Pam Ward has narrated 118 audiobooks on Listento.it by 134 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 587 ratings. The most-rated is The Diversity Delusion.
Bliss, Remembered
Summary
With Bliss, Remembered, the celebrated Frank Deford has produced a work of literature that ranks with the best of his many novels, including Everybody’s All American, which Sports Illustrated ranked as one of the 25 best sports books of all time. In Bliss, Remembered, Deford explores new territory as he tells two love stories from the perspective of a beautiful should-have-been Olympic champion named Sydney Stringfellow. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Sydney begins an intense love affair with a German, but the affair abruptly ends when political forces tear them apart. Back in the US, Sydney—daring, vulnerable, and memorable—is left healing her broken heart when a striking American begins to pursue her. In Deford’s tender novel, the simplicity and honesty of choices of the heart clash with a brutal time—a time when choices seemed so dire in the enveloping shadows of a changing world.
©2010 Frank Deford (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Big Ratchet
Summary
The Big Ratchet is the story of the ratchets: the technologies and innovations, big and small, that propelled our species from hunters and gatherers on the savannahs of Africa to shoppers in the aisles of the supermarket. Our species long lived on the edge of starvation. Now we produce enough food for all 7 billion of us to eat nearly 3,000 calories every day. This is such an astonishing thing in the history of life as to verge on the miraculous. The Big Ratchet is the story of how it happened. The Big Ratchet itself came in the twentieth century, when a range of technologies - from fossil fuels to scientific plant breeding to nitrogen fertilizers - combined to nearly quadruple our population in a century, and to grow our food supply even faster. To some, these technologies are a sign of our greatness; to others, of our hubris. MacArthur fellow and Columbia University professor Ruth DeFries argues that the debate is the wrong one to have. Limits do exist, but every limit that has confronted us, we have surpassed. That cycle of crisis and growth is the story of our history; indeed, it is the essence of The Big Ratchet. Understanding it will reveal not just how we reached this point in our history, but how we might survive it.
©2014 Ruth DeFries (P)2014 HighBridge Company
Boundless Compassion
Summary
"Living compassionately is rarely convenient and often downright challenging", writes Joyce Rupp, best-selling and award-winning author and retreat leader. The definitive Christian guide to compassion, Boundless Compassion is the culmination of Rupp's research and work as codirector of the Servite Center of Compassionate Presence. Through this six-week personal transformation process for developing and deepening compassion, Rupp nudges, encourages, and inspires you to grow in the kind of love that motivated Jesus' life and mission for his disciples. With master teacher Joyce Rupp, you will learn to develop compassion as never before. You will discover compassion from science, medicine, theology, spirituality, sociology, and psychology. You will be encouraged to explore personal and professional expressions of compassion, and to re-energize your ability to offer loving kindness to those around you. Based on the format and theme of Rupp's best-selling books like Open the Door and her popular workshops conducted by the Center of Compassionate Presence, Boundless Compassion has the power to transform your life, giving you wisdom, confidence, understanding, and inspiration to be a more caring presence.
©2018 Joyce Rupp (P)2019 eChristian
Semicolon
Summary
A pause-resisting, existential romp through the life and times of the world’s most polarizing punctuation mark. The semicolon. Stephen King, Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell detest it. Herman Melville, Henry James, and Rebecca Solnit love it. But why? When is it effective? Have we been misusing it? Should we even care? In Semicolon, Cecelia Watson charts the rise and fall of this infamous punctuation mark, which for years was the trendiest one in the world of letters. But in the 19th century, as grammar books became all the rage, the rules of how we use language became both stricter and more confusing, with the semicolon a prime victim. Taking us on a breezy journey through a range of examples - from Milton’s manuscripts to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letters from Birmingham Jail” to Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep - Watson reveals how traditional grammar rules make us less successful at communicating with each other than we’d think. Even the most die-hard grammar fanatics would be better served by tossing the rule books and learning a better way to engage with language. Through her rollicking biography of the semicolon, Watson writes a guide to grammar that explains why we don’t need guides at all and refocuses our attention on the deepest, most primary value of language: true communication. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Cecelia Watson (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers
The Legacy of Conquest
Summary
The "settling" of the American West has been perceived throughout the world as a series of quaint, violent, and romantic adventures. But in fact, Patricia Nelson Limerick argues, the West has a history grounded primarily in economic reality - in hardheaded questions of profit, loss, competition, and consolidation. Here, she interprets the stories and the characters in a new way: The trappers, traders, Indians, farmers, oilmen, cowboys, and sheriffs of the Old West "meant business" in more ways than one, and their descendants mean business today.
