The gripping and inspiring story of two extraordinarywomen--from their imprisonment by the Taliban to their rescue byU.S. Special Forces. When Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer arrived in Afghanistan, theyhad come to help bring a better life and a little hope to some ofthe poorest and most oppressed people in the world. Within a fewmonths, their lives were thrown into chaos as they became pawns inhistoric international events. They were arrested by the rulingTaliban government for teaching about Christianity to the peoplewith whom they worked. In the middle of their trial, the events ofSeptember 11, 2001, led to the international war on terrorism, withthe Taliban a primary target. While many feared Curry and Mercercould not survive in the midst of war, Americans nonetheless prayedfor their safe return, and in November their prayers wereanswered. In Prisoners of Hope, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer tell thestory of their work in Afghanistan, their love for the people theyserved, their arrest, t

When junior collegeprofessor Alfred Clayton is asked to record his impressions of theFord Administration, he recalls a turbulent piece of personalhistory as well. In a decade of sexual liberation, Clayton wasfacing a doomed marriage and the passionate beginnings of a futileaffair with an unattainable Perfect Wife. But one memory begetsanother: Clayton's unfinished book on... (展开全部) When junior college professor Alfred Clayton isasked to record his impressions of the Ford Administration, herecalls a turbulent piece of personal history as well. In a decadeof sexual liberation, Clayton was facing a doomed marriage and thepassionate beginnings of a futile affair with an unattainablePerfect Wife. But one memory begets another: Clayton's unfinishedbook on James Buchanan. In John Updike's fifteenth novel, hemasterfully alternates between two men, two lives, two Americancenturies -- one Victorian, the other modern -- shining anirreverent, witty, and sometimes caustic light on the contrasti

Zarafa was a gentle 19th-century giraffe, a simple animalwhose life was dictated by the tumultuous times around her. Fromthe African savanna where she was caught and tamed as an infant,Zarafa was shipped down the Nile--along with the meat of her motherand several hundred human slaves--to the shores of theMediterranean Sea. From there she sailed on to France, a gift fromMuhammad Ali, the "Renaissance Barbarian" viceroy of Egypt,intended to distract King Charles X while Egyptian forces invadedGreece. As political ploy, it didn't work. But as ambassador froman exotic land, this odd animal captivated the French people foralmost two decades, as she lived out her life as part of the royalmenagerie. Michael Allin intertwines natural history with a brutal chapterin the history of civilization, augmenting the clarity of both.This story of one docile animal contrasts sharply with those of thehuman profiteers, warmongers, and interlopers who ultimately decideher fate. But Zarafa's otherworldly charm also he