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  Junkyard Girl - A Memoir of...

  Carlyn Montes De Oca

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  Carlyn Montes De Oca grew up surrounded by secrets. She never knew her dad was a Marine during World War II or that her grandmother hired kidnappers to bring her mother back home after her parents eloped. Her mom and dad took an even bigger secret to their graves… Carlyn’s identity. 
  In 2019, at age 57, a consumer DNA test taken for fun revealed that Carlyn’s mom and dad, immigrants from Mexico, were not her biological parents and that most of her extended family, including 63 first cousins, knew the truth but never told her. In that instant, the reality Carlyn had lived with her entire life shattered. This revelation fueled her year long journey to find the answers to “Who the hell am I and where do I belong?” Questions that led her to unearth a truth she could never have foreseen. 
  Junkyard Girl explores the powerful impact of long-held secrets and the complex relationships between immigrant mothers and their native-born daughters. This is a coming-of-age story later in life, a tale about loss and discovery, betrayal and forgiveness, and the true meaning of an American family. 
  Junkyard Girl is the recipient of eight awards including the International Book Awards, Reader's Favorite Gold Medal and the IAN Book of the Year Awards.

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  27 Club The: The Lives and...

  Editors Charles River

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  It is rare in the world of music for a general consensus to form over who was the best at anything. Many would call The Beatles the greatest rock band, but it’s easy to find strongly opinionated dissenters. However, when it came to playing a guitar and laying the soundtrack for the psychedelic era, just about everyone agrees there was Jimi Hendrix and then there was everyone else. Anyone arguing otherwise either never heard his music or saw him perform. In fact, Jimi Hendrix is one of the few musicians known primarily for his sound and what he could do with a guitar than for his discography. A part of that is due to his untimely death and entry into the 27 Club, but it is also due to the fact that he was so revolutionary with the use of an electric guitar and so skilled at playing it that the effects have largely not been duplicated since.  
  The life and career of Janis Joplin marks such a stark departure from the blues, rock and soul traditions as American society has come to know them that her brief and tempestuous career defies artistic analysis, if only because there is so little precedent aside from the great African-American blues and jazz singers that influenced her. For a woman born in 1943 and coming into her professional prime in the 1960s, Joplin stood as a mesmerizing and baffling foil to the female tradition in non-classical music, which had previously been symbolized by pure, mellow voices singing thoughtful texts.  
  Jim Morrison accomplished just about everything by being extreme, in every sense of the word. His poetry was assaultive, blatant and graphic, a sign of the times, and his voice was mystical and haunting, lacking any sense of what was previously or typically considered vocal beauty. Whether intentional or not, Morrison also led the charge of excessive defiance toward anything hierarchical or rule-laden, and the acting out of his subconscious urges on public stages around the world surpassed all previous artists.

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  Traitor King - The Scandalous...

  Andrew Lownie

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  December 11, 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after. 
   
   
   
  But do they? This is a story of a royal shut out by his family and forced into exile; of the Nazi attempts to recruit the duke to their cause; and of why the duke, as Governor of the Bahamas, tried to shut down the investigation into the murder of a close friend. It is a story of a couple obsessed with their status, financially exploiting their position, all the while manipulating the media to portray themselves as victims. 
   
   
   
  The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were, in their day, the most glamorous exiles in the world, flitting from sumptuously appointed mansions in the south of France to luxurious residences in Palm Beach. But they were spoiled, selfish people, obsessed with their image, and reveling in adulterous affairs. Drawing upon previously unexplored archives, Lownie shows in dramatic fashion how their glittering world was riddled with treachery and betrayal—and why the royal family never forgave the duke for choosing love over duty

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  Titan of Tehran - From Jewish...

  Shahrzad Elghanayan

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  The titan is Habib Elghanian—a self-made industrialist and the foremost Jew of his time in Iran, whom the Islamic theocracy targeted as the first civilian executed during the 1979 revolution. With Iran continuing to generate front-page news, his previously untold story is painfully relevant, shedding light on that country's persistent economic, political and social problems. 
   
   
   
  The odyssey of Elghanian's life and death is told by his granddaughter in an understated style that nonetheless makes clear her powerful stake and personal place in the unfolding drama. Exploring universal themes of loss and longing, belonging and identity, she reconstructs and chronicles his ascent from Tehran's Jewish quarter—"the edge of the pit"—to his business success that was instrumental in modernizing the country to fatefully facing a firing squad. 
   
   
   
  Titan of Tehran serves as a monument to a man who might have disappeared in the mists of history, even though his execution was reported worldwide on newspaper front pages and in broadcast news reports. In his homeland, Elghanian was misrepresented, mistreated, maligned, and murdered—but now won't be forgotten. He is a riveting character whom listeners will keep in their hearts—a titan, yes, but deeply, sadly, delightfully human, too.

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  Dancing to the Beat of the Drum

  Pamela Nomvete

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  Returning to her parents’ birthplace in 1994, Pamela Nomvete became a household name as Ntsiki Lukhele, “the bitch”, on a South African soap opera called Generations. 
  But the mirage of luxury and success in which she lived was just that, a mirage. Behind closed doors, she battled her husband’s infidelities, addiction, and spiritual confusion. 
  Dancing to the Beat of the Drum details the traumatic personal crisis Pamela went through as her success grew – a crisis which took everything she had worked for from 
  her – and how she came to re-evaluate her priorities and reconnect with the spiritual side of her life, something she had long neglected.

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  Patton's Push - The Bold Tactics...

  Sage Winters

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  General George S. Patton was one of the most influential military leaders of the 20th century, his name forever linked with boldness, aggression, and relentless pursuit of victory. His legacy as a tactical genius in World War II is undisputed, particularly for his innovative strategies and dynamic leadership during key campaigns in Europe. Patton’s approach to warfare, characterized by rapid movement, audacity, and the application of psychological warfare, was a departure from traditional military doctrine and left an indelible mark on modern military tactics. 
    
  Patton’s leadership was grounded in his deep understanding of warfare, which was built upon a combination of formal training, historical knowledge, and an innate sense of battlefield dynamics. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he believed in the power of initiative, often taking risks to strike the enemy when and where they least expected it. His emphasis on speed and maneuverability — particularly through the use of tanks and combined arms tactics — allowed his forces to outpace and outflank the enemy, creating chaos and forcing decisive confrontations on his terms. This ability to maintain the initiative and exploit weaknesses in enemy lines was a hallmark of Patton's genius.

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