Download or read book Great American Outpost written by Maya Rao and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism. As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between -- including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids. As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.
Download or read book The Outpost written by Jake Tapper and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 789 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basis of the film starring Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood, The Outpost is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of one of America's deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan, acclaimed by critics everywhere as a classic. At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year. Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place. In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest. "The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book." -- Jon Krakauer
Download or read book Ghost Dances written by Josh Garrett-Davis and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up in South Dakota, Josh Garrett-Davis knew he would leave. But as a young adult, he kept going back -- in dreams and reality and by way of books. With this beautifully written narrative about a seemingly empty but actually rich and complex place, he has reclaimed his childhood, his unusual family, and the Great Plains. Among the subjects and people that bring his Midwestern Plains to life are the destruction and resurgence of the American bison; Native American "Ghost Dancers," who attempted to ward off destruction by supernatural means; the political allegory to be found in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; and current attempts by ecologists to "rewild" the Plains, complete with cheetahs. Garrett-Davis infuses the narrative with stories of his family as well -- including his great-great-grandparents' twenty-year sojourn in Nebraska as homesteaders and his progressive Methodist cousin Ruth, a missionary in China ousted by Mao's revolution. Ghost Dances is a fluid combination of memoir and history and reportage that reminds us our roots matter.
Download or read book Outpost written by Christopher R. Hill and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An "inside the room" memoir from one of our most distinguished ambassadors who--in a career of service to the country--was sent to some of the most dangerous outposts of American diplomacy. From the wars in the Balkans to the brutality of North Korea to the endless war in Iraq, this is the real life of an American diplomat. Hill was on the front lines in the Balkans at the breakup of Yugoslavia. He takes us from one-on-one meetings with the dictator Milosevic, to Bosnia and Kosovo, to the Dayton conference, where a truce was brokered. Hill draws upon lessons learned as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon early on in his career and details his prodigious experience as a US ambassador. He was the first American Ambassador to Macedonia; Ambassador to Poland, where he also served in the depth of the cold war; Ambassador to South Korea and chief disarmament negotiator in North Korea; and Hillary Clinton's hand-picked Ambassador to Iraq. Hill's account is an adventure story of danger, loss of comrades, high stakes negotiations, and imperfect options. There are fascinating portraits of war criminals (Mladic, Karadzic), of presidents and vice presidents (Clinton, Bush and Cheney, and Obama), of Secretaries of State (Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton), of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and of Ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Lawrence Eagleburger. Hill writes bluntly about the bureaucratic warfare in DC and expresses strong criticism of America's aggressive interventions and wars of choice."--
Download or read book New England Outpost written by Richard I. Melvoin and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1992-02 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deerfield's first half-century, starting in 1670, was a struggle to survive numerous Indian attacks. But more than a site of bloodshed, Deerfield offers an extraordinary opportunity to study larger issues of colonial war and society.
Download or read book Fodor s Essential USA Spectacular Cities Natural Wonders and Great American Road Trips written by Michael Nalepa and published by Fodors Travel Publications. This book was released on 2008-06-03 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detailed and timely information on accommodations, restaurants, and local attractions highlight these updated travel guides, which feature all-new covers, a two-color interior design, symbols to indicate budget options, must-see ratings, multi-day itineraries, Smart Travel Tips, helpful bulleted maps, tips on transportation, guidelines for shopping excursions, and other valuable features. Original.
Download or read book The Great American Soldier and Other Selections written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Quicksand written by Geoffrey Wawro and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 903 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented history of our involvement in the Middle East that traces our current quandaries there-in Iraq, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere-back to their roots almost a century ago. Geoffrey Wawro approaches America's role in the Middle East in a fundamentally new way-by encompassing the last century of the entire region, rather than focusing narrowly on a particular country or era. The result is a definitive and revelatory history whose drama, tragedy, and rich irony he relates with unprecedented verve. Wawro combed archives in the United States and Europe and traveled the Middle East to unearth new insights into the hidden motivations, backroom dealing, and outright espionage that shaped some of the most tumultuous events of the last one hundred years. Wawro offers piercing analysis of iconic events from the birth of Israel to the death of Sadat, from the Suez crisis to the energy crisis, from the Six-Day War to Desert One, from Iran-contra to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rise of al- Qaeda. Throughout, he draws telling parallels between America's past mistakes and its current quandaries, proving that we're in today's muddle not just because of our old errors, but because we keep repeating those errors. America has juggled multiple commitments and conflicting priorities in the Middle East for nearly a century. Strands of idealism and ruthless practicality have alternated- and sometimes run together-in our policy. Quicksand untangles these strands as no history has done before by showing how our strategies unfolded over the entire century and across the entire region. We've persistently misread the intentions and motivations of every major player in the region because we've insisted on viewing them through the lens of our own culture, hopes, and fears. Most administrations since Eisenhower's have adopted their own "doctrine" for the Middle East, and almost every doctrine has failed precisely because it's a doctrine-a template into which events on the ground refuse to fit. Geoffrey Wawro's peerless and remarkably lively history is key to understanding our errors and the Middle East-at last- on its own terms.
