Around the World Not Counting Days

Having graduated without distinction in 1958 from Fresno State College, 22-year-old John Kessell had no job interviews lined up, no letters of acceptance from grad schools, so the natural course seemed what’s called these days a “gap year.” Why shouldn’t he travel to Australia, his father’s native land, and get to know his Aussie kin?

When these generous Australians refused to let the young American spend any money, he still had so many unspent travelers’ checks that he was able to trade his round-trip Sydney-San Francisco for a one-way Sydney-Gibraltar. Why not go on around the world, not his original plan?

John Kessell had no idea in 1958 what sailing on an ocean liner from San Francisco to Sydney might be like. Those were still the days when people took a boat to get somewhere, not just an over-hyped “cruise” on a floating amusement park. So let’s step back sixty-five years, retrofit our passports, and join John on a boat to somewhere!

Cartel Bands On

The American immigration system is often described as broken, with calls for Congress to completely rewrite the laws. Many believe that foreign gangs are taking over the streets, drug cartels control the border, taxpayers are funding the lives of migrants, and American workers are being replaced by those willing to work for less.

But are these claims true?

Cartel Bands On takes a deep dive into the realities of the American immigration system. Written by a retired Border Patrol Agent, this book combines factual analysis with firsthand experiences from the author's career.

With a clear and accessible approach, it explores the history and laws governing immigration while providing a closer look at what both legal and illegal migrants encounter upon entering the country. Readers are invited to challenge their assumptions and critically assess whether the system is truly broken. If it is, how should it be fixed?

English Language Structure in Context for English Second Language Learners

This book is an A-to-Z guide to English grammar, designed to help learners, especially those whose home language is not English, achieve proficiency.By presenting grammatical concepts in a variety of real-world contexts, this book not only enhances language skills but also encourages self-reflection and personal growth. Each lesson equips learners with fundamental skills, including speaking, writing, listening, reading, and reasoning.Mastering English will be an essential key to unlocking opportunities in various lucrative professions worldwide.

Prooflike Morgan Silver Dollars

Delve into the first exhaustive monograph centered solely on Prooflike Morgan Silver Dollars. Explore date-by-date and mint-by-mint analyses of these unique coins struck between 1878 and 1904 and 1921 across five U.S. mints. Drawing from the most complete collection of Morgan prooflike dollars, including rare varieties, all in mint-state uncirculated condition, this volume enriches your understanding with over 500 high-quality photographs. This is an essential exploration into a captivating facet of numismatics.

Red Warriors: Tushka Homma

History casts a long, bloody shadow. For Native women, violence is a devastating reality; murder rates are ten times the national average, making it the third leading cause of death for young women and girls. This brutal truth haunts the Chickamauga people, whose history includes a forgotten 1777 massacre near Nickajack where women and children were slaughtered. In 2024, the echoes of this past resurface as four Chickamauga women, the Tushka Homma (Red Warriors), find themselves linked by disturbing dreams of the massacre.

Their spiritual journey takes a dark turn when a Cheveyo (Spirit Warrior) calls upon them. This spirit is the restless soul of Pauline Adair Walker, a fellow tribal member murdered in 2017, another victim of the violence plaguing Native women. The Red Warriors must confront this legacy of violence, both past and present, to unmask Pauline’s killer and expose a truth buried for centuries.

The ancestors are watching. The Cheveyo has returned. Justice awaits.

Doketo: The 1960s Story of a Thoroughbred Racehorse

This story is about a thoroughbred racehorse named Doketo, who was owned and trained by the person telling the story. Doketo was a good racehorse, though not exceptional as he might have you believe. However, as the racetrack saying goes, he was better than an empty stall.

Life is like that. Friends and associates may not be exactly what you want, but in a very real sense, they can still be better than an empty stall. Doketo’s eventual owner learned this lesson as a 20-year-old boxer competing in the fiercely contested featherweight division of the 1954 Golden Gloves, where winners qualified for the Pan American Games.

The late veteran boxing judge Billy Oaths believed the young fighter had a strong chance of winning his division. His confidence came from the boxer’s previous bout, a stunning televised victory over a top-ranked U.S. featherweight in the opponent’s hometown just three months earlier. As the young boxer climbed the steps to the ring for his first Golden Gloves match before a large crowd, Billy called out, ‘C’mon, let’s get the ball rolling!’ The boxer, full of confidence, shouted back, ‘Don’t worry, Billy. This won’t last long.’

And it didn’t.

The referee stopped the fight in the first round, awarding a TKO win to the boxer’s opponent. While disappointed, Billy would likely have summed it up with the same racetrack wisdom: his boxer and Doketo were both better than an empty stall.

Unforced Errors: 15 Bad Decisions That Changed American History

Americans often use terms such as “To err is human,” or “nobody’s perfect,” or “we all make mistakes.” Of course, this is true, as it is for all of America’s leaders through the years.

This book is about decisions made in politics or public policy that may be considered unwise; bad decisions that had unintended negative consequences for the decision-maker. This will not include personal decisions like deciding who to marry or whether to get divorced but rather to look at those political and policy decisions that can be considered, at the very least, unwise. Similarly, Kennedy’s decision to visit Dallas in November 1963 led to his death but doesn’t really qualify as a decision of real political or policy calculation. Lincoln going to Ford’s theatre would be in that same category.

