Please note: The prices for the post are cur­rent at the time of the post, please pay atten­tion to make sure they haven’t changed before purchase. Authors: If you’d like your book to be fea­tured on Tight­wad Tues­days please email me. A Medical Emergency, Major-General ‘Ginger’ Burston and the Army Medical Service in World War II by Ian Howie-Willis Australian soldiers and their American Allies won the land war against Japan in the Pacific islands because they were healthier than their enemies. The troops’ fighting spirit, their armaments, their naval and air support and their generals were certainly key ingredients in the Allied victory. Without good health, however, these other factors would have been nullified. Malaria, the great scourge of armies throughout history, threatened the health of the Allies and the Japanese alike. The army that could beat malaria would also defeat its military foe because troops shivering, sweating and shaking with malarial fever cannot shoot straight, let alone fight. In World War II the Allies eventually beat the Japanese — a victory based, to a large part, on the success of the Australian Army Medical Service in defeating malaria. Their Japanese counterpart never won this battle. Major-General ‘Ginger’ Burston led…

Article first published as Book Review: Flesh by Khanh Ha on Blogcritics. About: Flesh by Khanh Ha is a novel taking place in Vietnam and China. It is a coming of age story in a dark time of a young man’s life. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book— use the Raf­fle­copter form at the end of the post to enter. 368 pages Publisher: Black Heron Press (June 15, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0930773888 My rating for Flesh – 4 Buy this book in paper format Thoughts: As I read Flesh, Khanh Ha’s debut novel, it seemed to me that the story is almost dreamlike. A dream in that early hours of a hot morning where you are still in between sleeping and waking up. Your conscious mind taps into your unforgotten but repressed memories which lash out in vicious force with unforgiving storylines. While not always bad, these dreams have a tendency to shape the day or the week with their brutal honesty and, quite honestly, make excellent stories. The novel starts with a beheading and ends with a beheading, both of them witnessed by the protagonist, Tai, a teenage boy who is thrust into manhood after his father is executed (beheading…

Michael O’Hanlon, author of The Wounded Giant (my thoughts), is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, homeland security and American foreign policy. He is a visiting lecturer at Princeton University and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Books by Michael O’Hanlon Q. Why do you refer to America as “The Wounded Giant” and do you think its fair to do so? A. It is of course designed to be a colorful term but I think it’s accurate. The United States remains far and away the world’s superpower in military (and many other) terms. But it is badly hurting and its future dominance – as well as its ability to play a stabilizing role internationally — is in question. This is less from the rise of China (or anyone else) per se, than from the wounds (largely self-inflicted) from which it is currently suffering, starting with trillion dollar annual deficits and an eroding economic foundation. Q. What is the most important thing you would like readers to take away from your book? A. That the…

Mission to Mach 2: A Fighter Pilot’s Memoir of Supersonic Flight by Earl Haney and Lee Courtnage is an exciting book, very readable and engaging. Earl

Just in time for Mother’s day, the pub­lisher has made avail­able one (1) copy of “Times Two” AND an unreleased advance MP3s of two of Antigone Rising’s new singles – Borrowed Time and Everywhere is Home to be given out– enter at the end of the post.As the Oscar-nominated film The Kids are Alright reflects, gay parenting, sperm donors, and alternative families are no longer a rarity in our culture. But if you can imagine Annette Benning and Julianne Moore’s characters finding out they are pregnant at the same time, with the same donor, with due dates only three days apart, you might get a sense of the real life story of Kristen Henderson and Sarah Kate Ellis (website), who document their funny and heartwarming path to parenthood in Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made Sarah, a high-powered magazine executive, and Kristen, a laid-back rock star, fell madly in love and decided to start a family. After determining that Sarah had the better shot at pregnancy, they headed to the fertility doctor. But month after month of drug treatments, miscarriages, and heartbreak left them desperate, and they decided they’d both try at the same time. …

Tatjana Soli wrote the wonderful “Lotus Eaters” the story of a combat female photographer during the Vietnam War. She was kind enough to answer a few question

While not written in chronological order, the book is thought provoking as it deals with people impacted by decisions of world leaders thousands of miles away.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z – A – Anderson, Steve – Historical fiction author talking about his ideas, research and social media. Atkin, Ann – Author of the “Flash His­tory” series talks about biographies, history and more. – B – Baer, Nadja and David Cohen – Talking about the graphic adap­ta­tion of the U.S. Con­sti­tu­tion. Belfer, Lauren – Author of “A Fierce Radi­ance” talks about research, writing and book promotions. Benn, James R. – Historical fiction author of the Billy Boyle WWII series talks about social media, cover art and more. Berger, W.K. – A published non-fiction author who decided to publish his first fiction book independently. Block, Stefan Merill – Author of “The Storm at the Door” talks about fictionalizing his grandparents’ lives, family and social media. Braude, Joseph -Author of the nonfiction book “The Honored Dead” (and several others) talks about social media, the Middle East and other subjects. Busch, Colleen Morton – Author of the nonfiction book “Fire Monks” talks about Zen, Buddhism, Social Media and fire fighting. – C – Cohen, David and Nadja Baer…

A series of written short stories which ultimately get intertwined, around Philippe Petit stringing a cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center