Books with author William Russell

Gives parents and other adult readers the help they need to share the joy of reading. Contains 42 stories, poems, and excerpts from novels and plays, divided into 3 listening levels. "Even better than the first edition--and I loved that. A must book for every reading parent and teacher!"--Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook Line drawings.

Mummies, tombs, time-travel, and a host of evil creatures.The Ruler of Darkness is about to destroy the world and young Steven is our only hope!Join Steven, a young, gifted boy who suddenly finds himself thrown into a quest which will take him halfway around the world!Steven, along with an Egyptian Priestess, must search the depths of Seti I, an ancient pyramid, to find the Guardian of the Tomb who was responsible for killing his parents. His search for the Guardian is filled with unknown obstacles designed to kill any intruder set on desecrating the Pharaoh’s resting place. To make matters even more complicated, the Ruler of Darkness now has found a way to escape and destroy the world.Stepping into a portal that transports him to the past, Steven only has eight hours to complete his quest if he has any hope of returning home safely. Guardian of the Tomb is a middle-grade adventure sure to keep your young one flipping pages as fast as possible.Order your copy now in time for Christmas!An imaginative time-travel journey... full of suspense – Jenny Ferns, Author of Ripple Effect: Because of the WarGreat read to introduce young teens to see adventure in History – Shawn N Bauldree, TeacherA spell-binding tale... This fast-paced adventure novel will delight middle grade kids, both boys and girls. – Sharon K. Solomon, Award-Winning Author of A Walk with GrandmaA fun, fast-paced adventure that introduces exotic places to kids. – Mark H. Newhouse, Award-Winning Author of Welcome to Monstrovia

“First published in 1941 to considerable acclaim, Berlin Embassy is the classic account of the last days of peace in Europe, and has been out-of-print for almost fifty years. William Russell was a young American diplomat working at the US Embassy, in Hermann Goering Strasse, during the grim days of 1939. He had studied in Germany, prior to becoming part of America’s diplomatic mission, which placed him in a position to gain unheard of access to remote areas—both physically and ideologically—of German society during one of the most momentous times in world history. Russell does not miss any opportunity to capitalize on this unique position as he gives a totally absorbing account of both the horror and farce which so often defines such epic times. This quite remarkable account is sure to find a whole new readership.”-Print ed.“Vitally significant and impressive.”—William L. Shirer.

Berlin Embassy is a non-fiction book written by American diplomat William Russell which was first published in late 1940.Russell, who worked at the American Embassy in Berlin, details his experiences of living and working in Nazi Germany between August 1939 and April 1940 during the early phases of the Second World War through anecdotes, press cutting, rumours and jokes rather than covering the political and diplomatic aspects of his job in any great detail.

"... a landmark in research of African oral traditions." —African Arts"... a significant contribution to the understanding of Yoruba religious belief, magic, and art." —Journal of Religion in AfricaYoruba texts and English translations of a divination system that originated in Nigeria and is widely practiced today by male and female diviners in the diaspora. A landmark edition.

In this masterful narrative, acclaimed historian Giles MacDonogh chronicles Adolf Hitler's consolidation of power over the course of one year. Until 1938, Hitler could be dismissed as a ruthless but efficient dictator, a problem to Germany alone; after 1938 he was clearly a threat to the entire world. It was in 1938 that Third Reich came of age. The Fehrer brought Germany into line with Nazi ideology and revealed his plans to take back those parts of Europe lost to "Greater Germany" after the First World War. From the purging of the army in January through the Anschluss in March, from the Munich Conference in September to the ravages of Kristallnacht in November, MacDonogh offers a gripping account of the year Adolf Hitler came into his own and set the world inexorably on track to a cataclysmic war.

Excerpt: "These stories and sketches originally appeared in The Daily Telegraph. No further preface to them is needed than this statement; for the title under which they are collected will fitly express their character, if the reader can imagine himself one of an audience, in a cold Dog Watch, listening to the yarns of a man who has planted himself in the galley, where he delivers his memories and notions to the little company who have gathered round to listen."

On 3rd September 1939, Europe was plunged into war as Germany invaded Poland. But what did the German people think of the war? And what had they actually thought about the rise of the Nazi party? William Russell, a young US diplomat who worked in the American Embassy in Berlin, explains in detail his experiences of Germany in the early phases of the war from August 1939 through to April 1940. By asking questions to his friends, colleagues and people who he passed on the streets, Russell uncovered the state of minds of normal Germans, what they were thinking, doing and saying through the course of 1939 and 1940. Drawing evidence from a variety of sources, including newspapers, the radio, recently published books, as well as the jokes and gossip that circulated on the streets of the German capital, Russell is able to demonstrate how not all Germans were card-waving Nazis, but how the vast majority were politically apathetic, nervous of the future and often outwardly critical of the Nazi regime. Russell explains how many Germans laughed at figures such as Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goering when they were in privacy of their own houses. Although written in only second year of the war it is clear that Russell and many of his friends are aware of the impending horrors that the war will cause and he tries desperately throughout the book to do his best for those who would suffer the most at the hands of the Nazi regime. Berlin Embassy is the classic account of Germany and its people in the first year of the Second World War. “The small things that happen to the small people- as reported by a man in a small job in the American embassy in Berlin, who managed to get the man in the street to talk frankly.” Kirkus Reviews “Exciting reading … A very fine book.” William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany William Russell was an author and journalist who after completing his education had worked in the Berlin Embassy during 1939 and 1940. After he left Germany he joined the U.S. Army and served two years as an Order of Battle Specialist in the Intelligence Branch in England. He passed away in 2000. His book Berlin Embassy was first published in 1941.

Excerpt: "It was a brilliant afternoon. The sunshine in the water seemed to hover there like some flashful veil of silver, paling the azure so that it showed through it in a most delicate dye of cerulean faintness. The light breeze was abeam; yet the ship made a gale of her own that stormed past my ears in a continuous shrill hooting, and the wake roared away astern like the huddle of foaming waters at the foot of a high cataract. On the confines of the airy cincture that marked the junction of sea and sky gleamed the white pinions of a little barque. The fabric, made fairy-like by distance, shone with a most exquisite dainty distinctness in the lenses of the telescope I levelled at it. The vessel showed every cloth she had spars and booms for, and leaned very lightly from the wind, and hung like a star in the sky."

In this masterful narrative, acclaimed historian Giles MacDonogh chronicles Adolf Hitler's consolidation of power over the course of one year. Until 1938, Hitler could be dismissed as a ruthless but efficient dictator, a problem to Germany alone; after 1938 he was clearly a threat to the entire world. It was in 1938 that Third Reich came of age. The Fehrer brought Germany into line with Nazi ideology and revealed his plans to take back those parts of Europe lost to "Greater Germany" after the First World War. From the purging of the army in January through the Anschluss in March, from the Munich Conference in September to the ravages of Kristallnacht in November, MacDonogh offers a gripping account of the year Adolf Hitler came into his own and set the world inexorably on track to a cataclysmic war.