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American Shaolin: An Odyssey in the New China
by Matthew PollyAutobiographical account of the author, who was the target of the bullies at school. He wanted to become a strong fighter and so attended the Shaolin temple in China where the martial arts are taught.
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in theNe w China
by Matthew PollyMatthew Polly was your typical 98-pound weakling with sand kicked in his face - until he decided to learn to kick back. Dropping out of university, he travelled to China to study at the granddaddy of all Chinese martial arts monasteries: the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of both Zen Buddhism and kungfu. But, as Confucius might have said, path to becoming kung fu master very difficult. For one thing, no one knew where exactly the Shaolin Temple was. And asking for directions proved problematic - after three years spent learning Mandarin in college, Matthew couldn't understand a word outside the classroom. He finally found the Shaolin village hidden away between five mountain peaks. But the hard part was yet to come. The Chinese term for tough training is chi ku (eating bitter) - and Matthew quickly leaned to appreciate the phrase. By the end of the second day of training his knees were in agony and he was walking like the dead - and that was just the induction. American Shaolin is the hilarious story of Matthew's remarkable two-year travel odyssey - a tale of gruelling training, forbidden romance and an eye-watering insight into the art of 'iron-crotch' kungfu.
American Sheikhs
by Brian VandemarkIn addition to their ability to overcome cultural barriers and think independently, the greatest minds in Middle Eastern politics and culture share a common background: they graduated from the American University of Beirut. AUB graduates, whose lives and accomplishments played a significant role in much of the modern history in this critical region of the world, include countless leaders, legislators, ambassadors, educators, scientists, doctors, and businesspeople. Persons such as philosopher and diplomat Charles Malik; Lebanon's former prime minister Fouad Siniora; Arab League ambassador to France Nasif Hitti; and Rula Dashti, one of the first four women to win a seat in Kuwait's House of Parliament, are just a few of the exemplary alumni who embody the ideals of the AUB.In 1866, American missionaries founded a small college in Beirut, Lebanon, called the Syrian Protestant College. Later renamed the American University of Beirut, what began as a humble missionary school grew to become the most influential institution of higher education in the Middle East. Originally created by Reverend Daniel Bliss with the financial backing of businessman William E. Dodge, the AUB, under the leadership of four generations of the Bliss and Dodge families, became the preeminent symbol of American culture and values in the Middle East. This author's vivid narrative not only includes the colorful history of the AUB and many memorable episodes in a dual family saga but also pursues larger and more important themes. In the story of the efforts of these two families to build a great school with alternating audacity, arrogance, generosity, paternalism, and vision, the author clearly sees an allegory for the larger history of the United States in the Middle East.With the ideas of American nationalism and presumptions of Manifest Destiny, arrogant missionaries came to the Middle East in the nineteenth century looking to convert Muslims to Christianity. Through hard experience, these Americans learned to engage Middle Easterners on their own terms--by teaching them, rather than preaching to them. With that, the AUB shifted its focus from religious conversion to educational enlightenment and independent thinking. In doing so, both men and women, whether they be Muslim, Jew, or Christian, generally viewed the school as an engine of constructive change and the United States as a benign force in the region. Long before conflicts over oil, the state of Israel, and military intervention became the prevalent motifs of US involvement in the region, Americans and Middle Easterners encountered one another, learned to work together, and came to understand one another because the AUB served as neutral ground where tolerance and mutual respect prevailed.But in the post-World War II era, with the rise of America as a world power, the AUB found itself buffeted by the strong winds of nationalist frustration, Zionism and anti-Zionism, and eventually Islamic extremism. Middle Easterners became more ambivalent about America's purposes and began to perceive the university not just as a cradle of learning but also as an agent of undesirable Western interests. Despite the tumultuous atmosphere of civil war in Lebanon, foreign invasions throughout the Middle East, and daily riots and bombings in Beirut, the AUB remained intact, holding fast to the ideals of intercultural engagement and mutual regard for diverse points of view.This story is full of meaning today. By revealing how and why the Blisses and Dodges both succeeded and failed in their attempts to influence the Middle East, the author shows how America's outreach in the region can be improved, and he explains the vital importance of maintaining good relations between Americans and the Muslim world in the new century. AThis book tells the story of America giving to, rather than taking from, the nations and peoples of this vitally important yet volatile area. It is a model for how Americans and Middle Easterners of all faiths and perspectives can learn to work together.
