Life Without Armour

Download or read book Life Without Armour written by Alan Sillitoe and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A candid and surprising memoir of the early life of one of England’s most acclaimed and enduring post-WWII writers. Born in 1928 into a poverty-stricken family in working-class Nottingham, bestselling British novelist Alan Sillitoe’s childhood was marked by his father’s unpredictable and violent rage, as well as a near-certain condemnation to a life of labor on an assembly line. His family relocated frequently to avoid rent collectors, trading in one bug-infested hovel for another. Though intelligent and curious, the young author-to-be failed his grammar school entrance exams, and it seemed he was destined for work in a factory. The onset of Sillitoe’s teenage years, however, coincided with the advance of Hitler into Russia, and the war offered a chance for the boy to seek out a different fate. At the age of fourteen, Sillitoe used a fake ID to enroll in the Air Training Corps and went on to join the Ministry of Aircraft Production as an air traffic control assistant. He dreamed of becoming a pilot, but the war ended just after he qualified for training and he was instead shipped off to the Malayan jungle during the Communist insurgency as a radio operator for the Royal Air Force (RAF). After two years of living from one wireless watch to the next—taking in bearings and atmospherics though the radio, and exploring dangerous and primal landscapes by foot—Sillitoe finally returned to a prospectless postwar England and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. But this curse soon became a blessing: In the RAF hospital, Sillitoe began to read—everything from Kant to Descartes to Bernard Shaw—and he decided to become a writer. Already a veteran on an RAF disability pension at the age of twenty-one, Sillitoe began writing full-time, neither his physical challenges nor his numerous rejections from publishers deterring him in the least. He joined the Nottingham Writers’ Club, and his short stories began to achieve some minor local success. Soon after, a chance meeting with the American poet Ruth Fainlight led to full-blown love, and the two set off for France eager to live in a bucolic setting where they could dedicate all of their time to writing. Circumstance and favorable exchange rates then led the couple to Spain where Sillitoe continued his literary pursuits, met many artists and writers, had run-ins with gypsies, and even underwent police interrogations. Four unpublished novels later—and after nearly a decade of honing his craft—Sillitoe finally found staggering success in his working-class novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and his collection of short stories The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. Written with Sillitoe’s signature simplicity, this in-depth autobiography not only gives insight into the formative years and mental maturation of one of Britain’s most influential writers, but also tells a great story of an underprivileged man who, with perseverance, made the most of his particular fate.

Download or read book Life Without Armour written by Alan Sillitoe and published by Franz Steiner Verlag. This book was released on 2004 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out of print for many years, and republished in this new edition, this is the autobiography of the formative years of one of our finest writers. Alan Sillitoe has been critically acclaimed for his many novels and short stories, including the bestsellers 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'. Sillitoe's early years of council-house penury in Nottingham, followed by evacuation, life in the army, tuberculosis, his rebirth as a polemical angry young man, and the publication of his first books are told with emotion and dexterity. The strong sense of place, whether the Malayan jungle or seedy post-war England, is vivid and enduring, and the story of his life is told in a masterful and poignant yet unsentimental prose. Sillitoe was described by the 'Observer' as a 'master storyteller', and this is the evocative and memorable telling of the physical and mental coming of age of one of our finest and most enduring authors.

Download or read book Warriors Without Armor written by Charles Wesley White and published by Booksurge Publishing. This book was released on 2009-04-13 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rare combination of social scientist, seeker, and Sixties' synthesist, Charles White shares his first-hand experiences of Bobby Kennedy (alive and dead), Altamont, his eight visits the Dr. Martin L

Download or read book Armor written by John Steakley and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 1984-12-04 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The military sci-fi classic of courage on a dangerous alien planet The planet is called Banshee. The air is unbreathable, the water is poisonous. It is home to the most implacable enemies that humanity, in all its interstellar expansion, has ever encountered. Body armor has been devised for the commando forces that are to be dropped on Banshee—the culmination of ten thousand years of the armorers’ craft. A trooper in this armor is a one-man, atomic powered battle fortress. But he will have to fight a nearly endless horde of berserk, hard-shelled monsters—the fighting arm of a species which uses biological technology to design perfect, mindless war minions. Felix is a scout in A-team Two. Highly competent, he is the sole survivor of mission after mission. Yet he is a man consumed by fear and hatred. And he is protected, not only by his custom-fitted body armor, but by an odd being which seems to live within him, a cold killing machine he calls “The Engine.” This is Felix’s story—a story of the horror, the courage, and the aftermath of combat, and the story, too, of how strength of spirit can be the greatest armor of all.

Download or read book No Shining Armor written by Otto J. Lehrack and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the Vietnam War, as seen by the American PFCs, sergeants and platoon leaders in the rivers and jungles and trenches. Into their stories, Lehrack has woven a narrative that explains the events they describe and places them into both a historical and a political context.

Download or read book Zero to Breakthrough written by Vernice Armour and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hang on and watch your life take flight with FlyGirl!" -Marcia Wieder, CEO and Founder of Dream University Before she was thirty years old, Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour had become a decorated naval aviator, Camp Pendleton's 2001 Female Athlete of the Year and Strongest Warrior winner, the first female African-American on Nashville's motorcycle police squad, and a member of the San Diego Sunfire professional women's football team. She's a force to be reckoned with, and she believes that women and men from all walks of life have the potential to achieve the highest levels of success with the right flight plan. In Zero to Breakthrough, Vernice turns aspiration into action by revealing how to create the path that will get you out of your rut on onto the runway - cleared for take off. Armour firmly believes that there is no such thing as a dream out of reach. Integrating the foundational concepts of a Breakthrough MentalityTM like preparation, strategy, courage, legacy, and the importance of high spirits and enthusiasm, Zero to Breakthrough helps readers build a sustainable inner force and conviction that result in accomplishing significant goals and becoming an extraordinary member of any business or community. Packed with hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business, you'll learn strategies like how to: *Stop procrastinating and prepare to lay the groundwork for success *Execute situations with self-discipline to achieve mastery *Acknowledge and move past obstacles & challenges *Feel fear and use it to keep charging, and much more Whether you want to jump up the corporate ladder, start your own business, or develop a passion into a livelihood, Zero to Breakthrough will get you there. For anyone seeking a more fulfilling life, Armour has the ultimate launch pad.

Download or read book Systems-sensitive Leadership written by Michael Carl Armour and published by College Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God demonstrated his creativity even in our personalities. People view events from different perspectives and presuppositions. Whether it is conflict resolution, goal achievement, or completing a specific task, a systems-sensitive leader will be able to recognize the differences in people and help them to work together toward common objectives. This is a must read book for anyone involved in church or business leadership.