Outback Survival


Book Description

Outback Survival is a timeless, practical run down on everything you need to know to survive in the outback. Bob Cooper's incredible bushcraft skills have been developed through more than 25 years of experience in Australia's harsh outback. He has picked up tools of survival from the experiences of living with traditional Aboriginal communities, instructing with Special Forces Units, lecturing with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service on desert survival in the Mexican Desert, delivering wilderness lessons in the UK and learning the skills of the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Bob has put his own lessons to the test, dropping himself off in the 42C heat of the Australian desert with only a map and soap box sized survival kit, no food, water or sleeping gear, and a 10 day walk across 160km of rough terrain back to safety. He did this alone and showed that with the right knowledge of the land, you can survive in even the harshest of conditions. The outback of Australia is one of the most unforgiving regions of the world, but Bob is committed to protecting and enhancing the experience people have when venturing out into the bush.




Australia at Home to the Yanks


Book Description




A True Australian Outback Story


Book Description

Colin Barnes traces the life of his father, Ronald Barnes, from his modest beginnings on a property about three miles west of a little town in New South Wales called Peak Hill, to a lovely coastal spot called Kings Point near Ulladulla, New South Wales. He also shares memories from his mother, Margaret Barnes. The book—filled with an assortment of family photos—is sad, happy, curious, and funny with a little adventure thrown in. As you read, you’ll learn what it was like growing up in the Australian outback from the 1930s to the 1960s. Eventually, the author’s parents left the bush and moved to the city. After a lifetime of hard work, they finally were able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. This family history will leave you reflecting on how a positive attitude, perseverance, and an attitude of gratitude can lead to living the life you always wanted.




Beyond the Black Stump


Book Description

A seasoned traveller, travel writer Andrew Stevenson is unafraid of the unconventional. Whilst most people visiting Australia tread the well worn path from the Sydney Opera House to Cairns up the East Coast, Andrew disappeared into the Australian outback in search of the original Australians - the Aboriginal People. "If you want to meet them nowadays, you've got to go beyond the black stump!" He was told. Going where few have gone before, Andrew delves into the Outback without fear. Drinking in bars with people even the locals avoid, asking questions that we all want to hear the answers to. Written with humour and compassion his powers of observation and enquiring mind draw out a frankness that is sometimes shocking but something from which we can all learn. Beyond the Black Stump: Travels around Australia is no ordinary tale of an intrepid traveller, it is an extraordinary account of an Australia that we have not seen before.




Soldiers


Book Description




Indomitable Will


Book Description

Some of the worst military disasters in U.S. history occurred between Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the Battle of Midway in June 1942. During this period, the American people faced a barrage of bad news and accounts of defeats and retreats. Yet if they were shocked and dismayed, they showed little panic. Indomitable Will resurrects the legacy of this first half-year of American combat during WWII -a legacy of pain, but not of woe. Historian Charles Kupfer recounts the story of the war's early defeats: Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, and the Java Sea. Some of these battles remain evocative today; others are obscure; all were catastrophes for American arms. Kupfer asserts, however, that later victories were made inevitable by the steeling effect of those initial disasters. Weaving together military, journalistic, political, and cultural histories, this engaging book shows that by setting their collective will on victory, Americans in and out of uniform gained strength from their setbacks. Indomitable Will spells out how the nation turned early defeat into ultimate victory.




Cunard Yanks


Book Description

Cunard Yanks were British men, mostly young, who worked on Cunard ships from the 1940s to the early 1960s on the transatlantic routes, mainly between Liverpool and New York. American consumer goods, fashions and music which they brought to Liverpool gave the city a special awareness of popular American culture. New York is their second home at a time when few British people go there. They see Buddy Holly play at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem and watch Pee Wee Marquette introduce Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie at Birdland. They visit Jack Dempsey’s Bar and shake the great man’s hand. And catch the A-line to Coney Island before watching Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. American clothes and records, and gifts of stockings and perfume, are a hit with the girls back home, while American music inspires groups like the Beatles who play at the Cavern and the Casbah, as well as at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, before finally presenting their Merseybeat version of rock ‘n’ roll to the world.




An Outback Life


Book Description

An outback tale of a woman who spent the prime of her life in the Northern Territory, often struggling to put a meal on the table, told in simple, straightforward language, the narrative zipping along at a lively pace, with one cracking yarn after another....




Murder at Dusk


Book Description

Far away from any World War II battlefront, the citizens of Melbourne lived in fear of a serial killer - the Brownout Strangler. May 1942: Melbourne was torn between fearing Japanese invasion and revelling in the carnival atmosphere brought by the influx of 15,000 cashed-up American servicemen. But those US forces didn't guarantee safety. Not long after their arrival, the city would be gripped by panic when the body of a woman was found strangled, partially naked and brutally beaten. Six days later another woman was found dead and her body told the same horrific story. A murderer was stalking the streets. As women were warned not to travel alone, an intense manhunt ensued. Not long after a third woman was murdered, American soldier Eddie Leonski was arrested. A calculating psychopath, he had a twisted fascination with female voices, especially when they were singing . . . Acclaimed author Ian W. Shaw brings World War II Melbourne to life, and takes us into the mind of the Brownout Strangler, and a very different kind of terror. 'enthralling . . . makes for a fascinating read.' Canberra Times on Ian W. Shaw's The Rag Tag Fleet




Outback to Asia


Book Description

Outback to Asia is the true story of a Vietnam war dissenter (the author) who left a career and home in America in 1972 in search of the truth about communism and Vietnam. The ¡rtrip¡_ begins with lofty ideals and fervent convictions but those values melt in the face of obstacles, temptations, and adventures along the way traversing three continents. The mission to reach the killing fields of Asia leads the author into the depths of dysentery in Mexico, the enchantment of lovely ladies on the Great Barrier Island of New Zealand and the perils of crossing the Outback of Australia in a 1951 Rover touring sedan. Broken and discouraged the author finds hope stranded on an Aboriginal settlement and purpose in a providential meeting in Adelaide, Australia. These adventures set the table for a new level of providential confrontations manifest in the killing fields of Asia in Laos and Bangladesh and the spiritual dominions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Lamaism. The ultimate contest awaits the homecoming prodigal/pilgrim when he is forced to contend with his own spiritual heritage as an American.