A Letter from the World to America
An outsider look into the politics in the USA
Break-22
It is the ultimate Catch-22: world leaders and governments will not take extreme measures to resolve the climate crisis until the situation becomes so bad that the public will accept those measures. But by then we will have passed the point of no return and it will be too late to do anything. Break-22 is the true story of the author's attempts to break the catch, attempts that all end in failure. In frustration he turns to the lead character in the novel he's writing to find the answer.
Uprooted
A powerful collection of thirty-four true-life stories that trace the origins, hardships, and triumphs of one of the world's most resilient communities.The displacement of Sri Lanka's Tamils began in the 1950s, when discriminatory laws such as the Sinhala Only Act stripped them of language rights, limiting access to education, jobs, and public services. Coupled with recurring anti-Tamil violence, these policies drove the first waves of migration.Over the ensuing decades - from the pogroms of the 1970s, to the mass violence of Black July in 1983, and the devastating civil war that ended in 2009 - more than a million Tamils fled their homeland in search of safety, dignity, and opportunity.In these pages, Tamils displaced by conflict and discrimination, as well as their children and grandchildren, share deeply personal journeys. They span continents and professions - artists, writers, scientists, humanitarians, politicians, educators, athletes, and community leaders - building new lives in Canada, Australia, Europe, the UK, and beyond.Through meticulous research and heartfelt interviews, Ana Pararajasingham situates these individual lives within the wider historical forces of colonial legacies, post-independence nationalism, and global geopolitics. The result is a portrait of a people who, despite profound loss, have bridged cultures, preserved heritage, and forged new identities.UPROOTED challenges stereotypes, counters prejudice, and celebrates achievement. It honours a community scattered by policy and violence, yet united by perseverance and hope. These narratives transcend borders, inviting readers everywhere to reflect on migration, human rights, and the enduring search for belonging.If you are moved by true stories of resilience and the will to overcome, UPROOTED will offer you insight, empathy, and inspiration. Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to begin the journey
Peter Tork
Most people know Peter Tork as the dim-witted bass player from The Monkees. However, the real Peter Tork, as revealed in his own words, was a man of extraordinary philosophical and intellectual depth. His innate need to share wisdom with whomever might benefit was something that truly brightened his soul.Throughout his life, Peter suffered with isolation, addiction, low self-worth, destitution, and cancer - among other things - only to take each of these life lessons and grow through them, always looking for ways to better himself and share his knowledge.The quotes in these pages - which have been compartmentalized into relevant sections - come from his advice column, "Ask Peter Tork", posts from his official Facebook page, personal emails, and other sources ranging from 1966 right up until February 2019, just two days before he passed away.Need help with your marriage? Go to the chapter on relationships. Been diagnosed with an illness? Find out ways to deal. Want to know what Davy Jones was really like? Ask Peter Tork.Peter believed that this human journey should not be trod alone, that hope and help is always available, and that we all have the ability - no matter our history - to choose to live our best life, starting right now.Let him convince you.Contents: ForewordIntroductionTork About AbuseTork About AddictionTork About AnxietyTork About AutobiographyTork About the BluesTork About BooksTork About Cancer JourneyTork About ChildhoodTork About Community-ismTork About Davy JonesTork About DeathTork About DespairTork About EducationTork About Facing MorbidityTork About ForgivenessTork About FreedomTork About HappinessTork About How to do LifeTork About Inspiring StuffTork About LonelinessTork About LoveTork About Michael NesmithTork About Micky DolenzTork About MoneyTork About The MonkeesTork About MusicTork About ParenthoodTork About PeaceTork About Peter ThorkelsonTork About PrejudiceTork About PoliticsTork About PossessionsTork About PurposeTork About RegretTork About RelationshipsTork About SexTork About Self-WorthTork About the SixtiesTork About SobrietyTork About SpiritualityTork About TrustTork About WisdomTork About ZenTork About Zhe End...AcknowledgementsReferences
La B籀veda
Journey Back Into the Vault invites people to travel with author Mario Cartaya back to the land of his birth for the first time in fifty-six years as he seeks to reclaim his forgotten childhood memories, original identity, and once-promised destiny. Join Mario as he searches for the now faded footprints he once left behind in the homes, school, and playgrounds of the first nine years of his life in 1950s Cuba before Fidel Castro came into power and his family became political exiles. Help him honor the grandparents, uncles, and aunts he never saw again at their final resting place, and meet family members he never knew existed. Laugh, sigh, and cry during the many unforeseen experiences, astonishing events, and serendipitous moments that would forever change his life. Enjoy the improbable story of a courageous journey aimed at breaching a subconscious vault once built to store the difficult memories of a childhood usurped, destiny denied, and loving family forever separated by geopolitical events. Journey Back Into the Vault is the story of those psychological forces that help define humans, the power of enduring hope, and how by achieving purity of heart, reconciliation, and a soul at rest, people can evolve into better versions of themselves-a universal message of love and enlightenment that can only begin with each individual's search for self-actualization and inner peace.
Decisions, Discord & Diplomacy
Strategic DecisionsCompeting AgendasThe ConsequencesThe patterns of history repeat when we fail to learn from them. Admiral William J. Fallon's memoir offers critical lessons from America's post-9/11 wars that remain urgently relevant today.As CENTCOM commander from 2007-2008, Fallon oversaw U.S. military operations during the Iraq surge and Afghanistan war, witnessing firsthand how competing institutional agendas undermined strategic thinking. Drawing from four decades of naval service, records, experiences, and extensive personal notes, he reveals the decision-making processes that shaped America's longest conflicts.Fallon chronicles his journey from Cold War operations through serving as Vice Chief of Naval Operations during 9/11, commanding U.S. PACIFIC COMMAND, and finally leading CENTCOM. His account details interactions with key figures, including President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and regional leaders such as Egypt's President Mubarak, Afghanistan's President Karzai, and Pakistan's President Musharraf, while examining the bureaucratic challenges of managing simultaneous wars.One incident involves the Esquire magazine article that ended Fallon's career by portraying him as opposing the Bush administration's Iran policy. It exemplifies the complex intersection of military leadership, political oversight, and media influence that continues to shape national security decisions.Fallon demonstrates how American leaders repeatedly chose tactical responses over comprehensive strategic planning, which contributed to prolonged conflicts and uncertain outcomes. His analysis of what he terms the "tyranny of agendas"-competing institutional interests that distort decision-making-provides essential insights for understanding how strategic failures occur and how they might be prevented.
