Search:

Undaunted : my fight against America's enemies, at home and abroad / by Brennan, John O.,1955-author.;
A powerful and revelatory memoir from former CIA director John Brennan, spanning his more than thirty years in government. Friday, January 6, 2017: On that day, as always, John Brennan's alarm clock was set to go off at 4:15 a.m. But nothing else about that day would be routine. That day marked his first and only security briefing with President-elect Donald Trump. And it was also the day John Brennan said his final farewell to Owen Brennan, his father, the man who had taught him the lessons of goodness, integrity, and honor that had shaped the course of an unparalleled career serving his country from within the intelligence community. In this brutally honest memoir, Brennan, the son of an Irish immigrant who settled in New Jersey, describes the life that took him from being a young CIA recruit enamored with the mystique of spy work, secretly defiant enough to drive a motorcycle and sport a diamond earring, and invigorated by his travels in the Middle East to being the most powerful individual in American intelligence. He details his experiences with very different presidents and what it's been like to bear responsibility for some of the nation's most crucial and polarizing national security decisions. He pulls back the curtain on the inner workings of the Agency, describing the selfless, patriotic, and invisible work of the women and men involved in national security. He also examines the insularity, arrogance, and myopia that have, at times, undermined its reputation in the eyes of the American people and of members of other branches of government. Through topics ranging from George W. Bush's intervention in Iraq to his thoughts on the CIA's controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques to his eye-opening account of the planning of the raid that resulted in Bin Ladin's death to his realization that Russia had interfered with the 2016 election, Brennan brings the reader behind the scenes of some of the most crucial moments in recent U.S. history. He also candidly discusses the times he has failed to live up to his own high standards and the very public fallouts that have resulted. With its behind-the-scenes look at how major U.S. national security policies and actions unfolded during his long and distinguished career-especially during his eight years in the Obama administration-John Brennan's memoir is a work of history with strong implications for the future of America and our country's relationships with other world powers.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Brennan, John O., 1955-; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Intelligence officers; Intelligence service; Intelligence service;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The global refugee crisis : how should we respond? / by Arbour, Louise,1947-panelist.; Schama, Simon,panelist.; Farage, Nigel,1964-panelist.; Steyn, Mark,1959-panelist.; Griffiths, Rudyard,editor.;
"The world is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Over 300,000 are dead in Syria, and one and half million are either injured or disabled. Four and a half million people are trying to flee the country. And Syria is just one of a growing number of failed or failing states in the Middle East and North Africa. How should developed nations respond to human suffering on this mass scale? Do the prosperous societies of the West, including Canada and the U.S., have a moral imperative to assist as many refugees as they reasonably and responsibly can? Or, is this a time for vigilance and restraint in the face of a wave of mass migration that risks upending the tolerance and openness of the West? The eighteenth semi-annual Munk Debate, which was held on April 1, 2016, pits former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and leading historian Simon Schama against leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage and bestselling author Mark Steyn to debate the West's response to the global refugee crisis."--page [4] of cover.
Subjects: Refuge (Humanitarian assistance); Refugees; Syria;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The last good funeral of the year / by O'Loughlin, Ed,author.;
"It was February 2020 when Ed O'Loughlin unexpectedly heard that Charlotte, a friend from the old days, had just died young and before her time. He realized that he was being led to reappraise his life, his family, and his career as a foreign correspondent and novelist in a new, colder light. This search for meaning becomes the driving theme of O'Loughlin's year of confinement. The result is a haunting examination of the author's early life and love, the journalists and photographers with whom he covered wars in Africa and the Middle East, the suicide of his brother, his new work as an author, a family home on the edge of a graveyard, and the mysteries of memory, aging, and loss. He was suddenly faced with facts that he had been ignoring, that he was getting old, that he wasn't what he used to be, that his imagination, always over-active, had at some point reversed its direction, switching production from dreams to regrets. Moving, funny, and searingly honest, The Last Good Funeral of the Year takes the reader on a circular journey from present to past and back to the present."
