The Pinnacle is the conclusion to the five-book series on the child prodigy, Jacob Cahill, who was raised in China by Buddhist monks, but forced to return to the U.S. as a teenager. Using his prodigious intellectual and athletic skills, he excels in school before deciding to join the Army to fight in Vietnam where heavy combat leaves him scarred for life despite a box full of metals earned during two tours in the country. After leaving the Army, he attends Stanford University where he earn...

The Ascension continues the story of Jacob Cahill, a child prodigy raised by former Buddhist monks in China after the death of his parents when he was three. At the age of fifteen he is forced to return to the U.S. under duress and enter what for him is a foreign culture. He adjusts well but when he turns eighteen, he chooses to join the Army and fight in Vietnam, a life-changing experience that scars him both physically and mentally. This book four in the series begins upon his departure ...

This is the story of Sepp Scheibenzuber, a simple man. For most of his early life, Sepp didnt make choices. Choices were made for him. At 13, he wanted to continue his schooling, but his parents had other ideas and soon he was toiling on the farms of Bavaria. Thereafter, he knew nothing else and so continued working on the land until he was drafted into the German Army. There was no question that he would go. He had never heard of anyone even contemplating avoiding the draft. And so within...

Who is this Jacob Cahill? Yes, he is the son of American missionaries to China, Paul and Rachel Cahill, but he is so much more. Spirited out of his home village at the age of three by his godmother after the death of his parents, he is entrusted to her son, Wu Chanming, and his fellow Buddhist monks, who care for the boy during tumultuous times as starvation and murder ravage Chinese society. The upheaval of Maos revolution during the 1950s puts a premium on learning survival skills as the...

The Ghost is the next chapter in the story of Jacob Cahill, the boy prodigy who miraculously escaped Communist Chinese agents when he was only fifteen years old. He has now chosen to fight the Communists in Vietnam rather than continue his education at a prestigious university in America, which he is more than well suited to do. His family and friends are aghast at his decision, many thinking he will be no more than cannon fodder in a useless and unwinnable war. Although revenge is a facto...

The Adjustment continues the story of Jacob Cahill, the son of American missionaries in China who were killed during the great purges of Mao Tse-tung early in his reign. In Book One, Jacob survives through the goodwill and good graces of his Chinese godmother, Mu Ju, and her son, a former Buddhist monk, who cares for and trains the boy until he is old enough to flee China. To the shock of his caretakers, they realize that Jacob is a child prodigy, possessed of extraordinary intellectual ab...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Penn Cage series comes a heartstopping thriller about one of the great unsolved mysteries of World War II.The Spandau Diary—what was in it? Why did the secret intelligence agencies of every major power want it? Why was a brave and beautiful woman kidnapped and sexually tormented to get it? Why did a chain of deception and violent death lash out across the globe, from survivors of the Nazi past to warrior...

"A first-rate memoir" from a German soldier who rose from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front of World War II ( City Book Review).William Lubbeck, age nineteen, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring, his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbaro...

Illustrated, step-by-step guide to knitting, with detailed descriptions of each step.

German and Russian tank battalions clash in this action-packed novel of WWII combat and conspiracy cowritten by an Emmy Award–winning historian.When Germany's leading tank ace meets Russia's Steppe Fox it's a fight to the death. Faced with overwhelming odds, Kampfgruppe Hans von Schroif needs a better armored vehicle and fast, but the new Tiger tank is still on the drawing board. Now, von Schroif must overcome bureaucracy, espionage, and relentless Allied bombing t...

The Corpse Walker introduces us to regular men and women at the bottom of Chinese society, most of whom have been battered by life but have managed to retain their dignity: a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a public toilet manager, a leper, a grave robber, and a Falung Gong practitioner, among others. By asking challenging questions with respect and empathy, Liao Yiwu managed to get his subjects to talk openly and sometimes hilariously about their lives, desires,...

At just 14 years old, gymnast Gabby Douglas left behind her close-knit family in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to train under Liang Chow, famed coach of Olympic legend Shawn Johnson. The move to Iowa was not an easy decision for the focused teenager. For many months, she suffered serious bouts of homesickness. Still, the girl with the golden smile believed her sacrifice would someday lead her to Olympic gold. A children's biography, Gabby Douglas: Golden ...