Showing results by narrator "Norman Dietz" in All Categories

A fragmented story comprised of anecdotal episodes from the early days of Hollywood.

Not many people were allowed inside Frank Sinatra's inner circle. But Tony Consiglio was a boyhood friend of Sinatra's who remained his friend and confidant for over 60 years. One reason Sinatra valued Tony's friendship is that he could be trusted: Sinatra nicknamed him 'The Clam' because Tony never spoke to reporters or biographers about the singer.

Lampassas gave up cowpunching to be a husband and shopkeeper. But when his wife dies of influenza, the aging cowboy puts on his spurs again. With his 17-year-old son at his side, Lampassas sets off on his own cattle drive. His adventures and misadventures are the stuff classic Westerns are made of, yet the unforgettable characters and gentle wisdom set this novel far apart from the herd.

Shuttled among orphanages and foster homes since he was 11, Wesley Benfield - newly converted - is trying to turn over a new leaf. But two things are keeping him from a straight-and-narrow kind of existence: lust for Phoebe, and a National Steel Dobro bottleneck guitar. There’s more than one way for an ungainly white boy to find a little soul, and Wesley strikes out on his own path of redemption.

Eminent historian Richard Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution” and one of America's greatest statesmen.

Yogi Berra is one of the most popular former athletes in American history and the most quoted American since Abraham Lincoln. Part comedian, part feisty competitor, Berra is also the winningest player in baseball history, with 14 pennants, 10 World Series, and three MVPs.

Published in 1936, this novel presents in epic scope the conflicts in the settling of the American Southwest. Set in New Mexico in the late 19th century, The Sea of Grass concerns the often violent clashes between the pioneering ranchers, whose cattle range freely through the vast sea of grass, and the farmers, or "nesters," who build fences and turn the sod. Against this background is set the triangle of rancher Colonel Jim Brewton, his unstable Eastern wife Lutie, and the ambitious Brice Chamberlain.

These treasured stories from the most influential authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries are selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic, oral qualities. Listen to these 10 unabridged classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.

Traveling to Oregon by covered wagon in 1844 is an exciting adventure for 13-year-old John Sager and his family. The Oregon Trail leads over mountains of broken rock, across churning rivers, and through hostile Indian territory. Each day brings new scenery and challenges. But after months of grueling travel, his father dies - then 11 days later John buries his mother. Suddenly the six young Sagers are alone - and John is the head of the family!

Transported back in time to the regal days of chivalry, the quick-witted, sharp-tongued Connecticut Yankee introduces the legendary King Arthur and his court to some "magic" even the wizard Merlin never dreamed of: the destructive power of gunpowder, and the ability to eclipse the sun itself!

Our most revered president gets a unique and uniquely engaging biography fashioned from the answers to the most frequent, and most unusual and surprising, questions asked about Abraham Lincoln that Gerald J. Prokopowicz was asked during the nine years he served as scholar-in-residence at the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Prokopowicz's authoritative, often surprising responses illuminate facets of Abraham Lincoln's life, work, and legacy about which people remain endlessly curious.

After the Civil War ended, Edmund McIlhenny, an ambitious and tenacious Louisiana businessman, found himself with few prospects. The South's economy in ruins and his millions of dollars in Confederacy currency worthless, he had no choice but to return with his wife, Mary, to her family home in Avery Island, a former sugar plantation destroyed by Union soldiers. To McIlhenny's surprise, however, the hot peppers he had planted before being forced off the island had flourished.

Are you curious about slithery snakes, loungey lizards, spooky spiders, fuzzy ferrets, and freckled frogs? If so, this book is for you! Extreme Pets! introduces all the coolest creatures you’ve been wanting to know more about. You’ll learn about corn snakes, leopard geckos, blue-tongued skinks, veiled chameleons, bearded dragons, green anoles, ferrets, hedgehogs, chinchillas, sugar gliders, rats, Madagascan hissing cockroaches, giant African millipedes, tarantulas, monarch butterflies, silkworm caterpillars, and many more!

At 78, Winnie Easton has finally found love again with Jerry Trevis, a wealthy Chicago businessman who has moved to the small, upstate town of Hartfield, New York, to begin his life anew. But their decision to buy one of the town's biggest houses ignites anger and skepticism - as children and grandchildren take drastic actions to secure their own futures and endangered inheritances. With so much riding on Jerry's wealth, a decline in his physical health forces hard decisions on the family, renewing old loyalties while creating surprising alliances.

To coincide with the bicentennial of Thoreau's birth in 2017, this thrilling, meticulous biography by naturalist and historian Kevin Dann fills a gap in our understanding of one modern history's most important spiritual visionaries by capturing the full arc of Thoreau's life as a mystic, spiritual seeker, and explorer in transcendental realms.

For decades, James MacGregor Burns has been one of the great masters of the study of power and leadership in America. Now he turns his eye to an institution of government that he believes has become more powerful---and more partisan---than the Founding Fathers ever intended: the Supreme Court. Much as we would like to believe that the Court remains aloof from ideological politics, Packing the Court reveals how often justices behave like politicians in robes.

Even compared to his fellow founders, George Washington stands tall. Our first president has long been considered a stoic hero, holding himself above the rough-and-tumble politics of his day. Now John Ferling peers behind that image, carefully burnished by Washington himself, to show us a leader who was not only not above politics but a canny infighter---a master of persuasion, manipulation, and deniability.

Long relegated to a secondary position behind Gettysburg, Vicksburg has more recently earned consideration by historians as the truly decisive battle of the Civil War. Indeed, Vicksburg is fascinating on many levels. A focal point of both western armies, the Federal campaign of maneuver that finally isolated the Confederates in the city was masterful. The Navy’s contribution to the Federal victory was significant. The science of the fortifications and siege tactics are rich in detail.

Forgotten Patriots is the first-ever account of what took place in these hellholes. The result is a unique perspective on the Revolutionary War as well as a sobering commentary on how Americans have remembered our struggle for independence---and how much we have forgotten.

A young, smart, and beautiful American woman signs up for an escort service to prove to a man she barely knows that she will do just about anything.