The On The Bookshelf Podcast

Best-selling author Steve Berry with his newest Cotton Malone novel: "The Atlas Maneuver"

1945. In the waning months of World War II, Japan hid vast quantities of gold, and other stolen valuables, in boobytrapped underground caches all across the Philippines. By 1947 some of that loot was recovered, not by treasure hunters, but by the United States government, which told no one about the find. Instead, those assets were stamped classified, shipped to Europe, and secretly assimilated into something called the Black Eagle Trust.

Present day. Retired Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is in Switzerland doing a favor for a friend. But what was supposed to be a simple operation turns violent, and Cotton is thrust into a war between the world’s oldest bank and the CIA, a battle that directly involves the Black Eagle Trust. He quickly discovers that everything hinges on a woman from his past, who suddenly reappears harboring a host of explosive secrets centering around bitcoin. The cryptocurrency is being quietly weaponized, readied for an assault on the world’s financial systems, a calculated move that will have devastating consequences. Cotton has no choice. He has to act. But at what cost?

From the stolid banking halls of Luxembourg to the secret vaults of Switzerland, and finally up into the treacherous mountains of southern Morocco, Cotton Malone will finally come face-to-face with the Atlas Maneuver.

 

ADAM GAMAL AND THE UNIT: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America' Most Secret Military Operations

The first and only book to be written by a member of America's most secret military unit!

THE UNIT: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America's Most Secret Military Operatives, written with Kelly Kennedy (St. Martin's Press, on sale date February 20, 2024, $32.00).

Within the U.S. military there is a team so secretive that not only is the name of this unit classified, its members are like ghosts to the military personnel in the country. Veterans Affairs doesn't even have them listed. Phantoms or not, this highly-trained team has been responsible for preventing dozens of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Western world. This is the world in which Adam Gamal lived. Before that, his life in Egypt was one of great dismay as the Muslim Brotherhood overran a once-free country. When he arrived in the U.S., he spoke no English, was 5'1", 112 pounds, and certainly was far from what one would expect a future soldier to be. He loved his new country, and soon enlisted in the U.S. Army, feeling a great compulsion to serve a nation that gave him the freedom he craved.

From his first deployment in Bosnia, to his search for Saddam Hussein in Iraq, to his work in Africa fighting against the very same Muslim Brotherhood that terrorized his community in Egypt when he was a child, he offers a gripping first-hand account of our nation's most secret military unit. His tales of a cat-and-mouse game tracking terrorist Aden Hashi Ayro - the head of the Hizb al-Shabab, or youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union, who it was believed led militias within Somalia - are filled with tension.

Gamal also goes into great detail about the diversification of our nation's defenses. As he says in THE UNIT, he was often mistaken for being Hispanic, and relates stories of other members of the military who were from a Middle Eastern background who passed for Latino. But because they could blend in within those communities overseas when hunting bad guys, they gave the U.S. an advantage in gathering intelligence necessary to capture terrorists. Fair-haired and fair-skinned American soldiers are going to stick out in many nations dealing with conflict, especially those representing threats to the U.S. Gamal strongly believes that immigrants would make extraordinary soldiers. He feels that women, people of color, and immigrants do things differently. They see things differently, and meld different views, strategies, and thought processes when engaging enemies. This is crucial and often overlooked.

Gamal talks about the importance of keeping up with intelligence and why future wars will resemble nothing like they have throughout the 20th century and the very early years of the 21st century. America needs to do a better job relating with the citizenry of our allies, and those defending them. Along the way, we abandoned the idea of winning hearts and minds, he argues, and America needs to return to that way of thinking.

* Gamal reveals what The Unit does, it's value to the U.S. and the world, its capabilities and some of their incredible missions

* He talks about the need for diversity in the military, arguing that women, people of color, and immigrants do things differently which is a benefit

* He discusses the importance of America keeping up with intelligence and why future wars need to be more about building up people and countries

* He explains what Special Forces soldiers do in countries like Ukraine, Bosnia, and throughout Africa, and why it's crucial The Unit is there

* Being an immigrant from Egypt he discusses the situation in the Middle East both from a personal perspective as well as that of a U.S. soldier

THE UNIT reads like a fascinating espionage and war thriller. Not only is this a gripping account of the fight against terrorism, it is also an urgent examination of the real need for diversity in our nation's military as a dangerous world we live in continually morphs. Considering the amazing work that The Unit does in protecting our nation, we should be grateful that this story is all too real to gain a better understanding of the bad guys.

