The End Of Glory

The untold and inspiring story of Eric Liddell, hero of Chariots of Fire, from his Olympic medal to his missionary work in China to his last, brave years in a Japanese work camp during WWII Many people will remember Eric Liddell as the Olympic gold medalist from the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire. Famously, Liddell would not run on Sunday because of his strict observance of the Christian sabbath, and so he did not compete in his signature event, the 100 meters, at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He was the greatest sprinter in the world at the time, and his choice not to run was ridiculed by the British Olympic committee, his fellow athletes, and most of the world press. Yet Liddell triumphed in a new event, winning the 400 meters in Paris. Liddell ran--and lived--for the glory of his God. After winning gold, he dedicated himself to missionary work. He travelled to China to work in a local school and as a missionary. He married and had children there. By the time he could see war on the horizon, Liddell put Florence, his pregnant wife, and children on a boat to Canada, while he stayed behind, his conscience compelling him to stay among the Chinese. He and thousands of other westerners were eventually interned at a Japanese work camp. Once imprisoned, Liddell did what he was born to do, practice his faith and his sport. He became the moral center of an unbearable world. He was the hardest worker in the camp, he counseled many of the other prisoners, he gave up his own meager portion of meals many days, and he organized games for the children there. He even raced again. For his ailing, malnourished body, it was all too much. Liddell died of a brain tumor just before the end of the war. His passing was mourned around the world, and his story still inspires. In the spirit of The Boys in the Boat and Unbroken, For the Glory is both a compelling narrative of athletic heroism and a gripping story of faith in the darkest circumstances.

Of the three revisionist works John Charmley has written about British foreign policy in the mid-twentieth century this is the centrepiece. The author argues that Churchill deserves more credit for 'their finest hour' than has been granted, but just as his virtues were built on the heroic scale, so too were his faults and failures. The statesman who had struggled to destroy Nazism and restore Europe's balance of power ended by allowing Stalin to dominate central and eastern Europe. This is no mere exercise in debunking, in many ways the complex man presented in these pages is more interesting than the more hagiographical portraits. 'This is not instant history run up to cause a sensation, but a meticulously documented reappraisal of Churchill's war leadership and of the career that led up to it. Nor is its tone contemptuous or vindictive. The author accepts that Churchill was a great man. His starting point is that even great men make mistakes.' John Keegan, Daily Telegraph 'Probably the most important revisionist text to be published since the war.' Alan Clark, The Times

A Girl on the Run from the Law Alexandra Blakewood has everything any teenager could wish for, apart from the horse she'd love, but she won't stop getting into trouble. Sent to a US boot camp, she dreams of escaping. It seems impossible until she's told about a gruelling 1,200 mile horse race across the American West... A Boy on a Mission to Save a Life Will Greyton was the star student at his Tennessee high school until his father was laid off. Now Will works at a burger joint. When his dad falls ill, it seems things can't get any worse. An operation will save him, but there's no way to pay for it. Then Will hears about The Glory, a deadly endurance race with a $250,000 purse, open to any rider daring enough to attempt it...

A woman faces danger on the high seas of another planet—and a mystery that will change her world—in this adventure by the bestselling author of Startide Rising. On Planet Stratos, clans of genetically identical females dominate society. Natural conceptions are permitted, but only in summertime. Girls born this way—known for their despised uniqueness as ‘vars’—must leave their clan homes to pursue their own distinct and hazardous fortunes in this world owned by clones. That time has come for Maia and her sister, Leie, but as variants, they have limited prospects. Worse, when the sisters do find work on trading vessels, Leie is lost at sea. And hence, Maia’s arduous journey commences, accompanied by rumors that something . . . someone . . . has arrived from across the stars, perhaps ending the isolation of Stratos from the rest of humanity. Who would predict that a lonely var might stumble into a powerful secret? One that will challenge everything Maia knows about her society—and threatens the scientifically-engineered balance that holds it all together. “One of the most important SF novels of the year.” —The Washington Post Book World “A rousing adventure story . . . brimming with surprises both wonderful and harrowing.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune “Glory Season offers thrills, chills, political intrigue, and other good scientifictional fun, along with yet another round in the battle of the sexes.” —Locus “Brin’s prose echoes the influence of Asimov, Frank Herbert, and Aldous Huxley. . . . His world is so painstakingly drawn and is splashed with such radiant and varied hues.” —The Christian Science Monitor

"A swoony, supernatural smash that's impossible to put down!" —Abigail Johnson, author of Even If I Fall Danger, betrayal, and enticing forbidden love... Trinity Marrow has lost the battle and her beloved Protector. Even with both demons and Wardens on her side, Trin may not win the war against the Harbinger. Bringing Lucifer back to the world to fight the Harbinger is probably a really, really bad idea, but they’re out of options—and the world’s ultimate fallen angel is the only being powerful enough to impact the outcome. As Trin and Zayne form a new and more dangerous bond and Lucifer unleashes Hell on earth, the apocalypse looms and the world teeters on the end of forever. Win or lose, one thing is certain—nothing will ever be the same. The story continues in the rest of The Harbinger Series, now available with enhanced decorating: Book 1: Storm and Fury Book 2: Rage and Ruin Book 3: Grace and Glory

The Glory of the Empire is the rich and absorbing history of an extraordinary empire, at one point a rival to Rome. Rulers such as Basil the Great of Onessa, who founded the Empire but whose treacherous ways made him a byword for infamy, and the romantic Alexis the bastard, who dallied in the fleshpots of Egypt, studied Taoism and Buddhism, returned to save the Empire from civil war, and then retired “to learn to die,” come alive in The Glory of the Empire, along with generals, politicians, prophets, scoundrels, and others. Jean d’Ormesson also goes into the daily life of the Empire, its popular customs, and its contribution to the arts and the sciences, which, as he demonstrates, exercised an influence on the world as a whole, from the East to the West, and whose repercussions are still felt today. But it is all fiction, a thought experiment worthy of Jorge Luis Borges, and in the end The Glory of the Empire emerges as a great shimmering mirage, filling us with wonder even as it makes us wonder at the fugitive nature of power and the meaning of history itself.

A true tour de force for de Camp, The Glory That Was brings together many of the themes the author excelled in writing about, including time travel and alternate history. Earth in the twenty-seventh century is ruled by a constitutional monarchy, though both the World Emperor and his Prime Minister have plans to assume greater power by neutralizing the other. In the power struggle that follows, the Emperor is ceded total control of Greece for a secret experiment that has Greece cut off from the rest of the world by a force-field and people of Greek descent being kidnapped around the whole world. When the wife of a prominent classical scholar disappears, he vows to get her back and he and his friend plan a way inside the barrier surrounding Greece. But they are hardly prepared for what they find inside ... a Greece reverted back to ancient times and under the control of a megalomaniac who will not stop before he has conquered the whole world.