Other books that might interest you

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  Bernhard Sindberg - The...

  Peter Harmsen

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  In December 1937, the Chinese capital, Nanjing, falls and the Japanese army unleash an orgy of torture, murder, and rape. Over the course of six weeks, hundreds of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are killed. At the very onset of the atrocities, the Danish supervisor at a cement plant just outside the city, 26-year-old Bernhard Arp Sindberg, opens the factory gates and welcomes in 10,000 Chinese civilians to safety. He becomes an Asian equivalent of Oskar Schindler, the savior of Jews in the Holocaust. 
   
   
   
  This biography follows Sindberg from his childhood and on his first adventures as a sailor and a Foreign Legionnaire to the 104 days as a rescuer of thousands of helpless men, women, and children in the darkest hour of the Sino-Japanese War. After his remarkable achievement, he receded back into obscurity, spending decades at sea and becoming a naturalized American citizen, before dying of old age in Los Angeles in 1983. 
   
   
   
  The book sets the record straight by providing the first complete account of Sindberg's life in English. What emerges is the surprising tale of a person who was average in every respect but rose to the occasion when faced with unimaginable brutality, discovering an inner strength and courage that transformed him into one of the great humanitarian figures of the twentieth century and an inspiration for our modern age.

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  Dr Beare's Daughter - Growing Up...

  Janice Jones

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  ". . . brutally honest . . . a compelling work. GET IT" -Kirkus Reviews 
   "Moving story of an adopted daughter's search for her own voice." -Booklife 
  "Well-written and poignant . . . engaging. Feelings and experiences to which many adoptees can relate." 
  -Betsie Norris, Founder and Executive Director, Adoption Network Cleveland 
  In 1947, in Celina, Ohio, Dr. Ralph Beare and his wife, Lou, childless and in their early forties, adopted a four-and-a-half-month-old orphan. “Janice” knew she was adopted, because her mommy read her a book about how the Beare's chose her out of a Home. "We chose you, but we love you as if you were our own." However, her mother never seemed to forget she was adopted, especially on Mother’s Day, when she couldn’t look at Janice without crying. 
  Janice learned that most grown-ups in town knew her as "Dr. Beare's Daughter." Her daddy took her everywhere and people stopped to stoop down and tell her how he had saved their lives.  
  With her red hair and freckles, Janice didn't look like her dark-haired parents. Her struggle to become that elusive golden child that she imagined they really wanted came with the erasure of her own identity. Still, there was a small voice, deep inside her, that popped up at the most inconvenient times, saying, "I'm here." Try as she might to silence it, her true self often slipped out to take charge, and then there was trouble. 

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  Gunpowder and the Printing...

  Editors Charles River

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  In addition to the wheelbarrow, the seismograph, the waterwheel, deep drilling, suspension bridges, and ship rudders, among countless other life-changing contraptions, the Chinese developed what were later dubbed the “Four Great Inventions of China.” Two of those were gunpowder and printing, which both spread through South Asia and the Middle East before making it to Europe.  
  For a time, gunpowder was a mere curiosity, but its destructive power and military potential would be realized quickly. The first record of a cannon in Europe comes from a manuscript written in 1326, which has an illustration showing an armored man with what looks like a slow match lighting a vase-shaped object. This crude cannon was called a pot de fer in French and vasi in Italian. While medieval engineers developed new types of cannons and explosives capable of destroying walls and castles, others were making the first handguns possible. European sources first mentioned the widespread use of handgonnes, as they were often called, in the late 14th century, precisely the time when gunpowder became cheaper.  
  	The history of printing was for ancient Asia an advancement in culture and communication, but for Europe in the 15th century, it was much more, plunging the continent into a new paradigm and aligning it for the modern world. Its importance is often overlooked, but the timeliness of the printing machine was equivalent to the invention of alphabets in antiquity and ranks up there with the digital revolution and the introduction of the internet. Put simply, it made the Renaissance possible and led to the modernization of Europe. Based on earlier Asian principles, Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing press propelled an industry that led to the education of the West and ultimately removed the tight grip of the Vatican from daily European life. 