Wrestling with Weasels
OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR AVAILABLE FROM OUTSKIRTS PRESS: Tommye Staley now has three books (of four) in her Memories of a Southern girl series which describe the life and adventures of someone who started as a little barefoot girl on a rural Arkansas farm and, despite all the changes to her life directed by others, she not only survives but becomes a successful teacher of 50 years, a mother, a wife, a city councilwoman, a successful stage play director, and a movie actress who lives around the country far from her rural roots on the farm. She proves she is resilient and makes it through some of life's predicaments alone. Nothing is out of reach for her!Memories of a Southern Girl: Washing WormsThe beginnings of the saga of the little girl from the island farm in rural Arkansas. It was idyllic until....Memories of a Southern Girl: Jumping on Snakes: She is eleven years old, and her life had just been dramatically changed by the family's move from her beloved farm to new life where she was.........COMING SOONMemories of a Southern Girl: Walking with WolverinesThe final chapter in series.
The Geography of Desire
It's 1978, and twenty-four-year-old Linda Gambill is stuck with a dead-end job, a nightly marijuana habit, and a troubled relationship with a former professor. Desperate to explore the world and find her place in it, she makes good on a long-held dream. She joins the Peace Corps.A year later, she arrives in Medina, a devout Muslim village in The Gambia, West Africa. She's tasked with teaching health and nutrition to the village women, but they have no confidence in a young white woman trying to change their ways. Instead of finding a sense of belonging, Linda becomes so depressed she can barely leave her hut.When tragedy strikes, her perspective shifts from self-absorption to service. She learns the local language, forges friendships, and begins to make her mark on the village, all the while falling in love with two very different men. But it is only when a coup breaks out that the course of her life becomes clear. Richly sensual and poignant, The Geography of Desire is the story of one woman's transformative journey amidst the challenges and beauty of West Africa, showing how the people we set out to change, in the end, change us.
A Journey in Surgery
The pathway to a career isn't always straightforward. Not everyone dreams of becoming a doctor, let alone a surgeon, since childhood. Author Dennis Pitt certainly didn't. Like his grandfather and parents, Dennis had his sights set on a career in the Canadian Armed Forces. But after a few pivotal events, he applied to medical school. And once there, the path wasn't any clearer: What area to specialize in? What internships and specialist residencies to apply for? How do you balance a personal life with a demanding education and career?Inspired by his mother's own memoir to document family history, Dennis wrote A Journey in Surgery: The Memoir of a Canadian Surgeon. From the influences of his childhood and adolescence to the ups and downs of medical school, Dennis navigated sometimes rocky terrain to become an "average" (his words) general surgeon. This memoir combines personal anecdotes and family history with elements of medical memoirs to offer a glimpse into the life of a surgeon-and life beyond surgery. Direct and self-aware, this memoir offers valuable commentary on the history of medicine as well as its future. More than anything, A Journey in Surgery is about finding your path in life and maintaining the right balance once you're on it. Because once you can appreciate all the wonderful people and experiences life has to offer, it'll make all the challenges worth it.
A Branch to Rest On
George Wright's autobiography is the unforgettablestory of a man who rose from poverty and hardship to build a life of dignityand purpose. Born into great need in the fishing village of Sans Souci, Wrightendured abuse, hunger and instability. Yet he discovered early his gift as akeen observer, recording with humour and honesty the everyday details ofTrinidadian life: funerals and festivals, bush medicine and obeah, the rhythmsof school and village community. As a young runaway in Port of Spain, Wright survivedby ingenuity: working as a yard boy, factory hand, bauxite loader, trader inSuriname, even living in a tree. Along the way, he read Shakespeare andDickens, painted houses, bartended, fought when challenged, and captured it allwith extraordinary clarity. His life transformed when he found love, built a homein Laventille and earned respect as "man of business" for a local entrepreneur.More than memoir, Wright's story is a testament to resilience, integrity andhope, an inspiring Caribbean life narrative for all readers of autobiography.
Barossa Lily - randomly
Get ready for a journalling journey with Heather Anne Gordon. Her writing flows unconventionally: part journal, part song, part fierce conversation with land and community.Barossa Lily - randomly is a celebration of personal stories interwoven with the natural beauty and the cultural heritage of South Australia. More than a tribute to landscape, it honours the people who call this place home. Those individuals who navigate the challenges of disability, ageing, and societal expectation. Heather's words stand as a testament to the power of community, friendship, and the enduring human spirit.Heather's writing acknowledges the rich cultural heritage of First Nations peoples: their deep spiritual connection to Country and their continuing legacy.If you are someone who appreciates the beauty of the natural world and the resilience of people, Barossa Lily - randomly is for you. Heather's storytelling will leave you more deeply connected to the land and its people.Join Heather on this reflective excursion through twenty-five years of journalling. Barossa Lily - randomly is a companion to Outback Lily - episodes from a to z. Published by Centred in Choice.
