This is the story of special operations in the second world war, as it has never been told before, directly by those who took part. Compiled by Russell Miller from interviews, diaries, letters and contemporaneous first-person accounts-many unpublished until now-the oral history in Behind the Lines follows the adventures of the courageous men and women who volunteered for service with the United States' Office of Strategic Services and Britain's Special...

As the creator of Sherlock Holmes, "the world's most famous man who never was," Arthur Conan Doyle remains one of our favorite writers; his work is read with affection-and sometimes obsession-the world over. Doctor, writer, spiritualist: his life was no less fascinating than his fiction. Conan Doyle grew up in relative poverty in Edinburgh, with the mental illness of his artistically gifted but alcoholic father casting a shadow over his early life....

How did an obscure science fiction writer become one of the world's most notorious religious leaders? Bare-Faced Messiah tells the extraordinary story of L. Ron Hubbard, a penniless science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology, became a millionaire prophet, and convinced his adoring followers that he alone could save the world. According to his "official" biography, Hubbard was an explorer, engineer, scientist, war hero, and philosopher....