Showing results by author "Michael Meyer" in All Categories

Bengtsson's hero, Red Orm-canny - courageous and above all lucky - is only a boy when he is abducted from his Danish home by the Vikings and made to take his place at the oars of their dragon-prowed ships. Orm is then captured by the Moors in Spain, where he fights for the Caliph of Cordova. Escaping from captivity, Orm washes up in Ireland, where he marvels at those epicene creatures, the Christian monks, and from which he then moves on to play an ever more important part in the intrigues of the various Scandinavian kings and clans and dependencies.

Snow and gunfire announce the Siege of Sherpur. As winter closes in on Afghanistan, the British and Indian garrison withdraws into Sherpur Cantonment, a sprawling fortress beneath the frozen hills. What begins as uneasy occupation turns swiftly into encirclement. Afghan forces gather in vast numbers across the plain and on the surrounding heights, their fires burning closer each night, their attacks growing bolder with every passing hour. There is no single front and no respite. By day, skirmishers and artillery test the walls. By night, shadows creep through nullahs and ditches, steel ...

Autumn 1879. The empire marches north. Lieutenant William Blackwood and the Monmouthshire Fusiliers return from Africa, only to be swept into another conflict as Afghanistan erupts in violence. The murder of the British mission in Kabul sends shockwaves through the Raj, forcing an immediate reaction. Major General Roberts is ordered to form a new field force, and Blackwood’s regiment is ordered to the frontier to force a passage into the mountains. From the furnace heat of Bombay to the thin air of the Shutargardan Pass, the advance is relentless. Roads crumble into mule tracks. Supply ...

June 1879. The Zulu Kingdom stands defiant, and Lord Chelmsford’s redcoats march for its heart. The campaign nears its climax, and the British forces gather their strength for the final advance on Ulundi. After months of marching, building, and battle, Lieutenant William Blackwood and the Monmouthshire Fusiliers push east through the wild country of the White Mfolozi. Behind them lie the forts they have built and the comrades they have buried; ahead, the capital of the Zulu kingdom and the promise of victory hard-won. Ordered to join Lord Chelmsford’s main column in the drive toward ...

March 1879. Zululand burns, and the fate of the frontier will be decided on the blood-red heights of Kambula. Second Lieutenant William Blackwood, marches north with the Monmouthshire Fusiliers as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to strike a hammer blow against the enemy. Assigned to Colonel Evelyn Wood’s elite flying column on the untamed frontier, Blackwood is swept into a relentless campaign of raids, skirmishes, and mountain warfare. Here, loyalty is measured in blood, and every patrol could be a man’s last. From the shattered ridges of Hlobane to the storm-wracked heights of Kambula,...

The incredible story of Benjamin Franklin’s parting gift to the working-class people of Boston and Philadelphia—a deathbed wager that captures the Founder’s American Dream and his lessons for our current, conflicted age. Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his...

1879. The British Empire marches into Zululand, and disaster. Newly commissioned and untested, Second Lieutenant William Blackwood arrives from Monmouthshire to the wild frontier of South Africa, as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to crush the Zulu Kingdom. For Blackwood, it is meant to be the beginning of a proud military career: clean uniforms, sharp commands, and the steady march of empire. Instead, he finds confusion, chaos, and the first bitter lessons of war. Tasked with reinforcing a remote column of British and colonial troops, Blackwood is plunged into a campaign of dust-choked ...

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! President Ronald Reagan's famous exhortation when visiting Berlin in 1987 has long been widely cited as the clarion call that brought the Cold War to an end. The United States won, so this version of history goes, because Ronald Reagan stood firm against the USSR; American resoluteness brought the evil empire to its knees. Michael Meyer, who was there at the time as a Newsweek bureau chief, begs to differ.

For three years Meyer rented a home in the rice-farming community of Wasteland, hometown of his wife's family, and their personal saga mirrors the tremendous change most of rural China is undergoing in the form of a privately held rice company that has built new roads, introduced organic farming, and constructed high-rise apartments into which farmers can move in exchange for their land rights.

In the steamy heart of Quảng Nam, the war is changing, and so are the men who fight it. Corporal Chris Jackman has seen too much of Vietnam already, but nothing prepares him for his new assignment as an advisor with the AATTV. Thrust into a small team of Australians, Americans, and New Zealanders, Jackman must learn to trust and fight alongside the ARVN soldiers he is meant to guide. Together they navigate the chaos of shifting allegiances, strained commands, and an enemy that always seems one step ahead. From the rain-lashed training grounds of Canungra to the bullet-scarred compounds of...