American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy
by Susan Shapiro Aquilino Gonell&“American Shield is an all-American tale of duty and determination—beautifully told by an immigrant, a veteran, and a patriot.&” —Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the United States House of RepresentativesSet against the extraordinary events of January 6, 2021, Aquilino Gonell&’s inspirational memoir is rooted in the joys and struggles of the immigrant experience that have long defined the American experimentAquilino Gonell came to the United States from the Dominican Republic as a young boy. Although he spoke no English, he dedicated himself to his adopted land, striving for the American dream. Determined to be a success story, he joined the army to pay for college. He saw action in Iraq and returned home with PTSD. Believing in the promise of our government, he focused on healing himself and supporting his family. His hard work paid off when he landed a coveted position with the United States Capitol Police and rose to the rank of sergeant.January 6, 2021, changed everything. When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, Gonell bravely faced down the mob attempting to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. The brutal injuries he sustained that day would end his career in law enforcement. But when some of the very people he put his life on the line to protect downplayed or denied the truth of that day, he chose to speak out against the injustice done to him and the country. Chronicling what it means to live a life of conviction, one that adheres to the best ideas of our democracy, American Shield is a bold testament to the power of truth, justice, and accountability from a highly decorated officer and immigrant who exemplifies the greatest aspirations of a grateful nation.
American Shoes: A Refugee's Story
by Rosemarie Lengsfeld Turke Garrett TurkeCompiling countless hours of painstaking research, American Shoes is a profound mosaic of memories recounting 15-year-old Rosemarie Lengsfeld Turke&’s escape from Nazi Germany, leaving her life and family behind to forge ahead in an America she left as a small child.Set against a backdrop of Adolf Hitler&’s rise to power, the reign of Nazi Germany, and the entire course of World War II in Europe, American Shoes recounts the tumultuous childhood of a young American girl and her family trapped within a country that turned against itself, where human decency eroded and then vaporized. Forced to grow up in the midst of endemic fear stoked by a ravenous madman, American Shoes portrays the breakdown of a society from a child&’s point of view, deep inside a land where millions of law-abiding citizens were targeted as threats, and then removed for extermination. This is the story of a brave girl who, despite not being Jewish, was perceived to be one of those threats and was compelled to keep her American identity secret for fear of her family&’s arrest, concentration camp placement, or worse. Fighting to see through a relentless barrage of Nazi lies and propaganda, caught within a nation where resistance or opposition meant incarceration if not certain death, American Shoes illuminates one family&’s struggle to survive against impossible odds as a cataclysmic world war marched closer and closer until it was upon them. Vividly told for the first time after seven decades of a family&’s collective silence, American Shoes reveals the story of a brave and spirited young girl named Rosel who refused to accept the new order of a world gone mad, inside a society that became more sinister and macabre than any childhood nightmare could ever be. Driven by the faint memories of the land where she was born—a hazy beacon that guided her toward freedom and a new life—this is the story of Rosemarie Lengsfeld Turke.
