Search results for ""Diversion Books""

A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm––the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band.He sang the anthems of a generation: "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek," and "Life Is a Carnival." Levon Helm's story––told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians––is the rollicking story of American popular music itself. In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed "blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision," as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect "in the pocket" rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul. Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation." Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson––and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012. Levon is a penetrating, skillfully told tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.

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Timeless Narrative of Human Connection to Animals:Dorsey explores his connection to the gray whales of the lagoon on spiritual, emotional, and physical levels, and what this means for himself and for his wife, Irene.The Destination for One of the Greatest Migrations on Earth:one of the endpoints and the whales’ nursery.A Gray Whale Version of Jane Goodall and the Chimpanzees of Gombe, TanzaniaThe People of the Lagoon: .Historical Threads:eaves in the deadly history of whaling, the history of whale watching, and the history of Baja and the San Ignacio Lagoon.Multi-Layered Love Story: .A Warning About Hot-Button Topics of Climate Change and Over-Development:The narrative is driven forward by the impending threats of climate change and over-development, serving as a reminder of the importance of protecting our planet. Author is an Accomplished Nature Writer: about nature in publications like BBC Wildlife, Hemispheres Magazine for United Airlines, Natural History Magazine, Sea Kayaker Magazine, Los Angeles Times, California Literary Review, Chicago Sun Times, BBC Travel, Hidden Compass, Panorama Journal, Chicken Soup for the Soul,and Geographic Expeditions.Includes Twenty-Five of Dorsey’s Award-Winning Photographs of the Lagoon and its Whales

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The characters, scandals, and secrets that shaped America''s most controversial residence. Emerging from family tragedy and newfound chances, the story of Mar-a-Lago starts when heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and investor E.F. Hutton built their ode to Roaring Twenties excess in south Florida. And as the hood ornament of Palm Beach society, not even a catastrophic hurricane could deter winter revelries there. No one could have predicted what followed: This 126-room wonder has withstood mutual adultery, high-stakes divorces, ruinous development plans, apathetic heirs, and financial collapses. All this...even before Donald Trump was given the keys to the front door.American Castle reveals a power couple''s dream oasis colliding with the Kennedys, Lady Bird Johnson, Richard Nixon, the National Park Service, and Donald Trump--the man who fused a private club with a Winter White House and watched the FBI raid his own home.

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From Chuck Noll''s Steelers to the Peyton Manning-era Colts through Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, legendary NFL coach Tom Moore recalls his nearly 50-year role in the evolution of football and the keys to player-centric coaching.Tom Moore is not only the oldest NFL coach ever, but he is also hailed as the greatest NFL assistant coach of all-time--though he humbly cites the talent and hard work of his players as the keys to his success. In six different decades, he has served as a guru to the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Barry Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, Mike Webster, Randall McDaniel, Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison, and more.In The Players'' Coach, Moore recounts the most exceptional players-first coaching career in the history of the game, talks football with his proteges and underdog athletes alike, and lays out the principles that helped him define the modern gridiron.

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An uplifting, funny, and flavorful story through despair, survival, and mental emancipation during the chaos of 2020. In from hell to challah, Shari Wallack’s journey begins inside a mental hospital and continues on a road trip to eighteen destinations throughout the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. She details her innermost thoughts, hopes, and fears while illustrating how she went from crippling depression to joy over a three-month period. Along with a multitude of colorful characters, Shari navigates an exciting and unusual voyage of self-discovery and healing. Among the useful lessons she learns along the way, she discovers that cooking and baking calm her. She provides the recipes that helped her through her struggles, with the hope that others will find the same much-needed comfort. Shari’s heartwarming and humorous story shows that happiness and purpose can be found even in the most difficult of times.

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Applying wisdom and avoiding foolishness are two sides of the same coin. Slipping away from either can lead to risky and uncertain situations. Luckily, author Alexander Ineichen has been collecting witticisms for thirty-five years that have made him successful in his career and life. In Applied Wisdom, he collects an anthology of wit and wisdom containing over 700 quotations from sources as wide ranging as Thomas Aquinas and Frank Zappa. He provides entertaining food for thought for businesspeople and the general audience alike, and enables readers to think outside the box to find wisdom. These nuggets, along with his commentary for each, are the valuable words needed for those facing risk and uncertainty. The witticisms provide a full range of being level-headed, truth seeking, brutally heretical, wonderfully insightful, refreshingly politically incorrect, and other intellectual treats and provocations. The advice, blending economics, politics, history, philosophy, psychology, risk management, and much more, provides a winning mix of humor, intellectual heft, and economic survival tips.