©1987 Patricia Nelson Limerick (P)2019 Tantor
The Sky Took Him
Summary
It's a sad duty that brings Alafair Tucker and her two daughters to Enid, Oklahoma, in the fall of 1915. Her sister Ruth Anne's husband, Lester, is not long for this world, and the family is gathering to send him to his reward. But her niece's irresponsible husband, Kenneth, has disappeared at a most inconvenient time. When it comes to light that Kenneth has been involved in some shady dealings with Buck Collins, the most ruthless businessman in town, everyone is convinced that Collins has done away with him. But Alafair suspects that things are not so simple. Over the next few days, Alafair and her eldest daughter, Martha, come face-to-face with blackmail, intimidation, murder, and family secrets that stretch back over 20 years. And in the process, they discover things about each other that will change their relationship forever.
©2008 Donis Casey (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
People of the World
Summary
From the heart of National Geographic comes this expansive guide to the clans, tribes, ethnicities, and peoples of the world. Organized in keeping with our knowledge of the migration of human groups through history, with statistics and a cultural portrait of each ethnic group, People of the World becomes a fascinating round-the-world tour of customs and traditions, as well as a go-to source for background information to round out one's own family history. From the Tuvans of Siberia to the Samoans and Tahitians of Polynesia, from the Mapuche of Chile to the Sami of Scandinavia, 222 of the world's 10,000-plus ethnic groups are featured. Some were chosen because of their commonality as ancestors to many; others were chosen because their numbers are dwindling, and soon their cultures may become extinct.
©2016 Catherine Herbert Howell (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Goat Castle
Summary
In 1932, the city of Natchez, Mississippi, reckoned with an unexpected influx of journalists and tourists as the lurid story of a local murder was splashed across headlines nationwide. Two eccentrics, Richard Dana and Octavia Dockery, enlisted an African American man named George Pearls to rob their reclusive neighbor, Jennie Merrill, at her estate. During the attempted robbery, Merrill was shot and killed. The crime drew national coverage when it came to light that Dana and Dockery, the alleged murderers, shared their huge, decaying antebellum mansion with their goats and other livestock, which prompted journalists to call the estate "Goat Castle". Pearls was killed by an Arkansas policeman in an unrelated incident before he could face trial. However, as was all too typical in the Jim Crow South, the white community demanded "justice", and an innocent black woman named Emily Burns was ultimately sent to prison for the murder of Merrill. Dana and Dockery not only avoided punishment but also lived to profit from the notoriety of the murder. Strange, fascinating, and sobering, Goat Castle tells the story of this local feud, killing, investigation, and trial, showing how a true crime tale of fallen southern grandeur and murder obscured an all too familiar story of racial injustice.
©2017 Karen L. Cox (P)2017 Tantor
The Wrong Hill to Die On
Summary
The year 1916 was not shaping up to be a good one for Alafair Tucker, and finding Bernie Arruda dead in a ditch didn’t help matters. Alafair had not wanted to go to Arizona in the first place. But her 10-year-old daughter, Blanche, was suffering from a stubborn ailment of the lungs, and her best chance for a cure was dry desert air. So Alafair and her husband, Shaw, had bundled their sick child onto the train and made the difficult trip from Oklahoma to the home of Alafair’s sister in Tempe, Arizona. As soon as they arrived on that bright day in March, Blanche began to improve. And Alafair was overjoyed to see her witty, brilliant, beautiful sister Elizabeth again. Adding to the excitement was a Hollywood motion-picture company that was filming a movie on the streets of Tempe. But Alafair and Shaw soon discover that all is not well in sunny Arizona. Elizabeth’s marriage is in tatters; tensions are high between the Anglo and Latino communities following Pancho Villa’s murderous raid on Columbus, New Mexico; and Alafair suspects her sister is involved in an illegal operation to smuggle war refugees out of Mexico and into the United States. And now here is Bernie Arruda, lying on his back in a ditch, staring into eternity. The night before, he had been singing Mexican love songs at the party in Elizabeth’s backyard, his black eyes flashing as he winked at the ladies. He had been a charmer, all right - too bad there were so many people who would be glad he was dead. Alafair decides to find the culprit.