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; O'Loughlin, Ed.; Authors, Irish; Journalists;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Zero dark thirty [videorecording] / by Bigelow, Kathryn.; Boal, Mark.; Chastain, Jessica.; Clarke, Jason,1969-; Edgerton, Joel.; Ellison, Megan.; Pratt, Chris.; Alliance Films.; Annapurna Productions.; Columbia Pictures.; Entertainment One (Firm : Canada); First Light Films.;
Music by Alexandre Desplat ; director of photography, Greig Fraser ; edited by William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor.Jessica Chastain, Chris Pratt, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Reda Kateb, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle.In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the CIA began interrogating suspected Al-Qaeda agents across the globe in a bid to locate the elusive bin Laden. Upon arriving at a CIA black site and witnessing the brutal interrogation tactics firsthand, driven CIA operative Maya (Chastain) aids her unpredictable colleague Dan (Jason Clarke) in gathering the intelligence that will help bring bin Laden to justice. Over the course of the next decade, numerous false leads and dead ends make the search seem more futile than ever. Meanwhile, numerous suicide bombings all across the Middle East and Europe hint that Al Qaeda won't go down without a fight. Then, just when it seemed as if the trail of clues had finally dried up, an old piece of evidence leads Maya to a suspect who may work directly for the man charged with planning the worst act of terrorism ever committed on American soil.Canadian Home Video Rating: 14A.Blu-ray disc (requires Blu-ray player for playback), widescreen (1.85:1) presentation ; DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio.
Subjects: Bin Laden, Osama, 1957-2011; United States. Navy. SEALs; Feature films.; Historical films.; September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001; Terrorism;
© c2013., Distributed by Alliance Films : Entertainment One,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Slow burn / by Leather, Stephen,author.;
"There are thousands of jihadi brides in refugee camps in the Middle East. Some of them were once British before they were stripped of their citizenship. Were they brainwashed or simply naive when they set out for Syria as teenagers? And, if they were allowed to return, would they pose a threat to our country? Spider Shepherd is about to be sent on an extraordinary mission to the Syrian border by his MI5 boss. There he will have to decide which of the women he meets is still a threat, and if not, which of them has information useful to the Secret Service and can be allowed back. His are life or death decisions. But there is one bride he must take back to the UK whatever her circumstances. She is the wife of a notorious ISIS bombmaker, Salam Jaraf. Jaraf is an asylum seeker who has information on terrorist cells in Britain. But the bombmaker will only tell MI5 what he knows if his wife and son are brought to him. However, it soon becomes obvious that hostile forces are following Spider and Mrs Jaraf across Turkey. Bringing this woman back from the warzone will become one of the most dangerous missions Spider has ever undertaken."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Refugees; Shepherd, Dan (Fictitious character); Terrorism; Undercover operations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The unexpected spy : from the CIA to the FBI, my secret life taking down some of the world's most notorious terrorists / by Walder, Tracy,author.; Blau, Jessica Anya,author.;
"A highly entertaining account of a young woman who went straight from her college sorority to the CIA, where she hunted terrorists and WMDs. When Tracy Walder enrolled at the University of Southern California, she never thought that one day she would offer her pink beanbag chair in the Delta Gamma house to a CIA recruiter, or that she'd fly to the Middle East under an alias identity. The Unexpected Spy is the riveting story of Walder's tenure in the CIA and, later, the FBI. In high-security, steel-walled rooms in Virginia, Walder watched al-Qaeda members with drones as President Bush looked over her shoulder and CIA Director George Tenet brought her donuts. She tracked chemical terrorists and searched the world for Weapons of Mass Destruction. She created a chemical terror chart that someone in the White House altered to convey information she did not have or believe, leading to the Iraq invasion. Driven to stop terrorism, Walder debriefed terrorists-men who swore they'd never speak to a woman-until they gave her leads. She followed trails through North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, shutting down multiple chemical attacks. Then Walder moved to the FBI, where she worked in counterintelligence. In a single year, she helped take down one of the most notorious foreign spies ever caught on American soil. Catching the bad guys wasn't a problem in the FBI, but rampant sexism was. Walder left the FBI to teach young women, encouraging them to find a place in the FBI, CIA, State Department or the Senate-and thus change the world"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Walder, Tracy.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation; Intelligence service; Terrorism; War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

MBS : the rise to power of Mohammed bin Salman / by Hubbard, Ben,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia's sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East--and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom's economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran. That vision won him fans at home and on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, in Hollywood, and at the White House, where President Trump embraced the prince as a key player in his own vision for the Middle East. But over time, the sheen of the visionary young reformer has become tarnished, leaving many struggling to determine whether MBS is in fact a rising dictator whose inexperience and rash decisions are destabilizing the world's most volatile region. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, MBS reveals the machinations behind the kingdom's catastrophic military intervention in Yemen, the bizarre detention of princes and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, and the shifting Saudi relationships with Israel and the United States. And finally, it sheds new light on the greatest scandal of the young autocrat's rise: the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, a crime that shook Saudi Arabia's relationship with Washington and left the world wondering whether MBS could get away with murder. MBS is a riveting, eye-opening account of how the young prince has wielded vast powers to reshape his kingdom and the world around him.
