Author: Jay Gallentine
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496228685
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 690
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Book Description
Rewind to the 1950s and ponder: was America's first satellite really built by a college student? How did a small band of underappreciated Russian engineers get pictures of the moon's far side--using stolen American film? As the 1960s progressed, consider: how the heck did people learn to steer a spacecraft using nothing but gravity? And just how were humans able to goose a spaceship through a thirty-year journey to the literal edge of our solar system? Ambassadors from Earth relates the story of the first unmanned space probes and planetary explorers--from the Sputnik and Explorer satellites launched in the late 1950s to the thrilling interstellar Voyager missions of the '70s--that yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age. Keep in mind that our first mad scrambles to reach orbit, the moon, and the planets were littered with enough histrionics and cliffhanging turmoil to rival the most far-out sci-fi film. Utilizing original interviews with key players, bolstered by never-before-seen photographs, journal excerpts, and primary source documents, Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the Americans and Soviets who conceived, built, and guided those unmanned missions to the planets and beyond. Of special note is his in-depth interview with James Van Allen, the discoverer of the rings of planetary radiation that now bear his name. Ambassadors from Earth is an engaging bumper-car ride through a fog of head-banging uncertainty, bleeding-edge technology, personality clashes, organizational frustrations, brutal schedules, and the occasional bright spot. Confessed one participant, "We were making it up as we went along."
Author: Kathryn Mitchell
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781794637702
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 74
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Book Description
Are you tired of doing the "church thing?" Are you tired of being just a spectator? Are you ready to get off the sidelines and become the church, instead of just going to church? If so, this book is for you! We are going to explore how Jesus walked in ministry and how He changed the lives of those He came in contact with. Are you ready? Let's go!
Author: Paul Richter
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501172433
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
Veteran diplomatic correspondent Paul Richter goes behind the battles and the headlines to show how American ambassadors are the unconventional warriors in the Muslim world—running local government, directing drone strikes, building nations, and risking their lives on the front lines. The tale’s heroes are a small circle of top career diplomats who have been an unheralded but crucial line of national defense in the past two decades of wars in the greater Middle East. In The Ambassadors, Paul Richter shares the astonishing, true-life stories of four expeditionary diplomats who “do the hardest things in the hardest places.” The book describes how Ryan Crocker helped rebuild a shattered Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban and secretly negotiated with the shadowy Iranian mastermind General Qassim Suleimani to wage war in Afghanistan and choose new leaders for post-invasion Iraq. Robert Ford, assigned to be a one-man occupation government for an Iraqi province, struggled to restart a collapsed economy and to deal with spiraling sectarian violence—and was taken hostage by a militia. In Syria at the eruption of the civil war, he is chased by government thugs for defying the country’s ruler. J. Christopher Stevens is smuggled into Libya as US Envoy to the rebels during its bloody civil war, then returns as ambassador only to be killed during a terror attach in Benghazi. War-zone veteran Anne Patterson is sent to Pakistan, considered the world’s most dangerous country, to broker deals that prevent a government collapse and to help guide the secret war on jihadists. “An important and illuminating read” (The Washington Post) and the winner of the prestigious Douglas Dillon Book Award from the American Academy of Diplomacy, The Ambassadors is a candid examination of the career diplomatic corps, America’s first point of contact with the outside world, and a critical piece of modern-day history.
Author: William Alexander
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1442497661
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Gabe Fuentes is in for the ride of his life when he becomes Earth’s ambassador to the galaxy in this alien sci-fi adventure from the National Book Award–winning author of Goblin Secrets. Gabe Fuentes is reading under the covers one summer night when he is interrupted by a creature who looks like a purple sock puppet. The sock puppet introduces himself as the Envoy and asks if Gabe wants to be Earth’s ambassador to the galaxy. What sane eleven-year-old could refuse? Some ingenious tinkering with the washing machine sends Gabe’s “entangled” self out to the center of the galaxy. There he finds that Earth is in the path of a destructive alien force—and Gabe himself is the target of an assassination plot. Exactly who wants him out of the way? And why? Back home, Gabe discovers that his undocumented immigrant parents are in danger of being deported. Can Gabe survive long enough to solve two sets of “alien” problems? He runs for his life, through Minneapolis and outer space, in this fast-paced adventure from a National Book Award–winning author. “Physics lovers will enjoy this clever series opener—but so will those who enjoy comedy, politics, diplomacy or strange-looking aliens” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Author: Barbara Lamb
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781544814773
Category : Extraterrestrial beings
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
Meet the Hybrids explores the lived experience of eight individuals who understand that they are part-human and part-extraterrestrial. Guided by their star families and other entities, they are dedicated to personal missions which contribute to a larger process involving the flourishing of human consciousness, and the protection and evolution of life on Earth at this critical time. Based on over 100 hours of interviews and conversations, this book gives each of the hybrids their own voice. They share their personal journeys of discovery, their abilities, and the joys and challenges of living a dual existence. They invite the reader to radically expand their understanding of reality itself, and pursue their own evolution. The hybrid phenomenon brings us closer than ever before to understanding the ETs themselves, and offers answers to some of humanity's biggest questions.
