Author: Ron Owens
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781563115714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Author: Marc Wilson
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 080618664X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
The first book-length account of a story too long overlooked Claro Solis wanted to win a gold star for his mother. He succeeded—as did seven other sons of “Little Mexico.” Second Street in Silvis, Illinois, was a poor neighborhood during the Great Depression that had become home to Mexicans fleeing revolution in their homeland. In 1971 it was officially renamed “Hero Street” to commemorate its claim to the highest per-capita casualty rate from any neighborhood during World War II. Marc Wilson now tells the story of this community and the young men it sent to fight for their adopted country. Hero Street, U.S.A. is the first book to recount a saga too long overlooked in histories and television documentaries. Interweaving family memories, soldiers’ letters, historical photographs, interviews with relatives, and firsthand combat accounts, Wilson tells the compelling stories of nearly eighty men from three dozen Second Street homes who volunteered to fight for their country in World War II and Korea—and of the eight, including Claro Solis, who never came back. As debate swirls around the place of Mexican immigrants in contemporary American society, this book shows the price of citizenship willingly paid by the sons of earlier refugees. With Hero Street, U.S.A., Marc Wilson not only makes an important contribution to military and social history but also acknowledges the efforts of the heroes of Second Street to realize the American dream.

Author: Robert Underhill
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628941405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
During the Great Depression, writers of True Crime could take the decade off: life was imitating art so dramatically they had nothing to add. In these pages historian Robert Underhill presents the most notorious criminals of 1930-1934: Wilbur Underhill, Alvin Karpis, the Barker Clan, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, the Barrows (Buck, Blanche, Clyde, and Bonnie), and John Dillinger along with supporting material on their henchmen and the rise of the FBI. Often armed better than the police, criminals of the 1930s committed deeds ranging from stealing chickens to kidnappings, bank robberies, and killing innocent victims. Yet such crimes were often taken in stride by avid readers. Cooperation among local, state and federal lawmen was rare as each sought to protect his own turf. Criminals and lawmen made mistakes battling one another, but in most cases the law triumphed and the wanted fugitive died under a hail of bullets. His death would start myths and raise his reputation to national status. The author of 'Against the Grain: Six Men Who Shaped America' and 'The Rise and Fall of Franklin D. Roosevelt' shows us another aspect of the Roosevelt era and portrays a series of figures who contributed to pop culture as well helping to shape the security forces in America. Robbing the banks and driving fast cars, they did what many Americans dreamed of, and gave a depressed populace some excitement to distract from everyday worries. With the Great Depression, some citizens came to regard bank robbers as modern Robin Hoods seeking to avenge depositors whose life earnings had been wiped out by a bank's failure or malfeasance by its owners. No small wonder that criminals were given colorful sobriquets and fact and fiction became intertwined. Underhill shows how such heists, and kidnappings especially, helped create the modern FBI, overcoming the complaints of those who alleged that a federal force was the first step toward an American Gestapo. The belief that federal government had nothing to do with fighting crime was rooted in the U.S. Constitution and its provisions for states' rights. Local police were expected to provide security and to apprehend criminals without Washington getting involved. In the big cities, Prohibition era mobsters still ruled, but in the Midwest especially, smaller bands, "gangsters," began to make headlines. They tended to be blue-collar criminals whose favorite targets were filling stations, grocery stores, and small town banks. Prior to 1930, corruption was rife and cooperation among local, state, and federal police was little to none; criminals often got away. Only in 1935 was the FBI formally anointed and its agents were permitted to carry guns. Now, there was a federal agency that could supply sheriffs all over the country with information on suspected criminals. By 1935, the hardest times of the Depression were beginning to ease and the thrill of watching these cops-and-robber stories play out was combined with a renewed interest in the lives of the rich and famous, previously scorned for their role in ripping off the average man. All in all, the early 1930s were a uniquely dramatic time for crime and crimestoppers in America.

Author: Eddie D. Wilcoxen
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1934483095
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
You'll laugh and you'll cry as you meet everyday people whose courageous actions are anything but ordinary! Enjoy fifty inspiring stories, including:The Tale of a Mother's Love, The Amazing Unsinkable Man, The Power of Lemonade, Go Climb a Tree, Beware the Evil Batman, A Good Heart, plus dozens more!

