Showing results by narrator "Michael Gilboe" in All Categories

J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir about his life growing up in Ohio as the child of a working-class family with roots in Appalachia. Vance uses his experiences in a dysfunctional family to talk about the problems with what he calls hillbilly culture. He says that hillbilly culture is mired in laziness, drug use, and learned helplessness. Hillbillies claim to be committed to hard work, but Vance believes they actually refuse to work at available jobs, miring them in poverty.

Please note: This is a key takeaways and analysis of the book and not the original book. You Are Here: An Owner's Manual for Dangerous Minds is a book of anecdotes, aphorisms, and drawings by Jenny Lawson. The book was inspired by and addresses Lawson's mental illness, anxiety, and depression.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' British Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of Great Britain's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Please note: This is a key takeaways and analysis of the book and not the original book. This contains: a summary of the book; a review; analysis and key takeaways; and a detailed "about the author" section. The Magnolia Story is a joint biography/memoir of Chip and Joanna Gaines, housing developers, renovators, and designers in Waco, Texas. The book describes their childhoods, their marriage, and how they developed their businesses and came to host the HGTV television show Fixer Upper.

If you already have an interest and perhaps regularly take part in events such as half and full marathons or more challenging events, such as the steeplechase, triathlon, or decathlon, think of obstacle course racing as taking things to a whole new level. Obstacle course races have replaced mere triathlons and the like as the contemporary measure of physical fitness, with a very dominating element of sheer human willpower, teamwork, planning, fun, mental toughness, and a whole lot more.

This story bundle includes three novellas and a bonus!

England has had no shortage of influential monarchs, but only Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria had their nation's age literally named after them. Both the Elizabethan era and Victorian era have come to symbolize a golden age of peace and progress in every aspect of British life, with the long reigns of both queens also providing stability.

He listened attentively when Grandpa talked. Curiosity is a terrible curse, he decided. And curious Zander was. He knew that they were considered outsiders on their street even when he was in the second grade. He just knew it even though people were nice to him and to his mother.

There has been no shortage of shocking crimes and trials that generated frenzied coverage across America, but few can lay claim to the "crime of the century" like the murder carried out by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in 1924. While studying as young adults at the prestigious University of Chicago, Leopold and Loeb devised a meticulous plot to kidnap and murder a child while managing to get away with ransom money, thereby perpetrating what they considered a "perfect crime".

Alongside Robert E. Lee, no one epitomized the chivalry and heroism celebrated by the Lost Cause more than J. E. B. Stuart, the most famous cavalry officer of the Civil War. Stuart was equal parts great and grandiose while leading the cavalry for the Confederacy in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Stuart was a throwback to the past, but he was also brilliant in conducting reconnaissance, and he proved capable of leading both cavalry and infantry at battles like Chancellorsville.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

Hollywood's biggest star at the box office in 1938 was French actress Claudette Colbert, who had already won an Oscar for Best Actress in It Happened One Night (1934) and used her Broadway experience from the previous decade to become perhaps the industry's most famous screwball comedienne. The fact that Colbert had gotten that far was impressive, given that Hollywood loved to cast foreign actresses in stereotypical roles....

Celebrate Halloween with three unique and fun stories: "Frankenstein: IT Support"; "Swamp Monster Voodoo"; "Vampire Caving".

Back pain is one of the most common problems that people, at some point in their lives, experience. Back pain can be categorized as lower, middle, and upper back pain. Muscular and nerve problems, arthritis, and degenerative disc disease can all cause back pain. Symptoms of back pain can be alleviated using pain killers, pain medication, exercise, change of posture, and other natural remedies.

Of all the colorful characters that inhabited the West during the 19th century, the man who has earned an enduring legacy as the region's quirkiest is John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851-1887), a dentist turned professional gambler who was widely recognized as one of the fastest draws in the West. In fact, the only thing that might have been faster than the deadly gunman's draw was his violent temper, which was easily set off when Holliday was drunk. By the early 1880s, Holliday had been arrested nearly 20 times.

Attila, Emperor of the Hunnic Empire and thus most commonly known as Attila the Hun, is an idiosyncratic figure who has become more myth than man, not least because much of his life is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the most famous "barbarian" in history, Attila was the lord of a vast empire spanning two continents, but he is best remembered for what he did not conquer.

Bubba Snoddy's got some problems. His family has descended for the Christmas holidays and not in a good way. His cousin wants to own the Snoddy Mansion, decrepit, falling down columns, termites, wood rot and all and isn't above using manipulative behavior to achieve his ends. Miz Demetrice is up to nefarious and illegal activities while trying to entertain relatives.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that it is much easier to overthrow a government than form a new one, and that in turn it is easier to form a government than to govern. The men who founded America knew these facts in theory, but in the last decade of the 18th century, they learned them by experience when, just a few years after the new Constitution had been ratified, a rebellion arose over taxes.

Dozens of men were called robber barons, but few of them were as notorious as Cornelius Vanderbilt, who also happened to be one of the nation's first business titans. Vanderbilt was a railroad and shipping magnate at a time when the industry was almost brand new, but he rode his success to become one of the richest and most powerful men in American history. The industrial might wielded by men like Vanderbilt in the later 19th century directly led to public backlash and made President Teddy Roosevelt the "trust buster".

Franklin helps ghosts move from this world to the next. Sometimes that means giving a ghost a ride so they can confront their killer. Other times, it means listening to the wind in his fields and the trucks blowing down the interstate and hearing the songs a ghost needs to sing.