Tin Men

"Published in the United Kingdom by Headline Publishing Group, London"--Title page verso.

Breaking onto the scene in 1982 with Diner, which was hailed by one critic as a masterpiece of observation, Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson has since become recognized as one of the preeminent writer/directors of our time. Diner was set in Levinson's native Baltimore, during the late 1950s of his youth, and is, as Pauline Kael wrote in the New Yorker, "that rare autobiographical movie made by someone who knows how to get the texture right."...With Tin Men Levinson returned to richly detailed middle class milieu of Baltimore and introduced another group of characters -- the "tin men" who make their living hard-selling aluminum siding to unsuspecting homeowners...In Avalon Levinson continues his cycle of Baltimore stories.

"Crafted from sheet metal and scraps into likenesses that include clowns, knights, cowboys, and L. Frank Baum's Tin Woodman of Oz, tin men have both utilitarian and aesthetic purposes. Some serve as sheet-metal shops' trade signs or prove an apprentice's competence. Others are coveted in boutiques, antique stores, and folk art museums."--BOOK JACKET.

Shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Novel Award From internationally bestselling author Sarah Winman comes an unforgettable and heartbreaking novel celebrating love in all its forms and the little moments that make up the life of an autoworker in a small working-class town. This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that. Ellis and Michael are twelve when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast-forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between? With beautiful prose and characters that are so real they jump off the page, Tin Man is a love letter to human kindness and friendship, and to loss and living.

Mysterious photos. Missing diaries. Family secrets with fatal consequences. Chrissy Livingstone grieves over her father's sudden death. While she cleans out his old things, she discovers something she can't explain: seven school-style photos of boys with the year 1987 stamped on the back. Unable to turn off her intrigue, she sets out to find them only to discover that three of the seven have committed suicide... Tracing the clues from Surrey to Santa Monica, Chrissy unearths disturbing ties between her father's work as a financier and the victims. As each new connection raises more sinister questions about her family, she fears she should've left the secrets buried with the dead. Will Chrissy put the past to rest, or will the sins of the father destroy her family? Tin Men is the first brilliant and captivating novel featuring Chrissy Livingstone by master storyteller Linda Coles. "Move over Agatha Christie, there's a new dame in town." Amazon reviewer. Perfect for fans of Dervla McTiernan, Jo Spain, Sam Blake, Carmel Harrington, Sinead Crowley and Graham Masterton.

Join a young boy in his fantastical adventure with the robots he created from a bunch of old tin cans in this heartwarming story by Newbury Award-winning author Carol Ryrie Brink.

From the American entry into World War II until September 1943, U.S. submarines experienced an abnormally high number of torpedo failures. These failures resulted from three defects present in the primary torpedo of the day, the Mark XIV. These defects were a tendency to run deeper than the set depth, the frequent premature detonation of the Mark 6 magnetic influence exploder, and the failure of the contact exploder when hitting a target at the textbook ninety-degree angle. Ironically, despite using a completely independent design, the Germans experienced the same three defects. The Germans, however, fixed their defects in six months, while it took the Americans twenty-two months. Much of the delay on the American side resulted from the denial of senior leaders in the operational forces and in the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) that the torpedo itself was defective. Instead, they blamed crews for poor marksmanship or lack of training. In the end, however, the submarine force itself overcame the bureaucratic inertia and correctly identified and fixed the three problems on their own, proving once again the industry of the average American soldier or sailor. From the American entry into World War II until September 1943, U.S. submarines experienced an abnormally high number of torpedo failures. These failures resulted from three defects present in the primary torpedo of the day, the Mark XIV. These defects were a tendency to run deeper than the set depth, the frequent premature detonation of the magnetic influence exploder, and the failure of the contact exploder when hitting a target at the textbook 90-degree angle. Ironically, despite using a completely independent design, the Germans experienced the same three defects. The Germans, however, fixed their defects in six months, while it took the Americans 22 months. Much of the delay on the American side resulted from the denial of senior leaders in the operational forces and in the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) that the torpedo itself was defective. Instead, they blamed crews for poor marksmanship or lack of training. In the end, however, the submarine force itself overcame the bureaucratic inertia and correctly identified and fixed the three problems on their own, proving once again the industry of the average American soldier or sailor. Contrary to the interpretations of most submarine historians, this book concludes that BuOrd did not sit idly by while torpedoes failed on patrol after patrol. BuOrd acknowledged problems from early in the war, but their processes and their tunnel vision prevented them from realizing that the weapon sent to the fleet was grossly defective. One of World War II's forgotten heroes, Admiral Lockwood drove the process for finding and fixing the three major defects. This is first book that deals exclusively with the torpedo problem, building its case out of original research from the archives of the Bureau of Ordnance, the Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Lockwood's personal correspondence, and records from the British Admiralty at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. These sources are complemented by correspondence and interviews with men who actually participated in the events.