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Life undercover : coming of age in the CIA / by Fox, Amaryllis,author.;
Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world. At twenty-one, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center. At twenty-two, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm," where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity. At the end of this training she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover-- the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Fox, Amaryllis.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Intelligence officers; Terrorism; Women intelligence officers;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Mother of strangers / by Amiry, Suad,author.; translation of:Amiry, Suad.Storia di un abito inglese e di una mucca ebrea.English.;
"Set in Jaffa in 1947-51, this fable-like novel is a heartbreaking tale of young love during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people. At times darkly humorous and ironic but also profoundly moving, this novel based on a true story follows the lives of a 15 year old engineer, Subhi, and the 13 year old girl, Shams, he hopes one day to marry. It brings Jaffa vividly to life as a beautiful city by the sea where Jews, Palestinians and Christians lived peacefully just before it was destroyed by the November 29, 1947 UN General Assembly Resolution 181 that would partition Palestine into two states and the end of the British Mandate on May 14, 1948. The first part of the story conveys the prosperous life of this cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean--with its old cinemas, lively cafes and brothels, open air markets, a bustling port and orange groves on the hills behind--through the lives of the families of Subhi and Shams, but particularly through Subhi, a gifted engineer. As the novel evolves, the bombing and displacements of families begin, and we get a fascinating though dark close-up of how those who were left survived which we see more through Shams and her sisters. This novel is a cinematic, though devastating account of an important moment in history of the Middle East and portrait of a city irrevocably changed"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Teenagers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Flight 149 : a hostage crisis, a secret special forces unit, and the origins of the Gulf War / by Davis, Stephen(Journalist),author.;
"On Wednesday August 1st, 1990, British Airways flight 149 was on a seemingly routine journey that turned into a month-long international hostage crisis in a war-torn country. As soon as it set down on the Kuwaiti tarmac just as Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi forces invaded, BA149 became an unexpected casualty of a desert war. Or that's how the story went, until now. In Flight 149 award-winning investigative journalist Stephen Davis tells a revelatory story, the product of thirty years of dogged investigation that was finally confirmed by a conscience-stricken former MI6 officer. The British and American governments gambled with the lives of passengers on board, in what marked the beginning of a new era of Western entanglement in the Middle East, one that would ensnare the UK and US to this day. As Davis reveals, BA149 was used to smuggle in a covert special operatives unit tasked with gathering intelligence. But once Iraqi forces intercepted the plane on the tarmac and took passengers hostage, their lives were upended forever. Paced like a true thriller, Flight 149 revisits the First Gulf War and pivotal event of Western hubris. With first-hand testimony from passengers, new insights from covert sources and confessions from secret soldiers, Davis unravels the web of lies and deceit put forth by the US and British government while portraying the lasting consequences of the ill-fated flight"--
Subjects: Iraq-Kuwait Crisis, 1990-1991.; Operation Desert Shield, 1990-1991.; Persian Gulf War, 1991.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Target Omega : a thriller / by Kirsanow, Peter N.,author.;
"Buried deep in the US defense and special forces architecture is an elite, ultra-black unit, created expressly to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists and rogue regimes. Their covert, surgical strikes eliminate grave threats so the rest of America can sleep without fear. Until now. After returning from a successful operation in Pakistan, the entire team is assassinated within forty-eight hours. Only their leader, Michael Garin, survives the assault, but the danger is far from over. As the sole survivor and chief suspect of the attack, Garin finds himself on the run from Iranian intelligence operatives bent on tracking and killing him--men who somehow manage to stay one step ahead of Garin's every move and target the few allies he has left. Even Garin's own government appears to have turned against him, sending a lethal sniper from the vaunted Delta Force to eliminate the threat they think he's become. With enemies coming at him from every direction, Garin's fight for survival becomes part of a larger conspiracy unfolding on the world's stage. A plot has been set in motion--seemingly orchestrated by individuals at the highest echelons of power in the United States and abroad--precipitated by the turmoil and escalating tensions in the Middle East. One operator holds the key to preventing a catastrophic attack that no one sees coming, an attack that will shift the balance of power and plunge the United States of America into oblivion."