Dirty Deeds Done Cheap by Pete Mercer

Dirty Deeds Done Cheap by Pete Mercer
Flora Miller Biddle, “The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made, 2nd Edition”
My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir by Meir Shalev
Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Muta Maathai
Strictly Bruce: Stories of My Life by Bruce Forsyth

Dirty Deeds Done Cheap by Pete Mercer

Pete Mercer takes us on an unforgettable journey through the dangerous backstreets of 21st-century Iraq, and reveals that the realities of the ongoing War on Terror are not all that they seem.Northern Iraq, 2004 – a lawless region so dangerous the regular coalition armies were reluctant to put their soliders in harm’s way.
Enter the ‘civilian contractors’: private armies in all but name. Working alongside the US Army, men from all corners of the globe volunteered to risk their lives day after day fighting someone else’s war – and all for a few bucks and a suntan…One of these mercenaries was Pete Mercer. An ex-Royal Marine and former member of the navy’s elite SBS, Pete’s been to some pretty hot places but even he didn’t know what to expect. During 15 months of high-tempo missions putting him literally right on the firing line, the frenetic life of the mercenary changed from one week to the next.
Only the constants remained: dirt, danger, excitement, and the ever-present gallows humour in the face of huge casualty rates. Sent on suicidal runs designed to draw out the enemy insurgents, Pete’s team were expendable men, charged with making the hard yards on behalf of the most sophisticated army in the world. Any when the orders started coming right from the top – from the CIA itself – things really started to heat up…

Flora Miller Biddle, “The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made, 2nd Edition”

“Crucial in understanding the evolution of the American art scene.”—Library Journal
Until Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened her studio—which evolved into the Whitney Museum almost two decades later—on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan in 1914, there were few art museums in the United States, let alone galleries for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. When the mansions of the wealthy cried out for art, they sought it from Europe, then the art capital of the world. It was in her tiny sculptor’s studio in Greenwich Village that Whitney began holding exhibitions of contemporary American artists.
This remarkable effort by a scion of America’s wealthiest family helped to change the way art was cultivated in America. The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made is a tale of high ideals, extraordinary altruism, and great dedication that stood steadfast against inflated egos, big businesses, intrigue, and greed. Flora Biddle’s sensitive and insightful memoir is a success story of three generations of forceful, indomitable women.

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir by Meir Shalev

From the author of the acclaimed novel A Pigeon and a Boy comes a charming tale of family ties, over-the-top housekeeping, and the sport of storytelling in Nahalal, the village of Meir Shalev’s birth. Here we meet Shalev’s amazing Grandma Tonia, who arrived in Palestine by boat from Russia in 1923 and lived in a constant state of battle with what she viewed as the family’s biggest enemy in their new land: dirt.
Grandma Tonia was never seen without a cleaning rag over her shoulder. She received visitors outdoors. She allowed only the most privileged guests to enter her spotless house. Hilarious and touching, Grandma Tonia and her regulations come richly to life in a narrative that circles around the arrival into the family’s dusty agricultural midst of the big, shiny American sweeper sent as a gift by Great-uncle Yeshayahu (he who had shockingly emigrated to the sinful capitalist heaven of Los Angeles!). America, to little Meir and to his forebears, was a land of hedonism and enchanting progress; of tempting luxuries, dangerous music, and degenerate gum-chewing; and of women with painted fingernails. The sweeper, a stealth weapon from Grandpa Aharon’s American brother meant to beguile the hardworking socialist household with a bit of American ease, was symbolic of the conflicts and visions of the family in every respect.
The fate of Tonia’s “svieeperrr”—hidden away for decades in a spotless closed-off bathroom after its initial use—is a family mystery that Shalev determines to solve. The result, in this cheerful translation by Evan Fallenberg, is pure delight, as Shalev brings to life the obsessive but loving Tonia, the pioneers who gave his childhood its spirit of wonder, and the grit and humor of people building ever-new lives.

Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Muta Maathai

In “Unbowed,” Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai recounts her extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to the world stage. When Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, she began a vital poor people’s environmental movement, focused on the empowerment of women, that soon spread across Africa.
Persevering through run-ins with the Kenyan government and personal losses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathai continued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya’s forests and to restore democracy to her beloved country. Infused with her unique luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai’s remarkable story of courage, faith, and the power of persistence is destined to inspire generations to come.

Strictly Bruce: Stories of My Life by Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth, the consummate performer and much-loved face of British entertainment, invites you to share with him in a collection of his favourite photographs, through which he tells the story of a remarkable life lived to the full.
A dancer, comedian, singer, actor, musician and all-round entertainer, Bruce achieved national recognition as the host of Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the 1950s. With his classic one-man shows, appearances alongside some of the world’s greatest performers, and hugely popular TV shows ranging from The Generation Game to Strictly Come Dancing, he is a household name renowned for putting a smile on the nation’s face.
Charting his life story from talented young lad growing up in north London to achieving national treasure status, Strictly Bruce is full of dazzling photographs and warm anecdotes spanning eight decades of Bruce’s life, man and boy. It’s a chance to take a trip down memory lane, celebrate the golden age of British showbiz and step behind the scenes of Bruce’s personal life, meeting the people he loves and learning what makes him tick.

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