The On The Bookshelf Podcast

Tu Lam, Vietnamese-American Green Beret, speaks on The Way of Ronin

From Special Forces veteran and internationally respected teacher of Ronin Tactics to streaming and videogame fan favorite, Tu Lam's memoir will captivate, astonish, exhilarate, and even profoundly resonate. Tu Lam has become known not just for his accomplishments as a decorated Green Beret, but also for his work outside the military, including:  Training citizens and law enforcement professionals all over the country . Providing aid to both active and retired soldiers with physical and mental health issues . * Co-hosting the History Channel's Forged in Fire: Knife or Death . * Appearing in and contributing to the world's bestselling video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

In The Way of Rōnin, he reveals his against-all-odds story. Tu Lam's resilience, dedication, and relentless pursuit of freedom saw him achieving Full Spectrum US Special Operations across twenty-seven countries worldwide for more than twenty years, only to pay the price of his own physical and mental trauma as well as addiction. That decision led him to more than two decades of grueling instruction in every facet of the special forces, then deployment to war and conflict zones-all while channeling his inner anger in secret underground no-holds barred fighting matches. When he finally retired from the military after more than two decades, his demons caught up with him, leading to years of addiction. But even that didn't defeat him. Confronting his demons, he emerged triumphant. Now he shares the gripping details and riveting intricacies of this awe-inspiring journey. Tu Lam's life is, at times, all too real, and at many others times, almost unbelievable. For fans of Jocko Willink and David Goggins, The Way of Rōnin is an ultimately triumphant autobiography of what one man can accomplish against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Tu Lam is a Vietnamese refugee who became a decorated Green Beret, with operational experience around the world. Introduced to martial arts from an early age, Tu dedicated himself to following the samurai code of Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, which provided a guiding path for his life. Tu is a husband; a tactical shooting instructor; a star of History Channel's Forged in Fire: Knife or Death; the inspiration behind the digital character Ronin in the world's bestselling video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare; and the founder and owner of Ronin Tactics. 

Three Special Forces operators with special stories, combined for Memorial Day

For Memorial Day , three books about heroes whose authors will be featured on a special episode of “On The Bookshelf” this Sunday:

“The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorist as One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives” by Adam Gamal with Kelly Kennedy (St. Martin’s Press)

Adam Gamal (not his real name) grew up in Egypt as the Muslim Brotherhood was taking over. He saw the oppression, the drying up of hope, and the danger. His father encouraged him to leave for his own sake. In America, although it was very difficult at first, “Adam” saw he could dream of a better life. In this patriotism for his adopted country, he joined the US military with great language and cultural skills. He was recruited into a team “that is so secretive that not only its name is classified and members are like ghosts to the military personnel in the country.” They’re not even listed by the Veteran’s Administration. They have prevented dozens of terrorist attacks against the US and the Western world. His perception on diversity in the US military, the challenge America faces in keeping up with intelligence, and what Special Forces operatives do. It’s eye-opening!

*

“Send Me: A True Story of A Mother at War” by Marty Skovlund Jr. & Joe Kent (William Morrow)This is the extraordinary true story of American special operator and trailblazer Shannon Kent, who hunted high value targets on classified missions in the most dangerous locales on earth while trying to balance her life as a wife and mother.  Of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the US military, only a tiny fraction are selected as “operators.” Shannon Kent was one of the first women at this level and was widely recognized as one of the best. She was a Navy cryptologic technician, responsible for signals intelligence and electronic warfare, but her proficiency with language set her apart. She was assigned to a highly-secretive unit where she hunted the most wanted terrorists in the world. Shannon’s heroic life story honestly shows her work and the challenges faced raising a family with her husband Joe, a Green Beret. He and Shannon met in a war zone, their love forged during a special ops training course, their dedication spanning multiple combat deployments and the birth of their two boys. She was KIA.

*

“The Way of Ronin: Defying the Odds in Battlefields, in Business as in Life” by Tu Lam (Hanover Square Press)

Tu Lam came to the USA after his nation was conquered by the communists in 1975. Their experiences when the NVA arrived was terrible, but common. They suffered under oppression but were eventually able to bribe an official and get onto a boat. That was just the beginning of their torturous journey to freedom. Along the way, they dodged pirates, got towed to Indonesia by a Russian trawler, survived the filth of the boats and then the land, barely staying alive, until one day they got the incredible news—they were going to America. But the family was not treated well at first in their new nation. The young boy had the spirit of a tiger, like his mom. It has served him well, as a Green Beret and in his post-military career.

Overcoming PTSD, prescription-drug addiction, and the end of his 23-career as a Special Operator, he with the help of his wife Ruthie built a new career. He travels the nation, lecturing to military groups, veterans, and law enforcement, as well; as hosting a History Channel episode, and being involved in the top-selling video game in the USA.

Their stories will inspire and humble you. They did that to me.