Adam Gamal is a pseudonym created to keep the author's family and himself safe from harm. Gamal served in the most elite units in the U.S. Army, and after a dozen deployments he retired in 2016. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Legion of Merit. He is currently an international consultant for a security organization.

 

 

George Shamblin on the critical importance of Inerrancy of the Bible

Ask your pastor a critical question: is the Bible true or not? If the answer is couched in vague phrases, beware. The correct answer must be YES. A woman can't be half-pregnant; no one can be mostly honest-you ether are or you are not. The same must be the case with the Bible. If you pick and choose what you like about the Bible (and ignore the parts that make you uncomfortable ) then you don't really believe the Bible is inerrant. This is how denominations (and people) get derailed from their faith.

George Shamblin made it his business to prove the significance of Bible inerrancy, and his latest book does so in clear, precise wordage. Get a copy for your youth group or Bible study, especially if people in your circle wonder if Biblical inerrancy is an option.

Paul Crickmore reveals the amazing truth about Lockheed Blackbird & other "spy planes"

What would it be like to fly at Mach 5, at 90,000 feet? You're in a craft so secret that it's made by hand to incredibly exacting detail, refused in flight several times because it burns so much fuel on a mission, and can fly across an entire region of the globe in minutes, all while taking extraordinarily detailed photographs that help military strategists make historical decisions. And we've been doing something like this since the mid-1950s, with the U-2, and the 1960s with the AR-12 Oxcart, and the early 1970s with the SR-71.

Paul Crickmore has been researching and explaining the incredible nature of the Lockheed Blackbird and its predecessors since the late 1980s, updating his books as more was declassified. Makes you wonder what's the newest version, right? This beautiful coffee-table sized book will be a treasured volume in your library.

Amy Lynn Green brings faith and shared adventures on "The Foxhole Victory Tour", set in WWII

“The FOXHOLE VICTORY TOUR”, a novel by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

During WWII, entertainers from across the US were recruited to travel to various locations around the world, wherever American military were stationed. Their job was to lift the spirits of the GIs, the sailors, the Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and the Army Air Corps. (This incredible organization still exists, and still does the same thing.) The most famous were the stars of the day, especially Bob Hope, who was legendary in his determination to go absolutely wherever any service-member was, in order to brighten their day. Not all the entertainers were well-known, but they all wanted to serve the troops.

This is the story of one such troupe, recruited through auditions, with no prior knowledge of each other nor any idea that they might be sent into a “hot” zone. It is a fictional account, but it could have easily been a genuine one.

Meet the players: Maggie McCloud, trumpeter (background Salvation Army family), quick wit, brash, tall, attractive redhead. Catherine Duquette: exceptional violinist, quiet, shy, beautiful. She grew up with every financial privilege Maggie lacked, but her house is a battlefield between her intense and overbearing father (who considers music a waste of her time) and her equally-stubborn and controlling mother (who is trying to live her dream throw her daughter). There’s Judith Blair, attractive but jaded, a more mature blues singer who has a secret she’s hiding (as well as her actual age); Howard Jones, veteran of WWI and a ventriloquist, harmonica player, tap dancer and one-man show; and Gabriel Kaminski, magician, whose father was a great magician, and who has a mysterious limp.

Clad in khaki USO uniforms, the troupe heads overseas as a “foxhole” tour. It gets very serious now, as they realize they are headed to the hotly-contested North African Theater of war. They’ll be as close to the front lines as possible. They must work together to put on a great show and to stay safe in a war zone. It’s not easy to stay pretty and perky amidst the dust, and riding in a deuce and a half truck on non-existent roads. There is a big perk possible: the manager will choose one of the five to send on the Pepsodent Show with Bob Hope!

But as the tour continues, braving enemy attacks and barely sleeping in tents, surviving diseases and injuries, the quintet becomes close to each other. They learn secrets all were keeping and realize they have a wonderful time performing with each other. Who will get the offer? And will Gabriel and Maggie realize their attraction for each other is deeper because of their faith journies?