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  Summer 2009 - A Journey of...

  Andrew Coville

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  The Afghanistan war endured for two decades, involving an all-volunteer military force deployed repeatedly between 2001-2021. Over the course of these 20 years, thousands of young Americans lived through their own unique versions of the war, each marked by personal war stories and life-altering events. The war concluded on August 30th, 2021, leaving both the United States and the people of Afghanistan with a somber and perplexing aftermath. An entire generation now grapples with questions surrounding the reasons behind their sacrifices, as well as the thousands of lives lost or forever changed during the conflict. 
  This narrative presents a firsthand account of a Marine who played a small role in the Afghan War. It begins with his enlistment in the Marine Corps immediately after high school, driven by dreams of earning the prestigious title of United States Marine and serving his country in combat. The story culminates with his reentry into the civilian world, marked by the challenging task of making sense of the profound experiences he underwent. 
  The account unfolds through a journey kept by the Marine during a significant offensive in the Helmand Province in the summer of 2009. These firsthand entries, composed by a 21-year-old, are revisited 15 years later, offering a continually evolving perspective and outlook on life. This is not merely a war story, or a detailed military operation account; rather, it is a vulnerable and revealing exploration into the inner thoughts of a young man navigating the complexities of war. It delves into what he learned from those experiences as the years unfolded.

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  Brightness Falls - From their...

  Mary Butts

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  Mary Frances Butts was born on 13th December 1890 in Poole, Dorset. 
  Her early years were spent at Salterns, an 18th-century house overlooking Poole Harbour.  Sadly in 1905 her father died, and she was sent for boarding at St Leonard's school for girls in St Andrews. 
  Her mother remarried and, from 1909, Mary studied at Westfield College in London, and here, first became aware of her bisexual feelings.  She was sent down for organising a trip to Epsom races and only completed her degree in 1914 when she graduated from the London School of Economics.  By then Mary had become an admirer of the occultist Aleister Crowley and she was given a co-authorship credit on his ‘Magick (Book 4)’. 
  In 1916, she began the diary which would now detail her future life and be a constant reference point for her observations and her absorbing experiences. 
  During World War I, she was doing social work for the London County Council in Hackney Wick, and involved in a lesbian relationship.  Life changed after meeting the modernist poet, John Rodker and they married in 1918. 
  In 1921 she spent 3 months at Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Sicily; she found the practices dreadful and also acquired a drug habit.  Mary now spent time writing in Dorset, including her celebrated book of short stories ‘Speed the Plough’ which saw fully develop her unique Modernist prose style. 
  Europe now beckoned and several years were spent in Paris befriending many artists and writing further extraordinary stories.   
  She was continually sought after by literary magazines and also published several short story collections as books. Although a Modernist writer she worked in other genres but is essentially only known for her short stories.  Mary was deeply committed to nature conservation and wrote several pamphlets attacking the growing pollution of the countryside. 
  In 1927, she divorced and the following year her novel ‘Armed with Madness’ was published.  A further marriage followed in 1930 and time was spent attempting to settle in London and Newcastle before setting up home on the western tip of Cornwall.  By 1934 the marriage had failed. 
  Mary Butts died on 5th March 1937, at the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance, after an operation for a perforated gastric ulcer. She was 46.

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  Among the Firsts: Lieutenant...

  Matthew T. Bolland

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  In his own words, the war of the doubly pioneering Lt Col Gerhard L. Bolland—82nd Airborne paratrooper on D-Day and senior OSS field operative on Operation Rype.Unconventional warfare tactics can have a considerable effect on the outcome of any war. During World War II, the United States government developed and employed two new methods of fighting. The first was the development of "paratroop" units, as they were first called. The second was the formation of a covert and sabotage operations branch called the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Lt. Colonel Bolland was involved in both of these "firsts." During the D-Day invasion he parachuted behind enemy lines, jumping out of the 82nd Airborne lead aircraft with General James Gavin. After fighting with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment for thirty-three days straight, he returned to England and became involved with the OSS Scandinavian Section. He served as Field Commander for their Operation, code named Rype. This was the only American military undertaking, albeit covert, in Norway during the entire course of the war.  As a young boy growing up in rural western Minnesota, Bolland got his military start with the Minnesota National Guard, before being accepted to West Point, solely on merit. His military career lasted seventeen years. Lt. Colonel Bolland ended up with numerous decorations including the Norwegian Liberation Medal and Citation, the Bronze Star for valor, the French Fouragerre of Croix de Guerre with Palms and posthumously the Congressional Gold medal awarded to the OSS Society on behalf of all former OSS members that served during the war.  His story reveals the struggles, successes, failures and ultimate victories, detailing what went right and what went wrong with these new unconventional methods of fighting.

