BOOKS
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
This is the true story of Kamila Sidiqi, the 17-year-old unlikely female entrepreneur who, in the face of Taliban oppression in Afghanistan, mobilized the women in her community into a dressmaking business that saved their lives. At a time when women were rarely allowed to leave their homes, Kamila devised strategies to avoid detection by the Taliban, and in the process became one the world’s most fascinating self-made entrepreneurs. This riveting account introduces you to an Afghanistan you have never before seen.
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a New York Times Bestseller and is currently listed on Amazon.com’s Top 100 Bestseller list.
Explorers of the Infinite: The Secret Spiritual Lives of Extreme Athletes – and What They Reveal About Near-Death Experiences, Psychic Communication, and Touching the Beyond
by Maria Coffey
Super-athletes suffer mind-numbing exhaustion, unbearable pain, and narrow escapes from death. This book examines the motives of these athletes in the life-or-death world of extreme sports and their experiences with the paranormal. Combined with cutting-edge science and vivid stories, this is a fascinating look at why extreme athletes take risks that push them to the limits of consciousness and what they encounter there.
Maria Coffey, a native of England, is an outdoors journalist whose first book, Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow, was awarded the prestigious Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature.
O Rugged Land of Gold
by Martha Martin
O Rugged Land of Gold, written by Helen Boylan (under the pen name Martha Martin), is one woman’s heroic account of her refusal to accept defeat when she finds herself unexpectedly separated from her husband and stranded in a small cabin on a remote Alaskan island. Injured and pregnant with no rescue in sight, she decides to keep a journal to record her struggle with the hardships and loneliness during a long and difficult winter, and to maintain her sanity until help can arrive the following spring. Faith in God and remarkable ingenuity carried her through many life-threatening situations.
O Rugged Land of Gold is a story of courage and perseverance, and a testament to the endurance of the human spirit under extreme circumstances.
Home On The Bear’s Domain
by Martha Martin
In this sequel to O Rugged Land of Gold, Martha Martin reveals that despite the hardship and isolation of life in the Alaskan wilderness, life with her husband on the bear’s domain was filled with many happy days. Children were an important part of their family life — their own natural children, two adopted children from Yugoslavia, and many foster children.
Through it all, Martha Martin felt God very near. She writes, “To me the wilderness has always seemed especially close to my Creator. Often I have felt as if I were walking in the very presence of God, and yet many people call it a God-forsaken land.” (Available only in used editions)
Gandhi Before India
by Ramachandra Guha
This biography of Mohandas Gandhi presents a vividly illuminating portrait of the life, work, and historical context of one of the most influential men in modern history. Based upon previously undiscovered documents, this biography depicts Gandhi’s life during his 21-year period (1893-1914) as a lawyer and civil-rights activist in South Africa. It was during these years that Gandhi came to understand the nature of imperialism and racism, and forged the philosophy and techniques of non-violence that would undermine and eventually overthrow the British Raj.
Time Magazine describes author Ramachandra Guha as “Indian democracy’s preeminent chronicler.”
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MOVIES
Oblivion, 2013
Starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, this science fiction film is about Jack Harper, a security repairman who is stationed on an evacuated Earth. Harper is the last of a small team assigned to extract vital resources from a devastated earth after decades of war with a terrifying alien threat. When his mission is complete, he and his team will join other earthlings in their new planetary home. Jack’s mission is almost complete when he discovers a downed spaceship, whose sole occupant, a mysterious woman, leads him to question everything he thought he knew about himself and the war.
Available: DVD; Rated PG
The In-Laws, 1979
In this action-comedy film, Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) is a mild-mannered dentist who is about to marry off his daughter. He’s never met the groom’s father, Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk), but after meeting Vince, he grows increasingly skeptical about his daughter’s claim that Vince is a CIA agent. When Sheldon is inadvertently drawn into a series of chases and misadventures from New York to Central America, he realizes he may have to reassess his opinion of Vince Ricardo.
Arkin and Falk excel as an odd couple brought together by series of outrageous circumstances.
Available: DVD; Rated PG
Windwalker, 1980
This unusual and beautiful Native American film, set in 1797, is the story of Windwalker, an aged Cheyenne warrior and tribal chief who has spent his whole life searching unsuccessfully for his missing son, who was kidnapped by a raiding party of rival Crow warriors. On his funeral bier, Windwalker is brought back from death by the Great Spirit so that he may finally solve the mystery of his missing son and thereby continue onto a peaceful afterlife.
“Windwalker,” a decade ahead of “Dances with Wolves” in bringing vibrant Indian folklore to a mainstream audience, has been named the #1 anthropological film of all time by the American Anthropological Association. To maintain authenticity, the film’s dialogue is spoken in the Cheyenne and Crow languages, with English subtitles.
Available: DVD; Rated PG
The Living Desert, 1953
This documentary tracks a day in the life of desert creatures living in the American Southwest. Filmed in Tucson, Arizona, stunning footage captures birds, mice, reptiles and various other animals going about their daily routine in the struggle for food and survival.
“The Living Desert” won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Documentary film, as well as a Golden Globe and a Cannes Film Festival International Prize. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. It is featured in the 2006 DVD Walt Disney Legacy Collection Volume 2: “Lands of Exploration.”
Available: DVD; Not Rated
Well Done Abba, 2009
This comedy and political satire is about Armaan Ali, who works for a powerful executive in Mumbai and is granted a one-month leave of absence in order to find a suitable husband for his daughter. When Ali doesn’t return for three months, his furious boss demands an explanation. Knowing his future is on the line, Ali tells an incredible story of how things got out of control when he tried to have a well dug in his drought-stricken village. What seemed like a simple job turned into a bureaucratic maze involving so many bribes that Ali had no money left to construct the well.
“Well Done Abba” was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival and won the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues.
Available: DVD; Not Rated
