“A lost world, man-eating tribesmen, lush andimpenetrable jungles, stranded American fliers (one of them a dame withgreat gams, for heaven's sake), a startling rescue mission. . . . This is atrue story made in heaven for a writer as talented as Mitchell Zuckoff. Whew—what an utterly compelling and deeplysatisfying read!" —Simon Winchester, author of Atlantic Award-winning former Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoffunleashes the exhilarating, untold story of an extraordinary World War IIrescue mission, where a plane crash in the South Pacific plunged a trio of U.S.military personnel into a land that time forgot. Fans of Hampton Sides’ Ghost Soldiers, Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor, and David Grann’s The Lost Cityof Z will be captivated by Zuckoff’s masterfullyrecounted, all-true story of danger, daring, determination, and discovery injungle-clad New Guinea during the final days of WWII.

Kelsang and Dukar Kaiser, my sister Elsa. Kel sang, Duwhat and Kaiser, I said, trying to remember the very unusual-sounding name, though the contrast with the obviously German family name had me puzzled, when the attractive young couple left. Our next-door neighbors are Tibetan by birth, German Swiss through adoption. Their life stories, although short, read like a movie plot, my sister Gloria explained. I met the beautiful Kelsang and Dukar Kaiser again a few months later when my husband and I visited my sister. We barely made it to Bhutan in 1959. Eventually my family settled in Dharamsala, India, practically next door to the Dalai Lama, Kelsang offered. Two years later in 1961, my family was also forced to flee the country, Dukar contributed. In my ignorance of genetic code, I found Dukar more Tibetan looking. He impressed all of us with his vast knowledge on many subjects, which he expressed with an articulate command of the English language. Although his persona could have been viewed as reserved, he was both gregarious and sociable. Why dont you ask them if you could write their life stories, Elsa? I think they would like it, Gloria suggested. They did, and I spent the next few days interviewing them. The story unfolded slowly, though only partially, due to their tender age: they were five and seven years old when they fled Tibet with their family as political refugees. The moments they never forgot were the fear and the horrors of what they saw, the constant hunger, and the weariness of the long journey. After many months of research and three moves, military transfer, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts and back to the Atlantic, I was able to put together a story based on the personal tragedy and triumph of these two youngsters.

The remarkable true story of the miraculous journey that made the Dalai Lama into the man he is today and sparked the fight for Tibetan freedom “A hair-raising tale of daring and escape.”—The Washington Post In the early weeks of 1959, a bloody uprising gripped the streets of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as ragtag Tibetan rebels faced off against their Communist Chinese occupiers. Realizing that the impending battle would result in a bloodbath and his own capture, the young Dalai Lama began planning an audacious escape to India, a two-week journey that would involve numerous near-death encounters, a dangerous mountain crossing, and evading thousands of Chinese soldiers who were intent on hunting him down. The journey would transform this naïve young man into one of the world’s greatest statesmen . . . and create an enduring beacon of hope for a nation. Emotionally powerful and irresistibly page-turning, Escape from the Land of Snows is simultaneously a portrait of the inhabitants of a spiritual nation forced to take up arms in defense of their ideals, and the saga of a burgeoning leader who was ultimately transformed into the towering figure the world knows today—a charismatic champion of free thinking and universal compassion.

A heart-racing tale of courage, loss, friendship and family. From the nation's favourite storyteller, Michael Morpurgo. Escaping from China as the Japanese invade, Ashley and Uncle Sung embark on a perilous journey across the Himalayas. When battling the hostile environments of the mountains, and finding himself alone in an unfamiliar world, Ashley's courage is put to the test. And a mysterious and terrifying encounter at the hands of an unknown tribe might just change everything. King of the Cloud Forests is a much loved story of bravery and compassion in the face of war and loss, from the author of War Horse. Michael Morpurgo has written more than one hundred books for children and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children's Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times. Look out for Morpurgo's other war fiction including War Horse, Friend or Foe, Waiting for Anya and An Eagle in the Snow.

The first-ever insider account of Camp David, the president's private retreat, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of its inception. Never before have the gates of Camp David been opened to the public. Intensely private and completely secluded, the president's personal campground is situated deep in the woods, up miles of unmarked roads that are practically invisible to the untrained eye. Now, for the first time, we are allowed to travel along the mountain route and directly into the fascinating and intimate complex of rustic residential cabins, wildlife trails, and athletic courses that make up the presidential family room. For seventy-five years, Camp David has served as the president's private retreat. A home away from the hustle and bustle of Washington, this historic site is the ideal place for the First Family to relax, unwind, and, perhaps most important, escape from the incessant gaze of the media and the public. It has hosted decades of family gatherings for thirteen presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama, including holiday celebrations, reunions, and even a wedding. But more than just a weekend getaway, Camp David has also been the site of private meetings and high-level summits with foreign leaders to foster diplomacy. Former Camp David commander Rear Admiral Michael Giorgione, CEC, USN (Ret.), takes us deep into this enigmatic and revered sanctuary. Combining fascinating first-person anecdotes of the presidents and their families with storied history and interviews with commanders both past and present, he reveals the intimate connection felt by the First Families with this historic retreat.

On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Escape From Kathmandu is a light-hearted fantasy tribute to the world of extreme mountain climbing follows the adventures of two American expatriates living in Nepal. Living in the city of Kathmandu in the Kingdom of Nepal are dozens of American and British expatriates who are in love with the Himalayas. George Fergusson is one of them--he works as a trek guide for "Take You Higher, Ltd.", leading groups of tourists into the back country and occasionally assisting on serious climbs. George "Freds" Fredericks is another--a tall, easy-going American who converted to Buddhism while in college. He visited Nepal one year and never went home. The adventures started when George and Freds got together over the capture of a Yeti--an abominable snowman--by a scientific expedition. The thought of such a wild and mysterious creature in captivity--in prison--was too much for them to bear. And in freeing the Yeti, a great partnership was born. George and Freds will go on to greater heights as they explore the mysteries of Nepal, from Shangri-La to Kathmandu's governmental bureaucracy. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.