Author: Mike Larson
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595525210
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Even today, my thoughts of Vietnam are positive. I have incredibly fond memories of spending one year in that theater with some incredible people. My feelings about the Vietnam War mesh exactly with what Michael Norman wrote in his book These Good Men: Friendships Forged From War-even though Norman's heroes served in the U.S. Marine Corps and mine served in the First Air Cav. In recalling his tour in Vietnam, Norman wrote: "I did not pick these men. They were delivered by fate and the U.S. Marine Corps. But I know them in a way I know no other men. I have never since given anyone such trust. They were willing to guard something more precious than my life. They would have carried my reputation, the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all made, the reason we were so willing to die for one another."

Author: J. Patrick Lewis
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0803729251
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Twenty-one entertaining, thought-provoking poems chronicle the good that people have done in service of others. Bypassing those of mere fame, this striking collection is a celebration of such persons as Gandhi, Rosa Parks, teachers, a thirteen-year-old child-labor crusader, firefighters, Cesar Chavez, a feisty nun, and: . . . the valiant and the brave. Those simple people known by Two simple words: They gave. Each portrait includes an expressive illustration and additional factual material, and an eloquent afterword tells of Mr. Lewis's own childhood hero. This memorable book invites readers to explore the legacy of human generosity which lights the path for tomorrow's heroes.

Author: Ron Owens
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 9781563118418
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Largely unknown except in a few law enforcement circles, Jelly Bryce was in the forefront of the conflict during America's gangster era. Many of his life's adventures read like tales of fiction but they aren't. While others posed for the cameras and gave press interviews, this is one of the men who really did the job. As an Oklahoma State Game Ranger, Oklahoma City Police Detective and FBI Agent for over 30 years, Bryce was the man responsible for creating the FBI's first firearms training program, developing their concealed holster, their fast-draw techniques and personally trained hundreds of their agents. Hired by the FBI without any college, his training duties were incidental. He was involved in 19 shootings in the line of duty. In one, he confronted a gangster pointing a loaded gun at him and shot the man five times before he could pull the trigger.

Author: Ron Owens
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491706287
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book leads you down the not-so-hallowed halls of law enforcement of four decades ago. It gives you an extra set of eyes and ears in the roll call lineups, in the patrol cars and detective cruisers, on the radio calls, in the streets and in the interview rooms, in the chases, arrests, gunfights, fist fights, hostage situations, and investigationsnot on a movie set but the real thing. You experience the sights, the sounds, the smells of a cops days and nights. You hear their words and those of the victims, witnesses and suspects when theyre not reading from a screenwriters script or posturing for the cameras of a reality show. It is populated not with fictional creations but real characters, by every definition of those words. The events, emotions and language are all served rawno dressing, no garnish. The rookies enthusiasm and optimism, the experienced veterans cynicism, the boredom of routine, the thrill of the pursuit, the satisfaction of a job well done, the frustration when events go bad, the anger, the hilarity, the dark and irreverent sense of humor, all pathways to the Ph. D. in Human Nature every street cop receives in a big city.

Author: Deborah Bouziden
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493078151
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Tired of the same old tourist traps? Whether you’re a visitor or a local looking for something different, Oklahoma Off the Beaten Path shows you the Sooner State you never knew existed. Catch a reenactment of a historic Wild West show at Pawnee Bill Buffalo Ranch, stroll through the collection of bonsai trees and Japanese-style cascading pools at Lendonwood Gardens, or admire the rose-colored fossilized crystals at the Timberlake Rose Rock Museum. So, if you’ve “been there, done that” one too many times, get off the main road and venture Off the Beaten Path.

Author: Danny O. Coulson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671020625
Category : Secret service
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Book Description
Cataloging some of the most notorious criminal events of the last 30 years, Coulson, the creator of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, provides firsthand accounts and reflective personal opinions of his experiences in bringing hundreds of murderous extremists and killers to justice--from the Black Liberation Army to the sieges at Ruby Ridge and Waco.