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Accomplished leadership consultant Nick Chatrath offers a revolutionary framework for how leaders in all kinds of organizations can adapt to the new age of technology, like ChatGPT—the Age of AI— by leaning into the qualities and skills that make us uniquely human. For readers of Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century and Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0, The Threshold is a bold new way to think about human, emotionally intelligent leadership right now as we stand at the threshold of AI superintelligence.We are living in a new age: the Age of AI. With developments emerging every day, Artificial Intelligence will soon surpass most human competencies, and as a result drastically transform technology’s role in our day-to-day world. The solution for organizational leaders is not to become more like computers. In order for our organizations to survive as we stand at the threshold of a new era, we must tap into the qualities that make us uniquely human. In the face of increasingly intelligent technology, old models of leadership are becoming obsolete. In The Threshold: Leading in the Age of AI, accomplished leadership consultant Nick Chatrath interweaves an analysis of antiquated leadership models—the ones that leave AI-Era organizations exposed and ineffective with colleagues frustrated, unmotivated, and burnt-out—with his newly developed strategies for more effective “threshold” leadership methods. Supported with anecdotes, research, and a practical toolkit, The Threshold demonstrates that adaptive, effective organizations can be built with human, emotional intelligence: cultivating stillness, nurturing independent thinking, finding rhythms of rest and performance, and raising leadership consciousness. With a basis in the ideas and practices that have shaped our organizations in the past, The Threshold illuminates how accessing advanced stages of human development can be both competitive and harmonious with AI’s growing insinuation into our working world.

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From a journalist on the frontlines of the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case comes a probing examination of affirmative action, the false narrative of American meritocracy, and the attack on Asian American excellence with its far-reaching implications—from seedy test-prep centers to gleaming gifted-and-talented magnet schools, to top colleges and elite business, media, and political positions across America Even in the midst of a nationwide surge of bias and incidents against them, Asians from coast to coast have quietly assumed mastery of the nation’s technical and intellectual machinery and become essential American workers. Yet, they’ve been forced to do so in the face of policy proposals―written in the name of diversity―excluding them from the upper ranks of the elite. In An Inconvenient Minority, journalist Kenny Xu traces elite America’s longstanding unease about a minority potentially upending them. Leftist agendas, such as eliminating standardized testing, doling out racial advantages to “preferred” minorities, and lumping Asians into “privileged” categories despite their deprived historical experiences have spurred Asian Americans to act. Going beyond the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case, Xu unearths the skewed logic rippling countrywide, from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempted makeover of New York City’s Specialized School programs to the battle over “diversity” quotas in Google’s and Facebook’s progressive epicenters, to the rise of Asian American activism in response to unfair perceptions and admission practices. Asian Americans’ time is now, as they increase their direct action and amplify their voices in the face of mounting anti-Asian attacks. An Inconvenient Minority chronicles the political and economic repression and renaissance of a long ignored racial identity group―and how they are central to reversing America’s cultural decline and preserving the dynamism of the free world.

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The ingenious wartime tactics of some of history’s most powerful female leaders, from the stifling battlefields of ancient Egypt to the frigid waters off the Falkland Islands. History’s killer queens come in all colors, ages, and leadership styles. Elizabeth Tudor and Golda Meir played the roles of high-stakes gamblers who studied maps with an unblinking, calculating eye. Angola’s Queen Njinga was willing to shed (and occasionally drink) blood to establish a stable kingdom in an Africa ravaged by the slave trade. Caterina Sforza defended her Italian holdings with cannon and scimitar, and Indira Gandhi launched a war to solve a refugee crisis. From ancient Persia to modern-day Britain, the daunting thresholds these exceptional women had to cross—and the clever, sometimes violent ways in which they smashed obstacles in their paths—are evoked in vivid detail. The narrative sidles up to these war queens in the most dire, tumultuous moments of their reigns and examines the brilliant methods and maneuvers they each used to defend themselves and their people from enemy forces. Father-daughter duo Jonathan W. and Emily Anne Jordan extoll the extraordinary power and potential of women in history who walked through war's kiln and emerged from the other side—some burnished to greatness, others burned to cinders. All of them, legends.

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A dazzling, epic biography of Levon Helm––the beloved, legendary drummer and singer of the Band. He sang the anthems of a generation: "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek," and "Life Is a Carnival." Levon Helm's story––told here through sweeping research and interviews with close friends and fellow musicians––is the rollicking story of American popular music itself. In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon witnessed "blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision," as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect "in the pocket" rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the Band's soul. Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called "one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation." Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson––and Levon's career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner's Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys. Cancer finally claimed his life in 2012. Levon is a penetrating, skillfully told tale of a music legend from Southern cotton fields to global limelight.

