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Farewell to The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
by Deborah RodriguezTHE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL, THE BESTSELLER THAT CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS WORLDWIDE Kabul, August 2021 Sunny Tedder is back in her beloved coffee shop. After eight years away, she's thrilled to reunite with her Kabul 'family': Yazmina now runs a pair of women's shelters from the old cafe, and dreams of a bright future for her two young daughters. Her sister Layla has become an outspoken women's rights activist and, thanks to social media, is quite the celebrity. Kat, Sunny's friend from America, is wrapping up her year-long stay in the land of her birth, but is facing some unfinished business. And finally there's elderly den mother Halajan, whose secret new hobby is itself an act of rebellion. Then the US troops begin to withdraw - and the women watch in horror as the Taliban advance on the capital at ferocious speed...Set against the terrifying fall of Kabul in 2021, Deborah Rodriguez concludes her bestselling Little Coffee Shop trilogy with a heart-stopping story of resilience, courage and, most importantly, hope.Praise for Deborah Rodriguez'Eye-opening and uplifting' - Grazia 'Restores belief in humanity' - Daily Telegraph 'Heart-warming' - Cosmopolitan'Beguiling' - Woman 'Captivating and addictive' - Take a Break'Full of heart and intelligence' - Look Magazine
Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment
by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston James D. HoustonA moving and intensely human true story of a Japanese American family during the internment of World War II and its aftermath
Farewell To Manzanar with Connections
by Jeanne Houston James HoustonIn the year 1942, in the midst of World War II, the Wakatsuki family is forced to leave their home. They are sent to live at the internment camp in Manzanar along with thousands of other Japanese Americans. Based on the real life experiences of co-author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Farewell to Manzanar covers Wakatsuki family life before the war, during their three and a half years in camp, and post war. Learn how this particular family dealt with the injustices of forced imprisonment.
Farewell to Valley Forge
by David TaylorA THRILLING NOVEL OF COURAGE, LOVE AND TREACHERY DURING THE YEARS OF OUR COUNTRY’S BIRTHThe desperate year of 1778. Philadelphia is occupied by the British. Not far away in Valley Forge the ragged and courageous army of George Washington is just coming through its bitter winter stand. Meanwhile the Continental Congress is being beleaguered by a number of officers and influential people to replace Washington as Commander of the patriot armies. At the center of this cabal is General Charles Lee.In this setting of intrigue and revolutionary passion, David Taylor has woven a sanguine and stirring narrative of young Captain Jonathan Kimball of Virginia, assigned to live as a servant in the house of Enoch Ladd, an imprisoned Patriot shipowner, and to spy on the British. With him in this enterprise is the lovely and daring Elizabeth Ladd, daughter of the household and a spy herself.Mutually suspicious at first, Jonathan and Elizabeth come to trust one another after each has been through some dangerous escapades. There is the time Elizabeth overhears some vital information at a masquerade ball she attends on a stolen invitation, and the time when Jonathan helps La Fayette out of a trap set by the British.With a wonderful insight into this exciting historical period Taylor tells of the British Fleet trying to evacuate the Delaware, of the bravery of Molly Pitcher, and the almost disastrous treachery of Lee. Climaxing the whole story is a blow-by-blow description of the illustrious Battle of Monmouth.
The Farther Shore
by Matthew EckIn his unforgettable debut novel, Matthew Eck puts readers inside the mind of a confused young soldier caught in the fog of unexpected warfare. A small unit of soldiers from the U.S. Army is separated from their command and left for dead. Their only option is to keep moving, in hope that they'll escape the marauding gangs and clansmen who appear to rule the city. Josh, a young soldier, and his "battle buddies" are left to wander in this hostile territory. A series of horrifying, often violent encounters leaves only a few of them alive. The Farther Shore is a short, stark war novel in which the characters are both haunting and inhuman, natives and invaders alike. The emerging story reflects a new kind of military engagement, with all the attendant horrors and difficulties of fighting in a strange new postmodern battlefield.
