Flying on Northwest Airlines in mid-2004, journalist and writer Jacobsen (WomensWallStreet.com) decided that a group of Middle Eastern men were acting suspiciously, apparently because the men were talking to each other, were using the bathroom too much, and because of the "cold, defiant look" she reports she got from one with whom she had earlier "exchanged friendly words." When she and her husband shared her concerns with a flight attendant, she writes, she was told that Federal Air Marshals were on the plane and that they were on top of the situation. Although she was later told by investigators that the men were in fact 14 Syrian musicians backing up a well-known Middle Eastern singer (the "Syrian Wayne Newton"), Jacobsen remained convinced that the men were part of a terrorist plot conducting "probes" of American aviation. She wrote up her suspicions for an article that caused a brief Internet sensation: it was publicized by such right-wing writers and proponents of racial profiling as Michelle Malkin and generally greeted with rolling eyes and chortles by those more on the center and left. She has since parlayed the original article into a continuing series on WomensWallStreet.com, much of which has now been distilled into this book, which contains the original article, descriptions of her testimony before Congress, an account of her (not particularly thorough) "investigation" into the Syrian musicians, and a condemnation of government failure to address the issue. Annotation :2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

The true stroy of the longest-distance hijacking in American history. In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of '60s idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week, using guns, bombs, and jars of acid. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. Their criminal exploits mesmerized the country, never more so than when shattered Army veteran Roger Holder and mischievous party girl Cathy Kerkow managred to comandeer Western Airlines Flight 701 and flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom—a heist that remains the longest-distance hijacking in American history. More than just an enthralling story about a spectacular crime and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath, The Skies Belong to Us is also a psychological portrait of America at its most turbulent and a testament to the madness that can grip a nation when politics fail.

In this first interdisciplinary study of this contentious subject, leading experts in politics, history, and philosophy examine the complex aspects of the terror bombing of German cities during World War II. The contributors address the decision to embark on the bombing campaign, the moral issues raised by the bombing, and the main stages of the campaign and its effects on German civilians as well as on Germany's war effort. The book places the bombing campaign within the context of the history of air warfare, presenting the bombing as the first stage of the particular type of state terrorism that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and brought about the Cold War era "balance of terror." In doing so, it makes an important contribution to current debates about terrorism. It also analyzes the public debate in Germany about the historical, moral, and political significance of the deliberate killing of up to 600,000 German civilians by the British and American air forces. This pioneering collaboration provides a platform for a wide range of views--some of which are controversial--on a highly topical, painful, and morally challenging subject.

Winnie-the-Pooh meets The Blair Witch Project in this very grown-up tale of a camping trip gone horribly awry. Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive. The Laws of the Skies tells the harrowing story of those days in the woods, of illness and accidents, and a murderous child. Part fairy tale, part horror film, this macabre fable takes us through the minds of all the members of this doomed party, murderers and murdered alike. “Excellent...crystalline." —New York Times, Summer Reads

A riveting history of a Space Age disaster that left the Canadian wilderness polluted by Soviet radioactive waste. Viewers of Chernobyl or fans of David Wallace-Wells and Mike Berners-Lee will find this a fascinating work. On 24th January 1978, a Soviet spy satellite broke up upon re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Debris was scattered across thousands of miles of northern Canada, yet what was more worrying was that the satellite contained one hundred pounds of enriched uranium, contaminating the Canadian wilderness. Why had this satellite, designed for long-term orbit, come crashing to earth? Should we be asking more questions about the large number of radioactive satellites that still circle the earth? Two days after Cosmos 954 had broken up Leo Heaps decided to make his way to the Northwest Territories to find out just how widespread the contamination was and to witness Operation Morning Light, the largest search for nuclear debris ever undertaken. Heaps interviewed defence ministers, scientists, politicians, military men and local inhabitants to build up a picture of how this event unfolded; how the Soviet Union had lost control of its satellite and how panic had gripped America as the satellite stuttered over Maine, Las Vegas and Miami. As the clean-up operation began Heaps witnessed the American NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team) and Canadian NAST (Nuclear Accident Support Team) going into action with planes and helicopters to search for radioactive debris that was spread over hundreds of miles. Operation Morning Light is a brilliant exposé on the damage that humankind can do to the earth in its quest for knowledge and exploration. It investigates how North America was polluted by a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite at the height of the Cold War. "a straightforward account, quoting officials and engineers by name, and managing at the same time to point out the ludicrousness of our nuclear society." Kirkus Reviews