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  Like Family - Growing Up in...

  Paula McLain

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  This powerful and haunting memoir details the years Paula McLain and her two sisters spent as foster children after being abandoned by both parents in California in the early 1970s. 
  As wards of the State, the sisters spent the next fourteen years moving from foster home to foster home. The dislocations, confusions, and odd pleasures of an unrooted life form the basis of one of the most compelling memoirs in recent years—a book in the tradition of Jo Ann Beard's The Boys of My Youth and Mary Karr's The Liars' Club. 
  McLain's beautiful writing and limber voice capture the intense loneliness, sadness, and determination of a young girl both on her own and responsible, with her siblings, for staying together as a family.

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  The Magical Stranger - A Son's...

  Stephen Rodrick

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  On November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. He was just thirty-six and had been the commanding officer of his squadron for 127 days. Eight thousand miles away on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, he left behind a grief-stricken wife, two daughters, and a thirteenyear-old son who would grow up to be a writer—one who was drawn, perhaps inevitably, to write about his father, his family, and the devastating consequences of military service.In The Magical Stranger, Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery: brilliant but unknowable, sacred but absent—an apparition gone 200 days of the year for much of his young son's life—a born leader who gave his son little direction. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Rodrick struggled to grasp fully the reality of his father's death and its permanence. Peter's picture and memory haunted the family home, but his name was rarely mentioned.To better understand his father and his own experience growing up without him, Rodrick turned to today's members of his father's former squadron, spending nearly two years with VAQ-135, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." His travels take him around the world, from Okinawa and Hawaii to Bahrain and the Persian Gulf—but always back to Whidbey Island, the setting of his family's own story. As he learns more about his father, he also uncovers the layers of these sailors' lives: their brides and girlfriends, friendships, dreams, disappointments—and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind.A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of service and the power of a father's legacy.

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  Surviving Deep Waters - A...

  Bruce Johnson

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  When you have nothing to lose, you can risk everything.There was no reason to bet on Bruce Johnson, given where he started out. Poor, Black, and raised by a single mother who had a secret. He was the child she hid in plain view from the rest of her family.Bruce would spend his youth at Chickasaw Park in Louisville—Kentucky’s segregated west end. He would grab the low hanging tree branches, then swing out over the Ohio River before dropping into the dangerous water below. He didn’t know how to swim, but was fearless and knew to paddle quickly back to shore before the current could drag him under. This tenacity served him well, and he learned to be a risk taker early on.As an adult, he set out to just make a living—to do better than Black folks who tried their best before, while making his Momma and Grandmomma proud. His journey to becoming a successful TV journalist nearly killed him, but he refused to treat himself as a victim. His role was to use his voice and example to pull others out of deep waters.The rollout for his retirement was unprecedented. Week-long on-air tributes, hour-long online tributes from corporate CEOs, former colleagues, Congressmembers, the Mayor, and the governor. After a near forty-five year career, all was deserved and expected, except for a final tribute—seeing his image secretly painted on the Wall of Fame outside the iconic Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant alongside Barack and Michelle Obama, Oprah, and Dave Chappelle. No one could have imagined such an ending. Or could they? Bruce Johnson’s journey is the culmination of his mother and grandmother’s stories—the ultimate American story of race, opportunity, and perseverance.

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  Amy Carmichael - Rescuer of...

  Janet Benge, Geoff Benge

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  Amy Carmichael stood on the deck of the steamer, waving good-bye once again to her old friend Robert Wilson. How could she have known she would never see him or the British Isles again? Amy was certain God had called her to India. Indeed! India would be home for the rest of her life.Amy's life was marked by a simple, determined obedience to God, regardless of circumstances. Her story and legacy are stunning reminders of the impact of one person who will fear God and nothing else.Driven by love and compassion, and sustained by faith and determination, Amy Carmichael defied the cruel barriers of India's caste system. The story of this young woman from Northern Ireland is a brilliant, sparkling example of God's love generously poured out to "the least of these among us."

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  Fly Navy - The View From the...

  Charles Manning

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  Ninety-five veterans of the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm share gripping personal accounts of their service in the twentieth Century following World War II. 
   
  The Fleet Air Arm has always had an elite status and an image of ‘derring-do’ and living on the edge. 
   
  To mark the Millennium, ninety-five members of the Fleet Air Arm Officer’s Association have recalled their experiences of over fifty-five years of post war naval flying. 
   
  These first-person accounts pull no punches. Some are highly amusing, others serious, even tragic. Covered are the piston-engined planes, early jets and supersonic nuclear-capable fighter-bombers, as well as the full range of helicopters so vital in many theatres. 
   
  Fly Navy is a unique and entertaining anthology of flying stories, which will delight all with even a passing interest in service life and aviation. 
   
  The subtitle says it all—this is how it was—for better or for worse. 
   
  Praise for Fly Navy 
   
  “This book is an excellent read and provides an insight to the operations of the Naval Air Arm in many parts of the world over a six-decade period. Highly recommended.” —Richard K Parkhurst, IPMS Portsmouth

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  A public housing project where...

  PBS NewsHour

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  In downtown Denver, a recently built public housing project is designed to foster healthy living, with access to nutritious food, access to doctors and ease of exercise. Jeffrey Brown reports.

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