The Other Side Of The Mountain

The story of the skiing champion who became a quadriplegic as a result of an accident.

"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."—The New York Times Book Review Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever. “An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.” —The Horn Book

With the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton enters a period of unprecedented freedom, culminating in the opportunity to travel to California, Alaska, and finally the Far East – journeys that offer him new possibilities and causes for contemplation. In his last days at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton continues to follow the tumultuous events of the sixties, including the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. In Southeast Asia, he meets the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist and Catholic monks and discovers a rare and rewarding kinship with each. The final year is full of excitement and great potential for Merton, making his accidental death in Bangkok, at the age of fifth-three, all the more tragic.

The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahadeen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War is a 1998 non-fiction book written by former Afghan Army Colonel Ali Ahmad Jalali and American military scholar Lester W. Grau. The book was commissioned by the United States Marine Corps Studies and Analysis Division to complement Grau's previous book, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." Jalali and Grau had planned travel into Afghanistan to interview Mujahideen fighters in late 1996, but were forced to remain in Pakistan when a Taliban offensive campaign started to seize major portions of Afghanistan, eventually capturing Kabul on September 27. Jalali interviewed approximately 40 Mujahideen during the month which the authors spent in Pakistan and an associate, Major Nasrullah Safi, conducted interviews inside Afghanistan for two months to collect additional data.

An authoritative, forthright and thought-provoking narrative that attempts to analyse why the Congress lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and also focuses on the fluctuating fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party and other political parties, besides dealing with crucial issues having a bearing on the country’s future. As a former minister who has held important portfolios in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government, Salman Khurshid has witnessed crucial behind-the-scenes developments that have had a profound impact on the destiny of the nation. Beginning with the reasons for the rout of the Congress in 2014, including the series of scams that sealed its fate, he goes on to point out that the party has the ability to bounce back, given the many setbacks that have affected the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre as well as some BJP-ruled states and the Aam Aadmi Party Government in Delhi. The author next highlights the role of the media, which, he feels, was largely instrumental in ensuring the Congress’s defeat. He, nevertheless, acknowledges that, of late, the fourth estate has not spared the governments in power at the Centre and in the BJP-ruled states and has exposed the chinks in their armour (the growing brazenness of the right-wing forces, the Lalit Modi fallout and the Vyapam-related incidents). Thereafter, Salman Khurshid turns the spotlight on a range of significant and highly relevant topics, such as international relations (with an emphasis on Pakistan and the USA), the Election Commission’s role, communalism, minority affairs (especially the problems affecting the Muslims), the judiciary (and its overreach), the Nirbhaya tragedy and corruption and its impact, with a cameo on the Anna Hazare movement. Here is an insider’s perspective that is not only incisive and insightful but also vital for understanding the recent events in the political arena and their far-reaching ramifications.

Sam's peaceful existence in his wilderness home is disrupted when his sister runs away and his pet falcon is confiscated by a conservation officer.