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  Prisoner of the State

  Lily Arthur

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  At sixteen years old, Lily Arthur was caught between the women’s liberation movement of the ‘swinging sixties and the draconian ideology that young women should be punished for deviating from society's 'moral codes'. 
   
  For the 'crime' of being pregnant, Lily was forcibly taken from the man she planned to marry and incarcerated in the notorious Holy Cross Home for ‘wayward’ girls in Wooloowin, Brisbane as a ‘prisoner’ of the state. Lily spent her entire pregnancy performing unpaid labour its infamous Magdalene Laundry. 
   
  On 1 September 1967, the terrified teenager was taken to the Royal Brisbane Hospital where she gave birth shackled to a bed, and her newborn son cruelly stolen from her – one of 250,000 babies forcibly seized from vulnerable unmarried mothers under the Government’s illegal forced adoption policies of the era. 
   
  After decades of heartache and an emotional reunion with her long-lost son, Lily remains on a crusade to expose the truth behind the crimes a country tried to hide and has taken the fight to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, demanding justice for a generation of women who were victims of one of the worst human rights violations in contemporary Australian history. 
   
   ‘Only a few mothers led the fight for justice, but an army of women stood behind them. Lily Arthur represents a mother who never gave up her child willingly and fought to make sure he and many other adopted children knows.’ KAREN WILSON-BUTERBAUGH, Director of Origins International and USA 
   
  ‘Deeply personal and at times very raw insight. It is compelling, powerful, intense, no holes barred narrative. It clearly shows the lifelong impact of the illegal, cruel practices of forced adoption and a mother's fight for justice." SENATOR RACHAEL SIEWERT 
   
  ‘A heart-breaking view of crimes against humanity. For almost three decades, Lily Arthur details the legalised kidnapping of babies from millions of women in Australia and elsewhere who were brainwashed to comply with society's punishment. Punishment for getting pregnant. The truth of the horrors of adoption laid bare." JOE SOLL LCSW, Psychotherapist, and author of Adoption Healing

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  Mala's Cat - A Memoir of...

  Mala Kacenberg

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  Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest, Mala Szorer had the happiest childhood she could have hoped for. But at the age of twelve, as the German invasion begins, her beloved village becomes a ghetto, and her family and friends are reduced to starvation. So she takes matters into her own hands and bravely removes her yellow star so she can sneak out to the surrounding villages to barter for food. It is on her way back that she sees her loved ones rounded up for deportation and receives a smuggled letter from her sister warning her to stay away. In order to survive, she walks away from everything she holds dear to live by herself in the forest, hiding not just from the Nazis but from hostile villagers as well. She is followed by a stray cat who stays with her—and seems to come to her rescue time and time again. Malach the cat becomes her family, her only respite from painful loneliness, her guide, and a reminder to stay hopeful even when faced with unfathomable darkness. Allowing listeners to see the war through the innocence of a child's eyes, Mala's Cat is a powerful and unique addition to the Holocaust canon.

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  The Way My Life Turned Out

  Jessica Platner

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  The Way My Life Turned Out by Jessica Platner is a heartfelt memoir that takes readers through the journey of a woman navigating love, loss, resilience, and identity against the backdrop of Soviet-era Belarus and later Israel. Through vivid stories of family life, her father’s imprisonment, and the challenges of emigrating, Jessica weaves a deeply personal narrative that captures both the struggles and joys of her experience. She reflects on her relationships, cultural identity, and the enduring strength of family bonds, offering a moving exploration of memory, heritage, and the courage to start anew.

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