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Featuring an amazing cast of historical figures, this is the story of how President Theodore Roosevelt led an American sports and fitness revolution. Give up exercise, Theodore Roosevelt was told by a doctor while attending Harvard, or you might die of a heart attack! This after being plagued by crippling asthma, myopic eyesight, and other ailments as a child. Roosevelt's body was his weakness, the one hill he could never conquer. But, oh, how he tried! In vivid detail, The Strenuous Life shows how Roosevelt developed an obsession with athletics, carried it to the nation's highest office, and championed a new age of American athleticism. As President, Roosevelt boxed, practiced Ju-Jitsu, played tennis, conducted harrowing "point-to-point" walks, and invited athletes to the White House. He also made certain that each of his children played sports. Not surprisingly, Roosevelt's personal quest had broad reverberations. During his administration, America saw an unprecedented rise in sports and recreational activities. With Roosevelt in office, baseball's first ever World Series took place, interscholastic sports began, and schools placed a legitimate emphasis on physical education. Additionally, the NCAA formed, and the United States hosted the Olympics for the first time. Yes, the "Bull Moose," as he'd come to be known, resided squarely in the midst of this upheaval. Filled with amazing anecdotes, a who's who of American political and sports figures from the early 20th century, and Rooseveltian gusto and humor, this book is the play-by-play and color commentary on Roosevelt's "Strenuous Life."

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On the heals of multiple new murder charges brought in 2018, here's an updated edition of the classic account of arguably the most shocking and insidious case in the history of medicine: the crimes of one nurse that were hidden by a hospital for years. It’s 1980, and Genene Jones is working the 3 to 11 PM shift in the pediatric ICU in San Antonio's county hospital. As the weeks go by, infants under her care begin experiencing unexpected complications—and dying—in alarming numbers, prompting rumors that there is a murderer among the staff. Her eight-hour shift would come to be called “the death shift.” This strange epidemic would continue unabated for more than a year, before Jones is quietly sent off—with a good recommendation—to a rural pediatric clinic. There, eight children under her care mysteriously stopped breathing—and a 15-month-old baby girl died. In May 1984, Jones was finally arrested, leading to a trial that revealed not only her deeply disturbed mind and a willingness to kill, but a desire to play "God" with the lives of the children under her care. More shocking still, it was discovered that the hospital had shredded records and remained silent about Jones’s horrific deeds, obscuring the full extent of her spree and prompting grieving parents to ask: Why? Elkind chronicles Jones's rampage, her trials, and the chilling aftermath of one of the most horrific crimes in America, and turns his piercing gaze onto those responsible for its cover-up. It is a tale with special relevance today, as prosecutors, distraught parents, and victims' advocates struggle to keep Jones behind bars, despite her scheduled mandatory release from a Texas prison in early 2018.

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The blazing rock opera of the greatest drummer of all-time, Jim Gordon, from the legendary Wrecking Crew to redefining rock on the Seventies’ biggest hits and outrageous tours, and ultimately to the most shocking crime in rock history—a story of musical genius, uncontrollable madness, and the big fill Jim Gordon was the greatest rock drummer of all-time. Just ask the world-famous musicians who played with him—John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, and many more. They knew him for his superior playing, extraordinary training and technique, preternatural intuition, perfect sense of time, and his “big fill”—the mathematically-precise clatter that exploded like detonating fireworks on his drum breaks. And as best-selling author and award-winning journalist Joel Selvin reveals, the story of Jim Gordon is the most brilliant

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K.D. Keenan returns with the action-packed second installment in the Gods of the New World series, Fire in the Ocean, a paranormal fantasy steeped in Ancient Hawaiian lore perfect for fans of Patricia Briggs and C.E. Murphy. After saving the world once, Sierra’s earned a vacation. She’s thinking Hawaii: sun, surf, sand. With her boyfriend called away for work, she’ll make do with the company of her friends Chaco, also known as Coyotl the trickster, and Fred, a mischievous mannegishi with the power to disappear and reappear at will. When the motley crew is swept overboard during a whale watching trip and encounter a mysterious white octopus, they are plunged into a whole new adventure that will test their magical mettle. Pulled ashore on the island of Molokai, Sierra finds hospitality and powerful friends. When she is asked to prevent the construction of a potentially disruptive energy plant, she is drawn into a tangle of godly proportions. But the machinations of the gods can be opaque at best—and sometimes downright lethal for mortals. For Sierra, the sun, surf, and sand are still there, but Hawaii is far more than a day at the beach.

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A Revelatory Account Of The 2020 Election—The Most Secure, Verifiable, And Transparent In American History—And The Heroes Brave Enough To Get It RightThe Big Truth illuminates a crowning achievement in America’s quest for a robust democracy in the face of slander by sore losers and opportunists. Filled with interviews of the guardians of democracy—election workers, January 6th Committee members Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and more—it is an overpowering counterattack against the Big Lie. CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and National Election Expert David Becker, the Executive Director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, reveal why Big Lie “fraud” allegations evaporate under scrutiny. They report what actually happened in 2020 while calling out each Trumpian misdirection designed to con and beguile Americans into chasing phantom allegations of election crimes. The 2020 election was not what Trumpist deniers claim. Our political parties knew the rules and procedures. We had record turnout and few election snarls. The result: an accurate count, a seven-million-vote margin of victory, 306 electoral votes for Joe Biden, and Republican gains in congressional and state races. But then-President Trump stoked paranoia—never looking for evidence, contesting results even before anyone cast a ballot, and seeking to bend our system until it almost broke with a violent Capitol riot. The Big Lie—the true corruption of American democracy—has shaken our confidence in stable self-government. On the heels of voter-fraud claims, the Capitol siege, and damaging voting laws, the next midterm and presidential election will test our democracy more severely than at any time since the Civil War. How we react may well determine if we are led into another war against ourselves. The Big Truth debunks the 2020 election conspiracy myth once and for all, while celebrating those who held up our democracy under arguably the most intense scrutiny in American electoral history.

