Biography & Autobiography

Think you know everything there is to know about the OSS, the Cold War, the CIA, and Watergate? Think again. In American Spy, one of the key figures in postwar international and political espionage tells all. Former OSS and CIA operative and White House staffer E. Howard Hunt takes you into the covert designs of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon:

• His involvement in the CIA coup in Guatemala in 1954, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and more
• His work with CIA officials such as Allen Dulles and Richard Helms
  His friendship with William F. Buckley Jr., whom Hunt brought into the CIA
• The amazing steps the CIA took to manipulate the media in America and abroad
• The motives behind the break-in at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office
• Why the White House "plumbers" were formed and what they accomplished
• The truth behind Operation Gemstone, a series of planned black ops activities against Nixon's political enemies
• A minute-by-minute account of the Watergate break-in
• Previously unreleased details of the post-Watergate cover-up

Complete with documentation from audiotape transcripts, handwritten notes, and official documents, American Spy is must reading for anyone who is fascinated by real-life spy tales, high-stakes politics, and, of course, Watergate.

Historic Photos of Harry S. Truman illustrates the life of one of the least complex and most transparent of our American presidents. As he said, "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell."

The dozens of photos in this book follow Truman's life of preparing, however unknowingly, to step into the rather large shoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The emerging theme of his life underscores the value of human interaction—his was a life spent building social networks. Whether it be business clubs, the Masons, or the military, Truman made loyal friends and powerful allies. Through these interactions, he learned to listen and to lead.

With facts and quotations from newspaper accounts, interviews, and diary entries, the captions in Historic Photos of Harry S. Truman help make his life and career come alive on the book's pages.

Historic Photos of Harry S. Truman illustrates the life of one of the least complex and most transparent of our American presidents. As he said, "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell."

The dozens of photos in this book follow Truman's life of preparing, however unknowingly, to step into the rather large shoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The emerging theme of his life underscores the value of human interaction—his was a life spent building social networks. Whether it be business clubs, the Masons, or the military, Truman made loyal friends and powerful allies. Through these interactions, he learned to listen and to lead.

With facts and quotations from newspaper accounts, interviews, and diary entries, the captions in Historic Photos of Harry S. Truman help make his life and career come alive on the book's pages.

"Every great nation owes to the men whose lives have formed part of its greatness not merely the material effect of what they did, not merely the laws they placed upon the statute books or the victories they won over armed foes, but also the immense but indefinable moral influence produced by their deeds and words themselves upon the national character." —Theodore Roosevelt, American Ideals

Before his fiftieth birthday, Teddy Roosevelt had served as a state legislator in New York, undersecretary of the navy, police commissioner of New York City, governor of New York, and two terms as Vice President and then president of the United States. He also had run a cattle ranch in the Dakota Territories, had worked as a journalist and editor, conducted scientific expeditions o four continents, raised five children, and enjoyed a fulfilling marriage with his wife. No wonder he continues to capture our imaginations as he did the loyalty and respect of his own time.

In The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt, George Grant explores the life and character of one of the most remarkable men of the twentieth century. In doing so, he defines the qualities that made Roosevelt such an extraordinary leader, the exploits that made him so famous, and the spiritual values and faith that he affirmed with such vigor as he walked the world stage with an impact generated by few men in his time.

Theodore Roosevelt: Hero

"Every great nation owes to the men whose lives have formed part of its greatness not merely the material effect of what they did, not merely the laws they placed upon the statute books or the victories they won over armed foes, but also the immense but indefinable moral influence produced by their deeds and words themselves upon the national character." —Theodore Roosevelt, American Ideals

Before his fiftieth birthday, Teddy Roosevelt had served as a state legislator in New York, undersecretary of the navy, police commissioner of New York City, governor of New York, and two terms as Vice President and then president of the United States. He also had run a cattle ranch in the Dakota Territories, had worked as a journalist and editor, conducted scientific expeditions o four continents, raised five children, and enjoyed a fulfilling marriage with his wife. No wonder he continues to capture our imaginations as he did the loyalty and respect of his own time.

In The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt, George Grant explores the life and character of one of the most remarkable men of the twentieth century. In doing so, he defines the qualities that made Roosevelt such an extraordinary leader, the exploits that made him so famous, and the spiritual values and faith that he affirmed with such vigor as he walked the world stage with an impact generated by few men in his time.