Download or read book The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist written by Radley Balko and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A shocking and deeply reported account of the persistent plague of institutional racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent lives After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Together they spent a combined thirty years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2008. Meanwhile, the real killer remained free. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how the criminal justice system allowed this to happen, and of how two men, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, built successful careers on the back of that structure. For nearly two decades, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend Dr. West, a local dentist, pitched himself as a forensic jack-of-all-trades. Together they became the go-to experts for prosecutors and helped put countless Mississippians in prison. But then some of those convictions began to fall apart. Here, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington tell the haunting story of how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation system -- a relic of the Jim Crow era -- failed to deliver justice for its citizens. The authors argue that bad forensics, structural racism, and institutional failures are at fault, raising sobering questions about our ability and willingness to address these crucial issues.
Download or read book The Great American Battle written by Anna Ella Carroll and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-11-23 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprint of the original, first published in 1856.
Download or read book Outpost written by Ann Aguirre and published by Feiwel & Friends. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deuce's whole world has changed. Down below, she was considered an adult. Now, topside in a town called Salvation, she's a brat in need of training in the eyes of the townsfolk. She doesn't fit in with the other girls: Deuce only knows how to fight. To make matters worse, her Hunter partner, Fade, keeps Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven't changed, but he seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts looking for a way out. Deuce signs up to serve in the summer patrols—those who make sure the planters can work the fields without danger. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks have grown smarter. They're watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don't intend to let Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn back the tide.
Download or read book Great American Youth written by Mike Scott and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-04-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on actual events, this soul-gripping tale is an account of survival in the urban jungle of Chicago, in the 1980s. While embarked on his own street-journey, Michael Scott enters a world in which a band of brothers are locked in a desperate engagement, an Alamo-like siege of their hood. Amidst turbulent conditions, the narrator gives us all a ticket to ride next to him on this roller coaster ride, with its twist and turns of horror and frustration, suspense and humor. Following in the tradition of profound gang tales such as "The Outsiders" and "West Side Story," this must-read book goes beneath the hardcore surface to show the struggle of the human spirit.
Download or read book The Great American Mosaic 4 volumes written by Gary Y. Okihiro and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 3150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Firsthand sources are brought together to illuminate the diversity of American history in a unique way—by sharing the perspectives of people of color who participated in landmark events. This invaluable, four-volume compilation is a comprehensive source of documents that give voice to those who comprise the American mosaic, illustrating the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Each volume focuses on a major racial/ethnic group: African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Latinos. Documents chosen by the editors for their utility and relevance to popular areas of study are organized into chronological periods from historical to contemporary. The collection includes eyewitness accounts, legislation, speeches, and interviews. Together, they tell the story of America's diverse population and enable readers to explore historical concepts and contexts from multiple viewpoints. Introductions for each volume and primary document provide background and history that help students understand and critique the material. The work also features a useful primary document guide, bibliographies, and indices to aid teachers, librarians, and students in class work and research.
Download or read book The Great American Band Wagon written by Charles Merz and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States of America of the 1920s -- its culture, quirks and social life -- is described in a series of contemporary essays.
Download or read book Great American Civil War Stories written by Lamar Underwood and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-12-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Civil War Relived in 40 Stories! Between the first shots fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, the nation was irrevocably changed, as were the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived through the war. This is an extraordinary collection of stories about that epochal conflict, bringing the victories and defeats, the valor and the heartbreak, alive with personal intensity. Includes entries by: Ambrose Bierce Stephan Crane Mark Twain Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant Walt Whitman Frederick L. Hitchcock Louisa May Alcott Carlton McCarthy Abner Doubleday Theodore Roosevelt and many others.
Download or read book The Great American Scout and Spy General Bunker written by Edward C. Downs and published by . This book was released on 1870 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Great American Book of Biography Illustrious Americans written by and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 752 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
