Bøker av John Blake

The Lady Embellished in White It is another long, sleepless night for Daniel. It seems as if restless nights lying in his bed, staring into the dark room, have become what he expects each night. Living alone after his wife's death, Daniel finds himself drawn to the window of his assisted living apartment. As he peers into the courtyard, he sees a lady wearing a long white gown standing at the end of the garden plaza. Her sudden appearance startles Daniel. Daniel often reminisces about when his father was visited, a few days before he passed away, by a lady in a flowing white gown. Daniel's father referred to her as the Lady in White. Startled by what he sees, Daniel releases his hold on the window blinds. When he returns to again gaze down, the Lady in White is gone. Convinced he will soon meet the same fate as his father, Daniel feels a strong urge to undertake an epic quest to a destination that calls out to him in a series of visions. After careful planning, he enters a portal into unfamiliar terrain. The journey is extremely difficult both physically and mentally. Daniel fights his way through the daunting wrath of nature, as well as battles with his inner self. He finds help and advice along his journey from strangers that mysteriously come to Daniel's aid when failing to meet his goal becomes imminent: Shad the fisherman, Jazz the store owner, and Mama, an old Gullah woman who trades potions and ointments for food and tobacco. These three guardians become Daniel's saviors. Daniel also gets help and encouragement from a monarch butterfly, a horned owl, a great blue heron, a stray dog, and a dolphin. This assemblage of characters, along with Daniel's steadfast drive and determination to overcome each challenge, delivers him to his ultimate destiny.

"An award-winning journalist tells the story of his quest to reconcile with his white mother and the family he'd never met--and how faith brought them all together. John Blake grew up in a notorious Black neighborhood in inner-city Baltimore that was the setting for the HBO series The Wire. It was there that he became a self-described "closeted biracial person," hostile toward white people while hiding the truth of his mother's race. The son of a Black man and a white woman who met at a time when interracial marriage was still illegal, Blake knew this much about his mother: She vanished from his life not long after his birth, and her family rejected him because of his race. But at the age of seventeen, Blake had a surprise encounter that uncovered a disturbing family secret. This launched him on a quest to reconcile with his white family that centered on two questions: Where is my mother, and where do I belong? More Than I Imagined is Blake's propulsive true story about how he answered those questions--with the help of an interracial church, a loving caregiver's sacrifice, and an inexplicable childhood encounter that taught him the importance of forgiveness. Blake covered some of the biggest stories about race in America for twenty-five years before realizing that "facts don't change people, relationships do." He only discovered that after experiencing what he calls "radical integration." It was the only way forward for him and his family-and it's the only way forward for America as a multiracial democracy. More Than I Imagined is a hopeful story for our difficult times"--

This guide is a timely addition to Conway's best-selling pocket book series that examines this famous ship from a refreshingly different angle - that of a passenger on board the ship.

A familiar sight on the Thames at London Bridge, HMS Belfast is Royal Navy light cruiser, one of a group of ten Town-class cruisers, built in Belfast and launched in March 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939 she struck a German mine requiring repairs that lasted two years. She returned to action in November 1942 with improved firepower, radar equipment, and armor, and saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union and played an important role in the Battle of North Cape, assisting in the destruction of the German warship Scharnhorst. In June 1944 Belfast supported the Normandy landings in Operation Overlord and in 1945 she was redeployed to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet. After the war she saw action in the Korean War and a number of other overseas actions before entering reserve in 1963. She has been part of the Imperial War Museum since 1978, receiving more than 250,000 visitors annually.This little book comprises a series of documents that give information on the building of the ship, her wartime service history, and life on board.

This volume looks at the history and development of the chart and the related nautical map, in both scientific and aesthetic terms, as a means of safe and accurate seaborne navigation. Key figures or milestones in the history of charting are presented in stand-alone story box features.