True Survival

October 8, 2017 sparked the Tubbs Fire: the most destructive California wildfire at that time. Entire communities were burned to the ground, and scores of people lost their lives. It was also the evening Armando and Carmen Berriz, Cuban immigrants, stayed at a friend's house in the Santa Rosa hills of northern California. While they slept, the Tubbs Fire advanced toward them. Armando and Carmen, in a frantic attempt to escape the flames, would spend seven hours sheltering in a swimming pool while the mountain burned around them.

September, 1939. The six Zaks siblings watch in silent horror as the Wehrmacht marches into their quiet hometown in southern Poland. Concerned for their survival, Yisrael Zaks leads his wife Haiya and his brothers Volf and Avraham toward the Russian border. But their escape does not go unhindered; and as they are captured by the invading German forces, they can hear their father’s last commandment still echoing behind them: “Never break the family apart. And whatever you do: never, ever leave any one of your siblings behind.”

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After surviving a terrorist attack, Watson Drake began to wonder what horrible thing the terrorists could be planning next. In addition, he realizes that disasters are not limited to just whatever havoc the terrorists may create, the earth and society have their own share of problems as well.

In the early morning hours of October 24, 1944, the legendary U.S. Navy submarine Tang was hit by one of its own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive one hundred-eighty feet beneath the surface, while the Japanese dropped deadly depth charges. As the air ran out, some of the crew made a daring ascent through the escape hatch. In the end, just nine of the original eighty-man crew survived. But the survivors were beginning a far greater ordeal.

Full of action-packed experiences from world conflicts, this collection of war stories - some true, some not - tells tales of POWs surviving in Vietnam, World War II, and Cambodia. These stories of grit and strength put you in the middle of the action and will leave you with a respect for true war heroes. Beyond Survival is a journey into the invincible human spirit that unites heart and mind in a compelling and unforgettable experience.

June, 1941. Eleven-year-old Shmuel Sucha is startled awake by the sound of German planes over his hometown in western Ukraine. As the Nazi shadow begins to fall on their small Jewish community, Shmuel’s parents smuggle their son away to a local farm, just on the border of the surrounding forest.

Six days after giving birth, a polar bear named Aurora got up and walked away from her den at the Columbus Zoo, leaving her tiny squealing cub to fend for herself. Hours later, Aurora still hadn’t returned. The cub was furless and blind, and with her temperature dropping dangerously, the zookeepers entrusted with her care felt they had no choice: They would have to raise one of the most dangerous predators in the world by hand. Over the next few weeks, a group of veterinarians and zookeepers worked around the clock to save the cub, whom they called Nora.

This story has been shared around the world, but the most remarkable parts were missing until now. Twenty-Seconds details the real reason the author survived and continues to survive every day with barely an immune system. It's a testament to our magnificence as human beings. Amazing synchronicities throughout Twenty-Seconds highlight just how important it is to pay attention to the signs in life, perhaps just like the reason you picked up this book. How a 20-second moment can change it all.

Take a humorous look at the tough world of selling real estate. This light-hearted book takes us on a roller-coaster journey of real estate agent Ronda Courtney as she navigates a challenging real estate career while her own life falls to shambles. As she picks up the pieces resurrecting her finances, relationships, and business, hilarity ensues. This triumphant story of the human spirit is uplifting and relatable to all working professionals who grind away in hopes of one day releasing those golden handcuffs.

Almost all of us know someone who had been deployed to Vietnam. But most of the veterans don't want to talk about their Vietnam experiences. So, for me, this is the first realistic, packed-with-details account of what daily life was like in Vietnam that I've ever heard. You will enjoy Lost Behind Enemy Lines: A Vietnam Veteran's True Story of Survival and the Revelation of Physical and Spiritual Warfare, a firsthand description of the reality of being in the "infantry boots on the ground" of Danny Clifford, a US Army Ranger Team Leader in Vietnam, on a mission behind enemy lines.

Den Collier has a legacy to be a pilot that was handed down to him by his grandfather. When a tragic event in his life teaches him that his time on this earth is too precious to waste, he fulfills his legacy and learns to fly. After two decades away, Den is drawn to flying once again. He buys a plane in California and heads off on a flight back to Michigan. But he has no sooner gotten into the air when his legacy begins to seem more like a curse, and his childhood dream of flying collapses into a nightmare fight for survival.

In this work of deep reflection, insight, and vulnerability, Caroline Brunne shares her story of becoming the woman she is today. From the shores of the picturesque island of Mauritius, to suburban Victoria, through to her childhood home in Queensland, deep in the heart of her life journey is her lived experience of trauma, the impact of childhood sexual abuse and her ongoing quest to support her fellow survivors to reduce the shame they may carry.

This audiobook describes the experiences of two Jewish brothers and Holocaust survivors who fled the approaching Nazi army and eventually joined up and fought with the resistance movement and ultimately helped defeat the Nazi army.

A brave mother’s heart - a pause resister that change the way you look at life. A book about the unthinkable that might wait around the corner and how that affects life, and our different roles. A a story about the strongest feeling of them all - love. It’s about darkness and survivor’s guilt. Fear and not being enough as a parent. About losing yourself and finding yourself again. You, but so very different. It's a story about gratitude. For life. For health. For family. Most of all - it’s a story about being human.

Bland spillrorna efter tsunamin i det som nyss var ett paradis, trotsar hon sin sönderslagna kropp i kampen för sina barn och sin man. Hon tvingas finna oanade styrkor inom sig själv och fastän rädslan för en nästa våg ständigt är närvarande, låter hon inte någon, eller något stå i hennes väg.

One of the earliest known autobiographies by a woman, this is the extraordinary tale of Catalina de Erauso, who in 1599 escaped from a Basque convent dressed as a man and went on to live one of the most wildly fantastic lives of any woman in history. A soldier in the Spanish army, she traveled to Peru and Chile, became a gambler, and even mistakenly killed her own brother in a duel. During her lifetime she emerged as the adored folkloric hero of the Spanish-speaking world. This delightful translation of Catalina's own work introduces a new audience to her audacious escapades.

In October 1934, the Chinese Communist Army found itself facing annihilation, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Nationalist soldiers. Rather than surrender, 86,000 Communists embarked on an epic flight to safety. Only 30 were women. Their trek would eventually cover 4,000 miles over 370 days. Under enemy fire they crossed highland swamps, climbed Tibetan peaks, scrambled over chain bridges, and trudged through the sands of the western deserts.

Lisa Joseph is one of the lucky survivors. On April 4, 1991, she and two other family members stopped by the Good Guys Electronics Store in Sacramento, California. As they left the store, she was grabbed by the hair and shoved against the wall. Shots rang out and four Asian gunmen seized the store to protest their frustrations and unhappiness with their lives in the United States. Thirty-eight people were held at gunpoint and before the day was out the suspects deliberately shot, stabbed or wounded 11 of the hostages, and killed three others.  

Childhood or wildhood? This collection of stories begins with a young boy whose cleverness, ability, and determination are more in line with an adult rather than the curious-minded six-year-old that we are introduced to in the first story. Normal was never to be a part of Marcel Pontbriand’s life. Orphaned at the tender young age of 14 and with only pennies to his name, you’ll listen about how he took to the ice roads of Canada and met with fear, tragedy, and obstacles that only few could even imagine.