Trying Unfathomably Hard to Live
While biking to work one summer morning, Alyssa Favreau gets in an accident, has a stroke, and suffers severe brain damage. After losing consciousness, she spends the next month floating between wakefulness and surreal dreams.As she emerges back into the world, she must relearn how to move, think, feel, and live in a changed body and mind. In this memoir, Alyssa chronicles the frustrating, absurd, uncanny process of re-entering her life as someone not quite the same as before."It's hard to write about healing without feeling the weight of the ableist world breathing down your neck, wanting you to write a hero's recovery journey, a brush with death that is singularly your own, and will end in a return to pre-accident "normal". Alyssa Favreau's Trying Unfathomably Hard to Live pushes against this mainstream desire and delves into the difficulties of healing and recovering, and the way our ableist world affects how we let ourselves heal. With the company of books like Eli Clare's Brilliant Imperfection, Barbara Ehrenreich's Natural Causes, and Elaine Scarry's The Body in Pain, Favreau articulates how we might find new ways of living after injury with humour, curiosity, and care. Not shying away from showing her impatience or the emotional devastation of healing, Favreau wonders how to lean deeper into the feeling of being alive, trying to not rush her recovery, trying to find new ways to live. She says, "I have learned one set of rules just to see them change completely, without the imperceptible shift of aging. I'm in constant negotiation with myself". This renegotiation, while exhausting, also offers a new, more compassionate, way of living." - Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, author of Knot Body and The Good Arabs, winner of the Grand Prix du Livre de Montr矇al 2022"What do you do when everything changes in an instant? Trying Unfathomably Hard to Live is a powerful memoir of a double near-miss - an experience that Favreau could have walked away from unharmed, or that could have killed her, but ultimately leaves her in an excruciating no-man's land: the fog of recovery. As she rehabs from her stroke, she has the agonizing job of parsing every little detail of the accident, as well as the experience of being out of time and place, restarting from scratch, and the tragedy of a year of normalcy lost to the arduous process of healing. It's a book that will resonate with anyone who's experienced the agony of a disabling event, bolstered by the author's unrelenting honesty, vulnerability, and a fascinating headfirst dive into the literature surrounding disability."- Alex Manley, author of Post-Man: Essays on Being a Neurodivergent Non-Binary Person
Uprooted
A powerful collection of thirty-four true-life stories that trace the origins, hardships, and triumphs of one of the world's most resilient communities.The displacement of Sri Lanka's Tamils began in the 1950s, when discriminatory laws such as the Sinhala Only Act stripped them of language rights, limiting access to education, jobs, and public services. Coupled with recurring anti-Tamil violence, these policies drove the first waves of migration.Over the ensuing decades - from the pogroms of the 1970s, to the mass violence of Black July in 1983, and the devastating civil war that ended in 2009 - more than a million Tamils fled their homeland in search of safety, dignity, and opportunity.In these pages, Tamils displaced by conflict and discrimination, as well as their children and grandchildren, share deeply personal journeys. They span continents and professions - artists, writers, scientists, humanitarians, politicians, educators, athletes, and community leaders - building new lives in Canada, Australia, Europe, the UK, and beyond.Through meticulous research and heartfelt interviews, Ana Pararajasingham situates these individual lives within the wider historical forces of colonial legacies, post-independence nationalism, and global geopolitics. The result is a portrait of a people who, despite profound loss, have bridged cultures, preserved heritage, and forged new identities.UPROOTED challenges stereotypes, counters prejudice, and celebrates achievement. It honours a community scattered by policy, poltics and violence, yet united by perseverance and hope. These narratives transcend borders, inviting readers everywhere to reflect on migration, human rights, and the enduring search for belonging.If you are moved by true stories of resilience and the will to overcome, UPROOTED will offer you insight, empathy, and inspiration. Scroll up and click "Buy Now" to begin the journey.
The Geography of Desire
It's 1978, and twenty-four-year-old Linda Gambill is stuck with a dead-end job, a nightly marijuana habit, and a troubled relationship with a former professor. Desperate to explore the world and find her place in it, she makes good on a long-held dream. She joins the Peace Corps.A year later, she arrives in Medina, a devout Muslim village in The Gambia, West Africa. She's tasked with teaching health and nutrition to the village women, but they have no confidence in a young white woman trying to change their ways. Instead of finding a sense of belonging, Linda becomes so depressed she can barely leave her hut.When tragedy strikes, her perspective shifts from self-absorption to service. She learns the local language, forges friendships, and begins to make her mark on the village, all the while falling in love with two very different men. But it is only when a coup breaks out that the course of her life becomes clear. Richly sensual and poignant, The Geography of Desire is the story of one woman's transformative journey amidst the challenges and beauty of West Africa, showing how the people we set out to change, in the end, change us.
The Unique Life of Jim Rumsey
Jim Rumsey's life ran the gamut from wilderness adventures to corporate boardrooms to community cultural organizations. This is a modern biography of a remarkable man and his enduring legacy.
God Will Make a Way
Terry Rush writes not as a casual observer but as an active participant with those who have been struck by the hauntings of heartache. In God Will Make a Way, Rush tells his own story and the true stories of others, who were dealt devastating blows but trusted an unseen God to lead them on an unknown road to the comfort and assurance that they so desperately sought. We all eventually face an event or circumstance that leaves us anxiously looking for a way through. Every human plan falls short, every mental search leads nowhere, until finally, all hope is gone. Even when there seems to be no way, the pages of this book reveal that God will make a way. In this book you will discover: How to gain a sense of control in the midst of chaos God's prescription for pain How to view hurt as your energy rather than your enemy How to control the event that has victimized you How God supports you in your pain How to go beyond surviving your pain
A Journey in Surgery
The pathway to a career isn't always straightforward. Not everyone dreams of becoming a doctor, let alone a surgeon, since childhood. Author Dennis Pitt certainly didn't. Like his grandfather and parents, Dennis had his sights set on a career in the Canadian Armed Forces. But after a few pivotal events, he applied to medical school. And once there, the path wasn't any clearer: What area to specialize in? What internships and specialist residencies to apply for? How do you balance a personal life with a demanding education and career?Inspired by his mother's own memoir to document family history, Dennis wrote A Journey in Surgery: The Memoir of a Canadian Surgeon. From the influences of his childhood and adolescence to the ups and downs of medical school, Dennis navigated sometimes rocky terrain to become an "average" (his words) general surgeon. This memoir combines personal anecdotes and family history with elements of medical memoirs to offer a glimpse into the life of a surgeon-and life beyond surgery. Direct and self-aware, this memoir offers valuable commentary on the history of medicine as well as its future. More than anything, A Journey in Surgery is about finding your path in life and maintaining the right balance once you're on it. Because once you can appreciate all the wonderful people and experiences life has to offer, it'll make all the challenges worth it.
Things we Hear
Throughout this book, I've shared stories and anecdotes that highlight the highs and lows of being an official. Whether it's the humorous moments that bring a smile to my face or the intense encounters that test my resolve, each memory is a cherished part of my officiating career.As you turn the final page, I hope you take away a deeper appreciation for the officials who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Their efforts often go unnoticed, but they are the unsung heroes who uphold the integrity of the game. To my fellow officials, coaches, players, and sports enthusiasts, thank you for being part of this incredible journey. May we continue to strive for excellence and uphold the values that make sports a powerful and unifying force.
