Unlikely Victory

Many companies that stray too far from their core business fail. So how is it that General Electric, a major electrical manufacturing company, ended up as one of the top U.S. chemical producers—with 1998 sales of $6.6 billion? In Unlikely Victory, Jerome T. Coe, a retired 40-year career employee with General Electric, who spent more than 20 years as a manager of the company’s chemical businesses, suggests that it was a combination of necessity, forward-thinking of the engineers, and managers wise enough to give them breathing room. “Much of what they did (then) was counter to the prevailing GE culture,” he writes. “Today, it has become the corporate culture.” The book tells the whole story of this successful business model, from the early years of GE chemistry through the company’s successes with silicones, synthetic diamond, Lexan polycarbonate plastic, and other high-performance thermoplastics. It also profiles four scientists and five managers—including former CEO John F. Welch, Jr., a chemical engineer and a product of the GE plastic business—who made a significant difference in the company’s chemical success. The book is amply illustrated with photographs of the people, products, and plants that contributed to one of America’s most unusual corporate success stories.

A lavishly illustrated volume marking the defining point in American history. The American Revolution reshaped the political map of the world, and led to the birth of the United States of America. Yet these outcomes could have scarcely been predicted when the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. American rebel forces were at first largely a poorly trained, inexperienced and disorganized militia, pitted against one of the most formidable imperial armies in the world. Yet following a succession of defeats against the British, the rebels slowly rebounded in strength under the legendary leadership of George Washington. The fortunes of war ebbed and flowed, from the humid southern states of America to the frozen landscapes of wintry Canada, but eventually led to the catastrophic British defeat at Yorktown in 1781 and the establishment of an independent United States of America. The Improbable Victory is a revealing and comprehensive guide to this seminal conflict, from the opening skirmishes, through the major pitched battles, up to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Impressively illustrated with photographs and artwork, it provides an invaluable insight into this conflict from the major command decisions down to the eye level of the front-line soldier. Published to coincide with the official opening of the new American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.

Lyrically told true story of the teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers to Olympic glory. When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He would take responsibility for the children and train them to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto developed a strict practice regime for the kids, honing their skills and building their strength and endurance. They formed a team and began to dominate events, first nationally and then internationally — until they made it all the way to Olympic gold! Told in simple rhyme, Sakamoto’s story will inspire athletes, coaches — and everyone who believes impossible dreams can come true.

The 2002 campaign and election was one of the most dramatic in the history of the Federal Republic. An unprecedented last minute swing narrowly re-elected the Social Democratic-Green government of Chancellor Schroeder. The campaign featured the first-ever American style television debate between the two candidates for the chancellorship. Foreign policy, particularly the refusal of Schroeder to support the Iraq policies of US President George W. Bush, played an unusually important role. In the aftermath of the election the government was faced with a deteriorating economy and the charge of the opposition that it had deliberately mislead voters during the campaign. In this volume, distinguished experts from both sides of the Atlantic analyse these and other critical issues. Their work is based on extensive research in Germany and Washington, which included interviews with major political figures and the collection of new campaign and election data. Contributors: William Patterson, E. Gene Frankland, Clay Clemens, Christian Søe, Gerald R. Kleinfeld, David Patton, Dieter Roth, Mary N. Hampton, Ferdinand Breitbach, Irwin Collier, Helga Welsh, Stephen Szabo.

The 2002 campaign and election was one of the most dramatic in the history of the Federal Republic. An unprecedented last minute swing narrowly re-elected the Social Democratic-Green government of Chancellor Schroeder. The campaign featured the first-ever American style television debate between the two candidates for the chancellorship. Foreign policy, particularly the refusal of Schroeder to support the Iraq policies of US President George W. Bush, played an unusually important role. In the aftermath of the election the government was faced with a deteriorating economy and the charge of the opposition that it had deliberately mislead voters during the campaign. In this volume, distinguished experts from both sides of the Atlantic analyse these and other critical issues. Their work is based on extensive research in Germany and Washington, which included interviews with major political figures and the collection of new campaign and election data. Contributors: William Patterson, E. Gene Frankland, Clay Clemens, Christian Søe, Gerald R. Kleinfeld, David Patton, Dieter Roth, Mary N. Hampton, Ferdinand Breitbach, Irwin Collier, Helga Welsh, Stephen Szabo.

