Kiff Vandenheuvel has narrated 19 audiobooks on Listento.it by 19 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 183 ratings. The most-rated is Alone at Dawn.
Alone at Dawn
Summary
The astonishing true account of John Chapman, Medal of Honor recipient and Special Ops Combat Controller, and his heroic one-man stand during the Afghan War, as he sacrificed his life to save the lives of 23 comrades-in-arms. In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,000-foot peak of a mountain in eastern Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate. Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness, alone with the enemy closing in on three sides, beginning the most difficult and exceptional fight of his life. John Chapman's incredible display of valor - first by saving the lives of his SEAL teammates and then, aware that he was mortally wounded, single-handedly engaging two dozen hardened fighters to save the lives of an incoming rescue squad - posthumously earned him the Medal of Honor. Chapman is the first airman in nearly 50 years to be given the distinction reserved for America's greatest heroes. Alone at Dawn is also a behind-the-scenes look at the Air Force Combat Controllers: the world's deadliest and most versatile special operations force, whose members must not only exceed the qualifications of Navy SEAL and Army Delta Force teams, but also act with sharp decisiveness and deft precision - even in the face of life-threatening danger. Drawing from firsthand accounts, classified documents, dramatic video footage, and extensive interviews with leaders and survivors of the operation, Alone at Dawn is the story of an extraordinary man's brave last stand and the brotherhood that forged him. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz (P)2019 Grand Central Publishing
Before the Storm
Summary
Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked "peaceful coexistence" with the USSR. Perlstein's narrative shines a light on a whole world of conservatives and their antagonists, including William F. Buckley, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bill Moyers. Vividly written, Before the Storm is an essential book about the 1960s.
©2017 Rick Perlstein (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Rethinking Narcissism
Summary
Harvard Medical School psychologist and Huffington Post blogger Craig Malkin addresses the "narcissism epidemic" by illuminating the spectrum of narcissism, identifying ways to control the trait, and explaining how too little of it may be a bad thing. "What is narcissism?" is one of the fastest rising searches on Google, and articles on the topic routinely go viral. Yet, the word narcissist seems to mean something different every time it's uttered. People hurl the word as an insult at anyone who offends them. It's become so ubiquitous, in fact, that it's lost any clear meaning. The only certainty these days is that it's bad to be a narcissist - really bad - inspiring the same kind of roiling queasiness we feel when we hear the word sexist or racist. That's especially troubling news for millennials, the people born after 1980, who've been branded the "most narcissistic generation ever". In Rethinking Narcissism listeners will learn that there's far more to narcissism than its reductive invective would imply. The truth is that narcissists (all of us) fall on a spectrum somewhere between utter selflessness on the one side and arrogance and grandiosity on the other. A healthy middle exhibits a strong sense of self. On the far end lies sociopathy. Malkin deconstructs the healthy from the unhealthy narcissism and offers clear, step-by-step guidance on how to promote healthy narcissism in our partners, our children, and ourselves.
©2015 Craig Malkin (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
The Longevity Economy
Summary
Oldness: a social construct at odds with reality that constrains how we live after middle age and stifles business thinking on how to best serve a group of consumers, workers, and innovators that is growing larger and wealthier with every passing day. Over the past two decades, Joseph F. Coughlin has been busting myths about aging with groundbreaking multidisciplinary research into what older people actually want - not what conventional wisdom suggests they need. In The Longevity Economy, Coughlin provides the framing and insight business leaders need to serve the growing older market: a vast, diverse group of consumers representing every possible level of health and wealth, worth about $8 trillion in the United States alone and climbing. Coughlin provides deep insight into a population that consistently defies expectations: people who, through their continued personal and professional ambition, desire for experience, and quest for self-actualization, are building a striking, unheralded vision of longer life that very few in business fully understand. His focus on women - they outnumber men, control household spending and finances, and are leading the charge toward tomorrow's creative new narrative of later life - is especially illuminating. Coughlin pinpoints the gap between myth and reality and then shows businesses how to bridge it. As the demographics of global aging transform and accelerate, it is now critical to build a new understanding of the shifting physiological, cognitive, social, family, and psychological realities of the longevity economy. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Joseph F. Coughlin (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Golden State
Summary
From award-winning New York Times best-selling novelist Ben H. Winters comes a mind-bending novel set in a world governed by absolute truth, where lies are as dangerous as murder. In a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else, Laszlo Ratesic is a 19-year veteran of the Speculative Service. He lives in the Golden State, a nation standing where California once did, a place where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life and governance impossible. In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth is the greatest crime - and stopping those crimes is Laz's job. In its service, he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths, to "speculate" on what might have happened. But the Golden State is less a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the truth requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance and recording. And when those in control of the facts twist them for nefarious means, the Speculators are the only ones with the power to fight back.
