Gr 8 Up-In this gritty novel of World War II, 16-year-old Erik Brandt is forced to fight for the emaciated German army, and because of his knowledge of the Russian language, he is sent to the Russian front. The train trip that Erik and the other young men take is symbolic of their transition from child to man. These boys are sent to the front with only a few weeks of basic training and the directions to kill or be killed. After the first battle, Erik makes the life-altering decision to take the uniform of a dead Russian soldier and pretends to be Russian for most of his remaining time as a soldier, surviving serious wounds and finding the love of his life while he recuperates in a war hospital. There he pretends to have amnesia and takes the moniker "Soldier X." When the hospital is attacked, Erik and his girlfriend escape. After a harrowing journey filled with enemy encounters, they find a safe house in Czechoslovakia and eventually make their way to Berlin. The story is framed with a prologue and epilogue f

Bertrand Russell was renowned for his provocative views oneducation. Considered an educational innovator, Russell attemptedto create the perfect learning institution. Despite the failure ofthis practical vision, it did not stop him from continuing tostrive towards inventing and arguing for a system of education freefrom repression. In Education and the Social Order ,Russell dissects the motives behind educational theory andpractice, and in doing so lays out original and controversialarguments for the reformation of the education of theindividual.

What were pirates really like? How much, if any, of thepiratical stereotype - of a dashingly handsome man with aneye-patch, peg-leg and a parrot on his shoulder - is based on thedocumented fact. In this revealing and highly original study DavidCordingly sets out to discover the truth behind the piracy myth,exploring its enduring and extraordinary appeal, and answering suchquestions as: why did men become pirates? Were there any womenpirates? How much money did they make from plundering and looting?And were pirates really dashing highwaymen of the Seven Seas orjust vicious cut-throats and robbers? From Long John Silver toHenry Morgan, Robert Louis Stevenson to J.M. Barrie, LIFE AMONG THEPIRATES examines all the heavyweights of history and literature andpresents the essential survey of this fascinating phenomenon.

In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met inPhiladelphia to design a radically new form of government.Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before thedynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who laboredthat historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—theextent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, mostexplosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provokeconflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented booktakes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's mostenduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, andfragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania,noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, othershave given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons tobelieve that it is the work of plain, honest men."

In Strength in What Remains , Tracy Kidder gives us thestory of one man’s inspiring American journey and of the ordinarypeople who helped him, providing brilliant testament to the powerof second chances. Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi insearch of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, helands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and nocontacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries,living in Central Park, and learning English by readingdictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo begins to meet the strangerswho will change his life, pointing him eventually in the directionof Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted tohealing. Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettablestory as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and showsus what it means to be fully human.