Books published by Potomac Books Inc

¿The ugly wife is a treasure at home¿ is not just an idle expression in China. For centuries, Chinese marriage involved matchmakers, child brides, dowries, and concubines, until the People¿s Republic of China was established by Mao Zedong and his Communist Party in 1949. Initially encouraging citizens to reject traditional arranged marriages and wed for love, the party soon spurned ¿the sin of putting love first,¿ fearful that romantic love would distract good Communists from selflessly carrying out the State¿s agenda. Under Mao, the party established the power to approve or reject proposed marriages, to dictate where couples would live, and to determine if they would live together. By the 1960s and 1970s, romantic love had become a counterrevolutionary act punishable by ¿struggle sessions¿ or even imprisonment. The importance of Chinese sons, however, did not wane during Maös thirty-year regime. As such, in a world where nobody spoke of love, 99 percent of young women still married. The Ugly Wife Is a Treasure at Home draws the reader into the world of love in Communist China through the personal memories of those who endured the Cultural Revolution and the generations that followed. This collection of intimate and remarkable stories gives readers a rare view of Chinese history, social customs, and Communism from the perspective of today¿s ordinary citizens.

The Vietnam War aircraft carrier USS Oriskany and its aviators come to life in this memorial to the fallen of Carrier Air Wing 16 (CVW-16), which experienced the highest loss rate of any carrier air wing during the war.

The Woman Who Fought an Empire tells the improbable odyssey of a spirited young woman--the daughter of Romanian-born Jewish settlers in Palestine--and her journey from unhappy housewife to daring leader of a notorious Middle East spy ring.