A ruthless Axis agent code-named Sirocco and an American linguist turned amateur spy find themselves on a collision course with destiny in romantic and exotic World War II Casablanca. Roosevelt and Churchill are coming to Casablanca. So are Eisenhower and Patton, Montgomery and DeGaulle. For ten days, the entire Allied High Command will be gathered in one place-to plan the invasion of Fortress Europe. Learning of the secret conference through an Abwehr intercept, Hitler launches an audacious counterstrike - with one demonic blow he will take out the assembled Allied chieftains and turn the tide of war back in favor of the Reich.

What qualities are needed when your life is in danger, not merely once or twice, but on several occasions? As author Myriam Miedzian shows in this richly detailed story of the lives of her Polish-Jewish father and family, it takes tenacity, forethought, ingenuity, strength, and courage. During World War I, the anti-Semitic Polish authorities imprisoned young Henyek Miedzianagora and his father and brother on a trumped-up charge of spying for the Germans. Rebuffed by military authorities, Henyek's tenacious mother sought out a nobleman business acquaintance of her husband and persuaded him that a mistake had been made; with his help, her husband and sons were set free the day of their scheduled execution. It required courage when as a schoolboy, Henyek decided to go AWOL and risk being shot for desertion rather than experience the pointless slaughter of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-21. In 1930, Henyek moved to Belgium, where he married and had two children. His awareness of the fragility of existence in a world that can turn hostile at any moment--a legacy no doubt of his early harrowing experiences--led him to leave Brussels immediately on May 10, 1940 when the Germans attacked Belgium, and not turn back. The family eventually reached New York--via France, Spain, and Morocco, where they spent close to a year. Henyek had the extraordinary foresight, in 1936, to deposit $10,000 in a bank account in the United States, just in case. . . . Sure enough, the money made it possible to obtain visas to the U.S. In a bravura performance of recollection, reimagination, and characterization, Myriam Miedzian relates the incredible story of her father's three passages from peril to safety in her father's voice. Completing this work of generations, Myriam's daughter, Nadia Malinovich, a professor of Jewish history, fleshes out the historical and cultural background of her grandfather and, indeed, great-grandfather's life in Poland and Belgium during the first half of the twentieth century.

In standard histories of the Second World War, the last six months in the western European arena invariably make a short epilogue. After the German failure in the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's bold counter attack across the Ardennes, the war is often assumed to have been all over bar sporadic shooting. This was far from the truth; it was certainly not how those soldiers and civilians at the front saw it. Drawing on American, British, Canadian, German, Dutch and Scandinavian sources, most of them previously unpublished, and starting with the Battle of the Bulge, COUNTDOWN TO VICTORY tells the little known story of those final months through the eyes of ordinary people who had to live the trauma.

The Enemy, first published in 1951, is the wartime account of a fictional U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Dee (based on the author’s experiences while serving aboard the USS Decatur in the North Atlantic). The ships’ mission is to locate and destroy German submarines while protecting an aircraft carrier. The book details life aboard the destroyer and the inevitable conflicts that arise between men at sea for long periods. The ship also encounters and engages enemy submarines, receiving slight damage. Following author Wirt Williams’ service aboard the USS Decatur, he was transferred to the Pacific theater where he captained a Landing Ship. After the war, Williams worked as a reporter, then became an English professor in California. He continued to write and published six novels, and was nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes, once for his reporting and twice for his novels. The Enemy was his first novel. Williams passed away in 1986 at the age of 64.

Imagine that with seconds counting down, you must decide whether to lure the world’s most infamous leader to his certain death and yours. An unexpected long-range North Korean missile launch, achieved through a clandestine sharing of technology from a cabal of power brokers seeking to restore a perceived weakness with the U.S. military budget, takes the reader on a fast-paced journey where lives are compromised, secrets are divulged, and fateful decisions are made. A young attorney inadvertently steps into the murky world of deceit and murder when she makes a startling discovery that her boss, Chief of Staff to the U.S. Attorney General, may be entangled with a nefarious group that wants to change the world order. Her treacherous journey to learn the truth reluctantly pushes her to seek out the support of a NYPD detective, her estranged father, whose best days on the force are behind him. On the opposite side of the world, Colonel San Ji-Hun realizes his country is on a course that could lead to worldwide mayhem. The colonel’s fateful decision to try and eliminate the sole cause of his country’s perceived misdirection brings the reader to experience the ultimate countdown to deception. About the Author William A. Griffith is a microbiologist by training who worked for major pharmaceutical firms. After receiving his MBA, he transitioned to marketing/advertising positions in the healthcare field. During this time, he developed a passion for writing, influenced by his grandfather who wrote “Hooray for Retirement.” Mr. Griffith has written articles related to the pharmaceutical industry and is an avid reader. He and his wife, Elaine, now reside in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The Hottest 100 is a national institution. For 30 years, triple j has held an annual countdown of its listeners' 100 favourite songs of the year, as voted by the public. It has evolved into the single most anticipated musical event of every year for millions of Australians. The Hottest 100 is so much more than music. It's beaches, barbeques, and bonfires. It's joy and despair, drama and debate, friendship and community. This book is a celebration of everything that makes the world's greatest musical democracy so damn iconic. Shoulda Been Higher is the definitive account of the Hottest 100 - a comedic chronicle and love letter. It's the complete picture from Augie March to Ziggy Alberts, 'Amazing' to 'Zombie'.

This is a complete revision of the author's 1993 McFarland book Television Specials that not only updates entries contained within that edition, but adds numerous programs not previously covered, including beauty pageants, parades, awards programs, Broadway and opera adaptations, musicals produced especially for television, holiday specials (e.g., Christmas and New Year's Eve), the early 1936-1947 experimental specials, honors specials. In short, this is a reference work to 5,336 programs--the most complete source for television specials ever published.

Includes special issues.