Showing results by publisher "Beacon Audiobooks" in Biographies & Memoirs

Always at his mother's side, Frank Shankwitz spent much of his childhood on the move, frequently hungry and forever homeless. They moved around the country, sleeping in the family car as they ventured from one city to another in search of gainful employment. Frank remembers vividly those who went out of their way to show kindness and compassion. In every way, these acts of kindness fueled Frank's journey. Journey with Frank as he shares the story of his legacy; a life rooted in kindness, near-misses, and close calls. A life centered around the magic of making wishes come true.

Jim Bruton knows life. His past is marked by relentless curiosity and remarkable achievement. He was an African wilderness guide, Emmy Award-winning wildlife film director, aviator, adventurer, inventor of the satellite videophone, NBC News Middle East war correspondent, a husband, and a father. His passion - building and flying WWI-era aircraft - led him where he never imagined he’d go: a horrific crash that left him for dead.

This is the story of how Olivia turned the physical challenges and emotional hardships she had faced since she was a little girl into an engaged life of advocacy for others. So many young people are faced with life-changing hardships—from illness and disease to loss and calamity. What Olivia Goodreau discovers through her journey with chronic Lyme, and what she has been sharing with the world, is that inside of every predicament is also a possibility.

Kidnapped and held for ransom for 18 days by Nigerian pirates, Captain Wren Thomas suffered horrors, bringing to life the reality of modern-day pirating. Faith carried him during, and after captivity a beloved PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) service dog named Beaux eventually saved his life once again.

In many ways, Judy Garland's rise to fame seems almost predestined. Not only was she a national sensation at a young age, but her parents and sisters were all vaudeville entertainers. On top of that, Garland's parents owned and operated a movie theater, making it all the easier to draw the conclusion that singing and acting were simply professions which she was born into by virtue of her pedigree.

Sal Maggio dropped out of college, and joined the NJ Army National Guard. Then he entered the New Jersey State Police Academy, graduated, and started his police career in central New Jersey as a general road trooper. After numerous transfers (none for disciplinary reasons), Maggio spent 19 years on the "road" as a trooper and road sergeant. He recalls many incidents encountered, while working the highways and policing the towns and townships that do not have a local police department.

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.

In Outside the Wire in Blue, coauthors and American Police Officers David Shearman and James "JT” Taman dramatically reveal the highly successful but little-known DOD civilian law-enforcement advisory program born out of the height of the 2006 campaign against the insurgency in Fallujah, Iraq.

Throughout the history of Hollywood, perhaps no actor has a reputation as unique as Johnny Depp. Depp began his career in a very traditional manner by being a teen heartthrob on shows like 21 Jump Street, but as he once admitted, "As a teenager I was so insecure. I was the type of guy that never fitted in because he never dared to choose. I was convinced I had absolutely no talent at all. For nothing. And that thought took away all my ambition too."

Think a Renaissance Man is a thing of the past? Think again. Better yet, listen to the day-to-day adventures of John LaCasse, whose 25-year career as a Seattle yacht broker brought him into deals with business magnates, political figures, actors, royalty, even an organized crime boss—names the listener will recognize. Real-life happenings that turned this mountain boy from Montana into a wizard of wealth, penthouse living, Sports Car-driving, Harley-trekking, drinking and smoking to excess. Then one day wondering, what for? Why am I living this life of fast and furious?

With Chris at his side, Joe takes us from his beloved son’s gravesite where a trusted friend might sometimes leave an empty Landshark bottle to his bedroom (now Joe’s office) in Winnetka, Illinois which still smells of sage and teen sweat, to the Florida Gulf beaches at night where Joe has found hope and affirmation of his son’s everlasting love through shared dialogues, to In Balance Ranch Academy in Arizona, where Chris was a shining star and a leader for troubled youth, and where he also found healing and the love of an American paint horse.

Blood was found at his home in Franklin County, PA. All evidence pointed to one suspect: Scott North, a former employee of Carl’s, a regular attendee of Franklin County courts, and the son of a Chambersburg, PA cop. After burglarizing a tavern, a judge granted him work release, and then another dismissed a recent gun charge. Days later, he ran from his unsupervised worksite and began a crime spree that may have ended with the murder of Carl Wade Ryder.

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.

Jabali spent years being beaten, tortured, starved, sexualized, brainwashed, and confined to a dark closet in both Mexico and the United States. Jabali Smith was a six-year-old in Berkeley, California, when he was trafficked along with his sister over the border into Mexico and held captive by a messianic doomsday sex cult. Slave courageously and boldly chronicles his journey as a child slave - the escape and eventual rise from the ashes of tragedy.

Have you ever wondered, "When will I be good enough?" Like millions of other women, educator/author Barbara Jaffe was faced with that question, but for her, as a "replacement child," the barriers to acceptability were higher than for most of us. Barbara, like many others, was born to fill the vacancy left by her little brother, who died at the age of two.

The year was 1982, and people were dying. A faceless murderer struck fear into the hearts of every American. This unknown killer poisoned Tylenol capsules. He then slipped them back onto drugstore shelves. As the body count rose, panic seized the nation. People scrambled to throw away their medicines, paranoia gripped once-peaceful neighborhoods, and cities canceled Halloween. Decades have passed since this tragic event, but the murders remain unsolved to this day.

When Bogart died in 1957, Bacall was still in her 30s, yet from 1957 onward her name scarcely surfaces in popular culture, as though Bacall was simply wiped away with her late husband.

There is a need for a new generation of politicians to change the world, and Emmanuel Macron could very well be a prototype. Macron Unveiled examines Macron's first four years as France's president, scrutinizing Macron's personality, his way of solving problems, his sources of inspiration, his mistakes, his difficulties, as well as the impact he may already have had in his country, Europe, and the world.

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.

In June 1798, President John Adams signed the now infamous Alien & Sedition Acts to suppress political dissent. Facing imminent personal risks, a gutsy Kentucky newspaper editor ran the first editorial denouncing the law's attempt to stifle the freedom of the press. Almost immediately, government lawyers recommended his arrest and prosecution.