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

“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 written and directed by Peter Farrelly, who won two Academy Awards for 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.

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME. As a result of a rowdy night in his local New York bar, ex-Marine and merchant seaman "Chick" Donohue volunteers for a legendary mission. He will sneak into Vietnam to track down his buddies in combat to bring them a cold beer and supportive messages from home. It'll be the greatest beer run ever! Now, decades on from 1968, this is 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 carry out his quest, tracking down the disbelieving soldiers 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 planned - 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.

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.

Beyond Blue Skies examines the thirty-year period after World War II during which aviation experienced an unprecedented era of progress that led the United States to the boundaries of outer space.

In June, 2015, Lewis Kent was just an ordinary twenty-one-year-old college kid who liked to run. By December, 2015, just six months later, he had appeared in ESPN, Buzzfeed, Ellen, and dozens of other major outlets. Videos of him running went viral, and he received daily calls from agents. So why all the attention? Simple: He ran the Beer Mile, and he ran it unbelievably fast. The beer mile is a track or road race in which you chug a beer, run a quarter mile, chug another beer, run another quarter mile, chug, run, chug, run: four beers, four laps, no vomiting allowed. “Chug, run, repeat.” If it sounds difficult (but really fun), it’s because it absolutely is. The event first went viral in 2014 when the five-minute barrier was broken. Kent became the world champion and broke the world record in late 2015 with a time of 4 minutes, 47 seconds, just over a minute longer than the world record for the regular mile. After that, he became the world’s first professional Beer Miler, literally being paid for his superhuman ability to run fast and drink quickly. Part memoir, part how-to manual, A World Champion's Guide to Running the Beer Miles is for both serious athletes and recreational runners who love to run, enjoy a drink, and like the idea of a challenge.

“I can’t stand my job anymore.” “I feel like I have no direction. Like I’m just marking time.” “What is my purpose?” Do any of these thoughts sound familiar? In the last 70 years, social scientists and churches been trying to help people understand who they are and how they fit with personality tests and spiritual gifts tests – but these only go so far. Bill Hendricks goes beyond personality types to explore and explain the fullness of human giftedness and the concept of personhood. Using the “Discover Your Design” test, The Person Called You provides a specific, comprehensive, and accurate understanding of the phenomenon of human giftedness from a Biblical perspective. It moves past the limited scope of other gift discovery tests to look at each person’s unique God-given designs and motivations. This book helps the reader understand their deep uniqueness as a human being and purpose in life from a variety of angles –work, marriage, parenting, education, and one’s relationship with God. The Person Called You is for anyone who knows they aren’t quite where they ought to be – and not quite where they will flourish best – and wants to who they were created to be. It’s a presentation of hope – hope that there actually are answers to some of life’s most perplexing questions.

GET INSIDE THE MINDS OF ELITE SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN AND DISCOVER WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST. THIS IS THE STORY OF SUPERHUMAN PERFORMANCE AND THE PLAYBOOK FOR THE SUPERSTARS OF TOMORROW. Never have the best sportspeople seemed so far removed from the rest of us. So how are these extraordinary athletes made and what do their achievements tell us about success? THE BEST reveals how the most incredible sportspeople in the world got that way. It is a unique look at the path to sporting greatness. This is a story of origins, training, luck and serendipity, as well as of sports science and cutting-edge technology. Packed with gripping personal stories and interviews, you will discover how the best athletes develop the extraordinary skills and muscle memory that allow them to perform remarkable acts without consciously thinking about them. THE BEST deconstructs the myths, like the notion that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to make it to the top, and explores the hidden power of the mind to reveal how athletes really think and process information during high octane competition. it gets inside the minds of champions, deconstructing what athletes see during matches and explaining how they do what they do. Drawing on examples and lessons from throughout the sporting world, this is for anyone who wants to know what it takes to be the best.

Based on expert observations of children who experience difficulties with maths this book gives a comprehensive overview of dyscalculia, providing a wealth of information and useful guidance for any practitioner. With a wide range of appropriate and proven intervention strategies it guides readers through the cognitive processes that underpin success in mathematics and gives fascinating insights into why individual students struggle with maths. Readers are taken step-by-step through each aspect of the maths curriculum and each section includes: Examples which illustrate why particular maths difficulties occur Practical 'action plans' which help teachers optimise children's progress in mathematics This fully revised second edition will bring the new research findings into the practical realm of the classroom. Reflecting current knowledge, Glynis Hannell gives increased emphasis to the importance of training 'number sense' before teaching formalities, the role of concentration difficulties and the importance of teaching children to use strategic thinking. Recognising that mathematical learning has a neurological basis will continue to underpin the text, as this has significant practical implications for the teacher.

