Part of the SECOND WORLD WAR VOICES series, with a new introduction by bestselling historian James Holland, and in partnership with the podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk, presented by comedian Al Murray and James Holland May 1940: In the face of a lightning German advance, the British Army found themselves, stunned, broken, beaten, their backs truly against the wall on the sands of the north French coast. And yet it was on the beaches of Dunkirk that the seeds of a remarkable victory were sown. The evacuation of over three hundred thousand men in ships of all sizes was a logistical feat which has never been seen, before or since. This vivid, visceral story takes you inside the making of a miracle: the story of eight frantic days, as the net tightened around the beleaguered troops, told from all sides, as the enemy draws closer and the bombardment intensifies, in the words of those who were there. It is impossible to get closer to experiencing this legendary action.

The Second World War is raging in Slovakia. The hostilities and the armed warfare are heightened to a fevers pitch. The Nazis are coming to select all of the remaining Jews living in Micholovce. Joseph Freier tells Anna and their four sons and daughter that they must escape immediately to the woods near Slovakia. This happens in August of 1944. They escape to the woods and travel deep into the woods. When they feel that they are safe, they build an underground bunker. Joseph was able to make arrangements with his former foreman, and they know that there will be deliveries of food. It is December of 1944, and the weather has been colder than in past years, and the Germans are in the area. Anna waits everyday for the weekly food delivery. On this particular day, she prayed to G-d and asked him to save her family and her from starvation. She hears the sounds of voices in the woods. She thinks that she is hearing things, but she soon realizes that people are out in the woods singing. At this moment, she didnt care if the people were Nazis or not; she simply had to have food. She called out. No one heard her. She moved toward the sound of the voices and called out again and again. A horse that was in the front of a sleigh heard her calls. The horses driver looked in the same direction and saw Anna. He came over to Anna with two other men. They were people from the nearby village. A priest had organized the people of the town to bake cakes and cook turkeys and bring other foods to the people in the woods, who were starving. It was Christmas night, and Anna had enough food to last for three weeks. Anna always remembered the goodness of the people of the town. Not only was she nourished and her family nourished, but their spirits for living and in trusting people was renewed.

A trio of dragon tales for the holiday season... The Knight, Before Christmas by Jeff Grubb A family celebrates their midwinter holiday with the poetic telling of the tale a bold knight who confronts a dreaded dragon on Christmas Eve. The Christmas Dragon by James M. Ward The holiday chimes of a small town incite the wrath of nearby dragon who adds to his horde by preying on their bounty, only to later discover the true meaning of the holiday season when his horde is coveted by an even darker and rapacious denizen. Wrathclaw's Wyrmtide, Or, The Secret of Treasure-Unlooked-For by Ed Greenwood A greedy old monster of a dragon reflects on wealth and mortality when confronting a mysterious and magical treasure that seems to reflect his own past. He comes to regret some of his decisions and desires, and in turn discovers a treasure far greater than gold, indeed, the legendary Treasure-Unlooked-For. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Why did some Communist and Middle-Eastern dictatorships, those in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Iran, remained defiantly stable during the onset of a democratic age in the 1980s and early 1990s? The book offers an explanation based upon external relations - the regimes' defiance of external military or political foes - and then searches for alternative or supplementary explanations by examining the changes that occurred in these dictatorships' political structures, ideologies and economic policies during 1980-94.