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Books > Fiction > True stories
With the help of friends who recognized her extraordinary talent,
Althea Gibson rose from a childhood of playing stickball on Harlem
streets to claim victory at Wimbledon. It is widely recognized that
her sacrifices along the way paved the road for the successes of
Venus and Serena Williams. But Althea's was a victory hard fought
and painfully won.
She had no idea the turn her life would take when she met Angela
Buxton at the French Indoor Championships. Despite her athletic
prowess, Althea was shunned by the other female players. Her
failing was her skin color. Angela, the granddaughter of Russian
Jews, was also shunned. Her failing was her religion. Finding
themselves without doubles partners, the pair decided to join
forces, and together they triumphed, going on to win the 1956
championship at Wimbledon. The two women would become lifelong
friends, and Angela would prove to be among Althea's greatest
supports during her darkest times.
Gibson died in 2003, but her life and her contributions to
tennis and race relations in the United States are well preserved
in this valuable book. Bruce Schoenfeld delivers not only the true
story of Gibson's life but also an inspiring account of two
underdogs who refused to let bigotry win -- both on and off the
courts.
Jimmy James was only twelve-years-old when he tried drugs for the
first time. That one taste of marijuana affected him the rest of
his life. He didn't graduate from high school, but he did graduate
with excellence from the drug game, which eventually led him into
the drug dealer lifestyle.
It's that lifestyle that contributed to forty-year-old Jimmy
James' arrest for the death of a female friend, forty-four-year-old
Lisa Amour. A general laborer in Huntsville, he was charged with
first-degree reckless homicide by use of the dangerous weapon of
cocaine.
"A Line 2 Die 4" provides a firsthand account of his actions
and thoughts, his arrest, incarceration, court proceedings, and
interactions with police, attorneys, family, and friends. At one
time in his life, James felt on top of the world as a user and
dealer. But a dealer's life will end in one of three ways: broke
and living on the street with no family or money, dead on the
street, or in prison. That's the story of James' life.
From the dense woods of the Appalachian Mountains comes this true
tale of deception, murder, and greed in a tiny West Virginia town.
M. M. Stoddart returns to the scene of the decades-old murders of
Glenn Roberts and his teenaged son, Timothy, to conduct a new
investigation of the biggest homicide case in Tucker County
history-one shrouded by suspicion and doubt for more than twenty
years. Glenn and Timothy were killed by near-contact shotgun blasts
from the same weapon on the same night. But their bodies were found
eight miles and three weeks apart. Stoddart reopens the cold case,
and soon finds that the murders were much more than a simple
botched robbery, as West Virginia authorities had previously
concluded. New information uncovers a vast web of missing evidence,
deceit, and family intrigue. Set in an impoverished mountain
community in the early 1980s, this shocking and compelling story
exposes the tragedy of wrongful conviction and the true meaning of
justice.
Discover the truth about ENDURANCE in this superb true story of
adventure, shipwreck, storms and survival on the high seas. 'Superb
... the greatest survival story of all time' Sir Chris Bonington
'One of the most remarkable tales of human courage and
determination. The story is gripping and the book is a classic' Sir
Ranulph Fiennes ENDURANCE is the story of one of the most
astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.
In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men set sail for the
South Atlantic on board a ship called the Endurance. The object of
the expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland. In October
1915, still half a continent away from their intended base, the
ship was trapped, then crushed in ice. For five months Shackleton
and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways on one of the
most savage regions of the world. This utterly gripping book, based
on first-hand accounts of crew members and interviews with
survivors, describes how the men survived, how they lived together
in camps on the ice for 17 months until they reached land, how they
were attacked by sea leopards, the diseases which they developed,
and the indefatigability of the men and their lasting civility
towards one another in the most adverse conditions conceivable.
'A compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship
and survival.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The thrilling story of how nine young women, captured by the Nazis
for being part of the Resistance, launched a breathtakingly bold
escape and found their way home. As the Second World War raged
across Europe, and the Nazi regime tightened its reign of horror
and oppression, nine women, some still in their teens, joined the
French and Dutch Resistance. Caught out in heroic acts against the
brutal occupiers, they were each tortured and sent east into
Greater Germany to a concentration camp, where they formed a
powerful friendship. In 1945, as the war turned against Hitler,
they were forced on a Death March, facing starvation and almost
certain death. Determined to survive, they made a bid for freedom,
and so began one of the most breathtaking tales of escape and
resilience of the Second World War. The author is the great-niece
of one of the nine, and she interweaves their gripping flight
across war-torn Europe with her own detective work, uncovering the
heart-stopping escape and survival of these heroes who fought
fearlessly against Nazi Germany and lived to tell the tale.
