A leading member of the Senate Judiciary Committee "spells out, in considerable detail, the extent of corporate influence over a variety of issues" in national politics (The New Yorker) As a U.S. senator and former federal prosecutor, Sheldon Whitehouse has had a front-row seat for the spectacle of dark money in government. In his widely praised book Captured, he describes how corporations buy influence over our government— not only over representatives and senators, but over the very regulators directly responsible for enforcing the laws under which these corporations operate, and over the judges and prosecutors who are supposed to be vigilant about protecting the public interest. In a case study that shows these operations at work, Whitehouse reveals how fossil fuel companies have held any regulation related to climate change at bay. The problem is structural: as Kirkus Reviews wrote, "many of the ills it illuminates are bipartisan." This paperback edition features a new preface by the author that reveals how corporate influence has taken advantage of Donald Trump's presidency to advance its agenda—and what we can do about it.

Australian Lieutenant, A.E. Tranter, from Heathcote, Victoria, (Australia) spends time in Malaya training young soldiers during the waiting period prior to WW2 in Asia. He survives the battle against the Japanese in Muar and the fall of Singapore, before escaping by boat to the wilds of Sumatra. However, his luck fails and he becomes one of the thousands of prisoners of war in the slave labour camps in Sumatra. He writes a tender book for his little daughter which he manages to keep hidden from the guards throughout his ordeal. Remarkably the book is all about the pleasant and beautiful things he has seen and learned in his enforced travel, even if witnessed from the heat and stench of locked box cars “ ... in spite of the discomfort , we saw much that was interesting and beautiful”. Despite this long ordeal, his writing conveys a message of tolerance, understanding and responsibility. Tranter is amongst those put to work building a road through the jungle in Atjeh, then later, the second death railway - the Pakenbaroe/Moeara Railway, ironically completed on the day WW2 ended; never used and now forgotten in Australia by all but a few. Here the Japanese and Koreans’ treatment of the prisoners becomes increasingly brutal with death and disease common, especially amongst “ the Romushas” - Asian enforced labourers - 80 000 of whom die. Meanwhile his little daughter is growing up in his hometown, under her mother’s care, both unaware of her father’s whereabouts.

More than five thousand American civilian men, women, and children living in the Philippines during World War II were confined to internment camps following Japan's late December 1941 victories in Manila. Captured tells the story of daily life in five different camps--the crowded housing, mounting familial and international tensions, heavy labor, and increasingly severe malnourishment that made the internees' rescue a race with starvation. Frances B. Cogan explores the events behind this nearly four-year captivity, explaining how and why this little-known internment occurred. A thorough historical account, the book addresses several controversial issues about the internment, including Japanese intentions toward their prisoners and the U.S. State Department's role in allowing the presence of American civilians in the Philippines during wartime. Supported by diaries, memoirs, war crimes transcripts, Japanese soldiers' accounts, medical data, and many other sources, Captured presents a detailed and moving chronicle of the internees' efforts to survive. Cogan compares living conditions within the internment camps with life in POW camps and with the living conditions of Japanese soldiers late in the war. An afterword discusses the experiences of internment survivors after the war, combining medical and legal statistics with personal anecdotes to create a testament to the thousands of Americans whose captivity haunted them long after the war ended.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. (Psalm 91:4) “It’s neat up here,” Arlene called out to her friends from atop the ridge that surrounded their hidden jungle home. “I can see way past the valley.” They ran along the ridge shouting and laughing. Then they ran down the steps, past the big house to the creek they called the river. Whole troops of monkeys came chattering through the trees. The children ran to watch them go by. Outside their hidden jungle haven, things were different. The world was at war. As her family sang songs and read the Bible every evening, Arlene knew God was taking care of her. One day, Arlene heard some bad news. “The enemy has taken over Zamboanga City, Our soldiers have surrendered. They can’t help us now!”

The heyday of anthropological collecting on the Northwest Coast took place between 1875 and the Great Depression. The scramble for skulls and skeletons, poles, canoes, baskets, feast bowls, and masks went on until it seemed that almost everything not nailed down or hidden was gone. The period of most intense collecting on the coast coincided with the growth of anthropological museums, which reflected the realization that time was running out and that civilization was pushing the indigenous people to the wall, destroying their material culture and even extinguishing the native stock itself.

