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Phantom fleet : the hunt for Nazi submarine U-505 and World War II's most daring heist
by Alexander Rose
Shortly before noon on June 4, 1944, the sonar operator on a destroyer prowling off the coast of West Africa heard a sharp, metallic ping. The sound could mean only one thing: the German U-boat that their hunter-killer group had long been tracking, U-505, was lurking somewhere in the darkness beneath them. The ensuing fight between exhausted hunter and venomous prey would make history when American sailors boarded an enemy warship at sea for the first time since the War of 1812. That day's victory was the culmination of a tireless campaign against the Nazi submarine threat by 'Tenth Fleet'--a mysterious unit possessing the oracular ability to predict the locations and movement of Hitler's U-boats. Run by Commander Kenneth Knowles, Tenth Fleet had guided Captain Dan Gallery to U-505 and to repay the favor Gallery was going to steal an Enigma machine for him. Now all they had to do was to make an entire U-boat, its crew, and its secrets vanish into thin air . . . In this swashbuckling adventure story, bestselling historian Alexander Rose draws on long-classified encrypted documents and intercepted German transmissions to reveal in full, for the first time, how an owlish egghead and a glory-seeking buccaneer teamed up to score the richest prize on the high seas.
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How can I help? : saving nature with your yard
by Douglas W. Tallamy
Interest in landscaping with native plants is at an all-time high, largely thanks to the work of Doug Tallamy. Hundreds of thousands of people have read his books and attended his nationwide lectures over the years. Yet, despite their familiarity with Tallamy's subjects, they still have excellent questions. Here, we get compelling and actionable answers from the man himself on the topics of his expertise: ecology/evolution, biodiversity, conservation, restoration, native plants, oaks, invasive species, pest control, home landscapes, and supporting wildlife at home.
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Naples 1944 : the devil's paradise at war
by Keith Lowe
The award-winning author of Savage Continent and The Fear and the Freedom brings readers another masterful chronicle of the terrible and often unexpected consequences of war, in a page-turning book about a city on the brink of chaos in the dark heart of postwar Italy.
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Ocean : Earth's last wilderness
by David Attenborough
Through personal stories, history and cutting-edge science, Ocean uncovers the mystery, the wonder, and the frailty of the most unexplored habitat on our planet--the one which shapes the land we live on, regulates our climate, and creates the air we breathe. This book showcase the oceans' remarkable resilience: they can, and in some cases have, recovered the fastest, if we only give them the chance. Drawing a course across David Attenborough's own lifetime, Ocean takes readers on an adventure-laden voyage through eight unique ocean habitats, countless intriguing species, and the most astounding discoveries of the last 100 years, to a future vision of a fully restored marine world--one even more spectacular than we could possibly hope for. Ocean reveals the past, present and potential future of our blue planet. It is a book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed.
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Remember us : American sacrifice, Dutch freedom, and a forever promise forged in World War II
by Robert M. Edsel
Remember Us, by Robert Edsel, begins in the pre-dawn hours of Hitler's invasion of Western Europe on May 10, 1940, when his forces rolled into the small rural province of Limburg in the Netherlands shattering more than 100 years of peace. Their freedom gone, the Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until American forces reached Limburg in September 1944, the last portion of Western Europe liberated by the Allies before their advance on Nazi Germany slammed to a halt. Like The Monuments Men, Remember Us is an ensemble piece that follows twelve main characters over a six-year span, zeroing in on ordinary people including Frieda van Schèaik, a teenager who falls in love with an American soldier; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; and Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama for yet another indignity--digging graves. Drawing on never-before-seen letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, on the battlefields and inside American homes. In this rich, dramatic, and suspenseful story, he captures both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude, showing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. Remember Us is exactly the book we need--a reminder that grief is universal, that humanity knows no national or racial boundaries, and that we all want to be remembered, somehow, someway, by somebody.
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When it all burns : fighting fire in a transformed world
by Jordan Thomas
An anthropologist and hotshot firefighter's gripping firsthand account of a record-setting fire season. Eighteen of California's largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term "megafire" to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction. Wildland firefighters must navigate these new scales of destruction in real time. In When It All Burns, Jordan Thomas recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots-the special forces of America's firefighters. Being a hotshot is among the most difficult jobs on Earth. Their training is as grueling as any Navy SEAL's, and the social induction is even tougher. As Thomas viscerally renders his crew's attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain, he uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires. He investigates how a social system that prioritizes profit over people and nature has turned humanity's symbiotic relationship with wildfire into a war-and what can be done to change it back. Thomas weaves ecology and the history of indigenous oppression, federal forestry, and the growth of the fire industrial complex into an expansive, riveting narrative of a new phase in the climate crisis. Above all, he immerses readers in a story of friendship and community in the most perilous of circumstances, told with humor, humility, and affection.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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