American Showman: Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908–1935 (Film and Culture Series)
by Ross MelnickSamuel "Roxy" Rothafel (1882–1936) built an influential and prolific career as film exhibitor, stage producer, radio broadcaster, musical arranger, theater manager, war propagandist, and international celebrity. He helped engineer the integration of film, music, and live performance in silent film exhibition; scored early Fox Movietone films such as Sunrise (1927); pioneered the convergence of film, broadcasting, and music publishing and recording in the 1920s; and helped movies and moviegoing become the dominant form of mass entertainment between the world wars. <P><P>The first book devoted to Rothafel's multifaceted career, American Showman examines his role as the key purveyor of a new film exhibition aesthetic that appropriated legitimate theater, opera, ballet, and classical music to attract multi-class audiences. Roxy scored motion pictures, produced enormous stage shows, managed many of New York's most important movie houses, directed and/or edited propaganda films for the American war effort, produced short and feature-length films, exhibited foreign, documentary, independent, and avant-garde motion pictures, and expanded the conception of mainstream, commercial cinema. He was also one of the chief creators of the radio variety program, pioneering radio broadcasting, promotions, and tours.The producers and promoters of distinct themes and styles, showmen like Roxy profoundly remade the moviegoing experience, turning the deluxe motion picture theater into a venue for exhibiting and producing live and recorded entertainment. Roxy's interest in media convergence also reflects a larger moment in which the entertainment industry began to create brands and franchises, exploit them through content release "events," and give rise to feature films, soundtracks, broadcasts, live performances, and related consumer products. Regularly cited as one of the twelve most important figures in the film and radio industries, Roxy was instrumental to the development of film exhibition and commercial broadcasting, musical accompaniment, and a new, convergent entertainment industry.
American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane
by Walter IsaacsonWhat are the roots of creativity? What makes for great leadership? How do influential people end up rippling the surface of history? In this collection of essays, Walter Isaacson reflects on the lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, and various other interesting characters he has chronicled as a biographer and journalist. The people he writes about have an awesome intelligence, in most cases, but that is not the secret of their success. They had qualities that were even more rare, such as imagination and true curiosity. Isaacson reflects on how he became a writer, the lessons he learned from various people he met, and the challenges he sees for journalism in the digital age. He also offers loving tributes to his hometown of New Orleans, which both before and after Hurricane Katrina offered many of the ingredients for a creative culture, and to the Louisiana novelist Walker Percy, who was an early mentor. In an anecdotal and personal way, Isaacson describes the joys of the "so-called writing life" and the way that tales about the lives of fascinating people can enlighten our own lives.
American Slavery As It Is: Selections from the Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (Dover Thrift Editions)
by Theodore Dwight WeldThe stories of hundreds of African-Americans who lived in bondage are preserved in this powerful 1839 chronicle. Compiled by a prominent abolitionist, the accounts include personal narratives from freed slaves as well as testimonials from active and former slave owners, presenting a condemnation of slavery from both those who experienced it and those who perpetuated it. Detailing the overall conditions of slaves across multiple states and several years, the book includes information on their diet, clothing, housing, and working hours as well as their punishments and suffering.Connecticut farmer-turned-abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895) was a central leader of the American Anti-Slavery Society and traveled the country lecturing against slavery. Weld took great pains to document the trustworthiness of contributors to American Slavery so that there could be no doubt as to its authenticity. A major influence on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book sold 100,000 copies in its first year of publication and remains a valuable historical testament. This edited selection presents these powerful first-person accounts to a new generation.
American Smoke: Journeys to the End of the Light
by Iain SinclairThe visionary writer Iain Sinclair turns his sights to the Beat Generation in America in his most epic journey yet"How best to describe Iain Sinclair?" asks Robert Macfarlane in The Guardian. "A literary mud-larker and tip-picker? A Travelodge tramp (his phrase)? A middle-class dropout with a gift for bullshit (also his phrase)? A toxicologist of the twenty-first-century landscape? A historian of countercultures and occulted pasts? An intemperate WALL-E, compulsively collecting and compacting the city's textual waste? A psycho-geographer (from which term Sinclair has been rowing away ever since he helped launch it into the mainstream)? He's all of these, and more." Now, for the first time, the enigma that is Iain Sinclair lands on American shores for his long-awaited engagement with the memory-filled landscapes of the American Beats and their fellow travelers. A book filled with bad journeys and fated decisions, American Smoke is an epic walk in the footsteps of Malcolm Lowry, Charles Olson, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, and others, heated by obsession (the Old West, volcanoes, Mexico) and enlivened by false memories, broken reports, and strange adventures. With American Smoke, Sinclair confirms his place as the most innovative of our chroniclers of the contemporary.