--------- 'A truly extraordinary tale, beautifully written, one
that chills and excites, [A] work of rare passion, power and
principle' Philippe Sands, author of East-West Street and The
Ratline 'Utterly gripping' Anna Sebba author of Les Parisiennes
'The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the
horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable
women...' Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose
Code and The Alice Network
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90275
(Paperback)
Alexa Keating
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Discovery Miles 2 920
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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The Ohio Reformatory for Women was under siege. The state highway
patrol had taken control of the facility. Every cottage was now
manned by a state trooper. The entire campus remained under
lockdown. She asked the trooper in charge of her dorm if she could
make a call. "I don't see a line here; go ahead." She called her
attorney and told him what had happened. He was not surprised that
the guards had set them up, but he was shocked that she had access
to that number and had created all of this chaos. He had not known
such a number even existed. He smiled to himself; this is a big
damn deal, he thought. He felt this latest sequence of events had
only endangered her more; he called the media and gave them a heads
up. In this kind of situation, the more public attention that is
focused on the facility the more careful they would be. Within
fifteen minutes, news choppers filled the air, several TV news
trucks were parked at the front gate and newspaper reporters where
everywhere.
A TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 SPORTS
BOOK AWARDS LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR
2017 The incredible true story of four ordinary working mums from
Yorkshire who took on an extraordinary challenge and broke a world
record along the way. Janette, Frances, Helen and Niki, though all
from Yorkshire, were four very different women, all juggling full
time jobs alongside being mothers to each of their 2 children. They
could never be described as athletes, but they were determined to
be busy and the local Saturday morning rowing club was the perfect
place to go to have a laugh and a gossip, get the blood pumping in
the open air, and feel invigorated. Brought together by their love
of rowing, they quickly became firm friends, and it wasn't long
before they cooked up a crazy idea over a few glasses of wine:
together, they were going to do something that fewer people than
had gone into space or climbed Everest had succeeded in doing. They
were going to cross 3,000 miles of treacherous ocean in the
toughest row in the world, The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
Yes, they had children and husbands that they would be leaving
behind for two months, yes they had businesses to run, mortgages to
pay, responsibilities. And there was that little thing of them all
being in their 40s and 50s. But two years of planning, preparation,
fundraising, training and difficult conversations later, and they
found themselves standing on the edge of the San Sebastian harbour
in the Canary Islands, petrified, exhilarated and ready to head up
the race of their lives. This is the story of how four friends
together had the audacity to go on a wild, terrifying and beautiful
adventure, not to escape life, but for life not to escape them.
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resilient
(Hardcover)
Katherine Turner; Edited by Olivia Castetter, Kayli Baker
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R688
Discovery Miles 6 880
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On 7 November 1938, an impoverished seventeen-year-old Polish Jew
living in Paris, obsessed with Nazi persecution of his family in
Germany, brooding on revenge - and his own insignificance - bought
a handgun, carried it on the Metro to the German Embassy in Paris
and, never before having fired a weapon, shot down the first German
diplomat he saw. When the official died two days later, Hitler and
Goebbels used the event as their pretext for the state-sponsored
wave of anti-Semitic violence and terror known as Kristallnacht,
the pogrom that was the initiating event of the Holocaust.
Overnight this obscure young man, Herschel Grynszpan, found himself
world-famous, his face on front pages everywhere, and a pawn in the
machinations of power. Instead of being executed, he found himself
a privileged prisoner of the Gestapo while Hitler and Goebbels
prepared a show-trial. The trial, planned to the last detail, was
intended to prove that the Jews had started the Second World War.
Alone in his cell, Herschel soon grasped how the Nazis planned to
use him, and set out to wage a battle of wits against Hitler and
Goebbels, knowing perfectly well that if he succeeded in stopping
the trial, he would certainly be murdered. Until very recently,
what really happened has remained hazy. Hitler's Scapegoat, based
on the most recent research - including access to a heretofore
untapped archive compiled by a Nuremberg rapporteur - tells
Herschel's extraordinary story in full for the first time.
"Rigor mortis had set in by the time police arrived," Special
Prosecutor Tony Clayton told the jury, watching their eyes as they
viewed the photograph of the bloodied arm of Geralyn Barr DeSoto.
Geralyn's clenched fist, frozen in death away from her body, held
her secret. "Geralyn was trying to tell us something. She was
telling us how hard she fought. She was telling us who her killer
is. 'Right here, ' she said. 'Right here I have the killer. Just
open my hand. Just open my hand, and you'll know who did it to
me.'" Two months later: "Charlotte Murray Pace fought from one room
of that apartment to the other," Prosecutor John Sinquefield told
jurors as they blinked tears away. "She clawed, she hit, she
fought. As her young, strong heart pumped its last blood out of the
holes he cut out of her, she fought. And in the fight, he took her
life, her body. But he could not take her honor. She preserved her
honor by the way she lived and the way she died. That fight is not
over, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Charlotte Murray Pace has
brought her fight to you." These crimes are vividly depicted in
this first comprehensive book about Derrick Todd Lee. I've Been
Watching You-The South Louisiana Serial Killer dramatically tells
the story of Lee's life and follows the timeline of his reign of
terror over South Louisiana. Readers will become intimately
acquainted with the seven victims who have been linked to Lee by
DNA, along with the frustrated investigators who could not catch
this diabolical killer. This recounting also details the murders of
ten other women who were not connected by DNA, but whom these
authors believe should be included on the list of Lee's victims due
to strong circumstantial evidence. There are many unanswered
questions regarding these series of killings. How did Lee find his
victims, and why did he choose them? Why didn't the Multi-Agency
Homicide Task Force believe he was the killer when his name was
brought repeatedly to its attention? What evil possessed him to
rape and murder so many women? All of these questions are answered
as I've Been Watching You journeys for more than a decade through
the small towns and swamps of South Louisiana to create a graphic
accounting of Lee's vicious rapes and homicides. I've Been Watching
You vividly paints the portrait of this monster and the beautiful
women who died as a result of his twisted compulsion to kill.
