Mostrando resultados por narrador "Sean Runnette" en Todas las categorías

John Tyler, despite his adroitness in establishing that he had inherited com­plete presidential power when his predecessor died in office, became a weak and maladroit chief executive during his own time in the White House. Yet, Tyler was not afraid to exercise his authority.

In this excerpt from So Many Roads, Rolling Stone contributing editor David Browne chronicles one of the most conflicted years in the Dead's history—1977, when the band’s popularity soars thanks to a massive free concert, but Jerry Garcia begins to dabble in the hard drugs that would ultimately kill him.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, the United States government unleashed covert operations intended to weaken the Soviet Union. As part of these efforts, the CIA committed to supporting Russian exiles, populations uprooted either during World War Two or by the Russian Revolution decades before. No one seemed better prepared to fight in the American secret war against communism than the uprooted Russians, whom the CIA directed to carry out propaganda, espionage, and subversion operations from their home base in West Germany.

The "universe" refers to all "observable things", ranging in size from the entire cosmos to elementary particles. A guide for an enjoyable visit to the universe, this small tome on fundamental physics, cosmology, Higgs bosons, time travel, and all that is unlike any other analogous book. Its scientific statements are correct or, at least, they coincide with the opinions held by the vast majority of experts. It establishes clear distinctions between things we know for sure and things that we know that we do not know, or we do not understand.

Ulysses S. Grant, a war hero who sought peace after the horrors of Civil War, struggled with a Congress that was divided on the issue of civil rights. He watched his own Supreme Court appointments undermine the new Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution as the Court inter­preted them in a narrow, even harsh, fashion. Grant never lost his sta­tus as an American hero.

President Gerald R. Ford, a member of Congress on the verge of retire­ment, was selected by President Nixon to serve as vice president when Spiro T. Agnew abruptly resigned after being charged with accepting bribes. Within months, Ford would become president when Nixon him­self was forced to resign in the wake of the Watergate scandal. An honest, square-jawed, straight-shooting Midwesterner, Ford pardoned Nixon, believing a pardon was the best thing for the country.

President Richard M. Nixon, the first president to resign from office in disgrace, sought to exert so much power in office that he eventually became tangled up in the Watergate scandal and its cover-up. These incidents ultimately led to the appointment of a special prosecutor and a burgeoning criminal investigation of his own conduct. Nixon’s secret White House taping system provided the smoking gun that would lead to the unraveling of his administration.

The revolutions sweeping the Middle East in 2011 were unlike any the world had ever seen. Brutal regimes that had been in power for many decades were suddenly swarmed by unstoppable mobs of freedom seekers. Now, one of the key figures behind the Egyptian uprising tells the riveting inside story of what happened and presents lessons for all of us on how to unleash the power of crowds. Wael Ghonim was a little-known 30-year-old Google executive in the fall of 2010 when he anonymously launched a Facebook page to protest the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of security forces....

James K. Polk, who believed it was the nation’s “Manifest Destiny” to expand its boundaries and rebuild western lands in its own image, swiftly led America into war with Mexico. Polk claimed that Mexican forces had killed American soldiers on American soil, yet this claim was viewed with skepticism by members of Congress, including Representative Abraham Lincoln.

Today, Wallace is a champion; but in the summer of 2005, he was living in a shelter, a refugee from a suspicious pit bull-breeding operation. Then Andrew “Roo” Yori entered the picture. A scientist and shelter volunteer, Roo could immediately see that Wallace was something special. While on his honeymoon, Roo learned that Wallace was about to be put down. Roo and his wife franticly fought to keep Wallace alive until they could return home to adopt him - even though they already had two dogs.

President Teddy Roosevelt was a colorful leader who had been a boxer as a young man and took a free-swinging, pugilistic approach to the presi­dency. A dedicated Progressive, he pushed through important initiatives like the Panama Canal plan by dint of sheer willpower and devoted much of his career seeking to whittle down the Supreme Court (and his own appointee Oliver Wendell Holmes).

While examining the history of our planet and actively exploring our present environment, science journalist Michael Tennesen describes what life on Earth could look like after the next mass extinction.

Sean Doran has spent twenty years in third-world war zones and natural disaster areas, fully embracing what he’d always felt was his purpose: doing as much good as possible. But when burnout sets in, Sean finds himself reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Juliette Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me. There, he discovers that his steely elderly aunt, dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own and that midlife romance gets complicated fast when the high school queen bee is involved. But it’s an old friend—the class wallflower—who has Sean wondering if his destiny is about to be rewritten all over again.

James Garfield, a powerful figure in the Reconstruction-era Congress, took office in 1881 with a goal of uniting the Republican Party, which was split between the Stalwarts (who strongly favored political patronage) and the so-called Half-Breeds (who believed patronage bred corruption).

Calvin Coolidge inherited a presidency tainted by the Teapot Dome scandal and sought to bring stability to the White House to restore public trust. He won a victory in asserting his pardon power to commute the jail sentence of an Illinois man imprisoned for violating the unpopular Pro­hibition laws, and he appointed Justice Harlan Fiske Stone—a forward-thinking justice—to the Supreme Court.

President Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, won over an American electorate distrustful of government because of the Vietnam War and Watergate. He prevailed in 1976 with a pledge of honesty and open­ness. Carter, who viewed himself as an enlightened trustee of the Ameri­can people, championed the cause of affirmative action for minorities when much of the country still resisted this concept.

David Headley, the American Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. One day he would drink champagne at the most extravagant clubs; on another he would prostrate himself in prayer in remote Pakistan and pledge fidelity to Allah.

We often feel powerless in our lives. We have many desires but are limited in our ability to transform those wishes into tangible results. We are confused and unsure about what will really make us happy. In Eternal Dharma, Vishnu Swami guides you on a journey to align yourself with the natural flow of existence through the ancient Eastern knowledge of Veda. Eternal Dharma distills 5,000 years of spiritual wisdom so you can learn to live an enlightened, effective, and fulfilled life.

The locker rooms of winning teams are crowded with coaches, family, and fans. Reporters flock to the athletes, brimming with victory and celebration, to ask, "How does it feel?" In contrast, the locker rooms of the losing teams are quiet and awkward, and reporters tend to leave quickly, reluctant to linger too long around loss. But, as sports journalists Mary Pilon and Louisa Thomas argue, losing is not a phenomenon to be overlooked, and in Losers, they have called upon novelists, reporters, and athletes to consider what it means to lose.

James T. Costa takes listeners on a journey from Darwin's youth and travels on the HMS Beagle to Down House, his bustling home of 40 years. We accompany Darwin in his myriad pursuits against the backdrop of his enduring marriage, chronic illness, grief at the loss of three children, and joy in scientific revelation. At each chapter's end, Costa shows how we, too, can investigate the wonders of nature at work, with directions on how to re-create Darwin's experiments.