Showing results by narrator "Joe Barrett" in All Categories

Assigned to the 504th Bombardment Group in the Pacific Theater, Hanley became a flight engineer on a B-29 bomber squad. On his seventh mission, he and his crew were shot down over Japan. In Accused War Criminal, Hanley shares his experiences from his training and commissioning to his deployment on a failed mission that led to his capture. He recounts how he managed to survive as a prisoner of war until his eventual rescue and recovery. With candid honesty and telling details, this is a humbling and harrowing tale of one man's bravery under unimaginable circumstances.

From the very beginning, American history can be seen as a battle to reconcile the large gap between America's stated ideals and the reality of its republic. Its struggle is not one of steady progress toward greater freedom and equality, but rather for every step forward there is a step taken in a different direction. In Inventing Equality, Michael Bellesiles traces the evolution of the battle for true equality - the stories of those fighting forward, to expand the working definition of what it means to be an American citizen - from the Revolution through the late 19th century.

Somewhat-retired LA Private Eye Amos Parisman is hired by lonely booking agent Pinky Bleistiff to find one of his missing singers, Risa Barsky. But what starts as a simple investigation turns into a complex puzzle when Pinky is murdered and Risa is still nowhere to be found. With suspects dropping dead at every turn, Parisman must act quickly to discover the truth about Risa's relationship with Pinky before an innocent person gets sent to prison.

In this magisterial work, Sean Wilentz traces a historical arc from the earliest days of the republic to the opening shots of the Civil War. One of our finest writers of history, Wilentz brings to life the era after the American Revolution, when the idea of democracy remained contentious, and Jeffersonians and Federalists clashed over the role of ordinary citizens in government of, by, and for the people. The triumph of Andrew Jackson soon defined this role on the national level, while city democrats, Anti-Masons, fugitive slaves, and a host of others hewed their own local definitions.

Criminal defense lawyer Cash McCahill pleads for his life before a jury of one: La Tigra, the lethal leader of a drug cartel. To avoid ending up as an appetizer for her pet tiger, he promises to defend the case of her choice and win it. When La Tigra calls in the chit, Cash has no way out of cartel hell, except death. Lose at trial, and he will pay with his life.

Ace Criminal Attorney Cash McCahill makes two potentially fatal mistakes. First, he agrees to represent a cartel kingpin, who lays down an ultimatum of win or else. Not even an acquittal will save Cash if his second mistake surfaces. His affair with the client's wife turns him into the perfect pawn to take a fall for the cartel. Falsely convicted of jury tampering, he must survive a prison teeming with enemies and navigate the more dangerous world on the outside in order to clear his name, regain his law license, and return to his only real home - the courtroom.

Should we still read William Faulkner in this new century? What can his works tell us about the legacy of slavery and the Civil War, that central quarrel in our nation's history? These are the provocative questions that Michael Gorra asks in this historic portrait of the novelist and his world.

In Laughing at Myself: My Education in Congress, on the Farm, and at the Movies, Dan Glickman tells his story of a classical family background, religious heritage, and "Midwestern-nice" roots, and how it led to a long and successful career in public service. Dan has successfully navigated the worlds of congressional politics, cabinet-level administration, and the entertainment industry and offers listeners the many tricks of the trade he has learned over the years.

With an eye toward the past and the future, Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide considers a host of actual and imaginable arguments for a president's removal, explaining why some cases are easy and others hard, why some arguments for impeachment have been judicious and others not. In direct and approachable terms, it dispels the fog surrounding impeachment so that Americans of all political convictions may use their ultimate civic authority wisely.

Ira Mace, a rebellious, brass-balled wild card, loves his drugs and women. But most of all, he loves the game of high finance. As he drags Champ, his trustworthy yet naive apprentice, into the world of backroom deals, nothing is out of bounds, from laundering cash for a ruthless Mexican cartel to servicing powerful Middle Eastern clients who sponsor terrorists. Fueled by prostitutes, liquor, and narcotics, Ira's debauchery and bravado lead to a twisted climax for both men...with harrowing results.

When a stolen car is recovered on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it sets off a search for a missing woman, local motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler. Three men are named persons of interest - her husband, her boyfriend, and the man who stole the car - and the residents of Anna Maria Island, with few facts to fuel their speculation, begin to fear the worst. Then, with the days passing quickly, her motel is set on fire, her boyfriend flees the county, and detectives begin digging on the beach. Cutter Wood was a guest at Musil-Buehler's motel as the search for the missing woman gained momentum.

When John Nelson abandoned his government job to join a scrappy band of activists, he didn't realize trying to save the world would be so hard. His ideals remain strong, but his optimism is wearing thin. Parts per Million, Julia Stoops' socially conscious, fast-paced debut novel, is set in Portland, Oregon, in 2002. As the trio dives into antiwar protests and investigates fraud at an elite university, Nelson falls in love with an unlikely houseguest, Deirdre, a photographer from Ireland - and a recovering addict.

When most people think of the celebrated greatness that is Coach Dan Gable, they think of an almost mythic intensity toward wrestling. Gable breathes and bleeds the sport and faithfully applies lessons learned from both on and off the mat. Expanding upon Gable's first collection of stories, A Wrestling Life 2 goes a little deeper into the mindset and life events that have shaped the man, the wrestler, and the coach.

In 1942 Stanley Johnston is embarked in the aircraft carrier USS Lexington during the Battle of the Coral Sea. In addition to recording the crew's doomed effort to save the ship, Johnston displays great heroism, earning the praise of the Lexington's senior officers. They even recommend him for a medal. Then his story darkens. On board the rescue ship Barnett, Johnston is assigned to a cabin where messages from the Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral Chester Nimitz, are routinely, and carelessly, circulated.

When a world-renowned forensic anthropologist journeys to Winchester, Wyoming, to examine the long-dead remains of a woman who claimed to be Etta Place - the Old West's most mysterious and legendary female outlaw - he's not expecting to find a man's headless corpse in her crypt. The grisly discovery plunges him and Jefferson Morgan - the editor of the weekly Winchester Bullet - into a shadowy and deadly world of satellite-savvy highway pirates, rural meth labs, computer hackers, and old-fashioned corruption.

In the fall of 1943, armed with only his notebooks and pencils, Time and Life correspondent Robert L. Sherrod leapt from the safety of a landing craft and waded through neck-deep water and a hail of bullets to reach the shores of the Tarawa atoll with the US Marine Corps. Living shoulder to shoulder with the marines, Sherrod chronicled combat and the marines' day-to-day struggles as they leapfrogged across the Central Pacific, battling the Japanese on Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

In early spring of 2006, beloved From Gents' Pens author D. A. Grady's life changed forever when his Chevy pickup connected with a metal guard rail on highway US 290, between Austin and Houston. When EMTs arrived on the scene and placed him into their Medevac helicopter, his left leg from below the knee remained behind in his truck, still in his boot.

The allure of literary letters and rare first editions captures the imaginations of three professors of English literature and leads to tragedy in the wake of the Great Kobe Earthquake of 1995.

As editor of the award-winning Library of America collection of George Washington's writings and a curator of the great man's original papers, John Rhodehamel has established himself as an authority of our nation's preeminent founding father. Rhodehamel examines George Washington as a public figure, arguing that the man - who first achieved fame in his early twenties - is inextricably bound to his mythic status.

Go ahead, be skeptical about big data. The author was - at first. When the term "big data" first came on the scene, best-selling author Tom Davenport ( Competing on Analytics, Analytics at Work) thought it was just another example of technology hype. But his research in the years that followed changed his mind. Now, in clear, conversational language, Davenport explains what big data means - and why everyone in business needs to know about it.