©2012 Donis Casey (P)2012 Blackstone Audio
Open Doors
Summary
Acclaimed artist Elaine Gordon can't believe her loving husband is gone. After a lifetime spent utterly devoted to her soul mate and their marriage, Elaine is now tetherless, faced with widowhood and all the decisions that come with it - not least of which is what to do with her rambling, now-empty family home. Anxious to console their mother in her time of grief, Elaine's four grown children urge her to put everything on hold and spend some healing time with them. But visiting each unique and complicated child opens Elaine's eyes to the fact that the children she raised have become adults she hardly knows: Sarah, who abandoned Western life for an orthodox enclave in Jerusalem; Lisa, Sarah's accomplished twin and polar opposite, who will do anything for a child of her own; Peter, trapped in a hollow marriage in California; and Denis, the youngest, who just wants Elaine to accept his gay lifestyle. As Elaine tries to bridge the physical and emotional miles, her eyes are opened to the startling truths of her own family, and what she must do to come to terms with her kids' lives - and a future that's completely, wonderfully…hers.
©2008 Gloria Goldreich (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Hornswoggled
Summary
It's the spring of 1913, and love is in bloom for Alice Tucker. Alice's new beau, Walter Kelley, is handsome and wealthy. Everyone in Boynton, Oklahoma, likes him, except Alice's mother, Alafair. She sees that Walter has a weakness for the ladies - and they for him. Moreover, Walter's late wife, Louise, was murdered, and the murderer has not been caught. Walter had an alibi, so the sheriff has cleared him of the crime, but Alafair is not so sure that he wasn't involved in some way. Alafair sets out to prove to the headstrong Alice that Walter is no paragon. You can bet Alice will have something to say about that. As she searches for the truth behind the death of Louise Kelley, Alafair uncovers such a tangle of deceit and misdirection that she begins to think that the whole town has been downright hornswoggled.
©2006 Donis A. Casey (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
Breaking Free
Summary
When her reckless driving brought unimaginable tragedy, Maggie Roberts found herself in prison grieving for the loss of her son. During the course of her 10-year sentence, she found a renewed purpose working with retired Thoroughbred racehorses. But now she's faced with the transition back into society, starting over yet again and alone in the world - until she meets Gil Winters. Gil is a single father seeking a new form of therapy for his wheelchair-bound son, Edward. Confined to his own prison of doubt and distrust, Gil still struggles daily with the memory of being abandoned by first his mother and then his drug-addicted ex-wife. But as he gets to know Maggie during his son's therapy sessions with her horses, the issues of trust and old wounds that haunt both Maggie and Gil begin to fade.
©2007 Lauraine Snelling (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
The Drop Edge of Yonder
Summary
One August evening in 1914, a bushwhacker ends a pleasant outing by blowing a hole in Bill McBride, kidnapping and ravaging Bill's fiancée, and wounding Alafair Tucker's daughter, Mary. All Mary knows is that the crime had something to do with the Fourth of July. Or is there more? Trauma has locked away Mary's memory of the event, but the answer seems to be working its way through the fog of her shock and grief and floating to the surface of her consciousness. Meanwhile, several malicious acts suggest that Bill's killer is still around and attempting to cover his tracks. The law is hot on the bushwhacker's trail. Alafair is doing her best to help the sheriff and has no qualms about driving Mary to distraction with her persistent snooping and constant hovering. Can Mary remember the crime before the murderer eliminates everyone who could identify him?
©2007 Donis A. Casey (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.
Sally Ride
Summary
Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space. A member of the first astronaut class to include women, NASA chose her for the seventh shuttle mission, inspiring several generations of women. After a second flight, Ride served on the panels investigating the Challenger explosion and the Columbia disintegration that killed all aboard. In both instances, she faulted NASA's rush to meet mission deadlines and its organizational failures. She also cofounded a company promoting science and education for children, especially girls. In Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space, Lynn Sherr writes about Ride's scrupulously guarded personal life, with exclusive access to Ride's partner, her former husband, her family, and countless friends and colleagues. This is a rich biography of a fascinating woman whose life intersected with revolutionary social and scientific changes in America. Sherr's revealing portrait is warm and admiring but unsparing. It makes this extraordinarily talented and bold woman - an inspiration to millions - come alive.
