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  Two Sons in a War Zone -...

  Stephen Wynn

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  When soldiers go to war, what do their families and friends experience? There is huge public support for the military, who risk their lives in faraway war zones, but do we really have any idea what their 'nearest and dearest' go through while the troops are away?
  This book started out as a diary of a year in the life of Stephen Wynn, a police officer who happens to have two sons in the military. The diary was his mechanism for coping with the passion, distress and rage he felt while his sons - Luke and Ross - were on active service in Afghanistan. Two Sons in a War Zone is his compelling true story, illustrating the raw inner conflict between one man's pride for his sons and their chosen profession, and his natural fears for their safety. In vivid, everyday language he describes the intense experiences - the joys and sorrows - of being a 'loved one' at home, whilst his sons battle a deadly foe in gruelling and treacherous conditions.
  Stephen describes Luke's and Ross's personal stories - why they joined the military and how they relate to the work - and quotes from private letters and documents. Both sons are injured whilst on their first tour of duty (one narrowly escaping serious harm from a bullet wound) but thankfully they return safely home.
  Nobody reading this book will have any doubt about the sacrifices made by soldiers who go to war, as well as the anguish their loved ones experience at home.
  'I promised myself that I would not hide my feelings from anyone. I would not be wilfully ignorant of the risks my sons were facing out there. Though they were men, to me they were still boys, and they would be facing boys like themselves; boys, and men younger than me, who would shoot at them. Knowing this, how would I get through a single day? Would I have to bottle up how I felt? No, I'd be open, and honest...'

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  Not a Happy Camper - A Memoir

  Mindy Schneider

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  A “hilarious” memoir of the author’s terrible, and wonderful, summer at a Maine sleepaway camp in 1974 (The Wall Street Journal).   For eight unforgettable weeks at Camp Kin-a-Hurra, thirteen-year-old Mindy Schneider and her eccentric band of friends—including Autumn Evening Schwartz, the daughter of hippies, who communicates with the dead, and the sleep-dancing bibliophile Betty Gilbert—keep busy feuding in color wars, failing at sports, and uncovering their camp’s hidden past. As Mindy focuses on landing the perfect boyfriend and longs for her first kiss, she unexpectedly stumbles across something infinitely grander: herself.   “Set in what now seems an almost impossibly innocent time, the 1970s, this sweet tale takes a nostalgic look back at the experience of attending sleepaway camp through the eyes of a 13-year-old Jewish girl . . . Schneider succeeds in provoking gentle flashbacks to a simpler shared time of teenage angst and hormone surges, before cable television, all recalled in a humorous tone.” —Publishers Weekly   “Charming and hilarious . . . Captures both the awkwardness and the magic of that age.” —Jen Lancaster

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  Dogfight - The Supermarine...

  David Owen

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  Innumerable books have been published on the two most famous fighter aircraft of all time, the Supermarine Spitfire and the Messerschmitt Bf109. But books setting out to tell the story of both aircraft are very much rarer - probably fewer than the fingers of one hand. Yet their joint story is one which bears retelling since both were essential to the air campaigns of World War Two.Incredibly, the men who designed them lacked any experience of designing a modern fighter. R J Mitchell had begun his career working on industrial steam locomotives, Willy Messerschmitt had cut his aeronautical teeth on light and fragile gliders and sporting planes. Yet both men not only managed to devise aircraft which could hold their own in a world where other designs went from state-of-the-art to obsolete in a staggeringly short time, but their fighters remained competitive over six years of front-line combat. Despite the different ways their creators approached their daunting tasks and the obstacles each faced in acceptance by the services for which they were designed, they proved to be so closely matched that neither side gained a decisive advantage in a titanic struggle. Had either of them not matched up to its opponent so well, then the air war would have been a one-sided catastrophe ending in a quick defeat for the Allies or the Axis powers, and the course of twentieth century history would have been changed beyond recognition.

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  The Story of My Life

  Helena Keller

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  A classic of American autobiography—the remarkable story of Helen Keller’s early life and education At nineteen months old, Helen Keller was stricken with a mysterious illness that left her deaf and blind. For the next five years, she was trapped in the silent dark, her only means of communication a few dozen rudimentary signs. Her inability to express herself was a great source of frustration, and as she grew older, Helen became prone to angry outbursts and fits of despair. Her family sought help, and in March of 1887, twenty-year-old Anne Sullivan arrived from the Perkins Institution for the Blind. One month later, teacher and student made the first of many incredible breakthroughs. By placing one of Helen’s hands under cool running water and tracing the letters w-a-t-e-r on her other hand, Anne was able to convey the great mystery of language: that every object has a name. As Helen would later write in The Story of My Life, “That living word awakened my soul.” Covering the first twenty-two years of Helen Keller’s life, from that miraculous moment at the water pump to her acceptance into Radcliffe College, The Story of My Life is one of the most beloved and inspiring autobiographies ever written. The basis for The Miracle Worker, the Tony Award–winning play and Academy Award–winning film, its heartening message has touched millions of lives and torn down countless barriers the world over. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

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  Mata Hari's Last Dance - A Novel

  Michelle Moran

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  Paris, 1917. The notorious dancer Mata Hari sits in a cold cell awaiting freedom...or death. Alone and despondent, Mata Hari is as confused as the rest of the world about the charges she's been arrested on: treason leading to the deaths of thousands of French soldiers. As Mata Hari waits for her fate to be decided, she relays the story of her life to a reporter who is allowed to visit her in prison. From Indian temples and Parisian theatres to German barracks in war-torn Europe, international bestselling author Michelle Moran who expertly balances fact and fiction (Associated Press) brings to vibrant life the famed world of Mata Hari: dancer, courtesan, and possibly, spy.

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  Scribblers Sculptors and Scribes...

  Richard A. LaFleur

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  Designed to accompany the Wheelock’s curriculum.From one of the country’s leading Latinists, this reader is the perfect complement to any Latin program, and the first collection of entirely authentic classical Latin texts that beginning students, from the very first day of their introduction to Latin, can read and enjoy.Beginning with simple graffiti, Scribblers, Scvlptors, and Scribes moves toward longer inscriptions and literary texts as students progress. Designed to accompany the bestselling Wheelock’s curriculum, its 40 chapters are linked with the 40 chapters of Wheelock’s Latin, but the book’s readings and design features make it suitable for use alongside any introductory college or high-school Latin textbook. Packed with hundreds of actual Latin inscriptions, proverbs, and texts, this outstanding textbook also includes dozens of photos and illustrations, maps, discussion and comprehension questions, grammar capsules, a Latin–English vocabulary section, a summary of forms, and much more.

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