Showing results by narrator "Dennis Holland" in All Categories

In his controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America - including the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity.

The modern game of football is filled with plays and formations with names like the Counter Trey, the Wildcat, the Zone Blitz, and the Cover Two. They have become part of the sport's vernacular, and yet for many fans they remain just names, often confusing ones. To rectify that, Tim Layden has drilled deep into the core of the game to reveal how these chalkboard X's and O's really work on the field, as well as where they came from and who dreamed them up.

Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tel Aviv--the global hubs of entrepreneurial activity all bear the marks of government investment. Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short?

In the half-century since its birth, as Sports Illustrated grew from a struggling start-up to America's preeminent sports magazine, one thing has remained constant: the commitment to great storytelling. That part of the magazine's mission has always been easy to define: Identify the most compelling sports stories of our time and get the best writers in the business to tell them. This book brings together a lineup of writing talent worthy of the Hall of Fame and the classic stories they produced for Sports Illustrated over the past 50 years. Many of the writers whose work is collected here are longtime favorites of SI readers (Frank Deford, Rick Reilly, Steve Rushin, Gary Smith).

When the bombs fell and Western civilization ended, the residents of Hickory Hollow, Texas, scarcely noticed the difference. They were already used to fending for themselves - growing their own food, helping their neighbors survive, keeping their rural life going, much as before. But when the Ungers-a band of renegade thieves, murderers, and ne'er-do-wells-began raiding the nearby plots, looting and killing everyone in sight, it was time to take action!

Buy bank-owned properties at fire-sale prices! Banks and lending institutions own more than one million foreclosed properties, more are in the foreclosure pipeline. How to Buy Bank-Owned Properties for Pennies on the Dollar (2011) provides detailed, step-based guidance on buying REO properties.

When Samantha's parents died, she lost everything. Her home. Her friends. Her hope. Then a life-loving spring witch at the children's shelter fills her life with light and joy once again. But like the springtime, Samantha's happiness doesn't last forever. Her friend dies violently in front of her, the victim of a mysterious killing spell. Furious and grief-stricken, Samantha resents her own weak spring magic. She doesn't need life and renewal. She wants revenge...and death.

David Vandergraff lost his home, his job, and contact with his oldest son, but remains determined to be a good husband and father despite being a dark winter wizard. His resolve is tested when a flyer for a missing girl - who happens to be a summer witch - begins to haunt him. David believes a spell needs to use him to save her, so he follows the magic's command and looks into her disappearance. His teenage daughter Emmy resents him for caring so much about a random stranger.

David Vandergraff wants to be a good man. He goes to church every Sunday, keeps his lawn trim and green, and loves his wife and kids more than anything. Unfortunately, being a dark wizard isn't a choice. Eleven years ago, David's secret second family went missing. When his two lost children are finally found, he learns they suffered years of unthinkable abuse. Ready to make things right, David brings the kids home even though it could mean losing the wife he can't imagine living without.

For 18 years Jack has been a “transplant tourism director,” sending wealthy Americans and Europeans in need of kidneys and other organs to third-world countries where they would buy them from transplant centers on the take. The death of a client and a newfound relationship lead to a crisis of conscience as he is forced to choose between a $2 million commission - and participating in a murder.

Human beings have been battling one another since time immemorial. But why war and terrorism? Why are men almost always the killers, and why are war and sex so inextricably linked? Why do we kill members of our own species intentionally, when few other animals do so?

Politicians apologizing, celebrities needing to apologize, and business leaders failing at the attempt fill today's headlines. In fact, we all have occasion to apologize. But we don't need more apologies, says John Kador. We need more effective ones that restore strained relationships, create possibilities for growth, and generate better outcomes for all.

In this collection of fishing stories from acclaimed novelist and outdoor writer William G. Tapply, the natural appeal of fishing comes to life. Each story in Every Day Was Special was previously published in Tapply’s back-page column, “Reading the Currents” in American Angler, or in Gray’s Sporting Journal, or in Field & Stream. From "Dam It" to "First Light" to "When Trout Get Antsy", these thirty re-readable pieces are unique in their own ways, and yet, all are classic Tapply. These writings serve as testament to the thrill of fishing.

From ancient empires to modern economics, veteran journalist Andrew Lawler delivers a sweeping history of the animal that has been most crucial to the spread of civilization across the globe - the chicken. Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Socrates’ last words were about it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Catholic popes, African shamans, Chinese philosophers, and Muslim mystics praised it.

After a bloody 10-year war, the mighty city of Tarsis has been brought to its knees. Lord Tolandruth - once the farmer's son Tol - has led the armies of the Ergoth Empire to the enemy's very gates. Poised for final victory, instead he is recalled to Daltigoth. The Emperor is dead, and civil war threatens to tear apart the empire.Tol takes a long, perilous journey back to the seat of power, not only to attend upon a new emperor and be reunited with the woman he loves, but to avenge himself on the wizard who caused his exile. Reclaiming his love and honor calls for sacrifices that will shape his destiny - and the future of Krynn.

Best-selling novelist, memoirist, and biographer Edmund White displays his sharp wit and boundless erudition in 37 portraits of the writers, artists, and cultural icons who have captured his curiosity and imagination for the last 20 years. White is as compelling as he is unpretentious in these stories of his encounters with some of the most provocative writers, artists, and personalities of our time.

An inventive, satiric modern retelling of the classic fairy tale provides an incisive and biting commentary on the absurdities and complexities of modern life.

For the last two decades, Sports Illustrated's golf beat has been anchored by John Garrity, a tall Midwesterner with a polished prose style and a droll sense of humor. In Tiger 2.0...and Other Great Stories from the World of Golf, a collection of his most sparkling pieces, Garrity applies his powers of observation and unrivaled imagination to every aspect of the Ancient Game.

Solace is booming out of control. An important temple dedication is bringing merchants, dignitaries, and a host of ne’er-do-wells and surprise visitors to the fabled treetop town. And lately there have been a series of mysterious incidents. Palin has sworn off magic and nowadays acts as town mayor. He desperately needs a new sheriff, as the last one has just been murdered by malefactors unknown. Fortunately, Gerard has quit the knighthood after a quarrel with his father, and arrives just in time to don a sheriff’s badge.

Bright Rivers chronicles the angling passions and frustrations of one of fly-fishing's greatest men of letters. A city dweller trapped in the complexities of modern life, Nick Lyons has always found solace in his pilgrimages to great rivers. It is there that he fishes for trout, and in Bright Rivers, Lyons recounts the sometimes moving, sometimes hilarious experiences of his expeditions to the Delaware, Beaverkill, Madison, Big Hole, and Yellowstone rivers, sharing reminiscences of trout taken, released, and sometimes lost.