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Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in the 9/11 Wars
by Frank LedwidgePartly on the strength of their apparent success in insurgencies such as Malaya and Northern Ireland, the British armed forces have long been perceived as world class, if not world beating. However, their recent performance in Iraq and Afghanistan is widely seen as--at best--disappointing; under British control Basra degenerated into a lawless city riven with internecine violence, while tactical mistakes and strategic incompetence in Helmand Province resulted in heavy civilian and military casualties and a climate of violence and insecurity. In both cases the British were eventually and humiliatingly bailed out by the US army. In this thoughtful and compellingly readable book, Frank Ledwidge examines the British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking how and why it went so wrong. With the aid of copious research, interviews with senior officers, and his own personal experiences, he looks in detail at the failures of strategic thinking and culture that led to defeat in Britain's latest "small wars. " This is an eye-opening analysis of the causes of military failure, and its enormous costs.
Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Frank LedwidgePartly on the strength of their apparent success in insurgencies such as Malaya and Northern Ireland, the British armed forces have long been perceived as world class, if not world beating. However, their recent performance in Iraq and Afghanistan is widely seen as--at best--disappointing; under British control Basra degenerated into a lawless city riven with internecine violence, while tactical mistakes and strategic incompetence in Helmand Province resulted in heavy civilian and military casualties and a climate of violence and insecurity. In both cases the British were eventually and humiliatingly bailed out by the US army. In this thoughtful and compellingly readable book, Frank Ledwidge examines the British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking how and why it went so wrong. With the aid of copious research, interviews with senior officers, and his own personal experiences, he looks in detail at the failures of strategic thinking and culture that led to defeat in Britain's latest "small wars. " This is an eye-opening analysis of the causes of military failure, and its enormous costs.
Losing the Battle, Winning the War: How we can all defy the odds we're given
by Ben Parkinson'A great and inspiring book from Doncaster's bravest son. Read it in a day' - Jeremy Clarkson 'Ben is the embodiment of positive thinking. What he has achieved, in large part through willpower, is nothing short of miraculous. An inspiration to us all' - Ant Middleton The story of Ben Parkinson MBE, the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan---What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life? Ben Parkinson was a 6'4" Paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question is: how do we react when that happens? Easy: You find something new to fight for.Ben Parkinson MBE is an inspiration to everyone. He suffered 37 injuries when his Land Rover hit a mine in Helmand in 2006, including brain damage, breaking his back and losing both his legs. This book follows the story of what led him to that moment his life changed forever - and what happened next. Doctors didn't think Ben could survive the trauma - then they didn't think he would wake up, or talk again, or walk again. Time after time, Ben pushed the ceiling on what was possible, going on to carry the Olympic flame in 2012 and receiving an MBE for the enormous feats he has undertaken for charity.What he has achieved in the face of adversity - for others as well as for himself - is nothing short of a miracle. Nerve-wracking, heart-warming and full of classic soldier's humour, Losing the Battle, Winning the War is a book you'll be thinking about long after the last page. 'Ben Parkinson is my hero. His story is one of immeasurable courage and character, a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit' Dan Jarvis MP, author of Long Way Home
Losing the Battle, Winning the War: How we can all defy the odds we're given
by Ben Parkinson'Ben is the embodiment of positive thinking. What he has achieved, in large part through willpower, is nothing short of miraculous. An inspiration to us all' - Ant Middleton 'A great and inspiring book from Doncaster's bravest son. Read it in a day' - Jeremy Clarkson The story of Ben Parkinson MBE, the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan---What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life? Ben Parkinson was a 6'4" Paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question is: how do we react when that happens? Easy: You find something new to fight for.Ben Parkinson MBE is an inspiration to everyone. He suffered 37 injuries when his Land Rover hit a mine in Helmand in 2006, including brain damage, breaking his back and losing both his legs. This book follows the story of what led him to that moment his life changed forever - and what happened next. Doctors didn't think Ben could survive the trauma - then they didn't think he would wake up, or talk again, or walk again. Time after time, Ben pushed the ceiling on what was possible, going on to carry the Olympic flame in 2012 and receiving an MBE for the enormous feats he has undertaken for charity.What he has achieved in the face of adversity - for others as well as for himself - is nothing short of a miracle. Nerve-wracking, heart-warming and full of classic soldier's humour, Losing the Battle, Winning the War is a book you'll be thinking about long after the last page.
