Top list: True stories

This instant New York Times bestseller—“a jaw-dropping, fast-paced account” (New York Post) recounts SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s incredible four-hundred-mission career, including the attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips, and which culminated in the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist—Osama bin Laden.

In The Operator, Robert O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit. After officially becoming a SEAL, O’Neill would spend more than a decade in the most intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy kills—and though he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he’d trained with and fought beside never made it home.

“Impossible to put down…The Operator is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations…In the larger sense, this book is about…how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat” (Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author). O’Neill describes the nonstop action of his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evokes the black humor of years-long combat, brings to vivid life the lethal efficiency of the military’s most selective units, and reveals details of the most celebrated terrorist takedown in history. This is “a riveting, unvarnished, and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war” (Joby Warrick).

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller—Jaycee Dugard’s raw and powerful memoir, her own story of being kidnapped in 1991 and held captive for more than eighteen years.

In the summer of June of 1991, I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother that loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.

For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim, I simply survived an intolerable situation. A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

NOW A BLOCKBUSTER MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY CLINT EASTWOOD—NOMINATED FOR SIX ACADEMY AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE

From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war—including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates—and in moving first-person passages throughout, his wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their family, as well as on Chris. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.

From decorated Green Beret sniper, UFC headliner, and all around badass, Tim Kennedy, a rollicking, inspirational New York Times bestselling memoir offering lessons in how to embrace failure and weather storms, in order to unlock the strongest version of yourself.

Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he’s about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban.

But he’s also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues for, quite simply, “being a selfish asshole.”

With his vivid and stirring voice, Scars and Stripes “is an authentic gut punch of a life lived with grit, resiliency, and a never-quit attitude in the face of heartbreaking failures and incredible success that every American can learn from” (Patrick Murphy, veteran and former United States Under Secretary of the Army). Kennedy reveals that failure isn’t the end—rather it’s the first step towards unearthing the best version of yourself and finding success, no matter how overwhelming the setbacks may feel.

Jay Dobyns, the first federal agent to infiltrate the inner circle of the outlaw Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, presents the inside story of the twenty-one-month operation that almost cost him his family, his sanity, and his life.

The gripping account from an ex-con who went undercover to help the ATF infiltrate three of America's most violent biker gangs.

For young listeners-the dramatic tale of how Howard Wasdin overcame a tough childhood to live his dream and enter the exciting and dangerous world of US Navy SEALS and Special Forces snipers.

The epic story of one of America's greatest soldiers, Ranger Hall of Fame member Gary O'Neal, who served his country for forty years.

The former head of the Pentagon program responsible for the investigation of UFOs—now known as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)—reveals long-hidden truths with profound implications for not only national security but our understanding of the universe.

Luis “Lue” Elizondo is a former senior intelligence official and special agent who was recruited into a strange and highly sensitive US Government program to investigate UAP incursions into sensitive military installations and air space. To accomplish his mission, Elizondo had to rely on decades of experience gained working some of America’s most sensitive and classified programs. Even then, he was not prepared for what he would learn, and the truth about the government’s long shadowy involvement in UAP investigations, and the lengths officials would take to keep them a secret.

The stakes could not be higher. Imminent is a first-hand, revelatory account inside the Pentagon’s most closely guarded secret and a call to action to confront humanity’s greatest existential questions.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

This dramatic and compelling true-crime psychological thriller provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes narrative of one of the most bizarre and terrible serial killers stories in US history. For 31 years a man who called himself BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) terrorized the city of Wichita, Kansas, strangling and sexually assaulting a series of women (and one child), taunting the police and the community with frequent letters, communications, crime scene photographs, property stolen from his victims, bragging about his crimes in correspondence to local newspapers, tv, and radio stations, describing himself as a "psychotic and sexual pervert" who claimed that "I can't stop it." After he seemed to disappear for nine years, he suddenly reappeared, complaining that no one was paying enough attention to him, that he had committed crimes for which he had not been given credit. When ultimately captured, using many techniques suggested by Douglas himself, BTK was shockingly revealed to be a 61 year

The remarkable true story of a family forced into hiding after leaking Russian secrets

What started out as a great adventure turned into a terrifying nightmare when Nick Stride and his family were forced to flee for their lives from one of the richest, most powerful men in the world.