Along the Way
Along the Way: To a Meeting Place is part survival tale, part spiritual memoir, and part ancestral detective story-a powerful reflection on what it means to belong, to believe, and to be "a meeting place" of all who came before you. When turbulence on a flight knocks Jeffrey Aquino unconscious, he awakens into a vivid inner journey: crossing deserts and caves with only a knapsack and a Bible, naming twelve rocks after the Apostles, building a small raft called "Glory," and following mysterious visions of creation, migration, and faith. Along the way, he confronts hunger, fear, and isolation-but also experiences God's presence in water from hidden springs, in the Rosary prayed by habit, and in the comfort of Scripture whispered in the dark. In Part Two, Aquino steps back from the visions to trace the real-world story behind them-how the Iberian Peninsula and the Philippine archipelago, waves of conquerors and seafarers, and centuries of migration shaped his DNA and identity as a Filipino Catholic. The result is a deeply personal, accessible exploration of heritage, history, and grace that invites readers to consider their own family story through the lens of faith.Perfect for parish libraries, Catholic and Christian bookstores, book clubs, and readers of spiritual memoir, Along the Way offers an inspiring, beautifully written reminder that none of us walks alone: God and our ancestors travel with us-every step along the way.
Willy's Wild Ride
Description of this companion edition: Ever read a history book and think, "Damn, this is dry... just give me the tea"? Bet. This is the Gen-Z Remix of the full, official story, Wilhelm Reich in Rangeley?. We took the same wild lore but translated it into a language that actually slaps. It's shorter, spicier, and gets straight to the point. Perfect for when you want the main quest summary without all the boring side quests. (Though, no cap, getting both is a total vibe check.)So you're in the middle of nowhere, Maine, and you find a building that looks like a supervillain's secret lab. What's the deal?This is Orgonon. It's the creation of Dr. Wilhelm Reich, one of Sigmund Freud's top students who basically said, "Aight, I'm out," and went rogue. He was the OG of body positivity, convinced that our trauma and feels get stuck in our muscles. He dipped from the city to find the literal vibe of life itself-an energy he called orgone.This book is the full lore dump on how this absolute madlad ended up in the Maine woods.But this isn't just some historical snoozefest, bro. Reich's work was so out there it inspired everyone from Bob Dylan to Kate Bush (iykyk). But his ideas were also so spicy that the feds got triggered. We're talking a literal, government-mandated book burning. In America. No cap. The government was giving main villain energy.So what's the play? This booklet is your cheat code to Orgonon. Whether you're here for the wild backstory, the seriously cool and kinda alien architecture, or just want to hike some trails with immaculate views and contemplate why we're all so emotionally constipated-this guide has everything you need to explore one of the weirdest and most important historical sites you'll ever stumble upon. Damn.A note on this special project: In a unique experiment, Wilhelm Reich Museum Executive Director David Silver has collaborated with AI assistants (ChatGPT-4o and Google Gemini) to create this introductory guide. While published by Orgonon Press, this booklet represents a personal initiative by the author focused on introducing new readers to the story of Wilhelm Reich and Orgonon. The author is fully responsible for all content.
Things we Hear
Throughout this book, I've shared stories and anecdotes that highlight the highs and lows of being an official. Whether it's the humorous moments that bring a smile to my face or the intense encounters that test my resolve, each memory is a cherished part of my officiating career.As you turn the final page, I hope you take away a deeper appreciation for the officials who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Their efforts often go unnoticed, but they are the unsung heroes who uphold the integrity of the game. To my fellow officials, coaches, players, and sports enthusiasts, thank you for being part of this incredible journey. May we continue to strive for excellence and uphold the values that make sports a powerful and unifying force.
Not Just a Nurse
A beautiful retelling of stories that make up the tapestry of rural and remote nursing. - Ruth Ni Scanlain Hackett, Emergency Nurse PractitionerFrom the Warrumbungle Mountains to the red earth of the Pilbara, the Island of Lemnos to the opal fields of Lightning Ridge, this memoir spans seventy years of a life dedicated to family, adventure and service to others. Leigh left her final nursing position with a desire to share the stories of the indigenous people she so loved working with. As she records their lives, and recounts other character rich stories, Leigh reveals her own life journey: of childhood tragedy, nursing in the era of hospital training, raising a family on a rural property and the realities of providing medical care in rural and remote Australia.Like many of her patients, Leigh's story is one of resilience and courage in the face of adversity.As Leigh devoted her life to making a difference her story asks us to consider what we can do to care for others.
True Stories
True Stories: Volume VIII is a wonderful collection of works produced by the graduates of The Narrative Project, an organization that supports writers in getting their books done. Cami Ostman---author, teacher, and director of The Narrative Project---and her team of story warriors walk writers through a journey from the inception of a book idea to the writing of a complete manuscript. These stories represent a sampling from the latest cohort, and evidence that support and accountability are key to ushering stories into the world.
Life is What You Make It
Life Is What You Make It is about the author's experience with God and the universe, on how he accomplished his big dreams in life, and the lessons he learned along the way. He believes that even though his goals and problems may be different from yours, a solution is available for you just as it was for him. He doesn't believe that our dreams truly come from us alone but from the creator of the universe. If HE put it in us, HE has definitely a plan on how to accomplish it.His part, just like us, is to listen and follow without prejudice and to stop being the one who wants to be in control all the time. If this book helps the readers see that God's way does work, then the author has done his job.
Home Boys
How does it feel to be a child abandoned by one's own family? Home Boys tells the unforgettable stories of children and parents caught in this traumatic situation and of the group home's child-care staff who tries to help them. Branching out from a Staten Island home as the main setting, the book's sweep is broad, spanning all of New York City and its five Family Courts. Stories of success and failure, of love and hate emerge. There are acts of domestic terrorism and hate crime-a pipe-bomb scare evacuating a residential block, an attempted murder of a boy by another boy, a burning cross sent up the elevator of the Catholic Charities building by way of protest. Fearful of the power the system has given him, the narrator admits, "I felt I was asked to play God with children's lives." The narrator's marriage falls apart in the course of his family's residence in the home. More urgent than the narrator's are the life stories of the children, subject to the care of strangers in a system that counts heads for monetary purposes. The lives of six boys emerge in detail. Despite it all, plenty of raucous teen talk and ribald humor throughout the book attests to a comic spirit. The staff of the group home and some of the boys create a home and a semblance of a loving family. That achievement is the heart of the book.
