Air Force officers of all ranks, from cadets to generals, both active duty and reserves, will find this revised edition essential reading for a successful career.

From an "astonishing" writer (Toni Morrison), the savagely funny story of a couple who unexpectedly come into some money in a wealth-obsessed America deranged by Mammon.A bag of money drops out of the sky, literally, into the path of a cash-starved citizen named Graveyard. He carries it home to his wife, Ambience, and they embark on the adventure of their lives, finally able to have everything they've always thought they deserved: cars, guns, games, jewels, clothes...

Optimization techniques are at the core of data science, including data analysis and machine learning. An understanding of basic optimization techniques and their fundamental properties provides important grounding for students, researchers, and practitioners in these areas. This text covers the fundamentals of optimization algorithms in a compact, self-contained way, focusing on the techniques most relevant to data science. An introductory chapter demonstrates that many standard problems ...

What led a thirty-year-old carpenter/builder from an obscure village in Galilee to abandon his trade and become the itinerant preacher, teacher, and healer described in the Gospels? Many Christians--including even some ministers--if asked precisely what outcome Jesus was hoping to achieve from his earthly ministry, are more likely to utter gasps of astonishment or admissions of ignorance ("I've never thought about it") than to give a considered opinion, even though the matter could hardly ...

An utterly wild, debauched, romantic, and violent ride inspired by the 18th-century Irish pirate Anne Bonny, reimagined here as Amethyst "Meeks" Connell, one of the most extraordinary outlaws of any age. For readers of George Saunders, Percival Everett, and Maggie O'Farrell.“This fiercely imaginative, blood-soaked, starry-eyed, and exuberant epic will capture the dreams and nightmares of any daring reader.” (Shelf Awareness

A Civil War novel unlike any other: the story of a young man's journey through a nation blasted apart.Born in 1844, Liberty Fish is the descendant of both Carolina slaveholders and New York abolitionists. In hopes of reconciling the warring strands of his heritage, he escapes his home in the North -- first into the cauldron of the Civil War, and then into the even more disturbing bedlam that follows.The Amalgamation Polka showcases not only the brutality of...

A "beautiful and terrifying" novel about family, faith, and the search for home (San Francisco Chronicle), set amidst a community of UFO cultists in middlest America.As regular guests on late-night radio shows, Dash and Dot are the world's most in-demand lecturers on the topic of UFOs and alien abduction. They believe that we are all descended from M31, the nearest galaxy to ours, and divide their time between life on the road and a decommissioned church i...

A dutiful husband and father walks out of his life and into a road trip from hell in a novel Toni Morrison calls "astonishing" and Don Delillo proclaims "a slasher classic . . . strange, dark, and funny."Wylie Jones has a happy marriage, beautiful children, and backyard barbecues in his tastefully decorated suburban house. One night he follows a sudden impulse, leaves his wife in bed, and commandeers his neighbor's emerald-green Ford Galaxy 500, driving away withou...

One of the greatest Vietnam War novels ever written, by an award-winning writer who experienced it firsthand.Deployed to Vietnam with the U.S. Army's 1069 Intelligence Group, Spec. 4 James Griffin starts out clear-eyed and hardworking, believing he can glide through the war unharmed. But the kaleidoscope of horrors he experiences gets inside him relentlessly. He gradually collapses and ends up unstrung, in step with the exploding hell around him and waiting for the...

A very good officer, but a drunken dog as ever lived.Such was the Duke of Wellington’s alleged assessment of Sir Nicholas Trant. But this book provides a complete reappraisal of Trant’s career, contrasting all too vividly with Wellington’s dismissive remark.At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Trant, who had originally enlisted in the army of Louis XVI, volunteered for the Duke of Brunswick’s coalition army that fought at Valmy in 1792. Trant later served in F...

First full-length history of the largest and most successful airborne offensive ever. Scores of eyewitness accounts from paratroopers, glidermen, pilots, and infantrymen plus details on planes, gliders, and equipment. Recounts the actions for which participants won two Medals of Honor, a Victoria Cross, and a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.

While it is widely acknowledged that Jesus told stories, there has not been much focus on why he did so and how these stories contributed to his ministry. Stephen Wright approaches this topic afresh to analyze how considering the parables as "stories" can help our understanding of Jesus and his mission. Wright begins by looking for insights in scholarship from recent decades on the parables and the historical Jesus. He goes on to imagine how these stories would have resonated with hearers ...