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“Laura Meier’s The Family Nest Egg gives parents the tools they need to find confidence, stop worrying, and secure the financial future for their loved ones. . . . a trustworthy resource.” —Barbara Corcoran, Founder of the Corcoran Group and Shark on ABC's Shark Tank Earn and save more money while protecting your finances and your family Wouldn’t it be great if life were perfect, or just predictable? Recent times have been anything but. With rising rents, expensive mortgages, student loans, debts, and dreams deferred, most of us parents found our lives far from perfect or predictable even before the global pandemic and economic turmoil. But with the right guidance and actionable advice, we can get ourselves closer—taking back our future, building wealth, and protecting our families against the worst unforeseen events. In The Family Nest Egg, estate planning attorney and parent Laura Meier provides a breakthrough program of inspiring real-life stories and time-tested legal, financial, and practical tips to move our families from stress to success and security. Let’s get planning. • Build Your IF LIFE WERE PERFECT Vision • Follow the 21-Day Family Nest Egg Plan • Follow the Three Ps for Prosperity • Engage in a Budgeting P.E.A.C.E. Process • Invest, Build Wealth, and Fund Life Milestones • Create Your Family Emergency Fund • Find the Right Insurance and Asset Protection • Learn About Wills and Trusts • Build a Team of S.T.A.R. Financial and Estate Advisers

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Back pain is no joke. If you've ever had a serious back injury, you know that simple things like tying your shoes, standing up straight, and even being able to take a deep breath can become major tasks. And you're not alone. Up to a hundred million Americans suffer and spend approximately $86 billion each year trying to fix back issues. Western medicine believes that back pain comes from age, prolonged sitting, your occupation, being overweight, and even diabetes. But after working with thousands of clients, international Qigong expert Chris Shelton tells a different story. In Chris Shelton's Easy Guide To Fix Neck and Back Pain, Shelton lays out step-by-step how to get immediate relief on your own, without painful, invasive, and expensive surgeries, and provides crucial lifestyle adjustments that can help prevent your back pain from sneaking up again in the future. Grounded in the five-thousand-year-old Chinese principles of Qigong, a time-tested body-m

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The ultimate front-row seat to the rise, fall, and rebirth of a band that was—for a time—the biggest in the world, Hootie & the Blowish, and Jim Sonefeld’s shattering and redeeming spiritual path from addiction to recovery and a more fruitful life For a time, there was no bigger band in the world than Hootie & the Blowfish—rock & roll’s unexpected foil to the grunge music that dominated the early ’90s airwaves. In Swimming with the Blowfish, Jim Sonefeld, drummer and one of the band’s principal songwriters, reveals the inside story of the band’s humble beginnings, meteoric rise, sudden fall, and ultimate rebirth—and in the telling he opens his heart to readers about addiction, recovery, and faith. Hootie became ubiquitous in the ’90s—their debut album Cracked Rear View was one of the best-selling in the history of rock music; they won two Grammy Awards; their live performances were played alongside the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., and even Willie Nelson and Neil Young; and they appeared at the biggest venues in the world. Though Jim enjoyed the perks that came with fame—the parties, the relationships, the money, the drugs and alcohol—eventually it all became a camouflage that hid a deeper spiritual malady. As his life was careening toward disaster, he reached out his hands to seek relief in twelve-step recovery, eventually settling into a loving, but by no means uncomplicated, homelife.  A book that encapsulates a band still beloved by legions of fans, Swimming with the Blowfish is much more—an unpretentious, emotional story of one man’s spiritual path to a more fruitful life. Jim’s journey is shattering, redeeming, and ultimately as comforting as your favorite flannel shirt.

