Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Entertainment & Celebrities

No one could protect her once she was inside. No friend would hear her if she screamed. A brilliant undercover journalist and actress, Nellie Bly is admitted into Blackwell's Island asylum in New York as a homeless "crazy" lady. What will she be in 10 days?

The explosive, definitive account of Michael Jackson’s fall from grace has now been updated with four new fascinating chapters. Award-winning journalist Diane Dimond, who first broke the story of the King of Pop’s battles against child molestation charges from 1993 to 2005, takes you behind the scenes and into the courtroom of one of the most controversial cases of the decade. This audio version gives listeners a dramatic glimpse of one reporter’s vigilance and unending quest to uncover the truth.

Was Billy the Kid really shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett on a July night in 1881? At the midpoint of the last century, an old man comes forth seeking a pardon for crimes committed. He says that he wants to die a free man - and that he is Billy the Kid. The incident leads to this examination of new facts, new interpretations, and new contradictions. It is the story of "Brushy" Bill Roberts, a man who laid claim to a legend. Originally published in 1955 by University of New Mexico Press.

In The Road, Jack London embraces the concepts of unconfined individualism and Darwinism through his autobiographical account of his time riding the rails of Canada and the United States. The author of White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and Sea Wolf, relays the time leading up to turning point in his life - a perfunctory trial and a 30-day imprisonment in the Erie County Penitentiary for the crime of vagrancy - an experience so degrading that he turned to a career in writing.

In Little Women, Mr. March went off to war. But in real life it was Jo (Louisa May Alcott herself, an avowed abolitionist) who traveled to Washington to nurse Northern soldiers. Despite the subject matter, her account is full of amusing anecdotes as she makes her way alone from Concord to DC, trying to finagle a free ticket and convinced she will drown during the journey.

Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from the early teens through the 1940s. Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and remains the only woman to win two Academy Awards for original screenwriting (The Big House and The Champ).

Some Eminent Women of Our Times (which has been renamed Some Eminent Women of the 19th century) was written by Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett in 1889. It is available in the public domain and contains short biographies of various women who achieved great things both socially and in the literary field. The women Dame Millicent includes were singled out by her because of their unstinting dedication, selflessness, and in many cases bravery to do what they thought was right.

From the North Carolina Piedmont to the forests of Hungary, Jody Mace examines the mundanity of everyday life and finds the kernel of eternal truth. Or else she just makes one up. Contemplate Schrödinger's human head in your dryer or find a way to make peace with Barbie. A journalist and freelance writer in Charlotte, Jody has collected a dozen of her essays on family life that will have you thinking deeply and laughing heartily.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and over 300 cantatas of which around 200 survive.

On Christmas Eve 1909, Mark Twain's youngest daughter, Jean, died. She was just 29 years old. Over the next two days, in his grief, he wrote of his deep love for her; her last days with him; the previous loss of his wife, another daughter, and long-ime friends; and his profound loneliness as he reached what would be his own final days. He wanted this to be the final chapter of his autobiography. Four months later he, too, was dead.

This story is actually a daily account of a naturalist's years of observing and writing about zoological and insect life on her estate. It takes place in the late 1890s at The Grove, Stanmore, in England, Mrs. Brightwen's very beautiful and secluded estate. Here, there were woods and shrubberies, a lake, and a large garden that offered a field for Mrs. Brightwen's zoological and insect observations. It was not, however, until her 60th year that she began to be a writer.

Timeless and surprisingly current, The Art of the Theatre, published after her death at age 78, is the final and most in-depth record of the great actress' views on acting and the theatre. Here "The Divine Sarah" shares advice on everything from speech, movement, role preparation, vocal warmups, and make-up tips to why she preferred to play Hamlet instead of Ophelia.

A biography of the author Abraham Lincoln credited for writing the book that started the Civil War. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a defining piece of literature against slavery, and it was a book that impacted the world. This audio life tour takes you from Harriet's childhood when she ate flower bulbs believing they were onions to a busy adult life in which there was no free time to write, but she felt compelled to write nonetheless. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

An audible biography of a great composer. Beethoven was a man who was born in poverty, never married, and raised a nephew who chose a less than happy path. As you listen you will learn who, among famous composers, helped him along as well as who saw Beethoven as a mentor. Deaf at the age of 30 this brilliant musician's life has its fair share of paradoxes. For all ages. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Ernest Newman, most celebrated today as a music critic, composed his essay on Oscar Wilde in 1895. Although at that time, Wilde was embroiled in the scandal which eventually led to his imprisonment, Newman makes little reference to Wilde's private life, and instead concentrates on Wilde the artist. 

In 1889, 24-year-old Rudyard Kipling was making his way from India to England. On his trip, he traveled to San Francisco and went from Yellowstone National Park to Salt Lake City, and then headed to London. This audiobook focuses on Kipling’s time in the West on that trip, using an excerpt of From Sea to Sea: Letters of Travel, published most recently in 1913. The excerpt includes letters 22-32. Kipling reveals a wit and sarcasm, pointing out American foibles. The mix of what Kipling likes and dislikes show us imperial and racist attitudes all too common in Kipling’s day.  

This hilarious, startling biography of Phil Proctor, cofounder of the legendary satirical comedy group, the Firesign Theatre, is read by Phil and includes sound elements illustrating his work in comedy recordings, TV, film, and even the Broadway stage - with new moments recorded by Phil and added to the audiobook edition. Listen as Phil shares the unique moments of his life that led to these Grammy-nominated comedy albums, being a regular on the Rugrats, and a nightclub entertainer.

In the 21st century interior design uses repurposed artifacts to create elegance. This includes books. They may not be for reading, but for beauty. Would it be a surprise to see that this mindset was in place nearly a century ago? This is a delightfully warm tale of a storyteller who moves and has no idea how to catalogue his own books except by how they look to guests. From the mind of Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne

Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini profiles his onetime hero, French magician Robert-Houdin, whose name he used as inspiration for his own, and discovers that his former idol's claims and professional accomplishments conceal disturbing realities. Houdini's effort becomes an investigation through England and Europe that also serves as a general history of magic.