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  Off Balance - A Memoir

  Teri Williams, Dominique...

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  In this searing and riveting New York Times bestseller, Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu reveals the dark underbelly of Olympic gymnastics, the true price of success…and the shocking secret about her past and her family that she only learned years later.At fourteen years old, Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the 1996 US Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team, the first and only American women’s team to take gold at the Olympics. Her pixyish appearance and ferocious competitive drive quickly earned her the status of media darling. But behind the fame, the flawless floor routines, and the million-dollar smile, her life was a series of challenges and hardships.Off Balance vividly delineates each of the dominating characters who contributed to Moceanu’s rise to the top, from her stubborn father and long-suffering mother to her mercurial coach, Bela Karolyi. Here, Moceanu finally shares the haunting stories of competition, her years of hiding injuries and pain out of fear of retribution from her coaches, and how she hit rock bottom after a public battle with her parents.But medals, murder plots, drugs, and daring escapes aside (all of which figure into Moceanu’s incredible journey), the most unique aspect of her life is the family secret that Moceanu discovers, opening a new and unexpected chapter in her adult life. A mysterious letter from a stranger reveals that she has a second sister—born with a physical disability and given away at birth—who has nonetheless followed in Moceanu’s footsteps in an astonishing way.A multilayered memoir that transcends the world of sports, Off Balance will touch anyone who has ever dared to dream of a better life.

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  America's First Great Eclipse -...

  Steve Ruskin

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  America’s First Great Eclipse takes readers on a thrilling historical journey, revealing that nineteenth-century Americans were just as excited about a total solar eclipse as we are today ... and, like us, were willing to travel thousands of miles to see it. 
  The ‘Great American Eclipse’ of 2017 and the upcoming ‘Great North American Eclipse’ of 2024 were not the first eclipses to deserve such titles. In the summer of 1878, when the American West was still wild, hundreds of astronomers and thousands of tourists traveled by train to Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas to witness America’s first ‘Great Eclipse.’  
  America’s First Great Eclipse tells the story of a country, and its scientists, on the brink of a new era. Near the end of the nineteenth century, when the United States was barely a hundred years old, American astronomers were taking the lead in a science that Europeans had dominated for centuries. Scientists like Samuel Langley, Henry Draper, Maria Mitchell, and even the inventor Thomas Edison, were putting America at the forefront of what was being called the “new astronomy.” 
  On July 29, 1878, having braved treacherous storms, debilitating altitude sickness, and the threat of Indian attacks, they joined thousands of East-coast tourists and Western pioneers as they spread out across the Great Plains and climbed to the top of 14,000-foot Pikes Peak, all to glimpse one of nature’s grandest spectacles: a total solar eclipse. It was the first time in history so many astronomers observed together from higher elevations. The Rocky Mountain eclipse of 1878 was not only a turning point in American science, but it was also the beginning of high-altitude astronomy, without which our current understanding of the Universe would be impossible.

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  A Dog Named Mattis - 12 Lessons...

  Mark Tappan

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  Read by the author. 
  Take a ride-along with Sergeant Mark Tappan and his amazing K9 partner Mattis, whose heroic actions will inspire you to live courageously, serve selflessly, and love passionately because every human (and dog) has a purpose. 
  Sergeant Mark Tappan shares a unique bond with his K9 partner Mattis, one of the most decorated police K9s of all time. Mark knew from the first time they interacted that Mattis was something special. As a man of deep faith, Mark also knew that God's most profound teaching often comes through the most unexpected sources, and he soon realized that Mattis was going to teach him about loyalty, selfless service, and so much more. 
  In A Dog Named Mattis, Mark shares twelve life lessons he's learned from working with Mattis. Through these first-hand accounts of bravery and service, you will learn profound lessons, like:being willing to 'go all in' and work with all your heart even when things are uncertain,how persistence pays off when you are willing to stick with what you know is right,how to be strong and courageous in the face of adversity,and much more. 
    