Losing the Battle, Winning the War: The story of the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan
by Ben Parkinson'A great and inspiring book from Doncaster's bravest son. Read it in a day' - Jeremy Clarkson 'Ben is the embodiment of positive thinking. What he has achieved, in large part through willpower, is nothing short of miraculous. An inspiration to us all' - Ant Middleton The story of Ben Parkinson MBE, the most injured soldier to have survived Afghanistan---What were you doing when you were 22? Where were you in the world? What did you want to do with your life? Ben Parkinson was a 6'4" Paratrooper. He was in Afghanistan fighting for his country. He wanted to always be a soldier, to be a father and to get home in one piece. But we don't always get what we want. So the question is: how do we react when that happens? Easy: You find something new to fight for.Ben Parkinson MBE is an inspiration to everyone. He suffered 37 injuries when his Land Rover hit a mine in Helmand in 2006, including brain damage, breaking his back and losing both his legs. This book follows the story of what led him to that moment his life changed forever - and what happened next. Doctors didn't think Ben could survive the trauma - then they didn't think he would wake up, or talk again, or walk again. Time after time, Ben pushed the ceiling on what was possible, going on to carry the Olympic flame in 2012 and receiving an MBE for the enormous feats he has undertaken for charity.What he has achieved in the face of adversity - for others as well as for himself - is nothing short of a miracle. Nerve-wracking, heart-warming and full of classic soldier's humour, Losing the Battle, Winning the War is a book you'll be thinking about long after the last page. 'Ben Parkinson is my hero. His story is one of immeasurable courage and character, a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit' Dan Jarvis MP, author of Long Way Home
Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East
by Philip H. GordonThe definitive account of how regime change in the Middle East has proven so tempting to American policymakers for decades—and why it always seems to go wrong."Must reading—by someone who saw it first-hand—for all interested in America’s foreign policy and its place in the world.”—Robin Wright Since the end of World War II, the United States has set out to oust governments in the Middle East on an average of once per decade—in places as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan (twice), Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The reasons for these interventions have also been extremely diverse, and the methods by which the United States pursued regime change have likewise been highly varied, ranging from diplomatic pressure alone to outright military invasion and occupation. What is common to all the operations, however, is that they failed to achieve their ultimate goals, produced a range of unintended and even catastrophic consequences, carried heavy financial and human costs, and in many cases left the countries in question worse off than they were before.Philip H. Gordon's Losing the Long Game is a thorough and riveting look at the U.S. experience with regime change over the past seventy years, and an insider’s view on U.S. policymaking in the region at the highest levels. It is the story of repeated U.S. interventions in the region that always started out with high hopes and often the best of intentions, but never turned out well. No future discussion of U.S. policy in the Middle East will be complete without taking into account the lessons of the past, especially at a time of intense domestic polarization and reckoning with America's standing in world.
Losing the Peace (Star Trek )
by William LeisnerFortune has smiled on Lieutenant Jasminder Choudhury, chief of security on the U.S.S Enterprise. She has survived. But her homeworld, Deneva, one of the planets targeted in the massive Borg invasion, has not. The entire surface has been wiped clean of everything, killing anyone who did not evacuate and rendering the planet uninhabitable. Choudhury is left to wonder whether her family was one of the displaced. Or are they all gone forever? The Enterprise is just one ship, and Jasminder Choudhury is just one officer, yet her story is being repeated over and over across the galaxy. Hundreds of thousands of displaced persons haunt the space ways, seeking comfort, looking for someplace safe, somewhere, anywhere to find solace. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is ordered to do everything he can to rescue and if need be to recover the lost souls from the Borg invasion. For the first time in generations, citizens of the Federation know want, uncertainty, and fear. Bloodied yet unbowed, the Federation now stands on the edge of a precipice. The captain of the Enterprise finds himself in the unenviable position of wondering whether it is true that those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace.
