Showing results by narrator "Ray Montecalvo" in All Categories

On March 20, 1822, the Missouri Republican published a notice addressed “to enterprising young men” in the St. Louis area. “The subscriber,” it said, “wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry…or of the subscriber near St. Louise.” The “subscriber” was General William H. Ashley, and among the “enterprising young men” who embarked with Major Henry less than a month later was 18-year-old James Bridger.

Can a single kiss, a few spoken words, or a redheaded cheerleader alter the course of your life? Confronted with his own mortality, a crumbling economy, and the loss of everything he holds dear, a husband and father of three fears that his troubles are retribution for the sins of his youth—the wrath of consequence. In this thoughtful, funny, and heart-wrenching memoir of bullying, teenage angst, lost innocence, cancer survival, and the triumph of courage over fear, John Daly transforms an ordinary life growing up in 1970s New Jersey into something extraordinary.

When Air Force sergeant Christopher Adams finds himself the lone survivor after his forward observation post is overrun by enemy forces in Vietnam, he realizes he only wants to go somewhere he might quietly and peacefully mend his young, torn body and shattered mind. Instead, the fateful-as-they-are-ironic hands of the military drop him onto the world stage of continents facing off in Cold War.

In Richard III’s Bodies from Medieval England to Modernity, Jeffrey Wilson tracks disability over 500 years, from Richard’s own manuscripts, early Tudor propaganda, and x-rays of sixteenth-century paintings through Shakespeare’s soliloquies, into Samuel Johnson’s editorial notes, the first play produced by an African American Theater company, Freudian psychoanalysis, and the rise of disability theater.

In The Devil and Philosophy, 34 philosophers explore questions about one of the most recognizable and influential characters (villains?) of all time. From Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion to Bram Stoker's Dracula to Darth Vader to Al Pacino's iconic performance in The Devil's Advocate, this book demonstrates that a little devil goes a long way.

In 2032, interconnect, an advanced artificial intelligence supercomputer, emerges as a beacon of hope for humanity, promising a utopian future guided by flawless algorithms and 24/7 connectivity to citizens. Jared Rohde, a disillusioned academic seeking meaning, witnesses the disturbing rise of algorithmic control over human behavior. Torn between two realities, Jared experiences psychic turmoil as he's drawn into a machine-curated world fostering narratives of hate and division.

From the author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies, a probing exploration of the bizarre and dangerous conspiracies that have roiled America over the past decade and captured the minds of so many Americans Some of the conspiracy theories now gripping American politics contend that Joe...

Although Montaigne’s writing resists easy analysis, Montaigne includes seven essays before he even explicitly states the purpose of the Essays. Manent finds in it a subtle unity, and demonstrates both the philosophical depth of Montaigne’s reflections and the distinctive and even radical character of his central ideas.

On the surface, the mountain town of Engelstatt, Austria is picture-perfect. It offers guests stunning views, fresh air, and the chance to experience an Alpine village untouched by time. For university student Jacob Liro, a school shooting survivor and aspiring artist, it is the perfect place to spend spring break with his classmates and a chance to hit the reset button on his life. What Jacob and his class don't know is that beneath its fairy-tale facade, something sinister lies in wait in the salt mines below the town.

Everyone deserves a vacation… even Grant Wolfe. But private investigators don't get to choose when cases come their way, especially this shocking kidnapping in Hawaii… Where Grant is the victim!

Esteemed bounty hunter Charlie Archer isn’t looking for that one last majestic ride into the sunset. He’d much prefer to spend his days hitting the bars and blackjack tables, and his evenings mourning the loss of his family. But when a representative from the United States government comes knocking on the door with an opportunity too good to turn down, well...looks like Charlie will be jumping into that saddle for one last hunt—track down the bastard Francis Burner, murderer of his wife and child.

In Unfriendly to Liberty, Christopher F. Minty explores the origins of loyalism in New York City between 1768 and 1776, and revises our understanding of the coming of the American Revolution.

In June 1798, President John Adams signed the now infamous Alien & Sedition Acts to suppress political dissent. Facing imminent personal risks, a gutsy Kentucky newspaper editor ran the first editorial denouncing the law's attempt to stifle the freedom of the press. Almost immediately, government lawyers recommended his arrest and prosecution.

When rookie teacher Todd Hunter greets his first class of ninth graders, he sees in half their faces bedtime stories and good-night kisses, piano lessons and 4-H clubs. In the other half, he sees ducking and dodging, last picked and first kicked. At that moment, Todd decides to make the bruised and beaten half of his class as successful as the cheerful, confident half. Somehow, some way, he’s going to help the pelicans soar with the eagles.

The White Cockade is the story of the early days of the American Revolution and of the men and women caught up in it: Josiah, who doesn’t want war but can’t escape it. Hugo, once Josiah’s best friend but now his bitter enemy. Mercy, who dreams of marrying Josiah. Walter, eager to fight the British. Alice, whose desperate love for Josiah knows no limits. Tarleton, the roguish, womanizing British officer. Patrick, who can solve the most complex mathematical equations while living in his own world.

James Abijah Brooks (1855-1944) was one of the four Great Captains in Texas Ranger history, others including Bill McDonald, John Hughes, and John Rogers. Over the years historians have referred to the captain as “John” Brooks, because he tended to sign with his initials, but also because W. W. Sterling’s classic Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger mistakenly named him as Captain John Brooks.

The intriguing story of three famous pirates in history - Scarlet Jack, Red Martin, and Blackbeard - as they terrorized a ship, and took the captain and a young family prisoner. How their lives intertwined throughout this story of swashbuckling buccaneers with romance, savagery, and the heroics of a slave makes this story originally told in the 1800s one of the best historical fiction accounts ever written.

Join this bloodthirsty crew of pirates on ships, including their dying declarations of the most brutal and vicious deeds ever set upon innocent civilians and merchant-ship crews. The Demon Rum is cited as the chief cause by one pirate for his awful and murderous acts. Their day of reckoning came when they faced their final day of judgement when captured in Spain.

Blankenship identifies three factors that determine the severity of this burden-sharing dilemma and how it is managed: the latent military power of allies, the shared external threat environment, and the level of a patron's resource constraints. Through case studies of US alliances formed during the Cold War, he shows that a patron can mitigate the dilemma by combining assurances of protection with threats of abandonment and by exercising discretion in its burden-sharing pressure.

Walker Monroe, Yale professor, librarian, and expert in ancient languages, gets an unexpected visit from two U.S. Geological Service members. They show him a piece of unknown metal engraved with a mysterious, coded text, and seek his help in translating it.