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  Return to Saigon - From high...

  Larry Duthie

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  He ejects from his burning Navy jet and lands on a karst ridge near Hanoi. What follows in this meticulously researched history is a memoir of war. It is an account of one of the most implausible and heroic rescues of the air-war--and the aftermath. And the events immediately following his rescue carry the author to a secret base in Laos, then to a makeshift hospital in Saigon. The larger story, however, is of the author’s complex relationship with Vietnam. 
  It begins in Saigon, where he completes high school and comes to love the Vietnamese people. When he departs for college, he believes he’s done with the country. But when he leaves college life behind and enlists in the Navy, a series of improbable events land him in Navy flight school. As a pilot, it’s a direct line to combat and an unexpected return to a Saigon hospital--one with a surprising connection to his past. 
  The author experienced some of the fiercest air combat of the war. His air wing repeatedly hit the toughest targets in North Vietnam and suffered the highest loss rate--39 of its 72 aircraft went down. Many others suffered battle damage. The Jolly Green helicopter pilot who flew from the secret base in Laos to rescue the author earned the rarely awarded Air Force Cross and his three crew-members all were awarded Silver Stars. Following his hospitalization and rehabilitation, the writer volunteered for a third combat deployment, where he completed 137 combat missions. 
  Three decades later, the war behind him, he returns to Saigon, then he travels north to Hanoi to make his way into the remote countryside where he and his flight leader were shot down. A local guide, a woman who remembers the day the two airplanes were blown from the sky, leads him up the steep karst ridge and then deep into a cavern. During the trek he learns her brother was one of the gunners. Later that day, seated at a table in her thatched home, he begins to find reconciliation.

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  To the Elephant Graveyard

  Tarquin Hall

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  “Introduces us to the darker side of the Asian elephant. It is more of a thriller than a straightforward travel book . . . insightful and sensitive.” —Literary Review On India’s northeast frontier, a killer elephant is on the rampage, stalking Assam’s paddy fields and murdering dozens of farmers. Local forestry officials, powerless to stop the elephant, call in one of India’s last licensed elephant hunters and issue a warrant for the rogue’s destruction. Reading about the ensuing hunt in a Delhi newspaper, journalist Tarquin Hall flies to Assam to investigate. To the Elephant Graveyard is the compelling account of the search for a killer elephant in the northeast corner of India, and a vivid portrait of the Khasi tribe, who live intimately with the elephants. Though it seems a world of peaceful coexistence between man and beast, Hall begins to see that the elephants are suffering, having lost their natural habitat to the destruction of the forests and modernization. Hungry, confused, and with little forest left to hide in, herds of elephants are slowly adapting to domestication, but many are resolute and furious. Often spellbinding with excitement, like “a page-turning detective tale” (Publishers Weekly), To the Elephant Graveyard is also intimate and moving, as Hall magnificently takes us on a journey to a place whose ancient ways are fast disappearing with the ever-shrinking forest.“Hall is to be congratulated on writing a book that promises humor and adventure, and delivers both.” —The Spectator“Travel writing that wonderfully hits on all cylinders.” —Booklist“A wonderful book that should become a classic.” —Daily Mail

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  The Boys Life of Mark Twain

  Albert Bigelow Paine

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  Albert Bigelow Paine was Samuel Langhorne Clemens' (Mark Twain's) biographer. He lived with Twain, collecting ideas and material for a biography, for a few years before Twain's death in 1910. Six years later Paine published this "story of a man who made the world laugh and love him".For those who have read or listened to Mark Twain's works, Paine's work is an invaluable resource to better understand Twain, the stories behind his stories and his life with those he loved and with whom he worked. (Summary by John Greenman)

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  South Pole; an account of the...

  Roald Amundsen

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  In contrast to Scott's South Pole expedition, Amundsen's expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs). Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole, and they returned. In Amundsen's own words: "Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck." Short accounts by other members of the party are appended. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)

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  Petty vs Pearson - The Rivalry...

  Mike Hembree, Terry Labonte

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  Get the detailed inside story on the legendary rivalry that helped propel NASCAR from regional curiosity to national phenomenon.The battle for NASCAR dominance was never more pronounced than when Richard Petty and David Pearson met on the track. In 551 head-to-head races between 1960 and 1986, they finished one-two an astounding 63 times (Pearson won 33, Petty 30). Each showdown attracted more media attention and new fans, helping the sport to evolve evermore rapidly.Petty vs. Pearson is the only book to examine this storied relationship, beginning with their pre-Winston Cup careers. Award-winning motorsports journalist Mike Hembree details:The drivers’ backgrounds—Petty earning his way up through a racing dynasty led by his father Lee; Pearson honing his skills as a DIY racer on local South Carolina dirt tracks Their first meeting in a Cup event, in 1960The memorable battles, including their legendary wild finish at the 1976 Daytona 500Parallel careers that coincided with seismic changes to NASCAR: the advent of superspeedways, the “aero wars,” the injection of corporate money, and a new generation of star drivers in the 1980sWhile their rivalry produced amazing finishes and tense moments, Petty and Pearson were friends throughout. Petty vs. Pearson examines that relationship, including their retirements in 1986 (Pearson) and 1992 (Petty) and their lives in NASCAR beyond the driver’s seat. Throughout the riveting text, Hembree draws on original interviews with both drivers (including interviews conducted with Petty in early 2024), those who witnessed the rivalry, and NASCAR figures who came later. The result is an entertaining and essential account of two storied drivers—and friends—who bridged NASCAR’s rollicking early years and the sophisticated entertainment concern it is today.Featuring a foreword by Terry Labonte, a legendary driver in his own right, Petty vs. Pearson is a must-have for every fan’s collection.

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  Colonel Sanders and the American...

  Josh Ozersky

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  The James Beard Award–winning food writer serves up “a quirky and rewarding exploration of a ‘very real time, place, product, and person’” (TriQuarterly).   Among the most recognizable corporate icons, only one was ever a real person: Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC. From a 1930s roadside café in Corbin, Kentucky, Harland Sanders launched a fried chicken business that now circles the globe, serving “finger lickin’ good” chicken to more than twelve million people every day. But to get there, he had to give up control of his company and even his own image, becoming a mere symbol to people today who don’t know that Colonel Sanders was a very real human being. This book tells his story of a dirt-poor striver with unlimited ambition who personified the American Dream.   Acclaimed cultural historian Josh Ozersky defines the American Dream as being able to transcend your roots and create yourself as you see fit. Harland Sanders did exactly that. At the age of sixty-five—after failed jobs and misfortune—he packed his car with a pressure cooker and his secret blend of eleven herbs and spices and began peddling the recipe for “Colonel Sanders’ Kentucky Fried Chicken” to small-town diners. Ozersky traces the rise of Kentucky Fried Chicken from this unlikely beginning, telling the dramatic story of Sanders’ self-transformation into “The Colonel,” his truculent relationship with KFC management as their often-disregarded goodwill ambassador, and his equally turbulent afterlife as the world’s most recognizable commercial icon.  “Nobody finishing this book will look at their local KFC in the same way again.” —The National

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