Good news--despite the hype and hyperbole, global warming won't kill us all by 2100

A Very Convenient Warming: How modest warming and more CO2 are benefitting humanity

By Gregory Wrightstone

CLIMATE CHANGE ANALYST: Gregory Wrightstone, is a geologist and the Executive Director of the CO2 Coalition in Arlington Virginia. He is bestselling author of A Very Convenient Warming: How modest warming and more CO2 are benefitting humanity.

By nearly every metric, Earth’s ecosystems are thriving and the human condition is improving. This notion of a prospering planet is entirely contrary to the claims of a climate crisis and a looming disaster around every corner, as proclaimed by the Climate Industrial Complex.

In this book, we explore these benefits and learn that we are feeding the planet’s growing population through expanded crop growth, that modest warming is saving lives and that extreme weather events are in decline.

What's more, extensive research shows that the periods of Earth's history which saw much cooler weather saw terrible famines, pestilence, and losses. The Earth has experienced a number of long-arching cooler and warmer periods. The warm ones were when we humans thrived.

Sleep well. There is no climate crisis. 

BIO: Gregory Wrightstone, author of A Very Convenient Warming: How modest warming and more CO2 are benefitting humanity, is a geologist, executive director of the CO2 Coalition, expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and best-selling author of “Inconvenient Facts.”

 

For Independence Day, how Satchmo, the Count and the Duke changed America for the better

One of my biggest life thrills was seeing the County Basie Orchestra in Daytona Beach, Fla when I was a senior at Seabreeze Senior High School. As a trumpeter, every time I have played one of his classic arrangements with a big band over the years and across the world, I hear the original in my mind. And I also thrilled to the Duke Ellington orchestra, and agree with Winton Marsalis that "all jazz trumpeters are the children of Louis Armstrong."

These three pioneers changed the way white America looked at Black Americans, their talents, their musicality, their heart and soul. It was not easy for them: they grew up and worked in a Jim Crowe America, where every hotel room was off-limits (not just in the South, but all over the nation!) In fact, the best arrangement for their vast numbers of performances in a year was travel by Pullman railroad cars, where they were treated with dignity, good food, comfortable beds, and a safe refuge.

"Although each of them died over a generation ago, it would be a mistake to believe that Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie are truly gone. Instead, their legacies live on through the cultural influences of Motown and Hip Hop, the Beatles and Bob Dylan; as well as the political and social achievements of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin and Barack Obama, among so many others. 

In The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America, journalist and best-selling biographer Larry Tye opens a new window onto the lives of these jazz greats, “reveal[ing] so much more about their musical journeys and personal experiences” off the bandstand than Grammy Award-winning jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton imagined possible. “It’s like meeting them all over again.”But the volume is at its most profound in clarifying the trio’s impact on the unfolding movement for racial equality, contending that they wrote the soundtrack for the civil rights revolution by taking their tunes into white households that wouldn’t let a Black man through the front door. “The sound of their evolving jazz dialect,” writes Tye, “formed a cultural fulcrum that no outraged protestor or government-issued desegregation order could begin to achieve.”

Particularly at this moment of racial reckoning and political division, The Jazzmen offers a potent opportunity to look back at the lives and times of these three figures who stood for the very racial justice that is in the spotlight today. "

A frequent guest on outlets such as Fresh Air, Morning Edition, MSNBC, CNN and the BBC, Larry Tye returns to On The Bookshelf for his 4th time!

A new movie about a flawed (mumps) vaccine and the medical fallout

Book Bit for June 1 ,2024

“Protocol 7”

 

Based on real-life events, comes the corporate thriller, Protocol 7. Alexis Koprowski, a devoted mother and small-town family lawyer, Adrian Jay, a renegade doctor exiled from the medical profession, and Steve Schilling, a virologist at a prominent vaccine laboratory turned corporate whistleblower, work together to hold a large pharmaceutical corporation accountable for allegedly fraudulent test results behind a failing mumps vaccine. Protocol 7 takes us behind the corporate curtain, exposing a chain of command that devolves responsibility, prioritizes profits over people, and fosters an amoral mindset of "just following orders.”

 

Hmm. A movie about an actual situation, where people at Big Pharma planned to make lots of money with a vaccine that was rushed into distribution, which may have been quick-vetted despite to inconsistent or fraudulent data. Sounds familiar, right? Pretty scary scenario.

 

We talk to British actor/singer/Producer Matthew Marsden. His acting career began in the UK, where he rose to stardom from his role on the long-running ITV series Coronation Street as Chris Collins. The role earned Marsden Top Newcomer at the National Television Awards. He went on to star in the independent drama Shiner (2000), opposite Michael Caine and the film The Sun Sisters (1997). In addition, Marsden signed with Columbia Records and recorded the hit single "She's Gone," with Destiny's Child, as well as a solo album called Say Who. Marsden left the UK to pursue a music and acting career in the US and hasn't looked back. Since moving to America, Marsden has been working successfully on feature film, television, and music. He starred in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001) and he was the lead in USA's epic film Helen of Troy (2003).

Marsden studied performing arts at Middlesex University. He was also a member of the acclaimed National Youth Theatre.

 

Here's the trailer:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NyF2d_hVY