Welcome to the daring, thrilling, and downright strangeadventures of William Willis, one of the world’s original extremesportsmen. Driven by an unfettered appetite for personal challengeand a yen for the path of most resistance, Willis mounted asingle-handed and wholly unlikely rescue in the jungles of FrenchGuiana and then twice crossed the broad Pacific on rafts of his owndesign, with only housecats and a parrot for companionship. Hisfirst voyage, atop a ten-ton balsa monstrosity, was undertaken in1954 when Willis was sixty. His second raft, having crossed eleventhousand miles from Peru, found the north shore of Australiashortly after Willis’s seventieth birthday. A marvel of vigor andfitness, William Willis was a connoisseur of ordeal, all butorchestrating short rations, ship-wreck conditions, and crushingsolitude on his trans-Pacific voyages. He’d been inspired by Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl’s bid to provethat a primitive raft could negotiate the open ocean. Willis’strips confirmed tha
A moving cultural biography of abolitionist martyr John Brown,by one of the most important African-American intellectuals of thetwentieth century. In the history of slavery and its legacy, John Brown looms large asa hero whose deeds partly precipitated the Civil War. As FrederickDouglass wrote: "When John Brown stretched forth his arm ... theclash of arms was at hand." DuBois's biography brings Brownstirringly to life and is a neglected classic.
Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in the vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 - and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. There is a reason why Stephen King is one of the bestselling writers in the world, ever. Described in the Guardian as 'the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature', Stephen King writes books that draw you in and are impossible to put down.
At the age of seventeen, Marco Martinez was a thug At the age of twenty-two, he was a hero Hard Corps tells the story of a young man’s incredibletransformation from gun-toting gang member to recipient of the NavyCross, the second-highest honor a U.S. Marine can receive. Gritty,riveting, and ultimately inspiring, Hard Corps captures the“ooh-rah” spirit of the U.S. Marine Corps and the grueling life onthe front lines.
The New York Times Bestseller That Reads Like a Back-PorchConversation with Reba! In a dazzling career, Reba McEntire has become a true countrysuperstar--and a trailblazing businesswoman with her own multimediaentertainment corporation. Yet she is a rare celebrity who is alsobeloved by her millions of fans for the way she lives her life. ForReba has balanced the demands of career and family, succeeded inshow business without sacrificing her values, and kept up with thetimes without abandoning her country roots. Here Reba writes about the roles a modern woman tries to fill,roles as many and varied as the fabric pieces of an heirloom quilt.Facing the challenges of being a wife, mother, stepmother,daughter, sister, performer, executive, community member, andChristian, Reba has found inspiration and comfort in the values ofher past as an Oklahoma ranch girl. In this generous and wise book,she shows how you can keep traditional values fresh and vital inyour own search for a fulfilling life. Whether you read it
In a masterly act of literary transformation, celebratednovelist Hanan al-Shaykh re-creates the dramatic life and times ofher mother, Kamila. Married at a young age against her will, Kamila soon fellhead-over-heels in love with another man—and was thus forced tochoose between her children and her lover. As the narrative unfoldsthrough the years—from the bazaars, cinemas and apartments of 1930sBeirut to its war-torn streets decades later—we follow thispassionate woman as she survives the tragedies and celebrates thetriumphs of a life lived to the very fullest.
In the most inspiring speech of his career, Ted Kennedy oncevowed: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the workgoes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dreamshall never die." Unlike his martyred brothers, John and Robert, whose lives werecut off before the promise of a better future could be realized,Ted lived long enough to make many promises come true. During acareer that spanned an astonishing half-century, he put his imprinton every major piece of progressive legislation–from health careand education to civil rights.