Young Florie Gilder has always known that her biological father is a noble--her only evidence an heirloom gold belt. Living as a commoner, she earns her keep as apprentice-jewelry-designer in her foster-father's goldsmithing shop. Secretly hoping to find her real father, she offers to sell the goldsmith's wares in the town of her birth--at the Selkirk Fair. With her heirloom gold belt on display, she hopes it will be recognized by her real father. Leaving her booth at the Fair to take a moment's respite, Florie returns to find that a Lady Mavis Fraser of the Scottish court bought the gold belt (Mavis knows that her husband Lord Fraser would instantly recognize the belt as the link to the whereabouts of his illegitimate daughter whom he seeks to be reunited with, but such a reunion would foil Mavis's claim to her husband's estate). Florie, pursuing Lady Mavis, gives her back her money, wrests back the belt, and flees into the forest. Claiming Florie stole it from her, Mavis makes the authorities promise to find and execute Florie. Meanwhile, Rane MacAllister,a local hunter in the forest, mistakes the hiding Florie for a deer, wounding her with an arrow. He carries her to a local church where she will be guaranteed 40 days of sanctuary. When Lady Mavis hears the church has Florie, she commands Rane to guard her, but in the process he falls in love with her. Lady Mavis sets fire to the church, hoping to kill Florie, but Florie escapes. Rane's penalty for letting her escape will be death. At the eleventh hour, Florie returns, and must decide which she wants more--Rane's life, or her noble lineage...

A memoir of a young soldier’s training as a paratrooper during WWII, his wartime service, imprisonment and return to his career for the British railways. After spending the 1930s working for the London Midland Scottish railways, Tom Hicks volunteered for war service in 1939 and was initially placed in the military railway of the Royal Engineers. In search of adventure, he successfully applied to join the newly formed 1st Parachute Squadron of the Royal Engineers. The intensity and rigors of parachute training are described in detail, as are the comradeship and humor that came to the fore as this small 150-man unit fought throughout the Second World War as part of the 1st Parachute Brigade. The excitement of the first parachute jumps is relived together with the parachute operations in North Africa, Sicily, and the Battle of Arnhem. It was here after nine days’ fighting with his mates falling around him that Tom was wounded and taken prisoner. Following the battle, Tom was transported in a cattle truck to Germany where he was used as forced labor in a lead mine until being liberated by the Americans in 1945. With insightful commentary from Tom’s son Norman, this is the story of an ordinary soldier, who was motivated by pride in his unit. Tom has recounted his experiences with a keen eye and a sense of humor that has always enabled him to triumph in the face of adversity.

Two years after the United States entered the Second World War, 21 year old college student James D. Pascoe was drafted into the U. S. Army Air Force. The California native trained as a tail gunner, and was assigned to a B-26 Marauder. On his 11th mission, the young airman was shot down over the French countryside. Passed by local families to the Résistance, Pascoe spent weeks on the run. Betrayed, he was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. This memoir, based on the daily journal he kept through the war, tells the story of an ordinary American - from civilian to POW and back again.

The award-winning author and illustrator presents a personal account of the Northern California wildfires of 2017 in this moving graphic memoir. On October 9th, 2017, wildfires burned through Northern California, resulting in forty-four fatalities and the destruction of thousands of homes. In A Fire Story, Brian Fies shares an unflinching account of this tragedy as he and his wife experienced it—including losing their house and every possession that didn’t fit in their car. As the fires continued to burn through the area, Brian pulled together A Fire Story and posted it online. It immediately went viral. He later expanded the webcomic to include environmental insight and the fire stories of his neighbors. A Fire Story is a candid testimony of the wildfires that left homes destroyed, families broken, and a community determined to rebuild. This updated and expanded edition includes thirty-two pages of all-new material, extending the story past the events of the hardcover edition to include updates on the rebuilding, wrestling with insurance, wrangling with contractors, the management of sometimes volatile emotions, and the threats of yet another wildfire.