Think you know everything there is to know about the OSS, the Cold War, the CIA, and Watergate? Think again. In American Spy, one of the key figures in postwar international and political espionage tells all. Former OSS and CIA operative and White House staffer E. Howard Hunt takes you into the covert designs of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon:

• His involvement in the CIA coup in Guatemala in 1954, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and more
• His work with CIA officials such as Allen Dulles and Richard Helms
  His friendship with William F. Buckley Jr., whom Hunt brought into the CIA
• The amazing steps the CIA took to manipulate the media in America and abroad
• The motives behind the break-in at Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office
• Why the White House "plumbers" were formed and what they accomplished
• The truth behind Operation Gemstone, a series of planned black ops activities against Nixon's political enemies
• A minute-by-minute account of the Watergate break-in
• Previously unreleased details of the post-Watergate cover-up

Complete with documentation from audiotape transcripts, handwritten notes, and official documents, American Spy is must reading for anyone who is fascinated by real-life spy tales, high-stakes politics, and, of course, Watergate.

"Forgive Us Our Spins is a very smart and well-researched book about the ever-controversial Michael Moore. Larner does a great job at showing why Moore's political and cultural adventures often do more damage than good. And Larner is a man of the left who doesn't make excuses for the right. A concern for decency and the quality of public discussion in this country shine through in this book—a healthy antidote to not just Michael Moore but also the intellectual clowns of the right, like Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. Let's hope Larner's voice is heard by many."
—KEVIN MATTSON, professor, Ohio University, and author of Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century

As the 2004 presidential election approached, Michael Moore repeatedly expressed confidence that his film Fahrenheit 9/11 would have a powerful impact on the outcome of that bitter contest. The talking cogs in the right-wing media machine were happy to agree with him. They foresaw that Moore and his flawed, shallow, and factually sloppy film would be major factors in motivating and energizing their base.

Left, right, or in between, everyone has an opinion about Michael Moore. His books reside on bestseller lists, his films are unfailingly controversial, and his politics range far to the left of any elected official on the national scene. So why is he the only voice capable of bringing progressive issues and ideas to public awareness? What message should the Democratic Party glean from his immense popularity? What impact will Moore and his work have on the future of the left?

In Forgive Us Our Spins, you'll meet Michael Moore as you've never seen him before. This witty, well-written critique of America's most commercially successful radical examines Moore's life and work, reveals the personal history that underlies his political passions, and takes a clear-eyed look at his controversial trouble with the facts.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny Michael Moore's political stature. Is he the champion the left has long yearned for or the kind of friend that's more dangerous than an enemy? Read Forgive Us Our Spins, then decide.

Reporting from Jerusalem for The New York Times and Fox News respectively, Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, witnessed a decades-old conflict transformed into a completely new war. The West has learned a lot about asymmetrical war in the past decade. At the same time, many strategists have missed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become one of them. This book shows the importance of applying these hard-won lessons to the longest running, most closely watched occupation and uprising in the world.

The entire conflict can seem irrational -- and many commentators see it that way. While raising their own family in Jerusalem at the height of the violence, Myre and Griffin look at the lives of individuals caught up in the struggles to reveal how these actions make perfect sense to the participants. Extremism can become a virtue; moderation a vice. Factions develop within factions. Propaganda becomes an important weapon, and perseverance an essential defense. While the Israelis and the Palestinians have failed to achieve their goals after years of fighting, people on both sides are prepared to make continued sacrifices in the belief that they will eventually emerge triumphant.

• This book goes straight to the heart of the conflict: into the minds of suicide bombers and inside Israeli tanks. We hear from Palestinian informants who help the Israeli military track down and kill Palestinian militants. Israeli settlers in isolated outposts explain why they are there, and we hear the frustrations of a Palestinian farmer who has had his olive grove cut in half by Israel's security barrier
• Shows the important lessons that can be learned by viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of modern, asymmetrical war
• Authored by long-time reporters on the Middle East, the book provides a balanced and detailed look at the fighting based on first-hand experience and hundreds of interviews
• Explains how the landscape of the conflict changed and why the traditional approach to peacemaking is no longer valid

Alternatingly harrowing, humorous, heartbreaking, and hopeful, this is an uplifting tribute to love, determination, and how the compassion of community holds the power to heal, serving as an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit when faced with pain and adversity.

This book here… is it a memoir? Kind of. Is it a humor book? Yeah, a bit. Is it an instructional tome? Here and there.

