biography

After a tragic childhood among the Great War cemeteries of Flanders Fields, a troubled young woman searches for love and meaning in war-ravaged Europe. Elaine Madden's quest takes her from occupied Belgium through the chaos of Dunkirk, where she flees disguised as a British soldier, into the London Blitz, where she finally begins to discover herself. Recruited to T Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a 'fast courier', she is parachuted back to the country of her birth to undertake a top-secret political mission and help speed its liberation from Nazi oppression. Elaine Madden never claimed to be a heroine, but her story proves otherwise. Its centrepiece - war service as one of only two women SOE agents parachuted into enemy-occupied Belgium - is just one episode in an extraordinary real-life drama of highs and lows, love, loss and betrayal.

When Cheryl Dietrich joined the U.S. Air Force, she began a transformation from overweight introvert and military neophyte into one of the key personnel redesigning the structure of the Air Force within the Pentagon. She is one of only one hundred female officers holding the rank of colonel or higher. Her memoir paints a picture of what it's like to be a squadron commander, to lead a NATO division and conduct mobility and wartime exercises in a gas mask and chemical gear, as well as to deploy with NATO to war-torn Croatia.

Unveils new facts behind Gregory Rasputin's life, controversial relationships, and much-discussed death. Fuhrmann unearths previously unknown details from Rasputin's childhood and his early years as a farmer and itinerant preacher and his decade-long relationship with the Romanovs.

The story of the Battle of Ramadi, as told by a Navy SEAL who ran with the legendary military unit known as the Punishers, which included Chris Kyle (American Sniper), Mike Monsoor, Ryan Job, and Marc Lee. The deadliest platoon in Iraq, they secured key locations during 2006, a pivotal year in the Iraq War.

When Jihadi John was revealed to be Mohammed Emwazi from Britain, the author realized with great shock that this was the same young man he had interviewed several years earlier. Back in 2010, Mohammed Emwazi was a twenty-six year old college graduate who claimed security services were ruining his life. He and his family had been repeatedly approached and questioned. In the aftermath of the US air strike that killed Emwazi in November 2015, Verkaik's investigations led him to deeply troubling questions, among them, why do hundreds of Britons want to join the Islamic State?.

In November 1942, Paul Andrew Kennedy (1912-1993) boarded the St. Elena in New York Harbor and sailed for Casablanca as part of Operation Torch, the massive Allied invasion of North Africa. As a member of the US Army's 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group, he spent the next thirty-four months working in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, in close proximity to the front lines and often under air or artillery bombardment. Kennedy participated in some of the fiercest action of the war, including Operation Avalanche, the attack on Anzio, and Operation Dragoon. He also arrived in Rome the day after the Allied troops, and entered the Dachau concentration camp two days after it was liberated.

In April 1972, SEAL Lieutenant Tom Norris risked his life to rescue two American airmen who were shot down behind North Vietnamese enemy lines, a feat for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. Six months later he was sent on a special reconnaissance mission where he would be severely wounded. SEAL Petty Officer Mike Thornton, under heavy fire, fought his way back to Norris's embattled position to rescue his officer. Mike Thornton also received a Medal of Honor. This is the only time in modern history that the Medal of Honor has been awarded in a combat action to one soldier for saving the life of another Medal recipient.

Craig Harrison holds the world record for a long-distance kill. In November, 2009, in Afghanistan, under intense pressure, he saved the lives of his comrades with the longest confirmed sniper kill: 2,475 meters. He has seen active service in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. When he was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan, he was left battling severe PTSD. When his identity was revealed in the press, he also had to cope with threats from Al Qaeda against him and his family. For Craig, the price of heroism has been high.

Corey Pegues has lived on both sides of the law. At the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, he was a teenager hugging the street corner, selling dope for the notorious Supreme Team gang and watching drugs decimate his stable, working-class neighborhood almost overnight. After a botched murder attempt on a rival gang member, Corey, the only member of his family to graduate from high school, knew he had to get out. Barely eighteen, with two kids by two different women, Corey left under cover of night to enlist in the US Army. After several years in the military, the police academy was a breeze. What is daily life truly like for urban youth in America? What is the one problem endemic in law enforcement that's even more dangerous than rampant racism? There aren't many people who understand both sides of the story. As war rages throughout our nation between police and communities of color, Pegues tears down the blue wall to discuss the discriminatory practices he faced within the NYPD and talks candidly about the distrust between law enforcement and the people.

In 2013, Americans learned that a former FBI agent turned private investigator, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, had been there on a mission for the CIA. Robert Levinson's mission was secret and the hunt to rescue him revealed the shadowlands between crime, business, espionage, and the law, where secrets are currency and betrayal is commonplace.