Reluctant Lieutenant

The author reconstructs his journey from basic training.

The reluctant lieutenant will make you laugh with his self-deprecating, sometimes cynical humor and frankness. He was one of thousands of academically talented young graduate students yanked out of their happy, idealistic existence to replenish our relentless war in Vietnam. He became the lucky lieutenant when he drew orders instead for a three-year assignment to support the Cold War in Germany. This collection of short stories will lead you through those years with wit and irony as he chronicles the remarkable events he experienced, the fascinating people he encountered, and the invaluable perspective he gained on leadership. Examples abound of sterling leaders and pathetic shirkers among both officers and enlisted men, of clarity and consternation, of boredom and panic, and of luck both good and bad. Through it all is romance and the adventure of living in Europe. Ridder is a born storyteller. His insights into the people and systems that comprise the military will strike home with anyone who has served. Those who have not will experience a unique and authentic view of air force life from the inside.

Why should Christians care about what Atheists believe? It is easy to discover what Atheists have to say about Christianity and Christians. Pick up a book by any modern Atheist writer, read a few random pages, and the reader will have a sampling of the criticisms Atheists have regarding religion and people of faith. A natural first response is the desire to set the record straight. A person responding this way will quickly find themselves going in circles. This is one point Christians need to accept and understand. From the Christian's perspective, it serves no useful purpose when Christians engage Atheists in an attempt to set the record straight. Atheism is a worldview or a way of seeing the world. Just as the Christian sees their Christian faith as reasonable and rational, the Atheist has the same view of what they believe to be true. Atheists vary in their definition of what it means to be an Atheist. There are, however, common themes found in the beliefs of people identifying themselves as Atheist. It is common, for example, to find people identifying themselves as Atheists to believe the natural world is all there is. This of course, excludes the supernatural and since God operates outside of nature, God is supernatural and is therefore eliminated in the thinking of Atheism. How should the Christian respond when Atheists challenge Christian beliefs? How can the Christian respond effectively unless the Christian understands what Atheists believe? How can the Christian respond unless the Christian understands why Atheists believe as they do? The apostle Paul tells Christians to be ambassadors. Ambassadors need to understand the world in which they serve. This is why Christians should care about what Atheists believe.

Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature looks at the ways in which authors writing in Japanese in the twentieth century constructed a division between the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in their work. Drawing on methodology from Foucault and Lacan, the clearly presented essays seek to show how Japanese writers have responded to the central question of what it means to be ‘Japanese’ and of how best to define their identity. Taking geographical, racial and ethnic identity as a starting point to explore Japan's vision of 'non-Japan', representations of the Other are examined in terms of the experiences of Japanese authors abroad and in the imaginary lands envisioned by authors in Japan. Using a diverse cross-section of writers and texts as case studies, this edited volume brings together contributions from a number of leading international experts in the field and is written at an accessible level, making it essential reading for those working in Japanese studies, colonialism, identity studies and nationalism.

Soldiers that fly! Tanks that fly! Cruisers that . . . sink! What Fight Have Been My Tank Is Fight! contains a humorous and exciting examination of twenty real inventions from World War II that never saw the light of day. Each entry includes full technical details, a complete development history, in-depth analysis, and a riveting fictionalized account of the invention's success or failure on the battlefield. Lavish color artwork and technical illustrations are falling from the pages of this book like toenails from a trench foot. Dive under the Atlantic in the turreted U-Cruiser, or rule its surface from an aircraft carrier made out of ice. Shred bomber formations in a high-performance flying wing fighter and then rocket to your untimely end from the cockpit of your very own suicide missile. We've got a pair of German armored land vehicles for you that are so large they had to be powered by naval engines! My Tank Is Fight! delivers the thrilling action of the Second World War as it might have been with a touch of humor and a lack of class. Only the slow-witted are reading this anywhere other than in line at the cash register. Ask an adult to help you if you're still not sure you want to buy the book.

The dramatic story of the peoples' fight for the right to vote in Britain The culmination of a lifetime's work by the great journalist and historian Paul Foot, The Vote tells the thrilling story of the hard, long-fought struggle for the right to vote in Britain, and the slow erosion that followed. In the tradition of "history from below," Paul Foot examines the great democratic debates that dominated the fight for electoral democracy. Taking readers from the smoke-filled church of the Putney debates, to the dramatic arguments between Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke in the aftermath of the French Revolution, to the rise of Chartism and the struggles for votes for women. Throughout, Foot shows how vested interested first delayed and then hobbled the progress of parliamentary democracy. Concentrating on the vital role played by direct action, he shows how rank-and-file resistance to ruling-class injustice was followed by retreat into parliamentary impotence. Into the twentieth-century, Foot exposes the gaps between the promises of a succession of Labour governments and their actions once in power, and its abandonment of any aspiration to economic democracy. A gripping work of narrative history, written in Paul Foot's inimitable energy and engaged style, this book is a classic work of history, and a must-read for anyone interested in how today's political scene was formed.

The author has sifted through the vast Nazi archives and the fragmentary records of the beaten Allies to tell the story of the fall of France. The author also wrote "The Price of Glory: Verdun, 1916" and "The Fall of Paris 1870-71".