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Bad News
by Anjan SundaramThe author of the acclaimed Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo now moves on to Rwanda for a gripping look at a country caught still in political and social unrest, years after the genocide that shocked the world. Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame's regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual--the evidence of one's own experience--is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power. A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
Bad News for McEnroe: Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas—A Memoir
by Cathy Long Bill Scanlon Sonny LongA shockingly honest memoir about life on the pro tennis circuit during its golden years by one of McEnroe's and Connors' chief rivals, Bill Scanlon.In the golden age of tennis, when players were just learning how to become media personalities, men like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg and Ivan Lendl ruled the court. In a tell-all memoir, former top 10 seeded tennis star and chief McEnroe rival, Bill Scanlon, presents an unfettered look at the good old days of tennis when some of the most colorful (and infamous) players in history went head-to-head and the game was changed forever.Bad News For McEnroe is in part a revelation of the feud between McEnroe and the author that began when they were teenagers, but the essence of this book are the wonderful and surprising on- and off-the-court high jinks of such notable players as Guillermo Vilas, Borg, McEnroe, Ilie Nastase and Connors, all of whom Scanlan played and knew intimately, from locker room fights to on-court breakdowns and blow-ups. A story that could not have come from anyone but a true insider, Scanlon's tale of life on the pro tennis circuit will shock and delight tennis fans everywhere.
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal
by Vaunda Micheaux NelsonBASS REEVES ...<P><P> "One of the bravest men this country has ever known."<P> "The most feared deputy U.S. Marshal that was ever heard of."<P> One of the first black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi.<P> Sitting tall in the saddle, with a wide-brimmed black hat and twin Colt pistols on his belt, Bass Reeves seemed bigger than life. Outlaws feared him. Law-abiding citizens respected him. As a peace officer, he was cunning and fearless. When a lawbreaker heard Bass Reeves had his warrant, he knew it was the end of the trail, because Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this in spite of some whites who didn't like the notion of a black lawman.<P> Born into slavery in 1838, Bass had a hard and violent life, but he also had a strong sense of right and wrong that others admired. When Judge Isaac Parker tried to bring law and order to lawless Indian Territory, he chose Bass to be a deputy U.S. marshal. Bass would quickly prove a smart choice.<P> For three decades, Bass was the most feared and respected lawman in the territories. He made more than 3,000 arrests, and though he was a crack shot and a quick draw, he killed only fourteen men in the line of duty. The story of Bass Reeves is the story of a remarkable African American and a remarkable hero of the Old West.<P> Winner of the Coretta Scott King Medal
Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship
by Anjan SundaramThe author of the acclaimed Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo now moves on to Rwanda for a gripping look at a country caught still in political and social unrest, years after the genocide that shocked the world. Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame's regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual--the evidence of one's own experience--is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power. A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
Bad Presidents
by Philip AbbottGeorge Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt are always at the top of presidential rankings. But what about those presidents who consistently appear at or near the bottom of these lists? Based on the insights found in Shakespeare's treatment of two bad kings, Abbott identifies two kinds of bad presidents and examines the case for including eleven in this category. In each case study, from John Tyler to Richard Nixon (and possibly George W. Bush), he finds a tipping point that places them in this unenviable category. Abbott concludes by discussing why we elected these bad presidents in the first place and how we might avoid adding future bad presidents to the list.
Bad Princess: True Tales from Behind the Tiara
by Kris WaldherrFrom the author of Doomed Queens, an entertaining and informative look at the lives of over 30 princesses from the past and present. Welcome to Bad Princess by Kris Waldherr, where you&’ll discover what really happens after &“Happily Ever After.&” From the war-torn Dark Ages of Medieval Europe to America's Gilded Age, and all the way up to Kate Middleton, Bad Princess explores more than 30 true princess stories, going beyond the glitz and glamour to find out what life was really like for young royals throughout history. A mix of royal biography, pop culture, art, style, and pure fun, Bad Princess is a whip-smart, tongue-in-cheek spin on the traditional princess narrative, proving that it takes more than a pretty crown to be a great leader. Praise for Bad PrincessA SELECTION OF THE JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD&“Perfect for tweens . . . This is a great book to recommend to readers who want a taste of history with a side of fairy tale princesses.&” —School Library Journal&“Snarky and sympathetic . . . Power to the princesses, right on!&” —Kirkus Reviews&“Packed with history and context, Waldherr uses an animated, well-rounded approach in this engaging look at princesses in life and lore . . . This absorbing, thought-provoking, and intriguing exploration of a perennially popular topic will both entertain and inform.&” —Booklist
Bad Republican: A Memoir
by Meghan McCainWith the aptly titled Bad Republican, Meghan McCain expresses how it is to feel like you no longer fit in with your political party. She tells of growing up the daughter of an American icon who shaped her life and details the heartbreaking final moments spent by his side. She recalls her (mis)adventures on the New York dating scene and brings us up to speed on meeting her now-husband. We hear her views on cancel culture and internet trolls as well as life backstage as the sole Republican at America&’s most-watched daytime talk show—and why she decided to leave. Revealingly, she relays the awkward phone call she received from Donald and Melania and where she thinks the Republican Party and the country go from here. And with surprising candor, she divulges why a miscarriage and the birth of her daughter have left her so fired up about women&’s rights—even if that puts her at odds with her party. Unsparingly honest, deeply relatable, and highly entertaining, Bad Republican is as personal as a story gets. It&’s a memoir imbued with an unmistakable maverick spirit.
Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution
by Nona Willis AronowitzNamed a Most Anticipated Book by Bustle, Esquire, Nylon, and The Millions&“Intimate, thoughtful, and accessible to anyone struggling with the persistent, maddening inequities of contemporary sex.&” –Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and MadFrom Teen Vogue sex and love columnist Nona Willis Aronowitz, a blend of memoir, social history, and cultural criticism that probes the meaning of desire and sexual freedom today.At thirty-two years old, everything in Nona Willis Aronowitz&’s life, and in America, was in disarray. Her marriage was falling apart. Her nuclear family was slipping away. Her heart and libido were both in overdrive. Embroiled in an era of fear, reckoning, and reimagining, her assumptions of what &“sexual liberation&” meant were suddenly up for debate. In the thick of personal and political turmoil, Nona turned to the words of history&’s sexual revolutionaries—including her late mother, early radical pro-sex feminist Ellen Willis. At a time when sex has never been more accepted and feminism has never been more mainstream, Nona asked herself: What, exactly, do I want? And are my sexual and romantic desires even possible amid the horrors and bribes of patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy?Nona&’s attempt to find the answer places her search for authentic intimacy alongside her family history and other stories stretching back nearly two hundred years. Stories of ambivalent wives and unchill sluts, free lovers and radical lesbians, sensitive men and woke misogynists, women who risk everything for sex—who buy sex, reject sex, have bad sex and good sex. The result is a brave, bold, and vulnerable exploration of what sexual freedom can mean. Bad Sex is Nona&’s own journey to sexual satisfaction and romantic happiness, which not only lays bare the triumphs and flaws of contemporary feminism but also shines a light on universal questions of desire.
Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music
by Tim FalconerIn the tradition of Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness — and along the way discovers what we’re really hearing when we listen to music.Tim Falconer, a self-confessed “bad singer,” always wanted to make music, but soon after he starts singing lessons, he discovers that he’s part of only 2.5 percent of the population afflicted with amusia — in other words, he is scientifically tone-deaf. Bad Singer chronicles his quest to understand human evolution and music, the brain science behind tone-deafness, his search for ways to retrain the adult brain, and his investigation into what we really hear when we listen to music. In an effort to learn more about his brain disorder, he goes to a series of labs where the scientists who test him are as fascinated with him as he is with them. He also sets out to understand why we love music and deconstructs what we really hear when we listen to it. And he unlocks the secret that helps explain why music has such emotional power over us.
Bad Sister
by Charise Mericle HarperThis middle grade graphic memoir by Charise Mericle Harper, featuring illustrations by Rory Lucey, follows a young girl who undergoes a crisis of conscience, realizing that she is a “bad sister.” Meet Charise.She’s energetic, helpful, a model pet owner and full of inventions.But she’s also a bad sister. When she goes too far and breaks little brother Daniel’s tooth, can she redeem herself? Is an accident really an accident if you could have stopped it? But most importantly... What does it mean to be a good sister?
Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel
by Suzanne RobertsBoth a memoir in travel essays and an anti-guidebook, Bad Tourist takes us across four continents to fifteen countries, showing us what not to do when traveling. A woman learning to claim her own desires and adventures, Suzanne Roberts encounters lightning and landslides, sharks and piranha-infested waters, a nightclub drugging, burning bodies, and brief affairs as she searches for the love of her life and finally herself. Throughout her travels Roberts tries hard not to be a bad tourist, but owing to her cultural blind spots, things don&’t always go as planned. Fearlessly confessional, shamelessly funny, and wholly unapologetic, Roberts offers a refreshingly honest account of the joys and absurdities of confronting new landscapes and cultures, as well as new versions of herself. Raw, bawdy, and self-effacing, Bad Tourist is a journey packed with delights and surprises—both of the greater world and of the mysterious workings of the heart.
Bad Trips: How I Went from VICE Reporter to International Drug Smuggler
by Slava PastukThe true story of a music editor at VICE who tried to become the coolest reporter the company had ever had — by becoming an international drug smuggler. In 2019, music reporter Slava P, an editor for VICE media, was sentenced to nine years in prison for recruiting friends into a scheme to smuggle cocaine from the U.S. into Australia. Five of them were already in jail. Immediately, Slava P was internationally infamous. Was he a victim of pressure to commit extreme acts for the sake of a good story? A product of a drug-obsessed work environment? Or a manipulator who pushed vulnerable young people into crime?Here, Slava P tells his side of the story: what exactly happened and how the precarious, dog-eat-dog atmosphere of a media company can lead the young, the naive, and the ambitious into taking crazy risks.Bad Trips is a story about drugs, hip-hop, influencers, and glamour, set against the backdrop of one of the world’s most influential news and entertainment sites, VICE. Its cast of beautiful young people and semi-famous rappers passes from the seediest apartments to the most elegant of private clubs. Slava P’s chronicling of his years at this famous hotbed of excess is a piercing insight into contemporary media culture.All royalties from the sale of Bad Trips go to co-author Brian Whitney.
Bad Vibes Only: (and Other Things I Bring to the Table)
by Nora McInernyFrom the host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking—called &“a gift&” by The New York Times—a raw and humorous essay collection in the spirit of Jenny Lawson and Samantha Irby.Nora McInerny does not dance like no one is watching. In fact, she dances like everyone is watching, which is to say, she does not dance at all. A bestselling author and host of the beloved podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, which the New York Times called &“a gift,&” she has captured the hearts of millions with her disarming and earnest approach to discussing grief and loss. Now, with Bad Vibes Only, she turns her eye on our aggressively, oppressively optimistic culture, our obsession with self-improvement, and what it really means to live authentically in the online age. In essays that revisit her cringey past and anticipate her rapidly approaching, early middle-aged future, McInerny lays bare her own chaos, inviting us to drop the facade of perfection and embrace the truth: that we are all—at best—slightly unhinged. Socrates claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Bad Vibes Only is for the people who have taken that dictum a bit too far—the overthinkers, the analyzers, the recovering Girl Bosses, and the burned-out personal brand—reminding us that a life worth living is about more than just &“good vibes.&”
Bad with Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial Sh*t Together
by Gaby Dunn&“Humorous and forthright...[Gaby] Dunn makes facing money issues seem not only palatable but possibly even fun....Dunn&’s book delivers.&” —Publishers Weekly The beloved writer-comedian expands on his popular podcast with an engaging and empowering financial literacy book for Millennials and Gen Z. In the first episode of his Bad With Money podcast, Gaby Dunn asked patrons at a coffee shop two questions: First, what&’s your favorite sex position? Everyone was game to answer, even the barista. Then, she asked how much money was in their bank accounts. People were aghast. &“That&’s a very personal question,&” they insisted. And therein lies the problem. Dunn argues that our inability to speak honestly about money is our #1 barrier to understanding it, leading us to feel alone, ashamed, and anxious, which in turns makes us feel even more overwhelmed by it. In Bad With Money, he reveals the legitimate, systemic reasons behind our feeling of helplessness when it comes to personal finance, demystifying the many signposts on the road to getting our financial sh*t together, like how to choose an insurance plan or buy a car, sign up for a credit card or take out student loans. He speaks directly to her audience, offering advice on how to make that #freelancelyfe work for you, navigate money while you date, and budget without becoming a Nobel-winning economist overnight. Even a topic as notoriously dry as money becomes hilarious and engaging in the hands of Dunn, who weaves his own stories with the perspectives of various comedians, artists, students, and more, arguing that—even without selling our bodies to science or suffering the indignity of snobby thrift shop buyers—we can all start taking control of our financial futures.
