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  Jump into the Valley of the Shadow

  Dwayne T. Burns, Leland Burns

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  A paratrooper’s memoir of survival and close-quarters combat in WWII: “Well worth reading” (Flight Journal).   When Dwayne Burns turned eighteen, he decided he wanted to fight alongside America’s best. He joined the paratroopers and was assigned to the 508th Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. Little did he suspect that a year later he’d be soaring in a flak-riddled C-47 over Normandy, part of the very spearhead of the Allied drive to seize back Europe.   Burns landed behind German lines during the dark early hours of D-Day and gradually found other survivors of his division. The paratroopers fought on every side in a confused running battle through the hedgerows, finally making a stand in a surrounded farmhouse. With one room reserved for their growing piles of corpses, the paratroopers held their ground until finally relieved by infantry advancing from the beaches.   After being pulled out of Normandy, the airborne troops were launched into Holland as part of Montgomery’s plan to gain a bridgehead across the Rhine. This daytime jump was less confused than the nocturnal one, but there were more Germans than expected and fewer Allied forces in support. It was another maelstrom of point-blank combat in all directions, and though the 82nd achieved its objectives, the campaign as a whole achieved little but casualties.   The 82nd had hardly refilled with replacements when the Germans broke through the US front in the Ardennes. The 82nd’s paratroopers were put aboard trucks and hastened to stand in the way of the panzer onslaught. Passing through Bastogne, they went farther north to St. Vith, where the US 7th Armored and other divisions were reeling. The 82nd held its own with quickly assembled defense perimeters, allowing other units to escape. After beating off massive attacks by the German SS, the paratroopers were disgusted to hear that they, too, had been ordered to retreat. They didn’t feel they needed to, but Monty was determined to “tidy up the battlefield.” On January 3, they counterattacked through the freezing hills, sealing off the Bulge and pursuing the Germans back into the Reich.   In this work, Dwayne Burns, assisted by his son Leland (US Army, 1975–79), not only relates the chaos of combat but the intimate thinking of a young soldier thrust into the center of several of history’s greatest battles. His memories provide a fascinating insight into the reality of close-quarters combat.

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  Homegrown Democrat - A Few Plain...

  Garrison Keillor

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  In this thoughtful, deeply personal work, one of the nation's best-loved voices takes the plunge into politics and comes up with a book that has had all of America talking. Here, with great heart, supple wit, and a dash of anger, Garrison Keillor describes the simple democratic values—the Golden Rule, the obligation to defend the weak against the powerful, and others—that define his hard-working Midwestern neighbors and that today's Republicans seem determined to subvert. 
   
   
   
  A reminiscence, a political tract, and a humorous meditation, Homegrown Democrat is an entertaining, refreshing addition to today's rancorous political debate.

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  AM Naik - The Man Who Built...

  Priya Kumar, Jairam N. Menon

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  'Passion, devotion, conviction, commitment - four words that can change your life.' A.M. Naik 
  In 1964, A.M. Naik, a twenty-two-year-old engineering graduate, chanced upon a recruitment advertisement for Larsen & Toubro.  
  Despite almost botching up his final interview, Naik was hired. 'I've sacked thirty-eight engineers-don't be number thirty-nine' is what Naik's boss T. Baker told him on his first day at work. Thus began an era of relentless hard work, infectious zeal and remarkable achievements, which not only elevated Naik in the L&T hierarchy, but also helped transform the company into a multinational conglomerate with presence in more than fifty countries. 
  What makes Naik the energy powerhouse he is and a workaholic, even at eighty-one? What motivates him to forge selfless relationships? What is it about him that inspires those who work alongside him to walk that extra mile for any assignment? A powerful story of grit and determination, passion and resilience, A.M. Naik: The Man Who Built Tomorrow presents a rare look at the person behind the leader and the many worlds he inhabits-from business and industry to nation-building and philanthropy. What's next for the man whose motto in life is to start walking towards the next goalpost as soon as one is achieved?

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  Sacrificial Axe - Voodoo Cult...

  C.J. March

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  The “Axe-man” came in the night. No one heard him come. No locks could keep him out. In the morning, whole families lay slaughtered in their beds, a riot of blood corrupting the room. Town by town, terror gripped the black communities of Louisiana and East Texas, as men, women, and children fell to the killer’s ax. The police were powerless to stop it. 
   
  Was it simply a homicidal maniac on the loose, or was a deeper evil afoot? Could one person perpetrate over forty atrocities? Was the serial killer even a man? People whispered voodoo, and white newspapers in the Jim Crow era South fanned the hysteria. As the police slowly unraveled the mystery, they were stunned by the bizarre truth of the “Axe-man.”

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  Great Expectations

  Charles Dickens

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  In this unflaggingly suspenseful story of aspirations and moral redemption, humble, orphaned Pip, a ward of his short-tempered older sister and her husband, Joe, is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman. And, indeed, it seems as though that dream is destined to come to pass — because one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In telling Pip's story, Dickens traces a boy's path from a hardscrabble rural life to the teeming streets of 19th-century London, unfolding a gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, and love and loss. Its compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride. 
  Great Expectations, written in Dickens' final decade of life, received widespread acclaim and worldwide admiration. It was his final great novel, and many critics consider it to be his best. Readers and critics alike commended it for its excellent plot, which rises above the melodrama of some of his earlier works, as well as its three-dimensional, psychologically realistic characters, which are far deeper and more engaging than the one-note caricatures of earlier novels. "In none of his other works," noted the reviewer in the 1861 Atlantic, "does he evince a shrewder insight into real life, and a cheaper perception and knowledge of what is called the world." 
   Swinburne thought the novel was the best in all of English fiction, with flaws "as nearly imperceptible as spots on the sun or shadows on a sunlit sea." Shaw considered it Dickens' "most completely perfect book." This low-cost edition encourages current readers to experience Dickens' timeless masterwork, which is brimming with colorful characters, unexpected narrative twists, and Dickens' vivid depiction of mid-Victorian England.

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  Heads on Pillows - Behind the...

  Joan Campbell

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  With so many people looking to leave the rat-race and start their own bed and breakfast in the country, "Heads on Pillows" give readers a personal glimpse into the unique world of B&Bs, where owners open up their own homes for guests to enjoy. This book offers witty anecdotes, personal experiences and helpful hints to anyone who aspires to enter the trade, from an award-winning B&B owner. From its modest beginnings as a single room B&B to the first five star Bed and Breakfast in the northern counties of Scotland, follow the story of the Sheiling and its owner. Part autobiography and part 'how to' guide "Heads on Pillows" is both informative and entertaining. This true account charts the growth and the development of the Scottish tourist trade, especially in the Highlands where the Sheiling is located, and offers through the experience of over 30 years an unparalleled insight into the Bed and Breakfast trade that is so enticing to so many. Foreword by Peter Lederer, Chairman of VisitScotland and managing director of the famous Gleneagles hotel.

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