Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Education & Learning

Was the 2000 presidential campaign merely a contest between Pinocchio and Dumbo? And did Dumbo miraculously turn into Abraham Lincoln after the events of September 11? In fact, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Paul Waldman argue in The Press Effect, these stereotypes, while containing some elements of the truth, represent the failure of the press and the citizenry to engage the most important part of our political process in a critical fashion.

American Libraries editor in chief Leonard Kniffel offers a compelling collection of interviews with prominent figures--all of whom have special connections to libraries. From President Barack Obama to actress Julie Andrews; from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to former First Lady and librarian Laura Bush and many others, stars of literature, politics, entertainment, and the public arena speak with Kniffel about the ways libraries have been critical in their lives.

In Articulate While Black, two renowned scholars of Black Language address language and racial politics in the U.S. through an insightful examination of President Barack Obama's language use--and America's response to it. In this eloquently written and powerfully argued book, H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman provide new insights about President Obama and the relationship between language and race in contemporary society.

Two days before Super Bowl XLI in 2007, the game's two opposing head coaches posed with the trophy one of them would hoist after the contest. It was a fairly unremarkable event, except that both coaches were African American - a fact that was as much of a story as the game itself. As Jeremi Duru reveals in Advancing the Ball, this unique milestone resulted from the work of a determined group of people whose struggles to expand head coaching opportunities for African Americans ultimately changed the National Football League.

Slang, writes Michael Adams, is poetry on the down low, and sometimes lowdown poetry on the down low, but rarely, if ever, merely lowdown. It is the poetry of everyday speech, the people's poetry, and it deserves attention as language playing on the cusp of art. In Slang: The People's Poetry, Adams covers this perennially interesting subject in a serious but highly engaging way, illuminating the fundamental question "What is Slang" and defending slang - and all forms of nonstandard English - as integral parts of the American language.

When the world's biggest and most moving events took place - World War II, the Moon landing, the death of Princess Diana, and many more - Time magazine was there to tell the story with passion and clarity. This book features pieces by Barbara Ehrenreich, Henry Anatole Grunwald, Maureen Dowd, Walter Isaacson, Bono and many other famous writers, and will provide listeners with a uniquely entertaining view of 85 years of Time's history.

2012 Fabulousity Now! Shar has updated and newly pizzazed her classic with even more information for today's femmes (or those that love us). Part Cosmo, part On Our Backs, part Girl Scout Handbook, this hilarious, practical, and comprehensive guide is for Femme Dykes, Baby Divas, Experience Queens, Outrageous Goddesses, Queer Femmes, Lipstick Lesbians, Vixens, and Vamps of every stripe - and those who want to date us!

In the fall of 1999, New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg was given an unprecedented opportunity to observe the admissions process at prestigious Wesleyan University. Over the course of nearly a year, Steinberg accompanied admissions officer Ralph Figueroa on a tour to assess and recruit the most promising students in the country. The Gatekeepers follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation's most elite colleges.

No aspiring author should be without this invaluable guide to the book publishing process. Publish Your Book: Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author is a professional guide to publishing success for the new and struggling author. With insider tips, up-to-date marketing strategies, timelines, and other resources, this book offers a comprehensive tour of the world of book publishing to help authors successfully navigate the industry.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank takes a fair and balanced look at the unsettling rise of the silly Fox News host Glenn Beck. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. In America in 2010, Glenn Beck provides the very refreshment Jefferson had in mind: Whether he's the patriot or the tyrant, he's definitely full of manure.

After fighting a protracted legal battle, James Meredith broke the color barrier in 1962 as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. The riot that followed his arrival on campus seriously wounded scores of U.S. marshals and killed two civilians; more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. To restore order, the Kennedy administration dispatched thousands of soldiers to Oxford. In The Price of Defiance, Charles Eagles shows that the stunning eruption of violence resulted from the "closed society's" long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law.

If you're Irish American or African American or Eastern European Jewish American, there's a rich literature to give you a sense of your family's arrival-in-America story. Until now, that hasn't been the case for Chinese Americans. From noted historian Mae Ngai, The Lucky Ones uncovers the three-generational saga of the Tape family. It's a sweeping story centered on patriarch Jeu Dips' (Joseph Tapes') self-invention as an immigration broker in post-gold rush San Francisco, and the extraordinary rise it enables.

Exploring the downfalls of being a freelance writer, this cautionary tale explains what happens when one becomes self-employed, celebrating cubicle-free living through a brilliant comic narrative on the real-life ups and downs of a full-time writer.

The Best Sex Writing series has fundamentally changed the way people think - and what they say - about sexuality. Once again, Rachel Kramer Bussel has collected the year’s most challenging and provocative nonfiction articles on this endlessly evocative subject. The essays here comprise a detailed, direct survey of the contemporary American sexual landscape. Major commentators examine the many roles sex plays in our lives in these literate and lively essays.

Calling all Dapper Dans and Oomph Girls - take a ride through the American lexicon at its most inventive. The Cheaper the Crook, the Gaudier the Patter: Forgotten Hipster Lines, Tough Guy Talk, and Jive Gems explores the rich vocabulary of gangsters, hipsters, jazz musicians, and military personnel of the 1930s and ’40s. Entries include definitions, etymology, and examples of usage. This delightful compendium celebrates the linguistic gems cut and polished during the Great Depression, World War I, and the postwar '50s - now forgotten or in danger of being forgotten.

You wouldn’t be ‘barking mad’ if, when asked the definition of certain phrases, ‘the cat got your tongue’ and you ‘clammed up’. Let’s not ‘beat around the bush’; the English language is littered with linguistic quirks that, on closer examination, seem utterly fantastical. In Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pyjamas, Judy Parkinson explores the many colourful – but rather incomprehensible – phrases that enhance our language, describing their origins and defining their true meanings.

How do brand names differ from other names, and what goes into making a good name great and a bad name ghastly? Knowing this can spell the difference between bankruptcy and marketplace triumph. In this indispensable guide, the authors share the secrets of successful brand names--how they've indelibly stamped cultures around the world; who makes them; why they're made; and how they're compiled, bought, sold, and protected.

On rare occasions in American history, Congress enacts a measure so astute, so far-reaching, so revolutionary, it enters the language as a metaphor. The Marshall Plan comes to mind, as does the Civil Rights Act. But perhaps none resonates in the American imagination like the G.I. Bill.

Seeking answers to the toughest questions about poverty in the United States, Earl Shorris had looked everywhere. At last, one resounding answer came from a conversation with a woman in a maximum-security prison: the difference between rich and poor is the humanities. Shorris took that idea and started a course at the Clemente Family Guidance Center in New York. With a faculty of friends, he began teaching the great works of literature and philosophy - from Plato to Kant, from Cervantes to Garcia Marquez - at the college level to dropouts, immigrants, and ex-prisoners.

Jolly Wicked, Actually is a wonderfully entertaining compendium of the 100 words and phrases that have, over the last century, become the cornerstones of modern spoken English. Despite attempts by politicians and writers, despite lessons in citizenship enshrined in the national curriculum, we have famously never been able to define for posterity precisely what Englishness is. Jolly Wicked, Actually takes certain well-loved and crucial expressions such as sorry, nice, common, posh, cuppa and chippy, explores their strange and wonderful origins, and demonstrates with wit and charm how they are emblems essential to all our notions of Englishness.