©2019 Ben Winters (P)2019 Hachette Audio
Glock
Summary
Based on 15 years of research, Glock is the riveting story of the weapon that has become known as America’s gun. Today the Glock pistol has been embraced by two-thirds of all U.S. police departments, glamorized in countless Hollywood movies, and featured as a ubiquitous presence on prime-time TV. It has been rhapsodized by hip-hop artists, and coveted by cops and crooks alike. Created in 1982 by Gaston Glock, an obscure Austrian curtain-rod manufacturer, and swiftly adopted by the Austrian army, the Glock pistol, with its lightweight plastic frame and large-capacity spring-action magazine, arrived in America at a fortuitous time. Law enforcement agencies had concluded that their agents and officers, armed with standard six-round revolvers, were getting "outgunned" by drug dealers with semi-automatic pistols. They needed a new gun. When Karl Water, a firearm salesman based in the U.S. first saw a Glock in 1984, his reaction was, “Jeez, that’s ugly.” But the advantages of the pistol soon became apparent. The standard semi-automatic Glock could fire as many as 17 bullets from its magazine without reloading. (One equipped with an extended 33 cartridge magazine was used in Tucson to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others). It was built with only 36 parts that were interchangeable with those of other models. You could drop it underwater, toss it from a helicopter, or leave it out in the snow, and it would still fire. It was reliable, accurate, lightweight, and cheaper to produce than Smith and Wesson’s revolver. Made in part of hardened plastic, it was even rumored (incorrectly) to be invisible to airport security screening. Filled with corporate intrigue, political maneuvering, Hollywood glitz, bloody shoot-outs - and an attempt on Gaston Glock’s life by a former lieutenant - Glock is at once the inside account of how Glock the company went about marketing its pistol to police agencies and later the public, as well as a compelling chronicle of the evolution of gun culture in America.
©2012 Paul M. Barrett (P)2012 Random House Audio
Framed
Summary
How much can you trust your closest friend? Beth Montgomery seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful house in the hills above Los Angeles, a handsome, ambitious husband, and plans of starting a family. So it doesn't occur to her to worry when the news breaks of a quadruple homicide across town, a botched drug deal that leaves an undercover officer among the dead. Beth certainly would never think to tie the murders to the sudden reappearance in her life of wild, sexy Cassie Ogilvy, the estranged best friend she hasn't seen since they were college roommates. As Cassie confidently settles into Beth's new life, making herself comfortable not only in Beth's guestroom but with her husband as well, it becomes increasingly clear that her old friend has a lot to hide. But it isn't until a shocking late-night phone call, and Cassie's even more startling disappearance, that Beth begins to understand that her world, as she knew it, is gone forever. Unfurling over the span of three fraught, heart-pounding days, McInnis's masterful suspense debut is fast-paced and diabolically unpredictable - a fresh, surprising, and powerfully smart twist on the traditional thriller.
