The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER! Soon to be a major motion picture written and directed by Academy Award-winning director of Green Book, Peter Farrelly. “Chickie takes us thousands of miles on a hilarious quest laced with sorrow, but never dull. You will laugh and cry, but you will not be sorry that you read this rollicking story.”—Malachy McCourt A wildly entertaining, feel-good memoir of an Irish-American New Yorker and former U.S. marine who embarked on a courageous, hare-brained scheme to deliver beer to his pals serving Vietnam in the late 1960s. One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired—some would call it insane—idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever. But who’d be crazy enough to do it? One man was up for the challenge—a U. S. Marine Corps veteran turned merchant mariner who wasn’t about to desert his buddies on the front lines when they needed him. Chick volunteered. A day later, he was on a cargo ship headed to Vietnam, armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol. Landing in Qui Nho’n, Chick set off on an adventure that would change his life forever—an odyssey that took him through a series of hilarious escapades and harrowing close calls, including the Tet Offensive. But none of that mattered if he could bring some cheer to his pals and show them how much the folks back home appreciated them. This is the story of that epic beer run, told in Chick’s own words and those of the men he visited in Vietnam.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER "Chickie takes us thousands of miles on a hilarious quest laced with sorrow, but never dull. You will laugh and cry, but you will not be sorry that you read this rollicking story."--Malachy McCourt Soon to be a major motion picture from Peter Farrelly, director of the Academy Award-winning Green Book--a wildly entertaining, feel-good memoir of an Irish-American New Yorker and former U.S. marine who embarked on a courageous, hare-brained scheme to deliver beer to his pals serving Vietnam in the late 1960s. One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue--known as Chick--was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired--some would call it insane--idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever. But who'd be crazy enough to do it? One man was up for the challenge--a U.S. Marine Corps veteran turned merchant mariner who wasn't about to desert his buddies on the front lines when they needed him. Chick volunteered. A day later, he was on a cargo ship headed to Vietnam, armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol. Landing in Qui Nho'n, Chick set off on an adventure that would change his life forever--an odyssey that took him through a series of hilarious escapades and harrowing close calls, including the Tet Offensive. But none of that mattered if he could bring some cheer to his pals and show them how much the folks back home appreciated them. This is the story of that epic beer run, told in Chick's own words and those of the men he visited in Vietnam.

***'You will laugh and cry, but you will not be sorry that you read this rollicking story.' - Malachy McCourt'An unforgettable wild right from start to finish.' - John Bruning, New York Times bestselling author of Indestructible'Donohue's memoir is a fascinating, vividly narrated recollection of the chaos of the Vietnam war.' - Publishers WeeklyA CRAZY ADVENTURE IN A CRAZY WAR.Following a rowdy night at his local New York bar, ex-Marine and merchant seaman "Chick" Donohue decides to complete a legendary mission. He will travel to Vietnam, track down his buddies in combat and bring them a cold beer from home. It'll be the greatest beer run ever!Now, decades on from 1968, he recounts the remarkable true story of how he actually did it.Armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol, Chick works his passage to Vietnam, lands in Qui Nhon and begins to track down his serving friends one by one.But things quickly go awry, and as he talks his way through checkpoints and unwittingly into dangerous situations, Chick sees a lot more of the war than he ever anticipated - spending a terrifying time in the Demilitarized Zone and getting caught up in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.With indomitable spirit, Chick survives on his wits, but what he finds in Vietnam comes as a shock. By the end of his epic adventure, battered and exhausted, Chick finds himself questioning why his friends were ever led into the war in the first place.

An authoritative and dramatic portrait set against a backdrop of the war-torn Greek empire draws on extensive research to cover such topics as Alexander's military prowess, premature death and inspiration to subsequent historical conquerors.

"An award-winning author shares the inspiring and entertaining account of his pursuit to become a nationally competitive tennis player--at the age of sixty. Being a man or a woman in your early sixties is different than it was a generation or two ago, at least for the more fortunate of us. We aren't old

The incredible true story of Clifton B. “Lucky” Cates, whose service in World War I and beyond made him a legend in the annals of the Marine Corps. Cates knew that he and his small band of marines were in a desperate spot. Before handing the note over to a runner, he added three words that would resound through Marine Corps history: I WILL HOLD. From the moment he first joined the Marine Reserves of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, Clifton B. Cates was determined to make his mark as a leader. Little did he know what he would truly accomplish in his legendary career. Not as well-known as his contemporaries such as Alvin C. York, his fame would not come from a single act of heroism but from his consistent and courageous demeanor throughout the war and beyond. In the bloody second half of 1918 with the 6th Marine Regiment, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Purple Heart, and the Silver Star; was recognized by the French government with the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre; and earned the nickname “Lucky.” I Will Hold is the inspiring, brutally vivid, and incredible true life story of a Marine Corps legend whose grit and unstoppable spirit on the battlefield matched his personal drive and sage wisdom off of it. ​Winner of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation 2017 Colonel Joseph Alexander Award for Biography INCLUDES PHOTOS