  You will also get a behind-the-scenes look at the world of police K9s and gain a deeper understanding of:the many ways that K9 units assist police departments,what a K9 officer's daily life looks like,what kind of training police dogs and their handlers must go through,how a police dog is tested and selected,and the lengths a dog will go to in order to complete their mission. 
    
  A Dog Named Mattis will capture the hearts of dog lovers everywhere and remind you that true success is built on relationships filled with trust, communication, and love. 
  The photos can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

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  The Unknown Battle of Midway -...

  Alvin Kernan

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  “A memoir and more . . . Kernan brings this maritime battle superbly to life. . . . And he narrates the air assault in gripping detail” (The Wall Street Journal).   The Battle of Midway is considered the greatest US naval victory, but behind the luster is the devastation of the American torpedo squadrons. Of the 51 planes sent to attack Japanese carriers only 7 returned, and of the 127 aircrew only 29 survived. Not a single torpedo hit its target.   A story of avoidable mistakes and flawed planning, The Unknown Battle of Midway reveals the enormous failures that led to the destruction of four torpedo squadrons but were omitted from official naval reports: the planes that ran out of gas, the torpedoes that didn’t work, the pilots who had never dropped torpedoes, and the breakdown of the attack plan. Alvin Kernan, who was present at the battle, has written a troubling but persuasive analysis of these and other little-publicized aspects of this great battle. The standard navy tactics for carrier warfare are revealed in tragic contrast to the actual conduct of the battle and the after-action reports of the ships and squadrons involved.   “An incisive and laconic writer, Kernan knows his facts and presents them with deep feeling. A World War II must-read.” —Booklist   “I read The Unknown Battle of Midway in one sitting. It is a momentous piece of work, reeking of the authenticity of carrier warfare as experienced by the flight crews.” —Sir John Keegan, author of A History of Warfare   “An emotionally powerful story, not merely one of war but of its lasting effects.” —The Times Literary Supplement

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  Plain Speaking - An Oral...

  Merle Miller

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  “Never has a President of the United States, or any head of state for that matter, been so totally revealed, so completely documented” (Robert A. Arthur).  Plain Speaking is the bestselling book based on conversations between Merle Miller and the thirty-third President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. From these interviews, as well as others who knew him over the years, Miller transcribes Truman’s feisty takes on everything from his personal life, military service, and political career to the challenges he faced in taking the office during the final days of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. Using a series of taped discussions from 1962 that never aired on television, Plain Speaking takes an opportunity to deliver exactly how Mr. Truman felt about the presidency, and his thoughts in his later years on his accomplishments and the legacy he left behind.   “The values of Plain Speaking, on the whole, are those of the highest form of political communication: the bull session. As with all good bull sessions, what is said here ranges widely in quality and seriousness, as one should expect when dealing with a complex man.” —The New York Times   “Plain Speaking has a nostalgic, downhome quality of good friends gossiping over the back fence, or saying their piece of a twilight eve rocking on the porch—and if those fellas back in Washington have their secret machines running, well, they won’t like what they overhear. Not one little bit.” —Kirkus Reviews

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  The Contractor - How I Landed in...

  Raymond Davis, Storms Reback

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  A lot has been written about the time contractor Raymond Davis spent in a Pakistani jail in 2011. Unfortunately, much of it is misleading—or downright false—information. 
  Now, the man at the center of the controversy tells his side of the story for the very first time. In The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis, Davis offers an up-close and personal look at the 2011 incident in Lahore, Pakistan, that led to his imprisonment and the events that took place as diplomats on both sides of the bargaining table scrambled to get him out. 
  How did a routine drive turn into front-page news? Davis dissects the incident before taking readers on the same journey he endured while trapped in the Kafkaesque Pakistani legal system. As a veteran security contractor, Davis had come to terms with the prospect of dying long before the January 27, 2011 shooting, but nothing could prepare him for being a political pawn in a game with the highest stakes imaginable. 
  An eye-opening memoir, The Contractor takes the veil off Raymond Davis's story and offers a sober reflection on the true cost of the War on Terror.

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