Losing Vietnam: How America Abandoned Southeast Asia (Battles and Campaigns)
by Major General Ira A. Hunt Jr.In the early 1970s, as U.S. combat forces began to withdraw from Southeast Asia, South Vietnamese and Cambodian forces continued the fight against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF), more commonly known as the Viet Cong. Despite the evacuation of its ground troops, the United States promised to materially support its allies' struggle against communist aggression. Over time, however, the American government drastically reduced its funding of the conflict, placing immense strain on the Cambodian and South Vietnamese armed forces, which were fighting well-supplied enemies.In Losing Vietnam, Major General Ira A. Hunt Jr. chronicles the efforts of U.S. military and State Department officials who argued that severe congressional budget reductions ultimately would lead to the defeat of both Cambodia and South Vietnam. Hunt details the catastrophic effects of reduced funding and of conducting "wars by budget." As deputy commander of the United States Support Activities Group Headquarters (USAAG) in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, Hunt received all Southeast Asia operational reports, reconnaissance information, and electronic intercepts, placing him at the forefront of military intelligence and analysis in the area. He also met frequently with senior military leaders of Cambodia and South Vietnam, contacts who shared their insights and gave him personal accounts of the ground wars raging in the region.This detailed and fascinating work highlights how analytical studies provided to commanders and staff agencies improved decision making in military operations. By assessing allied capabilities and the strength of enemy operations, Hunt effectively demonstrates that America's lack of financial support and resolve doomed Cambodia and South Vietnam to defeat.
Lossberg's War: The World War I Memoirs of a German Chief of Staff (Foreign Military Studies)
by Fritz von LossbergGeneral Fritz von Lossberg (1868--1942) directed virtually all the major German defensive battles on the Western Front during the First World War. Hailed as "the Lion of the Defensive," he was an extremely influential military tactician and, unlike many other operations officers of his era, was quick to grasp the changes wrought by technology.Now available for the first time in English, Lossberg's memoir explains how he developed, tested, and implemented his central principles -- flexibility, decentralized control, and counterattack -- which were based on a need to adapt to shifting conditions on the battlefield.Lossberg first put his theory of elastic defense combined with defense-in-depth into practice during the Battle of Arras (April--May 1917), where it succeeded. At the Battle of Passchendaele (June--November 1917), his achievements on the field proved the feasibility of his strategy of employing a thinly manned front line that minimized the number of soldiers exposed to artillery fire. Lossberg's tactical modernizations have become essential components of army doctrine, and Lossberg's War: The World War I Memoirs of A German Chief of Staff will take readers inside the mind of one of the most significant military innovators of the twentieth century.
The Lost Airman: A True Story Of Escape From Nazi Occupied France
by Seth MeyerowitzBronx-born top turret-gunner Arthur Meyerowitz was on his second mission when he was shot down in 1943. He was one of only two men on the B-24 Liberator known as “Harmful Lil Armful” who escaped death or immediate capture on the ground. <P><P> After fleeing the wreck, Arthur knocked on the door of an isolated farmhouse, whose owners hastily took him in. Fortunately, his hosts not only despised the Nazis but had a tight connection to the French resistance group Morhange and its founder, Marcel Taillandier. Arthur and Taillandier formed an improbable bond as the resistance leader arranged for Arthur’s transfers among safe houses in southern France, shielding him from the Gestapo.