American Sniper: La autobiografía del francotirador mAs l
by Jim Defelice Chris Kyle Scott McewenSPANISH EDITION: Gripping, eye-opening, and powerful, American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon. In this New York Times bestselling, Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade-long career, including his multiple combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and elsewhere from 1999-2009. Kyle’s riveting first-person account of how he went from Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin offers a fascinating view of modern-day warfare and one of the most in-depth and illuminating looks into the secret world of Special Ops ever written. He was the top American sniper of all time, called "the legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers, and a hero by those he served on the home front . . . From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time. A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. After 9/11, he was thrust onto the front lines of the War on Terror, and soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. He recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill shot outside Baghdad; in Fallujah, Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on a street; in Ramadi, he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war—of twice being shot, and experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends. American Sniper also honors Kyle's fellow warriors, who raised hell on and off the battlefield. And in moving first-person accounts throughout, Kyle's wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their marriage and children, as well as on Chris. Adrenaline-charged and deeply personal, American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness account of service and sacrifice that only one man could tell.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U. S. Military History
by Jim Defelice Chris Kyle Scott McewenA celebration of the remarkable life and legacy of fallen American hero Chris Kyle<P> This commemorative memorial edition of Kyle's bestselling memoir features the full text of American Sniper, plus more than eighty pages of remembrances by those whose lives he touched personally--including his wife, Taya; his parents, brother, and children; Marcus Luttrell and other fellow Navy SEALs; veterans and wounded warriors; lifelong friends; and many others.<P> He was the top American sniper of all time, called "the legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers, and a hero by those he served on the home front . . .From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time.<P> A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. After 9/11, he was thrust onto the front lines of the War on Terror, and soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. He recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill shot outside Baghdad; in Fallujah, Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on a street; in Ramadi, he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war--of twice being shot, and experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends.American Sniper also honors Kyle's fellow warriors, who raised hell on and off the battlefield. And in moving first-person accounts throughout, Kyle's wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their marriage and children, as well as on Chris.<P> Adrenaline-charged and deeply personal, American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness account of service and sacrifice that only one man could tell.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
by Jim Defelice Chris Kyle Scott Mcewen<P>He is the deadliest American sniper ever, called "the devil" by the enemies he hunted and "the legend" by his Navy SEAL brothers . . . <P>From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. <P>The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109), but it has declined to verify the astonishing total number for this book. <P>Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they named him al-Shaitan ("the devil") and placed a bounty on his head. <P>Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. <P>Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time. <P>A native Texan who learned to shoot on childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to joining the Navy. <P>After 9/11, he was thrust onto the front lines of the War on Terror, and soon found his calling as a world-class sniper who performed best under fire. <P>He recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill shot outside Baghdad; in Fallujah, Kyle braved heavy fire to rescue a group of Marines trapped on a street; in Ramadi, he stared down insurgents with his pistol in close combat. <P>Kyle talks honestly about the pain of war--of twice being shot and experiencing the tragic deaths of two close friends. <P>American Sniper also honors Kyles fellow warriors, who raised hell on and off the battlefield. And in moving first-person accounts throughout, Kyle's wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their marriage and children, as well as on Chris. <P>Adrenaline-charged and deeply personal, American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness account of war that only one man could tell.
