What are you reading these days? For a total change of pace, I just read “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. If you think you had a rough winter (let’s admit it: we complain), read this amazing story about the long winter in De Smet, South Dakota, in 1880-1881 and be grateful. They had a blizzard every third or fourth day, and each one lasted two or three days. One blizzard struck the school, and the kids huddled in groups ventured forth, trying to find the town, though they couldn’t see it through the snow. If they went the wrong way, they’d stray into the prairie and freeze to death. They had no insulation in their houses. Laura woke up many mornings and noted the frosted nails in the ceiling. When they ran out of coal for the main heater, they huddled around the cook stove and burned twisted…
The Third Target by Joel C. Rosenberg Summary: When New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins hears rumors that an al-Qaeda splinter cell has captured a cache of chemical weapons inside Syria, he knows this is a story he must pursue at all costs. Does the commander of the jihadist faction really have the weapons? If so, who is the intended target? The U.S.? Israel? Or could it be Jordan? With tensions already high, the impending visit of the American president to the region could prove to be the spark that sets off an explosion of horrendous proportions. Knowing that terrorist forces have already toppled two regimes in the region, can Collins uncover the truth before it’s too late? Or will the terrorists succeed in setting their sights on the third and final target? My Thoughts Ever since reading The Auschwitz Escape, which I really liked, I’ve wanted to read more…
Let’s Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage by Lisa Beamer is a highly moving and inspiring book, with the right balance of harrowing details and faith elements to ground this true story in hope. For those unfamiliar with this story, Lisa is the wife of Todd Beamer, one of the many unsung heroes who perished on United Airlines Flight 93 a few minutes after ten a.m. on September 11, 2001, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Evidence from phone calls before the plane went down reveals that Todd and other passengers on board determined to take back the plane from the terrorists; unfortunately, their efforts ultimately led to their deaths, yet their sacrifice undoubtedly spared many more lives than those lost on the plane. This is the story of what happened that day, particularly Todd’s role. Let’s Roll is in some ways Lisa and Todd’s life story, in another a gripping, detailed account of how heroic deeds…
About an hour from where I live lies the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. For years, I drove right past the main highway leading to this town, never even realizing its importance in history–and yes, some critical history happened there. But unfortunately, few then and even today know much about it, due to the disaster being overshadowed by a more important event, the Chicago fire, on Sunday, October 8, 1871. On that same day, while close to 250 people perished in Chicago, nearly 2,000 perished in the firestorm at the lumber town of Peshtigo and surrounding areas. The book’s back cover says the town of Peshtigo “was truck with a five-mile-wide wall of flames, borne on tornado-force winds of one hundred miles per hour that tore across more than 2,400 square miles of land, obliterating the town in less than one hour and killing more than two thousand people.” Firestorm at Peshtigo:…