Lost Airmen: The Epic Rescue of WWII U.S. Bomber Crews Stranded Behind Enemy Lines
by Charles E. Stanley Jr.Late in 1944, thirteen U.S. B-24 bomber crews bailed from their cabins over the Yugoslavian wilderness. Bloodied and disoriented after a harrowing strike against the Third Reich, the pilots took refugee with the Partisan underground. But the Americans were far from safety. Holed up in a village barely able to feed its citizens, encircled by Nazis, and left abandoned after a team of British secret agents failed to secure their escape, the airmen were left with little choice. It was either flee or be killed. In The Lost Airmen, Charles Stanely Jr. unveils the shocking true story of his father, Charles Stanely-and the eighteen brave soldiers he journeyed with for the first time. Drawing on over twenty years of research, dozens of interviews, and previously unpublished letters, diaries, and memoirs written by the airmen, Stanley recounts the deadly journey across the blizzard-swept Dinaric Alps during the worst winter of the Twentieth Century-and the heroic men who fought impossible odds to keep their brothers in arms alive.
Lost and Found
by Alan Dean FosterNot so long ago Marcus Walker was just another young commodities trader in Chicago, working hard and playing harder. But that's all in the past, part of a life half forgotten - a reality that vanished when he was attacked while camping and tossed aboard a starship bound for deep space.Desperately, Walker searches for explanations, only to realise he's trapped in a horrifying nightmare that is all too real. Instead of being a rich hotshot at the top of the food chain, Walker discovers he's just another amusing novelty, part of a cargo of "cute" aliens from primitive planets - destined to be sold as pets to highly advanced populations in "civilized" regions of the galaxy.Even if he weren't constantly watched by his captors, Walker has few options. After all, there is no escape from a speeding starship. Another man might resign himself to the inevitable and hope to be sold to a kindly owner, but not Walker. This former college football star has plenty of American ingenuity and no intention of admitting defeat, now or ever. In fact, he's only just begun to fight.
The Lost Army of Cambyses
by Paul SussmanIn 523 BC, the Persian emperor Cambyses dispatched an army across Egypt's western desert to destroy the oracle of Amun at Siwa. Legend has it that somewhere in the middle of the Great Sand Sea, his army was overwhelmed by a sandstorm and destroyed. Fifty thousand men were lost.
The Lost Art of Finding Our Way
by John Edward HuthLong before GPS, Google Earth, and global transit, humans traveled vast distances using only environmental clues and simple instruments. John Huth asks what is lost when modern technology substitutes for our innate capacity to find our way. Encyclopedic in breadth, weaving together astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, and ethnography, The Lost Art of Finding Our Way puts us in the shoes, ships, and sleds of early navigators for whom paying close attention to the environment around them was, quite literally, a matter of life and death. Haunted by the fate of two young kayakers lost in a fogbank off Nantucket, Huth shows us how to navigate using natural phenomena-the way the Vikings used the sunstone to detect polarization of sunlight, and Arab traders learned to sail into the wind, and Pacific Islanders used underwater lightning and “read” waves to guide their explorations. Huth reminds us that we are all navigators capable of learning techniques ranging from the simplest to the most sophisticated skills of direction-finding. Even today, careful observation of the sun and moon, tides and ocean currents, weather and atmospheric effects can be all we need to find our way. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 specially prepared drawings, Huth’s compelling account of the cultures of navigation will engross readers in a narrative that is part scientific treatise, part personal travelogue, and part vivid re-creation of navigational history. Seeing through the eyes of past voyagers, we bring our own world into sharper view.
Lost Art of War: Ancient Secrets of Strategy and Mind Control
by Lung Dr HahaSun Tzu's The Art of War is an acknowledged masterpiece--for the general reader. Yet the deeper truths of strategy and mind manipulation have been, until now, known only to true scholars dedicated to deciphering illegible scrolls and mastering the nuances of lost languages. Now, Dr. Haha Lung has at last gathered and fully translated these teachings from the shadows of history--the truly dangerous wisdom of the lesser-known masters--and presents them here for those daring, perhaps unwisely, to attain a higher level of dominance. You'll discover: The 12 Cuts: Voritomo's Art of War The War Scroll of Spartacus Musashi's 6 Ways to be VictoriousThe 99 Truths: Hannibal's Black Art of War And much moreBE ADVISED: For academic study ONLY; publisher assumes NO responsibility for content use/misuse. Dr. Haha Lung is the author of more than a dozen books on martial arts, including Ultimate Mind Control, Mind Penetration, Mind Fist, The Nine Halls of Death, Assassin!, Mind Manipulation, Knights of Darkness, and Mind Control: The Ancient Art of Psychological Warfare.