Nick moved to Russia in 1998 to help build the British Embassy in Moscow, but ended up on the run with his wife and two children after leaking secrets from Vladimir Putin’s one-time deputy. Hiding off grid on Australia’s final frontier – remote beaches on the Dampier Peninsula on the far north Kimberley coast – the family faced crocodiles, sharks, snakes, raging bushfires and the devastating Cyclone Yvette, and survived only by catching fish and crabs and learning how to kill wild animals. It was a life-or-death move, but Nick felt he had no choice. Now, emerging from isolation, the family are finally ready to share their incredible story.

Anyone who reads this will be delighted by the great common sense of Hudson’s observations and insights. A splendid book...chock-full of goodness and I can’t think of anyone I know who wouldn’t benefit from reading it.

Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail

'A brilliant, brilliant book.'

Chris Evans

What is the connection between crawling through a jungle and your ‘to do’ list? What can ejecting out of a stealth bomber teach you about the importance of thinking the worst? What can surviving in extreme situations teach us about surviving everyday life?

John Hudson, Chief Survival Instructor to the British Military, knows what it takes to survive. Combining first-hand experience with 20 years of studying the choices people have made under the most extreme pressure, How to Survive is a lifetime’s worth of wisdom about how to apply the principles of survival to everyday life.

The cornerstone of military survival (surviving anything) is understanding the relationship between effort, hope and goals – a mindset that can be transposed anytime, anywhere. In How to Survive you will learn how this template for survival can be applied to any situation in your everyday life.

Through gripping first-hand accounts of near disaster and survival stories from across the extreme world you will learn that by following these principles you can develop the mindset that will allow you to make better decisions under pressure, which are as equally applicable to first dates and presentations as to climbing Everest and getting lost at sea.

'When it comes to survival and getting out of trouble, listen to this man. John is the real deal.' - Levison Wood

Newly revised and available in audio, this is the unforgettable chronicle of Rusty Firmin’s combat experiences – a fascinating and intimate portrayal of what it was like to be part of the world's most respected Special Operations Force.

From its early beginnings in World War II, the Special Air Service (SAS) has won renown in some of the most dramatic, dangerous and controversial military special operations of the 20th century. It is a secretive and mysterious unit, whose operations and internal structures are hidden from the public eye. Now, one of its longest-serving veterans offers a glimpse into the shadowy world of the SAS. Rusty Firmin spent an incredible 15 years with 'The Regiment' and was a key figure in the assault of the Iranian Embassy in London in May 1980.

Raising a serial killer

A Father's search for answers

In July of 1991, the country was shocked by the unfathomable crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. But no one was more shocked than his parents. In A Father's Story, the listener becomes witness to the incremental unraveling of a parent's image of their child, and the thousand different reactions that follow. In his attempt to understand the nature of his son's psychosis, Lionel Dahmer methodically scrutinizes every possible contributing factor to his son's madness. His desperation is palpable as he searches for clues in the emotional, psychological, and genetic landscape of his son's life.

Riveting and soul-wrenching, this unprecedented memoir is the confession of a father who must confront the saddest truth a human can know—that his child has somehow crossed the line that separates the human from the monstrous.

©1991 Lionel Dahmer. Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

I Survived is Victoria Cilliers' chilling, eye-opening story of marriage and attempted murder, revealing the truth about a case that made headlines around the world. Now the subject of a major Channel 4 documentary The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot.

On Easter Sunday 2015, experienced skydiver Victoria Cilliers undertook a parachute jump, a gift from her husband, British army sergeant Emile Cilliers. Her parachutes failed to open and she plummeted 4,000 feet to the ground, sustaining life-threatening injuries. Miraculously, she survived. Then the police arrived at her door. Someone had tampered with her parachute and they suspected Emile.

