Magnificent Failure

Stunning photographic testimony to the hard realities of western farming In words that are as clean and precise as his haunting, starkly beautiful photographs, John Martin Campbell vividly recreates the life and times of the western homestead era, the period from about 1885 when the prairie lands lying west of the longitude of the western Dakotas became available to pioneering farmers. More than 70 black-and-white duotone photographs, with detailed captions, record bleak landscapes and abandoned farms, outbuildings, farm implements, and hand tools—mute testimonies to the failed hopes of several million families who settled on these arid and semi-arid lands. Campbell explains how their failure resulted from a deadly combination of natural and economic causes. Historians of the western United States have largely ignored the homesteaders, despite the lessons their experiences teach about irrigation and dry farming on the northern plains and the impact of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. There is little romance in farming, especially when compared with that attached to cowboys, Indians, and explorers. Still, the homesteaders were heroes in the opening of the West, and this book, with its moving text, historical introduction, and stunning photographs, tells their story.

Locked in a desperate Cold War race against the Soviets to find out if humans could survive in space and live through a free fall from space vehicles, the Pentagon gave civilian adventurer Nick Piantanida’s Project Strato-Jump little notice until May Day, 1966. Operating in the shadows of well-funded, high-visibility Air Force and Navy projects, the former truck driver and pet store owner set a new world record for manned balloon altitude. Rising more than 23 miles over the South Dakota prairie, Piantanida nearly perished trying to set the world record for the highest free fall parachute jump from that height. On his next attempt, he would not be so lucky. Part harrowing adventure story, part space history, part psychological portrait of an extraordinary risk-taker, this story fascinates and intrigues the armchair adventurer in all of us.

“Reveals much of what history has tended to gloss over . . . should be a must read for all who have an interest in this operation” (Airborne Quarterly). After Normandy, the most spectacular Allied offensive of World War II was Operation Market Garden, which planned to join three divisions of paratroopers dropped behind German lines with massive armored columns breaking through the front. The object was to seize a crossing over the Rhine to outflank the heartland of the Third Reich and force a quick end to the war. The operation utterly failed, of course, as the 1st British Airborne was practically wiped out, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions became tied down in vicious combat for months, and the vaunted armored columns were foiled at every turn by improvisational German defenses. Some have called the battle “Hitler’s last victory.” In this work, many years in the making, David Bennett puts forward a balanced and comprehensive account of the British, American, Polish, Canadian, and German actions, as well as the strategic background of the operation, in a way not yet done. He shows, for example, that rather than a bridgehead over the Rhine, Montgomery’s ultimate aim was to flank the Ruhr industrial area from the north. The book also deals as never before with the key role of all three Corps of British Second Army, not just Brian Horrocks’ central XXX Corps. For the first time, we learn the dramatic untold story of how a single company of Canadian engineers achieved the evacuation of 1st Airborne’s survivors back across the Rhine when all other efforts had failed. Also revealed is the scandal of how Polish Gen. Sosabowski was treated by the British military authorities, and how the operation would have failed at the outset but for the brilliant soldiery of the two American airborne divisions. Respectfully nodding to A Bridge Too Far and other excellent works on Market Garden, the author has interviewed survivors, walked the ground, and performed prodigious archival research to increase our understanding of the battle, from the actions of the lowliest soldier to the highest commander, Allied and German.

The contributors, authorities on Faulkner's narrative, offer a wide variety of critical approaches to Faulkner's fiction-writing process

Did you observe new Startups burning Millions in just a few days? This is what happened more than once in recent years, however sometimes startups are successful. If you are seriously thinking about starting your own business you need to give deep consideration to a lot of factors before taking the plunge. A very high percentage of start-ups fail - often in a very short space of time. And the reasons for failure are numerous and wide-ranging. If you don't give sufficient thought and planning to your new venture it is very likely that you will be among them. It is always helpful to know of other people's experiences in these sort of areas. What they did - or didn't do - can provide you with clear pointers as to how you should proceed. Many people have been down the road and many have failed. Their failures might contain the seeds of your success if you are able to understand where they went wrong and use that information to your benefit. Running your own business takes guts and stamina - among lots of other qualities. If you are thinking of taking the plunge you will need - and deserve - a lot of luck. Good hunting!

A book to help kids build resilience.