Other books that might interest you

• 

  Washington - A Legacy of Leadership

  Dr. Paul Vickery

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  His name is carved in granite, his likeness cast in bronze, his legend as large as the role he played as America's first president. But before he was a commander-in-chief, George Washington was a general in a revolution that would decide the future of the people and land he called his own. If victorious, he would gain immortality. If defeated, he would find his neck in a hangman's noose. 
  Washington knew the sting of defeat—at Brandywine, at Germantown—yet this unwavering leadership and his vision for a new and independent nation emboldened an army prepared to fight barefoot if necessary to win that independence. Wrote an officer after the Battle of Princeton:  "I saw him brave all the dangers of the field and his important life hanging as it were by a single hair with a thousand deaths flying around him." 
  Among America's pantheon of Founding Fathers, one man to this day stands out.  Author Paul Vickery tracks the unlikely rise of Washington, a man whose stature in command of a young army became prelude to a presidency. As Vickery writes, "He learned to become the father of our country by first being the father of our military." 
  Accompanying images are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

  Show book

• 

  Mel Brooks - Disobedient Jew

  Jeremy Dauber

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A spirited dive into the life and career of a performer, writer, and director who dominated twentieth-century American comedy 
   
   
    
  Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream. 
   
   
    
  Jeremy Dauber argues that throughout Brooks's extensive body of work—from Your Show of Shows to Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs—the comedian has seen the most success when he found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores. Dauber also explores how Brooks's American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.

  Show book

• 

  Stories from the Rocks - True...

  Jan Hibma Hofstra

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  For those who need... Hope. Faith. Strength. A Miracle. You will find it here. Jump through a portal of time and see through the eyes of four generations of people!You will laugh, cry and be filled with wonder, as you listen to these incredible true stories. God shows up in the hilarious account of Scarlett Crimefighter, the impetuous Cocker Spaniel's escapades. Then  He does a jaw dropping instant healing of a lady with a severe breathing problem that had lasted for 25 years. You will experience a miracle in  the midst of a horrible tragic fire, feel the terror of a mysterious monster but the satisfaction of God's provision, find runaway cows miraculously coming home, and touch the boldness of a man poisoned by his co-worker but unharmed! As you journey through 61 different stories, you will encounter many supernatural miracles and great answers to prayer! In each of these true stories you will feel God's presence! God's gentle touch will change you, encourage you and embrace your life too!

  Show book

• 

  Araby - From their pens to your...

  James Joyce

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd February 1882 in Dublin into a middle-class family, and the eldest of ten surviving siblings 
  Admired as a brilliant student he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools of Clongowes and Belvedere.  From there he went on to attend University College Dublin from 1898, studying English, French and Italian 
  In 1902, Joyce was now in his early twenties, and went to Paris to study Medicine but soon abandoned his teachings.  Back in Dublin to attend to his dying Mother he met Nora Barnacle. They bonded immediately into a life-long match. Together they decided to emigrate to Europe.  The couple lived in Trieste, Rome, Paris, and finally Zürich where Joyce pursued a variety of jobs and ventures to supplement his literary pursuits but none of these paid off.  
  After publishing a poetry volume, ‘Chamber Music’, in 1907, his short story collection ‘The Dubliners’, in 1914, helped establish his talent in the rapidly changing world.  
  Although far from home Joyce’s literary heart and works were set in his recollections of Dublin.  Characters are close resemblances of family and friends and indeed enemies.  His landmark work ‘Ulysses’, published in 1922, is set in the streets and alleyways of the city as it parallels Homer’s Odyssey in a variety of styles including its famed stream of consciousness. 
  His pen continued to produce classics of the order of ‘A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man’ and ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ together with several volumes of poetry and a play ‘The Exiles, in 1918.   
  On the 11th January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. The next day he fell into a coma. On the 13th after a brief period of lucidity in which he called for his wife and son he passed.  He was 58.

  Show book

• 

  Bayard Rustin - A Legacy of...

  Michael G. Long

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  While we can all recall images of Martin Luther King Jr. giving his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of a massive crowd at Lincoln Memorial, few of us remember the man who organized this watershed nonviolent protest in eight short weeks: Bayard Rustin. 
   
   
   
  This was far from Rustin's first foray into the fight for civil rights. As a world-traveling pacifist, he brought Gandhi's protest techniques to the forefront of US civil rights demonstrations, helped build the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led the fight for economic justice, and played a deeply influential role in the life of Dr. King by helping to mold him into an international symbol of nonviolent resistance. Rustin's legacy touches many areas of contemporary life—from civil resistance to violent uprisings, democracy to socialism, and criminal justice reform to war resistance. 
   
   
   
  Despite these achievements, Rustin was often relegated to the background. He was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era. This volume draws a full picture of Bayard Rustin: a gay, pacifist, socialist political radical who changed the course of US history and set a precedent for future civil rights activism, from LGBTQ+ Pride to Black Lives Matter.

  Show book

• 

  Reconstructed - A Survivor's Memoir

  Atta Ahmad

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Have you ever seen your life flash before your eyes? Follow one man’s journey of positivity and resilience as he reconstructs his life after a near-fatal accident! 
   
  Atta Ahmad was determined to make his dreams come true. So unwavering, in fact, that he was willing to forgo sleep just to reach his goals. 
   
  Eventually, it caught up to him on September 5, 2015. 
   
  That fateful day, an exhilarating road trip from Boston to Michigan turned into a fight for his life when his exhaustion drove him to fall asleep at the wheel. 
   
  It all happened in an instant. 
   
  One minute, he was blasting music with the windows down, while drinking water and enjoying snacks. The next, he was flying through his truck’s windshield and catapulted into a ditch. 
   
  A promising and ambitious young man was reduced to a mangled, bloody heap of flesh and bone on the ground. Any other person would have given up and let go. But not Ahmad. 
   
  Ahmad is a survivor and “Reconstructed: A Survivor’s Memoir” is his story of determination, grit, and triumph… despite the odds stacked against him. 
   
  “Don’t let anyone put you in a box and tell you ‘this is how it should be.’ Go get your second wind and keep running toward that finish line.” — Atta Ahmad

  Show book