In the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, recent technological developments in music listening enabled troops to carry with them vast amounts of music and easily acquire new music, for themselves and to share with their fellow troops as well as friends and loved ones far away. This ethnographic study examines U.S. troops' musical-listening habits during and after war, and the accompanying fear, domination, violence, isolation, pain, and loss that troops experienced. My Music, My War is a moving ethnographic account of what war was like for those most intimately involved. It shows how individuals survive in the messy webs of conflicting thoughts and emotions that are intricately part of the moment-to-moment and day-to-day phenomenon of war, and the pervasive memories in its aftermath. It gives fresh insight into musical listening as it relates to social dynamics, gender, community formation, memory, trauma, and politics.

A poignant account of the perils and fortunes of an indomitable survivor of violence in Eastern Europe during World War II. In 1939, to escape Nazi occupation, 14-year-old Adam Broner and his older brother Sam left their home and family in Lodz, Poland, and made their way to the Soviet Union. Adam enlisted in the Red Army to join the fight against the Nazis but was sent to work in a Siberian coal mine instead when his nationality was discovered. After a bold and daring escape from Siberia, Broner reached the Soviet Polish Kosciuszko Army, joined the struggle against the Nazis, participated in the liberation of Poland, and rode victorious into Berlin in 1945. He later learned that his parents, siblings (except Sam), and all other close relatives had perished during the war. Broner rebuilt his life, established a family, returned to Moscow for a degree in economics, and then went back to Poland, where he accepted a job in the Polish central planning agency. Eventually fed up with the growing anti-Semitism of the Communist government there, the author emigrated to the United States in 1969. He earned a doctorate from Princeton University and served as an economic adviser to New Jersey governors and the state legislature. In retirement, Broner learned portrait painting and reproduced the likenesses of his parents and siblings from memory, which are presented along with their biographies in this book. In recounting his struggle for survival during some of the most dramatic upheavals of the 20th century— the Great Depression, Nazism, World War II, and the spread of Communism in Central Europe— Broner reveals a life dedicated to the ultimate goal of freedom, which he achieved through a combination of arduous effort and fortunate circumstance.

'Once we passed the checkpoint at the border, it hit me. I was like, Holy Shit, this is it, I'm entering a combat zone. Cool!' At twenty-six Colby Buzzell, unemployed and living at home, decided to join the US Army. Within months he was in Iraq, a machine gunner in the controversial Stryker Brigade Combat Team, an army unit on the cutting edge of combat technology and the first of its kind. Trapped amid 'guerrilla warfare, urban-style' in Mosul, Iraq, Buzzell was struck by the bizarre and often frightening world surrounding him. He began writing a blog describing the war - not as being reported by CNN or official briefings - but as experienced by the soldier on the ground. His story is a brutally honest and hard-hitting account of the absurdities of modern war. These are the real stories of the war: a firefight where the resistance came from 'men in black'; a night spent chain-smoking in the guard tower counting the tracer bullets being fired over the city; and the hesitation of a young soldier who had been passed around from platoon to platoon because he was too afraid to fight. My War is a powerful story of a young man and a war, unlike any you have read before.

As a non-combatant member of the Army Air Force, young Dick Whinfield from the small town of Sheboygan, Wisconsin was among the first twenty-five Control Tower operators to be sent to the war in the Pacific. His experiences in five different control towers in fearsome combat areas were frightening, frequently boring and very educational. In his book My War he tells tales of excitement, tragedy and often of amusing antics. While he was living through a most distressing time, he tells of the great comradery he had with the crews with whom he worked. The book starts with his life just before entering the service and then takes him all the way through his exhilarating experiences in the armed service. It ends with his return to his high school sweetheart and a happy marriage.

Step back in time to 1943 and experience what life was liked during World War II - both overseas and on the home front - for one American family. This fascinating historical journey is a rich compliation of interviews, mewspaper clippings, letters and diary transcripts. -- from back cover.