Lost at Sea: Found at Fukushima (Big Sky Publishing Ser.)
by Andy MillarOn a calm, tropical afternoon in the South Atlantic Ocean in April 1942, a British tramp steamer, the SS Willesden, was shelled, torpedoed and sunk by a German raider, the KMS Thor. The Willesden was carrying 47 officers and crew, and a cargo of vital war supplies destined for Britain's 8th Army in North Africa. Five of Willesden's crew were killed in the attack. Among the survivors was Second Mate David Millar, who - along with his crewmen - was rescued by the Germans and interned on a succession of prison ships, before being handed over to the Japanese. Badly wounded, David spent the rest of the war as a POW in a camp at Fukushima, north of Tokyo. The Thor was also responsible for sinking two other steamers, the SS Kirkpool and SS Nankin. Their survivors, who included 38 women and children, were dispatched to the same POW camp. What is remarkable about this story, apart from its inherent drama, is that these civilian POWs - numbering more than 130 in all - were officially listed as `Missing at Sea': their presence in the camp remained a closely guarded secret. This meant that it was many months - in some cases, years - before the fog of mystery surrounding their disappearance lifted, and family and friends knew whether their loved ones were dead or alive. Lost at Sea: Found at Fukushima tells the little-known story of these survivors. It is a tale of honour between enemy naval commanders; of suffering, courage and endurance, as months of imprisonment turned to years; and of the powerful relationships that form when people are forced together in life-threatening circumstances. Greatly enhancing the poignancy of this story is the fact that David Millar was the author's father.
Lost at Sea: Eddie Rickenbacker's Twenty-Four Days Adrift on the Pacific--A World War II Tale of Courage and Faith
by John WukovitsThe forgotten story of American war hero Eddie Rickenbacker's crash landing in the Pacific during World War II, and his incredible twenty-three-day crusade to keep his crew aliveIn the darkest days of World War II, an unlikely civilian was sent to deliver a letter from Washington to General MacArthur in New Guinea. Eddie Rickenbacker was a genuine icon, a pioneer of aviation, the greatest fighter pilot of the First World War, recipient of the Medal of Honor, who&’d retired to become a renowned race car driver. Now in his fifties, one of the most admired men in America, Rickenbacker was again serving his nation, riding high above the Pacific as a passenger aboard a B-17. But soon the plane was forced to crash-land on the ocean surface, leaving its eight occupants adrift in tiny rubber life rafts, hundreds of miles from the nearest speck of land. Lacking fresh water and with precious little food, the men faced days of unrelenting sun, followed by nights shivering in the cold, fighting pangs of hunger, exhaustion, and thirst, all the while circled by sharks. Each prayed to see a friendly vessel on the horizon, and dreaded the arrival of a Japanese warship. Meanwhile, as the US Navy scoured the South Pacific, American radio and newspapers back home parsed every detail of Rickenbacker's disappearance, and an adoring public awaited news of his fate.Using survivors&’ accounts and contemporary records, award-winning author John Wukovits brings to life a gripping story of survival, leadership, and faith in a time of crisis.