Perhaps best known as the snarky narrator and co-founder of the viral YouTube channel CinemaSins, Jeremy Scott cracked the code of turning a passion for film and sarcasm into a full-time job.

Original Sin: From Preacher's Kid to the Creator of CinemaSins (and 3.5 billion+ views) is Jeremy's compelling story of family, career, and deep love for movies that launched him into internet stardom. In his trademark, unapologetic voice, Jeremy gives an irreverent and honest take on the wild ride to creating a YouTube sensation. This memoir-with-a-twist sprinkles readers with his personal advice on the combination of dumb luck, know-how, and je nais se quois it takes to be successful on Youtube while hilariously relaying how two friends stumbled into fame.

With anecdotes of laugh-out-loud misadventures and insightful, actionable advice for aspiring YouTubers, Original Sin is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look into the inception of an internet sensation. But more than that, it's one man's love letter to humankind's greatest escape, a pastime that allows us to dream and dwell on beauty, art, and truth. Original Sin is Jeremy Scott's ode to cinema and how often life can imitate the movies.

This book here… is it a memoir? Kind of. Is it a humor book? Yeah, a bit. Is it an instructional tome? Here and there.

Perhaps best known as the snarky narrator and co-founder of the viral YouTube channel CinemaSins, Jeremy Scott cracked the code of turning a passion for film and sarcasm into a full-time job.

Original Sin: From Preacher's Kid to the Creation of CinemaSins (and 3.5 billion+ views) is Jeremy's compelling story of family, career, and deep love for movies that launched him into internet stardom. In his trademark, unapologetic voice, Jeremy gives an irreverent and honest take on the wild ride to creating a YouTube sensation. This memoir-with-a-twist sprinkles readers with his personal advice on the combination of dumb luck, know-how, and je nais se quois it takes to be successful on Youtube while hilariously relaying how two friends stumbled into fame.

With anecdotes of laugh-out-loud misadventures and insightful, actionable advice for aspiring YouTubers, Original Sin is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look into the inception of an internet sensation. But more than that, it's one man's love letter to humankind's greatest escape, a pastime that allows us to dream and dwell on beauty, art, and truth. Original Sin is Jeremy Scott's ode to cinema and how often life can imitate the movies.

As a survivor of the devastating civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Joseph Kaifala recounts the harrowing details of an early life punctuated by unimaginable violence and his journey to survival that eventually led him to the United States. Told with humility and grace, Adamalui is the true story of one man's unshakable faith, thirst for knowledge, and indomitable will.

Kaifala's experiences as a child prisoner and refugee are told through a series of flashbacks as he endeavors to attain a visa to attend college in America. His memories of the death and destruction that he and his family witnessed while attempting to avoid the violence rampant in impoverished West Africa are written with amazing clarity by a man on a mission to chart a way forward for himself and the others who would follow in his steps.

For the first thirteen years of her life, Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God. The group's nomadic existence was based on the belief that, as God's chosen people, they would be saved in the impending apocalypse that would envelop the rest of the world in 1993. Flor would be thirteen years old. The group's charismatic leader, Father David, kept the family on the move, from Los Angeles to Bangkok to Chicago, where they would eventually disband, leaving Flor to make sense of the foreign world of mainstream society around her. Apocalypse Child is a cathartic journey through Flor's memories of growing up within a group with unconventional views on education, religion, and sex. Whimsically referring to herself as a real life Kimmy Schmidt, Edwards's clear-eyed memoir is a story of survival in a childhood lived on the fringes.

As a survivor of the devastating civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Joseph Kaifala recounts the harrowing details of an early life punctuated by unimaginable violence and his journey to survival that eventually led him to the United States. Told with humility and grace, Adamalui is the true story of one man's unshakable faith, thirst for knowledge, and indomitable will.

Kaifala's experiences as a child prisoner and refugee are told through a series of flashbacks as he endeavors to attain a visa to attend college in America. His memories of the death and destruction that he and his family witnessed while attempting to avoid the violence rampant in impoverished West Africa are written with amazing clarity by a man on a mission to chart a way forward for himself and the others who would follow in his steps.

