Too Little, and Almost Too Late


Book Description

In the final, desperate months of the Holocaust, a small U.S. government agency raced against the clock to save Jews from the Nazis. Despite President Franklin D. Roosevelt's disinterest and the State Department's obstruction, the men and women of the War Refugee Board successfully employed unorthodox means of rescue. They bribed border officials, produced forged identification papers, arranged to have Jewish refugees moved out of dangerous regions, and used psychological warfare to disrupt Hungary's cooperation in the deportations to Auschwitz. It was the War Refugee Board that persuaded Raoul Wallenberg to go to Nazi-occupied Budapest, and financed his heroic life-saving activities there. Reflecting later on what they did, the board's senior staff lamented that their efforts came "almost too late" and achieved "too little." Yet the War Refugee Board played a major role in the rescue of an estimated 200,000 Jewish refugees. Too Little, and Almost Too Late is the first scholarly book about this extraordinary and little-known chapter in the history of the Holocaust. It demonstrates how even a handful of good people can make a real difference. Too Little, and Almost Too Late was authored by noted Holocaust historian Dr. Rafael Medoff, with additional essays by other leading scholars in the field of America's response to the Holocaust. The foreword is by Prof. Walter Reich, former executive director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.




Top Five Regrets of the Dying


Book Description

Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29 languages. After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story. Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind. In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.




Too Little, Too Late


Book Description

The current approach to resolving sovereign debt crises does not work: sovereign debt restructurings come too late and address too little. Though unresolved debt crises impose enormous costs on societies, many recent restructurings have not been deep enough to provide the conditions for economic recovery (as illustrated by the Greek debt restructuring of 2012). And if the debtor decides not to accept the terms demanded by the creditors, finalizing a restructuring can be slowed by legal challenges (as illustrated by the recent case of Argentina, deemed as "the trial of the century"). A fresh start for distressed debtors is a basic principle of a well-functioning market economy, yet there is no international bankruptcy framework for sovereign debts. While this problem is not new, the United Nations and the global community are now willing to do something about it. Providing guidance for those who intend to take up reform, this book assesses the relative merits of various debt-restructuring proposals, especially in relation to the main deficiencies of the current nonsystem. With contributions by leading academics and practitioners, Too Little, Too Late reflects the overwhelming consensus among specialists on the need to find workable solutions.




The Jews Should Keep Quiet


Book Description

Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews Should Keep Quiet reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration's fateful policies during the Holocaust. Rafael Medoff delves into difficult truths: With FDR's consent, the administration deliberately suppressed European immigration far below the limits set by U.S. law. His administration also refused to admit Jewish refugees to the U.S. Virgin Islands, dismissed proposals to use empty Liberty ships returning from Europe to carry refugees, and rejected pleas to drop bombs on the railways leading to Auschwitz, even while American planes were bombing targets only a few miles away--actions that would not have conflicted with the larger goal of winning the war. What motivated FDR? Medoff explores the sensitive question of the president's private sentiments toward Jews. Unmasking strong parallels between Roosevelt's statements regarding Jews and Asians, he connects the administration's policies of excluding Jewish refugees and interning Japanese Americans. The Jews Should Keep Quiet further reveals how FDR's personal relationship with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, American Jewry's foremost leader in the 1930s and 1940s, swayed the U.S. response to the Holocaust. Documenting how Roosevelt and others pressured Wise to stifle American Jewish criticism of FDR's policies, Medoff chronicles how and why the American Jewish community largely fell in line with Wise. Ultimately Medoff weighs the administration's realistic options for rescue action, which, if taken, would have saved many lives.




Nora Webster


Book Description

From one of contemporary literature’s bestselling, critically acclaimed, and beloved authors: a “luminous” novel (Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review) about a fiercely compelling young widow navigating grief, fear, and longing, and finding her own voice—“heartrendingly transcendant” (The New York Times, Janet Maslin). Set in Wexford, Ireland, Colm Tóibín’s magnificent seventh novel introduces the formidable, memorable, and deeply moving Nora Webster. Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be sucked back into it. Wounded, selfish, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning insight and empathy, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven—herself. Nora Webster “may actually be a perfect work of fiction” (Los Angeles Times), by a “beautiful and daring” writer (The New York Times Book Review) at the zenith of his career, able to “sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations” (USA TODAY). “Miraculous...Tóibín portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post).




Too Little Too Late


Book Description

Stephanie West loves her job as manager of a successful restaurant, but is treated appallingly by the self-obsessed owner and head chef. So, when an opportunity arises to buy him out, she jumps at it. Then her boyfriend Sean lands a huge contract with a software company in Arizona and wants her to go with him. Torn between Sean and her career, Stephanie struggles to come to terms with a tragedy in her past which has left her terrified of becoming dependent on any one. Will she come to realise where her happiness lies? And if she does, will it be too little, too late?




Gamerunner


Book Description

Rick is a Gamerunner. His job is to test there are no glitches or bugs in The Maze - the computer game that is much more than just a computer game. In The Maze you physically become your avatar. You fight, run and loot, all the time avoiding the deadly slicing traps - whirling blades that appear from nowhere. Rick has known nothing outside The Maze and his life at the headquarters of Crater, the company that created The Maze. When Rick's father falls out of favour and Rick is faced with being thrown out of Crater HQ into the outside world - a world of flesh-dissolving acid rain and ferocious, feral roving gangs - Rick has some life-changing decisions to make . . .




The Last Lecture


Book Description

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.




Too Little, Too Late


Book Description

In the spring of 1866, the so-called German Confederation, then a loose organization of autonomous states, was thrown into crisis by a rift between the two largest members, the Austrian Empire, and The Kingdom of Prussia. Since the founding of the Confederation, in 1815, it had been tacitly accepted that Austria was the overseeing authority. Now, however, a more belligerent Prussia sought a leading role. Under a new and ambitious Chancellor, the ruthless Prince Otto von Bismarck, Prussia would no longer accept a secondary role. This vital question of leadership naturally affected all member states, and none could ignore it. Matters, however, had moved beyond discussion, and, in June, hostilities began, with the Prussian invasion of the Kingdom of Hanover, and the Electorate of Hesse-Cassel. This volume chronicles the conflict over the unification of Germany, which actually occurred on German soil. The campaign in southern and western Germany ensured that political control of German affairs would be firmly in Prussian hands, controlled by Bismarck, in much the same way that the great battles between Prussia and Austria in the east would exclude Austria from German affairs altogether. The detailed story of this, the war of unification within Germany itself, is narrated here, compiled from numerous published and unpublished sources, including many contemporary and first-hand accounts, as well as official reports. The importance of the campaign, far too often ignored, is told here. This is an invaluable resource for any student of European military history of the mid-19th Century. Key topics include the historical background to the conflict, the political crisis of 1866 in the "German Parliament" and the build-up to war, full descriptions of all military forces involved, the various phases of the campaign. The book includes comprehensive orders of battle, informative maps, numerous illustrations (some in color) and photographs, many informative charts and diagrams. The author also presents a detailed analysis of contemporary and later sources. This is the latest title in Helion's ground-breaking series of 19th Century studies, and will appear in hardback as a strictly limited edition printing of 750 copies, each individually numbered and signed by the author on a decorative title page.




Tree of Smoke


Book Description

Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That’s me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson’s first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date. Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.