Someone Like Me: An Unlikely Story of Challenge and Triumph Over Cerebral Palsy


John W. Quinn - 2010
    He kept his cerebral palsy a secret from the record- keepers and medical authorities for 20 years. He had a distinguished and highly decorated career despite the pain he endured to appear normal.He served on board destroyers, a battleship, two aircraft carriers and functioned as an administrator for a Seal unit. The outside world also impacted on him further aggravating his CP when he was challenged by alcoholism and excessive grief caused by the suicide of a brother. With help, John Quinn triumphed over both, as he did the painful cerebral palsy.

128 Beats Per Minute: Diplo's Visual Guide to Music, Culture, and Everything In Between


Thomas Wesley Pentz - 2012
    His record label Mad Decent has helped bring Brazilian baile funk, Angolan Kuduro, and other unknown music to clubs around the world, while his work as a producer has brought a unique sound to hits like M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” and Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls).”128 Beats Per Minute follows Diplo on this fantastic journey, from his involvement with dub reggae in Jamaica to the electro/techno underground in Tel Aviv. Each chapter chronicles his tastes and travels, complete with tweets and playlists, as documented by photographer Shane McCauley. 128 Beats Per Minute provides unique access to the hottest scenes shaping music’s landscape today.

Beautiful Jim Key: The Lost History of a Horse and a Man Who Changed the World


Mim Eichler Rivas - 2005
    Beautiful Jim Key, the onetime ugly duckling of a scrub colt that became one of the most heralded and beloved heroes of his day, was famous neither for his beauty nor his speed but instead for his exceptional intelligence. Said to have an I.Q. equivalent to that of a human sixth-grader, Jim exploded on to the national scene in 1897 by demonstrating inexplicable abilities to read, write, spell, do mathematics, tell time, sort mail, cite biblical passages, and debate politics.For the next nine years, Jim performed in nationwide expositions and world's fairs to wildly receptive crowds, smashing box-office records, overcoming hurdles of prejudice and skepticism, all the while winning rapturous praise from the press and leaders such as President McKinley, Booker T. Washington, and Alice Roosevelt Longworth.In this breathtaking saga, Jim's astonishing journey is coupled with that of his trainer and best friend, Dr. William Key, a self-taught veterinarian, former slave, Civil War veteran, prominent African-American entrepreneur, and one of the most renowned horse whisperers of his time -- a man who shunned all force in the training of horses, instead relying on kindness and patience.Masterful storyteller and bestselling author Mim Eichler Rivas at long last gives two cultural icons their due, not only unraveling the mystery of their disappearance but examining how, thanks to the rare and intimate relationship between horse and man that was championed by promoter and humane activist Albert R. Rogers, a dramatic shift took place in the public mind that made kindness to animals a cornerstone of modern civilization and helped launch the animal rights movement. Unveiled against the backdrop of American history, Beautiful Jim Key is their incredible tale.

Stallion Challenges


Kelly Wilson - 2015
    From the author of the bestselling book For the Love of Horses, comes an epic new journey to rescue wild Kaimanawa horses from the biennial cull.Follow television stars Vicki, Kelly and Amanda Wilson on their quest to train 10 wild, difficult and sometimes dangerous Kaimanawas for competition in the first national Stallion Challenges.Can the Wilsons change these horses' fate? Share the heartbreak, the pain, the elation and the success as they take on their greatest challenge yet.

The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War


James David Robenalt - 2009
    When the two lovers started their long-term and torrid affair, neither of them could have foreseen that their relationship would play out against one of the greatest wars in world history--the First World War. Harding would become a Senator with the power to vote for war; Mrs. Phillips and her daughter would become German agents, spying on a U. S. training camp on Long Island in the hopes of gauging for the Germans the pace of mobilization of the U. S. Army for entry into the battlefields in France.Based on over 800 pages of correspondence discovered in the 1960s but under seal ever since in the Library of Congress, The Harding Affair will tell the unknown stories of Harding as a powerful Senator and his personal and political life, including his complicated romance with Mrs. Phillips. The book will also explore the reasons for the entry of the United States into the European conflict and explain why so many Americans at the time supported Germany, even after the U. S. became involved in the spring of 1917.James David Robenalt's comprehensive study of the letters is set in a narrative that weaves in a real-life spy story with the story of Harding's not accidental rise to the presidency.