©2020 S. L. McInnis (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing
To the Bright Edge of the World
Summary
From the best-selling author of The Snow Child, a thrilling tale of historical adventure set in the Alaskan wilderness. In the winter of 1885, Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester sets out with his men on an expedition into the newly acquired territory of Alaska. Their objective: to travel up the ferocious Wolverine River, mapping the interior and gathering information on the region's potentially dangerous native tribes. With a young and newly pregnant wife at home, Forrester is anxious to complete the journey with all possible speed and return to her. But once the crew passes beyond the edge of the known world, there's no telling what awaits them. With gorgeous descriptions of the Alaskan wilds and a vivid cast of characters - including Forrester; his wife, Sophie; a mysterious Eyak guide; and a Native American woman who joins the expedition - To the Bright Edge of the World is an epic tale of one of America's last frontiers, combining myth, history, romance, and adventure. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2016 Eowyn Ivey (P)2016 Hachette Audio
The Dark Lord: Book 1 in 'The Titans' Series, Volume 1
Summary
The year is 1180 A.D. and times are very dark. England is lawless for the most part and the people live in fear. Rising to power during this time is the vicious and brutal knight Ajax de Velt. His mission is to conquer a large stretch of the Scots and Welsh border, commandeering wealth and property along the way. He wants to be the most feared and powerful warlord in all of England, Wales, and Scotland, and he is well on his way. The last in a long line of dark and brutal warriors, Ajax is the most ruthless and ambitious knight in the Isles; even the heartiest warriors fear the man for his cold-blooded tactics. More than that, his bloodlust, as well as his sheer skill with a blade, is legendary. But as Ajax and his army conquer the latest castle in his plans to secure the borders, he unexpectedly meets his match in a spitfire of a woman named Kellington Coleby. Beautiful, intelligent and feisty, Lady Kellington refuses to surrender to the man as handsome as he is brutal. The warlord and the maiden go head to head in this unforgettable story of love, battle, devotion, fear, and adventure.
©2012 Kathryn Le Veque (P)2014 Kathryn Le Veque
Our Year of War
Summary
Two brothers - Chuck and Tom Hagel - who went to war in Vietnam, fought in the same unit, and saved each other's lives. They disagreed about the war, but they fought it together. In 1968 America was divided. Flag-draped caskets came home by the thousands. Riots ravaged our cities. Assassins shot our political leaders. Black fought white, young fought old, fathers fought sons. And it was the year that two brothers from Nebraska went to war. In Vietnam, Chuck and Tom Hagel served side by side in the same rifle platoon. Together they fought in the Mekong Delta, battled snipers in Saigon, and chased the enemy through the jungle, and each saved the other's life under fire. But when their one-year tour was over, these two brothers came home side by side but no longer in step - one supporting the war, the other hating it. Former secretary of defense Chuck Hagel and his brother, Tom, epitomized the best and withstood the worst of the most tumultuous, shocking, and consequential year in the last half century. Following the brothers' paths from the prairie heartland through a war on the far side of the world and back to a divided America, Our Year of War tells the story of two brothers at war - a gritty, poignant, and resonant story of a family and a nation divided yet still united. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Daniel P. Bolger (P)2017 Hachette Audio
The Warrior Poet
Summary
1266 A.D: A family feud has existed between the House of de Gare and the House of St. John for over 70 years. The feud has seen Eden Castle, home to the St. John's, grow stronger while Castle Winding Cross, lair of the de Gare clan, suffers. Furthermore, the House of St. John has bred the most fearsome warrior in the north of England, a powerful knight known throughout the land as the Demon of Eden. Christian St. John is the culmination of decades of fine breeding and training, a master of the knighthood. When Christian launches what he hopes will be the final attack against Winding Cross to end the long-running feud once and for all, the de Gares are cunning enough to avoid complete destruction. Furious, Christian's father orders his son to breach the sanctity of the convent where the de Gare heiress has been hiding. The Demon is able to violate the convent and capture his quarry, but not without a fight. The Lady Gaithlin de Gare does not go easily with the Demon. A big woman with long legs and long blonde hair, she too has long been taught to hate the House of St. John. Christian escapes to the north with his combative captive and it is a long-running battle that takes them well into Scotland where Christian will hold the woman, demanding the complete surrender of her family's home in exchange for her life. Join Christian and Gaithlin as they succumb to searing passion, torn between loyalties and long-standing hatred. As their families turn against them and Christian must face his warring family and answer for his crime of falling in love with the enemy, help and understanding come from the most unexpected of places. From the green forests of Cumbria to the wilds of Galloway, share Christian and Gaithlin's adventures of murder, betrayal, love, understanding, and of new beginnings.
