Showing results by author "James Johnson" in All Categories

It is in this environment that The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is written. In this novel, the narrator describes his life as a Black child and young adult, working his way through the various social classes. He becomes a musician and travels the world as a free Black man for much of his life, but eventually makes the decision to live as a White man after witnessing a horrific lynching. The rest of his life is spent keeping a piece of himself hidden from everyone in an attempt at safety.

Introduced by Maya Angelou, the inspiring sermon-poems of James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, and one of the most revered African Americans of all time, whose life demonstrated the full spectrum of struggle and success. In God's Trombones...

He changed the world — but do you actually know what happened? Forget what you were told in school, on the news, or through secondhand rumor. This is the real story — no fluff, no fear-mongering, and no preaching. Who was Muhammad? What did he actually say? Why did his message spark the rise of one of the most powerful civilizations in history? From the lonely caves of Mecca to the conquest of empires, this book tells the story of one man who refused to back down — and built a movement that still shapes the world today.

Throughout fiction, there have always been heroes who have fallen from grace. Champions of honor, decency, and order who have become villains through some traumatic event or a deep personal flaw. Blackest Knights is a collection of 19 tales by some of independent fantasy's best authors that follow a collection of those heroes who fell to temptation. From tales of bloody-handed hypocrites to space pirates, you'll find some truly fascinating works within.

You’ve heard about it. Quoted. Misquoted. Feared. Revered. But have you ever actually seen what the Quran says? No filter. No theology. No translator’s footnotes. Just the story — as it unfolds, from the first prayer to the final warning. What the Quran Actually Says walks you through Islam’s most controversial and least understood book in twelve direct chapters. It doesn’t preach. It doesn’t apologize. It doesn’t pull punches. Fire. Mercy. Law. Warning. That’s what’s in here. You don’t need to believe it. But you should know what it says.

You’ve seen the movie. You laughed. You moved on. But what if Groundhog Day wasn’t just a comedy? What if it was a subconscious training manual? What if it was you? In Looped: The Groundhog Day Problem, JJ pulls back the curtain on the greatest Trojan Horse ever snuck into theaters — a romantic comedy that quietly teaches surrender, transformation, and what it really means to change. This isn’t a film analysis. It’s a map out of your own loop. Funny, unfiltered, and weirdly spiritual, Looped is the wake-up call you didn’t know was playing on repeat. Same day. New eyes. Break the loop.

The Valve That Never Closes is a deep-dive into the company that rewired PC gaming from the inside out. It’s the story of how Valve went from a scrappy dev studio to the de facto operating system of the entire gaming ecosystem—and how we let it happen.

Everything’s a Sign is the definitive deep-dive into the life, madness, and legacy of Freud—from his Jewish upbringing in imperial Vienna to the invention of psychoanalysis, the breakups with Jung and Adler, and his final escape from the Nazis with a rotting jaw and a typewriter still hot.

George Orwell wasn’t just the author of 1984 and Animal Farm — He was the man who saw it all coming. From the jungles of British Burma to the slums of Paris, from the trenches of the Spanish Civil War to the propaganda halls of the BBC, Orwell lived through the machinery of power — and spent every ounce of his voice trying to tear it apart. Orwell: The Man Who Warned Us is a literary biography that doesn’t just tell you who Orwell was — it shows you how he became one of the most dangerous writers in history.

He was Rome’s golden boy — beautiful, brilliant, beloved. A poet, a singer, a dreamer on the throne. But behind the lyre and the laurel, there was rot. This is not the story of an emperor. It’s the story of a boy raised to perform, handed absolute power, and slowly, irrevocably swallowed by his own illusion. Nero Caesar didn’t rule an empire. He directed one — turning politics into theater, cruelty into ritual, and Rome itself into a stage built to burn.

In Dreamwalker: The Life and Mind of Carl Jung, James Johnson takes listeners on a journey through the life of one of history’s most enigmatic thinkers — from his mystical childhood in Switzerland to his groundbreaking exploration of the unconscious. But this isn’t just a biography. It’s a map of the psyche. As Jung walks deeper into dreams, myth, and madness, the listener is pulled along — discovering archetypes, shadows, and the strange mirror world within every human being. By the end, you’re not just learning about Jung.