American Socialist Triptych: The Literary-Political Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Upton Sinclair, and W. E. B. Du Bois
by Van Wienen Mark W."A meticulously researched, highly informed, carefully argued, and very accessible account of American socialism, socialists, and socialistic thinking, from the late nineteenth century through the 1960s . . . challenges the intellectual and political legacy of Werner Sombart'sWhy Is There No Socialism in the United States?, whose spirit still hovers over animated discussions about the 'failures' of socialism in the United States. " ---James A. Miller, George Washington University "A valuable rethinking and reframing of the traditions of leftist literary scholarship in the U. S. " ---Sylvia Cook, University of Missouri, St. Louis American Socialist Triptych: The Literary-Political Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Upton Sinclair, and W. E. B. Du Boisexplores the contributions of three writers to the development of American socialism over a fifty--year period and asserts the vitality of socialism in modern American literature and culture. Drawing upon a wide range of texts including archival sources, Mark W. Van Wienen demonstrates the influence of reform-oriented, democratic socialism both in the careers of these writers and in U. S. politics between 1890 and 1940. While offering unprecedented in-depth analysis of modern American socialist literature, this book charts the path by which the supposedly impossible, dangerous ideals of a cooperative commonwealth were realized, in part, by the New Deal. American Socialist Triptychprovides in-depth, innovative readings of the featured writers and their engagement with socialist thought and action. Upton Sinclair represents the movement's most visible manifestation, the Socialist Party of America, founded in 1901; Charlotte Perkins Gilman reflects the socialist elements in both feminism and 1890s reform movements, and W. E. B. Du Bois illuminates social democratic aspirations within the NAACP. Van Wienen's book seeks to re-energize studies of Sinclair by treating him as a serious cultural figure whose career peaked not in the early success ofThe Junglebut in his nearly successful 1934 run for the California governorship. It also demonstrates as never before the centrality of socialism throughout Gilman's and Du Bois's literary and political careers. More broadly,American Socialist Triptychchallenges previous scholarship on American radical literature, which has focused almost exclusively on the 1930s and Communist writers. Van Wienen argues that radical democracy was not the phenomenon of a decade or of a single group but a sustained tradition dispersed within the culture, providing a useful genealogical explanation for how socialist ideas were actually implemented through the New Deal. American Socialist Triptychalso revises modern American literary history, arguing for the endurance of realist and utopian literary modes at the height of modernist literary experimentation and showing the importance of socialism not only to the three featured writers but also to their peers, including Edward Bellamy, Hamlin Garland, Jack London, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Claude McKay. Further, by demonstrating the importance of social democratic thought to feminist and African American campaigns for equality, the book dialogues with recent theories of radical egalitarianism. Readers interested in American literature, U. S. history, political theory, and race, gender, and class studies will all find inAmerican Socialist Triptycha valuable and provocative resource.
American Soldier
by Tommy R. Franks Malcolm McConnellTo America, he was a hero.To his troops, he was a soldier.Now hear his story.Each new era in American history has given rise to a military leader who defines the nation’s proudest traditions—of leadership and honor, of vision and commitment and courage in the face of any challenge. From Washington and U.S. Grant to Dwight D. Eisenhower and Norman Schwarzkopf, these men have captured the nation’s imagination, and entered the small pantheon of
American Soldier
by Tommy FranksThe autobiography of General Tommy Franks. A look at the war on terrorism from someone who served on the frontlines as both a warrior and a diplomat.
American Son: A Portrait Of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
by Richard BlowAt thirty-four, better known for his social life than his work as an assistant district attorney, John F. Kennedy, Jr. , was still a man in search of his destiny. All that changed in 1995, when Kennedy launched a bold new magazine about American politics, puckishly called George. Over the next four years, Kennedy's passionate commitment to the magazine and to the ideals it stood for transformed him. One witness to this transformation was Richard Blow, an editor and writer who joined George several months before the release of its first issue. During their four years together, Blow observed his boss rise to enormous challenges starting a risky new business, managing the pressures that attend a high public profile, and beginning life as a married man. With Blow as our surrogate, we see the many sides of Kennedy's personality: the rebel who fearlessly takes on politicians and pundits; the gentleman who sends gracious thank-you notes to his colleagues for their wedding gifts; the vulnerable son occasionally at odds with a mythic family legacy; the leader who stays true to his vision, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Simply and sympathetically, Blow offers an affecting portrait of a complicated man at last coming into his own sometimes gracefully, sometimes under siege, but never without the burden of great expectations.