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With a foreword by Robert Grenier, former Director of the CIA''s Counterterrorism Center, learn the art of influence from the best salespeople in the world—spies. Tapping into the history of intelligence-gathering and his work with former agents of the CIA, FBI, and other federal departments, Jeremy Hurewitz, a foremost corporate sales and security expert, offers field-tested spycraft strategies and government-agency tactics anyone can use to build relationships, persuade, and sell anything.Hurewitz has built his career around CIA case officers, FBI agents, and government officials—people like Steve Romano, former Chief Negotiator of the FBI; Mark Sullivan, former Director of the Secret Service; General Stanley McChrystal (Ret.), former Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command; and John Cipher, former member of the CIA''s Senior Intelligence Service. Drawing on in-depth interviews about their skillse

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"For all the heavy subjects Sonefeld addresses, his writing style is...succinct, direct, and light...The arcs of his band and recovery stories...hold plenty of quirks and surprises and a depth worth discovering. Like Hootie and the Blowfish''s music, Sonefeld''s book proves to be open, accessible, and engaging."—Pittsburgh Post-GazetteIn what American Songwriter calls the "ultimate front-row seat to Hootie''s rise to fame in the mid-''90s," Jim Sonefeld takes readers on his shattering and redeeming spiritual path from addiction to recovery and a more fruitful life. For a time, there was no bigger band in the world than Hootie the Blowfish—rock ''n'' roll''s unexpected foil to the grunge music that dominated the early ''90s airwaves. Their debut album, Cracked Rear View, was one of the best-selling in the history of rock music; they won t

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The greatest challenge of any start-up and growth company is the transition from an early stage start up to a robust organization complete with a driving culture, contemporary leadership, organizational infrastructure and twenty-first-century operating methodologies. Ralf Specht provides inspiration, wisdom and learnings gleaned from his role and experience in creating and scaling Spark 44, a Jaguar Land Rover joint venture from concept to an award- winning global marketing communications company with well over a thousand employees in 18 countries in a few short years. In the high interest topic of start-ups focused on the beginning stages of entrepreneurship, Beyond the Start Up fills a void in the entrepreneurial discussion on how to scale a second stage start up laying out, in practical terms, the tools and practices that made Spark44 a global powerhouse.

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Senator Joseph Lieberman offers a master class in effective government by probing his forty years in elective office—from the Vietnam War era to the Presidency of Barack Obama—and by shining a light on historic acts of centrism and compromise, extracting productive and problem-solving lessons and techniques we need now more than ever. In this era of extremism, our largest problems remain unsolved and our international leadership is compromised. Having two fiercely opposed political parties is what John Adams, the second President of the United States, dreaded “as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” If American government is to work, it must do so in the center—where open discussion, hard negotiation, and effective compromise take place. No living politician knows this better than former Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who served for forty years in state and national government, including twenty-four in the United States Senate and a campaign for the Vice Presidency. In this vivid account of his political life, Senator Lieberman shows how legislative progress and all-inclusive government occurs when politicians reject extremism and embrace productive compromise. In The Centrist Solution, he shines a light on ten milestones of centrist success during his time in government—from the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the repeal of the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, along with a Vice Presidential run with Presidential Candidate Al Gore, and being vetted by John McCain to be his potential running mate on the 2008 Republican Ticket. In the telling, Senator Lieberman extracts clear lessons and proven methods of centrist collaboration that can carry us forward after years of partisan warfare and legislative inaction. The centrist solution leads to government truly of the people, by the people, and for the people—a citizenry looking for solutions, not extremist standoffs.

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The unvarnished history of America’s most notorious palace and its American queenMoments before the Roaring Twenties sunk into the Great Depression, socialite heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and financier E.F. Hutton constructed an estate to outdo all estates. To the tune of $4 million (about $68 million today) and four years of labor they called forth a 118-room mansion in a conflated Spanish, Portuguese, and Venetian design over a coral reef in hurricane-prone Palm Beach County. They named it Mar-a-Lago—a winter haven where corporate titans, the glitterati, and nobility gathered. But the honeymoon didn’t last long. In American Castle, Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary C. Shanklin reveals a century of controversy, politics, and lifestyles of the super-rich and powerful after Mar-a-Lago became a part-time residence and party place upon Post’s divorce from Hutton over mutual adultery. It’s a story of an American royal who, at the age of 27, inherited a cereal company that would later become the General Foods Corporation and spent a lifetime in business, art collection, philanthropy, and the management of multiple estates—including her white elephant, Mar-a-Lago. Though she tried time again, as Shanklin covers in riveting detail, Post could not offload the behemoth due to its extraordinary maintenance costs and the uppity Palm Beach neighbors.Drawing from previously untapped interviews, documents, and recordings, Shanklin follows Mar-a-Lago’s evolution as it collides with the Kennedys, the state of Florida, a potential make-over as The Mar-a-Lago Center for Advanced Scholars, Lady Bird Johnson, Richard Nixon, the National Park Service, and—of course—Donald Trump, who pursued subdivision, threatened to sell to Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church, hosted Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, made it a for-profit club, received scandalous dinner guests, turned it into his Winter White House, and watched the FBI raid before holding a home-court presser as the first former president to face criminal charges.How did the Palm Beach hamlet so lacquered in grace and elegance come to find itself rooted in American Castle: One Hundred Years of Mar-a-Lago.

