Books about Harrowing from Amazon.com

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One afternoon in 1989, Karen Overhill walks into psychiatrist Richard Baer’s office complaining of vague physical pains and depression Odder still, she reveals that she’s suffering from a persistent memory problem. Routinely, she “loses” parts of her day, finding herself in places she doesn’t remember going to or being told about conversations she doesn’t remember having. Her problems are so pervasive that she often feels like an impersonator in her own life; she doesn’t recognize the people who call themselves her friends, and she can’t even remember being intimate with her own husband.

Baer recognizes that Karen is on the verge of suicide and, while trying various medications to keep her alive, attempts to discover the root cause of her strange complaints. It’s the work of months, and then years, to gain Karen’s trust and learn the true extent of the trauma buried in her past. What she eventually reveals is nearly beyond belief, a narrative of a childhood spent grappling with unimaginable horror. How has Karen survived with even a tenuous grasp on sanity?

Then Baer receives an envelope in the mail. It’s marked with Karen’s return address but contains a letter from a little girl who writes that she’s seven years old and lives inside of Karen. Soon Baer receives letters from others claiming to be parts of Karen. Under hypnosis, these alternate Karen personalities reveal themselves in shocking variety and with undeniable traits—both physical and psychological. One “alter” is a young boy filled with frightening aggression; another an adult male who considers himself Karen’s protector; and a third a sassy flirt who seeks dominance over the others. It’s only by compartmentalizing her pain, guilt, and fear in this fashion—by “switching time” with alternate selves as the situation warrants—that Karen has been able to function since childhood.

Realizing that his patient represents an extreme case of multiple personality disorder, Baer faces the daunting task of creating a therapy that will make Karen whole again. Somehow, in fact, he must gain the trust of each of Karen’s seventeen “alters” and convince them of the necessity of their own annihilation.

As powerful as Sybil or The Three Faces of Eve, Switching Time is the first complete account of such therapy to be told from the perspective of the treating physician, a stunningly devoted healer who worked selflessly for decades so that Karen could one day live as a single human being.


From the Hardcover edition..
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The untold story of the last odyssey of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Antarctic endeavor is legend, but for sheer heroism and tragic nobility, nothing compares to the saga of the Ross Sea party. This crew of explorers landed on the opposite side of Antarctica from the Endurance with a mission to build supply depots for Shackleton’s planned crossing of the continent. But their ship disappeared in a gale, leaving ten inexperienced, ill-equipped men to trek 1,356 miles in the harshest environment on earth. Drawing on the men’s own journals and photographs, The Lost Men is a masterpiece of historical adventure, a book destined to be a classic in the vein of Into Thin Air..
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Beginning in 1866 and continuing for over a century, more than eight thousand people suspected of having leprosy were forcibly exiled to the Hawaiian island of Molokai -- the longest and deadliest instance of medical segregation in American history. Torn from their homes and families, these men, women, and children were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and many who did were not contagious, yet all were ensnared in a shared nightmare.

Here, for the first time, John Tayman reveals the complete history of the Molokai settlement and its unforgettable inhabitants. It's an epic of ruthless manhunts, thrilling escapes, bizarre medical experiments, and tragic, irreversible error. Carefully researched and masterfully told, The Colony is a searing tale of individual bravery and extraordinary survival, and stands as a testament to the power of faith, compassion, and the human spirit..
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The haunting true story of a hardworking British businessman who became mired in the deadly, corruption-laden nightmare of Russia’s current prison system—and lived to tell about it, thanks to a love affair that kept his hope alive and the efforts of family and friends in Moscow and in London.

A twenty-first-century Midnight Express, Tig Hague’s powerful memoir brings to light the brutal machinations of Putin’s Russia—a world where the smallest mistake can land you in a frightening, Kafka-esque system, and where those in charge turn a blind eye to the law. Tomorrow You Go Home is the story of an ordinary man on an ordinary business trip who rapidly began to wonder if he would ever have his peaceful life back again.

Departing London for Moscow in July 2003, Hague said good-bye to his girlfriend and prepared to meet with clients in a country that was supposedly undergoing radical reform. Once the plane landed, Hague realized he had left a small amount of hash in the pocket of his jeans—an oversight that would bring him face-to-face with the reality of contemporary Russian justice. He was refused a translator, denied contact with the British Embassy, and while awaiting trial was beaten by guards in prison. His $50,000 payment to lawyers was no match for fabricated evidence, and before long he was serving a lengthy sentence in a frigid labor camp, where the work nearly cost him his eyesight and ruined his health. The only saving grace were regular visits from his girlfriend, who traveled to be with him and eventually married him in the prison. Taking its title from the favorite taunt of Hague’s prison guard, Tomorrow You Go Home provides a chilling glimpse into the still-desperate conditions behind the “former” Iron Curtain..
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At the height of the Vietnam conflict, a complex system of secret underground tunnels sprawled from Cu Chi Province to the edge of Saigon. In these burrows, the Viet Cong cached their weapons, tended their wounded, and prepared to strike. They had only one enemy: U.S. soldiers small and wiry enough to maneuver through the guerrillas’ narrow domain.

The brave souls who descended into these hellholes were known as “tunnel rats.” Armed with only pistols and K-bar knives, these men inched their way through the steamy darkness where any number of horrors could be awaiting them–bullets, booby traps, a tossed grenade. Using firsthand accounts from men and women on both sides who fought and killed in these underground battles, authors Tom Mangold and John Penycate provide a gripping inside look at this fearsome combat. The Tunnels of Cu Chiis a war classic of unbearable tension and unforgettable heroes..
Price: $3.91 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In 1924 . three years before Charles
Lindbergh makes his historic flight over the Atlantic - post WWI America is convinced she can do anything she puts her mind to. In the midst of the RoaringTwenties however, the boisterous nation's capitol is rocked by political infighting for the control of military aviation. The brash young army general Billy Mitchell is attempting to wrest air power
away from both the army and navy to
create an independent air force under his own command. To counter this move, the brilliant navy Rear Admiral William Moffett has challenged Hawaii-based
Commander John Rodgers with a deathdefying mission; one designed to sway the politicians and the public alike, to the navy's side. If Rodgers accepts, he will command three planes in a seemingly impossible mission; the first non-stop flight from San Francisco to Honolulu. This bold gamble could make or break the navy's bid for control of its own air power and unbeknownst to
Rodgers, Moffett has lined up a second publicity-grabbing stunt involving the world's largest dirigible.
In this gripping historic novel, follow
John Rodgers' spellbinding story to its
riveting conclusion as political intrigue, inter-service rivalries, engineering challenges and personal hurdles all conspire to doom the mission. Then, an anxious public is forced to hold its collective breath when one of the planes
is forced down in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean and matters are made worse as the navy dirigible experiences serious trouble of her own. The dramatic aftermath will change the course of aviation history..
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