ePub Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army; the Epic Battle for the Americas; and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign by Stephan Talty in History

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[T]he amazing story of a woman who lived through one of the worst times in human history; losing family members to the Nazis but surviving with her spirit and integrity intact.” —Publishers WeeklyMarthe Cohn was a young Jewish woman living just across the German border in France when Hitler rose to power. Her family sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis; including Jewish children sent away by their terrified parents. But soon her homeland was also under Nazi rule. As the Nazi occupation escalated; Marthe’s sister was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and the rest of her family was forced to flee to the south of France. Always a fighter; Marthe joined the French Army and became a member of the intelligence service of the French First Army. Marthe; using her perfect German accent and blond hair to pose as a young German nurse who was desperately trying to obtain word of a fictional fiancé; would slip behind enemy lines to retrieve inside information about Nazi troop movements. By traveling throughout the countryside and approaching troops sympathetic to her plight--risking death every time she did so--she learned where they were going next and was able to alert Allied commanders.When; at the age of eighty; Marthe Cohn was awarded France’s highest military honor; the Médaille Militaire; not even her children knew to what extent this modest woman had helped defeat the Nazi empire. At its heart; this remarkable memoir is the tale of an ordinary human being who; under extraordinary circumstances; became the hero her country needed her to be._x000D_ The myth-shattering account of the most famous and most taboo love story in rock-and-roll history Child Bride reveals the hidden story of rock icon Elvis Presley’s love affair with fourteen-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu; the ninth-grader he wooed as a G.I. in Germany and cloistered at Graceland before marrying her to fulfill a promise to her starstruck parents. Award-winning biographer Suzanne Finstad perceptively pieces together the clues from candid interviews with all the Presley intimates—including Priscilla herself; along with hundreds of sources who have never before spoken publicly—to uncover the surprising truths behind the legend of Elvis and Priscilla; a tumultuous tale of sexual attraction and obsession; heartbreak and loss. Child Bride; the only major biography of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley; unveils the controversial child-woman who evolved from a lonely and sexually precocious teenager kept by the King of Rock and Roll into a shrewd businesswoman in control of the multimillion-dollar Elvis Presley empire; a rags-to-riches saga of secrets and betrayals that began when Priscilla was only three years old._x000D_ “Reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner; it has everything: sex; wit; humor; and adventures. But it is an impressively researched and important story.”—David Fromkin; author of Europe’s Last SummerVienna; 1814 is an evocative and brilliantly researched account of the most audacious and extravagant peace conference in modern European history. With the feared Napoleon Bonaparte presumably defeated and exiled to the small island of Elba; heads of some 216 states gathered in Vienna to begin piecing together the ruins of his toppled empire. Major questions loomed: What would be done with France? How were the newly liberated territories to be divided? What type of restitution would be offered to families of the deceased? But this unprecedented gathering of kings; dignitaries; and diplomatic leaders unfurled a seemingly endless stream of personal vendettas; long-simmering feuds; and romantic entanglements that threatened to undermine the crucial work at hand; even as their hard-fought policy decisions shaped the destiny of Europe and led to the longest sustained peace the continent would ever see.Beyond the diplomatic wrangling; however; the Congress of Vienna served as a backdrop for the most spectacular Vanity Fair of its time. Highlighted by such celebrated figures as the elegant but incredibly vain Prince Metternich of Austria; the unflappable and devious Prince Talleyrand of France; and the volatile Tsar Alexander of Russia; as well as appearances by Ludwig van Beethoven and Emilia Bigottini; the sheer star power of the Vienna congress outshone nearly everything else in the public eye.An early incarnation of the cult of celebrity; the congress devolved into a series of debauched parties that continually delayed the progress of peace; until word arrived that Napoleon had escaped; abruptly halting the revelry and shrouding the continent in panic once again.Vienna; 1814 beautifully illuminates the intricate social and political intrigue of this history-defining congress–a glorified party that seemingly valued frivolity over substance but nonetheless managed to drastically reconfigure Europe’s balance of power and usher in the modern age.From the Hardcover edition._x000D_ The first photo I took of St. Nicholas Church [in Great Yarmouth; England] . . . is still my favorite of all the pictures I took. It is difficult to describe adequately what I felt standing before the church my ancestors had called home four hundred years ago. This was where it had all begun for my family ten generations ago; and I was in awe." Bill Griffeth had been a TV journalist covering Wall Street and the world of high finance for a quarter of a century. But when he made the startling discovery that his eight-times great-grandmother was convicted and executed during the Salem witch trials of 1692; he began to research the biggest story of his life: the four-hundred-year history of his family and of our country’s Protestant roots. It was a history that dated back to the seventeenth century and the English Puritans and Separatists who fled to North America for an uncertain future. His travels took him to the fishing village in England where his earliest ancestors lived and worshipped; to the Netherlands where they sought refuge from persecution; and to the sites in New England and New York where they were members of colonial villages with legendary names: Salem; Plymouth; and New Amsterdam. They were Congregationalists; Presbyterians; Lutherans; and Methodists; and they had a surprising connection to the founder of the Mormon Church. Griffeth’s account includes not only the stories of his long-forgotten relatives but also of some of their neighbors and colleagues whom history still remembers; including Plymouth’s great governor William Bradford; New Amsterdam’s swashbuckling director general Peter Stuyvesant; the infamous Salem witch trial judge Colonel John Hathorne; and the stouthearted Methodist bishop Francis Asbury. By Faith Alone is a rich history of our country’s Protestant heritage. It is also one man’s journey of more than ten thousand miles and four centuries; and it captures his personal desire to understand the courage and faith of his distant family members and to better appreciate how religion and the context of history shape his own life even today.