The Farther Shore: Farther Shore (Star Trek: Voyager #2)
by Christie GoldenThe Earth is in the crosshairs of an unrelenting Borg plague in this white-knuckled Star Trek thriller featuring Admiral Janeway and her crew.When an unstoppable Borg plague breaks out upon Earth, blame quickly falls on the newly returned crew of the U.S.S. Voyager. Did Kathryn Janeway and the others unknowingly carry this insidious infection back with them? Many in Starfleet think so, and Seven of Nine, in particular, falls under a cloud of suspicion.Now, with a little help from the U.S.S. Enterprise, Admiral Janeway must reunite her crew in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to discover the true source of the contagion and save Earth itself from total assimilation into a voracious new Borg Collective. But time is running out.Has Voyager come home only to witness humanity&’s end?
Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War
by Raghu KarnadA brilliantly conceived nonfiction epic, a war narrated through the lives and deaths of a single family. The photographs of three young men had stood in his grandmother's house for as long as he could remember, beheld but never fully noticed. They had all fought in the Second World War, a fact that surprised him. Indians had never figured in his idea of the war, nor the war in his idea of India. One of them, Bobby, even looked a bit like him, but Raghu Karnad had not noticed until he was the same age as they were in their photo frames. Then he learned about the Parsi boy from the sleepy south Indian coast, so eager to follow his brothers-in-law into the colonial forces and onto the front line. Manek, dashing and confident, was a pilot with India's fledgling air force; gentle Ganny became an army doctor in the arid North-West Frontier. Bobby's pursuit would carry him as far as the deserts of Iraq and the green hell of the Burma battlefront. The years 1939-45 might be the most revered, deplored, and replayed in modern history. Yet India's extraordinary role has been concealed, from itself and from the world. In riveting prose, Karnad retrieves the story of a single family--a story of love, rebellion, loyalty, and uncertainty--and with it, the greater revelation that is India's Second World War. Farthest Field narrates the lost epic of India's war, in which the largest volunteer army in history fought for the British Empire, even as its countrymen fought to be free of it. It carries us from Madras to Peshawar, Egypt to Burma--unfolding the saga of a young family amazed by their swiftly changing world and swept up in its violence.
Fascinating Footnotes From History: Fascinating Footnotes from History
by Giles Milton'Giles Milton is a man who can take an event from history and make it come alive . . . an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining' Matthew Redhead, The TimesDid you know that Hitler took cocaine? That Stalin robbed a bank? That Charlie Chaplin's corpse was filched and held to ransom? Giles Milton is a master of historical narrative: in his characteristically engaging prose, Fascinating Footnotes From History details one hundred of the quirkiest historical nuggets; eye-stretching stories that read like fiction but are one hundred per cent fact.There is Hiroo Onoda, the lone Japanese soldier still fighting the Second World War in 1974; Agatha Christie, who mysteriously disappeared for eleven days in 1926; and Werner Franz, a cabin boy on the Hindenburg who lived to tell the tale when it was engulfed in flames in 1937. Fascinating Footnotes From History also answers who ate the last dodo, who really killed Rasputin and why Sergeant Stubby had four legs. Peopled with a gallery of spies, rogues, cannibals, adventurers and slaves, and spanning twenty centuries and six continents, Giles Milton's impeccably researched footnotes shed light on some of the most infamous stories and most flamboyant and colourful characters (and animals) from history.(Previoulsy published in four individual epub volumes: When Hitler Took Cocaine, When Stalin Robbed a Bank, When Lenin Lost His Brain and When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep.)
Fascinating Footnotes From History
by Giles Milton'Giles Milton is a man who can take an event from history and make it come alive . . . an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining' Matthew Redhead, The TimesDid you know that Hitler took cocaine? That Stalin robbed a bank? That Charlie Chaplin's corpse was filched and held to ransom? Giles Milton is a master of historical narrative: in his characteristically engaging prose, Fascinating Footnotes From History details one hundred of the quirkiest historical nuggets; eye-stretching stories that read like fiction but are one hundred per cent fact.There is Hiroo Onoda, the lone Japanese soldier still fighting the Second World War in 1974; Agatha Christie, who mysteriously disappeared for eleven days in 1926; and Werner Franz, a cabin boy on the Hindenburg who lived to tell the tale when it was engulfed in flames in 1937. Fascinating Footnotes From History also answers who ate the last dodo, who really killed Rasputin and why Sergeant Stubby had four legs. Peopled with a gallery of spies, rogues, cannibals, adventurers and slaves, and spanning twenty centuries and six continents, Giles Milton's impeccably researched footnotes shed light on some of the most infamous stories and most flamboyant and colourful characters (and animals) from history.(Previoulsy published in four individual epub volumes: When Hitler Took Cocaine, When Stalin Robbed a Bank, When Lenin Lost His Brain and When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep.)
