Showing results by narrator "Paul Bellantoni" in All Categories

In two previous highly regarded books on the US Senate, Ira Shapiro chronicled the institution from its apogee in the 1970s through its decline in the decades since. Now, Shapiro turns his gaze to how the Senate responded to the challenges posed by the Trump administration and its prospects under President Biden. Shapiro documents the pivotal challenges facing the Senate during the Trump administration, arguing that the body's failure to provide leadership represents the most catastrophic failure of government in American history.

The Quozl just need somewhere to call home. A gentle race of extraterrestrial rabbits, they have a propensity for reproduction that has left their home planet, Quozlene, dangerously overpopulated, and in their search for greener and less-crowded pastures, they have discovered the perfect place to start over: the third planet away from a healthy, warming sun.

By the 1930s, no one had yet crossed Antarctica, and its vast interior remained a mystery frozen in time. Hoping to write his name in the history books, wealthy American Lincoln Ellsworth announced he would fly across the unexplored continent, and to honor his hero, Wyatt Earp, he would carry his gun belt on the flight. The obstacles to Ellsworth’s ambition were numerous: He didn’t like the cold, he avoided physical work, and he couldn’t navigate. Consequently, he hired the experienced Australian explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins to organize the expedition on his behalf.

With perfect comic pacing, Greg Pizzoli introduces us to one funny crocodile who has one big fear: swallowing a watermelon seed. What will he do when his greatest fear is realized? Will vines sprout out his ears? Will his skin turn pink? This crocodile has a wild imagination that kids will love.

Barbara’s year has not been going well. Both her parents died, she gained a lot of weight, and her husband left her. And now, she’s stuck attending a million holiday parties for work. . .with both her ex and his new girlfriend. She’s not feeling the holiday cheer, that’s for sure. Bentley, on the other hand, has realized that while his life is pretty good, he really wants to settle down with an amazing woman. Unfortunately, while he’s a whiz at making money, he’s not so great at choosing people to date.

In Red Sauce, Ian MacAllen traces the evolution of traditional Italian-American cuisine, often referred to as "red sauce Italian," from its origins in Italy to its transformation in America into a new, distinct cuisine. It is a fascinating social and culinary history exploring the integration of red sauce food into mainstream America alongside the blending of Italian immigrant otherness into a national American identity.

Rock stars who "went disco" crossed a musical rubicon and forever smashed cultural conformity. The ongoing dance-rock phenomenon demonstrates the impact of this unique place and time. The disco crossover forever changed rock.

Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were soap-opera stars in the late '90s. When the truth about their sexual orientations came to light, their marriage and TV careers ended, but decades later they have remained friends. Together, they open Palm Springs’ chicest movie memorabilia store, Hooray for Hollywood, but no customers and dwindling finances spell trouble. A Hail Mary arrives in the form of Yana Tosh, a ninety-year-old diva of the silver screen who has amassed a valuable collection of costumes and props and is looking to sell. But first, Jay and Cindy have to beat their competition.

When Christopher Sorrentino's mother died in 2017, it marked the end of a journey that had begun 80 years earlier in the South Bronx. Victoria's life took her to the heart of New York's vibrant midcentury downtown artistic scene to the sedate campus of Stanford and finally back to Brooklyn - a journey witnessed by a son who watched, helpless, as she grew more and more isolated, distancing herself from everyone and everything she'd ever loved.

At the turn of the last century, the Guggenheim family ran the most powerful mining conglomerate on earth. Decades later came the Guggenheim museum, which became the hub of the world’s most powerful art brand. In between, the Guggenheim name was uttered in every field from aviation to politics, from journalism to rocketry.

The Book Hog loves books - the way they look, the way they feel, the way they smell - and he'll grab whatever he can find. There's only one problem: He can't read! But when a kind librarian invites him to join for story time, this literature-loving pig discovers the treasure that books really are.

Will Owl ever get a good night's sleep? He's ready for bed, but as soon as he settles in, he hears a strange noise. He looks everywhere — in his cupboard, underneath the floorboards — even in his walls. He'll never get to sleep unless he can figure out what's going on! But as he's busy tearing his house apart, he doesn't notice one tiny, squeaky, mouse-shaped detail — the culprit!

You have grand entrepreneurial dreams, but uncertainty and fear of failure are holding you back. The fact is, there’s no better time to start a new business or expand an old one than right now. And you can make it all happen by embracing the core principles of one remarkable family. Over the past decade, Glenn and Jordan Edwards, a father and son team of visionaries, have built numerous profitable companies from the ground up.

Every law firm has its backroom bench of brilliant workaholic nerds ferocious in their commitment to the law and to their clients. Such a player is Milton Bernstein of Abbott & Windsor. He's highly valued by the partners for his skills, but untested in the courtroom. Milton's younger brother, Hal, is his polar opposite - strikingly handsome, a high-school baseball legend in St. Louis who was on his way to the major leagues until he destroyed his prospects in a motorcycle accident. Milton suddenly finds himself fielding Hal's arrest for kidnapping and murder.

Benefit from what Paul Bellantoni learned in four years as an American singer in Europe. As a graduate of NYU's School of Journalism, he has the research skills to give you the information you need. He has also left the opera world, so he has the freedom to give you the whole truth.

Ava Graham's ducks are in a row as she heads off to Italy to complete her final law school credits and fulfill a promise she made to her late mother five years ago. Ava expects her long-term boyfriend to propose before her trip, but instead of giving her a ring, he suggests they use her time abroad as a "break" before settling down. When James Massini arrives—late—to the airport to pick up Ava as a favor to his aunt and uncle, he's surprised to find that she's not a young coed, but a fascinating woman approaching thirty with a superiority complex and a habit of underestimating him.

In an impassioned polemic, Ron Rosenbaum—who has written books on the mysteries of Hitler’s evil, the magic of Shakespeare’s words, and the terrifying power of thermonuclear explosions—takes on perhaps his greatest challenge: the nature of love. Rosenbaum argues that what we know as love is imperiled now by the quantifiers, the digitizers, and their algorithms, who all seek to reduce love to electrical, chemical, and mathematical formulas.

Seren Colburn's had nothing but bad luck her entire life, so she's not surprised when Dave, a possible buyer for her family mansion, mistakes her for a vagrant squatting in the unfurnished home. If she wasn't about to lose her movie-star grandmother's house to the bank, she wouldn't even be selling it.

July Tate is a force to be reckoned with—a big, strong blonde with a heart the size of her whole town—but beneath her capable exterior lie the scars of a devastating lost love. To July, love equals vulnerability, and she can’t afford either. Joe Anderson knew from the first moment he saw her that July was The One. Now, after years apart, he’s back, driven by the need to explain his disappearance. In search of the girl who filled his teenage dreams, he finds instead a powerhouse woman who steals his heart and soul.

As a foster kid in the system, Emerson Duplessis never had two nickels to rub together. He worked harder than anyone else he knew and graduated with a degree in accounting—the safest career he could imagine. But when a round of unexpected layoffs leaves him unable to pay his rent, he resorts to taking temp jobs found for him by friends.