American Son: My Story
by Steve Springer Oscar De La HoyaFrom Oscar De La Hoya, one of the most celebrated fighters in the history of boxing, comes a frank and touching memoir about achieving the American Dream: his rise to the top, the power of a solid work ethic, his mother's painful death from cancer, the pitfalls of stardom, and a very personal take on what it means to be an American The son of Mexican-born parents, Oscar "The Golden Boy" De La Hoya has had an astonishing career. From boxing to business, from the recording industry to the charitable accomplishments of his foundation, his success is a testament to what one can achieve in the United States. But who is this man who has changed the lives of so many? Who has imprinted a positive mark upon the sport of boxing, for which many have all but given up hope? Who has become a symbol of success for an entire community, without many heroes to call their own?American Son answers these questions.Born into a boxing family, De La Hoya has defeated more than a dozen world champions and won six world titles as well as an Olympic gold medal—a moment forever marked in the memory of anyone who has followed his career. Yet within the maelstrom of this success lay a man whose earnest belief in the goodness of everyone around him sometimes led him to stray far from his intended path. This book is The Golden Boy, and he bares his most heartbreaking mistakes as well as his most stunning triumphs for all of the world to see. This thrilling tale of an immigrant's son—a quintessentially American story—is the chronicle of an amazing journey that will provide readers with new insight into the private life of a figure who has to many reached iconic status.
American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant
by Ann Scott TysonA gripping account of a U.S. Army Special Forces major’s journey into the tribal Pashtuns of Afghanistan by a Pulitzer Prize–nominated author.One of the most charismatic, controversial U.S. commanders of modern memory, Army Special Forces Major Jim Gant changed the face of America’s war in Afghanistan when his critical white paper, “One Tribe at a Time,” went viral at the Pentagon, the White House, and on Capitol Hill in 2009.A decorated Green Beret who had spent years training indigenous fighters, Jim argued for embedding autonomous units with tribes across Afghanistan: these American soldiers would live among Afghans for extended periods, not only to train tribal militias but also to fight with them in battle. He argued that these small U.S. teams could earn the trust of the Afghans and transform them into reliable allies with whom we could defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda networks.Correspondent Ann Scott Tyson came to share Jim’s vision that Americans and Pashtuns could fight side-by-side and create real change across the region, so she accompanied him to Afghanistan. This remarkable story—of Jim’s close relationships with village elder Noor Afzhal, the fierce fighting they took straight to the enemy in the mountains of Konar Province, and Ann and Jim’s deepening love for each other—is told with a keen sense of drama and immediacy.A story like no other, American Spartan is one of the most remarkable and emotionally resonant narratives of war ever published.
American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton
by Ted WidmerFrom the book: Public speeches have profoundly shaped American history and culture, transforming not only our politics but also our language and our sense of national identity. This volume collects the unabridged texts of 83 eloquent and dramatic speeches delivered by 45 American public figures between 1865 and 1997, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's last speech on Reconstruction and ending with Bill Clinton's heartfelt tribute to the Little Rock Nine. During this period American political oratory continued to evolve, as a more conversational style, influenced by the intimacy of radio and television, emerged alongside traditional forms of rhetoric. Included are speeches on Reconstruction by Thaddeus Stevens and African-American congressman Robert Brown Elliott, Frederick Douglass's brilliant oration on Abraham Lincoln, and Oliver Wendell Holmes's "touched with fire" Memorial Day Address. Speeches by Robert Ingersoll and William Jennings Bryan capture the fervor of 19th-century political conventions, while Theodore Roosevelt and Carl Schurz offer opposing views on imperialism. Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell denounce the cruelty of lynching and the injustice of Jim Crow; Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Carrie Chapman Catt advocate the enfranchisement of women; and Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cabot Lodge present conflicting visions of the League of Nations. Also included are wartime speeches by George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower; an address on the atomic bomb by J. Robert Oppenheimer; Richard Nixon's "Checkers Speech"; Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet"; Barry Goldwater's speech to the 1964 Republican convention; Mario Savio urging Berkeley students to stop "the machine"; Barbara Jordan defending the Constitution during Watergate; and an extensive selection of speeches by Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. Ted Widmer, editor, is t
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (American History Ser.)
