Twelve-year-old Rivka is tired of everything about being Jewish, but during a summer at Quartz Creek Ranch, she is inspired to explore and embrace her heritage.

Meli and her brother Tahlikwa escape from the Cherokee people being herded westward on the Trail of Tears, determined to return to their beloved mountain home.

"If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness." Edward Abbey In a collection of gripping stories of adventure, Doug Peacock, loner, iconoclast, environmentalist, and contemporary of Edward Abbey, reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: "Was It Worth It?" Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls "solitary walks" were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. He asserts that "solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life," and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants. With adventures both close to home (grizzlies in Yellowstone and jaguars in the high Sonoran Desert) and farther afield (tigers in Siberia, jaguars again in Belize, spirit bears in the wilds of British Columbia, all the amazing birds of the Galapagos), Peacock acknowledges that Covid 19 has put "everyone's mortality in the lens now and it's not necessarily a telephoto shot." Peacock recounts these adventures to try to understand and explain his perspective on Nature: That wilderness is the only thing left worth saving. In the tradition of Peacock's many best-selling books, Was It Worth It? is both entertaining and thought provoking. It challenges any reader to make certain that the answer to the question for their own life is "Yes!"

Rivka can't wait to get away from her family for the summer. Since that terrible day last year, she wants no part in their Jewish community. At least at Quartz Creek Ranch, she feels worlds away from home among the Colorado scenery, goofy ranch owners, and baby animals. Other parts of Quartz Creek, however, are too familiar, including the unsettling wave of anti-immigrant threats to ranch workers. On a trip to the country, Rivka is also surprised to learn the history of Jewish pioneers in the area. When she and her defiant cabinmate, Cat, face disaster in the wild, Rivka will need to find strength deep within her to help them both get home safely.

The second son of Brazos Fortune, Samuel, is somewhat the lost sheep of the Fortune family. After he is run out of Texas, he ends up hiding out with his father and brother. Although he struggles to escape the consequences of his previous lifestyle, he refuses to talk about the past. Brazos has to deal with sending Samuel back to Texas to make amends or allowing him to have a new start in Dakota. To make things even more complicated, Samuel decides to marry a divorced woman with several children and a questionable reputation. Through it all, Samuel never gives up his Christian heritage.

During the Second World War the small landlocked Italian region of Umbria was crossed by thousands of Allied servicemen. There were those entrained for camps in Northern Italy, in Germany or in German-controlled territories. There were those belonging to work parties who came in open trucks from Campo PG 54 at Fara in Sabina to construct a new camp, Campo PG 77 at Pissignano, or to swell the much-depleted indigenous labour force in a cement factory and brickworks and were interned in PG 115 (Morgnano) and PG 115/3 (Marsciano). There were men from the Special Air Services (SAS) who had been parachuted in to carry out special missions. There were the American airmen whose planes had been shot down from the Umbrian skies. There were the escapers and evaders who in trying to reach the Allied Lines or neutral Switzerland walked the Appenines. There were two submariners from HM Submarine Saracen who were held in Perugia gaol before being sent to Dachau. This is their story.