Fascism and the Right in Europe 1919-1945 (Seminar Studies)
by Martin BlinkhornThis new text places interwar European fascism squarely in its historical context and analyses its relationship with other right wing, authoritarian movements and regimes. Beginning with the ideological roots of fascism in pre-1914 Europe, Martin Blinkhorn turns to the problem-torn Europe of 1919 to 1939 in order to explain why fascism emerged and why, in some settings, it flourished while in others it did not. In doing so he considers not just the 'major' fascist movements and regimes of Italy and Germany but the entire range of fascist and authoritarian ideas, movements and regimes present in the Europe of 1919-1945.
Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity
by Fernando EspositoFlying and the pilot were significant metaphors of fascism's mythical modernity. Fernando Esposito traces the changing meanings of these highly charged symbols from the air show in Brescia, to the sky above the trenches of the First World War to the violent ideological clashes of the interwar period.
The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement (Routledge Library Editions: WW2 #8)
by Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Lothar KettenackerThis book, first published in 1983, illustrates the domestic and internal dimension of appeasement and explores the political options open to the western powers in the run up to the Second World War. It looks at the factors pointing in the direction of a general settlement with the dictators: limitation of resources and strategic over-commitment by Britain; economic decline and financial exhaustion of France; lack of support from the United States and the Soviet Union.
A Fascist Decade of War: 1935-1945 in International Perspective (Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right)
by Marco Maria AterranoFrom the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 through to the waning months of the World War II in 1945, Fascist Italy was at war. This Fascist decade of war comprised an uninterrupted stretch of military and political engagements in which Italian military forces were involved in Abyssinia, Spain, Albania, France, Greece, the Soviet Union, North Africa and the Middle East. As a junior partner to Nazi Germany, only entering the war in June 1940, Italy is often seen as a relatively minor player in World War II. However, this book challenges much of the existing scholarship by arguing that Fascist Italy played a significant and distinct role in shaping international relations between 1935 and 1945, creating a Fascist decade of war.
Fascist Warfare, 1922–1945: Aggression, Occupation, Annihilation
by Miguel Alonso Alan Kramer Javier RodrigoThis groundbreaking book explores the interpretative potential and analytical capacity of the concept ‘fascist warfare’. Was there a specific type of war waged by fascist states? The concept encompasses not only the practice of violence at the front, but also war culture, the relationship between war and the fascist project, and the construction of the national community. Starting with the legacy of the First World War and using a transnational approach, this collection presents case studies of fascist regimes at war, spanning Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Francoist Spain, Croatia, and Imperial Japan. Themes include the idea of rapid warfare as a symbol of fascism, total war, the role of modern technology, the transfer of war cultures between regimes, anti-partisan warfare as a key feature, and the contingent nature and limits of fascist warfare.
Fast and Furious
by Trista Ann MichaelsFast cars, fast men, and a fast life have finally landed Allie in more trouble than she can handle. Escaping the grasp of a Russian drug cartel isn't going to be easy, even with the help of the three well-muscled Navy Seals her father sent to save her.Allie likes things fast--cars, men, as well as every aspect of her life. She lives for the moment, which is probably how she found herself waist deep in the middle of a Russian drug cartel. As an undercover cop, she thought she had things well in hand. She was wrong.Three Navy Seals are sent in by Allie's father, SECNAV, to assess the situation. There's concern Allie's in serious danger, and her father wants her out; preferably in one piece. Chase, Logan, and Blaine are all attracted to her, but she will become much more to one of them.Unfortunately for Allie, witness relocation isn't an option. The Russians can always find them. For Allie to get out, she'll have to bring them down.Multiple partners, anal sex, non sexual violence.
Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-up
by Katie PavlichA BLOODY SCANDAL AND ITS SHAMELESS COVER-UP. No scandal is more threatening to the Obama administration than Operation Fast and Furious. While other scandals involve money, Fast and Furious involves lives, including that of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, gunned down with a weapon that the federal government put in the hands of Mexico's narco-terrorists. As shocking as Operation Fast and Furious was--and this book explains, in chilling detail, just what this operation conducted by the ATF, under the supervision of the Justice Department, entailed--equally appalling is the blatant cover-up of wrongdoing by the Obama administration. No reporter has been more dogged in tracking down the facts about Fast and Furious than Katie Pavlich. In her stunning new book she reveals: » The documents that undermine the White House's claims of ignorance about Fast and Furious "How Eric Holder, President Obama's attorney general, has, under oath, repeatedly changed his testimony » The still mounting death toll from Fast and Furious "The retaliation against Fast and Furious whistleblowers "Why Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano might be charged with perjury » The Obama administration's continuing assault on Second Amendment rights » Why Fast and Furious could be a bigger scandal than Watergate Unraveling the mystery of what Fast and Furious was all about, Katie Pavlich delivers a stunning indictment of a radical administration willing to trample the Constitution and risk lives to achieve its ideological goals.
The Fast Carriers
by Clark ReynoldsThis classic study is considered essential reading for its analysis of fast aircraft carrier development in WWII. It provides a fascinating record not only of the U.S. Navy's metamorphosis from a battleship-oriented to a carrier-centered fleet, but also of the heated debates that took place over the changing naval strategy. With an insider's grasp of the famous individuals involved, award-winning naval historian Clark G. Reynolds takes readers from the war rooms of Washington to the flight decks of the Pacific. He vividly describes the battles over the concept of fast carriers between the air admirals and battleship admirals and offers little-known details gleaned from personal interviews and private diaries.
Fast Girls: A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team
by Elise Hooper“Fast Girls is a compelling, thrilling look at what it takes to be a female Olympian in pre-war America...Brava to Elise Hooper for bringing these inspiring heroines to the wide audience they so richly deserve.”—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and The House Girl Acclaimed author Elise Hooper explores the gripping, real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Perfect for readers who love untold stories of amazing women, such as The Only Woman in the Room, Hidden Figures, and The Lost Girls of Paris. In the 1928 Olympics, Chicago’s Betty Robinson competes as a member of the first-ever women’s delegation in track and field. Destined for further glory, she returns home feted as America’s Golden Girl until a nearly-fatal airplane crash threatens to end everything. Outside of Boston, Louise Stokes, one of the few black girls in her town, sees competing as an opportunity to overcome the limitations placed on her. Eager to prove that she has what it takes to be a champion, she risks everything to join the Olympic team. From Missouri, Helen Stephens, awkward, tomboyish, and poor, is considered an outcast by her schoolmates, but she dreams of escaping the hardships of her farm life through athletic success. Her aspirations appear impossible until a chance encounter changes her life. These three athletes will join with others to defy society’s expectations of what women can achieve. As tensions bring the United States and Europe closer and closer to the brink of war, Betty, Louise, and Helen must fight for the chance to compete as the fastest women in the world amidst the pomp and pageantry of the Nazi-sponsored 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Fast Jets to Spitfires: A Cold War Fighter Pilot's Story
by Ron LloydA memoir of RAF service in the postwar era and the golden age of British military aviation, including photos.How often have you glanced skyward at the sound of a passing aircraft and wondered what it would be like to fly one of those gleaming metal machines? Or admired the skill and daring of the fighter pilot swooping down upon his enemy in the awe-inspiring, unrivaled elegance of a Spitfire? Ron Lloyd has had the experience of flying the majestic propeller-driven aircraft of the Second World War as well as the roaring, sound-barrier-breaking jets of the Cold War—and in this exciting book, he places the reader in the cockpit, describing what it really feels like to be sitting at the controls of a fighter aircraft.Lloyd joined the RAF after World War II, and during his early service he was selected as one of the pilots to fly the wartime aircraft in the feature film The Battle of Britain, giving him the opportunity to fly a Spitfire and even a Messerschmitt Bf 109 during the six weeks of filming. His role with the RAF, on the other hand, saw him on the front line in the Cold War, piloting de Havilland Vampires, Hawker Hunters, Gloster Javelins, Lightnings, and Phantoms. He also served on exchange in the USA where he flew Convair F-102s, Convair F-106s, and Lockheed T-33s.Packed with unique photographs of the golden age of British military aviation, Fast Jets to Spitfires allows readers to experience, through Ron Lloyd’s graphic accounts, the pure joy of being airborne.
