Memoir Industry

A quintessential American dream story from a Mexican entrepreneur who shares the tale of building a multi-million-dollar business from scratch, complete with both success and failure, and always a vision of hope.

In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes listeners through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. Gershun and Lantos analyze the differences that arise depending on whether the organ comes from a living donor or one who has died. They observe the expertise and the shortcomings of doctors, nurses, and other professionals and describe the burdens that we place on people who are willing to donate.

Growing up in a New Jersey factory town in the 1980s, Daisy Hernández believed that her aunt had become deathly ill from eating an apple. No one in her family, in either the United States or Colombia, spoke of infectious diseases, and even into her 30s, she only knew that her aunt had died of a rare illness called Chagas. But as Hernández dug deeper, she discovered that Chagas - or the kissing bug disease - is more prevalent in the United States than the Zika virus.

Franziska Böhler, Krankenschwester aus Überzeugung, schildert in bewegenden Fallgeschichten den Stationsalltag im Krankenhaus und macht deutlich, wie sehr Patienten und Personal unter profitorientierten Strukturen leiden. Sie hat sich für Nachtdienste und Wochenendschichten entschieden, für viel Arbeit und noch mehr Verantwortung, für einen Job, der sie fordert - ihr Herz und ihren Verstand. Nicht entschieden hat sie sich für Dienste in ständiger Unterbesetzung, für Bedingungen, die Pflege und Medizin gefährlich und unmenschlich machen.

Formed at Camp Breckenridge, the 95th Evac arrived in Casablanca in April 1943, with 7,000 troops, 30 doctors, and 40 nurses. Hospital at War is the story of the 95th Evac Hospital as told by Zachary Friedenberg, a young surgeon at the time, fresh out of his internship. He tells the story of how the men and women of the 95th survived the war. He describes how they solved problems and learned to treat the war-wounded in the extreme heat of North Africa and during the frigid winters of the Rhineland.

Although we rely on physicians, calling on them at birth and death and every medical event in between, rarely do we consider the personal challenges faced by doctors-to-be. In 2005 author Jacqueline Marino and photojournalist Tim Harrison had the unprecedented opportunity to chronicle the experience of three students as they learned to become doctors at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

In the fast-moving industry of technology, many current and upcoming professionals are faced with decisions that affect their careers and by extension their livelihoods. Many believe that the advice given to them from their well-respected peers and higher-ups serves as a primary basis for attaining the seemingly unattainable. In this eye-opening and controversial memoir, an industry expert sheds light on why traditional career advice is often misguided by proving, with his experience, that there are more effective alternatives to professional growth than what you have been told.

A true story of a loving father facing formidable legal odds to secure custody of his two small children. Using wiretap technology in ways never seen before or since, he turns the tide in his favor in the case of a cheating wife and a predatory gynecologist. It’s a story of humility and perseverance triumphing over arrogance, status, and the powerful influence of sex addiction while delivering lessons in conscience and consequences. With recorded intimate details, this riveting account gained national acclaim for the legal precedent of the case.

Blood-boosting Procrit is Johnson & Johnson's biotech superstar. Behind its various brand names, it ranks as Medicare's most reimbursed drug. But Procrit performs frighteningly well, and can stimulate so many blood cells that thousands of patients die in unexplained and painful ways. Blood Feud is award-winning journalist Kathleen Sharp's nail-biting expose of the Procrit case. Packed with corporate espionage, plot twists, and larger-than-life characters, it's as gripping as it is terrifyingly true.

Few diseases are more gruesome than typhus. Transmitted by body lice, it afflicts the dispossessed - refugees, soldiers, and ghettoized peoples - causing hallucinations, terrible headaches, boiling fever, and often death. The disease plagued the German army on the Eastern Front and left the Reich desperate for a vaccine. For this they turned to the brilliant and eccentric Polish zoologist Rudolf Weigl.

Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program, and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide, comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement, and it makes for a magnificent listen.

