Military Culture

Doctors at War is a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Mark de Rond tells of the highs and lows of surgical life in hard-hitting detail, bringing to life a morally ambiguous world in which good people face impossible choices and in which routines designed to normalize experience have the unintended effect of highlighting war’s absurdity. With stories that are at once comical and tragic, de Rond captures the surreal experience of being a doctor at war.

Sealab is the underwater Right Stuff: the compelling story of how a U.S. Navy program sought to develop the marine equivalent of the space station - and forever changed man's relationship to the sea. While NASA was trying to put a man on the moon, the U.S. Navy launched a series of daring experiments to prove that divers could live and work from a sea-floor base.

The flight of Apollo 11 was a triumph of human endeavor, persistence, and technology, one of the greatest achievements in human history. This book begins with the mission that sent Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin to the moon, then follows American spaceflight through the harrowing rescue of Apollo 13 before moving on to the successful joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.

Billie has lived with her great-aunt ever since her mom passed away and her dad left. Billie's big brother, Leo, is about to leave, too, for the warfront. But first, she gets one more weekend with him at the ranch. Billie's surprised when Leo brings home a fellow Marine from boot camp, Denny. She has so much to ask Leo - about losing her best friend and trying to find their father - but Denny, who is Navajo, or Diné, comes with something special: a gorgeous, but injured, stray dog. As Billie cares for the dog, whom they name Bear, she and Bear grow deeply attached to each other.

It is 1942, and 14-year-old Jill is spending the summer with her grandmother in the coastal village of Winter Haven, Maine. The U.S. is at war, and Jill hears rumors that German submarines - U-boats - are just off shore. Trying to ignore her fears, Jill notices suspicious activities in town. When she finds a carrier pigeon bearing the message Sonnabend iv, she's sure that something is wrong. The secret she uncovers will have her running for her life.

A gripping tale of the little-known Nazi plot to attack on American soil, and the brave individuals who got in the way. In 1942, amid a growing German threat, Nazi agents infiltrated the United States in hopes of destroying American infrastructure and sowing panic throughout the nation. Nazi Saboteurs tells the nail-biting tale of this daring plot, buried in history, for young listeners for the first time. Hear about a nation on edge, with the FBI caught unawares, and the incredible capture of eight dangerous criminals.

People spend a large part of their waking hours trying to change, wanting to get better. Whether it's weight loss or spending habits or overall fitness, everyone would like to change some aspect of themself. New Year's Eve resolutions are, generally, forgotten by February. Failing to change comes from two misunderstandings. Personal change is incremental. We get better with small steps, not giant leaps.

Major JJ Jackson, a highly decorated Marine whose focus in life is to seek and destroy terrorists, is tasked by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to test the revolutionary technology that promises the US a military and political edge over foreign and domestic threats. When JJ goes rogue and asks a higher power to save the woman he loves, everyone’s lives will be changed forever. For JJ’s team of six men and women, time travel becomes their magic bullet. But when a new American President comes under siege, those who were Found in Time must lock and load.

Shut the hatches. It's time to roll out. You'll find yourself behind enemy lines with Clarence Smoyer and the 3rd Armored Division, the workhorse unit know as "Spearhead", the best in the tank armor ranks. You'll feel as if you are right beside Clarence and his fellow crew members - all formerly strangers from across America who have now become family to each other. You will be jarred by enemy fire, and then explore the other side, stepping into the boots of German tanker soldier, Gustav Schaefer, and his crew.

Lone Star Nation is the gripping story of Texas' precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches to its day of liberation as an upstart republic.

The biblical account of Gideon. The ancient story of the Trojan horse. Deceptive techniques have been used in war through the ages. But while the principles have changed very little, the technology behind fooling the enemy has evolved dramatically. Paul B. Janeczko’s fascinating chronology focuses on the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf Wars to reveal evolving attitudes toward the use and effectiveness of deceptive operations.

No nation is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their "motherland" has been the battlefield where some of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage battles have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe no other nation has sacrificed so much for the world.

Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own. They set out to find what's left of their family, carrying between them 10 dollars, a backpack full of dirty clothes, a notebook, and a stack of letters from their brother, who is serving a tour in Vietnam. And soon into their journey, they have a ride. With a man and a beautiful girl who may be in love with Jonah. Or Simon. Or both of them.

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and hallucinations.

At the onset of the American Revolution, the British expected to quell the rebellion quickly with a show of overwhelming force. In an experiment in asymmetric warfare, David Bushnell created the first submarine vessel designed specifically “for the destruction of vessels of war”. In Turtle, the authors provide new insight into Bushnell’s “engine of devastation”, tracing the history of undersea warfare before Bushnell and the origin of the many innovations Bushnell understood would be necessary for conducting a covert submarine attack.

A fast paced, gritty murder mystery through the wilds of territorial New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley with the feel of a Tony Hillerman novel and the complexity of a Ngaio Marsh mystery. Pueblos, Apache, former Mexican citizens and the US Army collide in a tale of greed and murder. A new civil war mystery series by best-selling author Phillip and Jennifer Bryant. Peter Thomas Smith's days on the post of Fort Craig, New Mexico territory, are spent fighting boredom, keeping cool, and giving the spiritual state of the fifth California Mounted Infantry volunteers a ready ear.

The amazing autobiography of a young Sudanese boy who went from a child soldier and struggling refugee to international peace activist and Hollywood actor. Amid fame, trauma, and the memory of home, can this lost boy find himself?

Celeste Marconi is a dreamer. She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile - until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word. Celeste doesn't quite know what is happening, but one thing is clear: no one is safe, not anymore.

It's 1986, and Jeff is an average 15-year-old: he thinks a lot about dating and he's trying his hardest to get a car. Conversely, the world around him feels crazy: the United States and the Soviet Union are at glaring odds, with their leaders in a standoff, and that awful word, "nuclear", is on everyone's mind. Then, boom - Jeff learns that he has brain cancer and it's likely terminal. Well, that puts a damper on his summer plans and romantic prospects, doesn't it? Jeff's family rallies around him, but they are fiercely complicated - especially Jeff's father....

In his 1967 megahit "San Francisco," Scott McKenzie sang of "people in motion" coming from all across the country to San Francisco, the white-hot center of rock music and anti-war protests. At the same time, another large group of young Americans was also in motion, less eagerly, heading for the jungles of Vietnam.