An intense, action-packed battle for a volcano stronghold in the Vietnam War. Early 1967. In the embattled province of Phuoc Tuy, Corporal Chris Jackman and the men of 5 RAR join a daring helicopter-borne assault to capture Hill 82, a critical stronghold infested with enemy forces. They must storm the hill under relentless fire, clearing bunkers, trenches, and hidden fortifications in brutal close-quarters combat. But taking Hill 82 is only the beginning. Jackman and his men cannot rest on the laurels and must now dig in and prepare hold what was taken with blood and bullets. The NVA will ...

The most intense and destructive urban battle of the Vietnam War has begun. Early 1968. As the Tet Offensive erupts across South Vietnam, the ancient Imperial City of Huế becomes a battlefield. The streets run with fire and blood as North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces strike without warning, shattering any illusion of peace. Inside the Citadel, Lieutenant Loc and his Black Panther Recon Company find themselves surrounded, fighting for every wall and courtyard of Tây Lộc Airfield and the Mang Cá Garrison. Cut off from reinforcements, low on ammunition, and facing overwhelming enemy ...

In 1995, at the age of 23, Michael Meyer joined the Peace Corps and, after rejecting offers to go to seven other countries, was sent to a tiny town in Sichuan. Knowing nothing about China, or even how to use chopsticks, Meyer wrote Chinese words up and down his arms so he could hold conversations, and, per a Communist dean's orders, jumped into teaching his students about the Enlightenment, the stock market, and Beatles lyrics. Soon he realized his Chinese counterparts were just as bewildered by China's changes as he was.

Leadership doesn't come with a map-but it might come with a quest. Weird is the New Normal is not your average leadership book. Blending vivid storytelling with deep insight, this one-of-a-kind narrative follows Arcanus, a wizard navigating a turbulent, enchanted world that just happens to mirror the chaos of modern leadership. Along the way, he encounters strange allies, surprising challenges, and moments of clarity that illuminate what it really means to lead with purpose.

Not your typical travelogue. Instead, this book is organized by the nature of the experience the author had while traveling. I am an avid world traveler. I have lived in a variety of international locations, and I have both studied abroad and taught abroad. I have backpacked, camped out, stayed at youth hostels, and now, in my senior years, I have stayed in topnotch hotels and resorts. I have flown standby, and I have flown first class. I have hitchhiked, and I have taken public transportation, slow trains, fast trains, boats, and ships. I cherish my memories. They are solid, like granite, ...

CRIMSON STRIKE is a gripping modern techno-thriller where past and future collide in a high-stakes battle for control of Vietnam. As a Chinese invasion force crosses the northern border into Vietnam, U.S. Marine Captain Jack Monroe and Vietnamese Captain Nguyen Bao hold the line at Lang Son. Bao, a seasoned officer and son of an NVA hero, is determined to protect his homeland. Monroe, leading an elite team of Raiders, fights alongside him, forging an unlikely brotherhood in the chaos of war. In the past they would have been blood enemies, but now they are allies. While tanks thunder through...

An epic tale of courage, camaraderie, and survival in the unforgiving jungles of Hat Dich. Corporal Chris Jackman and section of ANZAC soldiers are thrust into the heart of a vast offensive. Alongside their ARVN allies and the formidable U.S. 25th Infantry Division, known as Tropic Lightning, they must push deep into enemy territory to dismantle the Viet Cong's stronghold in the Suoi Da River Valley. From brutal ambushes and relentless artillery fire to desperate final stands, Brothers in Arms follows Jackman and his men as they navigate a harrowing campaign against a cunning and relentless...

A true romance memoir. "This is like drinking tea and honey on a cold day." When tragedy struck, I thought for sure that my own life was at an end. I was wrong. This is the true story of how two stray rescue cats and a woman named Kitty, whom I finally met after a wild ride of internet dating, brought love, romance, and laughter back into my life. Love was then. Love is now. Love is forever. WINNER of the 2018 Stephen Memorial Award FINALIST for the 2014 RONE AWARD If you love reading feel-good memoirs, then don't miss THE THREE KITTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE, where "Mike Meyer pens a tender ...

Vietnam, 1966. A US Airborne platoon is pinned down in Phuc Tuy Province. A deadly ambush leaves multiple casualties, forcing a desperate withdrawal. With bullets slamming into the Hueys, one is forced down only for the soldiers salvation to be a convoy of Australian APCs. As the dust clears from the battlefield, the ruthless Viet Cong local officer, Lieutenant Vu Van Thinh hunts for intelligence on his enemies. Amidst the debris of war is one man, a mortally wounded soldier desperate for help.

This book covers the two-year odyssey of our family owning an RV, from the decision to purchase our RV (named Winnie by my daughters) to the day we finally sold her. Spoiler alert: I am a bad driver and made so many mistakes.