Walking Memoirs

There are many reasons why it might seem unwise to walk, mostly alone, through the Middle East. That, in part, is exactly why Leon McCarron did it. From Jerusalem, McCarron followed a series of wild hiking trails that trace ancient trading and pilgrimage routes and traverse some of the most contested landscapes in the world. In the West Bank, he met families struggling to lead normal lives amidst political turmoil and had a surreal encounter with the world's oldest and smallest religious sect.

When the struggle to save oil-soaked birds and restore blackened beaches left him feeling frustrated and helpless, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand: He stopped using all forms of motorized transportation. Soon after embarking on this quest that would span two decades and two continents, the young man took a vow of silence that endured for 17 years.

Walking with Aletheia explores how one person experiencing the resurrection of repressed, violent memories of child sexual abuse leaned into her fear, finding the courage to transform her life through self-compassion and the support of others. A survivor of years of sexual abuse by an uncle and members of clergy and other adults at her Catholic high school, Jean was terrorized into silence, including witnessing a murdered nun's body.

After the death from cancer of his husband, Antony Sher, Greg Doran stepped down from his role as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, and inspired by the surprising history of the company's own copy, he set out to see how many of these important volumes he could find. The journey took him to Japan, where Doran met the emperor, and to New Zealand and South Africa where the legacy of Shakespeare has become entwined with the story of colonialism.

Be challenged and inspired as you listen to this gripping true story of a prisoner turned pastor, serving His God and countrymen in war-torn Ukraine. Despite the very real danger to himself and his family, Zhenia took food to the starving people in front-line villages, brought VBS to their children, and ministered to the Ukrainian soldiers. He dodged bombs, drones and gunfire to serve the Lord, often living, as he described it, "on the edge of eternity."

In Just Show Up, Kara and her close friend, Jill Lynn Buteyn, write about what friendship looks like in the midst of changing life seasons, loads of laundry, and even cancer. Whether you are eager to be present to someone going through a difficult time or simply want inspiration for pursuing friends in a new way, this eloquent and practical audiobook explores the gift of silence, the art of receiving, and what it means to just show up.

Walking Gentry Home tells the story of Alora Young’s ancestors, from the unnamed women forgotten by the historical record but brought to life through Young’s imagination; to Amy, the first of Young’s foremothers to arrive in Tennessee, buried in an unmarked grave, unlike the white man who enslaved her and fathered her child; through Young’s great-grandmother Gentry, unhappily married at fourteen; to her own mother, the teenage beauty queen rejected by her white neighbors.

The Police have sold more than 50 million albums, made Rolling Stone's Greatest Artists of All Time list, and finished a triumphant world reunion tour in 2008. Now British journalist Chris Campion draws on extensive research and new interviews to trace the inside saga of this iconic group, including the unorthodox business strategies employed by manager Miles Copeland that took them to the top and the intense rivalry that drove Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland to split at the height of their success in the 1980s.

Imagine giving up everything you own and walking across the country... for 28 years? Meet Peace Pilgrim, who crossed the U.S. on foot seven times with only the clothes on her back to spread her message of peace. From 1953 to 1981, she lived off the land and the kindness of those she met. Whenever trouble came her way - whether blizzards or black eyes - her sole response was love.

We all know Sydney is full of corruption and crime, but none of us expected to read about a Sydney businessman being shot in the back of his head, in his driveway, in front of his nine-year-old son, in Cremorne. Nor that the order would come from a Point Piper millionaire. Kate McClymont is Australia's best-known investigative journalist. Kate and McGurk received intel that he was going to be 'hit'. Before the two could meet, McGurk was murdered.

In 1986, Ricky Ross started a full-time career in music, which has lasted for over 35 years. His earlier working life was spent in youth work and teaching in his home city of Dundee, and his adopted home of Glasgow. It was in these two cities where he spent his formative years learning how to write and play songs. Having always written about the people and places who've made an impact on his life, it's no surprise that this is how he has approached Walking Back Home, his first-ever memoir.

After finding himself homeless, Army veteran Jake Sansing decides to walk across America. Motivated by helping others and hoping to ease his symptoms of PTSD, his trek carries him much further than he intended. Follow along on this incredibly detailed journey that takes him from Tennessee to Maryland, to California, to Florida, to Alaska, back to Florida, and back to California again. Alone and unsupported, Jake must battle the elements, loneliness, near-death experiences, and, inevitably, his inner demons.

Corey King was diagnosed with a chronic, incurable disease at age 47. Eight years later, Corey continues his story of fighting disability with humor, honesty, and realistic optimism. Walking with Parkinson chronicles Corey's journey from diagnosis through denial and acceptance and finally, to defiance. He believes that challenges are made to be overcome and that we all have a purpose, and he illustrates his belief with stories from his own life.

In Clare Balding's family, walking just took too long - she galloped through the countryside and she galloped through life. Then, in 1999, Clare took a call from a BBC producer looking for a presenter for a new radio series. "Do you walk?" she asked. "Well, I walk the dog...." That series, Ramblings, is still going strong - and Clare's caught the walking bug. Now she wants her family to share some of that pleasure. Her and her brother Andrew are determined to conquer the Wayfarer's Walk, a 71-mile route. What could possibly go wrong?

Growing up in abject poverty, terrorized by a boarder who lived in the root cellar, Athena Demetrios repressed the memories, thrusting her into a downward spiral of melancholy and despair. Transcendence and healing would come through reliving the horrors of her past through hypnotic regression. A powerful spiritual experience opened doors into other dimensions, which began an odyssey where truth became stranger than fiction.

The Fulani are the largest surviving group of nomads on the planet. In Walking with Abel, Anna Badkhen embeds herself with a family of Fulani cowboys - nomadic herders in Mali's Sahel grasslands - as they embark on their annual migration across the savanna.

The story begins in the warm climes of New Zealand in the South Pacific when an online friendship between an American and a New Zealander blossoms into romance, and it concludes among the Eskimo in the wintry wilds of remote Alaska. For adventurous romantics and armchair travelers alike.

Joel Dahmen overcame the loss of his mother to cancer only to fight the disease himself. Through it all, he was a survivor and never lost sight of his dream of playing on the PGA Tour. In August 2016, Dahmen gained the right to chase the dream for real, but learned quickly that staying on the tour may be harder than getting there. Geno Bonnalie is also a dreamer who lives life with a special zest. He believes in Joel so much that he gave up a safe and secure lifestyle to become his caddie. Together, the two small-town kids face an uphill battle seeking success on golf’s biggest stage.

Two vicars, their marriage in tatters with wounds reaching far back into the past, set out on a journey to find healing and restoration. Their route will take them from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, but will it help them find their way home?

In this intimate memoir, Perry A. Ulander chronicles with powerful clarity the bewildering predicament he confronted and the fellowship and guidance that transformed him during the year he served as an American GI in the jungles of Vietnam. Conveying with unadorned precision the harrowing experiences that shattered his core beliefs, Ulander also captures the camaraderie and humor of his platoon, the hostility between "lifers" and draftees, the physical hardships of reconnaissance missions, and the unrelenting apprehension underlying everyday life.