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With a focus on the economic battlefront and in-depth analysis of the diplomatic, military, and ideological arenas, the world’s foremost expert on US-China global competition offers a rousing, strategic call to action and playbook—harvesting all of our nation’s ingenuity, confidence, and will power—to outcompete the long-term strategies of China and its Communist Party. In The Decisive Decade, Dr. Jonathan D.T. Ward—China scholar and founder of the Atlas Organization, a consultancy focused on US-China global competition—offers a comprehensive framework for how the United States can, and must, defeat China on the world stage economically, diplomatically, militarily, and ideologically. International security and American supremacy are at stake—and now is the time for the US to take action. China’s global power and influence grows every day. Working from a deep sense of national identity, the Chinese Communist Party is leading its country toward what it deems “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation,” and executing a long-term Grand Strategy to topple over its chief adversary, the United States. As China becomes increasingly repressive domestically and aggressive overseas, it threatens to upend America’s global dominance at every turn. Ward provides novel and practical strategies that our government, as well as our businesses and our citizens, can utilize to undermine our adversary. Exhaustive campaigns in the economic, diplomatic, military, and ideological arenas, he argues, must be taken to achieve victory. With expert analysis of the history of US-China relations, as well as insight into how the Russia-Ukrainian war can inform our strategic thinking, The Decisive Decade presents a unique toolkit for our triumph over China. We can succeed, but it won’t be easy; it will take all of our nation’s ingenuity, confidence, and willpower to win.

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Incumbents enjoy many advantages when they seek reelection, but their distinct disadvantages (such as not fulfilling promises or staying within the status quo) are ripe weaknesses for opposing candidates to knock them down. Studying the US’s Barack Obama, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and France’s Emmanuel Macron, among many other candidates, political strategist Louis Perron, PhD, describes tactics to assess the strength of the incumbent, the quality of the challenger, and how to control and win a campaign. Readers interested in running for office or in assisting a political campaign will learn how to build a top-notch team, define your target audience, increase your media presence, develop your message, advertise effectively, deliver great speeches, and prepare to win debates. For relatively new challengers, Perron demonstrates how lack of experience has become less important and how these weaknesses can be neutralized. When campaigns turn ugly and pla

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United States History award-winner from the International Book Awards, Best Nonfiction True Crime award from BookFest, and Five Stars from Reader's Favorite among other accolades. "Spieler offers a portrait of an erratic, unstable woman with a protean capacity to shift identities, with the 1960s and '70s as a dramatic backdrop. Fans of true crime accounts or contemporary history will savor this.” ―Publishers Weekly President Gerald Ford suffered two attempts on his life during his term in office: one by a young woman in Charles Manson's Family, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and the other by a far more unlikely candidate—an average middle-aged mother of five—Sara Jane Moore. After thirty years in contact with Moore in prison, journalist Geri Spieler deconstructs her life in Housewife Assassin, tracing the path from Moore’s small-town upbringing in West Virginia to that fateful moment when she tried to assassinate the president. Throughout Moore’s dodgy life she hid her identity and misled those around her. Through the turbulent 60s and 70s, she married five times, abandoned children, faked amnesia, befriended Patty Hearst’s father, became a revolutionary, and worked as an FBI informant turned double agent feeding information to the underground radicals, all before the assassination attempt. From Spieler’s insider correspondence and independent research, including interviews with President Ford himself, she confirms details (the gunshot missed the President’s head by six inches) and debunks others (Sara Jane did not “shoot wild” as the press had reported) to deliver a compelling profile of a society lady turned elusive assassin.

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“Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of what connects us ‘Americanos’ to the rest of the world but also the journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro!”—Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of CapitalAmazon #1 Bestseller Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks is a passionate and deeply moving story about a father-son relationship; a culture rooted in family, food and wine; and an ancestral small town in Central Italy that was left behind after World War II. On November 11, 1943, the Nazis invaded Cansano, forcing its two thousand inhabitants to make a tough decision—fight and be killed or sent to a POW camp, stay behind as servants to the Nazis, or move into the unforgiving mountains of Abruzzo while the Nazis used their village as a home base. Giovanni Ruscitti’s family chose the latter and spent the next few months living in horrendous winter conditions in the rugged mountains. When the war ended, they returned to a village so ravaged by the Nazis that, today, the town has less than two hundred citizens and remains in a dilapidated state. In this memoir, Ruscitti visits Cansano for the first time with his family, including parents Emiliano and Maria. As he walks Cansano’s cobblestones, his father’s stories and life are illuminated by the town piazza, the steep valley, and the surrounding mountains. He relives the tales of his parents’ struggles during World War II, their extreme post-war misery and poverty, their budding romance after, and their decision to immigrate to the US in search of the American Dream.Ruscitti’s adventure is not just an exploration of his homeland but reveals what family, culture, wisdom, and love really means. And what our heritage really tells us about who we are.