by Joseph J. EllisFor a man who insisted that life on the public stage was not what he had in mind, Thomas Jefferson certainly spent a great deal of time in the spotlight--and not only during his active political career. After 1809, his longed-for retirement was compromised by a steady stream of guests and tourists who made of his estate at Monticello a virtual hotel, as well as by more than one thousand letters per year, most from strangers, which he insisted on answering personally. In his twilight years Jefferson was already taking on the luster of a national icon, which was polished off by his auspicious death (on July 4, 1826); and in the subsequent seventeen decades of his celebrity--now verging, thanks to virulent revisionists and television documentaries, on notoriety--has been inflated beyond recognition of the original person.<P><P> For the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the experience of writing about Jefferson was "as if a pathologist, just about to begin an autopsy, has discovered that the body on the operating table was still breathing." In American Sphinx, Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams." For, at the grass roots, Jefferson is no longer liberal or conservative, agrarian or industrialist, pro- or anti-slavery, privileged or populist. He is all things to all people. His own obliviousness to incompatible convictions within himself (which left him deaf to most forms of irony) has leaked out into the world at large--a world determined to idolize him despite his foibles.<P> From Ellis we learn that Jefferson sang incessantly under his breath; that he delivered only two public speeches in eight years as president, while spending ten hours a day at his writing desk; that sometimes his political sensibilities collided with his domestic agenda, as when he ordered an expensive piano from London during a boycott (and pledged to "keep it in storage"). We see him relishing such projects as the nailery at Monticello that allowed him to interact with his slaves more palatably, as pseudo-employer to pseudo-employees. We grow convinced that he preferred to meet his lovers in the rarefied region of his mind rather than in the actual bedchamber. We watch him exhibiting both great depth and great shallowness, combining massive learning with extraordinary naïveté, piercing insights with self-deception on the grandest scale. We understand why we should neither beatify him nor consign him to the rubbish heap of history, though we are by no means required to stop loving him. He is Thomas Jefferson, after all--our very own sphinx.<P> Winner of the National Book Award
American Spies
by Granick Jennifer StisaUS intelligence agencies - the eponymous American spies - are exceedingly aggressive, pushing and sometimes bursting through the technological, legal and political boundaries of lawful surveillance. Written for a general audience by a surveillance law expert, this book educates readers about how the reality of modern surveillance differs from popular understanding. Weaving the history of American surveillance - from J. Edgar Hoover through the tragedy of September 11th to the fusion centers and mosque infiltrators of today - the book shows that mass surveillance and democracy are fundamentally incompatible. Granick shows how surveillance law has fallen behind while surveillance technology has given American spies vast new powers. She skillfully guides the reader through proposals for reining in massive surveillance with the ultimate goal of surveillance reform.
