Award Winner: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
The acclaimed author of Lipstick in Afghanistan weaves together the unforgettable stories of the people she helped heal in some of the most troubled places on Earth in a gripping memoir that celebrates our shared humanity.
Roberta Gately is a nurse and humanitarian aid worker who has served in war zones ranging from Africa to Afghanistan aiding refugees. Just the word refugee sparks conversation and fuel emotion. There are more than twenty-two million refugees worldwide and another sixty-five million who have been forcibly displaced. But who are these people, Images filter into our consciousness via dramatic photographs, but these photos only offer a glimpse into their stories. Footprints in the Dust aims to share the real stories of refugees around the world in hopes of revealing the truth about their experience.
As a young ER nurse in Boston, Roberta was stopped cold by stark images of big-bellied babies with empty haunting stares in the news. She called the aid organization featured in the news story and within two months, she was on her way. Roberta would soon learn that world into which millions of children around the globe were born was fraught with unspeakable horrors. The only certainties for so many of these children were, and remain to this day, disease and devastating injury.
Footprints in the Dust reveals the humanity behind the headlines, beginning where the newscasters end their reports. The people we meet within this riveting book are neither all saints nor all sinners—and impossible to forget.
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
This book tells the fascinating true story of the world's most famous painting-and the cultural ambassador who helped bring her to America. In December 1962, "Mona Mania" swept the country as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what many knew would be the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The driving force behind the famous painting's high-profile visit was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who convinced French Cultural Minister André Malraux and National Gallery Director John Walker to share the masterpiece with the American people. The White House Historical Association presents an enhanced and expanded publication of Mona Lisa in Camelot with archives drawn from the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, writes, "Margaret Leslie Davis's captivating account of the loan of the Mona Lisa by France is of special interest to the White House Historical Association because the circumstances that brought the masterpiece to the United States are the same circumstances that gave birth to the White House Historical Association. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was determined to share the greatest painting in the world with the American people, and just as determined to make the White House a "living museum" accessible to the nation..."
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
An in-depth look at revolutionary new ways to handle sexual assaults.
Every two minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted, and each year there are nearly 300,000 victims of sexual assault. But victims are no longer silent, and new practices by police, prosecutors, nurses, and rape crisis professionals are resulting in more humane and compassionate treatment of victims and more aggressive pursuit and prosecution of perpetrators.
Shattering Silences a is the first book to cover these new approaches and partnerships. Christopher Johnston shows how the people and organizations implementing these new approaches are having far-reaching impacts on helping victims heal and making it more likely that predators will be arrested and sentenced. His in-depth portrayals of the altruistic and hard-working people behind these radical approaches—based on seven years of interviews—provide a template of best practices for other organizations and communities to follow. With sexual assault taking center stage these days, Shattering Silences is more important than ever.
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
Tracey Carisch thought she had it all. As a wife, mother, and successful executive, she seemed to be living the modern American dream. But one night, a panic attack sent her tumbling into an existential crisis and questioning everything about her life. That’s when she and her husband made a decision that shocked their family and friends: they sold everything they owned, pulled their three young daughters out of school, and became a family of wandering globetrotters.
Loaded with hilarious mishaps as well as deeply meaningful revelations, Excess Baggage chronicles the Carisch family’s extraordinary, eighteen-month adventure across six continents. As they navigate the trials and tribulations of international travel, the family encounters unique people and bizarre situations that teach them about the world—and themselves. Carisch’s candid and insightful account of her family’s journey will have you laughing out loud, shedding a few tears, and bringing the lessons of family travel into your own life . . . without ever having to leave home.
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
How does a 62-year-old woman who's never been married find happiness with a two-time widower seeking his third wife on . . . Craigslist!? Does she throw caution to the wind and relinquish her freedom, or should she take a crash course in compromises? Author B. Lynn Goodwin tells all and more in Never Too Late. How she was attracted to Richard's clear expectations, his honesty, and his incredible openness. She'd never met anyone like him. Would she recognize love if it knocked on her heart? And could an educated woman be happy moving into a blue-collar world? Whether you've been single forever, are trapped in an unhappy marriage, or you're simply curious, you'll find secrets to a happy marriage in Never Too Late.
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
Non-Profit Legends is a comprehensive overview book on serving communities and motivating leadership for non-profits.
Author Hank Moore has worked with and advised hundreds of non-profit organizations, including charities, educational institutions, public sector entities, associations, and corporate citizenship programs. In Non-Profit Legends Hank uses his experience and teaches readers to embrace the past, with direct relationship to the future. Inside you will find extensive information about history, cultural enlightenment and community leadership knowledge, all rolled in one, plus a dynamic panorama of humanitarian contributions to society.
