Abandoned In Place

Roland Miller's color photographs document the NASA, Air Force, and Army facilities across the nation that once played a crucial role in the space race.

"Abandoned in Place" provides a snapshot of the Vietnam POW/MIA issue. From the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, in January 1973, ending American involvement in the war in Southeast Asia to the "dysfunctional" POW/MIA accounting effort of 2014. With the period 1980 -1981 a clear line in the sand. As the U.S. government refocused its efforts from the rescue of surviving POWs to the recovery of remains. "Abandoned in Place" painstakingly details the intelligence available in 1980 that led to the conclusion American POWs survived in Laos, six years after the end of the Vietnam War. Using never before seen documents, the author reconstructs events leading up to a CIA reconnaissance mission, doomed from the start, to confirm the presence of POWs held deep in the Laotian jungle. As the CIA team headed toward the camp, members of the Joint Special Operation Command trained for a strike of surgical precision. Its mission rescue the POWs held at the camp known as Nhom Marrott. A lack of political will, bureaucratic failures, and leaks forced a stand-down order, condemning any surviving POWs. The author highlights the post Nhom Marrott government accounting effort, focusing on several specific POW/MIA cases. Crippled by a "mindset to debunk" officials ignored evidence of capture and survival in captivity. They edited witness statements to support pre-conceived conclusion of death and dismissed Vietnamese admissions of capture. This despite overwhelming evidence POWs not only survived but also continued to lay down signals in hopes of eventual rescue. Early Reviews - Col. Don Gordon (USA-Ret) Special Operations Command, J2 Director of Intelligence 1980-1983 - "O'Shea leads readers to form their own reasoned conclusions. She writes the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched compendium, private or government, classified or unclassified, about this complicated and emotional subject. It is an event long needed to be told accurately and with respect for the missing in action and their families. O'Shea is fidelis to that cause. She carefully distinguishes fact from speculation. Abandoned in Place is a meticulously detailed, thoroughly verified, and reliable story, well told. It describes plans to rescue about 35 United States Military servicemen strongly believed held in a prison camp in Laos in 1980. Step-by-step, O'Shea builds a strong case that some US military likely remained under North Vietnamese and Lao control after the war." Former Senator and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs Bob Smith - "Lynn O'Shea has provided the best in depth analysis ever written and brilliantly combined over 25 years of personal research, evidence and a chronological portrayal of the facts to prove, without any doubt, that America left men behind in Southeast Asia at the end of the Viet Nam War. When we were told that the North Vietnamese, Lao and Viet Cong had complied with the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 and returned all of our men, the evidence shows that was an outright lie and many of our government leaders and the intelligence community knew it." Dr. Jeffrey Donahue, Brother of Major Morgan Donahue - "Lynn masterfully connects a mind-boggling array of dots to not only affirm the truth of the Indochina POW-MIA issue but also to rigorously convey how and why the U.S. government knowingly left men behind and then covered it up. Lynn has woven together tens of thousands of documents and countless hours of interviews to produce a cogent and unassailable profile of one of the most tragic episodes of modern American history. The how and why have never been so brilliantly researched, documented and conveyed."

"Featuring more than 100 locations, from ghost towns to amusement parks, roads to railways, hotels to hospitals. From war to chemical disasters, from grand follies to changing fashions, the story behind each striking image is explained."--Page [4] of cover.

The places time forgot - stunning, eerie and atmospheric photographs of the most breathtaking abandoned places from around the world. A stunning gift package perfect for those interested in photography, history and the world around us. 'A book that makes you think' -- ***** Reader review 'Beautiful' -- ***** Reader review 'Spectacular photos' -- ***** Reader review 'Stunning' -- ***** Reader review ********************************************************************* From the magical empty theatres of Detroit to the lost playgrounds of Chernobyl, there are places across the globe that were once a hub of activity, but are now abandoned and in decay. With nature creeping in and reclaiming these spots, we are left with eerie crumbling ruins and breathtaking views that offer us a window into the past and capture our imagination. Abandoned showcases the very best photographs from around the world documenting this phenomenon. We see a disused stadium in the Czech Republic, a train wreck in the North Carolina mountains, factories in Hungary, a Welsh mental asylum and warehouses in Belgium, all depicted beautifully and sensitively. More immersive than a museum and more human that a lecture, abandoned photography has given the world an exciting way to look at our history and the places we have long neglected. Compiled and curated by photographer and former urban explorer, Mathew Growcoot.

"Haunting photographs" - The Wall Street Journal. "Henk van Rensbergen is a hero for urban explorers around the world" - Flanders Today. "As an airline pilot, Belgian-born Henk Van Rensbergen was used to travelling the world. But he found a great way to supersize that passion: hunting for the most wonderful, secret, haunting abandoned places" - CNN. While his crew is resting at the pool, pilot and photographer Henk van Rensbergen explores deserted city palaces, overgrown factories or desolate areas of nature, finding beauty in the decay. This engaging book of photographs, a revised edition with new material, lets us wander through abandoned places, including Abkhazia, a break-away region bordering Georgia and Russia and the newest must-visit for every urban explorer. AUTHOR: Henk Van Rensbergen is the pilot of a Boeing 787 and a pioneering Urban Explorer. For more than 25 years, he has been capturing the most beautiful pictures of desolate and forgotten places. His Abandoned Places picture books (1, 2, 3 and The Photographer's Selection) have been highly successful. SELLING POINTS: * A new selection of the best images from Henk van Rensbergen, an urban explorer pioneer, in a handy format * This revised and expanded edition of his bestselling photo book of unusual places is packed with fascinating new images, including over 50% new material 120 colour, 50 b/w images

Featuring 170 striking photographs, Abandoned Cold War Places is a fascinating visual history of the relics left behind by both sides from the late 1940s to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There is something both sad and creepy about an abandoned amusement park. Perhaps it’s because a place that was once packed with fun seekers has become slowly choked with weeds. Or maybe it’s because the sound of kids’ excited laughter has been replaced with the quiet creaking of rusted rides. When the only visitors are the spirits of those who died there long ago, an amusement park can be a scary place to visit. Among the 11 amusement parks in this book, children will discover a roller coaster left to rot after nearly killing its passengers, a theme park that is now home to alligators and snakes, and the ghost of a man who is still trying to take a ride on a Ferris wheel that stopped working years ago. The haunting photographs and chilling nonfiction text will keep children turning the pages to discover more spooky stories.

Twenty-one writers embark on a tour of the lonely, the rejected and the uninhabited. Featuring stories of science fiction, fantasy and horror by rising new authors and classic tales by Ray Bradbury, Dashiell Hammett, Edgar Allan Poe and M. R. James.