'The big day had arrived and after only three weeks' intensive training Susan passed out and mustered on the parade ground--a fully fledged Wren in the much sought after Communications branch of the service, proudly boasting the Naval flags on the badge on the sleeve of her jacket. There was a gabble of excited noise as the young Wrens, sounding like their feathered namesakes, jostled and pushed each other around the drafting board...' The author tells it like it was, the trials, the tribulations, and the fun--her detailed and humorous account of her experiences as Wren in World War II is both historically informative and delightfully entertaining.

"Goulty tells the story from the perspective of the ordinary sailor or officer who was there."—The Northern Mariner Although many books have been written about naval actions during the Second World War – histories and memoirs in particular – few books have attempted to encompass the extraordinary variety of the experience of the war at sea. That is why James Goulty’s vivid survey is of such value. Sailors in the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy experienced a war fought on a massive scale, on every ocean of the world, in a diverse range of vessels, from battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines to merchant ships and fishing boats. Their recollections are as varied as the ships they served in, and they take the reader through the entire maritime war, as it was perceived at the time by those who had direct, personal knowledge of it. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the experience of individuals – their recruitment and training, their expectations and the reality they encountered on active service in many different offensive and defensive roles including convoy duty and coastal de-fence, amphibious operations, hunting U-boats and surface raiders, mine sweeping and manning landing and rescue craft. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the sailors themselves, what action against the enemy felt like and the impact of casualties – seamen who were wounded or killed on board or were lost when their ships sank. A fascinating inside view of the maritime warfare emerges which may be less heroic than the image created by some post-war accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic impression of the whole gamut of wartime life at sea.

Closely examining the work of women in the US and British naval services towards Allied naval intelligence during the Second World War, this book focuses on their contributions during the Battle of the Atlantic and Pacific Naval War, in order to shed new light on arenas of war from which women's narratives are almost always absent. Including personal testimonies from those involved, and surveying a wide cross-section of different roles, Sarah-Louise Miller analyses the work of women at every level and rank in the US and British naval services, and offers a much wider picture of how they assisted the Allied forces behind closed doors. With exploration of the work of the WRNS and WAVES on developing naval intelligence, this book argues that they played a crucial role in the British and American SIGINT systems, and within programs such as those at Bletchley Park and OP-20-G – therefore directly impacting the organisation and outcome of Anglo-American naval efforts. Including analysis of the development of the modern 'kill-chain', Miller also re-evaluates the effect of the 'combat taboo', to demonstrate that the WRNS and WAVES were in fact at the cutting edge of the emergence of modern warfare.

The Second World War was a momentous event in twentieth-century history and it is a fascinating period for family historians to explore. Numerous records are available to researchers whose relatives served in the war, and James Goultys book is an accessible guide on how to locate and understand these sources - and get the most out of them.Using evidence gleaned from a range of sources archives, official records, books, libraries, oral history and the internet he reconstructs the wartime records of a revealing and representative group of ordinary men and women: a signaler, an infantryman, a doctor, an artillery officer, a woman serving with anti aircraft units, a commando, a Royal Navy bomb disposal officer, RAF fighter and bomber pilots, and others. He describes their wartime careers and experiences and demonstrates how they fitted into contemporary military organizations and operations. He looks at their backgrounds, their wartime training and duties, their front line service, and the conditions they endured. In each case he shows how the research was conducted and explains how the lives of such individuals can be explored highlighting methods that can be used and sources that can be consulted. James Goultys informative book will be essential reading and reference for anyone who wants to find out about the Second World War and is keen to understand the part an ancestor played in it.

THIS IS BLACKOUT CITY - MY CITY - A DANGEROUS CITY WHERE NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE, AND THE PEOPLE HERE ARE NOT WHO THEY SEEM TO BE. THE DOUBLE CROSS IS NOT ONLY A GAME BUT THE NORM. STAYING ALIVE IS SURVIVAL, STAYING SANE IS A NECESSITY. - JOE SMOKE, PRIVATE DETECTIVE, CIRCA 1970

Apart from the coverage given to it in the grammars, number in English nouns has received relatively little attention, especially in the area of theoretical considerations. Guided by the principles of psychomechanics, Hirtle (1982a) put forth a fairly elaborate theory of number in English nouns. The aim of this work is to provide evidence to validate parts of Hirtle's theory, to verify some of his analyses, and to investigate several problems, some of which are mentioned in his work as subjects for further research. Specific areas treated are ailment nouns, liquid names, ending in "-ings," binary objects, abstract "-s," and external singulars.

THE DARK IS COMING. . . . New York City in 1977 is vampire heaven. Serial killer Son of Sam is often blamed for their hits, and a citywide blackout gives them free reign of the streets, allowing them to get away with murder. Spike and his beloved Drusilla are in the Big Apple taking advantage of the situation, as is Vampire Slayer Nikki Wood, who has hunkered down with her son, Robin, in a Times Square apartment where she thinks they'll be safe. But no matter where she goes, Nikki has to watch her back. Spike has only one thing on his mind: to slay a slayer. Adding to Spike's list of challenges is a corrupt local vampire community that catches wind of his presence, and when they start messing with him, things get bloody interesting.

A portrait of the blackout that hit New York City on July 13, 1977 explores the attitudes, ideas, and experiences that motivate people in a time of crisis and examines the range of reactions from neighbor helping neighbor to looting, vandalism, and arson.

Throughout his college years, Toren Volkmann partied like there was no tomorrow, having what was supposed to be the time of his life. Like so many parents, his mother, Chris, overlooked Toren’s growing alcohol problem. But when he graduated, Toren realized he’d become a full-blown alcoholic. And he was not alone. Considered a rite of passage, teenage drinking has skyrocketed to epidemic proportions, fostering a generation of young adults whose lives are already beginning to come apart under the strain. This book, written from the viewpoints of both mother and son, is a riveting, enlightening, and heartbreakingly true story of a family that was able to confront the fear, pain, and denial that threatened to destroy them—and survive the epidemic of teenage drinking that’s putting America’s future at risk.

"Using eyewitness accounts and previously unpublished research, Brian Lavery reveals the sheer scale of this unprecedented operation and recounts the experiences of men and women who were plunged into a challenging and unfamiliar environment. Featuring black and white archive photography, this book tells one of the major untold stories of the Second World War."--BOOK JACKET.