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Books > Fiction > True stories
July 8, 1932, 11 PM. East Austin, an African-American district in
Jim Crow Texas. Sixty-year-old Charles Johnson is driving home from
Bible study when a car full of young white men swerves in front of
him. A brief altercation ensues. Convinced that his life is
threatened, Johnson fires his pistol and drives away. Johnson's
shot kills the unarmed, eighteen-year-old son of Albert Allison, a
prominent cotton landlord, influential in politics, and an advocate
for racial justice. Although devastated, Allison personally thwarts
a lynch mob and then insists that Austin's courts treat Johnson
fairly. Nonetheless, Allison expects fairness to execute his son's
killer. Johnson himself expects to be lynched, either by the mob or
by the court. "To Defy the Monster" shows how the confluence of
unique cultural and historical factors determines Johnson's fate
and why Allison orders his family never to speak of the matter.
28 November 2000 was the day when the foundations of a young and
fragile Ukrainian democracy were fundamentally shaken. The national
deputies and the entirety of the Ukrainian population became aware
of the records made by the former officer of the State Security
Service, Mykola Melnichenko, which implicated the then President of
Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, in being involved in the murder of an
independent journalist Georgiy Gongadze. The tape affair, or as it
became known in the West, the 'Kuchmagate', was an unprecedented
event in the history of modern Ukraine. Kuchmagate and the collapse
of the Orange idea is a story told by Volodymyr Tsvil, a close
associate of the main characters involved in the scandal, who
himself was directly involved in the affair. Tsvil provides a
unique insight into the events that followed immediately after the
outbreak of the Kuchmagate and reveals a web of complex
relationships between major Melnychenko and a plethora of
politicians, journalists, governments and NGOs who were keen to
obtain the contents of these records and use them for their own
purposes. The story of Kuchmagate and the collapse of the Orange
idea, however, is not merely a description of events which inspired
the Orange revolution in 2004. Many Ukrainians entertained the hope
that new people in the government could deliver their promises for
a just and free society. These hopes were shattered by the same
politicians' insincerity and personal interest in political
expediency demonstrated during the Kuchmagate. The hopes of
ordinary Ukrainians that justice would prevail were sidelined and
largely forgotten. Today, the Orange coalition and its leaders are
forgotten, marginalised or even imprisoned. In contrast, the
Kuchmagate affair is alive and to the present day is far from being
solved. The main question of who ordered the murder of Georgiy
Gongadze remains unanswered. In order to find an answer to this and
many other questions, more details about the Kuchmagate should be
revealed to the public. Tsvil's book makes one the first
contributions to this cause, providing first-hand information about
the development of the scandal in a clear and objective manner.
Principally an abridgement of the transcript of the trial as
published in: The Sacco-Vanzetti case. 2nd ed. Mamaroneck, N.Y.: P.
P. Appel, 1969; followed by a collection of remarks over the past
80 years about the trial and its significance.
On May 5, 1993, second-graders Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch,
and Michael Moore disappeared from their West Memphis, Arkansas,
homes. The following afternoon, their nude, beaten, and bound
bodies were discovered in a drainage ditch less than a mile
away.
After a troublesome confession, three local teenagers, later
dubbed the "West Memphis Three," were arrested, tried, and
convicted in early 1994. Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley
received life sentences, while ringleader Damien Echols went to
death row. Three years later, the documentary film "Paradise Lost"
premiered on HBO, and the effect on viewers was dramatic. Many
became skeptical of the verdicts and also felt one of the fathers
of the victims was a better suspect-John Mark Byers.
In "Untying the Knot," author Greg Day tells the true story of
John Mark Byers and the about-face he made to free the men
convicted of the crime. Day exposes the propaganda campaign used to
convince a gullible public that Byers was complicit in the deaths
of his wife and son. Based on court transcripts and hours of
personal interviews, "Untying the Knot" explores all the case
evidence while interweaving dialogues and statements. It traces the
life of Byers from his roots in rural Arkansas, to his son's murder
and the death of his wife, to his ultimate imprisonment in 1999. It
reveals a man redeemed by prison and whose change of heart changed
his life.
"Day has captured the essence of a towering personality engulfed
by an impossible situation. John Mark Byers is an immensely complex
character, and Untying the Knot pulls no punches in revealing the
man in all his seeming contradictions."
-John Douglas, "Mindhunter"
Told through the eyes of current and former Navy SEALs, EYES ON
TARGET is an inside account of some of the most harrowing missions
in American history-including the mission to kill Osama bin Laden
and the mission that wasn't, the deadly attack on the US diplomatic
outpost in Benghazi where a retired SEAL sniper with a small team
held off one hundred terrorists while his repeated radio calls for
help went unheeded.