Lara Prior-Palmer was seeking the unknown. In search of adventure aged nineteen, she entered the world's toughest horse race - a 1000km. ride through extreme conditions in the Mongolian wilderness.

Earl “Dusty” Trimmer relates with both skill and personal experience events surrounding our most forgetable and misunderstood war in America’s history. He brings it all home with his down-to-earth style and considerable knowledge. In Unbreakable Hearts, Dusty dives into the Vietnamese history and culture and skillfully brings the reader into understanding our Vietnamese enemy’s amazing resolve. He brilliantly explains the evolution of our Vietnamese enemy over hundreds of years of invasions and wars. Always defending their country to remain free became an art. In Chapter 7, Dusty describes the Vietnamese women fighters as “Hellcats.” My own experience with the formidable Vietnamese Viet Cong women’s skills and expertise closely mirrors Dusty’s. Hooch girls could plant booby traps in a GI’s hooch with a skill and savvy they were forced to learn during decades of on-the-job training in continuous wars with unwelcomed invaders. My own Military Police experience after leaving the infantry revealed these incidents vividly. In later chapters, Dusty moves into our own veterans’ profound resolve and toughness. North Vietnam’s famed General Giap called us “an honorable enemy.” One could suggest from this writing that our enemy taught us well. We did things in the Vietnam War the average person would have to go to the movies to believe. After reading Trimmer’s descriptions, I must conclude that indeed this book could be one for the movie industry. Dusty Trimmer brings to life our days and nights living and fighting in these foreboding jungle warfare conditions. After reading this fine work and reflecting on my own experiences, I cut away a little more of the pain. Pride swells for having served with all of these wonderful veterans of the Vietnam War. Pain for our terrible losses. For myself, these experiences culminated in wisdom I would otherwise have failed to achieve. God bless Dusty for telling our story. Forward march, Brothers!

Do women in classical Hollywood cinema ever truly speak for themselves? In Echo and Narcissus, Amy Lawrence examines eight classic films to show how women's speech is repeatedly constructed as a "problem," an affront to male authority. This book expands feminist studies of the representation of women in film, enabling us to see individual films in new ways, and to ask new questions of other films. Using Sadie Thompson (1928), Blackmail (1929), Rain (1932), The Spiral Staircase, Sorry,Wrong Number, Notorious, Sunset Boulevard (1950) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Lawrence illustrates how women's voices are positioned within narratives that require their submission to patriarchal roles and how their attempts to speak provoke increasingly severe repression. She also shows how women's natural ability to speak is interrupted, made difficult, or conditioned to a suffocating degree by sound technology itself. Telephones, phonographs, voice-overs, and dubbing are foregrounded, called upon to silence women and to restore the primacy of the image. Unlike the usage of "voice" by feminist and literary critics to discuss broad issues of authorship and point of view, in film studies the physical voice itself is a primary focus. Echo and Narcissus shows how assumptions about the "deficiencies" of women's voices and speech are embedded in sound's history, technology, uses, and marketing. Moreover, the construction of the woman's voice is inserted into the ideologically loaded cinematic and narrative conventions governing the representation of women in Hollywood film.

The 1948 election was a war for the soul of the Democratic Party, with accidental president Harry Truman pitted against Henry Wallace, his embittered left-wing predecessor as vice president, and young South Carolina segregationist Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. On the GOP side, it's a four-way battle between cold-as-ice New Yorker Tom Dewey, Minnesota upstart Harold Stassen, stodgy but brilliant Ohio conservative Robert Taft, and imperious but aged Douglas MacArthur. Author David Pietrusza goes beyond the headlines to place in context a down-to-the-wire fight against the background of an erupting Cold War, the birth of Israel, storms over civil rights, and domestic communism. Featuring a stellar supporting cast: Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, Earl Warren, Paul Robeson, Lillian Hellman, Pete Seeger, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe McCarthy, Clark Clifford, William O. Douglas, George C. Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Adlai Stevenson, Lyndon Johnson, H. L. Mencken, Harold Ickes, Clare and Henry Luce, and Ronald Reagan.--From publisher description.