Showing results by publisher "Beacon Audiobooks" in Politics & Social Sciences

The sea shanties, YOLO's, and red bandanas aren't even half of the GameStop story. Did you know Robinhood didn't initiate their infamous trading halt? Did you know why Redditors refer to 2021 as the "sneeze" rather than the squeeze? Did you know that shares in your brokerage account might be counterfeits? If not, buckle up.

The 15th century Romanian Prince Vlad III Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, is one of the most fascinating personalities of medieval history. Already during his own lifetime, his true story became obscured by a veil of myths. As a result, he has been portrayed both as a bloody tyrant - who degenerated down throughout the centuries into the fictional vampire of the same name created by Bram Stoker at the end of the 19th century - and as a national and Christian hero who bravely fought to defend his native land and all of Europe against the invading Turkish infidels.

After mentally struggling with some of the 9-1-1 calls he had taken and buried, Ricardo found it therapeutic to write about them. He shared his stories via the “Behind the Mic – Stories from the trenches” podcast. With the addition #IAM911 movement, he asked others to share their stories anonymously. The stories were gut-wrenching, with some occasional happy moments.

In The Great American Health Hoax, Francis exposes the truth about how to stay healthy and introduces us to a way of life that can become a "highway to health", while he quite effectively demonstrates that we really don't have to be sick. Then, he reminds us that not only is there absolutely no fun in being sick, but we are going broke trying to pay the cost. Francis realizes that the only solution for individuals and society as a whole is to maintain health.

Armed-encounters expert and police trainer Brian McKenna shares his expertise in a series of gripping stories involving real-life police shootouts. Step into the shoes of police officers who have run toward the sound of gunfire, who have faced attacks by deadly assailants, and who have lived to share the tale. But this book is more than just stories about courageous cops. Each story is followed by McKenna’s expert analysis of its important learning points, especially concerning how and why the officers use force and the legal aspects of self-defense and the defense of others. 

When California's local and state governments enacted sweeping COVID pandemic restrictions, San Diego wedding planner Amy Ulkutekin found herself forced to fight for the survival of both her industry and her own small business. A need for social impact quickly developed into political action, bringing her to the steps of California's state capitol, followed by hundreds of protestors, all dressed for a wedding.

Mark Singel, the former Lieutenant Governor and former acting Governor of Pennsylvania, provides his wit, wisdom, and guidance regarding recent events on both the national and state levels. The articles are meant to provoke some thought and, perhaps, some action at the time. Mark's inspiration for them was always the desire to make this country and this state a better place.

Why Political Democracy Must Go is an insightful analysis of the origins of the socialist movement in the United States, written by famed journalist John Reed, one of the most distinguished American writers on the subject. Although one of socialism’s fiercest proponents, Reed exposes the myth of "democratic socialism" by providing an overview of the development of socialist thought in America. His devastating critique of political democracy argues that socialism cannot be achieved through democratic means.

Join Judge Gray on his mission to mainstream the word "Libertarian" - not simply the word, but the party’s values, approaches, and principles. Direct and frontal attacks on our freedoms and liberties are unacceptable, and Judge Gray’s platform offers an antidote to the continual trespassing of an overzealous government on its citizens. All Rise! also demonstrates how the government has failed to run economies throughout history, and how it is failing to perform under today’s duress, which will leave a legacy of debt to our children and grandchildren.

Criminal defense lawyer Lisa Peebles was taken aback by a secretly recorded phone call and police interrogation video that surfaced in a 20-year-old kidnapping case. They held the stench of a cover-up. She recruited an investigative reporter to help unearth the truth and exonerate Gary Thibodeau, the man convicted in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Heidi Allen.

Rarely has America been so bitterly divided. Partisans now view those with differing opinions as the enemy. Cable news programs inflame passions rather than inform viewers. Social media provides the most irrational partisans a venue to spew their hatred and bias. Town hall meetings, once the staple of representative democracy, have degenerated into choreographed shouting matches. Money flows into campaigns at unprecedented rates. Centrists are nearly extinct in Congress, where compromise has become a dirty word.

Russian meddling: These are two words that just about everyone has come to know very well in the last few years. Only a fool - or someone with an agenda of a sinister kind - would deny that such meddling occurred. But how many know that, for decades, the Russians secretly used the UFO phenomenon as a means to try and destabilize the West? 

Join author Katrina Majkut on a personal and powerful prenuptial journey. With cheeky insights into the origins of Western wedding traditions, Majkut uncovers eye-opening truths about how social traditions impact people’s lives. Listeners will learn how to modernize outdated traditions that support the wage gap, street harassment, sex and gender discrimination, and that limit reproductive rights. The Adventures and Discoveries of a Feminist Bride is an invigorating and heartening guide to inspire a new generation of fiancés to walk down the aisle as equals. 

On an ordinary January afternoon, a disturbing revelation about his wife hurls one man into a maelstrom of public humiliation and heartbreak, and eventually on a spree of run-ins with lawyers, judges, therapists, and law enforcement. Land of July tells the true story of a teacher/student sex scandal that not only shocked an entire school and small suburban community, but made national news. It’s a story filled with countless anecdotes about marriage, trust, infidelity, grief, and the desperate search for hope and family in the face of ruin. 

Fighter Pilot's Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War details author and Professor Mary Lawlor’s unconventional upbringing in Cold War America. Memories of her early life—as the daughter of a Marine Corps and then Army father—reveal the personal costs of tensions that once gripped the entire world, and illustrate the ways in which bold foreign policy decisions shaped an entire generation of Americans, defining not just the ways they were raised, but who they would ultimately become.

Blue Lives Matter is a audiobook that explores the line-of-duty deaths suffered by the law enforcement blue family. This audiobook examines the deaths of eight police officers and one police canine in Los Angeles County. The chapters portray the fallen officers and the canine as true heroes who each made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community. Co-authors Steve Cooley and Bob Schirn discuss each case in detail.

Audrey Edmunds was a happily married young mother of two with a baby on the way; the neighborhood soccer mom in a small Wisconsin town providing casual childcare when the unthinkable happened. An infant died in her care at the same time the unknown science of Shaken Baby Syndrome hit the media. Swept up in a media frenzy, Edmunds was accused of killing the child through SBS. She was stripped from her children and husband and sent to prison where she would fight for freedom 13 years before she was finally exonerated.

The British Royal Family is held in awe across Britain, and they have captured the interest of people around the globe. Queen Elizabeth II is respected for her stately demeanor, Prince William and his new wife, Kate Middleton, are deemed trendsetters and attract attention from media starved for gossip, and nobody has held as unique a place in pop culture as the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' British Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of Great Britain’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Long considered the Democratic Party's greatest spokesman and surrogate, Clinton's presidency was defined by centrist "triangulation." And though he is still publicly popular and considered a great president, Clinton became just the second president to be impeached in the House of Representatives. Regardless of what Americans think of him, one thing Clinton does represent is the American Dream. Born to a single mother in Hope, Arkansas, Clinton used his ambition, hard work, and intelligence.