In Jennifer Craig's enchanting memoir, we meet these warm-hearted yet naïve young girls as they get to grips with strict discipline, long hours and bodily fluids. But we also see the camaraderie that develops in evening study sessions, sneaked trips to the cinema and mischievous escapades with the young trainee doctors. The harsh conditions prove too much for some girls, but the opportunity to help her patients in their time of need is too much of a pull for Jenny.

Wounded traces the journey made by a casualty from the battlefield to a hospital in Britain. It is a story told through the testimony of those who cared for him - stretcher bearers and medical officers, surgeons and chaplains, orderlies and nurses - from the aid post in the trenches to the casualty clearing station and the ambulance train back to Blighty. We feel the calloused hands of the stretcher-bearers; we see the bloody dressings and bandages; we smell the nauseating gangrene and, at London’s stations, the gas clinging to the uniforms of the men arriving home.

Have you ever wondered what your waitress is writing down on her notepad as she stands at the end of your table taking your order? Well, now you don’t have to, as you sat there going on about your gluten allergy but still choosing to order the bread basket, I was here. Remember when you told me you were mad about your steak being overcooked and how I sucked entirely as a person? I was still here, in front of you, writing it all down. This is my no-holds-barred, often hilarious (my friends say so) memoir of my time as a hostess, server, and bartender.

Allan Abbott ran the leading hearse, mortuary, and funeral services company in Hollywood and saw up close how celebrities really live and die. The Forrest Gump of the funeral industry, Abbott was everywhere celebrities died, from helping to prepare Marilyn Monroe's body for burial to standing next to Christopher Walken at Natalie Wood's funeral. This book tells the rags-to-shroud story of how a young man with a hearse became the funeral driver to the stars.

Buckle up and get ready for a raw, unfiltered ride as Josh Goodman goes from being a guy who couldn't get a drink in a busy bar to building a multimillion-dollar technology company that lets guests pour their own beer, wine, and cocktails and pay by the ounce. Travel with Goodman to Ireland, where he spent a week driving around the entire country to secure his first business partners—who eventually tried to put him out of business. Then, visit northern Austria and discover how he landed the deal that brought his business back to life.

For Jackey Neyman Jones (who played Debbie in Manos: The Hands of Fate), the “worst movie ever made” is, at its heart, a home movie that just happens to be shared with the world. Equal parts memoir/family saga/film book, Growing Up with Manos: The Hands of Fate shares the behind-the-scenes story of the making of Manos: from creator Hal Warren’s alleged bet with TV producer Stirling Silliphant that “anyone could make a movie”, to the tragic suicide of John Reynolds (Torgo), right up through the newest Manos-related projects that are carrying the film into the digital age.

The daughter of an NCAA Championship-winning basketball coach and a stay-at-home mom, Anny Donewald had a seemingly blessed childhood. Then, at thirteen, one of her father’s players sexually abused her, and Donewald embarked on a path toward self-destruction. When Donewald was convinced to compete in an amateur night at a strip club, she found herself drawn into a world of drugs, money, and flesh peddlers in Michigan and Chicago - and eventually Las Vegas’ hottest XXX clubs.

Former bookseller, longtime publisher, and author Jon M. Sweeney shows—with history and anecdotes centering around books such as Thoreau's Journal, Tagore's Gitanjali, Martin Buber's Hasidic Tales, and Tolstoy's Twenty-three Tales—what it means to be carried by a book. He explores the discovery that once accompanied finding books, and books finding us. He ponders the smell of an old volume, its heft, and why bibliophiles carry them around even without reading them. He demonstrates how and why there is magic and enchantment that takes place between people and books.

Before You Go Pro is a very candid look into author Terrence Wood's life working within the family business: football. Before You Go Pro is not just a story. Listeners will gain a true insider perspective of this multi-billion dollar entertainment industry that we call college and professional football. Within the audiobook, you will find valuable gems of advice and great teaching points for any aspiring football player.