Fast Movers
by John SherwoodThe war in the skies above Vietnam still stands as the longest our nation has ever fought. For fourteen years American pilots dropped bombs on the Southeast Asian countryside -- eventually more than eight million tons of them. In doing so, they lost over 8,588 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. They did not win the war. Ironically, Vietnam, though one of our least popular wars, produced one of the most effective groups of warriors our nation has ever seen -- men of dedication, professionalism, and courage. In Fast Movers, official navy historian John Sherwood offers an authoritative social history of the air war, focused around fourteen of these aviators -- from legends like Robin Olds, Steve Ritchie, and John Nichols to lesser-known but equally heroic fighters like Roger Lerseth and Ted Sienecki. Sherwood draws on nearly 300 interviews to tell stories of great pilots and great planes in the words of the men themselves. Fliers recall jets such as McDonnell Douglas's famous F-4 Phantom, "a Corvette with wings"; the F-05 Thunderchief, the workhorse of the war; the F-8 Crusader, the last of the gun fighters; and the block-nosed but revolutionary A-6 Intruder with its fully computerized attack systems, terrain mapping radar, and digital all-weather navigation system. Ultimately, though, it was the men who mattered. Sherwood shows us the brash confidence of famous iconoclast Robin Olds, who does not hide his thrill of the hunt -- and the kill. Roger Sheets looked like Don Knotts but prepped his "Vulture Flight" of Marine A-6s with the simple, unequivocal line, "Gentlemen, let's go out and kill something." But Sherwood lets us know that it wasn't all glory, that pilots suffered fear just like other soldiers. Ed Rasimus later admitted he thought that an assignment to Thailand was "like getting diagnosed with terminal cancer: everyone is hoping the cure will come before you die." There were things worse than death, too. Fast Movers offers fascinating portraits -- based on Sherwood's interviews and just-declassified naval archives -- of Vietnam's POWs. Pilots lucky enough to suffer only broken bones and burns from the violence of 1960s-era Martin-Baker ejection seats struggled to find honorable ways to negotiate half-decade-long periods in captivity. Passive resistance, like Commander Jeremiah Denton's famous blinking of TORTURE in Morse Code, was sometimes successful, often brutally reprised. Escape was impossible. Those who avoided shootdown learned to live with other frustrations. Most wanted to "go downtown" (bomb Hanoi) but were foiled by their civilian superiors, who dictated the numbers and types of aircraft that could be used in a given strike, the kinds of ordnance that could be levied against a target, and even the flight paths that could be flown. Against all odds, the pilots spawned a culture of success in the midst of failure and frustration. Fast Movers captures a hidden and crucial story of America's least successful war.
Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917–1945 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
by David E. JohnsonThe U. S. Army entered World War II unprepared. In addition, lacking Germany's blitzkrieg approach of coordinated armor and air power, the army was organized to fight two wars: one on the ground and one in the air. Previous commentators have blamed Congressional funding and public apathy for the army's unprepared state. David E. Johnson believes instead that the principal causes were internal: army culture and bureaucracy, and their combined impact on the development of weapons and doctrine. Johnson examines the U. S. Army's innovations for both armor and aviation between the world wars, arguing that the tank became a captive of the conservative infantry and cavalry branches, while the airplane's development was channeled by air power insurgents bent on creating an independent air force. He maintains that as a consequence, the tank's potential was hindered by the traditional arms, while air power advocates focused mainly on proving the decisiveness of strategic bombing, neglecting the mission of tactical support for ground troops. Minimal interaction between ground and air officers resulted in insufficient cooperation between armored forces and air forces. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers makes a major contribution to a new understanding of both the creation of the modern U. S. Army and the Army's performance in World War II. The book also provides important insights for future military innovation.
Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best
by Neal BascombWinner of the Motor Press Guild Best Book of the Year Award & Dean Batchelor Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph by an improbable team of upstarts over Hitler&’s fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of auto racing As Nazi Germany launched its campaign of racial terror and pushed the world toward war, three unlikely heroes—a driver banned from the best European teams because of his Jewish heritage, the owner of a faltering automaker company, and the adventurous daughter of an American multimillionaire—banded together to challenge Hitler&’s dominance at the Grand Prix, the apex of motorsport. Bringing to life this glamorous era and the sport that defined it, Faster chronicles one of the most inspiring, death-defying upsets of all time: a symbolic blow against the Nazis during history&’s darkest hour.
Faster Than The Sun: The Compelling Story of a Record-Breaking Test Pilot and WWII Navy Flyer
by Peter TwissThe autobiography of the Fairey Aviation test pilot and Naval fighter pilot who broke the World Air Speed Record in 1956. This autobiography of Peter Twiss, the man who flew 1000mph for the first time in history, tells the story of the record-breaking Fairey Delta. It describes the vast organization necessary for the record bid, the political lobbying, and the almost intolerable tension when the flights failed.Faster Than the Sun is also a compelling account of Twiss&’s wartime experiences as a Fleet Air Arm pilot who saw action in Fulmars over the convoys to Malta, in Seafires during the Operation Torch landings in Africa, and as a night fighter flying Mosquitoes. It is an epic account of daring, determination, and dedication—straight from the cockpit.
Fat Boy and the Champagne Salesman: Göring, Ribbentrop, and the Nazi Invasion of Poland
by Rush Loving Jr.Fat Boy and the Champagne Salesman offers a compelling behind-the-scenes exploration of the road to World War II and the invasion of Poland by the Hitler's Third Reich. Focusing on the personal power plays within Hitler's inner circle, author Rush Loving details the struggle for Hitler's approval, long before the battle for Poland had begun. The rivalry was between "Fat Boy," the moniker given to Hermann Göring by his fellow Nazi generals, and "the Champagne Salesman," Joachim von Ribbentrop, nicknamed for his previous career, and it was at the heart of Germany's plans for the expansion of the Reich into Poland. Göring, founder of the Lüftwaffe and the man who oversaw the armaments industry, was convinced that any invasion of Poland would lead to war with England and France, who were committed to its defense. Von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign minister, argued that the Allies would stand down and continue their policy of appeasement. Only one would be proved correct. An engrossing and dramatic tale, Fat Boy and the Champagne Salesman shows Göring and Ribbentrop playing a tug-of-war with Hitler's will. Loving's vivid narrative of the struggle between the two advisers lends a new understanding of the events leading to the opening days of World War II.
Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy
by Craig Whitlock#1 New York Times bestselling author Craig Whitlock&’s masterful account of one of the biggest public corruption scandals in American history—exposing how a charismatic Malaysian defense contractor bribed scores of high-ranking military officers, defrauded the US Navy of tens of millions of dollars, and jeopardized our nation&’s security.All the admirals in the US Navy knew Leonard Glenn Francis—either personally or by his legendary reputation. He was the larger-than-life defense contractor who greeted them on the pier whenever they visited ports in Asia, ready to show them a good time after weeks at sea while his company resupplied their ships and submarines. He was famed throughout the fleet for the gluttonous parties he hosted for officers: $1,000-per-person dinners at Asia&’s swankiest restaurants, featuring unlimited Dom Pérignon, Cuban cigars, and sexy young women. On the surface, with his flawless American accent, he seemed like a true friend of the Navy. What the brass didn&’t realize, until far too late, was that Francis had seduced them by exploiting their entitlement and hubris. While he was bribing them with gifts, lavish meals, and booze-fueled orgies, he was making himself obscenely wealthy by bilking American taxpayers. Worse, he was stealing military secrets from under the admirals&’ noses and compromising national security. Based on reams of confidential documents—including the blackmail files that Francis kept on Navy officers—Fat Leonard is the full, unvarnished story of a world-class con man and a captivating testament to the corrosive influence of greed within the ranks of the American military.