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.

Before he runs out of time, Irish bon vivant MALACHY MCCOURT shares his views on death - sometimes hilarious and often poignant - and on what will or won't happen after his last breath is drawn. During the course of his life, Malachy McCourt practically invented the single's bar; was a pioneer in talk radio, a soap opera star, a best-selling author; a gold smuggler, a political activist, and a candidate for governor of the state of New York. It seems that the only two things he hasn't done are stick his head into a lion's mouth and die. Since he is allergic to cats, he decided to write about the great hereafter and answer the question on most minds: What's so great about it anyhow? In Death Need Not Be Fatal, McCourt also trains a sober eye on the tragedies that have shaped his life: the deaths of his sister and twin brothers; the real story behind Angela's famous ashes; and a poignant account of the death of the man who left his mother, brothers, and him to nearly die in squalor. McCourt writes with deep emotion of the staggering losses of all three of his brothers, Frank, Mike, and Alphie. In his inimitable way, McCourt takes the grim reaper by the lapels and shakes the truth out of him. As he rides the final blocks on his Rascal scooter, he looks too at the prospect of his own demise with emotional clarity and insight. In this beautifully rendered memoir, McCourt shows us how to live life to its fullest, how to grow old without acting old, and how to die without regret.

Journalist Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary and their four children lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family. When the money ran out, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town Rex had tried to escape. As the dysfunction escalated, the children had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they found the resources and will to leave home. Yet Walls describes her parents with deep affection in this tale of unconditional love in a family that, despite its profound flaws, gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life. -- From publisher description.

'Ruth is the queen of living history - long may she reign.' Lucy Worsley A large black cast iron range glowing hot, the kettle steaming on top, provider of everything from bath water and clean socks to morning tea: it's a nostalgic icon of a Victorian way of life. But it is far more than that. In this book, social historian and TV presenter Ruth Goodman tells the story of how the development of the coal-fired domestic range fundamentally changed not just our domestic comforts, but our world. The revolution began as far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when London began the switch from wood to coal as its domestic fuel - a full 200 years before any other city. It would be this domestic demand for more coal that would lead to the expansion of mining, engineering, construction and industry: the Domestic Revolution kick-started, pushed and fuelled the Industrial Revolution. There were other radical shifts. Coal cooking was to change not just how we cooked but what we cooked (causing major swings in diet), how we washed (first our laundry and then our bodies) and how we decorated (spurring the wallpaper industry). It also defined the nature of women's and men's working lives, pushing women more firmly into the domestic sphere. It transformed our landscape and environment (by the time of Elizabeth's death in 1603, London's air was as polluted as that of modern Beijing). Even tea drinking can be brought back to coal in the home, with all its ramifications for the shape of the empire and modern world economics. Taken together, these shifts in our day-to-day practices started something big, something unprecedented, something that was exported across the globe and helped create the world we live in today.

Deeply researched with keen judgements, Traitors and Spies is a devastating indictment of Australia's security services and their political masters in the decades before the formation of ASIO.' - Professor David Horner, author of The Spy Catchers: The Official History of ASIO 1949-1963 Dozens of Russian anarchists, socialists and communists arrived in Australia from 1905, fleeing repression in their homeland. Finding work in the Queensland cane fields, Russian activists recruited in working men's groups for their revolutionary cause, laying the foundations for infiltration by Soviet intelligence services of the unions and Communist Party of Australia decades later. This is just one of the many fascinating stories former intelligence officer John Fahey has uncovered in the archives of Australia, MI5 and the CIA. He shows that Australia was under sustained attack from external threats as early as 1908, threats the country consistently failed to address effectively. He identifies the first German spy in Australia, as well as a group of highly respected Jewish businessmen in Melbourne who were Soviet agents, and an Australian woman who worked for Soviet military intelligence in the United States. Internal security work is dirty work, and never more so than when ruthless politicians and police use intelligence services for their own ends. Fahey has discovered that old boys' networks at the highest levels enabled security agencies to mislead judicial inquiries, spy on members of parliament and other bureaucrats, and persecute innocent citizens in the interwar years. Traitors and Spies tells the story of Australia's intelligence operations before ASIO was established, and reveals the dark side of Australian politics in the first half of the twentieth century.

