TO HELL AND BACKFor the U.S., Guadalcanal was a bloody seven-month struggle under brutal conditions against crack Japanese troops deeply entrenched and determined to fight to the death. For Charles Walker, this horrific jungle battle–one that claimed the lives of 1,600 Americans and more than 23,000 Japanese–was just the beginning. On the eve of battle, 2nd Lt. Walker was ordered back to the States for medical reasons. But there was a war to be won, and he had no intention of missi...

Two decades have now passed since the revolutions of 1989 swept through Eastern Europe and precipitated the collapse of state socialism across the region, engendering a period of massive social, economic and political transformation. This book explores the ways in which young people growing up in post-socialist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union negotiate a range of identities and transitions in their personal lives against a backdrop of thoroughgoing transformation in their societ...

On a mission to the Czech Carpathian Mountains,to investigate rumors of vampire activity. Carl meets Alexi, his homophobic translator. they visit the bucolic valley where they fall in love with the people still living in the 14th Century. They eventually discover their love for each other, and are determined to free the beleagured valley from the terror of Vlad and his 2-demons. First they must help them economically.

Are you a newcomer to computer programming?Do you want to learn a simple programming language that will get you started?Python could be the one for you!Computers are amazing tools that we would find it hard to live without since they have become a feature in almost every home. Many people, however, struggle with anything that is slightly complex and when it comes to computer programming, most would admit to being completely lost by even the thought of trying it....

This book explores the changing nature of growing-up working-class in post-Soviet Russia, a country dislocated by the experience of neo-liberal economic reform. Based on extensive ethnographic research in a provincial Russian region, it follows the experiences of vocational education graduates whose colleges continue to channel them into the ailing industrial and agricultural sectors. Rather than settling for transitions into ‘poor work’, the book shows how these young men and women develo...

"The Biter Bit" is a humorous short story by British writer Wilkie Collins. Originally published as "Who is the Thief?" in the April 1858 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, it was retitled and published with nine other short stories in the 1859 book, The Queen of Hearts. The tale is told in epistolary form, recounting a comedy of errors involving a young wannabe police detective -- with an exaggerated sense of his own investigatory skills -- and a minor theft of banknotes. Can you spot the gui...

This memoir by painter Francis Bicknell Carpenter includes observations he made during his time at the White House from February-July 1864, while painting Abraham Lincoln's portrait. We see him in this book of Mr, Carpenter’s to that advantage which perfect unaffectedness and sincerity can never lose. During the time that Mr. Carpenter was making studies for his picture of the President signing the Emancipation Proclamation, he was in daily contact with him,—saw him in consultation with hi...

A thoughtful, reflective narrative of a reluctant soldier that captures the rhythms of life in war as well as the boredom and chaos of Vietnam.At the height of the Vietnam War, Charles Carr left graduate school to serve in the army in Southeast Asia, knowing that if he didn't, another man would go—and possibly die—in his place. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Infantry (Mechanized) in the northern Mekong Delta for a tour of forcing himself through r...

The engrossing account of one of World War II's legendary figures.A member of the legendary Band of Brothers, Ed Shames was involved in some of the most important battles of World War II. His incredible combat record includes parachuting into Normandy on D-Day, and service during Operation Market Garden, at Bastogne and in Germany itself.Shames' own words and recollections fuel a searing account that gives a soldier's glimpse into the ferocity of t...

Lion Rampant is Robert Woollcombe's graphic account of his experiences as a front-line infantry officer with the King's Own Scottish Borderers during the desperate battle for Normandy and the Allied advance into Germany. Vividly evoking the confusion, horror and comradeship of war - from the killing fields of Normandy bocage, through house-to-house fighting in shattered Flemish towns, to the final Rhine crossing - Lion Rampant is a powerful, authentic and moving story, telling with extraor...

Soon after we landed it became apparent that there was more than enough artillery here, that the enemy were excellent shots, and that their ammo supply seemed to be endless.With the Japanese deeply entrenched and determined to die rather than surrender, Robert Dick and his fellow soldiers quickly realized that theirs would be a war fought inch by bloody inch–and that their Sherman tanks would serve front and center. As driver, Dick had to maneuver his five-man crew in and out of da...

'One of the best half-dozen personal accounts of the Normandy campaign' - Richard HolmesStuart Hills embarked his Sherman DD tank on to an LCT at 6.45 a.m., Sunday 4 June 1944. He was 20 years old, unblooded, fresh from a public-school background and Officer Cadet training. He was going to war. Two days later, his tank sunk, he and his crew landed from a rubber dinghy with just the clothes they stood in. After that, the struggles through the Normandy bocage in a re...