Lost at Sea Found at Fukushima: The Story of a Japanese POW (Big Sky Publishing Ser.)
by Andy MillarOn a calm, tropical afternoon in the South Atlantic Ocean in April 1942, a British tramp steamer, the SS Willesden, was shelled, torpedoed and sunk by a German raider, the KMS Thor. The Willesden was carrying 47 officers and crew, and a cargo of vital war supplies destined for Britains 8th Army in North Africa. Five of Willesdens crew were killed in the attack. Among the survivors was Second Mate David Millar, who along with his crewmen was rescued by the Germans and interned on a succession of prison ships, before being handed over to the Japanese. Badly wounded, David spent the rest of the war as a POW in a camp at Fukushima, north of Tokyo.The Thor was also responsible for sinking two other steamers, the SS Kirkpool and SS Nankin. Their survivors, including 38 women and children, were dispatched to the same POW camp.What is remarkable about this story, apart from its inherent drama, is that these civilian POWs numbering more than 130 in all were officially listed as Missing at Sea: their presence in the camp remained a closely guarded secret. This meant that it was many months in some cases, years before the fog of mystery surrounding their disappearance lifted, and family and friends knew whether their loved ones were dead or alive. Lost at Sea tells the little-known story of these survivors. It is a tale of honour between enemy naval commanders; of suffering, courage and endurance, as months of imprisonment turned to years; and of the powerful relationships that form when people are forced together in life-threatening circumstances. Greatly enhancing the poignancy of this story is the fact that David Millar was the authors father.
The Lost Battalion
by Hollis G. AllenThe Lost Battalion, first published in 1963, is the World War Two saga of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, U.S. Army. This unit was made up primarily of citizen soldiers of the National Guard based in Texas. The men, en-route to the Philippines at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack are rerouted to Java (now part of Indonesia), where they take part in the defense of an air base and the city of Surabaya, something they were neither trained nor equipped to do. As their situation became hopeless, the unit surrendered to the Japanese and were transported to several camps in Japan and Manchuria, where they spent more than three years in captivity under brutal, debilitating conditions. The term “Lost Battalion” refers to the unit’s apparent disappearance as no word on its fate was received for more than two years after their capture. The author, Hollis G. Allen, then a first lieutenant, writes in a somewhat awkward style, but the book includes a host of details about the group’s experience while prisoners and of their eventual release and travels back to America. An appendix is included which lists the names and rank of the members of The Lost Battalion.
The Lost Battalion of Tet
by Charles A KrohnPublished to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, this new paperback edition brings back into print a book that became an essential source for a 2006 study of the battle by the U.S. Army s Center of Military History. It takes a critical look at what went wrong in early 1968 during one of the first engagements of Tet, when a U.S. infantry battalion was ordered to attack a large North Vietnamese force near Hue City without air or artillery support. The tragic military foul-up resulted in over 60 percent casualties for the 2d Battalion, 12th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when the soldiers were surrounded by the enemy and began running out of ammunition. The bold decision by battalion commander Lt. Col. Richard Sweet to break out with his remaining soldiers under cover of darkness saved this encirclement from being a total disaster. Author Charles Krohn, the unit s intelligence officer at the time, provides a much-needed analysis of what took place and fills his account with details that have been confirmed as factual by other survivors. Krohn examines the battalion s involvement in two other major attacks for lessons learned when vital systems break down lessons, he says, that are timeless and applicable anywhere. This book is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army.
Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality
by Richard Slotkin"A work of stunning density and penetrating analysis . . . Lost Battalions deploys a narrative symmetry of gratifying complexity."—David Levering Lewis, The NationDuring the bloodiest days of World War I, no soldiers served more valiantly than the African American troops of the 369th Infantry—the fabled Harlem Hellfighters—and the legendary 77th "lost battalion" composed of New York City immigrants. Though these men had lived up to their side of the bargain as loyal American soldiers, the country to which they returned solidified laws and patterns of social behavior that had stigmatized them as second-class citizens.Richard Slotkin takes the pulse of a nation struggling with social inequality during a decisive historical moment, juxtaposing social commentary with battle scenes that display the bravery and solidarity of these men. Enduring grueling maneuvers, and the loss of so many of their brethren, the soldiers in the lost battalions were forever bound by their wartime experience. Both a riveting combat narrative and a brilliant social history, Lost Battalions delivers a richly detailed account of the fierce fight for equality in the shadow of a foreign war.