A simple walk around the block set journalist Spike Carlsen, bestselling author of A Splintered History of Wood, off to investigate everything he could about everything we take for granted in our normal life—from manhole covers and recycling bins to bike lanes and stoplights. In this celebration of the seemingly mundane, Carlsen opens our eyes to the engineering marvels, human stories, and natural wonders right outside our front door. He guides us through the surprising allure of sewers, the intricacies of power plants, the extraordinary path of an everyday letter, and the genius of recycling centers—all the while revealing that this awesome world isn’t just a spectator sport. Engaging as it is endearing, A Walk Around the Block will change the way you see things in your everyday life. Join Carlsen as he strolls through the trash museum of New York City, explores the quirky world of squirrels, pigeons, and roadkill, and shows us how understanding stoplights, bike lanes, and fine art of walking can add years to our lives. In the end, he brings a sense of wonder into your average walk around the block, wherever you are. Guaranteed.

What is Your Dream? Being a lawyer is difficult. Creating a sustainable and profitable firm that works for you is even harder. Most lawyers never get there. Most lawyers feel stuck in jobs. And many lawyers who choose to work for themselves struggle to make a profit or make any time for their lives. Tiger Tactics is about unlocking your dream. It was written by five lawyers who have individually gone on to create million and multi-million dollar practices. Tiger Tactics is about the stories, the struggles, and the practical advice necessary to thrive in the law practice jungle. Want more access and discussion? Join the Tiger Tactics online community at https: //www.facebook.com/groups/tigertacticsbook

A gritty, bare-knuckled novel set during a rigged union election in New York City, from the acclaimed author of "Payback."

How roaring were the Roaring Twenties? How lost was the Lost Generation? In this major reinterpretation of one of the most colorful decades in American history, Roderick Nash finds the image of the period to be less than life-size. His book is not only a summary of the high points of American thought from the Great War to the Great Depression but a lively foray into popular culture. His interest in Zane Grey as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Ford as well as John Dewey, offers fresh insights into a decade filled with paradoxes. Seeking to find what captured the enthusiasm of ordinary people, Mr. Nash has written an original and persuasive analysis of a generation that continues to command our attention."

“Exquisite. Full of wry humor, tenderness, and compassion.” —Jeannette Walls, New York Times bestselling author A hilarious and heartbreaking memoir about an outlandish mother and son on an odyssey of self-discovery, and the rag-tag community that rallied to help them as the mother entered the final phase of her life. Dan Mathews knew that his witty, bawdy, unhinged mother, Perry, was unable to maintain her fierce independence at seventy-eight—so he flew her across the country to Virginia to live with him in an 1870 townhouse badly in need of repairs. But to Dan, a screwdriver is a cocktail not a tool, and he was soon overwhelmed with two fixer-uppers: the house and his mother. Unbowed, Dan and Perry built a rollicking life together fueled by costume parties, road trips, after-hours gatherings, and an unshakeable sense of humor as they faced down hurricanes, blizzards, and Perry’s steady decline. They got by with the help of an ever-expanding circle of sidekicks—Dan’s boyfriends (past and present), ex-cons, sailors, strippers, deaf hillbillies, evangelicals, and grumpy cats—while flipping the parent-child relationship on its head. But it wasn’t until a kicking-and-screaming trip to the emergency room that Dan discovered the cause of his mother’s unpredictable, often caustic behavior: Perry had lived her entire adult life as an undiagnosed schizophrenic. Irreverent and emotionally powerful, Like Crazy is a darkly comic tale about the perils and rewards of taking in a fragile parent without derailing your life in the process. A rare story about mental illness with an uplifting conclusion, it shows the remarkable growth that takes place when a wild child settles down to care for the wild woman who raised him.

Focuses on the generation of Americans who were born in the 1920s, came of age during the Depression, fought in World War II, and came home to build a new America during the postwar era.

The author, once an aspiring screenwriter, recalls Hemingway's and Huston's influences, Hemingway's tendency toward self-caricature, and Huston's self-absorption