Central Kansas Library System

When a man is killed by being thrown from a helicopter high over the California desert, loner Jack Reacher discovers that someone is targeting his old friends and teammates and launches a personal campaign to end the conspiracy before it claims any more lives.

There are no "ordinary lives." The men whose stories are told in this remarkable book have been called "common soldiers." None of them achieved especially high military rank; none became great celebrities. But all were volunteers who willingly risked their lives to fight for a cause they believed in passionately: preserving the Union.

A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

This true spy thriller reveals the inner workings of the notorious Revolutionary Guards of Iran, as witnessed by an Iranian man inside their ranks who spied for the American government. It is a human story, a chronicle of family and friendships torn apart by a terror-mongering regime, and how the adult choices of three childhood mates during the Islamic Republic yielded divisive and tragic fates. And it is the courageous account of one man's decades-long...

Eleven-year-old Abigail presents a diary account of life in Valley Forge from December 1777 to July 1778 as General Washington prepares his troops to fight the British.

In 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas, Austin, and shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges throughout his life. The speech went viral. This timeless book builds on those core tenets to inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.

"During his three combat-filled tours of duty in Afghanistan, former college sports star and skilled paratrooper U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills never once backed down from the hardest challenges that came his way. The big, likable guy literally woke up every morning proudly singing the 82nd Airborne song to encourage and motivate the men he led. But late one afternoon in April 2012 while Travis and his men were on a routine mission near a remote...

The Gulf War has just ended and amidst the partying and confusion, four American soldiers, determined to take home more than sand fleas, go off into the Iraqi desert to embark on a treasure hunt for a cache of millions in stolen Kuwaiti bullion. They are plunged into the heart of a democratic uprising that spins the day and their lives out of control.