What makes a happy person, a happy life? In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a 101-year-old man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects on the philosophy he learned from his father—a belief that “life is so good”—as he offers valuable lessons in living and a fresh, firsthand view of America during the twentieth century.

Born in 1898 in Marshall, Texas, the grandson of slaves, George Dawson tells how his father, despite hardships, always believed in seeing the richness in life and trained his children to do the same. As a boy, George had to go to work to help support the family, and so he did not attend school or learn to read; yet he describes how he learned to read the world and survive in it. “We make our own way,” he says. “Trouble is out there, but a person can leave it alone and just do the right thing. Then, if trouble still finds you, you’ve done the best you can.”

At ninety-eight, George decided to learn to read and enrolled in a literacy program, becoming a celebrated student. “Every morning I get up and I wonder what I might learn that day. You just never know.”

In Life Is So Good, he shares wisdom on everything from parenting (“With children, you got to raise them. Some parents these days are growing children, not raising them”) to attitude (“People worry too much. Life is good, just the way it is”).

Richard Glaubman captures George Dawson’s irresistible voice and view of the world, offering insights into humanity, history, and America—eyewitness impressions of segregation, changes in human relations, the wars and the presidents, inventions such as the car and the airplane, and much, much more. And throughout his story, George Dawson inspires the reader with the message that sustained him happily for more than a century: “Life is so good. I do believe it’s getting better.”

What makes a happy person, a happy life? In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a 101-year-old man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects on the philosophy he learned from his father?a belief that “life is so good”?as he offers valuable lessons in living and a fresh, firsthand view of America during the twentieth century.

Born in 1898 in Marshall, Texas, the grandson of slaves, George Dawson tells how his father, despite hardships, always believed in seeing the richness in life and trained his children to do the same. As a boy, George had to go to work to help support the family, and so he did not attend school or learn to read; yet he describes how he learned to read the world and survive in it. “We make our own way,” he says. “Trouble is out there, but a person can leave it alone and just do the right thing. Then, if trouble still finds you, you’ve done the best you can.”

At ninety-eight, George decided to learn to read and enrolled in a literacy program, becoming a celebrated student. “Every morning I get up and I wonder what I might learn that day. You just never know.”

In Life Is So Good, he shares wisdom on everything from parenting (“With children, you got to raise them. Some parents these days are growing children, not raising them”) to attitude (“People worry too much. Life is good, just the way it is”).

Richard Glaubman captures George Dawson’s irresistible voice and view of the world, offering insights into humanity, history, and America?eyewitness impressions of segregation, changes in human relations, the wars and the presidents, inventions such as the car and the airplane, and much, much more. And throughout his story, George Dawson inspires the reader with the message that sustained him happily for more than a century: “Life is so good. I do believe it’s getting better.”

“        I tell people not to worry about things, not to worry about their lives. Things will be all right. People need to hear that. Life is good, just as it is. There isn’t anything I would change about my life.”

“        For almost four years, I had gotten used to being alone. It didn’t bother me none. Back at our farm I was most often the first one up. There was lots of chores to do, but sometimes, shutting the door quietly, I would lean against the logs and look at the sky and take a few moments for myself. Inside, the cabin had the comfortable feel of people. Outside, it was empty and lonely and I had grown to like that too. I liked to look at the stars on the still and quiet mornings and listen for the howl of the coyotes.”

“        I had never seen a car before and that model T was beautiful. It was polished black with a shiny brass radiator cap. The top could come down, of course, and it was something to see. It worked in town, but wasn’t too practical. We didn’t get a lot of rain, but when the rain came down it was often a downpour. Our roads turned to mud, and the autos just couldn’t make it. After a good rain, I saw cars being towed by a mule or a team of horses. Most people agreed as to how those cars were close to useless, but I still liked them anyway.”

George Dawson lives in Dallas, Texas.

Richard Glaubman is an elementary school teacher. He lives outside Seattle, Washington.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman, here is the national bestselling epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal. In The Path Between the Seas, acclaimed historian David McCullough delivers a first-rate drama of the sweeping human undertaking that led to the creation of this grand enterprise.The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale.

David McCullough was born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, educated there and at Yale. Author of John Adams, Truman, Brave Companions, Mornings on Horseback, The Great Bridge, and The Johnstown Flood, he has twice received the Pulitzer Prize (in 1993, for Truman and in 2001 for John Adams), the Francis Parkman Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and has received two National Book Awards — for history and for biography.

