Showing results by narrator "Brett Barry" in All Categories

This story is told in the words of a tragic figure in American history - a hook-nosed, hollow-cheeked old Sauk warrior who lived under four flags while the Mississippi Valley was being wrested from his people. The author is Black Hawk himself - once pursued by an army whose members included Captain Abraham Lincoln and Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. Perhaps no Indian ever saw so much of American expansion or fought harder to prevent that expansion from driving his people to exile and death.

If you've ever had a vague sense that something's missing from your life, congratulations. That longing for something better is a sign of being fully human, fully alive. But what's even more wonderful, according to Dave Richo, is that when you identify and carefully examine the things you long for - like love, meaning, freedom, happiness, and growth - not only do you discover deep truths about yourself but you also find that the things you long for were never really missing at all.

Hornet's Nest follows an aircraft carrier's tour of duty during 1985, offering shoot-'em-up action and a mindset that equates Middle Eastern with terrorist. Central to this unsavory tale are fighter pilots 'Sweetwater' Sullivan and 'Sundance' Karnes and Sweetwater's squadron, the Fighting Aardvarks, who seem like free-wheeling, hard-partying frat brothers armed with technical training, powerful weapons and minds uncluttered by any understanding of the complex political events that dominate their lives.

The United States, alone, locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. And yet apart from clichés—paying a debt to society; you do the crime, you do the time—there is little sense collectively in America what constitutes retribution or atonement. We don’t actually know why we punish.

A band of war-weary soldiers have uncovered a plot that may tear the very fabric of reality forever. To save their own lives and to prevent a long-banished race of monsters from unleashing an army of horrors upon the waking world, they must reach the very heart of Dal Quor. To stop the cataclysm in time, they must fight their way to.

In February 1945, as the US victory in the Pacific drew nearer, the Japanese army grew desperate, and its soldiers guarding U.S. and Allied POWs more sadistic. Starved, shot and beaten, many of the 2,146 prisoners of the Los Baños prison camp in the Philippines - most of them American men, women and children - would not survive much longer unless rescued soon.

From the purple grasses of August, to the yellow elms of October, to the scarlet oak leaves of November, Henry David Thoreau casts his eye on the brilliant colors of autumn and guides us on a journey through the season's bounty. In this classic essay, first published in 1862, Thoreau delights in fall's foliage and reveals both a practical and philosophical understanding of the changing environment.

In Dangerous Ground, Scott Ritter, one of the world's leading experts on arms control, tells a bold and revisionist account of the inseparable histories of the post-World War II American presidency and nuclear weapons. Unpacking 60 years of nuclear history, Ritter shows that nuclear weapons have become such a fixture that they define present-day America on economic, military, political, and moral grounds.

What future forces will affect a leaders ability to lead in the next year, five years, 10 years? We are in a time of disruptive leadership change. In a VUCA world - one characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity - traditional leadership skills won't be enough, noted futurist Bob Johansen argues.

The future will be better than you think. Thriving shows how innovation can regenerate nature, society, and the economy by taking us from degradation to restoration of ecosystems, from depletion to renewal of resources, from disparity to responsibility in communities, from disease to revitalization of health, from disconnection to rewiring through technology, and from disruption to resilience of infrastructure and institutions.

Long before the advent of conventional farming methods - which have focused on constant growth, human intervention, and genetic homogeneity - the apple had already grown to become the ubiquitous all-American symbol it is today. Known for their hardiness, ability to adapt to new environments, natural diversity, and plentiful bounty, wildly grown apples were once known as “America’s fruit” throughout the trading world.

The story of young German Jews who escaped the Nazis, most often without their families, only to return a few years later to war-torn Europe as members of an elite secret US Army unit. The young men who would become known as The Ritchie Boys arrived in America as 'enemy aliens', and although they were allowed to enlist in the US military, they were distrusted by everyone. So, in effect, they became outsiders all over again. Until one day in 1942, when the Pentagon woke up to the incredible asset they had on their hands.

In Xanth, everyone has a talent. But that doesn't mean everyone loves his talent, and no one understands that better than Hapless. Endowed with the ability to conjure any instrument he wants, Hapless could be an extraordinary musician if only he could play a tune that didn't fall ear-piercingly flat. His one desire is to find an instrument he can play. When the Good Magician hears about Hapless's desperate desire, he sends the young man on a quest to find the elusive Isis Orb, a magical talisman that could fulfill his wish.

Well Aware offers a timely take on the leadership issues that businesses face when it comes to the threat of hacking. Finney argues that cybersecurity is not a technology problem; it’s a people problem. Cybersecurity should be understood as a series of nine habits that should be mastered - literacy, skepticism, vigilance, secrecy, culture, diligence, community, mirroring, and deception - drawn from knowledge the author has acquired during two decades of experience in cybersecurity. By implementing these habits and changing our behaviors, we can combat most security problems.

What does it mean in practice to be a values-based leader? When faced with real situations, how can you be your best self and create best teams - while also being a best partner with customers and vendors, a best investment for your stakeholders, and a best citizen making a difference in the world? It's a tall order, but these are the expectations for world-class organizations today.

From the team that created the ALA Notable Book The Cod's Tale comes the fascinating history of salt, which has been the object of wars and revolutions and is vital for life. Based on Mark Kurlansky's critically acclaimed best seller Salt: A World History, this handsome picture book explores every aspect of salt: The many ways it's gathered from the Earth and sea; how ancient emperors in China, Egypt, and Rome used it to keep their subjects happy; why salt was key to the Age of Exploration; what salt meant to the American Revolution; and even how the search for salt eventually led to oil.

Did you hear the story about Max, the boy who kidnapped his grandfather from a nursing home? You didn’t see it on the news? Well, let me tell you about it. Max lives in a small town, much smaller than yours. His grandpa is losing his memory, but still remembers quite a bit. You can imagine how they hurried, Max and his grandpa, followed by old Miss Schneider, who insisted on coming along. Why were they in a hurry? Because everyone was after them. Max had skipped school to rescue his grandpa.

Sullivan meets the grueling demands of the Navy's basic flight program, learning to handle high-altitude crises and hazardous landings.

Many executives focus too narrowly on the financial side of their business and neglect the importance of communicating with their employees, the media, and the public. World Class Communication equips you with crisis lessons, procedures, and examples that could help your company save millions of dollars through proper preparation and response. The must-have audiobook every CEO needs, World Class Communication is packed with examples of good and bad handling of countless situations and expert instruction on how to manage them without breaking into a sweat.

Being a successful business owner means more than knowing one's industry and understanding the basic concepts of leadership, management, or motivation. It means being able to master many areas of business, and knowing how each of these areas relate to and build on each other. It also means understanding how those areas change as a business goes through its inevitable life cycle, and how the owner must be prepared to change with them.