The Bushmen
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up as I watched the flames devour the forest faster than a man could run. The fire was outflanking us and was burning faster than we could dig a hand line. If it got behind us, our escape route would be gone. There would be no place to go. Our fire shelters would be worthless. We would be dead in a matter of minutes. An hour earlier, this fire was just your typical forest fire; in the last 20 minutes, it had transformed into a full-scale conflagration. My perceived invincibility as a young, tough forest firefighter came to an end that day.In 1966, the first type 1 hotshot fire crew was established in Washington state. History records the crew as being vulgar rogues where drinking, carousing, and hell raising were their calling cards. Like most hotshot crews, The Bushmen played hard. They worked even harder. I moved to the small town of Entiat, Washington in the spring of 1968. A move that would change my life forever. A story of friendships made and lost and traditions upheld. Numeral Mountain stands guard at the confluence of the Columbia and Entiat Rivers. Every summer, seniors climb that mountain to paint their graduating number on it, some standing on a 6-to-12 inch ledge, 200 plus feet above the swirling waters of the Entiat River. A tradition that is over a hundred years old and one I'm proud to say I took part in. It was optional to risk life and limb in the name of tradition.Everyone who lived within a fifty-mile radius of that town knew who The Bushmen were. It was a crew that old firedogs still tell tales about around the campfires to this day. I knew from the start that I wanted to be a member of that crew someday. My career with the US Forest Service began in the summer of 1971. My dream of becoming a member of that famous crew happened during the summer of 1974. When I left the crew after the summer of 1977, I held the position of head sawyer and team leader and was voted one of three outstanding performers on the crew. My proudest moment.Fighting forest fires on a type 1 hotshot crew is physically and mentally demanding. It requires stamina, discipline, courage, and dedication. A lifestyle that was not for the faint of heart. It was a dangerous, dirty, sometimes thankless job that I found myself addicted to with each passing summer. The Bushmen is an emotional, action-packed story of what it was like growing up in the small, close-knit community of Entiat, Washington, located halfway between Wenatchee and Chelan, along the beautiful Columbia River. Of lifelong friendships made and lost, because of tragic circumstances nobody could have ever predicted. How some of those lost friendships and life's blows put me on a collision course with reckless living that included alcohol, drugs, and bad decisions. As the old clich矇 goes. Being part of something bigger than myself was the only thing that snapped me out of a life headed nowhere fast.
The Smile Behind the Pain
What does it look like to smile while carrying a storm inside?Pastor and nurse Anglore Chambers traces a winding road-from childhood wounds and homelessness to a complicated marriage, spiritual warfare, and the jolt of a life-altering diagnosis. Along the way, she builds a ministry from the ground up, mothers a blended family, and learns to trust God when the night lasts longer than expected.Told with unguarded honesty and a voice steeped in prayer, The Smile Behind the Pain invites you into hospital rooms, church basements, immigration lines, and kitchen tables where faith is tested and restored. This is a memoir of resilience and redemption-of heartbreak that becomes a classroom and healing that becomes a calling.For readers standing in hard places, this book offers practical hope: your tears are not wasted, your story still matters, and grace can gather every broken piece.Perfect for readers of inspirational nonfiction, Christian testimony, and memoirs of perseverance, spiritual warfare, blended family life, and ministry.What tried to break you can't define you. Let this story remind you: with Christ in the vessel, you can smile at the storm.
Thomas C. Higgins
Thomas C. Higgins: A Man Reinvented is a true American story of grit, curiosity, and creative bloom. Nancy Higgins Hall traces how her father, Thomas C. Higgins, refused to stand still, pursuing groundbreaking research that culminated in a practical solution, then surprising even himself with a late-blooming passion for art, filling canvases with the same precision and wonder that powered his lab work. Through family archives and crisp, vivid storytelling, this biography captures a life rebuilt more than once-by brain, by hands, and by heart. Perfect for family-history enthusiasts, or readers who love true stories of grit, grace, innovation, and the unexpected beauty of a second act. Thomas C. Higgins: A Man Reinvented proves it's never too late to begin again.
The Sun Will Shine Again
New Year's Eve 1944, Ostrau, Czechoslovakia. As the Russian Army mobilizes just 150 kilometers away, a family gathers to plan their escape.Hoping that American forces will occupy it, author George Mueck's father chooses Dresden as their destination. By May 5, 1945, the family reaches Prague-just as the Prague uprising is beginning. Two days later, the Nazis surrender.The Sun Will Shine Again shares how the Mueck family escaped death in Prague before being among the three million Czech-Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia by the Benes decree.Facing homelessness, for George's father, one thing was certain: they had to leave Europe to overcome the tragic memories and start anew without being constantly reminded of the past. They traveled to South America and finally to Canada, where they settled. The Sun Will Shine Again depicts one family's riches to rags to riches story from 1944 to 1972 and their lives thereafter, making it perfect for those interested in World War II history and stories of survival and triumph after adversity.
The Bushmen
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up as I watched the flames devour the forest faster than a man could run. The fire was outflanking us and was burning faster than we could dig a hand line. If it got behind us, our escape route would be gone. There would be no place to go. Our fire shelters would be worthless. We would be dead in a matter of minutes. An hour earlier, this fire was just your typical forest fire; in the last 20 minutes, it had transformed into a full-scale conflagration. My perceived invincibility as a young, tough forest firefighter came to an end that day.In 1966, the first type 1 hotshot fire crew was established in Washington state. History records the crew as being vulgar rogues where drinking, carousing, and hell raising were their calling cards. Like most hotshot crews, The Bushmen played hard. They worked even harder. I moved to the small town of Entiat, Washington in the spring of 1968. A move that would change my life forever. A story of friendships made and lost and traditions upheld. Numeral Mountain stands guard at the confluence of the Columbia and Entiat Rivers. Every summer, seniors climb that mountain to paint their graduating number on it, some standing on a 6-to-12 inch ledge, 200 plus feet above the swirling waters of the Entiat River. A tradition that is over a hundred years old and one I'm proud to say I took part in. It was optional to risk life and limb in the name of tradition.Everyone who lived within a fifty-mile radius of that town knew who The Bushmen were. It was a crew that old firedogs still tell tales about around the campfires to this day. I knew from the start that I wanted to be a member of that crew someday. My career with the US Forest Service began in the summer of 1971. My dream of becoming a member of that famous crew happened during the summer of 1974. When I left the crew after the summer of 1977, I held the position of head sawyer and team leader and was voted one of three outstanding performers on the crew. My proudest moment.Fighting forest fires on a type 1 hotshot crew is physically and mentally demanding. It requires stamina, discipline, courage, and dedication. A lifestyle that was not for the faint of heart. It was a dangerous, dirty, sometimes thankless job that I found myself addicted to with each passing summer. The Bushmen is an emotional, action-packed story of what it was like growing up in the small, close-knit community of Entiat, Washington, located halfway between Wenatchee and Chelan, along the beautiful Columbia River. Of lifelong friendships made and lost, because of tragic circumstances nobody could have ever predicted. How some of those lost friendships and life's blows put me on a collision course with reckless living that included alcohol, drugs, and bad decisions. As the old clich矇 goes. Being part of something bigger than myself was the only thing that snapped me out of a life headed nowhere fast.
