Scott White - Böcker

Scott White’s journey began in Edinburgh, Scotland, where at the age of 25 he stepped into the unforgiving world of private security. He trained alongside former special forces instructors, learning the intricacies of Close Protection from weapons handling, specialist driving, tactics, and how to keep calm in chaos. For six years, working in Europe and the UK, he lived in the shadows of high-threat assignments, protecting VIPs in a game where hesitation could be fatal.But the biggest leap came at 31, when Scott became a Private Military Contractor and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan – two of the most dangerous places on earth at the height of their wars. For seven long years, he moved through blown-out cities and scorched desert roads, escorting high-value targets under fire, running convoys through kill zones, and staring down death more times than he can remember. The days bled into nights filled with bombings, ambushes, gunfights and the constant hum of dread. And yet, in that madness, something beautiful grew – the brotherhood. The deep, unspoken bond between men who would die for each other without hesitation.While some of those men became brothers for life, others didn’t make it home, and far too many made it back in body, but never in mind. Some took their own lives. Others drifted into the slow suicide of addiction, and Scott was no different. Flashbacks. Guilt. The crushing silence no one back home could break. He lost his marriage, his family, his home. And in the darkness of it all, he lost himself. But somewhere, something began to shift. Slowly, painfully, he began to piece himself back together.This is a personal story of the journey of survival, of both brutal combat zones and the PTSD that followed. It is about what the war takes from you, and the silent, defiant choice to keep going.

Images of working cowhands and their horses loom large in the mind’s eye of many who love the American West. Those same images form the heart and soul of this lavishly illustrated book, which captures the viewpoints, values, and observations of twenty-four respected contemporary artists. The artists’ own words illuminate the painting, sculpture, photography, and drawings of these award-winning, supremely creative individuals, allowing readers a glimpse into their creative processes.As Heidi Brady and Scott White demonstrate, these Western artists came to their work in a wide variety of ways. Some are studio-trained and learned to portray horses through formal classes; others simply began creating art on their own, learning through visual and tactile study of the horses they worked with each day. The two dozen artists profiled here include ranch owners, working hands, professional photographers, rodeo cowboys, art instructors, graphic designers, a saddle maker, and a former predator hunter.Readers will delight in these remarkable paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures depicting the freedom and spirit of the American West.

Since the frontiers of the American West were explored and settled, the horse has become its icon, representing freedom, individualism, toughness, determination, and the idiosyncratic way of life inherent to the region. The horse was a vital partner of the cowboy, Native American, and settler of this new frontier. As time went on, the image of the horse came to represent a new romanticism of the West, with many artists devoted to depicting the singular partnership between horse and cowboy. Building on their expertise in Western art and horses in particular, Heidi Brady and Scott White have collected pieces from artists who have spent their lives capturing and creating images of these majestic animals. The chapters, or profiles, were compiled from interviews with artists and are rendered in their own voices.A study of award-winning contemporary artists, Artists of the Horse: Capturing the Spirit of America's West profiles painters, photographers, and sculptors, each artist describing the circumstances that influenced how they approach the portrayal of the horse. Through different styles and perspectives, this book works to preserve the heritage of the Western way of life and the centrality of the horse in telling its story.