Tyren Scott Thomas was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He is a classically trained stage actor who trained at Louisiana State University, as well as being an experienced and caring teacher. He went to Poland to teach English through drama, and then started an English language theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. He became interested in teaching after he came off of tour with the National Theatre for Children. He then began teaching preschool, and fell in love with teaching. As a teacher, he realized the need for this special kind of book. Recognizing the need for a children's story book that can be easily read and shared with children, he developed this unique series of children's books aptly named "readables." Tyren has just returned to the U.S. after teaching special needs children in Ghana, West Africa for two years. He is now back in his home town to promote his specially designed storybooks for children, parents, and teachers.

This book investigates the socio-cultural and maritime history of 18th century - early 19th-century Southern Iran and the Persian Gulf in terms of the merchants, mariners and captains who lived and died in the turbulent waters of the western Indian Ocean. This "uncertain frontier" between a revitalized Ottoman Empire to the west and an emergant British India to the east became a testing grounds for the communities of the Gulf. Generally assumed to be a period of anarchy, the 18th-century maritime peoples resolved differences by marriage, forged alliances, and adapted their mercantile skills to the emerging age of global power.

In May of 2005, the U.S. government finally acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq had spawned an insurgency. With that admission, training the Iraqi Forces suddenly became a strategic priority. Lt. Col. Bill Edmonds, then a Special Forces captain, was in the first group of "official" military advisors. He arrived in Mosul in the wake of Abu Ghraib, at the height of the insurgency, and in the midst of America's rapidly failing war strategy. Edmonds' job was to advise an Iraqi intelligence officer-to assist and temper his interrogations-but not give orders. But he wanted to be more than a wallflower, so he immersed himself in the experience, even learning Arabic. In a makeshift basement prison, over countless nights and predawn hours, Edmonds came to empathize with Iraqi rules: do what's necessary, do what works. After all, Americans and Iraqis were dying. Edmonds wanted to make a difference. Yet the longer he submerged himself in the worst of humanity, the more conflicted and disillusioned he became, slowly losing faith in everything and everyone. In the end, he lost himself. He returned home with no visible wounds, but on the inside he was different. He tried to forget-to soldier on-but memories from war never just fade away... In God Is Not Here, the weight of history is everywhere, but the focus is on a young man struggling to learn what is right when fighting wrong. Edmonds provides a disturbing and thought-provoking account of the morally ambiguous choices faced when living with and fighting within a foreign religion and culture, as well as the resulting psychological and spiritual impacts on a soldier. Transcending the genre of the traditional war memoir, Edmonds' eloquent recounting makes for one of the most insightful and moving books to emerge from America's long war against terrorism.

In May of 2005, the U.S. government finally acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq had spawned an insurgency. With that admission, training the Iraqi Forces suddenly became a strategic priority. Lt. Col. Bill Edmonds, then a Special Forces captain, was in the first group of "official" military advisors. He arrived in Mosul in the wake of Abu Ghraib, at the height of the insurgency, and in the midst of America's rapidly failing war strategy. Edmonds' job was to advise an Iraqi intelligence officer-to assist and temper his interrogations-but not give orders. But he wanted to be more than a wallflower, so he immersed himself in the experience, even learning Arabic. In a makeshift basement prison, over countless nights and predawn hours, Edmonds came to empathize with Iraqi rules: do what's necessary, do what works. After all, Americans and Iraqis were dying. Edmonds wanted to make a difference. Yet the longer he submerged himself in the worst of humanity, the more conflicted and disillusioned he became, slowly losing faith in everything and everyone. In the end, he lost himself. He returned home with no visible wounds, but on the inside he was different. He tried to forget-to soldier on-but memories from war never just fade away... In God Is Not Here, the weight of history is everywhere, but the focus is on a young man struggling to learn what is right when fighting wrong. Edmonds provides a disturbing and thought-provoking account of the morally ambiguous choices faced when living with and fighting within a foreign religion and culture, as well as the resulting psychological and spiritual impacts on a soldier. Transcending the genre of the traditional war memoir, Edmonds' eloquent recounting makes for one of the most insightful and moving books to emerge from America's long war against terrorism.