Showing results by narrator "Derek Perkins" in All Categories

After years of exploitation, neglect, and despair, the animals of Manor Farm revolt. They drive owner Mr. Jones off the land and rechristen the property Animal Farm, a utopia of equality and mutual support. But Napoleon, a young boar who assumes command after the rebellion, is hungry for power. And as the pigs consolidate control, all the good intentions of Animal Farm are crushed by a new and inevitable tyranny.

Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely translated and acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics in Democracy Rules. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded not just on liberty and equality, but also on uncertainty.

After the fall of France in the mid-1940s, Adolf Hitler faced a British Empire that refused to negotiate for peace. With total war looming, he ordered the Abwehr, Germany's defense and intelligence organization, to carry out Operation Lena - a program to place information-gathering spies within Britain. Quickly, a network of secret agents spread within the United Kingdom and across the British Empire. The stunning truth, though, was that every last one of these German spies had been captured and turned by the British.

After his childhood is turned upside down, orphan David Copperfield is forced to navigate and survive the brutal world of the industrial poor. He'll cross classes and paths with kindred spirits, extended family, eccentrics, and adversaries. Throughout his journey into adulthood, he'll be befriended, loved, and conspired against. And each evolving adventure - comic, tragic, and romantic, both at home and abroad - will inform the observant young man's success as he becomes a novelist.

Fantasy icon Jane Yolen is adored by generations of readers and listeners of all ages. Now she triumphantly returns with this inspired gathering of fractured fairy tales and legends. Yolen breaks open the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets: a philosophical bridge that misses its troll, a spinner of straw as a falsely accused moneylender, the villainous wolf adjusting poorly to retirement. Each of these offerings features a new author note and original poem, illuminating tales that are old, new, and brilliantly refined.

Jens Müller was one of only three men who successfully escaped from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 - the break that later became the basis for the famous film The Great Escape. In this vivid, informative memoir, Müller details what life in the camp was like, how the escapes were planned and executed, and the story of his personal breakout and success reaching the RAF Leuchars base in Scotland.

From the Yangtze to the Yellow River, China is traversed by great waterways, which have defined its politics and ways of life for centuries. Water has been so integral to China's culture, economy, and growth and development that it provides a window on the whole sweep of Chinese history. In The Water Kingdom, renowned writer Philip Ball opens that window to offer an epic and powerful new way of thinking about Chinese civilization. Water, Ball shows, is a key that unlocks much of Chinese culture.

There's been huge cultural change in the last few decades. Same-sex marriage would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago. Now it's almost universally accepted in the Western world. Now suddenly the issue of transgender is the next big social, cultural issue that has dominated the headlines. Vaughan Roberts surveys the Christian worldview and seeks to apply these principles to the many complex questions surrounding gender identity.

Who are the popes, and how does the Roman Catholic Church define their role? What about the present day popes? What is the ecumenical significance of the papacy, and what are its prospects in the global world? These and other questions are tackled as Leonardo De Chirico explores the biblical, historical, and theological fabric of the papacy.

Five hundred years after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, many people - Christians and non-Christians alike - view it as a conflict about issues that are no longer relevant to the church. But what if the Reformation still has something to teach us? What if the doctrines so vigorously debated and defended by the Reformers still matter today? In this accessible primer on the Reformation, Michael Reeves and Tim Chester introduce listeners to 11 key questions raised by the Reformers.

A dark evil threatens Morgana de Moray's Highland home. The Druid Princess is left with no choice but to strike a deadly bargain with the dangerous Berserker and risk all to unleash the beast from within the man.

A sighting of a woman who supposedly died years ago sparks a desperate search for the truth in this breakout suspense thriller, perfect for readers of The Good Girl and The Widow.

Sometimes we choose to see only what we...