Based on an incredible breadth of first-hand testimony, this is a unique collection of eyewitness accounts from World War I and II.John Walter draws on meticulous research and the reminiscences of more than fifty snipers, tracing their journeys from recruitment and selection through training, combat and its aftermath to reveal a surprising commonality of experience, even across nationalities.Laying bare the triumphs and brutalities of sniping, the personalities and psycholo...

Guns of the Elite Forces provides a penetrating account of the weapons that elite fighting troops carry into combat. Such elites have always existed in the armies of the world. During World War II, elite units sprang up in most theatres of conflict the German Brandenburgers carried out clandestine operations in Poland; in the Western Desert, the Long Range Desert Group and SAS penetrated deep behind enemy lines; for larger-scale raids the British Commandos and the US Rangers and Marine Rai...

A firearms expert "traces the history of the 'one hand gun' from its 14th century origins . . . surveying changing technology, techniques, and design" ( Midwest Book Review).Ideally suited for both attack and self-defense, handguns have gotten smaller and deadlier. But the earliest pistols had a tendency to misfire. This was cured by the cap-lock, which proved a massive success in the American Civil War, with hundreds of thousands of cap-lock revolvers use...

During the American Civil War, the mounted soldiers fighting on both sides of the conflict carried a wide array of weapons, from sabers and lances to carbines, revolvers, and other firearms.Though some sections of the cavalry placed their trust in the sabre, the advent of viable breechloading carbines -- especially repeaters such as the Spencer -- was to transform warfare within little more than a decade of General Lee's final surrender at Appomattox. However, outp...

Part memoir, part biography, Resurrection Road- From California to Alaska and back - is the remarkable story of one young man's search for adventure and self-sufficiency in Alaska, and the tragic accident that changed the trajectory of that search.

Ring the Bells That Still Can Ring is a raw, unfiltered, and deeply human memoir that blends spirituality, psychology, theater, football, and redemption into a remarkable journey of self-discovery.Author Richard J. Walters, a former West Virginia University football player, lawyer, and stage actor, opens his life with brutal honesty-sharing his battles with mental health, faith, failure, and the re...

Written in his mother’s unique voice, John Leigh Walters pushes the boundaries of memoir in A Very Capable Life, the extraordinary journey of a seemingly ordinary woman.Zarah Petri was a child when her family left Hungary to establish a new life in Canada in the 1920s. With courage and innovation, Zarah and her family survived the Depression?even if it meant breaking the law to do so. In celebrating Zarah Petri, A Very Capable Life pays homage to all “ordinary” women of the early twentieth...

Follow along as the author relates his experiences from the time he enlists in the Army Air Force in 1942, thru training as an Aviation Cadet and finally as the pilot-in-command of a B-17 Flying Fortress as the 8th Air Force mounts its attack against Hitlers Germany. Enjoy moments of humor, live incidents of aviation suspense and feel the sorrow of tragic times.

Includes 24 portraits, maps and plans."The only history of the Indian Corps in France in the Great War, from 1914 to 1915 when the Corps transferred to the Middle East. A fascinating story.The Indian Corps, consisting of two infantry divisions (Meerut and Lahore), arrived in France in September/October 1914. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir James Willcocks who was the most senior officer in the BEF after Field Marshal Sir John French and General Sir Horace Smith-Dor...

A landmark work—and candy for sports fans everywhere—The Best Seats in the House is a riveting, uncensored oral history of Sports Illustrated, the magazine where legendary athletes collided with freewheeling writers and photographers, and where editors led a Mad Men lifestyle, all of it a cauldron of excess, ego, money, and scandal that turned sports into an American phenomenon.For half a century Sports Illustrated was the drivin...

This is a romantic suspense novel involving an American Architect who arrived in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania, East Africa, to be the Site Architect for the construction of the University College in Tanzania. He falls in love with a beautiful Goan girl from the former Portuguese colony of Goa in Indian, but their love is forbidden as it violates social custom and is vigorously resisted by the girls father. Their affair evolves through various secret meetings, visits to historic sites, climbing M...

An artificial language may be more regular, more perfect, and easier to learn than a natural one.—Max Müller. The world is spinning fast down the grooves of change. The old disorder changeth. Haply it is yielding place to new. The tongue is a little member. It should no longer be allowed to divide the nations. Two things stand out in the swift change. Science with all its works is spreading to all lands. The East, led by Japan, is coming into line with the West. Standardization of life may...