Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Remarkable Story of Fred...

  Mark Metcalf

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  Gainsborough’s Fred Spiksley was one of the first working class youngsters in 1887 to live ‘the dream’ of becoming a professional footballer, before later finding a role as a globe-trotting coach. He thus dodged the inevitability of industrial, poorly paid, dangerous labour.  Lightning fast, Spiksley created and scored hundreds of goals including, to the great joy of the future Queen Mary who chased him down the touchline, three against Scotland in 1893. The outside left scored both Sheffield Wednesday’s goals in the 2-1 defeat of Wolves in the 1896 FA Cup Final at the Crystal palace.  Forced by injury to stop playing at aged 36, Spiksley adventured out into the world. He acted with Charlie Chaplin, escaped from a German prison at the start of the First World War and later made the first ‘talking’ football training film for youngsters.  As a coach/manager he won titles in Sweden, Mexico, the USA and Germany, becoming the last Englishman to coach a German title-winning team with 1FC Nuremburg in 1927. He coached in Barcelona in 1932 and it was only after his involvement had exceeded 50 years, during which time, as this book explains, the game changed dramatically, did Spiksley’s football career end.  As an addicted gambler and womaniser, Spiksley had his problems away from football. However, he was beloved by his football fans, including Herbert Chapman, the greatest manager of that era in English football who, towards the end of his life, picked him in his finest XI.

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  Midget Submarine Commander - The...

  Paul Watkins

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  A biography of the twentieth-century British Royal Navy officer and Victoria Cross recipient, who fought below, above, and on the waves. 
   
  Of all the acts of gallantry in World War II few were as audacious as the attack by midget submarines on the pride of the German fleet, the battleship Tirpitz, lying in her heavily fortified lair deep in a Norwegian fjord. Lieutenant Godfrey Place was in command of submarine X7 in September 1943 and travelled over 1,000 miles, negotiating minefields and anti-submarine nets to place four tons of high explosive accurately under the hull of the Tirpitz. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944, at the age of twenty-two. 
   
  Taken prisoner he was repatriated to England at the end of the war, and continued to serve in the Royal Navy for twenty-five years, flying with 801 squadron in the Korean War, and serving on aircraft carriers at Suez, Nigeria and the withdrawal from Aden. On his retirement in 1970 he had the distinction of being the last serving naval officer to hold the Victoria Cross. 
   
  This overdue biography details Godfrey Place VC’s eventful life, from a childhood spent partly in East Africa to being the hugely respected Chairman of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association for over twenty years. Thanks to the author’s extensive access to previously unpublished material, including Place’s own recollections of the attack, there is unlikely to be a better or more thrilling account of the attack on the Tirpitz.

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  Knight of Germany - Oswald...

  Johannes Werner

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  The story of the World War I fighter pilot the Red Baron himself sought to emulate . . . 
   
  German air ace Oswald Boelcke was a national hero during World War I. He was the youngest captain in the German air force, decorated with the Pour le Mérite while still only a lieutenant, and credited with forty aerial victories at the time of his death. 
   
  Becoming a pilot shortly before the outbreak of the war, Boelcke established his reputation on the Western front first in reconnaissance, then in scouts, before finally becoming the best known of the early German aces, along with Max Immelmann. After Immelmann’ s death, he was taken off flying and traveled to the Eastern front where he met a young pilot called Manfred von Richthofen. Transferred back to the Western Front in command of Jasta 2, he remembered von Richthofen when new small fighting units were formed and chose him as a pilot for his new Staffel. Boelcke was tragically killed in a flying accident during combat in October 1916, although not before the reputation of his unit, together with his own, had been firmly established forever. 
   
  This absorbing biography was written with the blessing of Boelcke’s family. Professor Werner was given access to his letters and other papers, and presents here a rounded and fascinating portrait of a great airman and a remarkable soldier who became known as the father of the German Jagdflieger. 
   
  This edition has been completely reoriginated while remaining faithful to the language of the time of its original translation from German in the 1930s.

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  American Titan - Searching for...