Sickness, failure, problems with our children--who doesn't occasionally worry about things like this? But for Tay Thomas, wife of Alaska's former lieutenant-governor, Lowell Thomas, Jr., such worries had become an incapacitating way of life, robbing her of the ability to enjoy the present because something might happen in the future. Here is the intimate story of a notable woman's 20-year battle with worry habits formed in childhood. Her first efforts were bootstrap ones. Believing that if she acted in a confident manner, confidence itself would follow, she joined her explorer husband in the globe-circling odysseys for which they are famous. But while the world hailed her courage, Tay alone knew the agonies she suffered in secret. She had not only the worries of any housewife and mother, but additional ones while: ¥ Crossing a flimsy rope bridge covered with ice high above a chasm in the Himalayas ¥ Terrified of flying yet living in Alaska where frequent air trips are unavoidable ¥ Watching the earth open between herself and her small daughter in the worst earthquake ever to hit this continent ¥ Paralyzed at the thought of public speaking but finding herself chairman of many public organizations. As her fears and worries became unmanageable, Tay sought help. Pills, counseling, escape into nature--none of these worked for long. What did work is described in this fast-paced narrative. Raised in a setting where God was confined to one stuffy hour on Sunday mornings, Tay hadn't been to church since her wedding day, but here and there she kept meeting people who obviously knew something she didn't know. Where do you get your energy? she asked one such person. I don't use it up in worry was the answer--and Tay knew she was on the trail of a powerful secret. Her journey from anxiety-ridden just existing to joyous freedom is lined with practical guideposts: ¥ What to take at bedtime instead of a sleeping pill ¥ How to let go of the people you love ¥ What to do with painful memories how to find your own Secret Garden Above all, Tay's story is an irresistible invitation to every chronic worrier to trust God with every moment of every day.

Synopsis: 'Under Arrest'...by Tom Parks is a true story of a young rebel who gets arrested and ends up behind bars. Ten months out of the author's life and ten months where he witnessed just how cruel people could be to each other. More a nuisance rather than a proper thug, this e-book is an insight into the young, mis-guided mind. The law-abiding general public never see the inside of a prison cell, had a prison sentence, or been on the wrong side of the law in any way. Harrowing and emotionally stark in places, perhaps that public should know what it is like to get locked up and serve a prison sentence. Intent on breaking the prison's top rule, escaping, the authors re-capture only made him more determined to upset the screws at every opportunity. About the Author: NA

Zach, a young veteran, contemplates suicide after a horrific tour in Afghanistan when Ernest Hemingway appears and stops him. He enrols in college where he falls in love with Jessica, a young woman from a wealthy family. Her love stabilizes him, and Hemingway’s appearances become less frequent, until she doesn’t return to school after break. He confronts her father who tells him he is not to see her again. Alone, haunted by the wars, and with his friend Hemingway pestering him, he descends into alcoholism. Teaming up with one of Zach’s army buddies, and in defiance of her parents, Jessica searches for him. But will they find him in time to save his life? And is her love enough to help him find redemption?

A passionate, humane eyewitness account of the effects of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon on the civilian population by a lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defence Forces.

Born in Kandahar in 1978, Sultan fled to the United States at age five with her family. Raised in Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens, Sultan saw her life change when she was married by arrangement at the young age of seventeen to a virtual stranger fourteen years her senior -- a marriage she struggled to maintain and then hastily fought, eventually (after three years) being granted a divorce. This very divorce would become one of the first in her close-knit Afgan community, where the subject is considered rare and taboo. Sultan went on to graduate from college summa cum laude with a degree in economics, and in July 2001, she returned to Kandahar, to explore her family roots and find herself. There she met her relatives and surveyed the conservative provincial town where she was born. on return visit to afganistan, she discovered the tragic death of her relatives at the hands of American troops and began to seek answers. My War at Home is her memoir of self-discovery, family tradition, and life as a Muslim and feminist with political ideals. It speaks to the younger generation of Muslims in America as they struggle to resolve the ever-present inner conflict about what it means to be an American and a Muslim, while also examining the Muslim-American identity at both personal and political levels.