©2013 Kathryn Le Veque (P)2014 Kathryn Le Veque
Daily Readings from The Power of I Am
Summary
An interactive devotional guide to help listeners discover The Power of I Am. Transform your destiny by changing what you say about yourself. The direction you'll follow in life begins with these two simple words: I am. This portable devotional will help you transform your self-image and help you invite the right things into your life with daily readings and insights from The Power of I Am. If you have a powerful I am, you will carry yourself with a quiet confidence. It's time to stop criticizing yourself and instead discover your inner strengths, your natural talents, and the unique abilities that will make you prosper with self-assurance and success every single day.
©2016 Joel Osteen (P)2016 Hachette Audio
Persephone Station
Summary
Hugo Award-nominated author Stina Leicht has created a take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure. Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit. Rosie, owner of Monk's Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk's back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who seek to employ them. Angel, ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed-up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing, is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will effect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn't mean she can't damned well try.
©2021 Stina Leicht (P)2021 Recorded Books
Now and Again
Summary
A provocative novel about the fallout from a search for truth by the author of the national best seller The Lifeboat. For Maggie Rayburn - wife, mother, and secretary at a munitions plant - life is pleasant, predictable, and, she assumes, secure. When she finds proof of a high-level cover-up on her boss' desk, she impulsively takes it, an act that turns her world and her worldview upside down. Propelled by a desire to do good - and by a newfound taste for excitement - Maggie starts to see injustice everywhere. Soon her bottom drawer is filled with what she calls "evidence", her small town has turned against her, and she must decide how far she will go for the truth. For Penn Sinclair - army captain, Ivy League graduate, and reluctant heir to his family's fortune - a hasty decision has disastrous results. Home from Iraq and eager to atone, he reunites with three survivors to expose the truth about the war. They launch a website that soon has people talking, but the more they expose, the cloudier their mission becomes. Now and Again is a blazingly original novel about the interconnectedness of lives, the limits of knowledge, and the consequences of doing the right thing.
©2016 Charlotte Rogan (P)2016 Hachette Audio
Fifty Candles
Summary
Death in San Francisco... "Suddenly, from across the hall, came a cry - sharp, uncanny, terrible. I ran out in the direction from which it had come and stood on the threshold of the Drew dining room. A table was set with gleaming silver and white linen, and in its center stood a cake, on which fifty absurd pink candles flickered bravely. There appeared to be no one in the room. On the other side of the table, a French window stood open to the fog, and I went around to investigate. I had taken perhaps a dozen steps when I stopped, appalled. "Old Drew was lying on the carpet, and one yellow lean hand, always so adept at reaching out and seizing, held a corner of the white tablecloth. There was a dark stain on the left side of his dress coat; and when I pulled the coat back, I saw on the otherwise spotless linen underneath a great red circle that grew and grew. He was quite dead. "I stood erect, and for a dazed uncertain moment, I stared about the room. Beside me, on the table, fifty yellow points of flame trembled like human things terrified at what they had seen."
