A March Into Darkness

On October 10, 1941, the Jewish population of the Belarusian village of Krucha was rounded up and shot. This atrocity was not the routine work of the SS but was committed by a regular German army unit acting on its own initiative. Marching into Darkness is a bone-chilling exposé of the ordinary footsoldiers who participated in the Final Solution on a daily basis. Although scholars have exploded the myth that the Wehrmacht played no significant part in the Holocaust, a concrete picture of its involvement has been lacking. Marching into Darkness reveals in detail how the army willingly fulfilled its role as an agent of murder on a massive scale. Waitman Wade Beorn unearths forced labor, sexual violence, and grave robbing, though a few soldiers refused to participate and even helped Jews. Improvised extermination progressively became methodical, with some army units going so far as to organize "Jew hunts." The Wehrmacht also used the pretense of Jewish anti-partisan warfare as a subterfuge by reporting murdered Jews as partisans. Through military and legal records, survivor testimonies, and eyewitness interviews, Beorn paints a searing portrait of an army's descent into ever more intimate participation in genocide.

The defeat and death of the evil Wulfgar should inspire a time of rejoicing throughout Eutracia. But Prince Tristan grieves. Not only is his beloved wife dead, but across the Sea of Whispers, in the island fortress known as the Citadel, Wulfgar’s bride, the sorceress Serena, plots to continue her husband’s nefarious plans, aided by the Scroll of the Vagaries and the advice of the otherworldly Heretics. Although the ranks of Tristan’s faithful soldiers were decimated in recent battle, the prince nevertheless plans a bold surprise attack. But on the eve of the mission, disaster strikes. From behind the towering azure wall of magical energy in the forbidding face of the massive Tolenka Mountains comes Xanthus, a powerful warrior dispatched by the Heretics to bring Tristan into their mysterious realm. A master of a mystical martial art against which even the great swordsman Tristan is helpless, Xanthus launches a reign of terror against Eutracia’s innocent subjects, compelling Tristan to journey behind the azure wall. There, in a magical land as beautiful as it is violent, Tristan will learn the shocking truth about the destiny he and Shailiha, his sister, will share. In Tristan’s absence, Shailiha must lead the fleet of Black Ships against the Citadel, accompanied by the wizards Faegan and Wigg and the beautiful pirate queen Tyranny. But unknown to them, Serena has prepared a deadly trap with hellish creatures summoned by the Heretics. And as Shailiha’s troops sail blindly into danger, Serena is preparing a spell unlike anything the world has ever seen–a spell powerful enough to defeat death itself.

The defeat and death of the evil Wulfgar should inspire a time of rejoicing throughout Eutracia. But Prince Tristan grieves. Not only is his beloved wife dead, but across the Sea of Whispers, in the island fortress known as the Citadel, Wulfgar’s bride, the sorceress Serena, plots to continue her husband’s nefarious plans, aided by the Scroll of the Vagaries and the advice of the otherworldly Heretics. Although the ranks of Tristan’s faithful soldiers were decimated in recent battle, the prince nevertheless plans a bold surprise attack. But on the eve of the mission, disaster strikes. From behind the towering azure wall of magical energy in the forbidding face of the massive Tolenka Mountains comes Xanthus, a powerful warrior dispatched by the Heretics to bring Tristan into their mysterious realm. A master of a mystical martial art against which even the great swordsman Tristan is helpless, Xanthus launches a reign of terror against Eutracia’s innocent subjects, compelling Tristan to journey behind the azure wall. There, in a magical land as beautiful as it is violent, Tristan will learn the shocking truth about the destiny he and Shailiha, his sister, will share. In Tristan’s absence, Shailiha must lead the fleet of Black Ships against the Citadel, accompanied by the wizards Faegan and Wigg and the beautiful pirate queen Tyranny. But unknown to them, Serena has prepared a deadly trap with hellish creatures summoned by the Heretics. And as Shailiha’s troops sail blindly into danger, Serena is preparing a spell unlike anything the world has ever seen–a spell powerful enough to defeat death itself.

Tears in the Darkness is an altogether new look at World War II that exposes the myths of war and shows the extent of suffering and loss on both sides. For the first four months of 1942, U.S., Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought what was America's first major land battle of World War II, the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the surrender of 76,000 Filipinos and Americans, the single largest defeat in American military history. The defeat, though, was only the beginning, as Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman make dramatically clear in this powerfully original book. From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: forty-one months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture—far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur. The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy. Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele's story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers.

Robert Newcomb’s dazzling debut trilogy, The Chronicles of Blood and Stone, introduced readers to the strange and wondrous land of Eutracia. Now, in Savage Messiah, the first volume in a sweeping new trilogy of magic, romance, and adventure, Newcomb returns to the world of his epic saga, unlocking fresh secrets and startling surprises. With the demise of his evil half brother, Wulfgar, Prince Tristan restored peace to Eutracia . . . or so he thought. But the Orb of the Vigors was damaged in the climactic battle, and now the powerful artifact is bleeding magical energy and cutting a swath of death and destruction across the kingdom. Tristan can heal the wounded Orb, but not until his enchanted blood is returned to normal. Only then will the powers of the Vigors be his to command. Unfortunately, the secret of reversing the enchantment is lost. Even worse, Wulfgar is neither dead nor defeated. Ensconced in his fortress across the Sea of Whispers, Tristan’s hideously scarred half brother plots with the Heretics, the otherworldly masters of the Vagaries. With their aid, Wulfgar has grown even stronger in the dark arts. Now, with powerful demonic servants and weapons of dire potency, Wulfgar sets forth to complete the destruction of the Orb . . . and to avenge himself on the Chosen Ones. Preceding him, he sends a brotherly greeting: a cunning assassin with orders to dispatch Eutracia’s ruling council. Tristan and his trusted allies—the wise wizards Wigg and Faegan, the beautiful pirate Tyranny, and, dearest of all, his beloved Celeste—embark on a desperate quest to cleanse his blood. It is a journey that will lead from the Sea of Whispers to distant Parthalon to the mysterious Well of Forestallments, and it will change everything the Chosen Ones think they know about themselves and their destiny. If they should fail, the Orb will perish, and with it, the Vigors. As for success, it may prove more costly still. . . .

