Rod Johnson

Explore the fascinating history of the Japanese samurais in this spectacular hardback guide, richly illustrated with full-color art and photography throughout. The Samurai are the legendary warrior class of Japan. They played a crucial role in the country's history, politics and religion and their legacy continues to hold immense sway over popular culture. In this authoritive history, samurai expert Rod Johnson takes us through the rise and fall of the samurai in Japanese society from the emergence of the new class in the eighth century through the turbulent periods of the Mongol invasions and the civil wars of the Sengoku period to the attempts of the class to adapt to a changing world after the Meiji restoration in the nineteenth century. With features on key events, battles and figures in the history of the samurai, this beautifully illustrated volume serves as the perfect reference for anyone who wants to know more about these fascinating people.

Josh Morgan's decision to murder a man in cold blood is the reason he's in this mess. The consequences were months in coming and the former CIA Officer has no clue who is behind the vendetta or why they are just now launching it. At the same time, there are suspicious suicides, murders, and disappearances. Are they really bizarre coincidences of incalculable odds? Or is there something more to them? The one common element connecting all of them is Morgan. All the man knows is that he has to get free of his own entanglements and find answers. Because while his adversaries and their motives may be unknown, one thing the ex-CIA officer is certain of - nobody he cares about is safe Hell in the Meantime begins mere moments after the gripping conclusion to SPIRITs of Retribution, and the author's talent for creating fast-paced thrillers filled with compelling characters and spectacular plot twists is at full throttle. Many of the characters you met in Half of Faith, the first Josh Morgan Novel - Former President Trenton Weston, CIA Director Elizabeth Parnell, and, of course, Josh's fianc e, Maggie Loughlin - are back as the ex-CIA operative frantically hunts for clues to the wave of incidents. In Washington, D. C., Wyoming, Oklahoma, the island nation of Terrador, and Doha, Qatar, one thought keeps coming back to him. But even if it is a worn-out clich from movies and novels, it is nevertheless true for Josh Morgan. This time it's personal

"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Bible verse John 8:32, on a wall in the Lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency's Original Headquarters Building Eighteen months after the breathtaking conclusion of Half of Faith, Josh Morgan finds himself in the midst of another crisis, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Reason and thoughtful deliberation have given way to raw emotion at the highest level of the U. S. government, and "Operation Retribution" is underway. President Sandra Hendrickson and her Joint Chiefs of Staff have the United States military poised for reprisal against Russia for an attack on American soil, but was the Kremlin really responsible? Has the commander in chief's personal rage clouded her judgement? Events are swirling out of control as U. S. leaders rush the world headlong toward the long-feared Armageddon. With the two superpowers on the brink of war, the former CIA spy and a small circle of allies pit themselves against an administration hell-bent on payback. With the help of former President Trent Weston, CIA Director Elizabeth Parnell, and Russian Foreign Intelligence Agent Slava Proskurkin, Morgan puts his life on the line in a desperate search for answers, for a truth he hopes will bring an end to the conflict. But with SPIRITs, a Green Beret A-team, authorized to engage the enemy at discretion, time is running out. Even if Morgan succeeds, will it be enough to persuade the president and the Joint Chiefs to stand down? The White House's relentless rush to retribution makes unlikely alliances and individual sacrifice the only hope if sanity is to prevail. SPIRITs of Retribution, like Book One of the Josh Morgan Series, Half of Faith, is a warning of the perils of righteous indignation, and of the catastrophic consequences that await when presumed moral authority stands in the way of moral obligation. With a myriad of subplots driven by flawed, conflicted characters, SPIRITs of Retribution resumes Josh Morgan's escape from the demons of his past.

It is the not too distant future and the United States is once again mired in a years-long oil shortage. Frantic for a solution, President Wendell Mercer has entered into negotiations with the Holy Islamic Republic of Saudi Arabia. Ruled by a resurgent al-Qaeda, the Saudi government seizes on the American president's desperation as an opportunity to exact revenge against the Great Satan for its history of unrelenting persecution. At the center of the plan is former US President Trenton Weston. Saudi agent Fadi Al-Majeed and NSA Deputy Director Everson Blake, men of different nationalities and different faiths, battle over Weston's fate, each convinced that his god blesses, or at least gives special dispensation to his plans. Disgraced ex-CIA officer Josh Morgan, withdrawn and bitter and haunted by his own demons, owes a debt of honor to the former president and must act to save him. Fueled individually by religious fervor, personal revenge, and moral obligation, the three men expose their hypocrisies and personal failings as they battle for opposing outcomes. By different paths through Mexico and the US, they converge in a finale that could change the course of two nations, and perhaps the world.

Get up to speed quickly with this comprehensive guide to Spring Beginning Spring is the complete beginner's guide to Java's most popular framework. Written with an eye toward real-world enterprises, the book covers all aspects of application development within the Spring Framework. Extensive samples within each chapter allow developers to get up to speed quickly by providing concrete references for experimentation, building a skillset that drives successful application development by exploiting the full capabilities of Java's latest advances. Spring provides the exact toolset required to build an enterprise application, and has become the standard within the field. This book covers Spring 4.0, which contains support for Java 8 and Java EE 7. Readers begin with the basics of the framework, then go on to master the most commonly used tools and fundamental concepts inherent in any Spring project. The book emphasizes practicality and real-world application by addressing needs such as meeting customer demand and boosting productivity, and by providing actionable information that helps developers get the most out of the framework. Topics include: Dependency Injection and Inversion of ControlUnit testing Spring enabled Web Applications Data Access using Spring JDBC and ORM support along with Transaction ManagementBuilding Web Applications and RESTful Web Services with Spring MVCSecuring Web Applications using Spring SecuritySpring Expression Language with its Extensive FeaturesAspect Oriented Programming Facilities Provided by Spring AOPCaching with 3rd Party Cache Providers’ SupportThe Best of the Breed: Spring 4.0 The information is organized and structured an ideal way for students and corporate training programs, and explanations about inner workings of the framework make it a handy desk reference even for experienced developers. For novices, Beginning Spring is invaluable as a comprehensive guide to the real-world functionality of Spring.