For the first thirteen years of her life, Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God. The group's nomadic existence was based on the belief that, as God's chosen people, they would be saved in the impending apocalypse that would envelop the rest of the world in 1993. Flor would be thirteen years old. The group's charismatic leader, Father David, kept the family on the move, from Los Angeles to Bangkok to Chicago, where they would eventually disband, leaving Flor to make sense of the foreign world of mainstream society around her. Apocalypse Child is a cathartic journey through Flor's memories of growing up within a group with unconventional views on education, religion, and sex. Whimsically referring to herself as a real life Kimmy Schmidt, Edwards's clear-eyed memoir is a story of survival in a childhood lived on the fringes.

Turner Publishing is proud to present another heartfelt memoir from the early life of the novelist, poet, and activist, Sandra Hochman. Following Hochman's Loving Robert Lowell that revealed the details of her affair with one of America's greatest poets, Remembering Paris 1958-1960, A Memoir chronicles Sandra's years before meeting Lowell, her first teenaged love and subsequent tumultuous marriage to an internationally famous concert violinist at the age of 21, her life as an American expatriate, and finding her creative voice in the City of Lights.

A spiritual successor to Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast

Turner Publishing is proud to present another heartfelt memoir from the early life of the novelist, poet, and activist, Sandra Hochman. Following Hochman's Loving Robert Lowell that revealed the details of her affair with one of America's greatest poets, Remembering Paris 1958-1960, A Memoir chronicles Sandra's years before meeting Lowell, her first teenaged love and subsequent tumultuous marriage to an internationally famous concert violinist at the age of 21, her life as an American expatriate, and finding her creative voice in the City of Lights in the middle of the 20th century.

If truth is indeed stranger than fiction, then, as Shaw’s friend and literary mentor Charles Bukowski once told him, much of this book would have to be lived before it could be written. In that sense, Scab Vendor: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist is much more than a fascinating chronicle of a popular outlaw artist’s creative evolution. It is a multicolored, cinematic, modern-day Odyssey, written in blood, ink, and tears―a kaleidoscopic, visionary roadmap to the journey of the human soul.

The followup to the New York Times bestseller Stories from Candyland has even better stories to tell—about Candy Spelling’s notorious rift and reconciliation with her daughter, Tori, her misadventures in dating and sex, and her new life as a producer, writer, and businesswoman.

After thirty-eight happy years of marriage to influential producer Aaron Spelling, raising two children in Hollywood, and co-managing one of the largest estates in the country (finally selling Spelling Manor, as detailed on her HGTV series, for $85 million), Candy is now adjusting to life on her own. In her new uncharted territory, she’s ready to share the most intimate details of her life with Aaron; how his illness caused her to question her identity; and how she’s reinvented herself as an independent woman, businesswoman, and television personality. Along the way, Candy reveals all-new dishy stories including those of Hollywood friends Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Michael Jackson, Janet Leigh, Dean Martin, and Elizabeth Taylor (her lifelong rival over their jewelry).

Engaging, heartwrenching, intimate, and hilarious, Candy at Last shares her story of how family, friends, and her husband’s inspiring advice to “follow your dreams” has made her determined to live life to the fullest.

The followup to the New York Times bestseller Stories from Candyland has even better stories to tell—about Candy Spelling’s notorious rift and reconciliation with her daughter, Tori, her misadventures in dating and sex, and her new life as a producer, writer, and businesswoman.

After thirty-eight happy years of marriage to influential producer Aaron Spelling, raising two children in Hollywood, and co-managing one of the largest estates in the country (finally selling Spelling Manor, as detailed on her HGTV series, for $85 million), Candy is now adjusting to life on her own. In her new uncharted territory, she’s ready to share the most intimate details of her life with Aaron; how his illness caused her to question her identity; and how she’s reinvented herself as an independent woman, businesswoman, and television personality. Along the way, Candy reveals all-new dishy stories including those of Hollywood friends Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Michael Jackson, Janet Leigh, Dean Martin, and Elizabeth Taylor (her lifelong rival over their jewelry).

Engaging, heartwrenching, intimate, and hilarious, Candy at Last shares her story of how family, friends, and her husband’s inspiring advice to “follow your dreams” has made her determined to live life to the fullest.

“You are in every page I turn

In every word I write

All the birds here chant your name.

I am nothing without you.”

When Joanna al-Askari read these wonderful words from the man she loved, little did she know what joy—and challenges—would await her when she joined him in marriage and in the fight for Kurdish independence.