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Who was Edmond J. Safra? “The greatest banker of his generation,” in the estimation of a former World Bank President. The founder of four massive financial institutions on three continents, and a proud child of Beirut’s Jewish quarter. An innovative avatar of financial globalization, and a faithful heir to a tradition of old-world banking. The leading champion and protector of the Sephardic diaspora. In A Banker’s Journey, financial journalist and historian Daniel Gross, who, like Safra, traces his heritage to Aleppo, Syria, reconstructs the public life of an intensely private man. With exclusive access to Safra’s personal archives, Gross tracks the banker’s remarkable journey from Beirut to Milan, São Paulo, Geneva, and New York—to the pinnacle of global finance.Edmond Safra was fifteen in 1947, when his father sent him to establish a presence in Milan, Italy. Fluent in six languages, and with an eye for value, managing risk, and personal potential, Safra was in perpetual motion until his tragic death in 1999. The modern, global financial empire he built was based on timeless principles: a banker must protect his depositors and avoid excessive leverage and risk. In an age of busts and bailouts, Safra posted remarkable returns while rarely suffering a credit loss.From a young age, Safra assumed the mantle of leadership in the Syrian-Lebanese Jewish community, providing personal aid, supporting the communities that formed in exile, and championing Sephardic religious and educational efforts in Israel and around the world. Edmond J. Safra’s life of achievement in the twentieth century offers enduring lessons for those seeking to make their way in the twenty-first century. He inspired generations to make the world a better place.

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From a journalist on the frontlines of the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case comes a probing examination of affirmative action, the false narrative of American meritocracy, and the attack on Asian American excellence with its far-reaching implications—from seedy test-prep centers to gleaming gifted-and-talented magnet schools, to top colleges and elite business, media, and political positions across America Even in the midst of a nationwide surge of bias and incidents against them, Asians from coast to coast have quietly assumed mastery of the nation’s technical and intellectual machinery and become essential American workers. Yet, they’ve been forced to do so in the face of policy proposals―written in the name of diversity―excluding them from the upper ranks of the elite. In An Inconvenient Minority, journalist Kenny Xu traces elite America’s longstanding unease about a minority potentially upending them. Leftist agendas, such as eliminating standardized testing, doling out racial advantages to “preferred” minorities, and lumping Asians into “privileged” categories despite their deprived historical experiences have spurred Asian Americans to act. Going beyond the Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard case, Xu unearths the skewed logic rippling countrywide, from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempted makeover of New York City’s Specialized School programs to the battle over “diversity” quotas in Google’s and Facebook’s progressive epicenters, to the rise of Asian American activism in response to unfair perceptions and admission practices. Asian Americans’ time is now, as they increase their direct action and amplify their voices in the face of mounting anti-Asian attacks. An Inconvenient Minority chronicles the political and economic repression and renaissance of a long ignored racial identity group―and how they are central to reversing America’s cultural decline and preserving the dynamism of the free world.

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Featuring an amazing cast of historical figures, this is the story of how President Theodore Roosevelt led an American sports and fitness revolution. “An engaging book you can hold with one hand while doing light bicep curls with the other.”—Washington Post “A fascinating account...Sports fans and history buffs alike will enjoy this focused portrait.”—Publishers Weekly Give up exercise, a doctor told Theodore Roosevelt while he attended Harvard, or you might die of a heart attack! This after suffering crippling asthma, myopic eyesight, and other ailments as a child. Roosevelt's body was his weakness, the one hill he could never conquer . . . But, oh, how he tried! In vivid detail, The Strenuous Life shows how Roosevelt carried his obsession to the nation's highest office, championing a new age of American athleticism. As President, Roosevelt boxed, practiced Ju-Jitsu, played tennis, conducted harrowing "point-to-point" walks, and invited athletes to the White House. Unsurprisingly, Roosevelt's personal quest reverberated broadly: his administration saw an unprecedented rise in sports and recreational activities. With Roosevelt in office, baseball's first ever World Series took place, interscholastic sports began, and schools placed a legitimate emphasis on physical education. The NCAA formed, and the United States hosted the Olympics for the first time. It was an American sports and fitness revolution. Yes, the "Bull Moose," as he'd come to be known, resided squarely in the midst of this upheaval. Filled with amazing anecdotes, a who's who of American political and sports figures from the early 20th century, and Rooseveltian gusto and humor, this book is the play-by-play and color commentary on Roosevelt's "Strenuous Life." “Swanson…[is] one of those enterprising academics who have perfected slicing American history into ever finer layers.”— Wall Street Journal

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Perfect for readers of How God Changes Your Brain, two researchers present over thirty brain exercises to help readers generate happiness and success, in business and in life. ”This remarkable book translates state-of-the art neuroscience into practical techniques that rapidly promote personal transformation. If you want to double your happiness and your income, start using these powerful brain-changing exercises today!” ―John Assaraf, New York Times bestselling author and CEO of NeuroGym Adapted from a business school course they created for professionals, bestselling author Mark Waldman and Chris Manning present simple brain exercises, based on the latest neuroscience research, to guide readers to improvement in all parts of life, from work to home, from how we think to how we feel. Their promise is to help people create more "wealth" in their lives, defined as the combination of money, happiness, and success. Using the latest research studied by two experts in their field, the book presents both the scientific background and sets of “NeuroWisdom” exercises that will help people reduce neurological stress and increase happiness, motivation, and productivity. The “worry” centers of the brain are turned off and the optimism circuits are turned on. Work becomes more pleasurable and creativity is increased, enabling the brain to anticipate and solve problems more efficiently. From the cutting edge of brain science to real-world solutions, these exercises help readers gain the wisdom that leads to greater fulfillment.