Bad: An Unprecedented Investigation into the Michael Jackson Cover-Up (Front Page Detectives)
by Dylan HowardAn Inside View into the Dark Side of a Music Icon He was the King of Pop, a superstar without equal, the idol of millions of young people around the world. But was Michael Jackson also a sexual predator without equal, someone who preyed on the very fans who adored him? Bad is the revelatory untold true story of the strange and larger-than-life career of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. In the wake of the controversial two-part documentary Leaving Neverland, which told the stories of two young boys who were befriended by the singer and have claimed they suffered years of agonizing abuse, Dylan Howard set out to investigate Jackson&’s life and death in unprecedented depth, to determine—as one lawyer suggested—that the pop star ran &“the most sophisticated child sexual abuse procurement and facilitation operation the world has known.&” After all the highly publicized trials and unfounded accusations, stunning new information has finally come to light: irrefutable evidence that one of the best-known, best-loved figures in the world was a monster behind closed doors—a foul-mouthed, abusive, drug-sodden freak whose deeds and the reasons for those deeds are revealed now for the first time. A dramatic narrative account based on dozens of interviews, Howard shares Jackson&’s own riveting personal journal—obtained exclusively for this book—interviews with family members, multiple first-person sources—some of whom have asked to remain anonymous—as well as thousands of pages of court documents. What he uncovers is a man who was both naive and Machiavellian, unorthodox, a devoted father, shrewd businessman, and drug addict whose life was cut short but whose sound and style have influenced artists of various genres and generations. Remarkably though, in death, there remains two portraits of Michael Jackson: the reigning King of Pop, and a pedophile whose pattern of abuse ruined his reputation. Fans and individuals alike will forever be asking if the insidious claims being made about MJ are true. This is the new narrative and the sad legacy of one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Here is his life story, told for the first time with stories and testimony that will leave you shaken.
Bad: The Autobiography of James Carr
by James CarrAn unapologetic, brutal memoir from notorious 60s career criminal and Black Panther James Carr. BAD covers Carr's life from his first arrest for burning down his school at age 10, through merciless stints in San Quentin, where he shared a cell with famed Soledad Brother George Jackson, through his tragic post-incarceration murder in San Jose in 1972. A savage indictment of the American penal system, this classic release has new significance as part of a growing, urgent demand for prison reform.
Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live (Badass Series)
by Ben ThompsonThe badasses populating the pages of Badass are the most savagely awesome historical figures to ever strap on a pair of chain mail gauntlets and run screaming into battle. Author Ben Thompson—considered by many to be the Internet’s foremost expert on badassitude—has gathered together a rogues’ gallery of butt-stomping rogues, from Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan to Blackbeard, George S. Patton, and Bruce Lee. Their bone-breaking exploits are illustrated by top artist from the fields of gaming, comics, and cards—DC Comics illustrator Matt Haley and Thomas Denmark, illustrator for the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. This is not your boring high school history—this is tough, manly, unrelentingly Badass!
Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch (Badass Series)
by Ben ThompsonFrom the Ben Thompson, author of Badass: The Birth of a Legend, comes a collection of history’s most awe-inspiring duels and showdowns, brutal crusades and epic brawls, and profiles of the fascinating people who fought in them.From Caliphs to Green Berets, some of civilization’s toughest warriors are profiled in Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch, including Cyrus the Great, St. Moses the Black, and The Rani of Jhansi, as well as in-depth analyses of how they battled their way to victory.Featuring original artworks by top graphic artists and comic book illustrators, and Ben Thompson’s signature wry, side-splitting commentary, Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch is the history of badasses, the only way it should be written: covered in blood!
Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders
by Peter RichmondA book that explores the enduring legends of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders, Badasses is the definitive biography of arguably the last team to play old-fashioned tough-guy football. Peter Richmond, co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Glory Game, offers a fascinating look at the 1970s Oakland Raiders, led by colorful greats from another era: Ken Stabler, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto, Art Shell, head coach John Madden, and owner Al Davis. In the bestselling vein of Boys Will Be Boys, Badasses chronicles the bar-room exploits, practice-field pranks, and Super Bowl glories of the team’s many misfits, cast-offs, psychos, and geniuses of the game.
Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson
by Mark KriegelFrom the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author whose coverage of Mike Tyson and his inner circle dates back to the 1980s, a magnificent noir epic about fame, race, greed, criminality, trauma, and the creation of the most feared and mesmerizing fighter in boxing history.On an evening that defined the "greed is good" 1980s, Donald Trump hosted a raft of celebrities and high rollers in a carnival town on the Jersey Shore to bask in the glow created by a twenty-one-year-old heavyweight champion. Mike Tyson knocked out Michael Spinks that night and in ninety-one frenzied seconds earned more than the annual payrolls of the Los Angeles Lakers' and Boston Celtics' players combined. It had been just eight years since Tyson, a feral child from a dystopian Brooklyn neighborhood, was delivered to boxing&’s forgotten wizard, Cus D&’Amato, who was living a self-imposed exile in upstate New York. Together, Cus and the Kid were an irresistible story of mutual redemption—darlings to the novelists, screenwriters, and newspapermen long charmed by D&’Amato, and perfect for the nascent industry of cable television. Way before anyone heard of Tony Soprano, Mike Tyson was HBO&’s leading man.It was the greatest sales job in the sport&’s history, and the most lucrative. But the business of Tyson concealed truths that were darker and more nuanced than the script would allow.The intervening decades have seen Tyson villainized, lionized, and fetishized—but never, until now, fully humanized. Mark Kriegel, an acclaimed biographer regarded as &“the finest boxing writer in America,&” was a young cityside reporter at the New York Daily News when he was first swept up in the Tyson media hurricane, but here he measures his subject not by whom he knocked out but by what he survived. Though Tyson was billed as a modern-day Jack Dempsey, in truth he was closer to Sonny Liston: Tyson was Black, feared, and born to die young. What made Liston a pariah, though, would make Tyson—in a way his own handlers could never understand—a touchstone for a generation raised on a soundtrack of hip hop and gunfire.What Peter Guralnick did for Elvis in Last Train to Memphis and James Kaplan for Sinatra in Frank, Kriegel does for Tyson. It&’s not just the dizzying ascent that he captures but also Tyson&’s place in the American psyche.
Baden-Powell - The Hero of Mafeking
by W. Francis AitkenBaron Baden-Powell is nowadays remembered best for his work as the founder of the Scouting Movement which has gone on to become a world-wide success; however his initial reputation rested on his military career centred on the Boer War. Colonel Baden-Powell, as he then was, commanded at Mafeking and was charged with its defence no matter the odds. At his command he had few resources, even fewer men and slim prospects of holding out against overwhelming odds. What this book tells, with great gusto, is the miracle that Baden-Powell contrived to bring about by successfully defending Mafeking for seven months. His tactics were often unconventional but very effective in keeping up both the spirits of the townspeople and the Boers at bay. He set an example of sang-froid that was instrumental in ensuring the troops under his command did not give in to the fears of the odds facing them. The following anecdote is characteristic of him:"Soon after the redoubtable Cronje [The Boer General] took command of the Boer forces, he forwarded a demand for surrender, to avoid further bloodshed, to which the reply [Baden-Powell's] was, "When will the bloodshed begin?""Highly recommended.Author -- W. Francis AitkenText taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in 1900, London, by S W Partridge & Co.Original Page Count - 175 pages.Illustrations -- 1 Portrait.
Baden-Powell: Chief Scout of the World
by Wyatt BlassingameBADEN-POWELL: CHIEF SCOUT OF THE WORLD is the inspiring story of a man who loved life and the out-of-doors. A hero of the Boer War and one of Britain's best army officers, B-P had learned early the importance of physical fitness, self-reliance, and being alert. Realizing the importance of instilling these qualities in young people, B-P founded the Boy Scouts. He gave up a career in the army to devote his life to teaching Scouts. Today, brother Scouts around the world try to live up to the ideals of their founder and to their motto, "Be Prepared." Other books by this author are available in this library.!