Author: Damiana Sage Miller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781881217381
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Imagine that you were visited by wise and compassionate beings from other dimensions. These celestial teachers represent humanity's future. They can answer all of your questions about life and death, good and evil, free will and fate. What would you ask? Imagine that you are an ambassador between worlds. Your message will teach universal laws, raise consciousness and inspire hope. It could also save humanity from global warming and other problems on the Earth. How would you share this message with others? You are about to embark on an extraordinary journey... We wish to empower humanity and aid your planet, help give you the confidence to go forth and create the civilization you wish to live in. -Council of Intergalactic Relations AMBASSADORS BETWEEN WORLDS: Intergalactic Gateway to a New Earth, is a collection of amazing and profound conversations with enlightened extraterrestrials. Topics include the nature of God, evolution of the soul, finding your purpose, living your passion, cleaning up the environment, and developing new energy resources. You will also learn about past lives, future lives, the true nature of time, universal laws, Atlantis, ancient Egypt, advanced technology, alternative energy, hidden dimensions, the real cause of disease, angels, archangels, nature spirits, spiritual guides, shadow governments, why the UFO cover-up is allowed to persist, and much more. How do advanced extraterrestrials live? How do they raise their children? Do they have animals? What do they eat? What do extraterrestrials think about our religious beliefs, sexual attitudes, and goals in life? How can we achieve global peace? Why do extraterrestrials want to assist humanity?
Author: William Alexander
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1442497696
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
Gabe Fuentes is in a race against time—and aliens—in this intergalactic sequel to Ambassador, which Booklist called “an exciting sci-fi adventure, perceptively exploring what it means to be alien,” from National Book Award winner William Alexander. When we last left Earth’s Ambassador, Gabe Fuentes, he was stranded on the moon. And when he’s rescued by Kaen, another Ambassador, things don’t get better: It turns out that the Outlast— a race of aliens that has been systematically wiping out all other creatures—are coming. And they’ve set their sights on Earth. Enter Nadia. She was Earth’s Ambassador before Gabe, but left her post in order to stop the Outlast. Nadia has discovered that the Outlast can conquer worlds by travelling fast through lanes created by the mysterious Machinae. No one has communicated with the Machinae in centuries, but Nadia is determined to try, and Gabe and Kaen want to help her. But the three Ambassadors don’t know that the Outlast have discovered what they are doing, and have sent assassins to track them down. As Nadia heads deeper into space to find the Machinae, Gabe and Kaen return to Earth, where Gabe is trying to find another type of alien—his father, who was deported to Mexico, and who Gabe is desperate to bring home. From a detention center in the center of the Arizona desert to the Embassy in the center of the galaxy, the three Ambassadors race against time to save their worlds in this exciting, funny, mind-bending adventure.
Author: E. Brooks Holifield
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802803814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367
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Book Description
In God's Ambassadors E. Brooks Holifield masterfully traces the history of America's Christian clergy from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, analyzing the changes in practice and authority that have transformed the clerical profession. Challenging one-sided depictions of decline in clerical authority, Holifield locates the complex story of the clergy within the context not only of changing theologies but also of transitions in American culture and society. The result is a thorough social history of the profession that also takes seriously the theological presuppositions that have informed clerical activity. With alternating chapters on Protestant and Catholic clergy, the book permits sustained comparisons between the two dominant Christian traditions in American history. At the same time, God's Ambassadors depicts a vocation that has remained deeply ambivalent regarding the professional status marking the other traditional learned callings in the American workplace. Changing expectations about clerical education, as well as enduring theological questions, have engendered a debate about the professional ideal that has distinguished the clerical vocation from such fields as law and medicine. The American clergy from the past four centuries constitute a colorful, diverse cast of characters who have, in ways both obvious and obscure, helped to shape the tone of American culture. For a well-rounded narrative of their story told by a master historian, God's Ambassadors is the book to read.
Author: Penny VON ESCHEN
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674044711
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342
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Book Description
At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the U.S. State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched its finest jazz musicians to the far corners of the earth, from Iraq to India, from the Congo to the Soviet Union, in order to win the hearts and minds of the Third World and to counter perceptions of American racism. Penny Von Eschen escorts us across the globe, backstage and onstage, as Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and other jazz luminaries spread their music and their ideas further than the State Department anticipated. Both in concert and after hours, through political statements and romantic liaisons, these musicians broke through the government's official narrative and gave their audiences an unprecedented vision of the black American experience. In the process, new collaborations developed between Americans and the formerly colonized peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East--collaborations that fostered greater racial pride and solidarity. Though intended as a color-blind promotion of democracy, this unique Cold War strategy unintentionally demonstrated the essential role of African Americans in U.S. national culture. Through the tales of these tours, Von Eschen captures the fascinating interplay between the efforts of the State Department and the progressive agendas of the artists themselves, as all struggled to redefine a more inclusive and integrated American nation on the world stage.
Author: China Miéville
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0345524519
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 369
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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties: to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak—but which speaks through her, whether she likes it or not. Praise for Embassytown “A breakneck tale of suspense . . . disturbing and beautiful by turns. I cannot emphasize enough how terrific this novel is. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in the past year, perfectly balanced between escapism and otherworldly philosophizing.”—io9 “Embassytown is a fully achieved work of art. . . . Works on every level, providing compulsive narrative, splendid intellectual rigour and risk, moral sophistication, fine verbal fireworks and sideshows, and even the old-fashioned satisfaction of watching a protagonist become more of a person than she gave promise of being.”—Ursula K Le Guin “The Kafkaesque writer journeys to the distant edges of the universe in his latest sci-fi thriller.”—Entertainment Weekly “Utterly astonishing . . . A major intellectual achievement.”—Kirkus Reviews “Brilliant storytelling . . . The result is a world masterfully wrecked and rebuilt.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