Socrates was not a teacher. He wasn’t a guru, a prophet, or a preacher. He was a barefoot stonecutter who wandered the streets of Athens asking uncomfortable questions — and refusing to stop when the answers didn’t make sense. This is the story of the philosopher who left no writings behind but changed the trajectory of human thought forever. From his youth in the bustling Agora to his final moments with the hemlock cup in hand, this book follows the man, the method, and the madness of Socratic philosophy — not as a subject of study, but as a way of life.

The Great American Rewrite is the history class you never got. Insightful, hilarious, and unapologetically honest, this book takes you on a guided tour through the mythologies of American greatness — and gently unravels them with humor and precision.

How does a man become a monster? This isn’t just a book about Hitler — it’s a psychological descent. How a Man Becomes a Monster: The Rise of Adolf Hitler is an, unflinching examination of the 20th century’s most infamous figure — not as a caricature of evil, but as a man who was broken, angry, and shaped by a world willing to listen to his rage. From childhood trauma to art school rejection, from the trenches of World War I to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, this book follows the slow transformation of Adolf Hitler with brutal clarity. It doesn’t just tell you what he did.

He didn’t just create superheroes. He created a blueprint for how modern culture thinks about power, pain, identity — and redemption. From Spider-Man’s guilt to the X-Men’s exile, from the pages of pulp comics to billion-dollar movie screens, Stan Lee rewired the mythologies of the modern world. But behind the catchphrases and cameos was a man caught between truth and persona, legacy and loneliness, spotlight and shadow. This book goes beyond the fan letter. It’s a deep-dive into the masks he wore — and the world he left behind.

Walt Disney didn’t just create a cartoon. He created a civilization. From a bankrupt animator with a dream to a company that reshaped global culture, this is the true story of how one man — and one mouse — built an empire of characters, parks, movies, songs, and stories that still dominate the world today. This isn’t a takedown. It’s not a puff piece. It’s a biography of an empire — calm, clear, and unblinking. Disney isn’t just a company. It’s a myth that owns myths. This is how it happened.

They didn’t just make Mario. They made your childhood — and then they made sure you’d never forget it. From handmade Japanese playing cards to the global Pokémon phenomenon, Nintendo has spent over a century shaping culture, controlling imagination, and redefining what fun means — on their terms. This isn’t just a company biography. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the secret history of control, nostalgia, and innovation, told through the colorful world of pixels and power-ups. You’ll revisit the games that changed everything — from Donkey Kong to Zelda, Pokémon to Smash Bros.

The Ballot Breakdown is a tour through 250 years of America’s most spectacular electoral meltdowns. From property-based voting and backroom deals to voter suppression, stolen narratives, televised chaos, algorithmic manipulation, and the Capitol riot — this book tells the truth about a system that was never built to hold this much pressure. Through calm, cutting analysis and a voice that never picks sides, JJ walks the reader through the most infamous (and forgotten) moments in American election history.

Aaron Burr. Founding Father. Vice President. And the man who shot Alexander Hamilton dead in cold blood. But that was just the beginning. In Burr: America’s First Supervillain, JJ uncovers the real story of the most dangerous man in early American history — a man who fought in the Revolution, rose to the top of the political ladder, and then tried to build an empire of his own. From his cold childhood and battlefield exploits, to the infamous duel and the treason trial of the century, this is a biography that reads like a thriller — because it is one.

Mark Zuckerberg didn’t just build a website. He rewired the internet. From a teenage coder in a hoodie to one of the most powerful figures in human history, Zuckerberg: The Boy Who Broke the Feed is the full story of how a socially awkward Harvard dropout created the platform that shaped — and distorted — an entire generation. This is not a hit piece. Not a love letter. It’s the autopsy of a system we all clicked on. Told with brutal clarity and insight, this book doesn’t ask whether Mark Zuckerberg is good or evil. It asks whether he ever had to be—when all he needed was your attention.