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Adventure (Fiction); United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Intelligence officers; Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A genocide foretold : reporting on survival and resistance in occupied Palestine / by Hedges, Chris,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."With intimate and harrowing portraits of the human consequences of oppression, occupation, and violence experienced in Palestine today, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges issues a call to action urging us to bear witness and engage with the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Hedges wrote the first section of the book when he was in Ramallah in July 2024, and he draws from his experience doing extensive reporting from the Middle East, including Gaza, for the New York Times. A Genocide Foretold confronts the stark realities of life under siege in Gaza and the heroic effort ordinary Palestinians are waging to resist and survive. Weaving together personal stories, historical context, and unflinching journalism, Chris Hedges provides an intimate portrait of systemic oppression, occupation, and violence. The book includes chapters on: What life is like in Gaza City and Ramallah in the midst of approaching bombs and gunfire. The history of the dispossession of Palestinians of their land in relation to the ideology of Zionism. A portrait of Amr, a 17-year-old high school student who is forced to evacuate his village with his family. Psychoanalysis of the state of permanent war that has led to the destruction of hospitals, telecommunications centers, governmental buildings, roads, homes universities, schools, and libraries and archaeological and heritage sites in Gaza. The ways in which the collective retribution against innocents is a familiar tactic employed by colonial rulers. A heartbreaking final chapter called "Letter to the Children of Gaza.""--
Subjects: Arab-Israeli conflict; Palestinian Arabs; Palestinian Arabs;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Hope : the autobiography / by Francis,Pope,1936-author.; Dixon, Richard,translator.; Musso, Carlo,author.; translation of:Francis,Pope,1936-Spera.English.;
Includes bibliographical references."Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional book to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope have moved him to make this precious legacy available now. Hope is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis's Italian roots and his ancestors' courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day. In recounting his memories with intimate narrative force (not forgetting his own personal passions), Pope Francis deals unsparingly with some of the crucial moments of his papacy and writes candidly, fearlessly, and prophetically about some of the most important and controversial questions of our present times: war and peace (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), migration, environmental crisis, social policy, the position of women, sexuality, technological developments, the future of the Church and of religion in general. Hope includes a wealth of revelations, anecdotes, and illuminating thoughts. It is a thrilling and very human memoir, moving and sometimes funny, which represents the "story of a life" and, at the same time, a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis's legacy of hope for future generations. The book is enhanced by remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by Pope Francis himself"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Francis, Pope, 1936-; Popes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The end of the myth : from the frontier to the border wall in the mind of America / by Grandin, Greg,1962-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump's border wall. Ever since this nation's inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States' belief in itself as an exceptional nation--democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America has a new symbol: the border wall. In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history--from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America's constant expansion--fighting wars and opening markets--served as a "gate of escape," helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country's problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home. It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism"--
Subjects: Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932; Frontier thesis.; Borderlands; National characteristics, American.; Exceptionalism; Nationalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Picture in the sand / by Blauner, Peter,author.;