Tales of an Inland Empire Girl
The second edition of Tales of an Inland Empire Girl tells the story of a blue-collar family who lives in the Inland Empire. John, the Cowboy white father, loves his children but drinks too much and is always chasing windmills while Judy, a Mexican mother working two jobs, struggles to lend stability and oscillates between love and anger, and their three children who try their best to survive day by day.In the beginning, it is the story of Jenny, her barely-younger twin sister Jackie, and their baby sister Annie, as they struggle to navigate the tides of their parents' troubles asea. As the years go on, and the chaos increases, the story zooms in on the growing storms, and ultimately on Jenny, as she struggles to manage and descends from stellar, book obsessed student to an angry and self-destructive punk rock girl.It's the story of a girl and a family hitting rock-bottom, but surviving it. It's a tale of redemption about a father, who in spite of it all is still loved fiercely by his children, and of a hardworking and ambitious mother who, against all odds, keeps the family together and manages to instill in Jenny a love for literature at an early age. Ultimately, it is the story of how Jenny redeems herself and somehow, manages to pick herself up, piece by piece, and slowly starts to put her life back together again.
These Fragments I Have Shored
When Jason Irwin visits his mother two days before Christmas, he finds her in bed, racked with pain. Later that night, at the ER, the doctor on duty delivers a diagnosis neither Jason nor his mother is prepared for: terminal cancer.These Fragments I Have Shored tells of the unique bond between mother and son. One narrative chronicles Irwin's role as caregiver during the final 35 days of his mother's life, while the other tells of Jason's fight to break free and live a "normal life" despite being born with multiple and life-threatening birth defects. While struggling to keep Jason healthy through a string of hospitalizations and surgeries, his mother internalizes feelings of guilt and shame, stemming from her unresolved childhood trauma, her failed marriage to Jason's father, and her years working low-paying, part-time jobs to survive.Jason's growing independence, his moving away to attend graduate school to study poetry, coincides with his mother's own deteriorating health and financial decline, forever changing the dynamic of their relationship. Yet, through all their ups and downs, a mutual love of music, reading, and the quirky absurdities of life holds them together.
Home Boys
How does it feel to be a child abandoned by one's own family? Home Boys tells the unforgettable stories of children and parents caught in this traumatic situation and of the group home's child-care staff who tries to help them. Branching out from a Staten Island home as the main setting, the book's sweep is broad, spanning all of New York City and its five Family Courts. Stories of success and failure, of love and hate emerge. There are acts of domestic terrorism and hate crime-a pipe-bomb scare evacuating a residential block, an attempted murder of a boy by another boy, a burning cross sent up the elevator of the Catholic Charities building by way of protest. Fearful of the power the system has given him, the narrator admits, "I felt I was asked to play God with children's lives." The narrator's marriage falls apart in the course of his family's residence in the home. More urgent than the narrator's are the life stories of the children, subject to the care of strangers in a system that counts heads for monetary purposes. The lives of six boys emerge in detail. Despite it all, plenty of raucous teen talk and ribald humor throughout the book attests to a comic spirit. The staff of the group home and some of the boys create a home and a semblance of a loving family. That achievement is the heart of the book.
Jumping to the End
Robert Rickelman had suffered from crippling anxiety his entire life. Then, he found his perfect life coach-alcohol. When he drank, he was fearless and unflappable, and comfortable in his own skin. He entered law school and drank his way through three semesters. By then, alcohol had insinuated itself into every aspect of his life, and he realized that he would never be a lawyer. He dropped out of school and bounced from one crummy job to another.After an attempted suicide, Robert spent a month in a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed as Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI). Through the years, he has been a frequent patient at various Tucson psych wards. He put his wife, Pat, through hell as doctors prescribed a litany of medications, including antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and antipsychotics. During his frequent hospitalizations, Robert scribbled notes on scraps of paper or anything he could find to write on. This memoir is the result of his cobbling together his stories over many years. Robert is a survivor in spite of himself, and he believes his message is valuable.
Jumping to the End
Robert Rickelman had suffered from crippling anxiety his entire life. Then, he found his perfect life coach-alcohol. When he drank, he was fearless and unflappable, and comfortable in his own skin. He entered law school and drank his way through three semesters. By then, alcohol had insinuated itself into every aspect of his life, and he realized that he would never be a lawyer. He dropped out of school and bounced from one crummy job to another.After an attempted suicide, Robert spent a month in a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed as Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI). Through the years, he has been a frequent patient at various Tucson psych wards. He put his wife, Pat, through hell as doctors prescribed a litany of medications, including antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and antipsychotics. During his frequent hospitalizations, Robert scribbled notes on scraps of paper or anything he could find to write on. This memoir is the result of his cobbling together his stories over many years. Robert is a survivor in spite of himself, and he believes his message is valuable.