The book contains incredible accounts of major SEAL
operations-from the violent birth of SEAL Team Six and the aborted
Operation Eagle Claw meant to save the hostages in Iran, to key
missions in Iraq and Afganistan where the SEALs suffered their
worst losses in their fifty year history-and every chapter
illustrates why this elite military special operations unit remains
the most feared anti-terrorist force in the world.
We hear reports on the record from retired SEAL officers including
Lt. Cmdr. Richard Marcinko, the founder of SEAL Team Six, and a
former Commander at SEAL team Six, Ryan Zinke, and we come away
understanding the deep commitment of these military men who put
themselves in danger to protect our country and save American
lives. In the face of insurmountable odds and the imminent threat
of death, they give all to protect those who cannot protect
themselves.
No matter the situation, on duty or at ease, SEALs never, ever
give up. One powerful chapter in the book tells the story of how
one Medal of Honor winner saved another, the only time this has
been done in US military history.
EYES ON TARGET includes these special features:
A detailed timeline of events during the Benghazi attackSample
rescue scenarios from a military expert who believes that help
could have reached the Benghazi compound in time The US House
Republican Conference Interim Progress Report on the events
surrounding the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi
Through their many interviews and unique access, Scott McEwen and
Richard Miniter pull back the veil that has so often concealed the
heroism of these patriots. They live by a stringent and demanding
code of their own creation, keeping them ready to ignore politics,
bureaucracy and-if necessary-direct orders. They share a unique
combination of character, intelligence, courage, love of country
and what can only be called true grit.
They are the Navy SEALs, and they keep their Eyes on Target.
** Shortlisted for the Military History Matters Book of the Year
Award ** 'Magnificent. Narrative history at its vivid and
compelling best' Fergal Keane The first major history of the
International Brigades: a tale of blood, ideals and tragedy in the
fight against fascism. The Spanish Civil War was the first armed
battle in the fight against fascism, and a rallying cry for a
generation. Over 35,000 volunteers from sixty-one countries around
the world came to defend democracy against the troops of Franco,
Hitler and Mussolini. Ill-equipped and disorderly, yet fuelled by a
shared sense of purpose and potential glory, these disparate groups
of idealistic young men and women formed a volunteer army of a size
and type unseen since the Crusades, known as the International
Brigades. Were they heroes or fools? Saints or bloodthirsty
adventurers? And what exactly did they achieve? In this magisterial
history, Giles Tremlett tells - for the first time - the story of
the Spanish Civil War through the experiences of this remarkable
group. Drawing on the Brigades' archives in Moscow, as well as
first-hand accounts, The International Brigades captures all the
human drama of a historic mission to halt fascist expansion in
Europe.
In this story based on true events, author Nelson Rodriguez
explores the effects of an online game called Mobster on its
players. Rodriguez examines how people interact with others when
they are involved-or even obsessed-with online gaming, delving into
the relationships that are built through the game-sometimes with
others who live a completely different part of the world For Sam,
the game Mobster became an extremely personal and real experience;
he began acting out his crimes in real life, without giving any
thought to the law or the lines that he was crossing. To "win," he
did everything in his power, regardless of the consequence-making
bribes and intimidating anyone he perceived was in his way. But
would he take to ultimate step and actually kill someone? Mark was
committed to his job as a police officer, and so he never imagined
that one day he would have to engage in the very acts that he had
sworn to fight. It seemed that destiny had a different path for
him-a life he never imagined for himself. Despite their strong
personal relationships, once these players get caught up in the
game, all that matters to them is the game-and everything they
cared about before is in jeopardy.
"Peter and I stared at each other, digesting the shocking news.
What was this misguided loose cannon of a prosecutor doing? Would
he really take the risk of ruining our lives without any evidence
of a crime? The answer was obviously yes.The thought of being
arrested! The very idea pierced my heart. My mind raced at hyper
speed. I had never committed a single criminal act. I was a wife, a
mother, and a hard-working professional in the field of real estate
development. After many years of faithful service, my bosses, Peter
Durkee and Jack Wood, made me an equity partner in Durkee
Development Group, a developer of golf course communities in
Naples. Now I was being accused of being a partner in crime, a
corrupt individual, an influence peddler, who had sought to bring
illegal pressure on government authorities with respect to a golf
course development called Colisseum Golf.My life had just spun
totally out of control."
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Liar
(Hardcover)
Rebecca Grayson
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R824
Discovery Miles 8 240
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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