There is a cancer growing on the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS). The best and brightest agents we have are being
systematically harassed out of DHS. This is a story of bureaucracy
run amok at the expense of our national security. We are less safe
now than before "9-11," even though billions of taxpayer dollars
have been spent. Why? This is the gripping true story of National
Security Whistleblowers and their courageous fight for justice
against the very people who are supposed to be protecting us. If
these whistleblowers lose their fight we all lose. What America's
enemies have not been able to accomplish will be done instead from
within our own government. The Honorable Roger T. Benitez, United
States District Judge, while presiding over "Fitzgerald-Nunn Vs.
Department of Homeland Security" "Boy, there's something about this
that doesn't pass the smell test " "All Americans who read this
book should worry about the government's ability to protect us from
terrorist and drug lords."-Mark Edwards, former Marine and host of
the "Wake Up America" radio show. "They who give up essential
liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither
liberty or safety."-Benjamin Franklin "This should be one of the
few books that not only every attorney should read, but every one
who calls themselves a patriot."-Attorney and Veteran Austin Price
"This is a MUST READ for anyone who is concerned with the long-term
viability of the republic."-Travis Alexander, CEO World Wide
Protective Services, and former Marine. "A coincidence is a
remarkable concurrence of events or things without apparent
connection-Here too many things connect."-Attorney Gastone Bebi
during land mark case "Fitzgerald-Nunn Vs. Department of Homeland
Security"
Meet Renee and Herta, two sisters who faced the unimaginable -
together. This is their true story. RENEE: I was ten years old
then, and my sister was eight. The responsibility was on me to warn
everyone when the soldiers were coming because my sister and both
my parents were deaf. I was my family's ears. As Jews living in
1940s Czechoslovakia, Renee, Herta and their parents were in
immediate danger when the Holocaust came to their door. As the only
hearing person in her family, Renee had to alert her parents and
sister whenever the sound of Nazi boots approached their home so
they could hide. But soon their parents were tragically taken away,
and the two sisters went on the run, desperate to find a safe place
to hide. Eventually they, too, would be captured and taken to the
concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Communicating in sign language
and relying on each other for strength in the midst of illness,
death and starvation, Renee and Herta would have to fight to
survive the darkest of times. This gripping memoir, told in a vivid
'oral history' format, is a testament to the power of sisterhood
and love, and now more than ever a reminder of how important it is
to honour the past, and keep telling our own stories. A memoir of
the Holocaust Perfect for those who want to learn more about the
experiences of people during this period of time in history Written
with Joshua M. Greene, a renowned Holocaust scholar.
Lieutenant Randy Sutton's fascinating collection of stories and
memories, solicited from law enforcement officers across the
country, offers a broad and insightful look at the many facets of
police life: courage, exhilaration, frustration, loss, and even
humor--from the everyday to the career-defining moments on the job.
Told by the cops who lived them, the stories in "True Blue" show
what it truly means to protect and serve.
Readers will come to recognize the faces behind the badge, as
they witness officers charge into the unknown on The Beat, honor
and mourn friends in The Fallen, hear the War Stories spread in
police locker rooms and bars, discover the unbreakable line between
civilian and cop in the Line of Duty, and feel the blood-boiling
adrenaline during those life-altering moments when a cop must use
Deadly Force.
""
'War' is no exaggeration in discussing the bloodshed that has
terrorized Mexico in the past decades. As rival cartels battle for
control of a billion-dollar drug trade, the body count- 23,000 dead
in five years - and sheer horror beggar the imagination of
journalistic witnesses. Cartel gunmen have shot up schools and
rehabilitation centers, and murdered the entire families of those
who defy them. Reformers and law enforcement officials have been
gunned down within hours of taking office. Headless corpses are
dumped on streets to intimidate rivals, and severed heads are
rolled onto dancefloors as messages to would-be opponents. And the
war is creeping northward. El Narco is the story of the
ultraviolent criminal organizations that have turned huge areas of
Mexico into a combat zone. It is a piercing portrait of a drug
trade that turns ordinary men into mass murderers, as well as a
diagnosis of what drives the cartels and what gives them such
power. Veteran Mexico correspondent Ioan Grillo traces the gangs
from their origins as smugglers to their present status as criminal
empires. The narco cartels are a threat to the Mexican government,
and their violence has now reached as far as North Carolina. El
Narco is required reading for anyone concerned about one of the
most important news stories of the decade.
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