Foster Memoir

For decades, books about John or Robert Kennedy have woven either a shimmering tale of Camelot gallantry or a tawdry story of runaway ambition and reckless personal behavior. But the real story of the Kennedys in the 1960s has long been submerged - until now. In Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot sheds a dramatic new light on the tumultuous inner life of the Kennedy presidency and its stunning aftermath. Talbot has written a gripping political history.

Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was 23 and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age 38. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations.

Life didn’t do Kenny Tingle any favors. In The Girl in the Italian Bakery, follow his journey from childhood in a tough housing project north of Boston, the abduction and disappearance of a childhood friend, to the complete destruction of a family. His introduction to crime and the years he spent in foster homes. The poor choices he made in high school and the startling climax on prom night. Although he never has trouble meeting girls, the one girl he longs for always seems out of reach. The Girl in the Italian Bakery is the remarkably true story of always keeping hope, even when there is...

David Foster Wallace was the leading literary light of his generation, a man who not only captivated readers with his prose but also mesmerized them with his brilliant mind. In this, the first biography of the writer, D. T. Max sets out to chart Wallace’s tormented, anguished, and often triumphant battle to succeed as a novelist as he fights off depression and addiction to emerge with his masterpiece, Infinite Jest.

On a hot summer night in Houston, two teenage girls-bright, beautiful, success-bound friends took a shortcut home from a friend's apartment to make their curfew. They never reached their homes. The next morning, the families of the two girls began a frantic search, organizing friends and neighbors and posting thousands of fliers across the sprawling city. But not until an anonymous 911 call four days later were the bodies of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena finally recovered.

The four long narratives in The Emigrants appear at first to be the straightforward biographies of four Germans in exile. Sebald reconstructs the lives of a painter, a doctor, an elementary-school teacher, and Great Uncle Ambrose. Following (literally) in their footsteps, the narrator retraces routes of exile which lead from Lithuania to London, from Munich to Manchester, from the South German provinces to Switzerland, France, New York, Constantinople, and Jerusalem.

What does it take to keep a child safe? As a long-time strategist and activist fighting for better outcomes for foster children, Mark Daley thought he knew the answer. But when Ethan and Logan, an adorable infant and a precocious toddler, entered their lives, Mark and his husband Jason quickly realized they were not remotely prepared for the uncertainty and complication of foster parenting.

He was a captain in the U.S. Air Force. She was a psychologist in Fayetteville, North Carolina. On the surface, Marty and Michelle Theer appeared to be the perfect married couple. But no one knew of the double life Michelle was leading. Tired of spending one too many nights apart from Marty who was often away on his flight missions, Michelle turned to the Internet to meet men and relieve her loneliness. With each encounter, Michelle became more daring in her sexual escapades. But one man stood out among all the rest: former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant John Diamond.

Like many Germans, Berlin schoolboy Erwin Bartmann fell under the spell of the Zeitgeist cultivated by the Nazis. Convinced he was growing up in the best country in the world, he dreamt of joining the Leibstandarte, Hitler's elite Waffen SS unit. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and just 17-years-old, Erwin fulfilled his dream on Mayday 1941, when he gave up his apprenticeship at the Glaser bakery in Memeler Strasse and walked into the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin as a raw, volunteer recruit.

Maggie Hartley is one of the UK's most prolific foster mothers. These heartwarming and inspiring short stories show the power of a foster mother's love, and her determination to help the children who come into her care. Includes 'Too Scared to Cry', 'The Girl No One Wanted' and 'A Family for Christmas'.

Growing up, Stacey Patton had very little sense of personal identity while living in the foster-care system. When she was adopted by a God-fearing and hard-working couple, she finally felt like she had a place in the world. But her life quickly descended into a nightmare when her new mother became increasingly domineering while her new father often acquiesced to his wife's blistering demands.

He'd been shot in the head, decapitated, and set on fire. Who could have turned on the real-estate ace with such bloodthirsty fury? Even before the remains were found, circumstantial evidence was building against Rudin's 52-year-old wife, Margaret, who stood to inherit a handsome share of her husband's fortune. Rudin's friends also suspected Margaret, and the victim had thought that his wife was trying to poison him when he was alive. Then a chilling caveat was discovered in Rudin's living trust: should he die under violent circumstances, an investigation should be conducted.

If you’re wondering if God can truly move in the life of someone with all the odds stacked against her, look no further than Tori Hope Petersen. Tori grew up in the foster care system, a bi-racial child in a confusing and volatile world. Growing up with a mentally ill mother and living in twelve different foster homes, nothing was in her favor. And yet, even with a miniscule chance of graduating college and a great risk of being homeless, jobless, and on drugs, Tori overcame every negative stereotype that attacked her. However, Tori will tell you she did not overcome. Christ did.

In 2012, Hakeem al-Araibi was a promising young player on Bahrain's national football team when he was arrested for attacking a police station during the Arab Spring, despite television footage showing him playing soccer at the time of the alleged attack. After three months of torture and wrongful imprisonment, Hakeem was released. He fled the country and made his way to Australia, where he was granted refugee status. Hakeem made a life here and was playing for the suburban Pascoe Vale Football Club, in Melbourne. He thought he was safe.

'Is It My Fault Mummy?': seven-year-old Paris is trapped in a prison of guilt. Devastated after the death of her baby brother, Joel, Maggie faces one of her most heartbreaking cases yet as she tries to break down the wall of guilt surrounding this damaged little girl. 'A Desperate Cry for Help': 12-year-old Meg arrives at Maggie's after a fire destroys the children's home she's been living in. Traumatised by the fire and angry and vulnerable, having been put into care by her mother, Meg is lashing out at everyone around her.

In 2007, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade posted to northeastern Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Battle Company, the best within the Brigade, was assigned the toughest Area of Operations. It was called the Korengal Valley. During their fifteen-month tour, Battle Company saw more combat than any unit since Vietnam. Raw and unapologetic, To Quell the Korengal is a first-hand account of life on the front lines.

It's men like Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone who gave Hell's Kitchen its name. In the mid-1970s, these two longtime friends take the reins of New York's Irish mob, using brute force to give it hitherto unthinkable power. Jimmy, a charismatic sociopath, is the leader. Mickey, whose memories of Vietnam torture him daily, is his enforcer. Together they make brutality their trademark, butchering bodies or hurling them out the window.

Curious is the story of Christina Dent's learning journey after a life-changing experience with the mother of her foster son sparks curiosity about the best way to reduce harm from drugs. With addiction touching many families and potent drugs available almost everywhere, better solutions are needed. Curious offers one. Christina was born, raised, and homeschooled in a conservative Christian home in Mississippi. The proverbial good girl, she stayed away from drugs and earned a degree in Bible before leading ministries at her church.

The shocking tale told in How I Helped O. J. Get Away with Murder is unlike anything you've read before. It isn't Mike Gilbert's "version" of what happened'; it's the unvarnished truth - the truth about O. J., the murders, and the infamous trial, not as Gilbert imagined or would like it to be, but how it actually was.

This is the riveting true story of Paul Martelli, a 15-year-old German-Italian who fought in Pomerania, on the Eastern Front, in 1945 as a member of the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne" and later as a soldier with French forces during three years (1951-1954) in the Tonkin area, Vietnam.