While Iraq is everywhere in today’s headlines, the story of the Kurdish people and their struggle for survival under Saddam Hussein is one that has remained largely untold—until now. In this incredible true love story, bestselling author Jean Sasson shares Joanna’s personal journey of fear and fortitude through a Baghdad childhood and life as a Kurdish freedom fighter during the Iran-Iraq War. From the threat of Iraqi patrols and raids to chemical attacks and bombings, Joanna reveals how she and her husband survived extreme physical danger as they made their way through Kurdistan’s perilous mountains and beleaguered villages to seek temporary safety in Iran.  

Inspiring and unforgettable, Love in a Torn Land shares Joanna’s passionate and unflagging determination to survive and fight—for love, life, and the freedom of her beloved Kurdistan.

The Life and Legacy of an American Original

Co-founder and first CEO of Burger King, Jim McLamore, recounts the entrepreneurial journey of an international fast food chain and offers a message to today's budding entrepreneur.

A rags-to-$9-billion-riches story. A crash course in Burger King history and fast food in America, The Burger King is McLamore’s candid and conversational memoir. Written before his death in 1996, he talks of his life, the birth of the whopper, and the rise of Burger King. Inside, find out:

• How Burger King managed to create the worst advertising campaign of 1985
• What Burger King shares with Pitbull, Scarface, and Marco Rubio
• Why Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas called McLamore an “American original”

A message for today’s young entrepreneur. McLamore’s account of Burger King offers an instructive and inspiring tale to young entrepreneurs. Here’s a story of entrepreneurship development from one of the top entrepreneurs of fast food chains. Want to learn how to start a food business? Burger King’s journey from south Florida drive-ins to international corporation reveals the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, whether in the food service industry or elsewhere.

Now what? But the autobiography of McLamore doesn’t end when he exits the company. So, what comes after success? To McLamore, it comes down to what’s truly needed to live a full and good life—personal values, impacting the people around you, and juicy hamburgers.

If you want to have it your way, and enjoyed books like Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's, Dave's Way: The Story of Wendy’s, and Papa: The Story of Papa John's Pizza, then you’ll love The Burger King: A Whopper of a Story on Life and Leadership.

Learn to Live Life Fully

When you nearly die three times, you learn a thing or two about how to live…

Three times to cheat death. Over the years, Emmy-nominated art director Robert Kopecky had not one, but three, near-death experiences. What he brought from the other side was a book not just about surviving life and death, but about learning how to live. A relaxing and illuminating read, in How to Survive Life (and Death) you'll discover the calm determination to live life accordingly and share Love.

Three things death teaches us about life. One of the most common fears in human beings is death. Whether an existential crisis or social anxiety, we get bogged down by our daily lives. In How to Survive Life (and Death), Kopecky shows us the other side of our fears about dying—and living. He urges us to take a chance, learn something new, and go about life with an open heart. Complimented by personal stories, he shares his three keys to life:

• Radical Kindness
• Radical Forgiveness
• Radical Surrender

If you want to be the best version of yourself, and enjoyed books like Dying To Be Me, What If This Is Heaven?, or Knowing, then you’ll think How to Survive Life (and Death) is quite heavenly.

Featured on LitHub.

An extraordinary memoir of a woman’s unconventional childhood growing up in the Alaskan wilderness, on the grounds where the burned remains of a cannery once stood.

In the 1980s the Neilson family moved out on a floathouse to the remote site of a former cannery in Southeast Alaska that had burned to the ground before statehood. They were miles away from any neighbors, surrounded on all sides by wolves, bears and other wildlife, entering the world of subsistence living in an uninviting land of dangerous weather and storms; yet the Neilsons were able to make themselves a home where few others would have found possible. Led by a jack-of-all-trades handyman for a father and a mother who was afraid of everything in the wilderness, Tara and her four siblings cleared the rough terrain to build atop the blackened, rusty ruins a new way of life that was completely their own.

From a young age, Tara learned that anything was possible, so long as one can imagine it and then make it happen. When given her mother’s impractical design of a six-bedroom house, her father picked up his tools and crafted it into a reality. To reach the closest community, they built a wooden boat sixteen feet long for the perilous journey on the water. The Alaska wilds required independence and self-sufficiency from the family, and in return it provided a natural landscape that inspired romantic passion and unlimited dreams. With endless forest on one side and the wide ocean on the other, Tara embraced the lonesomeness of the burned cannery ruins that she called home, and often wondered what it once was with its people inside, their stories, where they went, and what happened to them.

Beautifully poignant and completely original, Raised in Ruins escapes into the wilderness to discover a piece of Alaskan history wrapped in an incredible family adventure fueled by love, strength, hard work, endurance, and boundless imagination.

