{"title":"Joe Cuhaj","description":"Joe Cuhaj grew up in northern New Jersey where his love of discovering obscure and off-beat tales of history was nurtured by his history-loving family and exceptional high school history teachers. The former radio broadcaster now lives in L.A. (Lower Alabama) on the Gulf Coast and is the author of 19 books, 13 outdoor recreation guides on hiking, kayaking, and camping, and six non-fiction history titles including titles Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space and Everyone's Gone to the Moon: July 1969, Life on Earth, and the Epic Voyage of Apollo 11.","products":[{"product_id":"pig-war-and-the-pelican-girls-21-extraordinary-and-forgotten-stories-from-american-history-paperback","title":"Pig War and the Pelican Girls: 21 Extraordinary and Forgotten Stories from American History - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Pig War and the Pelican Girls\u003c\/i\u003e is a riveting and well-researched collection of little-known and obscure tales from history. This page-turner unearths the stories of men and women who strove to save their country from aggressors or better the lives of others or simply survive under mysterious and extraordinary circumstances.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the tale of the Pelican Girls, a group of women deemed \"of virtuous character\" by the Catholic church and sent to the first French colonies in the New World in an attempt to re-create the Garden of Eden, to the story of \"The Limping Lady, \" declared the most dangerous of all Allied spies by the Germans in World War II, the true tale of Pan American Airlines signing up passengers for a flight to the moon when mankind had barely left Earth orbit, and many, many more, Joe Cuhaj reveals real-life history that has been buried for centuries. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhether you're an armchair historian or a lover of all things unusual and astonishing, this collection of obscure history shows that life surely is stranger than fiction. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368468414687,"sku":"9781493088270","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ACyBt1cjrp9781493088270.webp?v=1789128479"},{"product_id":"space-oddities-forgotten-stories-of-mankinds-exploration-of-space-paperback","title":"Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNothing captivates the human imagination like the vast unknowns of space. Ancient petroglyphs present renderings of the heavens, proof that we have been gazing up at the stars with wonder for thousands of years. Since then, mankind has systematically expanded our cosmic possibilities. What were once flights of fancy and dreams of science fiction writers have become nearly routine - a continuous human presence orbiting the Earth, probes flying beyond our solar system, and men walking on the moon. NASA and the Russian space program make traveling to the stars look easy, but it has been far from that. Space travel is a sometimes heroic, sometimes humorous, and always dangerous journey fraught with perils around every corner that most of us have never heard of or have long since forgotten. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpace Oddities \u003c\/i\u003ebrings these unknown, offbeat, and obscure stories of space to life. From the showmanship and bravado of the earliest known space fatality, German Max Valier, to the first ever indictment under the Espionage Act on an Army officer who leaked secrets concerning the development of early U.S. rockets; and the story of a single loose bolt that defeated the Soviet Union's attempt to beat America to the moon. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor Joe Cuhaj also sheds light on the human aspects of space travel that have remained industry secrets - until now: how the tradition of using a musical playlist to wake astronauts up began, fascinating tales about inventions like the Fischer Space Pen, Omega watches, and even Tang breakfast drink. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn addition to fun and entertaining space trivia, \u003ci\u003e Space Oddities\u003c\/i\u003e also features stories of the profound impact that space travel has had on challenges right here at home, like the effort by civil rights leaders and activists in the 1960s to bring the money from the space program back home to those in need on Earth; NASA's FLATs (First Lady Astronaut Training) program and the 13 women who were selected to become astronauts in 1960, but were denied a chance at flying even after successfully completing the rigorous astronaut training program; and, the animals who many times sacrificed their lives to prove that man could fly in space.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFilled with rare and little-known stories, \u003ci\u003eSpace Oddities\u003c\/i\u003e will bring the final frontier to the homes of diehard space readers and armchair astronauts alike. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51379349323999,"sku":"9781633887848","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/qjgbEvm1PT9781633887848.webp?v=1789272401"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/joe-cuhaj.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}