About this product: More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England’s Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.
Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role it has played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as “captivating . . . unforgettable” (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soliders), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Naval Secretary, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian’s Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict in contrast to England’s formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots’ odyssey—their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character.
Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.
Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group—one too often ignored or taken for granted.
About this product: This new and revised edition of Fighting for Your Marriage is based on the widely acclaimed PREP® (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) approach. Groundbreaking studies have found that couples can use the strategies of this approach to handle conflict more constructively, protect their happiness, and reduce the odds of breaking up.
Based on twenty years of university research, this popular book will show you how to:
About this product: Travelling in Iraq with a group of US security contractors - mercenaries or mercs - a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter reveals in gritty detail the men who live by Big Boy Rules. A parallel army lives on the margins of the Iraq war - nearly 100,000 armed men, invisible yet in plain sight, doing jobs the overstretched and understaffed military can't or won't. The US media call them 'security contractors'. They call themselves 'mercs' and operate under their own rules. Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Steve Fainaru travelled with several groups of security contractors to find out what motivates them to put their lives in danger every day.What emerges is a searing, revealing and sometimes darkly funny look at the men who live and work in the battlefields of Iraq: some are desperate, some are confused and some are just out for a lark. Some disappear into the void that is Iraq and are never seen again. It's not a pretty picture, but it's brutally real and shockingly honest. "Big Boy Rules" is an unforgettable leap into the mayhem of Iraq and the dark recesses of the minds of American policy makers and the warriors they hire.
About this product: A revolutionary reappraisal of Afro-Asian relationships that will change multiculturalism as we know it
In this landmark work, historian Vijay Prashad refuses to engage the typical racial discussion that matches people of color against each other while institutionalizing the primacy of the white majority. Instead, he examines more than five centuries of remarkable historical evidence of cultural and political interaction between Blacks and Asians around the world, in which they have exchanged cultural and religious symbols, appropriated personas and lifestyles, and worked together to achieve political change. From the Shivites of Jamaica who introduced Ganja and dreadlocks to the Afro-Jamaicans; to Ho Chi Minh the Garveyite; to Japanese-American Richard Aoki, a charter member of the Black Panthers, Prashad shows that African- and Asian-derived movements and culture, like all others, have been porous rather than discrete.
"Kung Fu is a treasury of hidden histories and startling solidarities. But Prashad is not simply celebratory: he also takes on the "primordialism" of Afrocentrists and Asian nationalists in a book that is both unapologetically radical and alive to paradox." —The Village Voice, "Our 25 Favorite Books of 2001"
"Prashad makes a bold statement in a field often mired in redundancy." —Benjamin King, AsianWeek
"Prashad demolishes the conservative conceits of ethnic essentialism and so-called multiculturalism. In the usual dead zone of debate about identity politics, this little book is a refreshing oasis of original insight and unexpected affinity." —Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Late Victorian Holocausts
Vijay Prashad is director and associate professor of international studies at Trinity College and the author of The Karma of Brown Folk. He lives in Hartford, Connecticut.
About this product: I wish I had had access to these insights during my own turbulent years as a school principal.
--From the Foreword by Roland S. Barth, Founding Director, The Principals Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education
In the 12 years since the publication of the first edition of this bestseller, policymakers and school reformers have increasingly pointed to the school principal as the most important agent for needed change in our schools. With this recognition, principals are now expected to do even more in their already overloaded schedules. In this much-awaited, fully revised new edition, the author offers valuable advice and practical guidelines that draw on new research and focus on what's still worth fighting for in our schools:
* Deep and creative learning for all students not just minimum competency in tested achievement
* Professional learning communities that respect and engage teachers in the quest to improve learning
* Sustainable leadership that creates lasting improvement rather than quick fixes that fade all too fast after early promise
Vividly illustrating the techniques of a legendary innovator, this definitive examination explains how to survive attacks on the street, increase training awareness, and develop body movements. Originally compiled as a four-volume series, this revised edition breathes new life into a classic work with digitally-enhanced photography of jeet kune do founder Bruce Lee in his prime, a new chapter by former Lee student Ted Wong, and an introduction by Shannon Lee. This renowned compendium once again reclaims its place as an integral part of the Lee canon and a necessary addition for collectors and martial arts enthusiasts alike.
About this product: In The Fighting Agents, W.E.B. Griffin retells the story (previously told in Behind the Lines) of Wendell Fertig, a U.S. Army officer who promoted himself to general and led a ragtag guerrilla force against the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines in 1943. This time, however, Griffin focuses his attention on the OSS, which, among other things, was tasked with resupplying Fertig and reinforcing his efforts to undermine the Japanese war machine. In this fourth volume of a bestselling series featuring the American intelligence service during World War II, James Whittaker, a rakish, romantic army air corps captain who happens to be a close family friend of OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan, is assigned to sneak into the Philippines by submarine and bring gold, arms, and war materiel to the renegade general.
Simultaneously, another OSS team tries to carry out a critical mission: getting a German atomic scientist out of Budapest and into allied hands before Hitler's armies can perfect and unleash the weapon that could win the war for the Axis powers. And in Cairo, a quiet, unassuming pilot named Darmstadter is drafted by the OSS for another highly unlikely mission. Griffin spices up his realistically drawn scenes of military operations, weapons, and training with a somewhat improbable love story focusing on Whittaker and a female OSS operative, but one suspects it's merely a ruse to draw in distaff readers. Still, the action ranges from Washington to California, Egypt to London, and all points in between, and Griffin's knowledge of military hearts, minds, and missions has won him a devoted following through five separate series of novels of men (and some women) in battle. --Jane Adams
About this product: Michael Janich has trained SF vets, police and street fighters in the techniques of knife fighting for years. Now this highly successful, comprehensive instruction is available to the average soldier, martial artist or defense-minded citizen who is interested in developing the practical skills required for today's combative streets.
About this product: It's a fact seldom admitted by the medical establishment: chemotherapy and radiation are only about 6% effective in fighting cancer. Prompted by public outcry, research now validates a course of cancer prevention and treatment advocated by specialists in alternative medicine and practiced for centuries in Eastern cultures -- nutritional therapy. Verne Varona shows how to stop cancer in its tracks -- and even reverse it -- through diet. Backed by the testimony of prominent physicians and inspiring case histories, Varona explains what kind of nourishment works best to enhance immunity and restore vitality -- without sacrificing enjoyment of food. Starting with the basics of smart eating and moving to specifics on the role of antioxidants, phytochemicals, herbs, vitamins, and more in preventing and conquering cancer, he outlines a complete, easy-to-follow program for freedom from a devastating disease -- and improved odds of a long, healthy life. Aimed to make dietary changes as painless as possible, this welcome resource also features a tantalizing collection of nutritious recipes, helpful shopping and cooking tips, and sensitive advice on eating in restaurants and at social gatherings.
He may be just thirteen, but Jonathan knows he's ready to go to the war against the British. He can handle a gun. He yearns to battle for glory, just like his brother and cousin.
So when Jonathan hears the tavern bell toll, calling men to fight, he runs to join them. He doesn't realize that in just twenty-four hours, his life will be forever altered -- by the war, by his fellow soldiers, and by the terrible choices he must make.
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