"'On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book.'--Stephen King. Peter Blauner's epic Picture in the Sand is a sweeping intergenerational saga told through a grandfather's passionate letters to his grandson, passing on the story of his political rebellion in 1950s Egypt in order to save his grandson's life in a post-9/11 world. When Alex Hassan gets accepted to an Ivy League university, his middle-class Egyptian-American family is filled with pride and excitement. But that joy turns to shock when they discover that he's run off to the Middle East to join a holy war instead. When he refuses to communicate with everyone else, his loving grandfather Ali emails him one last plea. If Alex will stay in touch, his grandfather will share with Alex--and only Alex--a manuscript containing the secret story of his own life that he's kept hidden from his family, until now. It's the tale of his romantic and heartbreaking past rooted in Hollywood and the post-revolutionary Egypt of the 1950s, when young Ali was a movie fanatic who attained a dream job working for the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille on the set of his epic film, The Ten Commandments. But Ali's vision of a golden future as an American movie mogul gets upended when he is unwittingly caught up in a web of politics, espionage, and real-life events that change the course of history. It's a narrative he's told no one for more than a half-century. But now he's forced to unearth the past to save a young man who's about to make the same tragic mistakes he made so long ago"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Historical fiction.; Novels.; DeMille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount), 1881-1959; Ikhwān al-Muslimūn; Ten commandments (Motion picture : 1956); College students; Egyptian Americans; Family secrets; Grandparent and child; Jihad; Letters; Motion picture industry; Motion pictures; Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mi cocina : recipes and rapture from my kitchen in México / by Martínez, Rick(Chef),author.; Fuller, Ren,illustrator.;
"An enticing, regional, and stunning exploration of Mexican cuisine from beloved food writer and host of Food52's "Sweet Heat" series, Rick Martinez. In his first, much-anticipated cookbook, New York Times contributor, Food52 columnist, and former Bon Appétit food editor Rick Martinez introduces home cooks to the diverse culinary treasures of Mexico. In Mi Cocina, Rick travels to each of the seven regions in Mexico to explore 100 unique dishes, the recipe for each accompanied by stunning on-site photography. In this beautifully personal tribute, Rick expresses Mexico's regionality through dishes like Oaxaca's Mole Coloradito (a rich pasilla chile sauce made with dried fruits, nuts, and seeds and sweetened with plantain and bittersweet chocolate) and Tacos de Capeados (cornmeal-battered fried fish tacos with papaya, tomatillo, and a spicy cream sauce) from coastal Baja. He delivers recipes based on his favorite home-tested version of each dish, veering from tradition when inspired-- like in the Tlayuda con Tasajo in which a flank steak is marinated with miso paste before being grilled and added to a large tostada topped with refried beans and queso Oaxaca. Rick always keeps accessibility in mind when speaking to the availability of ingredients such as chiles, spices, and herbs-he often calls for or talks about what is traditional and provides substitutions and replacements when needed. In addition to the captivating recipes, Rick includes essays on topics like the migration and culinary influence of people from the Middle East and China to Mexico, and his experiences of finding welcomeness, support, and a feeling of belonging in his new home in Mazatlán. The collective result is touching, transportive, and delicious"--
Subjects: Cookbooks.; Recipes.; Cooking, Mexican.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Long shot : the inside story of the snipers who broke ISIS / by Azad,1983-author.;
"A gripping narrative by an Iran-born Kurdish journalist who joined the ranks of the Kurdish army as a sniper in the fight against ISIS. In 2002, at the age of nineteen, Azad, a young Iranian-Kurdish man, was conscripted into Iran's army and forced to fight against his own people. Refusing to go to war against his fellow Kurds, Azad deserted and smuggled himself to the United Kingdom, where he was granted asylum, became a citizen, and learned English. But more than a decade later, having returned to the Middle East as a social worker in the wake of the Syrian civil war, Azad found that he would have to pick up a weapon once again. In September 2014, after twenty-four days of intensive training as a sniper, Azad became one of seventeen volunteer marksmen deployed by the Kurdish army when ISIS besieged the city of Kobani in Rojava, the newly autonomous region of the Kurds. In Long Shot, Azad tells the inside story of how the Kurdish forces fought nine months of bloody street battles against the Islamic State. Vastly outnumbered, the Kurds would have to kill the jihadis one by one, and Azad takes readers on a harrowing journey behind rebel frontlines to reveal the sniper unit's essential role in fighting, and eventually defeating, ISIS. Weaving the brutal events of war with personal and political reflection, Azad meditates on the incalculable price of victory--the permanent effects of war on the body and mind; the devastating death of two of his closest comrades; the loss of hundreds of volunteers who died in battle. But as Azad explains, these were sacrifices that saved not only a city but a people and their land. Rojava was freed, and ISIS, which once threatened the world, never fully recovered"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Azad, 1983-; People's Protection Units (Organization); IS (Organization); Snipers; Kurds;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 141 to 150 of 171 | « previous |