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  GO! The Bettenhausen Story - The...

  Carl Hungness

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  If “Top Gun: Maverick” or “Ford Versus Ferrari” kept your attention, “Go! The Bettenhausen Story” will keep you riveted. What prompts these men to climb into small spaces and propel themselves at death defying speeds? Subtitled “A Race Against A Dream,” this audiobook attempts to answer that question through the eyes of the Bettenhausen family, one of the greatest racing families in the history of the sport of automobile racing. Whether a casual or passionate racing fan, you’ll be fascinated at the closeup of the racing industry as this book chronicles its growth from the 1930s to the 1980s through the eyes of patriarch Tony Bettenhausen and his three racing sons as they conduct “A Race Against A Dream.” 
  As the author Carl Hungness writes, “It’s not the win at Indy the racers want, it’s the challenge. The way of life. It’s the feeling that can’t be conveyed until it’s experienced. What makes the breed of man they call a race car driver tick? Some respect them and others pity them. Don’t pity them; they’ve seen the consequences. They all think they’ll beat the odds. For some, driving in the race is living and everything else is just waiting. They’re more alive inside the car than out of it.” 
  A very small percentage of humans will experience the peril and thrill of the Indy 500, an annual spectacle that fuels the dreams of men and women alike seeking the thunderous adrenaline rush that the race provides. This audiobook dares to drive you close to experiencing “the aura surrounding the fervor for driving a race car.” Buckle up- it’s quite a ride.

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  The Call of Cthulhu

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  The Call of Cthulhu is one of Lovecraft's best-known works. It is the only story written by Lovecraft in which the extraterrestrial entity Cthulhu himself makes a major appearance. Narrator Francis Wayland Thurston, recounts his discovery of the strange notes left behind by his granduncle, George Gammell Angell, a prominent Professor of Semitic languages at Brown University. At first the story revolves around a small bas-relief sculpture found among the papers, which the narrator describes: "My somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature.... A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings". The sculpture is the work of Henry Anthony Wilcox, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design who based the work on delirious dreams of "great Cyclopean cities of titan blocks and sky-flung monoliths, all dripping with green ooze and sinister with latent horror". Frequent references to Cthulhu and R'lyeh are found in papers authored by Wilcox. Angell also discovers reports of "outre mental illnesses and outbreaks of group folly or mania" around the world (in New York City, "hysterical Levantines" mob police; in California, a Theosophist colony dons white robes to await a "glorious fulfillment")...

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  A Perfect Union - Dolley Madison...

  Catherine Allgor

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  When the roar of the Revolution had finally died down, a new generation of American politicians was summoned to the Potomac to assemble the nation's newly minted capital. Into that unsteady atmosphere, which would soon enough erupt into another conflict with Britain in 1812, Dolley Madison arrived, alongside her husband, James. Within a few years, she had mastered both the social and political intricacies of the city, and by her death in 1849 was the most celebrated person in Washington. And yet, to most Americans, she's best known for saving a portrait from the burning White House, or as the namesake for a line of ice cream.Why did her contemporaries give so much adulation to a lady so little known today? In A Perfect Union, Catherine Allgor reveals that while Dolley's gender prevented her from openly playing politics, those very constraints of womanhood allowed her to construct an American democratic ruling style, and to achieve her husband's political goals. And the way that she did so, by emphasizing cooperation over coercion, building bridges instead of bunkers, has left us with not only an important story about our past but a model for a modern form of politics.Introducing a major new American historian, A Perfect Union is both an illuminating portrait of an unsung founder of our democracy, and a vivid account of a little-explored time in our history.

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  Going Places

  Brian Dawtrey

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  It is 1962. Imagine leaving behind all that is familiar and comfortable in Norfolk, to travel to an uncharted posting in Tanganyika, with three small children and all your worldly goods, whilst your friends and relations predict doom and disaster in the ‘Dark Continent’. This is the adventure that Brian Dawtrey and his family embarked upon, armed with a black rolled umbrella with a gold band to fight off primitive savages, and a brand new hoover washing machine.From the moment that they leave England’s shores, you are swept along by their enthusiasm and lust for all that face them – from recalcitrant hippopotami, charging elephants and a life-saving leopard, to welcoming tribes-people and the glorious unspoilt African bush. Unfazed by minor setbacks such as the lack of electricity to drive the Hoover, and confrontations with unwelcoming snakes, the Dawtrey family revel in their new surroundings and the challenges of their new life under the Nyerere regime of Uhuru (Freedom).Witty, evocative and awe-inspiring, this charming book is a testament to the pioneering spirit of those who chose to embrace Africa at a time of great change, and to help its people to capitalise on their natural skills and resources.

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  Wilde's Women - How Oscar Wilde...

  Eleanor Fitzsimons

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  “A lively debut biography of the flamboyant Irish writer . . . focusing on the women who loved and supported him” (Kirkus Reviews).   In this essential work, Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Oscar Wilde’s story and his legacy through the women in his life, including such scintillating figures as Florence Balcombe; actress Lillie Langtry; and his tragic and witty niece, Dolly, who, like Wilde, loved fast cars, cocaine, and foreign women. Fresh, revealing, and entertaining, full of fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde’s Women relates the untold story of how a beloved writer and libertine played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women, and how they supported him in the midst of a Victorian society in the process of changing forever.   “Fitzsimons reminds us of the many writers, actresses, political activists, professional beauties and aristocratic ladies who helped shape the life and legend of the era’s greatest wit, esthete and sexual martyr . . . provide[s] a potted biography of the multitalented writer and gay icon . . . highly enjoyable.” —The Washington Post   “Fitzsimons brilliantly calls attention to the progressive ideas and beliefs which drew the most daring and interesting women of the time to his side. The depth and painstaking care of Fitzsimons’ research is a fitting tribute to Wilde’s fascinating life and exquisite writing—and really, what better compliment is there than that?” —High Voltage

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  Ancient Dynasties - The Families...

  John D. Grainger

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  A guide to the over 150 families that ruled the Classical world, from the 10th century BC to the 8th century AD, from western Europe to central Asia.  Ancient Dynasties is a unique study of the ruling families of the ancient world known to the Greeks and Romans. The book is in two parts. The first offers analysis and discussion of various features of the ruling dynasties (including the leading families of republican Rome). It examines patterns, similarities and contrasts, categorizes types of dynasty and explores common themes such as how they were founded and maintained, the role of women, and the various reasons for their decline.   The second part is a catalog of all the dynasties (over 150 of them) known to have existed between approximately 1000 BC and AD 750 from the Atlantic Ocean to Baktria (roughly modern Afghanistan). It provides genealogical tables as well as information on where and when they held power.   Altogether, Ancient Dynasties offers an invaluable reference to ancient history buffs interested in the families that wielded power in the Classical world.

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