Hank Moore is the highest level of business overview expert and is in that rarified circle of visionaries such as Peter Drucker, Stephen Covey and W. Edwards Deming. The Business Tree™ is his trademarked approach to growing, strengthening and evolving business, while mastering change. He advises companies about growth strategies, visioning, planning, leadership, futurism and Big Picture issues. He has written a series of business books. This is the third book in his Legends series, paralleling pop culture, history and innovative strategies. He has won lifetime achievement awards for leadership. Hank Moore’s Legends books embrace history, cultural phenomena and strategies for success.
Award Finalist: 2018 Best Book Awards Narrative: Non-Fiction
It was September 18, 2001, just seven days after al-Qaeda hijackers destroyed the Twin Towers. In the early morning darkness, a lone figure dropped several letters into a mailbox. Seventeen days later a Florida journalist died of inhalational anthrax. The death from the rare disease made world news. These anthrax attacks marked the first time a sophisticated biological weapon was released in the United States. It killed five people, disfigured at least 18 more, and launched the largest investigation in the FBI’s history.
Recounting the Anthrax Attacks explores the origins of the innovative forensics used in this case, while also explaining their historical context. R. Scott Decker’s team pursued its first suspect with dogged determination before realizing that the evidence did not add up. With renewed energy, they turned to non-traditional forensics—scientific initiatives never before applied to an investigation—as they continued to hunt for clues. These advances formed the new science of microbial forensics, a novel discipline that produced critical leads when traditional methods failed. The new technologies helped identify a second suspect—one who possessed the knowledge and skills to unleash a living weapon of mass destruction.
Decker provides the first inside look at how the investigation was conducted, highlighting dramatic turning points as the case progressed until its final solution. Join FBI agents as they race against terror and the ultimate insider threat—a decorated government scientist releasing powders of deadly anthrax. Walk in the steps of these dedicated officers while they pursue numerous forensic leads before more letters can be sent until finally they confront a psychotic killer.
None Call Me Dad is the true, mesmerizing story of a 21st Century dad. On two weeks notice, Ky Owen becomes an adoptive father to a six-year-old son. Five years later, on two days notice, he becomes a father to a teenage daughter. Along the way he assumes the role of father figure to four other kids. “None call me dad,” Owen writes, “But they know that’s who I am.”
Intriguing and imaginative chapter titles chart a journey that turns into a virtual roller coaster ride of parenting an ever-changing alternative family. None Call Me Dad is the freewheeling narrative of facing the challenges of truancy and Type 1 diabetes, hopping trains and “flying a sign,” and kids finding their way on their own terms. At the same time, the book captures the joy and excitement of father-son trips to March Madness and the Rose Bowl, and father-daughter weekends on Broadway in Nashville and the French Quarter of New Orleans. More than a memoir, it is a story of always being there for your kids.
None Call Me Dad is a story of forgiveness, acceptance, and love. Told in the author’s unique writer’s voice, the story is both poignant and funny. Readers feel a father’s angst as he learns to forgive his kids’ mistakes, to accept their life choices, and to continue to show his love. “They’re my kids, and I’ll always be here for them. Even though none call me dad.”
Amsterdam Exposed tells the true one-of-a-kind story of an innocent exchange student who moves to Amsterdam hoping to write a book about the red light district and everything that follows. It's an American abroad story, and also a love story; it's an uplifting tragedy, full of humor from beginning to end; it's an Amsterdam survival guide; a sympathetic look at a societal problem; a little piece of policy; a sweet farewell to a world just about gone; and, ultimately, as close as you can come to a free trip to Amsterdam without leaving your couch. In sum, Amsterdam Exposed takes readers deep into the district on a journey never before possible, forever reshaping their understanding of one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world, and the women who work there. If you've ever spent time in Amsterdam, or dreamed of doing so, this book's for you.
An honest, unfiltered memoir about a girl with an unconventional family.
“The story everyone wants to hear isn’t the story I want to tell.” Lara Lillibridge grew up with two moms—an experience that shaped and scarred her at the same time. Told from the perspective of “Girl,” Lillibridge’s memoir is the no-holds-barred account of childhood in an atypical household. Personally less concerned with her mother’s sexuality and more with how she fits into a world both disturbed and obsessed with it, Girl finds that, in other people’s eyes, “The most interesting thing about me is not about me at all; it is about my parents.”
It won’t be long before readers realize that “unconventional” barely scratches the surface. In the early years, Girl’s feminist mother reluctantly allows her to play with her favorite Barbies while her stepmother refuses to comfort her when she wakes up from nightmares. She goes skinny dipping on family vacations in upstate New York and kisses all the boys at church. Girl and her brother travel four thousand miles—unaccompanied—to visit their father in rural Alaska, where they sleep in a locked cabin without running water, telephone, or electricity. Raised to be a free spirit by norm-defying parents, Girl has to define her own boundaries as she tries to fit into heteronormative suburban life, all while navigating her mother’s expectations, her stepmother’s mental illness, and her father’s serial divorces.
Lillibridge bravely tells her own story and offers a unique perspective. At times humorous and pithy while cringe-worthy and heartbreaking at others, Girlish is a human story that challenges readers to reevaluate their own lives and motivations.
Have you somehow lost direction and drifted off-course? Are you finding that despite your best efforts, personal success and career fulfilment still elude you?
Follow the author on an amazing trek through mysterious eastern mountains and unlock the amazing secrets that will take you from an existence of lack and limitation, to the life of freedom you were born to live.
Curtis Rivers is a 'Law of Attraction' expert who has harnessed fear. Eliminating the fear that holds most people back, he shows you how to clear the path to unlimited success. This expertise evolved from his days as a top Hollywood Movie Stuntman. Using the methods openly shared in this book, Curtis has bypassed fear to win a Screen Actors Guild award, gain prestigious inclusion into the Hollywood Stuntmens Hall of Fame, and break two Guinness World Records. Curtis now delivers powerful keynotes and seminars that change the way people think, helping them to smash through fear and transform their lives.
When a seemingly routine medical procedure results in her mother's premature death, Anne Panning is left reeling. In her first full-length memoir, the celebrated essayist and short story writer draws on decades of memory and experience, piecing together hard truths about her own past and her mother's.
We follow Panning's winding path from rural Minnesota to the riverbanks of Vietnam's Mekong Delta. A stark, poignant tale of two women deeply connected, yet forever apart, Dragonfly Notes is a testament to the prevailing nature of love, whether in the form of a rediscovered note, a sudden moment of unexpected recall, or sometimes, simply, the sight a dragonfly flitting past.
Just like the people of the state, the stories found in Wild, Wonderful ‘n Wacky, South Cackalacky are original and spirited. These true accounts about life in South Carolina are personal stories written from the heart by the people who live here. They comprise a testament to the state slogan “Smiling faces and Beautiful places” and create a collective, personalized account of who we were and who we are—strong individualists who have lived, loved, laughed, and cried together. Read all about us—right here. Be amazed. Wonder at life in our beautiful state, South Cackalacky.
113 Days is a true story about a successful individual who loses everything, including his mind. The book explores the psyche of a businessman as he becomes bipolar in Beijing and in the United States, and winds up spending 113 days in Los Angeles County Jail. How he survived adversity is a testament to his courage and serves as inspiration to everyone, because, in losing everything, he found his heart.
Sweet Magnolia is a reflective journey of a daughter's precious memories shared with her mother. A mother daughter relationship cut short by terminal illness, at the very pinnacle of her adulthood, the author reflects on the 23 years they shared together and those valuable life lessons that helped shape, strengthen and sustain her through life's joys and pains.
Robert (Bobby) Charles grew up among “eagles and evergreens” in rural Maine. His enchanting, sometimes arresting, tales convey inspiration from place and people, love of a small town, influence of aging veterans. His stories take readers to unexpected places, often swirl to unexpected endings.
Over four seasons, he describes Maine half a century ago – smelting and rescuing ice houses, moose encounters and indoor ermine, raising mischievous rabbits and conversing with pigs, hunting a legendary “football-sized emerald” and learning from legendary World War II vets.
He takes readers down through thin ice, and up spires of one-match fires. He lollygags Dead River and confronts hair-raising disorientation out on the open sea. He rolls from distance running to downhill skiing, comedy to calamity, whimsy to courage with a fluid pen.
Sometimes history does not tell you the whole story.
When 8-year-old Lou Del Bianco finds out that his Grandpa Luigi was the Chief Carver on Mount Rushmore, his young life is instantly changed. Follow Lou’s journey as he and his Uncle Caesar make the painful discovery that Luigi is not even mentioned in the most definitive book on Rushmore. Cheer them on as you read the historic documents they unearth from the Library of Congress that not only tell Luigi’s story but also prove his great importance. Finally, ride the roller-coaster of the 25 year journey to get Luigi the recognition he deserves. Out of Rushmore’s Shadow is the dramatic and touching story of Luigi’s legacy and the immigrant’s struggle.
