyn--unaware of the dark nature of what awaits her.A small, skinny 8-year-old girl holding a teddy bear stands by the side of a country road with a young man she barely knows. They're hitchhiking from a commune in Quebec to one in California. It is 1973 and somehow the girl's parents think this is a good idea. Sonja Larsen's is a childhood in which family members come and go and where freedom is both a gift and a burden. Her mother, thrown out of home as a pregnant teenager by her evangelical preacher father, is drawn to the utopian ideals and radical politics of communism. Her aunt Suzie is gripped by schizophrenia, her behaviour so erratic she eventually loses custody of her daughter. And then there is her cousin Dana, shunted back and forth long-distance between her parents--Dana, whose own need to escape leads to tragedy. Looking for a sense of family, searching to belong, to have your life mean something--this is what all these girls and young women share. As a teenager, Larsen moves to Brooklyn, embedding herself with an organization known publicly as the National Labor Federation and privately as the Communist Party USA Provisional Wing. Over her three years at the organization's national headquarters, Larsen works sixteen-hour day, eager to prove herself. Noticed and encouraged by the Old Man, the organization's charismatic leader, he makes her one of his "special girls," as well as the youngest member of the organization's militia and part of its inner circle. But even as she and her comrades count down the days on the calendar until the dawning of their new American revolution, Larsen's doubts about the cause and the Old Man become increasingly difficult to ignore. Red Star Tattoo explores the seductions and dangers of extremism, and asks what it takes to survive a childhood scarred by loss, abuse and the sometimes violent struggle for belonging.From the Hardcover edition.
Red Tobruk: Memoirs of a World War II Destroyer Commander
by Captain Frank Gregory-SmithA Second World War hero, who played a leading role in the evacuation of Dunkirk . . . has published a fascinating account of his memories of the war.&”—Salisbury Journal Frank Gregory-Smith&’s war started on the destroyer Jaguar and he saw action off Norway and during the Dunkirk evacuation, when she was hit by enemy air attack with 25 men killed. Command of the new escort destroyer HMS Eridge followed (he was to be her only Captain) and they deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, and so began a grueling 18 months of convoys to Tobruk and Malta under German controlled skies. &“Red Tobruk&” was the name for the enemy aircraft warning that the Tobruk radar station put out which all sailors dreaded as it meant yet another attack was imminent. Eridge survived countless such attacks. She fought in the famous Battle of Sirte when the powerful Italian fleet was seen off. She had to pick up survivors, take stricken ships in tow and once had only blanks to fire at attacking enemy aircraft. Among Eridge&’s achievements was the sinking of U-568 in May 1942. The author&’s luck finally ran out in August 1942 when Eridge was torpedoed by an Italian MTB. Under constant air attack, she was towed to Alexandria but was irreparable. Gregory-Smith returned to Britain having been awarded two Distinguished Service Orders and one Distinguished Service Cross (a second followed at D-Day). All this and more is told in the most graphic and moving fashion in this exceptional memoir, which will recall to many readers that naval classic The Cruel Sea, except that Red Tobruk is a true personal account.
Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women
by Kristen GhodseeThe overlooked revolutionary women of Eastern Europe and their contribution to socialist feminist history, from the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism.Through a series of lively and accessible biographical essays, Red Valkyries explores the history of socialist feminism by examining the revolutionary careers of five prominent socialist women active in the 19th and 20th centuries. • Alexandra Kollontai, the aristocratic Bolshevik • Nadezhda Krupskaya, the radical pedagogue • Inessa Armand, the polyamorous firebrand • Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the deadly sniper • Elena Lagadinova, the partisan turned scientist turned global women's rights activistNone of these women were &“perfect&” leftists. Their lives were filled with inner conflicts, contradictions, and sometimes outrageous privilege, but they still managed to move forward their own political projects through perseverance and dedication to their cause.Always walking a fine line between the need for class solidarity and the desire to force their sometimes callous male colleagues to take women&’s issues seriously, these five women fought for social change with important lessons for feminist activists today. In brief conversational chapters Ghodsee tells the story of the personal challenges faced by earlier generations of socialist and communist women and renders the big ideas of socialist feminism accessible to those newly inspired by the emancipatory politics of left feminist movements around the globe.