Download or read book The Shadow Commander written by Arash Azizi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘An excellent contribution to our knowledge of Iran and Soleimani.’ Kim Ghattas, author of Black Wave When the US assassinated Qassem Soleimani, he was one of the most powerful men in Iran. Known as ‘the shadow commander’, he enacted the wishes of the country’s Supreme Leader across the Middle East, establishing the Islamic Republic as a major force in the region. But all this was a long way from where he began – on the margins of a nation whose ruler was seen as a friend of the West. Through Soleimani, Arash Azizi examines how Iran came to be where it is today. Providing a rare insight into a country whose actions are often discussed but seldom understood, he reveals the global ambitions underlying Iran’s proxy wars, geopolitics and nuclear programme.

Download or read book Shadow Warriors written by Tom Clancy and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-02-04 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unconventional war requires unconventional men—the Special Forces. Green Berets • Navy SEALS • Rangers • Air Force Special Operations • PsyOps • Civil Affairs • and other special-mission units The first two Commanders books, Every Man a Tiger and Into the Storm, provided masterly blends of history, biography, you-are-there narrative, insight into the practice of leadership, and plain old-fashioned storytelling. Shadow Warriors is all of that and more, a book of uncommon timeliness, for, in the words of Lieutenant General Bill Yarborough, “there are itches that only Special Forces can scratch.” Now, Carl Stiner—the second commander of SOCOM, the U.S. Special Operations Command—and Tom Clancy trace the transformation of the Special Forces from the small core of outsiders of the 1950s, through the cauldron of Vietnam, to the rebirth of the SF in the late 1980s and 1990s, and on into the new century as the bearer of the largest, most mixed, and most complex set of missions in the U.S. military. These are the first-hand accounts of soldiers fighting outside the lines: counterterrorism, raids, hostage rescues, reconnaissance, counterinsurgency, and psychological operations—from Vietnam and Laos to Lebanon to Panama, to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, to the new wars of today…

Download or read book In the Shadow of the General written by Sudhir Hazareesingh and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The French writer Francois Mauriac once predicted that "when de Gaulle will be here no longer, he will still be here." This insight has proved prophetic. In contemporary France, Charles de Gaulle has become a figure of legend, consistently acclaimed as the nation's pre-eminent "historical" figure. Central to this popularity is the recognition of his pivotal role as the founder, and then the leader, of the Resistance movement during the Second World War. Once might be tempted to conclude that it is the man who became mythical, not the institutions he created. But here, the paradoxes abound. For one thing, his personal popularity sits oddly with his social origins and professional background. Neither the nobility, nor the Catholic Church, nor the Army is particularly well-regarded in France today: in their different ways, they all symbolize antiquated traditions and values. So why, then, do the French nonetheless identify with, celebrate, and even revere this austere and devout nobleman, who remained closely wedded to military values throughout his life? In the Shadow of the General resolves this mystery and explains how de Gaulle has to come occupy such a privileged position in the French imagination. Sudhir Hazareesingh's story of how an individual life transformed into national myth also tells a great deal about the French collective self in the twenty-first century: its fractured memory, its aspirations to greatness, and its manifold anxieties. Alongside the tale of de Gaulle's legacy, a much broader narrative unfolds: the story of modern France.

Download or read book Shadow Commander written by Mike Guardia and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the US Army legend who organized “Blackburn’s Headhunters” against Japan in WWII and went on to initiate Special Forces operations in Vietnam. The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942—illuminating the white flags of surrender against the dark sky. Outnumbered and outgunned, remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet US Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms. With future Special Forces legend Russell Volckmann, Blackburn escaped to the jungles of North Luzon, where they raised a private army of 22,000 men against the Japanese. His organization of native tribes into guerrilla fighters would lead to the destruction of the enemy’s naval base at Aparri. But Blackburn’s amazing accomplishments would not end with the victory in the Pacific. He would go on to play a key role in initiating Army Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia, spearheading Operation White Star in Laos as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group and eventually taking command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG), charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise. In the wake of the CIA’s disastrous Leaping Lena program, in 1964, Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam. Sending reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam, he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking the information directly to General Westmoreland, Blackburn was authorized to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong in Laos and Cambodia. In combats large and small, the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics—and he was on the US side. Following his return to the US, Blackburn was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid, officially termed Operation Ivory Coast, the largest prisoner-of-war rescue mission—and, indeed, the largest Army Special Forces operation—of the Vietnam War. During a period when US troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side, America had a superb covert commander of its own. This book follows Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat and his time as a commander, imparting his lessons to the new ranks of Army Special Forces.