Iconix is a comprehensive collection of iconic product design objects, chronologically organized from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present. Each spread of this richly illustrated book showcases the author’s representation of the chosen design, expressing its essence and capturing its spirit. In the introductory text, he shares his concept of the term iconicity to help the reader understand what makes these products stand out and why they are considered icons today. More than one hundred remarkable product designs from all areas, including household appliances, everyday objects, furniture, entertainment technology and office equipment, are presented in this collection. Accompanying the images are well-researched and charming vignettes about each product, with amusing insights and fun tidbits of information about its time and place. Each one informs how design has been influenced by changes in technology, science, and society. While these products were considered innovative at their inception, all have withstood the test of time and many are still, remarkably, in use today. Whether you are drawn to this book because of an interest in design or a penchant for nostalgia and the objects that trigger memories—or both—you will undoubtedly recognize quite a few of these products, such as the Coca-Cola bottle, the Wester & Co pocket knife, the Kitchen Aid mixer, the Le Creuset Dutch oven, the Weber grill, the Bic cristal pen, the Rolodex address file, Kikkoman soy sauce bottles, the Kodak Instamatic, the Polaroid SX-70, the SONY Walkman, the Apple MacIntosh, and the Dyson air-multiplier. Maybe they were part of your childhood or represent your ideal in design; certainly, they will evoke a sense of the familiar. Iconix is an engaging and accessible presentation of the history of product design, providing an extensive catalog of the most memorable product designs of the past 150 years.

A Novel of High-Stakes Romance and Betrayal, Set During the Race to Finish the World's Tallest Building In Empire Rising, his extraordinary third book, Thomas Kelly tells a story of love and work, of intrigue and jealousy, with the narrative verve that led the Village Voice's reviewer to dub him "Dostoevsky with a hard hat and lead pipe." As the novel opens, it is 1930-the Depression-and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men erecting the building high above the city is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in America and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper's ascent from her houseboat on the East River, Briody's life turns exhilarating-and dangerous, for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld. Their heartbreaking love story-which takes place both in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Bronx and amid the swanky nightlife of the '21' Club--is also a chronicle of the city's rough passage from a working-class enclave to a world-class metropolis, and a vivid reimagining of the conflict that pitted the Tammany Hall political machine and its popular mayor against the boundlessly ambitious Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Colin Harrison, in The New York Times Book Review, called Kelly's The Rackets "A well-paced, violent thriller, [and] an elegy for the city's old Irish working class." In Empire Rising, Kelly takes his work to a new level: telling of the story of the people who built the "eighth wonder of the world," he makes old New York the setting for a rich and unforgettable story.

Tim Cotton has been a police officer for more than thirty years. The writer in him has always been drawn to the stories of the people he has met along the way. Dealing with the standard issue ne’er-do-wells as a patrol officer, homicide detective, polygraph examiner, and later as the lieutenant in charge of the criminal investigation division certainly provides an interesting backdrop—but more often he writes about the regular folks he encounters, people who need his help, or those who just want to share a joke or even a sad story. The Detective in the Dooryard is composed of stories about the people, places, and things of Maine. There are sad stories, big events, and even the very mundane, all told from the perspective of a seasoned police office and in the wry voice of a lifelong Mainer. Many of the stories will leave you chuckling, some will invariably bring tears to your eyes, but all will leave you with a profound sense of hope and positivity.

Today, women in all U.S. military services are involved in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They serve as pilots and crewmen of assault helicopters, bombers, fighters, and transport planes, and are frequently engaged in firefights with enemy insurgents while guarding convoys, traveling in hostile territory, or performing military police duties. Like their male counterparts, they carry out their missions with determination and great courage. The advent of the insurgency war, which has no rear or front lines, has made the debate regarding women in combat irrelevant. In such a war zone, anyone can be killed or injured at any moment. The stories of these courageous women are told by James E. Wise and Scott Baron, who use a format similar to the one employed with such success in the book "Stars in Blue". The profiles of some forty women and their photographs are included. To record their stories, the authors conducted numerous personal interviews, and in every case Wise and Baron were struck by the women's extraordinary display of dedication to their mission and to the soldiers and sailors with whom they served. Because the service of women in the military has been under reported to date, most of the women included in this book will be unknown to readers and reveal another dimension to the service of women in the desert and the vital role they play in the armed forces. While the book's focus is on today's women in combat, it also reaches back to Vietnam, Korea, and World War II to offer selected stories of inspiring women who served at the "cusp of the spear" as they fought and died for their country.

