Showing results by narrator "Douglas R Pratt" in All Categories

Political turmoil surrounding immigration at the federal level and the inability of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform have provided an opening for state and local governments to become more active in setting their own immigration-related policies. States largely dictate the resources, institutions, and opportunities immigrants can access: who can get a driver’s license or attend a state university, what languages are spoken in schools and public offices, how law enforcement interacts with the public, and even what schools teach students about history.

Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Americans underwent a dramatic transformation in self-conception: having formerly lived as individuals or members of small communities, they now found themselves living in networks, which arose out of scientific and technological innovations.

Engines of Empire tells the story of the complex relationship between Victorians and their wondrous steamships, following famous travelers like Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Jules Verne as well as ordinary spectators, tourists, and imperial administrators as they crossed oceans bound for the colonies. Rich with anecdotes and wry humor, it is a fascinating glimpse into a world where an empire felt powerful and anything seemed possible if there was an engine behind it.

The laparoscopic adjustable gastric band, or Lap-Band, can be the weight loss tool you need to overcome obesity - but only if you use it right. The Big Book on the Lap-Band: Everything You Need to Lose Weight and Live Well with the Adjustable Gastric Band! is your complete manual, from considering surgery until maintaining your goal weight - and everything in between.

All Lewis Wilder wants to do is take care of his museum of local history, but crime is on the rise in his small town, and being the newcomer, suspicious eyes are turning in his direction.

William Vacchiano (1912 - 2005) was principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic from 1942 to 1973. While at the Philharmonic, Vacchiano performed under the batons of Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Dimitri Mitropoulos, and Leonard Bernstein, and played in the world premieres of almost 200 pieces by such composers as Vaughan Williams, Copland, and Barber. Vacchiano was important not only for his performances, but also for his teaching. Two of his better known students are Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis.

Biographers have chronicled every significant period of Roosevelt's life with one exception, and American Cyclone fills that gap. His nomination for the vice presidency was Roosevelt's debut as a candidate for national office. American Cyclone presents the story of his campaign, a whirlwind effort highlighted by an astounding whistle-stop tour of 480 communities across 23 states. Eighteen of those states gave a plurality of votes to the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket, a gain of five states for the Republicans over 1896.

Wagner examines a series of defining moments that were among Eisenhower's greatest challenges, some of which resulted in his greatest accomplishments: the decision to run for president, his political philosophy of the "Middle Way," the creation of a national security policy, the French Indochina War, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Little Rock Desegregation Crisis, the Race for Space, and the famous Farewell Address. Wagner looks at Eisenhower's executive ability, leadership, decision making, and willingness to compromise, as well as the qualities of duty, integrity, and good character.

Tom Rivers, a reporter for The Daily News in Batavia, wrote a first-person series about farm work in 2008 that won state and national awards. Now the series, with more background and other information, has been compiled in a newly released audiobook, Farm Hands: Hard Work and Hard Lessons from Western New York Fields. Rivers worked at a dozen farms in Orleans and Genesee counties, trying to find out why so few local residents are willing to work on farms. He discovered the work requires many skills, enormous willpower and physical strength.

The Key to Thyroid Health: The Thyroid Solution Diet is an audiobook that outlines all the current information that is available on issues with the thyroid. An increasing number of persons have been diagnosed with thyroid issues in the last few years and as such, various solutions are being sought to alleviate the symptoms of the condition. Quite a number of texts have been published on the topic as well.

A year after John Bradstreet’s raid of 1758—the first and largest British American riverine raid mounted during the Seven Years’ War (known in North America as the French and Indian War)—Benjamin Franklin hailed it as one of the great “American” victories of the war. Bradstreet heartily agreed, and soon enough, his own official account was adopted by Francis Parkman and other early historians.

In 1977, NASA launched the space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This audiobook tells of what was known about those planets and their moons before the Voyager missions, as well as what Voyager discovered about those planets and their moons. This audiobook is written for the middle-grade listener, and can be enjoyed by readers age 12 and up.

The long view of the path to the Civil War, as charted through the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian eras in this book, reveals the critical fault in the nation’s foundation, exacerbated by slaveholding expansionists like Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, and Douglas, until the house they built upon it could no longer stand for two opposite ideas at once.

Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush both led the United States through watershed events in foreign relations: the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In The Gulf, Michael F. Cairo reveals how, despite many similarities, father and son pursued very different international strategies. He explores how the personality, beliefs, and leadership style of each man influenced contemporary US foreign policy.

In The Best Gun in the World, Robert S. Seigler explains how South Carolina created its own armory and then enlisted the help of a weapons technology inventor to meet the demand.

John B. Denton was an orphan in frontier Arkansas who became a circuit-riding Methodist preacher and an important member of a movement of early settlers bringing civilization to North Texas. He was a participant in the first missionary effort to bring Methodism to Texas, answering a call from William B. Travis to bring Methodists to the new republic

New advances in medical science and the unraveling of the human genome are providing us great insights to the aging process. We can now significantly increase our healthy longevity and live long enough to take advantage of the even newer technologies being developed. The overall deterioration of the body that comes with growing old is not inevitable. Aging is a treatable disease. So if you want to increase your chances of living a long and healthy life, maybe even becoming immortal, you need to learn what you can do today.

During the late 1880's, the Cornett-Whitley gang rose on the Texas scene with a daring train robbery at McNeil Station, only miles from the capital of Texas. In the frenzy that followed the robbery, the media castigated both lawmen and government officials, at times lauded the outlaws, and indulged in trial by media. Fans of the Old West and true crime stories will appreciate this sordid tale of outlawry and the lawmen who put a stop to it. Those who study the media and “fake news” will appreciate the parallels from the 1880's to today.

Obama's administration is the most anti-traditional-America regime ever to hold power in Washington D.C. Kent Clizbe analyzed Obama's political roots in the run-up to the 2008 election. He continued to provide incisive commentary and analysis as Obama's handlers governed. Obliterating Exceptionalism is a collection of analytical commentary from the beginning of Obama's destructive operation against our country. It is the first draft of the history of the first PC-Progressive administration bent on destroying America.

When Meriwether Lewis began shopping for supplies and firearms to take on the Corps of Discovery’s journey west, his first stop was a federal arsenal. For the following 29 months, weapons were a crucial component of the participants’ tool kit. Historian Jim Garry describes the arms and ammunition the expedition carried, and the use and care those weapons received. Each chapter focuses on one of the major types of weapons, and weaves accounts from the expedition journals, with the added bonus of the author’s knowledge, gained from field-testing the muskets and rifles he describes.