American Spirit: Profiles in Resilience, Courage, and Faith
by Taya Kyle Jim DeFeliceThe "American Sniper" legacy continues: Taya Kyle celebrates the American Spirit in her inspiring new bookLife leads us through difficult terrain. But what happens if you use challenge as an opportunity to discover your PURPOSE? These Americans did and are changing the world. After losing her husband, "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, bestselling author Taya Kyle entered a period of deep grief. And yet the experience served as a catalyst for profound growth. Taya found her own reserve of strength with the help of the generous love and support of family and friends—and also many strangers across America, who selflessly shared their own stories of suffering, survival, and triumph. Inspired by her experience, Taya discovered her calling: spreading a message of how love, passion, and service can combine to help us persevere over personal pain and heal our communities. Working with trusted collaborator Jim DeFelice (coauthor of American Sniper and American Wife), Taya tells her own story, as well as those of other Americans who have built extraordinary lives after traveling down life’s most difficult roads—through loss, illness, all manner of setback. They embody the “American spirit” of resilience, faith, togetherness that has built the nation. American Spirit profiles more than 30 individuals, young and old, rich and not-so-rich, famous and unknown, who have overcome hardship and done extraordinary things for their communities and for the nation at large. The 9/11 survivor, badly burned over 60% of his body, who asked himself What debt do I owe to God? And to my fellow human beings? What am I supposed to do with this miracle of survival? The man with the hole in his heart who runs ultramarathons. The young cancer victim whose lemonade stand inspired a revolutionary new model for fighting cancer. The blind cyclist; the pastor who became an undercover investigator, and more. In the end, these stories teach us how to find purpose and heal the world, no matter the difficulty. “Every action, big or small,” Taya writes, “has the potential to spark someone else’s movement.”
American Spirits: The Fox Sisters
by Barb RosenstockCAN THE DEAD TALK TO THE LIVING? Discover the astonishingly true story of Maggie, Kate, and Leah Fox—the Civil War-era sisters and teen mediums who created the American séance. A real-life ghost story for young adult readers interested in the supernatural, American history, and women&’s rights!Rap. Rap. Rap. The eerie sound was first heard in March of 1848 at the home of the Fox family in Hydesville, New York. The family&’s two daughters, Kate and Maggie, soon discovered that they could communicate with the spirit that was making these uncanny noises; he told them he had been a traveling peddler who had been murdered. This strange incident, and the ones that followed, generated a media frenzy beyond anything the Fox sisters could have imagined. Kate and Maggie, managed (or perhaps manipulated) by their elder sister Leah, became famous spirit mediums, giving public exhibitions, and advising other celebrities of their day. But were the Fox sisters legitimate? In the years that followed their rise, the Civil War killed roughly 1 in 4 soldiers, increasing the demand for contacting the dead. However, media campaigns against the sisters gathered steam as well...This thrilling and mysterious true story from veteran author Barb Rosenstock (Caldecott Honor winner) will spark teens&’ interest in American history, encourage media literacy, and reveal insights into the Civil War era, fake news, and women's rights.
American Stories: To 1877
by Jason RipperThis book is ideal for any introductory American history instructor who wants to make the subject more appealing. It's designed to supplement a main text, and focuses on "personalized history" presented through engaging biographies of famous and less-well-known figures from the colonial period to 1877. Historical patterns and trends appear as they are seen through individual lives, and the selection of the profiled individuals reflects a cultural awareness and a multicultural perspective.
American Story
by Bob DotsonThe host of the NBC Today Show's popular segment shares his favorite stories of citizens making a difference around the country For the six million people who watch the Emmy Award-winning "American Story with Bob Dotson" on NBC's Today Show, Bob Dotson's reports celebrate the inspirational stories of everyday Americans. Dotson has been crisscrossing the country for more than forty years--logging more than four million miles--in search of people who have quietly but profoundly changed our lives and our country for the better. Now, in American Story, he presents a road map to the unsung heroes with thoughtful solutions to problems we all face, incredible ideas that work, and blueprints to living our dreams. *The boss who came out of retirement to start a new company for his former employees who could not find work *The truck driver who taught microsurgery *The man you've never heard of who has 465 profitable patents, second only to Thomas Edison *The doctor who developed the vaccine to prevent whooping cough, who didn't retire until age 104 In the tradition of Tom Brokaw's New York Times bestseller The Time of Our Lives, American Story is a deeply moving and endlessly fascinating alternative narrative for everyone who yearns to feel good about America. .