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  American Notes

  Charles Dickens

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  In 1842, Charles Dickens visited America. His reception was somewhat colder than that which usually greeted him – already a successful author in both Britain and the U.S. This lack of enthusiasm from the Americans was partly due to his criticism of the pirating of English books in that country and partly due to his outspoken distaste for the custom of slavery in the southern states.  
  He wrote in the preface to American Notes, "Prejudiced I am not, and never have been, otherwise than in favour of the United States. I have many friends in America. I feel a grateful interest in the country. I hope and believe it will successfully work out a problem of the highest importance in the whole human race. To represent me as viewing America with ill nature, coldness or animosity is merely to do a very foolish thing, which is always a very easy one!"  
  Despite this placatory tone, one American reviewer spoke thus of American Notes: "The most trashy... the most contemptible... the essence of balderdash, reduced to the last drop of silliness and inanity."  
  Listen to the journals and judge for yourself.

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  The Storm

  Sebastian Junger

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  On October 29, 1991, the 70-foot longliner Andrea Gail,on day 40 of an extended commercial swordfishing trip, was lost in a convergence of three powerful storms off Canada’s Grand Banks. Data buoys measured waves as high as 100 feet, and the boat was hit with winds measuring 80 knots (92 miles per hour). The Andrea Gail’s emergency beacon washed ashore that November on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, but the boat and 6-man crew were never found. The crew left behind five children among them, and the entire small town mourned the loss. Junger article, “The Storm,” which ran in the October 1994 issue of Outside, grew into the 1997 bestselling book The Perfect Storm, and the 2000 movie of the same name, starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. This selection is part of the full length audiobook, "Storm: Stories of Survival From Land and Sea." 
   
  Sebastian Junger (born on January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of infantry combat. He is the author of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea which was adapted into a major motion picture and led to a resurgence in adventure creative nonfiction writing. 
   
  Foucheux’s acting career began in 1983. The Louisiana native hosted a local morning talk show before turning to writing and acting—he’d minored in theater at Nicholls State University—eventually winning a Helen Hayes Award for his performance in Edmond at Source Theatre.

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  Ukrainian Scorpions - A Tale of...

  Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson

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  Award-winning author Grand Chief Ron Derrickson tells the story of his personal fight against Ukrainian political and economic forces alongside the larger story of the wider struggle for Ukraine to end the corruption that has plagued the country since the 1990s
  		 
  Ron Derrickson watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country where he had spent much of the past 20 years, with a kind of anguish, knowing the country had been systematically shut out of the EU and left on its own. While doing business there, he had entered the rabbit hole of Ukrainian political and economic life, a land where gangsters controlled not only the heights of the economy but also the police, the courts, and the national parliament. At stake was his $28 million company stolen by a cast of characters that included a former governor and members of the national parliament.
  		 
  In the end, Derrickson spent a dozen years fighting for justice in the courts, in political and diplomatic spheres, and even with automatic weapon-toting mercenaries. Ukranian Scorpions tells not only the story of his personal battles but the much wider struggle of Ukraine to find its footing and shake off the gangsterism that has plagued it since the 1990s. In the end, Derrickson searches for signs that after the recent cataclysm, a new Ukraine might rise from the ashes.

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  Sam Jonah And The Remaking of...

  A.A. Taylor

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  Sam Jonah and the remaking of Ashanti recounts the inspirational life of one of Africa's most prominent black businessmen. From working underground as a shovel boy to his appointment as the CEO of the trailblazing African gold mining company, Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Sam Jonah's determination to surmount every obstacle in a career strewn with hurdles makes for compelling reading. 
  Frenzied deals, boardroom cliffhangers, political scandal and private battles punctuate this unique account of the challenges of conducting 'First World' business in the 'Third World'. Through Jonah's corporate leadership we explore the paradox that a continent so richly endowed with gold and other minerals should find itself in such dire poverty. It is a hopeful story about breaking the confines of one's circumstances, not just for Africans but for individuals the world over.

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  The Riot Within - My Journey...

  Rodney King, Lawrence J. Spagnola

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  On a dark street, what began as a private moment between a citizen and the police became a national outrage.Rodney Glen King grew up in the Altadena Pasadena section of Los Angeles with four siblings, a loving mother, and an alcoholic father. Soon young Rodney followed in Dad's stumbling steps, beginning a lifetime of alcohol abuse.King had been drinking the night of March 3, 1991, when he engaged in a high-speed chase with the LAPD, who finally pulled him over. What happened next shocked the nation. A group of officers brutally beat King with their metal batons, Tasered and kicked him into submission—all caught on videotape by a nearby resident. The infamous Rodney King Incident was born when this first instance of citizen surveillance revealed a shocking moment of police brutality, a horrific scene that stunned and riveted the nation via the evening news. Racial tensions long smoldering in L.A. ignited into a firestorm thirteen months later when four white officers were acquitted by a mostly white jury. Los Angeles was engulfed in flames as people rioted in the streets. More than fifty people were dead, hundreds were hospitalized, and countless homes and businesses were destroyed.King's plaintive question, "Can we all just get along?" became a sincere but haunting plea for reconciliation that reflected the heartbreak and despair caused by America's racial discord in the early 1990s.While Rodney King is now an icon, he is by no means an angel. King has had run-ins with the law and continues a lifelong struggle with alcohol addiction. But King refuses to be bitter about the crippling emotional and physical damage that was inflicted upon him that night in 1991. While this nation has made strides during those twenty years to heal, so has Rodney King, and his inspiring story can teach us all lessons about forgiveness, redemption, and renewal, both as individuals and as a nation.

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  Stories of Independent Women...

  Charlotte Furness

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  Explore the lives of four elite women from British history who cast off society’s expectations to live life on their own terms. 
   
  As the fight for women’s rights continues, and whilst men and women alike push for gender equality around the globe, this book aims to introduce readers to four women who, in their own way, challenged and defied the societal expectations of the time in which they lived. 
   
  Some chose to be writers, some were successful businesswomen, some chose to nurture and protect, some traveled the globe, some were philanthropists. Each one made the conscious decision not to marry a man. 
   
  Elizabeth Isham of Lamport Hall, Anne Robinson of Saltram, Anne Lister of Shibden Hall and Rosalie Chichester of Arlington Court. These are elite women, all connected to country houses or from noble families throughout the UK, and this book explores to what extent privilege gave them the opportunity to choose the life they wanted, thus guiding the reader to challenge their own beliefs about elite women throughout history. 
   
  This book is unique in that it brings the stories of real historical women to light—some of which have never been written about before, whilst also offering an introduction to the history of marriage and societal expectations of women. 
   
  Starting in 1609 and traveling chronologically up to 1949, with a chapter for each woman, this book tells their remarkable stories, revealing how strong, resilient and powerful women have always been. 
   
  Praise for Stories of Independent Women from seventeenth–twentieth Century 
   
  “Charlotte presents the personal histories of four women from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries in some detail and in the context of examining their effects on the matter of gender equality. Fascinating.” —Books Monthly (UK) 
   
  “Very informative, clear and quite enlightening. . . . Well done to the author Charlotte Furness.” —UK Historian

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