Four Stars Of Hell

The wartime exploits of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment are told here in the most vivid and appropriate way; by one of the men who experienced their battles firsthand – Captain Laurence Critchell. The author fought with the men of the Screaming Eagles from the tough training at camp Toccoa, Georgia to their hellish night drop on D-Day and all the way to the capture of Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. During 1944-1945 the author and his comrades soldiers would be involved in some of the heaviest and bloodiest fighting in Europe, during the Operation Market Garden at Njimegen and the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne. A gripping read of the Second World War as told by a decorated combat veteran. “It is fitting that the story of the 501st Parachute Regiment of the famed 101st Airborne Division should be told by a parachute captain.”—The New York Times “A personalized record, told in terms of the men of all ranks, of how they trained and fought and died... the story has an authentic ring.”—U.S. Quarterly “The greatest airborne operation of this or any other war.” —Lewis H. Brereton, Former Lt. General, First Allied Airborne Army, World War II

Most contemporary Christians acknowledge the doctrine of hell, but they’d rather not think about how God punishes the wicked. The authors of Four Views on Hell meet this subject head-on with different views on what the Scriptures say. Is hell to be understood literally as a place of eternal smoke and flames? Or are such images simply metaphors for a real but different form of punishment? Is there such a thing as “conditional immortality,” in which God annihilates the souls of the wicked rather than punishing them endlessly? Is there a Purgatory, and if so, how does it fit into the picture? The interactive Counterpoints forum allows the reader to see the four views on hell—literal, metaphorical, conditional, and purgatorial—in interaction with each other. Each view in turn is presented, critiqued, and defended. This evenhanded approach is ideal for comparing and contrasting views in order to form a personal conclusion about one of Christianity’s key doctrines. The Counterpoints series provides a forum for comparison and critique of different views on issues important to Christians. Counterpoints books address two categories: Church Life and Bible and Theology. Complete your library with other books in the Counterpoints series.

Hailing from the big cities and small towns of America, these young men came together to serve their country and the greater good. They were the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division (the All Americans). Phil Nordyke, their official historian, draws on interviews with surviving veterans and oral history recordings as well as official archives and unpublished written accounts from more than three hundred veterans of the 505th PIR and their supporting units. This is history as it was lived by the men of the 505th, from their prewar coming of age in the regiment, through the end of World War II, when they marched in the Victory Parade up Fifth Avenue in New York, to the postwar legacy of having been part of an elite parachute regiment with a record unsurpassed in the annals of combat.

The author of The Battered Bastards of Bastogne does a “superb job of telling the history the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden” (Kepler’s Book Reviews). Hell’s Highway is a history, most of which has never before been written. It is adventure recorded by those who lived it and put into context by an author who was also there. It is human drama on an enormous scale, told through the personal stories of 612 contributors of written and oral accounts of the Screaming Eagles’ part in the attempt to liberate the Netherlands. Koskimaki is an expert in weaving together individual recollections to make a compelling and uniquely first-hand account of the bravery and deprivations suffered by the troops, and their hopes, fears, triumphs, and tragedies, as well as those of Dutch civilians caught up in the action. There have been many books published on Operation Market Garden and there will surely be more. This book, however, gets to the heart of the action. The “big picture,” which most histories paint, here is just the context for the real history on the ground.

Recent years have seen much controversy regarding a unified Christian doctrine of hell: Do we go to heaven or hell when we die? Or do we cease to exist? Are believers and unbelievers ultimately saved by grace in the end? By focusing on recent theological arguments, Four Views on Hell: Second Edition highlights why the church still needs to wrestle with the doctrine of hell. In the fair-minded and engaging Counterpoints format, four leading scholars introduce us to the current views on eternal judgment, with particular attention given to the new voices that have entered the debate. Contributors and views include: Denny Burk – representing a principle of Eternal Conscious Torment John Stackhouse – representing a principle of Annihilationism (Conditional Immortality) Robin Parry – representing a principle of Universalism (Ultimate Reconciliation) Jerry Walls – representing a principle of Purgatory Preston Sprinkle concludes the discussion by evaluating each view, noting significant points of exchange between the essayists. The interactive nature of the volume allows the reader to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each view and come to an informed conclusion. BONUS CONTENT: Includes entire first edition of Four Views on Hell to help readers grasp the history of the discussion and how it has developed over the last twenty years.

A new telling of the brutal siege of Bastogne, where vastly outnumbered American forces held off a savage German onslaught and sealed the fate of the Third Reich Hitler's last gamble, the Battle of the Bulge, was intended to push the Allied invaders of Normandy all the way back to the beaches. The plan nearly succeeded, and almost certainly would have, were it not for one small Belgian town and its tenacious American defenders who held back a tenfold larger German force while awaiting the arrival of General George Patton's mighty Third Army. In this dramatic account of the 1944-45 winter of war in Bastogne, historian Peter Schrijvers offers the first full story of the German assault on the strategically located town. From the December stampede of American and Panzer divisions racing to reach Bastogne first, through the bloody eight-day siege from land and air, and through three more weeks of unrelenting fighting even after the siege was broken, events at Bastogne hastened the long-awaited end of WWII. Schrijvers draws on diaries, memoirs, and other fresh sources to illuminate the experiences not only of Bastogne's 3,000 citizens and their American defenders, but also of German soldiers and commanders desperate for victory. The costs of war are here made real, uncovered in the stories of those who perished and those who emerged from battle to find the world forever changed.

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