This photographic journal was originally published in the spring of 1941. It was edited by and carried a forward by Hauptsturmführer Gunter d’Alquen, commander of the SS Propaganda Kompanie and editor of the official SS paper, Das Schwarze Korps.
Many of the pictures taken in this book feature the men of Waffen SS Standarte “Germania”. In 1940 the men who bore the word Germania on their cuff bands were fighting as a motorised regiment under the command of SS-Standartenführer Karl-Maria Demelhuber.
This is a unique account of the Waffen SS on campaign in the west from a primary source, edited by and with an introduction by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers.

The steel coffins was the name given to the U-boats of the Kriegsmarine by their own crews. Their fatalistic view of the war was certainly justified; it is estimated that seventy five per cent of the 39,000 men who sailed in the U-boat fleet paid the ultimate price as the tide of war turned inexorable against Hitler’s Germany.
This is the illustrated history of the U-boat war from the perspective of the men who sailed into battle in the service of the Third Reich. Drawing heavily on the accounts of the last remaining survivors, ‘The U-boat War’ traces the grim story of the rise and fall of the grey wolves. The memories of the brief days of the “happy times” of superiority and success were soon replaced by the stark terror of the enfolding nightmare as the realisation dawned that the hunters had become the hunted.
Written by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers, this powerful account of the U-boat war features extensive personal recollections, rare photographs and extracts from contemporary propaganda magazines producing a vivid picture of what it meant to fight beneath the waves.

History is always written by the victors. . . this is the other sie of the coin. This is the front line perspective on World War II as seen through the eyes of the losing side, the men who fought for Hitler.
These are the recollections of the men of the Kriegsmarine, the Luftwaffe and the Heer. Altogether they formed the Wehrmacht which in 1940 was the most efficient fighting force the world had ever seen. By 1942 the tide had begun to turn and the men of the once mighty Wehrmacht fought in vain at Stalingrad, El Alamein, Monte Cassino, Caen and Berlin. These are the U-boat men, the Panzer crews and the air aces. This is military history at its best and most enlightening as told from primary sources.
Written by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers, this unique publication documents the primary accounts of many of those who fought in Hitler’s army.

This book reviews the complex set of military operations played out in the Netherlands during September 1944 involving the forces of Britain, Canada, Poland, the USA and Germany. As far as space permits we have attempted to
provide a wide selection of sources covering each of the belligerents.
We are also proud to present the previously unpublished war diary of Captain Graham Davies, which brings a new perspective on the often overlooked contribution made by the artillerymen in support of both Operation Market and Operation Garden.
The German perspective is covered by the contemporary newspaper account translated from the pages of “The Westkurier”. The report was filed by war reporter Erwin Kirchhof and provides a powerful insight into the events of the battle as filtered through the prism of Goebbels’ propaganda machine.
Finally we present two extracts from the official accounts of the 101st Airborne and 82nd Airborne Divisions which give an indication of the strong conviction still held in the US camp that the operation had been a complete success.

On June 22nd 1941 three huge German Army Groups launched a surprise attack on Soviet Russia. The most barbaric and brutal struggle in history was about to be played out to the death.
History is always written by the victors, but this is the other side of the coin. here is the German experience of the war in Russia, a powerful study of that titanic conflict as seen through the eyes of and told in the words of the men who fought and died for Hitler.
Included in this volume are extensive extracts from post-war debriefings of captured German officers concerning the experience of combat on the ground. Also featured are detailed accounts of the attempts to extricate surrounded German forces from the pockets of Klin, Velikiye Luki, Cherkassy and Kamenets-Podolskiy.
Richly illustrated with dozens of photographs and maps, this unique account of the war in the east produces a comprehensive picture of the most titanic campaign in military history from the tactical, operational and strategic view.
Written by Emmy award winning author Bob Carruthers this is the definitive single volume history of the Wehrmacht on campaign.

Simon de Montfort, the founder of England’s Parliament, was the greatest knight and foremost military strategist of his time. Friend of Saint Louis, thorn in the side of the Plantagenets, he was chosen Viceroy by Prince Richard’s crusaders and the Christian lords of Palestine. He served as Senechal of France for King Louis’ heir, but rejected the Crown of England, championing instead the New Millennium of democracy preached by Dominican and Franciscan friars.

Was he also to father of King Edward I? It was the gossip of the time, and there is some
persuasive evidence.

Katherine Ashe’s Montfort, a speculative novel in four volumes, is the product of 33 years of research, with new insights into the life of this pivotal man whose actions in 1258 changed the world. Ashe is an author and screenwriter with award-winning plays, screenplays and radio dramas on historical subjects ranging from Columbus and the Borgias to George Washington. See simon-de-montfort.com and katherineashe.com