An extraordinary memoir of a woman’s unconventional childhood growing up in the Alaskan wilderness, on the grounds where the burned remains of a cannery once stood.

In the 1980s the Neilson family moved out on a floathouse to the remote site of a former cannery in Southeast Alaska that had burned to the ground before statehood. They were miles away from any neighbors, surrounded on all sides by wolves, bears and other wildlife, entering the world of subsistence living in an uninviting land of dangerous weather and storms; yet the Neilsons were able to make themselves a home where few others would have found possible. Led by a jack-of-all-trades handyman for a father and a mother who was afraid of everything in the wilderness, Tara and her four siblings cleared the rough terrain to build atop the blackened, rusty ruins a new way of life that was completely their own.

From a young age, Tara learned that anything was possible, so long as one can imagine it and then make it happen. When given her mother’s impractical design of a six-bedroom house, her father picked up his tools and crafted it into a reality. To reach the closest community, they built a wooden boat sixteen feet long for the perilous journey on the water. The Alaska wilds required independence and self-sufficiency from the family, and in return it provided a natural landscape that inspired romantic passion and unlimited dreams. With endless forest on one side and the wide ocean on the other, Tara embraced the lonesomeness of the burned cannery ruins that she called home, and often wondered what it once was with its people inside, their stories, where they went, and what happened to them.

Beautifully poignant and completely original, Raised in Ruins escapes into the wilderness to discover a piece of Alaskan history wrapped in an incredible family adventure fueled by love, strength, hard work, endurance, and boundless imagination.

Born into a family of aviators, Merrill Wien was destined to become a pilot. His father, Noel Wien, was one of the first pilots to fly in Alaska and his life was full of firsts, including making the first round-trip flight between Asia and North America in 1929. His mother played a big role in the founding and development of Wien Alaska Airlines, the second-oldest scheduled airline in the United States and territories.

One of the most versatile and experienced pilots of his time, Merrill has flown just about every aircraft imaginable from DC-3s to Lockheed 1011s to historic military planes like the cargo C-46 and B-29 bomber to the Hiller UH-12E chopper. Although fundamentally modest by nature, family and friends encouraged Merrill to share his remarkable stories given his accomplishments and experiences with so many famous people and events. His tone is engagingly informal as he recounts crossing paths with such luminaries as Joe Crosson, Howard Hughes, Lowell Thomas Sr. and Lowell Thomas Jr., Sam White, Don Sheldon, Brad Washburn, Wally Schirra, and Bill Anders. He re-creates for readers his firsthand experiences flying top-secret missions for the Air Force, viewing the devastation of the Good Friday Earthquake in Anchorage, and the challenges of starting his own helicopter company, to name just a few. His fascinating narrative is complemented by photographs from his personal archives.

Born into a family of aviators, Merrill Wien was destined to become a pilot.

His father, Noel Wien, was one of the first pilots to fly in Alaska and his life was full of firsts, including making the first round-trip flight between Asia and North America in 1929. His mother played a big role in the founding and development of Wien Alaska Airlines, the second-oldest scheduled airline in the United States and territories.

One of the most versatile and experienced pilots of his time, Merrill has flown just about every aircraft imaginable from DC-3s to Lockheed 1011s to historic military planes like the cargo C-46 and B-29 bomber to the Hiller UH-12E chopper. Although fundamentally modest by nature, family and friends encouraged Merrill to share his remarkable stories given his accomplishments and experiences with so many famous people and events. His tone is engagingly informal as he recounts crossing paths with such luminaries as Joe Crosson, Howard Hughes, Lowell Thomas Sr. and Lowell Thomas Jr., Sam White, Don Sheldon, Brad Washburn, Wally Schirra, and Bill Anders. He re-creates for readers his firsthand experiences flying top-secret missions for the Air Force, viewing the devastation of the Good Friday Earthquake in Anchorage, and the challenges of starting his own helicopter company, to name just a few.

His fascinating narrative is complemented by photographs from his personal archives. Includes a list of all the different aircraft Wien has been endorsed to fly at the back of the book.

In this touching memoir of his boyhood on a farm in the Ozark foothills, Harry Middleton joins the front rank of nature writers alongside Edward Hoagland and Annie Dillard.