Fierce Convictions
The enthralling biography of the woman writer who helped end the slave trade, changed Britain's upper classes, and taught a nation how to read.The history-changing reforms of Hannah More affected every level of 18th-Century British society through her keen intellect, literary achievements, collaborative spirit, strong Christian principles, and colorful personality. A woman without connections or status, More took the world of British letters by storm when she arrived in London from Bristol, becoming a best-selling author and acclaimed playwright and quickly befriending the author Samuel Johnson, the politician Horace Walpole, and the actor David Garrick. Yet she was also a leader in the Evangelical movement, using her cultural position and her pen to support the growth of education for the poor, the reform of morals and manners, and the abolition of Britain's slave trade. Fierce Convictions weaves together world and personal history into a stirring story of life that intersected with Wesley and Whitefield's Great Awakening, the rise and influence of Evangelicalism, and the convulsive effects of the French Revolution. A woman of exceptional intellectual gifts and literary talent, Hannah More was above all a person whose faith compelled her both to engage her culture and to transform it.
Depart from Evil
The author, Joan Fields Long, wrote Depart From Evil in 1976-77. The setting is in a peaceful farming community in the South. When a new pastor is hired for the local church things begin to change. He and his wife and their dog are welcomed with open arms by dairy farmers, Jed and Jenny Bentley and their family. Something strange and mysterious begins to happen after their arrival. Attitudes and disruptions in the Bentley household and in lives of some of the church members and even the farm animals take place. There is an account in the Bible in Matthew where Jesus cast out demons and they went into a herd of swine. The Bible gives strict instructions against delving into what we now call the occult or having anything to do with evil spirits. Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." KJV. Readers of most any age will be able to relate to the characters and their life style of 40 years ago. When rural America moved at a slower pace and dairy farms were the livelihood of many people. The community and the local church were important parts of their everyday lives. Proverbs 3:7 "Be not wise in thineown eyes, fear the Lord, and 'depart from evil.' " KJV.
Depart from Evil
The author, Joan Fields Long, wrote Depart From Evil in 1976-77. The setting is in a peaceful farming community in the South. When a new pastor is hired for the local church things begin to change. He and his wife and their dog are welcomed with open arms by dairy farmers, Jed and Jenny Bentley and their family. Something strange and mysterious begins to happen after their arrival. Attitudes and disruptions in the Bentley household and in lives of some of the church members and even the farm animals take place. There is an account in the Bible in Matthew where Jesus cast out demons and they went into a herd of swine. The Bible gives strict instructions against delving into what we now call the occult or having anything to do with evil spirits. Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." KJV. Readers of most any age will be able to relate to the characters and their life style of 40 years ago. When rural America moved at a slower pace and dairy farms were the livelihood of many people. The community and the local church were important parts of their everyday lives. Proverbs 3:7 "Be not wise in thineown eyes, fear the Lord, and 'depart from evil.' " KJV.
Hair Today Gone Tomorrow
In 2004 Sue found herself dealing with the fallout of the breakdown of her fourth marriage. Despite vowing never to marry again, she met Mark during a residential police training course. Despite all her reservations and her determination not to fall in love, she realised that she had found a man who honestly loved her. On the day of their house move into their new home and new life together, she found a lump in her right breast. Within ten days it was confirmed, she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and needed an operation immediately. Sue then faced an aggressive course of chemotherapy over a six-month period, followed by radiotherapy. In 2019 she was devastated to find out that her breast cancer had returned in her bones and both her lungs. She now has secondary bone and lung metastases. This book tells the story of a very ordinary woman, a wife and mother, who has had quite an extraordinary life. It tells of her thoughts, feelings and emotions as she faced up to the prospect of losing her breast and dealing with the tough treatments that followed. Now with Stage 4 cancer, that is only treatable and not curable, she is facing the prospect of death. Sue, like many diagnosed with cancer, did not know what to expect and so she has written this book with the hope that it will provide encouragement and inspiration for those in a similar situation. Sue very honestly talks of her relationship with God and how the cancer affected her outlook and, just when she felt that too much had happened in her life for God ever to be able to play a part, there was an incredible catalogue of events that took place giving her the message that God had never left her side. Today she believes that God can heal her, and she waits for that day to come. This re-published edition now includes how she coped with hearing her cancer had returned. It includes the Blogs she wrote chronicling her journey. For every copy sold, a donation will be made to Breast Cancer Care UK and Cancer Research UK in the hope that with this support, further advancements can be made in the fight against cancer.
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War
Che Guevara's definitive account of the Cuban revolutionary war, in an updated edition. Includes photos and new foreword by Aleida Guevara--Che's eldest daughter who is a physician. There is no better account of the Cuban revolutionary war than this little book by guerilla leader Che Guevara. Assembled from his campaign diary, first published in 1963, later corrected and edited by Che, and published here finally in an authoritative edition that includes not only his corrections, but also a number of short essays and articles published just after the revolution's triumph. As always, Che's writing is intimate, searching, and self-critical. Having initially joined the Cuban expedition as troop doctor, Che describes his dilemma in having to choose between a backpack of medicines and a box of ammunition (he chose the box of ammunition). In another justly famous chapter of the book, "The Murdered Puppy," Che describes how he had to give the order to have a dog killed. Throughout this book, the sweep of history and matters of life and death are rendered in small and intimate ways.
Choosing to Breathe
What if living a life true to yourself meant unraveling everything you were taught to believe?In Choosing to Breathe, Emma Stevens returns to The Gathering Place to continue her powerful exploration of loss, identity, and healing. As an adult adoptee raised to feel grateful rather than allowed to grieve, Emma was shaped by silence, expectation, and deeply rooted trauma. Yet beneath the layers of survival, resilient parts of her self waited to be seen.Through raw, reflective storytelling and guided by Internal Family Systems (IFS) work, Emma confronts the costs of emotional suppression and the courage required to live with integrity. She explores how trauma fragments identity-and how compassion, curiosity, and breath can help reclaim what was lost. Moving beyond survival, she asks what it truly means to live intentionally, with honesty and self-trust.This memoir speaks to anyone who has ever felt compelled to perform a version of themselves to belong, to stay safe, or to be loved. With insight, vulnerability, and grace, Choosing to Breathe invites readers to question inherited narratives, honor buried grief, and make space for their whole selves.This is not just a story of healing-it is an invitation to pause, to breathe, and to reclaim the life that is truly yours.
Flights of Life and Time
This book is a collection of essays both anecdotal and philosophical, and some are a combination of both. Some are about factual episodes of the author's life experiences, while others are a product of educated observations and driven by the author's innate curiosity.Where possible, the author has imbued the essays with humour. Some, however written, cannot be anything but serious some might say disturbing if not controversial. Therefore, Dear Reader, tread carefully!
