Showing results by narrator "Steve Knupp" in All Categories

Hollywood has never lacked leading men who could captivate viewers with dramatic performances that depict them as suave romantics or dashing heroes, especially during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when stars like Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, and Cary Grant graced screens. But in the mid-20th century, one of the most popular stars was a man who’s been frequently overlooked.

When trains were introduced as a popular means of transportation, some of the first tracks laid terminated in New York, and the expansion of railroads led to the birth of train stations across the country. In general, these were small buildings where passengers could buy tickets and wait for their trains to arrive. Trains were run by steam as far south as 14th Street and pulled from there by horses.

Before the mid-19th century, European intervention in much of tropical Africa was extremely difficult because of the disease gradient. The combination of malaria and yellow fever commonly killed off half of European troops stationed in West Africa each year. It was the reverse of the conquest of the Americas, where introduced diseases wiped out 50 million indigenous Americans, opening the land to settlement and greatly reducing the ability to resist. This was much less of a problem in temperate southern Africa, accounting for the Dutch being able to set up a colony there in the 17th century.

What we can see lets us protect ourselves, but what about the things we can't see? The most dangerous threats are often the ones that catch us off guard, forming an abrupt and unsettling feeling that just doesn’t sit right. In "Right Before My Eyes," Angela Diane skillfully incorporates a psychological thriller that obscures the lens between perception and reality. The novel follows Sarah, a college sophomore working to find her place in the world. She flounders with faith, identity, and the eerie feeling that someone—or something—is watching her.

From narrow Venetian alleyways to the vastness of the Adriatic, Shadows Within the Storm is a tale of resilience, self-discovery, and the human spirit’s ability to navigate uncharted waters. Amidst stolen moments of joy and haunting whispers from the past, Liam discovers more than just new destinations. Glenn Blekicki crafts an exciting narrative that masterfully blends travel, suspense, and personal transformation, taking listeners on a journey through iconic landscapes and emotional depths.

Thanks to the various components that have been put together, the International Space Station is bigger and brighter than all other artificial satellites. With relatively low power magnification, people can see the solar panels radiating outward from the numerous international modules which make up the ISS. The reality of that platform, at the edge of the ocean of space, is pretty astounding when looked at from the perspective of history. Only 120 years ago, mankind did not know if it was possible to fly in a heavier-than-air vehicle.

Today, the world is in the midst of the transformative and ever-developing Digital Age, otherwise referred to as the “Age of Information.” It has been an unprecedented, remarkable, and explosive era marked by social media and computer-generated imagery (and with it, deep fakes), among other novel, previously unimaginable concepts. The bulky monitors and blocky towers of personal computers and laptops, which were once upon a time considered fashionable, futuristic contraptions, have since been replaced with a sleek and stylish array.

James Douglas's book Under an August Moon is a coarse and intimate memoir that outlines the severe undermining of a toxic relationship. Beginning with the heartache of personal loss and moving through the rough stages of an abusive marriage, Douglas incorporates a story that is as emotionally engrossing as it is brutally honest. Furthermore, the book grasps the sophistications of love, betrayal, and self-discovery in a setting of small-town life and societal intimidations.

Seven years after Queen Sylvia’s dramatic liberation of Aurba from tyrannical sorcerers, the realm confronts a dire new threat. The four deposed sorcerer lords—Clement, Darien, Lillian, and Xanaphia—driven by a thirst for revenge, unexpectedly find their plans thwarted by Darlyth, a demon lord whose ancient power far surpasses their own. Recently freed from a millennium of imprisonment, Darlyth aims to usurp Sylvia's enchanted tiara, a relic endowed with extraordinary powers.

Born in 1943, the author spent his first fourteen years on the move—across Montreal, Canada, three northern states, two southern states, and eight different schools. Each stop brought new friendships, challenges, and a front-row seat to a rapidly changing America in the years after World War II. Told with warmth, wit, and an eye for cultural detail, this memoir is a vivid portrait of boyhood in mid-century North America—complete with dormitories, classrooms, small-town streets, and the quiet moments that shape a life.

"Ava’s Façade" by Kinsley LeRoy is a compelling narrative that analyzes the complications of identity and relationships. The book examines Ava Stewart's journey as a therapist who helps children handle their emotional grinds while she herself struggles with the dissonance between her professional conquest and personal life.

In 1494, there were five sovereign regional powers in Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. In 1536, only one remained: Venice. These decades of conflict precipitated great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation, forevermore, of Latin Christendom, the end of self-governance for Italians, and the beginning of the early modern era in a myriad of ways. They were always heavily influenced by the lived experience of warfare between large Christian armies on the peninsula.

Not everyone finds their passion early in life. But as a child, Peter loved exploring new things, and one day he found his mother cooking a delicious meal in the kitchen. That’s when he decided to become a world class chef.

Though it’s widely overlooked today, the U.S. has had a military presence in Asia for more than 200 years. The East Indies Squadron was formally established by President Andrew Jackson in 1835 to protect American property and trade in Asia, but U.S. warships were protecting American interests in Asia before then. In fact, American merchant vessels reached China as early as the 1780s.

Sometimes events occur in your life that silently shape your destiny. Never Alone Again is the story of how Steve Nichols searches to find himself when disillusioned by his job and alone after the death of his parents. Steve leaves Chicago and starts a cross country trip to find a new purpose for his life and a place to call 'home'. Unbeknownst to Steve, the partners of the investment firm where he worked were engaging in criminal cyber activity. All of Steve's co-workers recently died under mysterious circumstances.

Was he “the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street,” or a man whose “brilliant but unsound judgement resulted in detrimental consequences for Britain and for the world”? Decades after his death, debate still rages over Sir Winston Churchill’s contribution to history, though all agree that it was profound no matter which way it’s viewed. But now that wartime nostalgia has mostly washed away, the views of Churchill are more divergent than ever.

Given that there’s such little margin for error in a submersible, many submarine losses remain sources of intrigue and mystery, and during World War II, few sinkings were as controversial as the Surcouf, a Free French submarine that disappeared in the Caribbean in 1942. When the Surcouf launched in 1929, it was a technological marvel. This wasn’t a conventional submarine at all, but a 3,300-ton, 300-foot-long submersible light cruiser.

The ancient world was full of many fantastic cities and places, and like today’s major cities, the great ancient cities were hubs of trade, religion, and science. Writing was first invented in ancient cities, and many important scientific discoveries were also made in them, some of which are still used in the modern world. Among the many cities of the ancient world, Rome and Athens may come to mind first, but the city of Babylon in the land of Mesopotamia was already an ancient, venerated city when the others were still inconsequential settlements.

When people think about unidentified flying objects (UFOs), they tend to think of flying discs piloted by gray beings with large heads and enormous eyes. They tend to think that these sightings only started relatively recently and that belief in UFOs is some sort of modern religion brought on, perhaps, by the very justifiable fears of a nuclear age. But a study of the phenomenon quickly reveals that humanity has been seeing UFOs since the beginning of recorded history and perhaps a lot longer than that.

In 1869, the Atlantic Monthly magazine published a new novella in serial form. This bizarre tale, The Brick Moon, was written by a historian (and Unitarian minister) named Edward Everett Hale, who had already written several well-received novels and articles. However, this was something completely different today, as it was in the genre of what is today considered science fiction. Many people compared the new work to the previous novels of French writer Jules Verne, including From the Earth to the Moon, but Hale’s work was presented as a genuine account of a previous experiment.