The Great American Rescue Mission

Fatherlessness is the #1 societal issue that is decimating the family and tearing at the very fabric of America. John Smithbaker shares how the Fathers in the Field ministry engages the local church to reach, rescue, and restore fatherless boys in their community to end the epidemic of generational fatherlessness.

The untold story of the most important rescue mission not just of the Vietnam War, but the entire Cold War: one American aviator, who knew our most important secrets, crashed behind enemy lines and risked capture by both the North Vietnamese and the Soviets. One Navy SEAL and his Vietnamese partner had to sneak past them all to save him. At the height of the Vietnam War, few American airmen are more valuable than Lt. Colonel Gene Hambleton. His memory is filled with highly classified information that the Soviets and North Vietnamese badly want. When Hambleton is shot down in the midst of North Vietnam's Easter Offensive, US forces place the entire war on hold to save a single man hiding amongst 30,000 enemy troops and tanks. Airborne rescue missions fail, killing eleven Americans. Finally, Navy SEAL Thomas Norris andhis Vietnamese guide, Nguyen Van Kiet, volunteer to go after him on foot. Gliding past hundreds of enemy soldiers, it takes them days to reach Hambleton, who, guided toward his rescuers via improvised radio code, is barely alive, deeply malnourished, and hallucinating after eleven days on the run. In this deeply-researched, untold story, award-winning author Stephan Talty describes the extraordinary mission that led Hambleton to safety. Drawing from dozens of interviews and access to unpublished papers,Saving Bravo is the riveting story of one of the greatest rescue missions in the history of the Special Forces.

The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism. Modernization took on profound geopolitical importance as the United States grappled with these threats. After World War II, modernization remained a means to contain the growing influence of the Soviet Union. Ekbladh demonstrates how U.S.-led nation-building efforts in global hot spots, enlisting an array of nongovernmental groups and international organizations, were a basic part of American strategy in the Cold War. However, a close connection to the Vietnam War and the upheavals of the 1960s would discredit modernization. The end of the Cold War further obscured modernization's mission, but many of its assumptions regained prominence after September 11 as the United States moved to contain new threats. Using new sources and perspectives, The Great American Mission offers new and challenging interpretations of America's ideological motivations and humanitarian responsibilities abroad.

The compelling untold story of a group of stranded U.S. Army nurses and medics fighting to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. When 26 Army nurses and medics-part of the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron-boarded a cargo plane for transport in November 1943, they never anticipated the crash landing in Nazi-occupied Albania that would lead to their months-long struggle for survival. A drama that captured the attention of the American public, the group and its flight crew dodged bullets and battled blinding winter storms as they climbed mountains and fought to survive, aided by courageous villagers who risked death at Nazi hands to help them. A mesmerizing tale of the courage and heroism of ordinary people, The Secret Rescue tells not only a new story of struggle and endurance, but also one of the daring rescue attempts by clandestine American and British organizations amid the tumultuous landscape of the war.

The Great American Makeover is a collection of essays that explore the American makeover mythos that has been recently repackaged in the form of popular makeover television programs such as Extreme Makeover, The Swan, Supernanny, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Elise Lufkin and Diana Walker once again present a moving collection of profiles, in beautiful, duotone photographs and moving text, of dogs that have found new lives after being “throw away” dogs. Each dog (and one cat) profiled has had a rough past, suffering abuse or extreme neglect at the hands of humans. Some dogs featured here have become therapy dogs for hospitals and nursing homes; reading partners for children; friends to at-risk teens and the injured in veterans affairs hospitals; service dogs for the deaf and blind; arson dogs; and even search-and-rescue dogs. Some of these special dogs are disabled, blind, deaf, missing limbs, but they don’t seem to know it. These spunky, happy animals have repaid the kindness of their rescuers in spades, bringing the therapy of love to people in need, sometimes even saving lives.

Our culture is determined to redefine masculinity as something it was never meant to be. The American Psychological Association asserts that "traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful." Many agree that "forcing men to behave in accordance with the worst stereotypes of manliness harms them, and it harms others." But is the answer then to marginalize and feminize men? Despite culture's determination to redefine masculinity, the great heart cry of our day is for men to rise up and take back their rightful place. It's a cry that echoes deep in the soul and from all ends of our society, and particularly from the women who love their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Most women want their men to be honored and to stand up and be men. Men have faltered and lost a lot of influence and territory. The good news is that for many who struggle there is often a daily yearning to make it right. The reality is, masculinity is not and never was "toxic." Tim Clinton, president of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), challenges readers to reject culture's redefinition and seek biblical examples of true manhood. Fast-paced, filled with relevant biblical and contemporary stories of godly men like David, Nehemiah, George Foreman, and Tim Tebow, Take It Back empowers men to be who God created them to be and to impact the culture that is in desperate need of their influence. Readers will find encouragement and affirmation that they matter as men, that they can be difference-makers in their circles of influence and have a positive impact on the culture. They will find grace for their shame over past mistakes and find the ability to move forward. This book will help you find encouragement and affirmation that you matter as a man, that you can be a difference-maker in your circle of influence and have a positive impact on the culture. You will find grace to overcome your shame over past mistakes and find the ability to move forward.

Mowat, author of Never Cry Wolf and nearly 40 other books, writes passionately of the courage of the men of the small oceangoing tug Foundation Franklin. From 1930 until 1948, the tug's job was to rescue sinking ships in the North Atlantic. Mowat's account paints a dramatic picture of the battle between men and the cruel sea. c. Book News Inc.

The author sheds light on a little-known chapter of U.S.-Soviet relations, using diaries, memoirs, and letters to recall the efforts of nearly 300 relief workers in easing the suffering of Russians during one of the country's worst famines.