Poignant, sad, tragic, funny, and compelling. At 29, Paul Thornton was married to his beautiful childhood sweetheart, a rising star at one of the world's largest companies, and gifted with a tall, commanding presence. But then a catastrophe left him without his wife, his career in jeopardy, and his life measured by the thin blade of a skilled surgeon. Affirmative action, corporate politics, the home media revolution, and medical ethics inform White Man's Disease, a book about one man's victory and a larger story about the power of human resilience, and the essential American Dream of realizing one's full potential.
Figures of the One Must Go is a book that dares you to read it. This modernist philosophical work adopts a playful attitude with the words within. Words evolve, multiply, surprise, and delight in this chronicle of the four different paths of life. Are you brave enough to walk down the philosophical path, the psychological path, the political path, and the lyrical path? Each one presents challenging ideas about the nature of life and the long history of the human race. While these ideas have serious ramifications, author Victor Living never loses his love of language. His unique voice keeps the conversation going and makes the speaker feel like an old friend.
Even the name “Victor Living” is a play on words, it's a symbolical name-creation. Living’s intent, through the conversations he imagines between disparate actors on the world’s stage, is to ask you what “living” truly means to you. To help you find an answer, Living looks both into the past and to the future. From a poignant flashback to the 9/11 attacks to childhood ruminations, Living’s experimental work will speak to your heart and open your mind to new ideas and possibilities.
In her seventies, Peggy Bushy’s mother, Francesca, started telling unbelievable stories. She claimed that people were invading her home and trying to kill her. She also became anxious and reclusive. For several discouraging years, Bushy searched in vain for a reason for her mother’s behavior. Finally, Francesca was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. Although it’s the third-most-common cause of dementia, Bushy was unable to find much information on the disease, and the medical community was frustratingly unhelpful. Lewy, Mom, and Me is the book that Bushy wished had been available when her mother was first diagnosed. It details her personal journey of discovery, with all its challenges and revelations, and is written in a compassionate, empathetic style that will comfort any reader dealing with a parent’s decline. Bushy explains how she learned to accept the changes in her mother and to support Francesca emotionally as she grappled with her frightening illness. She also describes what was involved in caring for her mother first at home, then in long-term care, and finally in hospice. Part memoir and part survival guide, this compelling testimony offers support and information for family caregivers of aging parents.
Tales from the Riverside tells true and unique stories about one man’s struggle with alligators, snakes, killer bees, and hordes of nasty critters on a daily basis in his swamp. Experience the danger without the need for professional medical services. Life in a swamp is not for everyone.
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number is the story of a very successful business man who falls deeply in love with his secretary. A smart, attractive woman, who is twenty-four years young. Young enough to be his daughter. Age Ain't Nothing but a Number encounters, happiness, sadness, and the truth of his infidelity. A one of a kind love story, told like never before. Their love story is captivating, so captivating! It will bring tears to your eyes, and joy to your heart. This amazing story will surely enlighten, and inspire you in so many ways of trials and tribulations that everyday business professional people encounter. This is based on a true story. Yetta Yvette Bio-Author, Entrepreneur, Licensed Cosmetologist, and Model, it's a true fact that Yetta Yvette can be a little bit of a workaholic. When she is not working, she is enjoying life to its fullest. Her definition of having fun ranges anywhere from writing, dancing, styling, traveling, fitness work outs, and wilding out with family, and closest friends. Her book Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, shares more intimate details of Yetta Yvette. She put her heart, blood and soul into it...Enjoy it!
A lemonade stand, a principals tender heart, a Bundt cake, and a young boys invitation to a funeral all come together to begin this extraordinary journey. Does everything happen for a reason? Is there such a thing as divine providence? How does one reconcile belief in a merciful God of love with the inscrutable, inequitable nature of human suffering? Only A Shadow is an amazing story of resilience, perseverance, and the power hidden in a single moment. It tells a tale of a remarkable relationship and examines the myriad of ways that the human spirit endeavors to accept and deal with trials that come with the gift of life.
Many people believe that poverty, single parent households, and the lack of education cause the troubles that exist in the life of a child. "It ain't necessarily so". Serious problems can arise out of wealthy, educated, two parent households. It can be called "middle class misery or mystery".
There's a kind of hurt and turmoil that comes from a toxic parent.
In "Power Beyond the Grave", author Samuel shares his story of growing up with his mother's addiction to alcohol, her greed, selfishness and abuse.
The power of death is never final. Breaking free of a toxic parent is difficult- but not impossible!
This is a "must read" story for anyone who needs to feel understood and wants to heal from their own personal wounds.
"Dear Diary and God" is about the struggles of a fair skinned African American child born in the rural south in the 1940's. The book traces the life of Susie M. Vaughan from first grade through college. It is a story of love and determination. She overcomes life's obstacles and follows her dreams. This is a book to inspire and encourage.