Download or read book Shadow of Shiloh written by Gail Stephens and published by Indiana Historical Society. This book was released on 2013-07-23 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty-two years after the battle of Shiloh, Lew Wallace returned to the battlefield, mapping the route of his April 1862 march. Ulysses S. Grant, Wallace's commander at Shiloh, expected Wallace and his Third Division to arrive early in the afternoon of April 6. Wallace and his men, however, did not arrive until nightfall, and in the aftermath of the bloodbath of Shiloh Grant attributed Wallace's late arrival to a failure to obey orders. By mapping the route of his march and proving how and where he had actually been that day, the sixty-seven-year-old Wallace hoped to remove the stigma of "Shiloh and its slanders." That did not happen. Shiloh still defines Wallace's military reputation, overshadowing the rest of his stellar military career and making it easy to forget that in April 1862 he was a rising military star, the youngest major general in the Union army. Wallace was devoted to the Union, but he was also pursuing glory, fame, and honor when he volunteered to serve in April 1861. In Shadow of Shiloh: Major General Lew Wallace in the Civil War, author Gail Stephens specifically addresses Wallace's military career and its place in the larger context of Civil War military history.

Download or read book Shadow and Bone written by Leigh Bardugo and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Grishaverse will be coming to Netflix soon with Shadow and Bone, an original series Enter the Grishaverse with Book One of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold--a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed. Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country's magical military elite--and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation. Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems. A New York Times Bestseller A Los Angeles Times Bestseller An Indie Next List Book This title has Common Core connections. Praise for the Grishaverse "A master of fantasy." --The Huffington Post "Utterly, extremely bewitching." --The Guardian "The best magic universe since Harry Potter." --Bustle "This is what fantasy is for." --The New York Times Book Review " A] world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp." --NPR "The darker it gets for the good guys, the better." --Entertainment Weekly "Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down." --USA Today "There's a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo's original epic fantasy that sets it apart." --Vanity Fair "Unlike anything I've ever read." --Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent "Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery " --Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series "This is a great choice for teenage fans of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien." --RT Book Reviews Read all the books in the Grishaverse The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom King of Scars The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

Download or read book Black Wave written by Kim Ghattas and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 “[A] sweeping and authoritative history" (The New York Times Book Review), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy. With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country’s dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.

Download or read book The Shadow Saint written by Gareth Hanrahan and published by Orbit. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thieves, dangerous magic, and a weapon built with the power to destroy a god clash in this second novel of Gareth Hanrahan's acclaimed epic fantasy series, The Black Iron Legacy. "This is genre-defying fantasy at its very best... Insanely inventive and deeply twisted" (Michael R. Fletcher). Enter a city of spires and shadows . . . The Gutter Miracle changed the landscape of Guerdon forever. Six months after it was conjured into being, the labyrinthine New City has become a haven for criminals and refugees. Rumors have spread of a devastating new weapon buried beneath the streets - a weapon with the power to destroy a god. As Guerdon strives to remain neutral, two of the most powerful factions in the godswar send agents into the city to find it. As tensions escalate and armies gather at the borders, how long will Guerdon be able to keep its enemies at bay? "A groundbreaking and extraordinary novel . . . Hanrahan has an astonishing imagination" (Peter McLean). The Shadow Saint continues the gripping tale of dark gods and dangerous magic that began with Hanrahan's acclaimed debut The Gutter Prayer.

Download or read book Shadow Warriors written by Mir Bahmanyar and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No American military unit can claim as colorful and volatile a history as the Rangers, who have led the way in America's wars for well over 300 years. This book traces the Rangers from the time of Robert Rogers during the French-Indian War of the 18th century to the most recent combat operations in Iraq. With a focus on today's Army Rangers, who combine the rugged individualism of American frontiersmen with the finely honed ability to operate as a close-knit team, wreaking havoc behind enemy lines, this fascinating volume incorporates many first-hand accounts of dramatic Ranger actions by the combatants themselves.

Download or read book The Gathering Dark written by Leigh Bardugo and published by Orion. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom's magical elite - the Grisha.