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The USA TODAY Bestseller THREE YEARS Since I ran away for the night, danced in New York streets, and almost got killed in an alley by two thieves. Until he showed up and saved me. THREE DAYS Since I threw a drink at the man my father expected me to marry, then found myself slammed against a wall with Penn Everett's seductive voice whispering a proposal I couldn't refuse. THREE HOURS To fall into hate with the man who reminded me of so many things and hid so much behind his lies. He couldn't be the man who saved me three years ago...but there's something so familiar... THREE MINUTES For our relationship to switch from no-strings to marriage. He announced it to my father—he's ecstatic. He told my friends—they're shocked. But he didn't ask me, he commanded me—and I'm livid. THREE SECONDS For his lies to slowly steal my heart and make me believe, hope...trust. THREE BREATHS For his truth to destroy me. Advance Reviews: "Crown of Lies takes sensual and gripping to the next level in a masterfully written tangled web that will keep you furiously turning pages. Pepper Winters has outdone herself. Penn Everett will be your new obsession." — USA TODAY bestselling author Meghan March "Thrilling and mysterious, this book has left me with a major hangover!!!!"—Lina's Reviews "Crown of Lies is my first top 2017 read so far and it's a MUST read, one-click worthy book." —Punch Drunk Library "Pepper does a great job of delivering, yet again, one of the hottest alphas cloaked in mystery out there." —Dee, Goodreads "The chemistry between them is scorchingly hot and the banter is perfect."—Vickie Goodreads "WOW Pepper has done it again. I really wish I could give this book so much more than 5 stars it is brilliant" —We've Licked That Book Blog

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It was the most brutal corporate restructuring in Wall Street history. The 2015 bankruptcy brawl for the storied casino giant, Caesars Entertainment, pitted brilliant and ruthless private equity legends against the world's most relentless hedge fund wizards. In the tradition of Barbarians at the Gate and The Big Short comes the riveting, multi-dimensional poker game between private equity firms and distressed debt hedge funds that played out from the Vegas Strip to Manhattan boardrooms to Chicago courthouses and even, for a moment, the halls of the United States Congress. On one side: relentless financial engineers Marc Rowan, David Sambur, and David Bonderman with their teams at Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital. On the other: superstar distressed debt investors Dave Miller and Ryan Mollett with their cohorts at the likes of Elliott Management, Oaktree Capital, and Appaloosa Management. The Caesars bankruptcy put a twist on the old-fashioned casino heist. Through a $27 billion leveraged buyout and a dizzying string of financial engineering transactions, Apollo and TPG—in the midst of the post-Great Recession slump—had seemingly snatched every prime asset of the company from creditors, with the notable exception of Caesars Palace. But Caesars’ hedge fund lenders and bondholders had scooped up the company’s paper for nickels and dimes. And with their own armies of lawyers and bankers, they were ready to do everything necessary to take back what they believed was theirs—if they could just stop their own infighting. These modern financiers now dominate the scene in Corporate America as their fight-to-the-death mentality continues to shock workers, politicians, and broader society—and even each other. In The Caesars Palace Coup, financial journalists Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap illuminate the brutal tactics of distressed debt mavens—vultures, as they are condemned—in the sale and purchase of even the biggest companies in the world with billions of dollars hanging in the balance.

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Paul is a top business executive hoping to be the next CEO of Ascendant—a New York-based tech giant. He neglects everything—his family and himself—in the race to the top. His fast-paced life is interrupted when he travels to Glastonbury, England, to visit friends in a village rich in history and mysticism. Glastonbury represents a complete counterpoint to Paul’s elite corporate day job. It compares to an amusement park, with shops and venues catering to spiritual seekers ranging from would-be witches, goddesses and druids, and burned-out hippies. Like many seekers before him, he is attracted to the energy of a nearby hill—Tor—said to be the mythical Isle of Avalon. Paul meets a beautiful soul reader, Christine, who reads his soul and plants the seeds that turn his life upside down. When he returns to New York, his wife, Mary, is skeptical. Is Paul having a spiritual awakening or is he falling in love with an attractive charlatan? His journey both scares and intrigues her as she watches him struggle to navigate between the business and spiritual worlds. A series of synchronistic events draws Paul closer to Glastonbury and Christine, compelling him and a reluctant Mary to return, unaware that their lives will never be the same.

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