Lost Wisdom of the Swastika


Ajay Chaturvedi - 2015
    Following an enormous personal tragedy, he sets out on an introspective journey to the Himalayas. He is questioning the purpose of life when he comes across a mysterious 110-years old man. Thereby starts a journey of learning, unlearning and un raveling the secrets of ancient Indian wisdom that teach you how to live a blessed life. Among them, is the quest to find the inner swastika -one that holds the truth of the physical, the metaphysical and beyond. WRITTEN AS A WORK OF FICTION BUT BASED ON A TRUE ACCOUNT, THIS IS AN ENGAGING STORY OF A MAN TRYING TO FIND HIMSELF

The Abducted: Odessa - A Small Town Abduction - Book One


Roger Hayden - 2017
     The hunt for a kidnapper reveals a conspiracy unlike anything seen in the small town of Odessa, Texas. Notes left for investigators claim to be from the kidnapper, taunting them along the way and mentioning one former-detective by name, Miriam Sandoval. Miriam is then enlisted to help crack the case, but what she finds results in more troubling questions, including dead suspects who aren’t working alone. Leaks soon compromise the case, and Miriam is left with the difficult decision of holding back or doing things her way. The clock is ticking, and the deadly game of a demented predator has just begun. Can Miriam solve the mystery in time, or will the missing girls’ suffer a tragic fate into the unknown?

I Am Here: The Journey from Fear to Freedom


Ashley LeMieux - 2021
    

Secretariat's Meadow: The Land, the Family, the Legend


Kate Chenery Tweedy - 2010
    Presents the story of how the Chenerey family came to breed and race Secretariat along with the history of the family and the land in which they bred racehorses.

A Slaying in the Suburbs: The Tara Grant Murder


Steve Miller - 2008
    To their suburban Detroit neighbors, Stephen and Tara Grant were happy as could be. But their marriage, plagued by resentment and extramarital affairs, was held together only by their children. Until the night Stephen snapped, strangled and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her body piece by piece in the very park his children played in.

Forewarned


Debra Ullrick - 2009
    Unable to get out much because of pain, she goes online in hopes of finding some new friends to fill the void the long, lonely winters bring. A budding friendship develops, and soon, Jasmine finds herself in danger. Jack Warren is in love with Jasmine and has been for years. When he discovers she’s talking to strangers on the Internet, a pit fills his stomach, signaling something’s not right about one particular person. Can he convince her to give up her budding friendship before it’s too late? Will she ever come to love him as more than just a friend?

Where's Merrill? a genealogical thriller


Gearoid O'Neary - 2013
    In fact, it is two inter-related stories in one novel set in different timeframes, namely the past and the present. An Irish genealogist called Jed is commissioned by Tim, an American client, who needs to understand more about his mysterious maternal ancestry. Fate had dictated that Tim never got the chance to meet his grandparents, and he didn't even know the name of his mother's father. She refused to tell Tim, even on her death bed. Why? That was a question which troubled Tim as he witnessed his mother's melancholy throughout his adult life, and after her death he resolved to find some answers - and some peace of mind.It was also a question which intrigued Jed after he learned that Tim's grandfather simply "disappeared". No death record, no burial - nothing. Jed identifies the "missing" grandfather to be Merrill Harrison. Within weeks, Jed becomes obsessed with Merrill's life, as he embarks on a personal crusade to find Merrill's resting place on Tim's behalf. More fundamentally, Jed needs to fully understand the complex twists and turns linked to Merrill's existence and eventual disappearance which take the Irish researcher on a fascinating trail stretching back to the pioneering immigrants of Midwest America all the way to the White House during WWII.A web of worrying deceit woven by Tim's ancestors is gradually unraveled. Once hidden family secrets are exposed. Jed turns from genealogist into cold case detective as he comes to the conclusion that multiple criminal misdeeds have been covered up ... but where is Merrill?

