Combat Memoirs

Mike Hayes has lived a lifetime of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. He has been held at gunpoint and threatened with execution. He’s jumped out of a building rigged to explode, helped amputate a teammate’s leg, and made countless split-second life-and-death decisions. He’s written countless emails to his family, telling them how much he loves them, just in case those were the last words of his they’d ever read. Outside of the SEALs, he’s run meetings in the White House Situation Room, negotiated international arms treaties, and developed high-impact corporate strategies.

Whether you are a martial arts history aficionado or someone wanting a simple and understandable history — THE FOUNDING OF JUJUTSU & JUDO IN AMERICA is for you! This book seeks to provide you an easily accessible, yet highly informative, account of how the Japanese fighting art made its way to the United States and why it has become a permanent part of the American cultural mosaic.

On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.

"Irish" Micky Ward grew up in the 1970s and ’80s as a tough kid from Lowell, Massachusetts - a town where boxers were once bred as a means of survival. A hard worker who overcame bad luck, bad management, and chronic pain in his hands, he avoided the pitfall of poverty and dead-end work that plagued Lowell to become a Golden Gloves junior welterweight. Ward participated in street fights from an early age and was forever known by his opponents and spectators as the underdog.

At the age of eight, Michael Bisping began his training in martial arts. By the time he was 15, he was fighting in his first no holds barred competition. When he turned professional and joined the UFC he was sure about one thing: only a world championship title would do. A British underdog in the greatest fighting championship on earth, he spent the next decade winning some of the championship’s most sensational contests to achieve his dream, becoming the first ever British UFC world champion in 2016.

Bruce Lee remains the gold standard that all martial artists are compared to. But could he actually fight? World Champions in karate competition have gone on record to point out that he never once competed in tournaments. Were his martial abilities merely a trick of the camera? For the first time ever, Bruce Lee authority and bestselling author John Little takes a hard look at Bruce Lee's real-life fights to definitively answer these questions with over thirty years of research that took him thousands of miles.

When Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft's twin son and daughter were fifteen months old, she was deployed to Iraq. A clinical psychologist in the US Navy, Kraft's job was to uncover the wounds of war that a surgeon would never see. She put away thoughts of her children back home, acclimated to the sound of incoming rockets, and learned how to listen to the most traumatic stories a war zone has to offer.

More than any other sport, boxing has a history of being easy to rig. There are only two athletes and one or both may be induced to accept a bribe; if not the fighters, then the judges or referee might be swayed. In such inviting circumstances, the mob moved into boxing in the 1930s and profited by corrupting a sport ripe for exploitation. In Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science, Jeffrey Sussman tells the story of the coercive and criminal underside of boxing, covering nearly the entire 20th century.

A reconnaissance man and sniper, John Lewis Barkley served in Company K of the Fourth Infantry Regiment, a unit that participated in almost every major American battle. The York-like episode that earned Barkley his Congressional Medal of Honor occurred on October 7, 1918, when he climbed into an abandoned French tank and singlehandedly held off an advancing German force, killing hundreds of enemy soldiers.

With the success of the critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning film The Fighter, the world stood up and cheered for the inspiring true story of Micky Ward - a heart-and-soul warrior who overcame the odds to make history in the ring. But that was only part of the tale.… Now, in his own words, “Irish” Micky Ward tells his inspirational life story as only he can. From his first bout at the age of seven, Micky Ward was known first and foremost for giving as good as he got, and for leaving absolutely everything he had in the ring.

Lance Corporal Jeff Bodell recounts his harrowing experiences as a member of a Police Mentor Team during the brutal Battle of Marjah in 2010. In the scorching Afghan heat, amidst the chaos and bloodshed, this gripping first-person narrative unveils the raw realities of war and the unbreakable camaraderie forged in the crucible of combat. Join Bodell and the resilient members of Shadow One-Four as they confront a relentless Taliban force, fighting not only for survival but for the brotherhood that binds them.

A Manchester lad from Irish Traveller stock, born three months premature and weighing just a pound at birth, Tyson (named after his father’s boxing hero) grew up to become one of the most unlikely heavyweight champions in history. This ‘dream come true’ soon turned to nightmare, however, as alcohol and cocaine abuse took hold and Tyson was stripped of his titles. What followed was the darkest moment of his life - detailed in this book for the first time - in which he came within seconds of ending everything.

Steve Jones is a former senior British combat pilot flying with the Army Air Corps (AAC), and Apache At War is his vivid and uncompromising account of flying 'the ultimate fighting machine', the Apache AH1 attack helicopter in action. From patrolling 'Bandit Country' in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, to taking out Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in the mid to late 2000s, with active service in the Balkans and Iraq along the way: Steve Jones offers the taut, gritty, and graphic reality of flying in military service.

They called him Manos de Piedra - Hands of Stone - and he was one of the greatest boxers of all time. Now Roberto Durán tells his unbelievable story, from the streets of Panama to being crowned one of the Four Kings, along with Hearns, Leonard, and Hagler, as he blazed a trail through the golden age of boxing.

Roberto Duran is a sporting legend. Often called the greatest boxer of all time, he held world titles at four different weights and is the only boxer in history to have fought in five different decades. His bouts with fellow greats like Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler have gone down in fistic folklore. He finally retired in January 2002 at age 52, with a professional record of 104 wins (69 by KO) in 120 fights. They called him Manos de Piedra: "Hands of Stone".

Everyone has a story of success. Everyone has a story of failure or missed opportunities. So You Want to Be a Fighter? collects these kinds of stories in one place—told by trainers, boxers, and MMA fighters, including Chris Algieri, former junior welterweight boxing champion and undefeated kickboxer. You'll hear about accomplishments, mishaps, tears of joy and pain, moments of utter frustration but also jubilation, and stories about what might have been if things had gone a little bit differently.

During his life, George S. Patton Jr. starred as an Olympic athlete in the 1912 Stockholm games, chased down Mexican bandits, and led tanks into battle in World War I. But he is best remembered for his exploits in World War II. Patton’s War follows the general from the beaches of Morocco, to the fields of France, right before the birth of Third Army on the continent. In highly engaging fashion, Kevin Hymel uncovers new facts, and challenges long-held beliefs about Patton. Through extensive research of soldiers’ memoirs and interviews, Hymel adds a new dimension.

Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, The Imaginary Girlfriend is John Irving's candid memoir of his twin careers in writing and wrestling. The award-winning author of best-selling novels from The World According to Garp to In One Person, Irving began writing when he was 14, the same age at which he began to wrestle at Exeter. He competed as a wrestler for 20 years, was certified as a referee at 24, and coached the sport until he was 47.

De niño, Julio César Chávez vivió con sus padres y hermanos en un viejo vagón de tren, en la pobreza más extrema; desde sus primeras peleas profesionales sorprendió de inmediato a los expertos; sus victorias ante rivales duros y experimentados -a veces sin ganar un solo peso por sus combates- le dieron la oportunidad de llegar al ansiado título del mundo, para con ello iniciar su leyenda.

From weighing 28 stone and fighting a deep depression, to his amazing return to heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson opens up and share his inspiring advice and tips on diet, exercise regime and his incredible journey back to a healthier body and mind. Frank, accessible and inspiring, The Furious Method is a feel-good and motivating tonic, full of inspirational advice for listeners on how we can all improve our physical and mental health. And how we can all create a champion mind-set.