Download or read book In the Shadow of the Sun written by Anne Sibley O'Brien and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hatchet in North Korea: A sister and brother go on the run with explosive forbidden photographs in this gripping and timely survival adventure. North Korea is known as the most repressive country on Earth, with a dictatorial leader, a starving population, and harsh punishment for rebellion.Not the best place for a family vacation.Yet that's exactly where Mia Andrews finds herself, on a tour with her aid-worker father and fractious older brother, Simon. Mia was adopted from South Korea as a baby, and the trip raises tough questions about where she really belongs. Then her dad is arrested for spying, just as forbidden photographs of North Korean slave-labor camps fall into Mia's hands. The only way to save Dad: get the pictures out of the country. Thus Mia and Simon set off on a harrowing journey to the border, without food, money, or shelter, in a land where anyone who sees them might turn them in, and getting caught could mean prison -- or worse.An exciting adventure that offers a rare glimpse into a compelling, complicated nation, In the Shadow of the Sun is an unforgettable novel of courage and survival.

Download or read book Shadow Command written by Dale Brown and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America’s most advanced miltary unit rebels against the very government it’s trying to protect in this pulse-pounding military thriller chock-full of suspense, adventure, and high-tech weaponry. Following their success in crushing an Iranian threat, General Patrick McLanahan’s new “Aerospace Battle Force” has grown into a full-fledged task force, based on the Armstrong Space Station. But the program has its critics, including Russia, the United Nations, and the American press. Newly elected, President Joseph Gardner directs congress to cut off funding for this provocative force and dismisses McLanahan. What no one knows is that the Russians have blackmailed Gardner—the first step in a nefarious plan to control the world’s oil supplies . With the ABF decommissioned, Russia deploys troops and warships into Turkmenistan, Iran, and the Persian Gulf. But McLanahan and his forces refuse to allow the Russian aggression to stand. Defying the civilian chain of command he orders the ABF to strike their forces. The president orders McLanahan’s immediate arrest. But before authorities can throw him in jail, they have to find him. Located at one of the most secure bases, with an arsenal of the world’s most sophisticated air weapons, he has control of the Aerospace Battle Force and the Armstrong Space Station. Army, Marine Corps, and FBI units converge on the base, but they are easily held off—for now. In a race against time, McLanahan must outmaneuver his own countrymen, and defeat the Russians, and expose the truth . . .

Download or read book Six of Crows written by Leigh Bardugo and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Meet Kaz Brekker and his crew: Jesper, Inej, Wylan, and the star-crossed Nina and Matthias, on the heist of a lifetime in Six of Crows from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo. Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . . A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo returns to the breathtaking world of the Grishaverse in this unforgettable tale about the opportunity—and the adventure—of a lifetime. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars Rule of Wolves The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic The Lives of Saints

Download or read book Cloaked in Shadow written by Ben Alderson and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Romance. Magic. Lies. For fans of elves, shapeshifters and elemental control.

Download or read book Perfect Shadow written by Brent Weeks and published by Orbit. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time as an Orbit special edition, Brent Weeks's blockbuster novella Perfect Shadow tells the origin story of the Night Angel trilogy's most enigmatic character: Durzo Blint. Also includes the short story, I, Nightangel. Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He's also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he's worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he's become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble. But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world's finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he's ever believed in.

Download or read book The Shadow Land written by Elizabeth Kostova and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 bestselling author of The Historian comes a mesmerizing novel that spans the past and the present—and unearths the troubled history of a gorgeous but haunted country. A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi—and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes. As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression—and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger. Elizabeth Kostova’s new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss. Praise for The Shadow Land “A compelling and complex mystery, strong storytelling, and lyrical writing combine for an engrossing read.”—Publishers Weekly “In The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova, a master storyteller, brings vividly to life an unfamiliar country—Bulgaria—and a painful history that feels particularly relevant now. You won’t want to put down this remarkable book.”—Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs “In this brilliant work, what appears at first a minor mystery quickly becomes emblematic of a whole country’s hidden history. Lyrical and compelling, The Shadow Land proves a profound meditation on how evil is inflicted, endured, and, through courage and compassion, defeated. Elizabeth Kostova’s third novel clearly establishes her as one of America’s finest writers.”—Ron Rash, author of The Risen

Download or read book In the Shadow of Man written by Jane Goodall and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic study of primates.