These Fragments I Have Shored
When Jason Irwin visits his mother two days before Christmas, he finds her in bed, racked with pain. Later that night, at the ER, the doctor on duty delivers a diagnosis neither Jason nor his mother is prepared for: terminal cancer.These Fragments I Have Shored tells of the unique bond between mother and son. One narrative chronicles Irwin's role as caregiver during the final 35 days of his mother's life, while the other tells of Jason's fight to break free and live a "normal life" despite being born with multiple and life-threatening birth defects. While struggling to keep Jason healthy through a string of hospitalizations and surgeries, his mother internalizes feelings of guilt and shame, stemming from her unresolved childhood trauma, her failed marriage to Jason's father, and her years working low-paying, part-time jobs to survive.Jason's growing independence, his moving away to attend graduate school to study poetry, coincides with his mother's own deteriorating health and financial decline, forever changing the dynamic of their relationship. Yet, through all their ups and downs, a mutual love of music, reading, and the quirky absurdities of life holds them together.
Madam Glory
1. Childhood - A Tapestry of Roots2. School Life: Golden Years of Fathima's Holy Halls3. College Days: Rowdy Gang!4. Unbreakable Bonds of Friendship5. Journey in Pharmaceutical Innovation6. Courage and Unyielding Spirit7. From Adversity to Triumph8. Love and Unity9. A Bond Beyond Religion10. Documenting a Century of Coffee Research in India11. Life at NAARM: Challenges and Triumphs12. God is Great...World is Big13. The Blue Revolution: A Journey into Deep Sea14. Chasing a Long Pending Dream15. Ascent to Leadership16. You are My Angel!17. Challenges and Changeovers18. Trials and Triumphs!19. Every day was a Challenge...Everyday was a Victory!20. Legacy of Excellence and Impact21. Dr. Chandra Shekar - A Life of Service and Vision22. Keerthan: A Journey of Dreams and Determination23. Journey of Faith and Devotion24. Legacy of Inspiration, Exploration, and Uniqueness25. Accolades and Achievements
More Than History
Yes, this is family history! It is an immigrant story. It includes significant scholastic research. It situates the personal and family narrative within the broader political, economic, and social context of the 1920s and the subsequent decades. There are letters by the mother, the father, a son, and a daughter. There is a diary. There are love letters. An interview with the mother injects a personal and poignant memoir. The author's research and recollections convey a tone of affection. Idiosyncratic details add sparkle.
Becoming Maria Kim
Born into poverty and raised in a world that tried to define her before she could define herself, Maria Kim (formerly Kenneth Bongabong) grew up fighting battles most people never see-inside her home, inside her heart, and inside her identity.From a difficult childhood marked by hardship and discipline, to academic excellence that became her escape, Maria Kim's life unfolds as a journey of relentless resilience. As she navigates adolescence, first loves, silent heartbreaks, and the pressure to succeed, she learns that survival often demands sacrifice. Teaching becomes her calling-first in the Philippines, then in the United States-yet even success cannot shield her from betrayal, financial ruin, and emotional devastation.At the lowest point of her life-homeless, broken, and stripped of dignity-Maria Kim rebuilds from nothing. What follows is a powerful transformation: a rediscovery of purpose, a rebirth of identity, and the courage to finally live as her authentic self. As she transitions into womanhood and into Maria Kim, she faces love again-first through painful illusions, then through a love that finally chooses her back.This memoir traces her real-life journey through: poverty and achievementdiscipline and rebellionwrong love and true loveshame and self-acceptanceinvisibility and visibilitysurvival and becomingAt its core, this is not only a story about being transgender-it is a story about becoming human without apology.Written with raw honesty, emotional depth, and cinematic storytelling, this book is a testament to the truth that no matter how many times you are broken, you can still rise whole.This is not just a story of falling in love with another person.This is the story of falling in love with yourself-after the world tried to teach you not to.
More Than History
Yes, this is family history! It is an immigrant story. It includes significant scholastic research. It situates the personal and family narrative within the broader political, economic, and social context of the 1920s and the subsequent decades. There are letters by the mother, the father, a son, and a daughter. There is a diary. There are love letters. An interview with the mother injects a personal and poignant memoir. The author's research and recollections convey a tone of affection. Idiosyncratic details add sparkle.
Kafka's Ax
Borges tells us that our greatest artists disappear into their auras, the most public and least knowable of humans. We all feel at home with Kafka, the virtuoso of paradox, the patron saint of noir. Marc Kaminsky has taken on a visionary task: to restore the contingency of the living to a dead icon, to invoke a deeply complex mind, terrified of its own contradictions and caught in the peculiar character of a culture and a moment of time: [h]ow could he be proof/against the myth of redemption/when his sense of sin/was more real to him/thanhis own right hand?" Deploying all the resources of a great poet, a wildly imaginative orchestra of tones and authorial stances, and an intimate knowledge of Jewish sources and academic tropes, Kaminsky takes us on a riveting journey toward the human. His book is both a poem and an anti-myth, a critique of the objectification inherent in authorial bias. Kaminsky won't force feed you "the definitive Kafka" he will suggest a thousand paths toward a Kafka who is free to remain a stranger, vulnerable, sundered, living. Kafka's Ax is a lifework, a crowning achievement of one of our important writers and thinkers.-D. NURSKE, author of A Night in BrooklynAuthor's NoteMany of the poems and prose pieces in this book are collaged texts, combining fragments of Kafka with imaginative and documentary writing. My key documentary sources include Kafka's Diaries, Max Brod's Franz Kafka: A Biography, Ernst Pawel's Franz Kafka: The Nightmare of Reason, and Reiner Stach's Kafka: The Decisive Years and Kafka: The Years of Insight. This work is a midrash-a speculative narrative and commentary-written from the perspectives of Kafka, some of the people in his life (Max Brod, Yitzkhok Leyvi, Dora Diamont, Kafka's father Hermann) and a variety of fictional characters (participants at a fictional Kafka conference, as well as a Yiddish folksinger/independent scholar, a Yiddish actor, and a refugee-informant). Sources of the collaged texts are cited in the Source Notes.
