Mountain Memoir

In 2011, Jessica Buchanan found herself in the middle of a nightmare she could never have prepared for; she was a hostage in the desert, captured by Somali pirates, who held a 45 million dollar ransom demand on her head. Taken at gunpoint while on a routine field mission for her non-governmental organization, Jessica was forced to live in deplorable conditions, regularly tortured, and kept on a starvation diet for 93 days. On January 25, 2012, Jessica was successfully rescued by SEAL Team VI, upon order of President Obama, and finally brought home.

Just past midnight, on February 3, just hours from their destination, the Dorchester was torpedoed and sank, throwing its passengers into the frigid waters and creating the worst single loss of an American personnel convoy during WWII. Many of the survivors credit the four chaplains with saving their lives. Those chaplains would become known as the “Immortal Chaplains” for their heroism in making the ultimate sacrifice.

At 29 years old, Mary and her newlywed husband embark at a two-year diplomatic assignment to South Africa. A continued campaign of economic sanctions from the international community has pressured President De Klerk to negotiate with recently-freed Nelson Mandela to end apartheid with the end goal of democratic government. Uncertainty about the future hangs like a cloud cover over the South African heat.

Hidden among the photographs, uniforms, revolvers, and war medals of the Civil War are the remarkable stories of some of the most unlikely heroes: women. This audiobook brings to light the incredible stories of women from the Civil War that remain relevant to our nation today. Each woman's experience helps us see a truer, fuller, richer version of what really happened in this country during this time period.

Joe Mitchell and his family have lived in China off and on for a total of seven years beginning in 1993. During three of those years they lived on a one acre property with a minority Nosu family. This true, first person account is alive with stories of their lives there and the friendships they enjoyed.

This third book in a series chronicling a young doctor in rural mountain practice immerses us once again in the lives of Dr. Walt Larimore and his family as an unexpected turn of events compels them to leave Bryson City.

For over two decades Charles Long thrilled opera audiences, performing at some of America's and the world's most famous venues, and singing alongside some of its greatest stars. In his insightful, frank and humorous new memoir, Long recounts many of those experiences. In the process he sheds light into a world many of us respect, admire and love, but which few of us have ever encountered in such intimate detail.

Welcome to Bryson City, a small town tucked away in a fold of North Carolina's Smoky Mountains. The scenery is breathtaking, the home cooking can't be beat, the Maroon Devils football team is the pride of the town, and you won't find better steelhead fishing anywhere. But the best part is the people you're about to meet in Bryson City Seasons. In this joyous sequel to his bestselling Bryson City Tales, Dr. Walt Larimore whisks you along on a journey through the seasons of a Bryson City year.

In the late 1960s, MacInnes led the Glencoe Mountain Rescue team and together they developed innovative techniques and equipment in order to save lives - often risking their own in the process - whether night or day, and always at a moment’s notice. He was a central figure in the rescue during the 1963 New Year tragedy in the Cuillins on the Isle of Skye, and led groundbreaking rescues on Buichaille Etive Mor, Ben Nevis, Bidean nam Bian and many other legendary Scottish mountains.

On July 3, 1972, twenty-four hippies from Clearwater, Florida, set up tents and settled in for the night at Briar Bottom, a public US Forest Service campground in western North Carolina. The impromptu campout was a pit stop for the group on their way to a Rolling Stones concert in Charlotte. Early that evening, they drank beer, smoked marijuana, and listened to rock music as they anticipated the good times that lay ahead. Near midnight, the county sheriff showed up with six deputies, allegedly responding to a noise complaint. They were armed with pistols and five sawed-off 12-gauge shotguns.

A much-lauded essayist and poet, Jeff Mann writes of the passion and pain of being a Southern gentleman who happens to be invested in many worlds: the hungers of gay bear culture, the propensities of leather and bondage, the frustrations of academia, and the perspectives of an Appalachian who has traveled the world. In Binding the God, his second collection of essays, Mann offers listeners another tour of his consciousness and experiences.

The little mountain hamlet of Bryson City, North Carolina, offers more than dazzling vistas. For Walt Larimore, a young "flatlander" physician setting up his first practice, the town presents its peculiar challenges as well. With the winsomeness of a James Herriott book, Bryson City Tales sweeps you into a world of colorful characters, the texture of Smoky Mountain life, and the warmth, humor, quirks, and struggles of a small country town.

In the spring of 2018 writer / reporter Holly Nadler gave up her year-round apartment on Martha’s Vineyard even as everyone cried out, “Don’t do it! You’ll never find another one!” And they were right! Follow her around the Vineyard with her dear old thug of a Boston terrier as she lodges in a lilac-walled cottage which is enchanting except for the fact that it has no running water.

Jose "Pepin" Almeida is an unlikely hero. He never acted in the movies, never threw the winning pass, never sat in high office. Even his involvement in the event that u-turned his life, the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, failed and became a national embarrassment.

A young boy, Duffy, watches helplessly as his father drinks himself to death, prompting him to vow that he will never, ever be like his father. But when Duffy is a young man, he has become exactly like his father and desperately struggles to find a way to a life worth living. This gripping memoir is an intimate journey from the perils of trying to survive in an insanely dysfunctional home to becoming a drunken, drug-addled tornado blowing through the lives of others, while laying waste to his own.

Soy Eufrosina Cruz y nací en la montaña zapoteca. A los 27 años gané la presidencia de mi pueblo, pero no me dejaron gobernar porque era mujer. En ese momento supe que, para cambiar mi vida y la de las mujeres indígenas, debía transformar la ley más importante de mi país. Desde entonces, mi lucha ha sido para que los pueblos indígenas y afro no sean considerados menores de edad y para que las mujeres no sean personas de segunda.

Life can offer opportunities at the most unusual times, even with a simple request to drive a car and your life is changed forever. Which then leads to a career with the YMCA of the Rockies. The question arises, how do you create a family vacation and conference center out of land that was once homesteaded? You need to construct not only the roads but install all the infrastructure, build the buildings, and market the property to successfully pay for everything. A daunting challenge, but when God calls, you answer.

Invisible Heroes of World War II documents 10 fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.

Discover the stories of 12 women who heard the call to settle the West and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journeys. As a slave Clara watched helplessly as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter as a free woman six decades later. As a young girl, Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver who ever lived. As a Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people.

In Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom, Christopher S. Wren overturns the myth of Ethan Allen as a legendary hero of the American Revolution and a patriotic son of Vermont and offers a different portrait of Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. Based on original archival research, this is a groundbreaking account of an important and little-known front of the Revolutionary War, of George Washington (and his good sense), and of a major American myth.