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  Lover by Marguerite Duras The...

  Bright Summaries

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  Unlock the more straightforward side of The Lover with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Lover by Marguerite Duras, an autobiographical novel which tells the story of a teenage girl who embarks on a forbidden relationship with a wealthy Chinese man twelve years her senior. They are eventually separated when the young girl is forced to go back to France, where she will once again encounter her lover many years later. The Lover was a commercial and critical success: the novel won France's prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1984, and it has sold almost three million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. Marguerite Duras was a French writer, playwright and filmmaker. She often moved away from the structure and style of traditional fiction in favour of a more abstract approach, making her one of the most influential and innovative authors of the 20th century. Find out everything you need to know about The Lover in a fraction of the time!This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:• A complete plot summary• Character studies• Key themes and symbols• Questions for further reflectionWhy choose BrightSummaries.com?Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you in your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

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  They Came for the Schools - One...

  Mike Hixenbaugh

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  NATIONAL BESTSELLER 
  The urgent, revelatory story of how a school board win for the conservative right in one Texas suburb inspired a Christian nationalist campaign now threatening to undermine public education in America—from an NBC investigative reporter and co-creator of the Peabody Award–winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist Southlake podcast.  
  Award-winning journalist Mike Hixenbaugh delivers the immersive and eye-opening story of Southlake, Texas, a district that seemed to offer everything parents would want for their children—small classes, dedicated teachers, financial resources, a track record of academic success, and school spirit in abundance. All this, until a series of racist incidents became public, a plan to promote inclusiveness was proposed in response—and a coordinated, well-funded conservative backlash erupted, lighting the fire of a national movement on the verge of changing the face of public schools across the country. 
  They Came for the Schools pulls back the curtain on the powerful forces driving this crusade to ban books, rewrite curricula, limit rights for minority and LGBTQ students—and, most importantly, to win what Hixenbaugh’s deeply informed reporting convinces is the holy grail among those seeking to impose biblical values on American society: school privatization, one school board and one legal battle at a time. 
  They Came for the Schools delivers an essential take on Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, as they demean public schools and teachers and boost the Christian right’s vision. Hixenbaugh brings to light fascinating connections between this political and cultural moment and past fundamentalist campaigns to censor classroom lessons. Finally, They Came for the Schools traces the rise of a new resistance movement led by a diverse coalition of student activists, fed-up educators, and parents who are beginning to win select battles of their own: a blueprint, they hope, for gaining inclusive and civil schools for all.

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  Societies from Ancient America -...

  Kelly Mass

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  This is a 2-book combo. These are the titles: 
  Title 1: 
  Welcome to the concise, all-you-need explanation of the Aztec empire! 
  When you think of the Aztecs, you might think of certain movies you have seen or what you've been taught in history class. And although some of those images and descriptions fit the main narrative, there is still much left to be discovered. This brief book will take you on a journey and kidnap your imagination to a faraway place in time. 
  Learn more about the facts and findings of scholars, archeologists, and scientists. Topics such as these will be addressed: 
  The Difference between the Toltecs and also the Aztecs. 
  The background and origins of the Aztecs. 
  Surprising facts about their civilization. 
  The Spanish and their role in their society upon arrival. 
  Violent human sacrificial rituals and belief systems. 
  Shocking new facts about the Aztec empire. 
  If any of this sparks your curiosity, then I invite you to start reading or listening to this book fast. 
  Title 2: 
  The Inca empire was vast and massive. Yet, still so few people know much about it, aside from what they've heard from vague rumors. But did you know the Inca people showed various similarities to those who came from the Middle East? Did you know that they mummified their dead and built pyramids? 
  Infamous among the historical stories from the Spanish invaders are the evidence of human sacrifice and their polytheistic views on nature and life. Other aspects of the Inca empire constitute of the role women, children, and merchants played, and their extensive system of roads, networks, and travel points. Peruvians still show traditionally-colored clothing and Machu Picchu is one of the wonders of the world.

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