Hard work, lots of reading, factory jobs took me from a poor, uneducated family , through BS and MA, then into intelligence work, then 29 years of postings at Embassies in Africa, Europe and Australia. Short stories illuminate poor family background, great curiosity and wide reading, work in intelligence and at posts abroad. Bit of history frames some stories including social, military, political, racial conflicts/conditions in countries abroad. Some notes on terrorism, Communism, spying.

‘If We Hadn’t Been Soldiers…’ is a compelling and gripping novel that takes place during the American Civil War. It chronicles the dilemmas and ordeals Simon and his wife Olivia encounter when he leaves the Danton Plantation. Simon is a family man and a dedicated servant with a burning desire to provide a better life for his wife, Olivia, and their son, William. His desire for freedom clashes with his comfortable life as the carriage driver for Mr. Danton, the plantation owner. Simon takes...

Originally published in 1959, A Summary of Christian History has been a classic text for introductory-level studies of Christian history for more than four decades. Even in the face of advancing history, new findings, and changing perspectives, Dr. Baker’s original classic has remained popular decades beyond the normal life expectancy of a textbook.In this third edition, Dr. John Landers, a former student of Dr. Baker, builds on the original goal of helping students grasp ...

A history of the Dark Ages "explain[s] very clearly why people in the early Christian era were so passionately concerned with issues of high theology.( The Economist ).Jesus Wars reveals how official, orthodox teaching about Jesus was the product of political maneuvers by a handful of key characters in the fifth century. Philip Jenkins argues that were it not for these controversies, the papacy as we know it woul...

It is 1999 and Russia is on the edge of total implosion. Social and moral order has collapsed and what small semblance of control there is, is being imposed by mafia-like criminal gangs. While public opinion in the West is largely indifferent, the political analysts are less sanguine - Russian meltdown will make the disintegration of the Balkans look like the collapse of a cup-cake. Out of the chaos, however, a single charismatic voice is starting to be heard - that of Igor Komarov, a visi...

Brush up on the people, places, and events every Christian should know about with this fascinating, accessible guide. Ideal for pastors and speakers.

The breathtaking memoir by a member of Nicky’s family,” a group of 669 Czechoslovakian children who escaped the Holocaust through Sir Nicholas Winton’s Kindertransport project, My Train to Freedom relates the trials and achievements of award-winning humanitarian and former Episcopal priest, Ivan Backer.As Backer recounts in his memoir, in May of 1939 as a ten-year-old Jewish boy, he fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia for the United Kingdom aboard one of the Kindertransport...

Peter Godwin, an award-winning writer, is on assignment in Zululand when he is summoned by his mother to Zimbabwe, his birthplace. His father is seriously ill; she fears he is dying. Godwin finds his country, once a post-colonial success story, descending into a vortex of violence and racial hatred.His father recovers, but over the next few years Godwin travels regularly between his family life in Manhattan and the increasing chaos of Zimbabwe, with its rampant inflation and land s...

Examines the beginning of the Christian movement during the first centuries AD, and the explosive force of its expansion throughout the Roman world

  "Peter Worthington's journey through history has been Homeric. He writes the way journalists were meant to write, with immediacy, clarity and courage." ~ William F. Buckley Jr. Outspoken and colourful, legendary Canadian journalist Peter Worthington stirred controversy for nearly 60 years until his death in May, 2013. In this absorbing account of his career as a journalist, newspaper editor, and political activist, Worthington chal...

People outside the Catholic faith are often baffled, skeptical, and sometimes hurt when a loved one converts to the faith. They see the convert as a newly minted Church spokesperson, a resource they can pepper with questions about the Church. Lifelong Catholics can also find themselves in this role. Theology professor and Catholic convert Kenneth L. Parker uses a brief question-and-answer format to help converts-and lifelong Catholics-clear up confusion, exaggeration, and differences betwe...

In the world's most dangerous trouble spots, a small band of men risk their lives to fly in desperately needed aid. But they are not heroes. Their giant ex-Soviet cargo planes are also riddled with secret compartments, which they fill with drugs, guns, money or people. They deliver anywhere, and they rtake their cut. But they pay a heavy price, many losing their lives to gun-toting pirates, terrorists, hostile state forces, jealous competitors and alcohol.In Outlaws Inc. M...