Lost Battalions: Going for Broke in the Vosges, Autumn 1944
by Franz SteidlThe story of two World War II battalions--one German, one American--each cut off behind enemy lines in the same forest at the same time, and the heroic efforts to save them.
The Lost Book of Bonn: A Novel
by Brianna LabuskesFor fans of The Rose Code and The Librarian Spy comes another literary themed historical novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books.Germany, 1946: Emmy Clarke is a librarian not a soldier. But that doesn’t stop the Library of Congress from sending her overseas to Germany to help the Monuments Men retrieve and catalog precious literature that was plundered by the Nazis. The Offenbach Archival Depot and its work may get less attention than returning art to its rightful owners, but for Emmy, who sees the personalized messages on the inside of the books and the notes in margins of pages, it feels just as important. On Emmy’s first day at work, she finds a poetry collection by Rainer Maria Rilke, and on the title page is a handwritten dedication: “To Annelise, my brave Edelweiss Pirate.” Emmy is instantly intrigued by the story behind the dedication and becomes determined to figure out what happened. The hunt for the rightful owner of the book leads Emmy to two sisters, a horrific betrayal, and an extraordinary protest against the Nazis that was held in Berlin at the height of the war. Nearly a decade earlier, hundreds of brave women gathered in the streets after their Jewish husbands were detained by the Gestapo. Through freezing rain and RAF bombings, the women faced down certain death and did what so few others dared to do under the Third Reich. They said no. Emmy grapples with her own ghosts as she begins to wonder if she’s just chasing two more. What she finds instead is a powerful story of love, forgiveness, and courage that brings light to even the darkest of postwar days.
The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare
by Kimberly BrockThe fate of the world is often driven by the curiosity of a girl.What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains a mystery, but the women who descended from Eleanor Dare have long known that the truth lies in what she left behind: a message carved onto a large stone and the contents of her treasured commonplace book. Brought from England on Eleanor&’s fateful voyage to the New World, her book was passed down through the fifteen generations of daughters who followed as they came of age. Thirteen-year-old Alice had been next in line to receive it, but her mother&’s tragic death fractured the unbroken legacy and the Dare Stone and the shadowy history recorded in the book faded into memory. Or so Alice hoped.In the waning days of World War II, Alice is a young widow and a mother herself when she is unexpectedly presented with her birthright: the deed to Evertell, her abandoned family home and the history she thought forgotten. Determined to sell the property and step into a future free of the past, Alice returns to Savannah with her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, in tow. But when Penn&’s curiosity over the lineage she never knew begins to unveil secrets from beneath every stone and bone and shell of the old house and Eleanor&’s book is finally found, Alice is forced to reckon with the sacrifices made for love and the realities of their true inheritance as daughters of Eleanor Dare.In this sweeping tale from award-winning author Kimberly Brock, the answers to a real-life mystery may be found in the pages of a story that was always waiting to be written.Praise for The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare:&“From the haunting first line, The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare transports the reader to a mysterious land, time and family . . . the captivating women of the Dare legacy must find their true inheritance hiding behind the untold secrets.&” —Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling authorHistorical women&’s fictionStand-alone novelBook length: approximately 135,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
The Lost Boys
by Paul ByrnesIn the First World War of 1914–1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent’s signature and left to fight on the other side of the world. Though some were as young as thirteen, they soon found they could die as well as any man. Like Peter Pan’s lost boys, they have remained forever young. These are their stories.This extraordinary book captures the incredible and previously untold stories of forty Anzac boys who fought in the First World War, from Gallipoli to the Armistice. Featuring haunting images of the boys taken at training camps and behind the lines, these tales are both heartbreaking and rousing, full of daring, ingenuity, recklessness, random horror and capricious luck.A unique perspective on the First World War, The Lost Boys is military history made deeply personal, a powerful homage to youthful bravery and a poignant reminder of the sacrifice of war.