Bader’s Big Wing Controversy: Duxford 1940
by Dilip SarkarGroup Captain Sir Douglas Bader remains one of the most famous RAF fighter pilots to date, perhaps even the most famous of all, thanks to Paul Brickhill’s best-selling 1950s yarn Reach for the Sky and Dany Angel’s box office hit of the same name, starring Kenneth Moore. Bader, a graduate of the RAF College Cranwell and a professional, career officer, was a gifted sportsman and aerobatic pilot – but headstrong. After a crash that led to the amputation of both of his legs, the Second World War was this man of action’s salvation: passing a flying test, he returned to the RAF, first flying Spitfires with 19 Squadron at Duxford. In due course he was posted to 222 Squadron as a flight commander, seeing action over Dunkirk. Already newsworthy, the swashbuckling, legless, fighter pilot was also a favorite of his Station Commander, Wing Commander A.B. ‘Woody’ Woodhall, and, more importantly, his 12 Group Air Officer Commanding, Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory. In short order, therefore, Bader was soon elevated to Acting Squadron Leader and given command of 242 Squadron, a Canadian Hurricane squadron which he led throughout the Battle of Britain. On 30 August 1940, 12 Group was requested to reinforce 11 Group and intercept a raid on an aircraft factory at Hatfield. This was Bader and 242 Squadron’s first experience of a mass German raid, and many combat claims were subsequently filed. The events that day led Bader to submit a report arguing that the more fighters he had at his disposal, the greater would be the execution of the enemy that could be achieved. It was a concept that received support from Leigh-Mallory, who recognised an opportunity for 12 Group to play a greater part in what was clearly an historic battle. Leigh-Mallory authorised Bader to lead three, then five, squadrons – a controversial formation that came to be known as the ‘Duxford Wing’ or ‘Big Wing’. In Bader’s Big Wing Controversy, Dilip Sarkar not only explores the full story of the people and events that led to the creation of the ‘Big Wing’ at Duxford, he also fully investigates the part that its men and machines played in the Battle of Britain story. Whilst Bader was not personally intending disloyalty, as such, to his Air Officer Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, he was, as the latter once commented, ‘the cause of a lot of the trouble’. In his burning desire to propel 242 Squadron and himself, its leader, into the forefront of the action, the newsworthy acting squadron leader found himself used by darker forces, men with axes to grind and personal ambitions to further.
Badges, Bears, and Eagles: The True-Life Adventures of a California Fish and Game Warden
by Steven T. Callan“This engrossing memoir by debut author Callan lets readers in on highlights of his 30-year career as a California wildlife officer” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Over his thirty-year career as a wildlife protection officer for the California Department of Fish and Game, Steve Callan and his longtime working partner, Dave Szody, conducted some of the most fascinating, complex, and highly successful wildlife investigations in California history. They also collected a wealth of true stories—action-packed, suspenseful, and often humorous. In Badges, Bears, and Eagles, Steve provides a vivid first-person account of his “jaw-dropping, funny, tragic, enraging, exciting, and hopeful” adventures (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The author and his colleagues outsmart game hogs, thwart fish thieves, and foil outlaws with names like “Squeaky.” Steve is even stalked by African lions and mauled by a five-hundred-pound Bengal tiger. One of the most important cases of his career begins with a slain bald eagle dropped on the doorstep of the Fish and Game office, along with a note threatening the life of a fellow warden. A decade later, Steve and Dave conduct the investigation of their lives, uncovering a statewide criminal conspiracy to kill California black bears for their valuable gall bladders. These and other fascinating stories make for a truly unique, “exceptionally well written” memoir of conservation that “is almost flawless, and reading this gem is pure effortless joy” (International Game Warden).
Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West
by Bryce Andrews"Mine might have been a simple, pretty story, if not for the wolves. In late July, they emerged from the foothills . . ." In this gripping memoir of a young man, a wolf, their parallel lives and ultimate collision, Bryce Andrews describes life on the remote, windswept Sun Ranch in southwest Montana. The Sun's twenty thousand acres of rangeland occupy a still-wild corner of southwest Montana--a high valley surrounded by mountain ranges and steep creeks with portentous names like Grizzly, Dead Man, and Bad Luck. Just over the border from Yellowstone National Park, the Sun holds giant herds of cattle and elk amid many predators--bears, mountain lions, and wolves. In lyrical, haunting language, Andrews recounts marathon days and nights of building fences, riding, roping, and otherwise learning the hard business of caring for cattle, an initiation that changes him from an idealistic city kid into a skilled ranch hand. But when wolves suddenly begin killing the ranch's cattle, Andrews has to shoulder a rifle, chase the pack, and do what he'd hoped he would never have to do. Badluck Way is about transformation and complications, about living with dirty hands every day. It is about the hard choices that wake us at night and take a lifetime to reconcile. Above all, Badluck Way celebrates the breathtaking beauty of wilderness and the satisfaction of hard work on some of the harshest, most beautiful land in the world. Called "an important meditation on what it means to share space and breathe the same air as truly wild animals" (Tom Groneberg, author of The Secret Life of Cowboys), Badluck Way is the memorable story of one young man's rebirth in the crucible of the West's timeless landscape, a place at the center of the heart's geography, savage and gorgeous in equal measure.