It is the year 1965, a year rife with change in the world---and in the life of a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to the healing landscape of the Ozarks. Haunted by indescribable longing, twelve-year-old Harry is turned over to two enigmatic guardians, men as old as the hills they farm and as elusive and beautiful as the trout they fish for---with religious devotion. Seeking strength and purpose from life, Harry learns from his uncle, grandfather, and their crazy Sioux neighbor, Elias Wonder, that the pulse of life beats from within the deep constancy of the earth, and from one’s devotion to it. Amidst the rhythm of an ancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, a mountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising.

Etta Jones was not a World War II soldier or a war time spy. She was a school teacher whose life changed forever on that Sunday morning in June 1942 when the Japanese military invaded Attu Island and Etta became a prisoner of war.

Etta and her sister moved to the Territory of Alaska in 1922. She planned to stay only one year as a vacation, but this 40 something year old nurse from back east met Foster Jones and fell in love. They married and for nearly twenty years they lived, worked and taught in remote Athabascan, Alutiiq, Yup’ik and Aleut villages where they were the only outsiders. Their last assignment was Attu.

After the invasion, Etta became a prisoner of war and spent 39 months in Japanese POW sites located in Yokohama and Totsuka. She was the first female Caucasian taken prisoner by a foreign enemy on the North American Continent since the War of 1812, and she was the first American female released by the Japanese at the end of World War II.

Using descriptive letters that she penned herself, her unpublished manuscript, historical documents and personal interviews with key people who were involved with events as they happened, her extraordinary story is told for the first time in this book.

Etta Jones was not a World War II soldier or a war time spy. She was a school teacher whose life changed forever on that Sunday morning in June 1942 when the Japanese military invaded Attu Island and Etta became a prisoner of war.

Etta and her sister moved to the Territory of Alaska in 1922. She planned to stay only one year as a vacation, but this 40 something year old nurse from back east met Foster Jones and fell in love. They married and for nearly twenty years they lived, worked and taught in remote Athabascan, Alutiiq, Yup’ik and Aleut villages where they were the only outsiders. Their last assignment was Attu.

After the invasion, Etta became a prisoner of war and spent 39 months in Japanese POW sites located in Yokohama and Totsuka. She was the first female Caucasian taken prisoner by a foreign enemy on the North American Continent since the War of 1812, and she was the first American female released by the Japanese at the end of World War II.

Using descriptive letters that she penned herself, her unpublished manuscript, historical documents and personal interviews with key people who were involved with events as they happened, her extraordinary story is told for the first time in this book.

Alaska Native Literature Award Winner

The tragic yet triumphant story of a young mother's winter journey to the Bering Sea coast with her two young children. This powerful narrative will haunt readers.

Advanced in pregnancy and now newly widowed, Qutuuq sets out with her two children, leaving their camp and following a frozen river to the coast. Homebound, one step at a time, through the subzero wilderness.

This is a chilling, true story dating from 1892. It tells of battles against killing cold, starvation, and exhaustion. It's the story of a haunting decision made in the throes of desperation. And ultimately it's a story of survival and triumph amid unspeakable sorrow.

More than a century later, Qutuuq's story, which has descended through her Inupiat Eskimo family as oral history, is retold in print by her great-granddaughter.

Robert E. Lee was a gentleman. Although he lived during a time filled with conflict and turmoil, in the eyes of his countrymen he emerged form the Civil War with untainted integrity and the respect of all. Despite being perceived as one of the greatest military leaders of all time, he managed to maintain a most humble spirit. In this engaging new biographical study of Lee, J. Stephen Wilkins examines the sterling character of this undeniably noble man.

Charles Bracelet Flood has said that the essence of Robert E. Lee "was to be found not in what he said, but in what he did. There were dimensions to Lee, but his life was one long response to whatever struck him as being the call of duty."

He was bound by duty to care for his mother, duty as a son, a student, a soldier, a husband and father, a general, and duty as a mentor of students at both West Point and Washington College. Duty called him at every point of his life.

In this captivating looking at his leadership in action, we see why and how Lee answered again and again the calls of duty he could not ignore. Indeed, Robert E. Lee was a leader of leaders.

To discover the grandfather he never knew, Jeff Badger began tracking down dozens of World War II veterans from his grandfather's unit, the 978th Engineer Maintenance Company. Through the stories and recollections shared by his new war buddies,"Badger began to reconstruct a personal vision of his grandfather, the war, and the men who fought it. Original photographs and illustrations throughout."