In I Survived Victoria describes how she fell for Emile, and how the charming man she thought she knew gradually revealed a darker side, chipping away at her self-worth until she found it impossible to sift truth from lies. Can she really believe that her husband – the father of their two young children – tried to kill her? As more shocking revelations come to light, and she has to face his trial and relentless media scrutiny, she struggles to come to terms with the past. Even a guilty verdict does not free her because Emile is not ready to let her go . . .

Powerful and honest, this is the story of a woman who was put through hell and yet found the strength to forge a new life for herself and her children.

Richard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. The author has a fine memory and eye for detail. His account is easy to listen to and not technical, and adds substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated in the Second World War.

Exile on Front Street is the tale of how a former Marine gave up a comfortable job with the Department of Defense and swore allegiance to the Hells Angels.

Sold is a terrifying, gripping and true story about a young Russian girl who dreams of a better life, but instead falls victim to trafficking. Seventeen-year-old Natasja is attracted by an offer to work as a nanny in Sweden. Her ticket to freedom turns out to be a worse nightmare than she ever could have imagined. Time and time again, she is sold to different men. But even though she is slowly falling apart, Natasja refuses to give up and silently starts to plan her escape. In Sold, she talks about how she managed to get free against all odds.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER.

‘The SAS and all it stands for is exemplified in men such as Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham. They are the backbone of the British military and I for one am thankful he is on our side!’ – Sir Ranulph Fiennes

'The most experienced Special Forces soldier in recent memory. The Hard Way is brutally brilliant.' – Tom Marcus, Number One bestselling author of Soldier Spy

Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham grew up tough, a grim future ahead of him offering little respite from the hostile streets he walked. Leaving school at thirteen, he ran with gangs in Walsall – and almost died in a knife fight. At sixteen, Billy discovered the British armed forces. It would be the making of him.

Billingham would succeed in passing the Parachute Regiment’s arduous ‘P Company’ selection and training, going on to serve with 3 PARA. He then took on an even bigger challenge: selection for the SAS – the elite special forces unit known for excellence in operating under extreme conditions. Billy excelled in this field, undertaking numerous classified and life-threatening missions. After leaving the army, Billy served as bodyguard to Hollywood stars, including Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

The Hard Way details Billy’s story thus far, but will also educate and enthral those wishing to seek a challenge and conquer it – the SAS way.

A New York Times Bestseller * Winner of the 2024 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Air Mail, Smithsonian Magazine, and Financial Times

“A triumph. Fedarko doesn’t describe awe; he induces it.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Passionate…memorable…life-affirming.” —The Wall Street Journal

From the author of the beloved bestseller The Emerald Mile, a rollicking and poignant account of an epic 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of America’s most magnificent national park and the grandest wilderness on earth.

Two friends, zero preparation, one dream. A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.”

The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer, and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined—and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both. They struggled to make their way through a vertical labyrinth of thousand-foot cliffs and crumbling ledges where water is measured out by the teaspoon and every step is fraught with peril—and where, even today, there is still no trail along the length of the country’s best-known and most iconic park.

Along the way, veteran long-distance hikers ushered them into secret pockets, invisible to the millions of tourists gathered on the rim, where only a handful of humans have ever laid eyes. Members of the canyon’s eleven Native American tribes brought them face-to-face with layers of history that forced them to reconsider myths at the center of our national parks—and exposed them to the threats of commercial tourism. Even Fedarko’s dying father, who had first pointed him toward the canyon more than forty years earlier but had never set foot there himself, opened him to a new way of seeing the landscape.

And always, there was the great gorge itself: austere and unforgiving but suffused with magic, drenched in wonder, and redeemed by its own transcendent beauty. A singular portrait of a sublime place, A Walk in the Park is a deeply moving plea for the preservation of America’s greatest natural treasure.