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No company in our time has been as mysterious or as controversial as Blackwater. Founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997, it recruited special forces veterans and others with the skills and courage to take on the riskiest security jobs in the world. As its reputation grew, government demand for its services escalated, and Blackwater's men eventually completed nearly one hundred thousand missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both the Bush and Obama administrations found the company indispensible. It sounds like a classic startup success story, except for one problem: Blackwater has been demonized around the world. From uninformed news coverage to grossly distorted fictional portrayals, Bl...
“Suzanne Simons is a masterful storyteller. But make no mistake—Master of War is not a work of fiction….A powerful and true account.” —Wolf Blitzer, anchor, CNN’s The Situation Room Master of War is the riveting true story of Eric Prince, the ex-Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater and built the world’s largest military contractor, privatizing war for client nations around the world. A CNN producer and anchor, Suzanne Simons is the first journalist to get deep inside Blackwater—and, as a result of her unprecedented access, Master of War provides the most complete and revelatory account of the rise of this powerful corporate army and the remarkable entrepreneur who brought it into being, while offering an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meet Blackwater USA, the private army that the US government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Its contacts run from military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House; it has a military base, a fleet of aircraft and 20,000 troops, but since September 2007 the firm has been hit by a series of scandals that, far from damaging the company, have led to an unprecedented period of expansion. This revised and updated edition includes Scahill's continued investigative work into one of the outrages of our time: the privatisation of war.
First published in 1976, John Mack's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography humanely and objectively explores the relationship between T.E. Lawrence's inner life and his historically significant actions. Extensive research provides the basis for Mack's sensitive investigation of the psychological dimensions of Lawrence's personality and with the history, sociology, and politics of his time. 27 photos.
A “gripping historical drama” that tells the story of young Elizabeth Tudor’s journey to the throne—and her fierce rivalry with her half sister (School Library Journal). Imprisonment. Betrayal. Lost love. Murder. What more must a princess endure? Elizabeth Tudor’s teenage and young adult years during the turbulent reigns of Edward and then Mary Tudor are hardly those of a fairy-tale princess. Her mother has been beheaded by Elizabeth's own father, Henry VIII. Her jealous half sister, Mary, has her locked away in the Tower of London. And her only love interest betrays her in his own quest for the throne… Told in the voice of the young Elizabeth and ending when she is crowned queen, this novel in the exciting Young Royals series explores the relationship between two sisters who became mortal enemies. New York Times-bestselling author Carolyn Meyer has written an intriguing historical tale that reveals the deep-seated rivalry between a determined girl who became Elizabeth I, one of England's most powerful monarchs—and the sister who tried everything to stop her.
This title tells the story of a secret war fought by British mercenaries in the Yemen in the early 1960s. The book features British military history, much in the spirit of Ben McIntyre's 'Agent Zigzag' and 'Operation Mincemeat'.
Using four notorious moments in the life of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua, Valeria Finucci explores changing early modern concepts of sexuality, reproduction, beauty, and aging. She deftly marries salacious tales with historical analysis to tell a broader story of Italian Renaissance cultural adjustments and obsessions.
Essays on the contemporary continuum of incarceration: the biopolitics of juvenile delinquency, predatory policing, the political economy of fees and fines, and algorithmic policing. What we see happening in Ferguson and other cities around the country is not the creation of livable spaces, but the creation of living hells. When people are trapped in a cycle of debt it also can affect their subjectivity and how they temporally inhabit the world by making it difficult for them to imagine and plan for the future. What psychic toll does this have on residents? How does it feel to be routinely dehumanized and exploited by the police? —from Carceral Capitalism In this collection of essays in Se...
Ben Greenman's monumental yet intimate book on Prince comes a year after the star's death at the age of 57 in an elevator at the legendary Paisley Park complex. With the release of a string of critically acclaimed albums and a new solo tour, the Minneapolis Genius looked set for a renaissance after a quiet-ish (by his standards) decade or so. And then: the silence, forever. Dig If U Will The Picture is a portrait of The Artist, who was also the artist who will be remembered by many as the brightest, most seductive and enigmatic pop star of his generation. In thematically structured chapters, Ben Greenman anatomizes a career and an aesthetic that at times seemed otherworldly. Drawing on over 40 studio albums, a repertoire of 2,000 plus live shows and close analysis of the unreleased highlights of the Vault, Dig If U Will the Picture is a critical consideration of Prince's art, a testimony to the author's deep and abiding personal connection to the work, and a fitting memorial.
Playing at the water table is fun. But Erik thinks getting splashed is not fun. When his sleeve gets wet, Erik gets sad, and he can't imagine ever being happy again. Then, with a classmate by his side, Erik becomes absorbed by a new idea: making the water disappear. As it does, Erik discovers his sadness has vanished and happiness has reappeared, like magic. Airdah-taroo! The book contains a page of information to help adults connect the story to children's experiences.