Instead, Unforced Errors lists 15 political calculations made by political figures, often at the pinnacle of their own success, which changed American history.

Tayoltita, las Minas de San Luís

Fresh out of the University of Colorado with a degree in geology, the author found himself embarking on an adventurous first job as an exploration geologist for Minas de San Luís, situated in the quaint pueblo of Tayoltita in Durango, Mexico. Nestled under Bolaños Peak and in the heart of the Sierra Madre Occidental, the mine was a remote gem accessible only by a solitary road winding 3,000 feet up the mountain.

Beyond his duties at the mine, he was charged with the thrilling task of scouting the surrounding wilderness for new gold or silver deposits, offering potential expansion for the company. It’s in these explorations, traversing rugged terrains always on muleback, never horse, where the story truly unfolds.

His narrative richly details the culture, courage, intrigue, superstitions, wisdom, and escapades of the local inhabitants he met along the way. These encounters add a colorful depth to his experiences in Tayoltita.

Set against the backdrop of the early days of the drug cartels, this memoir not only recounts geological explorations but also captures a pivotal moment in history. After his return to the United States, the role of Exploration Geologist at Minas de San Luís remained unfilled, marking the end of an era in this secluded part of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Season of Need

Some stories spring from pure imagination, mere reflections of an author’s perception of reality. Others, like this one, are forged in the mud and misery of actual conflict. In the decaying jungles and fetid rice paddies of South Vietnam, a diverse band of soldiers and civilians endures a harrowing year of combat that will continue to haunt them for more than three decades. Their season of need reveals not only the horror of war, but also the possibility of finding solace and purpose in the most unlikely of places.

In 1970, Captain Book arrives in Ba Xuyen Province of the Mekong Delta, supremely confident in his mission to help bring the Vietnam War to a swift conclusion. There, he meets his Vietnamese counterpart, Captain Nguyen Van Tranh, and a bond forms between them as they work side by side to restore public confidence in the South Vietnamese government. Surrounded by a unique cast of allies, they confront violence, heartbreak, and moments of profound humanity that lay bare the fragile fabric of human relationships. In the crucible of combat, their friendship becomes a testament to selflessness and sacrifice. Even in the darkest moments, solidarity and hope can rise from the ashes of war.

Nature, History, and the Fish Paradise of Anatolia – Türkiye

12,000 years ago, people living in the southeastern region of Türkiye developed a building system that was the first of its kind in the world. Today, scientists have made great efforts to make sense of this structure and the reliefs drawn on the stones that make up the structure. This is the Göbeklitepe archaeological site located within the borders of Şanlıurfa. The history known in the world is being rewritten with Göbeklitepe. Would you like to witness this historical event? This book offers you this suggestion.

I have compiled information about what happened in the mysterious geography where history began. I wanted to share my own feelings and thoughts. I wanted the readers to witness a moment in the common march of humanity by touching their hearts and souls.

Türkiye’s southeastern geographical region corresponds to the northern region of Mesopotamia, known in history. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers that make up the geography of Mesopotamia are rivers of Anatolian origin, and in this book, I have tried to tell you about the Euphrates River and the fish that inhabit it, as well as the historical and cultural assets created by the Euphrates.

To put it in the language of philosophy, which flourishes and develops in Anatolia, my primary goal is to invite people to friendship and brotherhood. And I say come, see, and feel what you are experiencing.

Would you like to fish for the god fish Enki from Sumerian mythology and the sacred Shabut fish from Hebrew mythology? Then I would like to invite you to my country.

What to Do When You Don't Know What You're Doing

Do you feel stuck? Like you’re not where you want to be and have no clear picture as to where to go or what to do next? Like you don’t know what you’re doing?

You’re not alone.

Stephen Covey, Mark Manson, James Clear, and many others have authored some pretty fantastic books in the realm of personal development and self-help. The principles of self-help and personal development are all strikingly similar. Each author, or “guru,” takes the principles and adds their own spin. Reading these wonder guides is meant to inspire you. But unless you go forward with that inspiration, it will just be short-lived.

To actually change your life and see results, you need to put work in.

“What To Do When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing” is not a regular run-of-the-mill self-help book; it is a self-discovery journey, which has you put in the work. Ultimately, inspiring yourself and taking your magnificent discoveries to put a plan together to help you achieve things beyond your wildest dreams.

Eight Fought to Live

1988: 82,362 gay and bisexual men had AIDS.

1989: 100,000 gay and bisexual men had AIDS.

1990: 307,000 gay and bisexual men had AIDS.

These are the two years Dr. Rosiello led an AIDS therapy group at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City. Within two years each man in her group passed away from AIDS complications. One of these men was Vito Russo, an AIDS activist and historian.

This is the story of eight gay men living with advanced AIDS and one inexperienced fresh out of training psychoanalyst. Each man’s intimate story is peppered with Dr. Rosiello’s anxiety and her growing awareness regarding the importance of emotional authenticity in psychotherapy. The group members had no spare moments for Dr. Rosiello to use her newly learned psychoanalytic techniques. There was only time to be real.

Early on these group members pledged to not die. They pledged emotional support for the life of the group. This pledge held true for over a year. Blood brothers in their fight to live.