©1922 Wildside Press LLC (P)2011 Wildside Press LLC
The Saint Makers
Summary
Part biography of a wartime adventurer, part detective story, and part faith journey, this intriguing book from New York Times journalist and best-selling author Joe Drape takes us inside the modern-day process of the making of a saint. The Saint Makers chronicles the unlikely alliance between Father Hotze and Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, a country priest and a cosmopolitan Italian canon lawyer, as the two piece together the life of a long dead Korean War hero and military chaplain and fashion it into a case for eternal divinity. Joe Drape offers a front row seat to the Catholic Church's saint-making machinery - which, in many ways, has changed little in 2,000 years-and examines how, or if, faith and science can coexist. This rich and unique narrative leads from the plains of Kansas to the opulent halls of the Vatican, through brutal Korean War prison camps, and into the stories of two individuals, Avery Gerleman and Chase Kear, whose lives were threatened by illness and injury and whose family and friends prayed to Father Kapaun, sparking miraculous recoveries in the heart of America. Gerleman is now a nurse, and Kear works as a mechanic in the aerospace industry. Both remain devoted to Father Kapaun, whose opportunity for sainthood relies in their belief and medical charts. At a time when the church has faced severe scandal and damage, and the world is at the mercy of a pandemic, this is an uplifting story about a priest who continues to an example of goodness and faith. Ultimately, The Saint Makers is the story of a journey of faith - for two priests separated by 70 years, for the two young athletes who were miraculously brought back to life with (or without) the intercession of the divine, as well as for listeners - and the author - trying to understand and accept what makes a person truly worthy of the Congregation of Saints in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
©2020 Joe Drape (P)2020 Hachette Books
The White Donkey: Terminal Lance
Summary
New York Times Best Seller A graphic novel of war and its aftermath. A powerful, compulsively pause-resisting, vivid, and moving tribute to the experience of war and PTSD, The White Donkey tells the story of Abe, a young marine recruit who experiences the ugly, pedestrian, and often meaningless side of military service in rural Iraq. He enlists in the hope of finding that missing something in his life but comes to find out that it's not quite what he expected. Abe gets more than he bargained for when his journey takes him to the Middle East, in war-torn Iraq. This is a story about a marine written by a marine, and the print version was the first graphic novel about the war in Iraq from a veteran. The White Donkey explores the experience of being a marine as well as the challenges that veterans face upon their return home, and its raw power will leave you in awe. Full list of narrators includes John Glouchevich, Grace Lee, Benita Robledo, and Eric Lopez.
©2016 Maximilian Uriarte (P)2016 Hachette Audio
The Forgotten
Summary
The people of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, voted Democratic for decades, until Donald Trump flipped it in 2016. What happened? Named one of the "juiciest political books to come in 2018" by Entertainment Weekly. In The Forgotten, Ben Bradlee, Jr., reports on how voters in Luzerne County, a pivotal county in a crucial swing state, came to feel like strangers in their own land - marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and a liberal culture that mocks their faith and patriotism. Fundamentally rural and struggling with changing demographics and limited opportunity, Luzerne County can be seen as a microcosm of the nation. In The Forgotten, Trump voters speak for themselves, explaining how they felt others were "cutting in line" and that the federal government was taking too much money from the employed and giving it to the idle. The loss of breadwinner status, and more importantly, the loss of dignity, primed them for a candidate like Donald Trump. The political facts of a divided America are stark, but the stories of the men, women, and families in The Forgotten offer a kaleidoscopic and fascinating portrait of the complex on-the-ground political reality of America today. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Ben Bradlee (P)2018 Hachette Audio
The Blood Sugar Solution
Summary
Find balance in your life and in your blood sugar with the easy-to-follow guide on leading a healthier life and being a happier person - perfect for anyone looking to take control of their body! In The Blood Sugar Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman reveals that the secret solution to losing weight and preventing not just diabetes, but also heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer, is balanced insulin levels. Dr. Hyman describes the seven keys to achieving wellness - nutrition, hormones, inflammation, digestion, detoxification, energy metabolism, and a calm mind - and explains his revolutionary six-week healthy-living program. With advice on diet, green living, supplements and medication, exercise, and personalizing the plan for optimal results, the book also teaches listeners how to maintain lifelong health. Groundbreaking and timely, The Blood Sugar Solution is the fastest way to lose weight, prevent disease, and feel better than ever. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2012 Hyman Enterprises, LLC (P)2020 Hachette Audio