On December 7, 1941, as the great battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah lie paralyzed and burning in the aftermath of the Japanese ttack on Pearl Harbor, a crack team of U.S. Navy salvage divers headed by Edward C. Raymer are hurriedly flown to Oahu from the mainland. The divers have been given a Herculean task: rescue the sailors and Marines trapped below, and resurrect the pride of the Pacific fleet. Now for the first time, the chief diver of the Pearl Harbor salvage operations, Cmdr. Edward C. Raymer, USN (Ret.), tells the whole story of the desperate attempts to save crewmembers caught inside their sinking ships. Descent into Darkness is the only book available that describes the raising and salvage operations of sunken battleships following the December 7th attack. Once Raymer and his crew of divers entered the interiors of the sunken shipwrecks—attempting untested and potentially deadly diving techniques—they experienced a world of total blackness, unable to see even the faceplates of their helmets. By memorizing the ships’ blueprints and using their sense of touch, the divers groped their way hundreds of feet inside the sunken vessels to make repairs and salvage vital war material. The divers learned how to cope with such unseen dangers as falling objects, sharks, the eerie presence of floating human bodies, and the constant threat of Japanese attacks from above. ​Though many of these divers were killed or seriously injured during the wartime salvage operations, on the whole they had great success performing what seemed to be impossible jobs. Among their credits, Raymer’s crew raised the sunken battleships West Virginia, Nevada, and California. After Pearl Harbor they moved on to other crucial salvage work off Guadalcanal and the sites of other great sea battles.

New York Times bestselling author of Mindhunter John Douglas reveals more unique cases from his time as head of the FBI's elite Investigative Support Unit. In the #1 New York Times bestseller Mindhunter, John Douglas, who headed the FBI's elite Investigative Support Unit, told the story of his brilliant and terrifying career tracking down some of the most heinous criminals in history. Now, in Journey into Darkness, Douglas profiles vicious serial killers, rapists, and child molesters. He is straightforward, blunt, often irreverent, and outspoken, but takes pains not to glorify any of these murderers. Some of the unique cases Douglas discusses include: -The Clairemont killer -The schoolgirl murders -Richmond's First Serial Murderer -The brutal and sadistic murder of Suzanne Marie Collins -Polly Klaas' abduction and murder by Richard Allen Davis, -The tragedy that lead to the creation of Megan's Law With Journey into Darkness, Douglas provides more than a glimpse into the minds of serial killers; he demonstrates what a powerful weapon behavioral science has become. Profiling criminals helps not only to capture them, but also helps society understand how these predators work and what can be done to prevent them from striking again. Douglas focuses especially on pedophiles and child abductors, fully explaining what drives them, and how to keep children away from them. As he points out, "The best way to protect your children is to know your enemy." He includes eight rules for safety, a list of steps parents can take to prevent child abduction and exploitation, tips on how to detect sexual exploitation, basic rules of safety for children, and a chart, based on age, which details the safety skills children should have to protect themselves. In his review for Mindhunter in The New York Times Book Review, Dean Koontz said, "Because of his insights and the power of the material, he leaves us shaken, gripped by a quiet grief for the innocent victims and anguished by the human condition." Journey into Darkness continues this perilous trip into the psyche of the serial killer, but also offers a glimmer of hope that profiling may enable law enforcement to see the indicators of a serial killer's mind and intervene before he kills, or kills again.

From National Book Award Finalist Albert Marrin comes the moving story of Janusz Korczak, the heroic Polish Jewish doctor who devoted his life to children, perishing with them in the Holocaust. Janusz Korczak was more than a good doctor. He was a hero. The Dr. Spock of his day, he established orphanages run on his principle of honoring children and shared his ideas with the public in books and on the radio. He famously said that "children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today." Korczak was a man ahead of his time, whose work ultimately became the basis for the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Korczak was also a Polish Jew on the eve of World War II. He turned down multiple opportunities for escape, standing by the children in his orphanage as they became confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. Dressing them in their Sabbath finest, he led their march to the trains and ultimately perished with his children in Treblinka. But this book is much more than a biography. In it, renowned nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines not just Janusz Korczak's life but his ideology of children: that children are valuable in and of themselves, as individuals. He contrasts this with Adolf Hitler's life and his ideology of children: that children are nothing more than tools of the state. And throughout, Marrin draws readers into the Warsaw Ghetto. What it was like. How it was run. How Jews within and Poles without responded. Who worked to save lives and who tried to enrich themselves on other people's suffering. And how one man came to represent the conscience and the soul of humanity. Filled with black-and-white photographs, this is an unforgettable portrait of a man whose compassion in even the darkest hours reminds us what is possible.