Subjects: Biographies.; Āl Saʻūd, Muḥammad bin Salmān bin ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, 1985-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Underwater : the greed-soaked tale of sexual abuse in USA swimming and around the globe / by Muchnick, Irvin,author.;
"While the celebrity victims of Dr. Larry Nassar and the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandals rightly got a lot of attention, the number of affected kids is far more numerous in swimming. Underwater tells the almost unbelievable story, in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East, of coaches who preyed on children while hopping from program to program, state to state, and even country to country, in a pattern similar to the pedophile priests of the Catholic Church. Irvin Muchnick, an experienced investigative reporter of the dark side of our popular sports entertainments, gained access to thousands of pages of FBI files and other sources to expose scores of such scenarios, as well as the inaction of bureaucrats and even the most highly regarded politicians. The ranks of abusers include some of the most famous and celebrated coaches in swimming history. And there's no fixing the problem, the author says, so long as hundreds of thousands of young swimmers annually -- elite and casual athletes alike -- remain at the mercy of the Olympic system's money-hungry priorities."--
Subjects: True crime stories.; Child molesters.; Child sexual abuse.; Swimmers; Swimmers; Swimming coaches.; Swimming;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Empire builders. [videorecording] : Ottomans, Mughals & Moors / by Pilot Film and Television Productions,production company,distributor.; Short History of the World (Firm),production company.;
In the seventh century, a great new religion was born and rose up in the deserts of what is now Saudi Arabia. Within 200 years, the religion had spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and then through the Moors into Southern Spain and Portugal. By the 13th century it had spread through the Ottomans into Eastern Europe, and by the 15th, through the Mughal's to India. In this episode of Empire Builders, we explore ten sites that made history as we chart the rise and fall of these great Muslim empires. Using CGI, contributions from experts in their fields and re-enactments, we visit sites such as the Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, and the Great Mosque of Damascus, home of the Ummayid dynasty. We also explore the Mezquita Mosque in Cordoba, Spain, arguably the greatest building in Moorish Spain and the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, home of the Ottoman sultans for hundreds of years. In Iran, we visit the fabulous Shah Mosque (now known as the Iman Mosque built by the Ottomans rivals, the Persian Safavids) and in Agra, India, we explore the Taj Mahal, the greatest building constructed by the Mughal Empire's Shah Jahan.E.DVD; all regions; NTSC.
Subjects: Historical television programs.; Travelogues (Television programs); Islam; Islamic civilization; Islamic countries; Historic sites; Historic sites; Historic sites; Historic sites; Historic sites; Historic sites; Historic sites;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Four princes : Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the obsessions that forged modern Europe / by Norwich, John Julius,1929-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."John Julius Norwich--who the Wall Street Journal called "the very model of a popular historian"--has crafted a big, bold tapestry of the early sixteenth century, when Europe and the Middle East were overshadowed by a quartet of legendary rulers, all born within a ten-year period: Francis I of France, the personification of the Renaissance, who became a highly influential patron of the arts and education. Henry VIII, who was not expected to inherit the throne but embraced the role with gusto, broke with the Roman Catholic Church and appointed himself head of the Church of England. Charles V, the most powerful and industrious man at the time, was unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor. Suleiman the Magnificent stood apart as a Muslim, and brought the Ottoman Empire to its apogee of political, military, and economic power. Against the vibrant background of the Renaissance, these four men laid the foundations for modern Europe and the Middle East. Their relations shifted dramatically, from hostile and competitive to friendly and supportive, while they collectively impacted the culture, religion, and politics of their respective domains. With remarkable expertise and flair, John Julius Norwich delves into this fascinating slice of world history, bringing the past to vivid life. His engaging, distinctive blend of erudition and brio indelibly portrays four dynamic characters, their incredible achievements, and the colorful surroundings in which they lived, while deftly examining the influence that each one had on the reigns of the others."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500-1558.; Francis I, King of France, 1494-1547.; Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547.; Süleyman I, Sultan of the Turks, 1494 or 1495-1566.; History, Modern;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI