Helen Plum Library

"A peaceful Welsh village is thrown into turmoil when a terrified boy discovers a body in the river. The man appears to have fallen from the canal aqueduct spanning the valley. But there is no identification on the body. The local police turn to Scotland Yard for help. Inspector Ian Rutledge is given few clues to go on--a faded military tattoo on the victim's arm and an unusual label in his shirt. But eventually they do lead to the victim's identity:...

Tyler E. Boudreau is a twelve-year veteran of the Marine Corps infantry. He trained and committed himself physically and intellectually to the military life. Then his intense devotion began to disintegrate, bit by bit, during his final mission in Iraq. After returning home, he discovered a turmoil developing in his mind, estranging him from his loved ones and the bill of goods he eagerly purchased as a marine officer. Packing Inferno is the spectacularly...

In the City of Meat, Charles Swagger is on the hunt for notorious bank robber Baby Face Nelson when he traces a tip to the Chicago stock yards. While there, he's brutally assaulted and discovers that the madman who attacked him is involved in a nearby narcotics ring with plans to spread its new drug to the residents of the disenfranchised 7th District of Chicago. Worse, this is no ordinary drug, it makes some users happy, drives others insane, and...

"An all-encompassing study . . . Holm shows the interconnecting historical, social and psychological attributes of Native American veterans." -Historynet.com At least 43,000 Native Americans fought in the Vietnam War, yet both the American public and the United States government have been slow to acknowledge their presence and sacrifices in that conflict. In this first-of-its-kind study, Tom Holm draws on extensive interviews with Native American...

A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggles to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield

Above and Beyond the Call of Duty In early summer, 1863 Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began moving northward. As Lee moved toward Maryland, the Union army followed, taking a parallel path on the opposite side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. From June 9 to the beginning of July the two armies skirmished at various locations along the route. Then, from July 1 through July 3, they clashed in the epic Battle of Gettysburg....

Medal of Honor recipient Jack H. Lucas's classic memoir of his heroics at the Battle of Iwo Jima-with a foreword by Bob Dole and reissued to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the battle in 2020. On February 20, 1945, the second day of the assault on Iwo Jima-one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater in World War II-Private Jack Lucas, who was only seventeen, and three other Marines engaged in a close-proximity firefight with Japanese...

A tribute to the heroism shown by military pilots and aircrew from rural California towns who risked their lives and made their mark on American history. During World War II, thousands of volunteer combat aviators trained at places like Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Hancock Field in Santa Maria. Some air cadets and WASPs-young women pilots-lost their lives in training accidents. The graduates would go on to fight in both the Pacific and European...

Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Walt is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors. He is a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor, Thao, a young Hmong teenager, becomes pressured by his gang member cousin to steal Walt's Gran...