©2014 Lynn Sherr (P)2014 Tantor
The Bride of the Wilderness
Summary
The acclaimed author of such suspense classics as The Tears of Autumn and The Miernik Dossier brings us a unique period romance, set in early 18th-century Europe and New England and featuring the ancestors of his recurring master-spy, Paul Christopher. Young, high-spirited Fanny has been fortunate in her civilized upbringing, but the London she has grown up in is riddled with danger and brutality. When a sinister stranger traps her family into debt in order to advance on Fanny, she is forced to take refuge in France, where she meets a young French soldier, Philippe de Saint-Christophe. Their paths will cross again in the New World, where the war between the English and the French is fought with the help of savage Indians on both sides. Together, Fanny and Philippe will carve out a fierce, adventurous life in the vigorous, untamed wilderness.
©1988 Charles McCarry (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Undaunted
Summary
As she did so provocatively with military spouses in Army Wives, Tanya Biank gives us the inside story of women in today’s military - their professional and personal challenges from the combat zone to the home front. Since 9/11, more than 240,000 women have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan - more than 140 have died there, and they currently make up 14 percent of the total active-duty forces. Despite advances, today’s servicewomen are constantly pressed to prove themselves, to overcome challenges men never face, and to put the military mission ahead of all other aspects of their lives, particularly marriage and motherhood. In this groundbreaking insider’s look at the women defending our nation, Tanya Biank brings to light the real issues - femininity, belonging to an old boys’ club, veiled discrimination, dating, marriage problems, separation from children, questions about life goals, career trajectories, and self-worth - that servicewomen are facing by focusing on four individual stories. Brigadier General Angela Salinas, the Marine Corps’ first Hispanic female general, faces the challenge of commanding an all-male institution. Second Lieutenant Bergan Flannigan finds herself on the front lines in Afghanistan, serving in the same military police company as her husband. As a marine drill instructor, Sergeant Amy Stokley demands the very best from the recruits at Parris Island. And Major Candice O’Brien deals with deployment to Afghanistan, with two young children and a strained marriage back home. Undaunted is the story of these courageous trailblazers - their struggles, sacrifices, and triumphs in the name of serving the country they love.
©2013 Tanya Biank (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Great Lives
Summary
In Great Lives: Esther, Dr. Swindoll delves into the real-life story of Queen Esther showing how the qualities that empowered her godly life are available for every Christian. Everyone loves a transformation story. Rags to riches. Plain to beautiful. Weak to strong. Esther's story is that, but it is much more. It is the account of God working mightily in one life and how godly attributes like courage, dignity, wisdom, and strength can thwart evil and replace terror with joy. Chuck Swindoll celebrates the story of Esther and reveals how every Christian can live a transformation story.
©2008 Charles Swindoll (P)2009 christianaudio.com
The Riddle of the Labyrinth
Summary
In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative. When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece's Classical Age, he discovered a cache of ancient tablets, Europe's earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain a mystery. Award-winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox's riveting real-life intellectual detective story travels from the Bronze Age Aegean-the era of Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Helen-to the turn of the 20th century and the work of charismatic English archeologist Arthur Evans, to the colorful personal stories of the decipherers. These include Michael Ventris, the brilliant amateur who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of the decipherment; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2013 Margalit Fox (P)2013 Tantor
Sergeant Stubby
Summary
Told for the first time, here is the story of a stray dog who eventually became affectionately known as Sergeant Stubby, the most famous war dog of World War I. Beloved award-winning children's author Ann Bausum brings her friendly writing style and in-depth research to her first book for adults. Stubby's story begins in 1917 when America is about to enter the war. A stray dog befriends Private J. Robert "Bob" Conroy at the Connecticut National Guard camp at Yale University, and the two become inseparable, eventually crossing an ocean and going to war together. What follows is an epic tale of how man's best friend becomes an invaluable soldier on the front lines and in the trenches, a decorated war hero, and an inspiration to a country long after the troops returned home.
©2014 Ann Bausum (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobooks
Intuitive Witchcraft
Summary
Follow your heart and spirit as you build your witchcraft and intuition skills together. Featuring extensive exercises, examples, and rituals, this amazing book reveals how to embrace the wisdom of your inner voice as you explore the endless possibilities of witchcraft. With Astrea Taylor's guidance, you can unlock your intuitive magical potential and celebrate the truth of who you are. Intuitive Witchcraft also offers insights from some of the best writers, thinkers, and leaders in their fields, helping you become your most empowered self. Discover how to work with energy, interact with deities and spirits, and create a personal practice that fits your beliefs and lifestyles. Learn to face your shadow side, make the mundane magical, use divination tools, and much more. Whether you're a beginner or advanced practitioner, this incredible book illuminates the path to manifesting your greatest desires in an intuitive way.
©2020 Astrea Taylor (P)2020 Tantor