The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare


Brenda James - 2006
    Everything known about the facts of William Shakespeare's life seems incompatible with the extraordinary genius of his writing. How could a man who left school at the age of 13, and apparently never travelled abroad have authored the incomparable Sonnets or so intricately described Renaissance Venice? Shakespeare 'candidates' abound, among them Sir Francis Bacon, The Earl of Oxford, even Queen Elizabeth I herself, but none have stood up to serious scrutiny. Until now....This remarkable, intriguing, and provocative book offers a completely plausible new candidate; Sir Henry Neville.

The Byerley Turk: The Incredible Story of the World's First Thoroughbred


Jeremy James - 2005
    For years, many of the essential facts about this horse have been shrouded in mystery, but now author Jeremy James has combined extensive original research with an absorbing narrative to recount the Turk's heretofore untold story. The result is an epic account of the life of a magnificent animal, extending from the palaces of the Ottoman Empire to the streets of London and beyond, and featuring a fascinating cast of historical figures. "Men without horses are nothing," the author tells us, and the powerful bonds between horse and master lie at the heart of this story. It begins in 1679 in a remote Balkan village, where a seyis-a penniless groom-finds himself caring for a remarkable young foal. Believing it destined for greatness, and seeing a chance to escape his own humble circumstances, he begins schooling the animal in the disciplines of war.Hewing closely to the historical record, the author goes on to trace the fortunes of the Turk and its new master: In 1682, they arrived in Istanbul, where the horse was selected for the Ottoman Empire's renowned cavalry. Ridden as a battle charger in the Turkish sieges on Vienna and Buda, it was captured, along with its groom, by a party of adventuring British aristocrats and taken back to England in 1686. In London, it was bought by Captain Robert Byerley, who rode the Turk to Ireland (stopping along the way to take first place at the Downpatrick Races) to take on the Jacobite forces in several pivotal encounters, including the Battle of the Boyne.After a lifetime of adventure, the Turk was put to stud, initiating what was to become its greatest legacy: first foundation sire of the thoroughbred line. Thoroughly documented and certain to ignite debate within racing circles with its controversial claims about the horse's origins, The Byerley Turk is nothing less than groundbreaking. This sweeping narrative not only tracks the life of a single horse but provides new insights into the world it inhabited, conjuring the spirit of an entire era and offering a meditation on the immutable force of destiny.

Horse Crazy: The Story of a Woman and a World in Love with an Animal


Sarah Maslin Nir - 2020
    Acclaimed journalist and avid equestrian Sarah Maslin Nir is one of them; she began riding horses when she was just two years old and hasn’t stopped since. Horse Crazy is a fascinating, funny, and moving love letter to these graceful animals and the people who—like her—are obsessed with them. It is also a coming-of-age story of Nir growing up an outsider within the world’s most elite inner circles, and finding her true north in horses. Nir takes us into the lesser-known corners of the riding world and profiles some of its most captivating figures. We meet Monty Roberts, the California trainer whose prowess earned him the nickname “the man who listens to horses”; George and Ann Blair, the African-American husband and wife who run a riding academy for inner city youth on a tiny island in the middle of Manhattan’s East River; and Francesca Kelly, a wealthy London socialite whose love for an Indian nobleman shaped her life’s mission: to rescue an endangered Indian breed of horse and bring them—illegally—to America. Woven into these compelling character studies, Nir shares her own moving personal narrative. She details her father’s harrowing tale of surviving the Holocaust, and describes an enchanted but deeply lonely upbringing in Manhattan, where horses became her family. She found them even in the middle of the city, in a stable disguised in an old townhouse and in Central Park, when she chased down truants as an auxiliary mounted patrol officer. And she speaks candidly of how horses have helped her overcome heartbreak and loss. Infused with heart and wit, and with each chapter named after a horse Nir has loved, Horse Crazy is an unforgettable blend of beautifully written memoir and first-rate reporting.