  Marc Eliot

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  As he did in his bestselling biographies of Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Clint Eastwood, Marc Eliot offers an exciting, groundbreaking new take on an American icon—the most legendary Western film hero of all time, John WayneAn audience favorite and top box-office draw for decades, John Wayne symbolized masculinity, power, and patriotism, and inspired millions of Americans. Yet despite his popularity and success, he was unfairly dismissed as a "B" movie actor lacking elegance, creativity, range, and depth. American Titan challenges conventional wisdom and reevaluates Wayne's life and vital cinematic legacy, ultimately placing the man known as "Duke" among a select and brilliant pantheon of "actor auteurs"—artists whose consistency of style in their work reflects their personal creative vision.In American Titan, Eliot demonstrates that Wayne possessed a distinct and remarkable vision rooted in his unique Midwestern and West Coast childhood that would become manifest in one of the most enduring screen personalities of all time: the elusive, stoic frontier loner. Wayne's heroic outsider also influenced a new generation of actors and filmmakers who would borrow from it to use in their own movies.Drawing on his deep, extensive knowledge of Hollywood and film, Eliot contends that the primary driving force behind Wayne's extraordinary career and body of work was the result of his own ambitions and his collaborations with directors John Ford and Howard Hawks. Eliot offers as evidence the distinct personality that runs through Wayne's staggering 169 films, from Stage Coach and The Searchers to The Quiet Man and The Green Berets.Setting Wayne's life within the sweeping political and social transformations that defined the nation, Eliot's masterly revisionist portrait is a remarkable in-depth look at a life that embodied the spirit of the twentieth century. What emerges is nothing less than a powerful understanding of and appreciation for a true American titan.Marc Eliot is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books on popular culture, among them the highly acclaimed Cary Grant, the award-winning Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, and American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. He writes for a number of publications and frequently speaks about film at universities and to film groups, and on radio and television. He lives in New York City and Woodstock, New York.MarcEliot.net

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  The Homeboy Way - A Radical...

  Thomas Vozzo, Gregory Boyle

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  Breaking the RulesLeading with heart, authenticity, and purpose, Thomas Vozzo provides a clear path to a new bottom line—including 55 rules to break—bringing the Homeboy Way to life as the perfect antidote to the massive tidal currents of social injustice and inequities.By every traditional measurement of success, Vozzo was a clear winner. In his world of billion-dollar revenues and million-dollar profits, he knew exactly what shareholders wanted and how to get it for them. Then, through a series of fateful events, Vozzo landed as CEO of Homeboy Industries, the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the country, founded by Jesuit priest Greg Boyle. “I arrived at Homeboy at a time when I needed to learn more about myself and my life’s journey,” Vozzo writes. “And after 8 years of working with the poor, forgotten, and demonized people of our society, I’ve come to learn that I didn’t really know as much about life as I thought.”Vozzo’s enlightening journey leads to his recognition that a radical approach is needed in business and in life: “What Homeboy has taught me is that we need to do business differently. … We need to bust up the system, swim upstream, avoid herd mentality.”Blending personal stories of his day-to-day with Fr. Greg and the homies along with counterintuitive business ideas that are changing lives for the better, Vozzo shows you how you can live, lead, and shake things up with kinship, determination, compassion, and grit.That’s the Homeboy Way.

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  When the Center Held - Gerald...

  Donald Rumsfeld

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  “A personal look behind the scenes” (Publishers Weekly) of the presidency of Gerald Ford as seen through the eyes of Donald Rumsfeld—New York Times bestselling author and Ford’s former Secretary of Defense, Chief of Staff, and longtime personal confidant.In the wake of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, it seemed the United States was coming apart. America had experienced a decade of horrifying assassinations; the unprecedented resignation of first a vice president and then a president of the United States; intense cultural and social change; and a new mood of cynicism sweeping the country—a mood that, in some ways, lingers today.Into that divided atmosphere stepped an unexpected, unelected, and largely unknown American—Gerald R. Ford. In contrast to every other individual who had ever occupied the Oval Office, he had never appeared on any ballot either for the presidency or the vice presidency. Ford simply and humbly performed his duty to the best of his considerable ability. By the end of his 895 days as president, he would in fact have restored balance to our country, steadied the ship of state, and led his fellow Americans out of the national trauma of Watergate. And yet, Gerald Ford remains one of the least studied and least understood individuals to have held the office of the President of the United States. In turn, his legacy also remains severely underappreciated.In When the Center Held, Ford’s Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld candidly shares his personal observations of the man himself, providing a sweeping examination of his crucial years in office. It is a rare and fascinating look behind the closed doors of the Oval Office, including never-before-seen photos, memos, and anecdotes, from a unique insider’s perspective—“engrossing and informative” (Kirkus Reviews) reading for any fan of presidential history.

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