In the mountains of Guanajuato, Mexico sits a picturesque community favored by artists and tourists. But for American-born Jayne Valseca and her husband Eduardo, son of a legendary Mexican newspaper publisher, it became a hell on earth when Eduardo was ambushed by strangers and kidnapped in the summer of 2007. Jayne knew that in Mexico kidnapping was a pervasive and lucrative business-a burgeoning criminal industry with few happy endings. This time the merchandise was her husband. Sealed in a dark seven-by-six, two-feet-wide box, Eduardo lived for seven months on little more than eggshells and chicken bones. He was subjected to the most cruel and humiliating mental and physical torture imaginable. He had no reason to believe he'd ever be found alive. As the ransom escalated, so did the stakes. But Jayne refused to be a pawn in the kidnappers' sick game. She decided to become a player. If she was to get her husband back alive, she'd have to be more cunning than the kidnappers and be cool, calculated and determined...

The award-winning graphic novel autobiography of a father, and the challenges he faces raising his autistic son. A beautiful visual exploration of the highs and lows experienced by a parent learning how to adapt to his son’s autism. Faced with a challenging road ahead, the author uses creative flair and ingenuity in order to connect with his son, enabling him to reach his fullest potential and prepare him for the transition into adulthood. This stunning insight into the nature of autism and the daily struggles of a parent uses humor and compassion to convey its message. This is the perfect creative outlet for anyone – from parent to teacher – looking for detailed information on the subject with a more personal touch. Yvon Roy won the Best Biography Award from the Disability Fund and Society, as well as reciving the INSPIREO High School Students Award for the most inspiring youth book, and the Literary Award for Citizenship from the Maine Teacher’s League. “Diving into this exquisite comic book is truly a journey into the life of a child and will interest all parents concerned with understanding what their offspring is made of.” – Huffington Post “A beautiful book, both in substance and form.” – BD Gest “A vibrant song of comfort for autism.” – Actua BD

A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Describes the background and the events of the successful twelve-year revolt of the San Domingian slaves which resulted in the establishment of Haiti in 1803

A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favourites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such problems for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us. In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian (who holds degrees in computer science, philosophy, and poetry, and works at the intersection of all three) and Tom Griffiths (a UC Berkeley professor of cognitive science and psychology) show how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.

Explores the homogenization of American culture and the impact of the fast food industry on modern-day health, economy, politics, popular culture, entertainment, and food production.

In 1942, a dashing young man who liked nothing so much as a heated game of poker, a good bottle of scotch, and the company of a pretty girl hopped a merchant ship to England. He was Robert Capa, the brilliant and daring photojournalist, and Collier’s magazine had put him on assignment to photograph the war raging in Europe. In these pages, Capa recounts his terrifying journey through the darkest battles of World War II and shares his memories of the men and women of the Allied forces who befriended, amused, and captivated him along the way. His photographs are masterpieces — John G. Morris, Magnum Photos’ first executive editor, called Capa “the century’s greatest battlefield photographer” — and his writing is by turns riotously funny and deeply moving. From Sicily to London, Normandy to Algiers, Capa experienced some of the most trying conditions imaginable, yet his compassion and wit shine on every page of this book. Charming and profound, Slightly Out of Focus is a marvelous memoir told in words and pictures by an extraordinary man.—Print Ed.

When Jimmy Dolan's father is brutally murdered while running for president of the construction worker's union, Jimmy must decide whether to risk his life to defend his father's honor and the interests of the rank and file, in a novel set in the union halls, taverns, and half-built skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan. Reprint.

"Until now there has never been a comprehensive ship's biography of the last survivor of America's new steel navy of the Spanish-American War era. The protected cruiser Olympia was constructed as part of a congressionally-mandated program to build a modern fleet prior to the turn of the century. Designed for the Asiatic Squadron, she became famous as Adm. George Dewey's flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay and later returned the body of the Unknown Soldier from France after World War I. Today the Olympia displays her traditional garb of buff and white as a naval shrine at Penn's Landing on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The amazing story behind the greatest newspapermen to ever live—Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst—lies primarily hidden with their reporters who were in the field. They risked their lives in Cuba as the country grappled for independence simply to “get the story” and write what were not always the most accurate accounts, but were definitely the best—anything to sell papers. Reporters like Harry Scovel, Stephen Crane, Cora Taylor, Richard Harding Davis, and James Creelman, among others, put themselves in danger every day just for the news. The Yellow Kids is an adventure story packed with engaging characters, witticisms, humor, and adversity, to reveal that the “yellow” found in journalism was often an extra ingredient applied by editors and publishers in New York.