Showing results by narrator "Sean Runnette" in All Categories

Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.

President James Monroe recognized that as the United States matured, it had to convey forcefully what the nation’s place in the world would be. In articulating the Monroe Doctrine, the fifth president declared that the new democratic republic would refrain from seeking to exert control over other nations.

In this vivid new interpretation of Genesis, former Episcopal priest John R. Coats looks at the ancient text and its characters in a new light, as stories about people whose day-to-day concerns, triumphs, and failures are not unlike our own. In fact, understanding the people and stories of Genesis can help you understand your own life, family, and colleagues.

In The Pietist Option, Christopher Gehrz, a historian of Pietism, and Mark Pattie, a pastor in the Pietist tradition, show how Pietism holds great promise for the church-and the world-today. Modeled after Philipp Spener's 1675 classic, Pia Desideria, this timely book makes a case for the vitality of Pietism in our day. Taking a hard look at American evangelicalism and why it needs renewal, Gehrz and Pattie explore the resources that Pietism can provide the church of the 21st century.

They told you the suburbs were a great place to live. They said nothing bad could ever happen here. But they were wrong. This collection of terrifying true stories exposes the dark side of life in the 'burbs—from corpses buried in backyards and ghosts lurking in fast food restaurants to UFOs, vanishing persons, bizarre apparitions, and worse.

President Gerald R. Ford, a member of Congress on the verge of retire­ment, was selected by President Nixon to serve as vice president when Spiro T. Agnew abruptly resigned after being charged with accepting bribes. Within months, Ford would become president when Nixon him­self was forced to resign in the wake of the Watergate scandal. An honest, square-jawed, straight-shooting Midwesterner, Ford pardoned Nixon, believing a pardon was the best thing for the country.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, the United States government unleashed covert operations intended to weaken the Soviet Union. As part of these efforts, the CIA committed to supporting Russian exiles, populations uprooted either during World War Two or by the Russian Revolution decades before. No one seemed better prepared to fight in the American secret war against communism than the uprooted Russians, whom the CIA directed to carry out propaganda, espionage, and subversion operations from their home base in West Germany.

Twelve short stories, 12 points of view, 12 neighborhoods of the same town, and finally, 12 pieces of the same puzzle. Paris Noir takes you on a ride through the old medieval center of town with its intertwined streets, its ghosts, and its secrets buried in history. You'll cruise Paris with its nightclubs full of mysterious beauties who seem to have a lot to hide.

Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager living with a dying mother, a hostile father, and no friends. To cope with these circumstances, Danny forges a reality of his own, which includes the sinister “Three Men in Black,” mysterious lake creatures with insect-like carapaces, a beautiful young seductress and thief, with whom Danny falls in love, and an alien-human love child who—if only Danny can keep her alive—will redeem the planet.

In testing the scope of the president’s power in the field of foreign affairs under the Constitution, John Adams quickly learned that an aggressive approach to exercising executive power could backfire. He found himself caught in a political tug-of-war between the Federalists and the Jeffer­sonian Republicans over foreign affairs.

We often feel powerless in our lives. We have many desires but are limited in our ability to transform those wishes into tangible results. We are confused and unsure about what will really make us happy. In Eternal Dharma, Vishnu Swami guides you on a journey to align yourself with the natural flow of existence through the ancient Eastern knowledge of Veda. Eternal Dharma distills 5,000 years of spiritual wisdom so you can learn to live an enlightened, effective, and fulfilled life.

Chaplains of the Militia is the extraordinary story of those priests accused of complicity in genocide. Chris McGreal takes us from Rwanda in 1994, where he stood among the bodies at one of the many massacres in churches, to modern day France in pursuit of a priest notorious during the genocide for wearing a gun and selecting victims for the machete-waving militia.

President Martin Van Buren, a Jacksonian Democrat, did his best to project a strong executive image, like that of his predecessor. However, the Panic of 1837 crippled Van Buren’s economic plan. His effort to influence the courts in the Amistad case—involving a group of Africans who had staged a revolt from their Spanish captors on the high seas—only fueled his abolitionist opponents.

James Madison, “Father of the Constitution” and a member of the First Congress, was devoted to the concept of a strong union. Madison is seldom considered an adept or successful president. Yet he viewed compromise and attention to the public good as means of keeping the Union intact, even if it meant a diminution of the president’s power.

President William Jefferson Clinton, the first baby boomer to occupy the White House, took office with a group of political foes viewing him as an unworthy president. Clinton was dogged by the Whitewater scandal, the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, and the Monica Lewinsky revelation. His own decision to sign the controversial independent-counsel statute back into law—which led to the appointment of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr—haunted him throughout his time in office.

Herbert Clark Hoover, first an international businessman, a global hero during World War I, and then a cabinet officer under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, was elected president in 1928. The next year, as President Hoover embarked on his progressive agenda for the country, the Roaring Twenties ended, crashingly, in the Great Depression.

George W. Bush (“Bush 43”) won office as a result of a highly contested election that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, dividing the country anew after the polarizing Clinton impeachment. The son of the forty-first president, George W. Bush sought to build a new, more powerful presidency. When ter­rorists struck the World Trade Center on 9/11, Bush used the full authority of his office to wage an unprecedented “war on terror.”

Grover Cleveland’s second term, after a four-year hiatus in private life, was marked by a willingness to take bold action. When socialist union leader Eugene Debs led a railroad strike that threatened to cripple rail transportation and the postal service, President Cleveland and his attorney general used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to obtain an injunction and to successfully prosecute Debs.

With 50 Foods, noted authority Edward Behr has created the definitive guide to the foods every food lover must know. A culinary Baedeker, 50 Foods will delight and inform the connoisseur as well as the novice.

Like Behr's celebrated magazine, the Art of Eating, 50 Foods presents simple, practical information about buying, using, preparing, and enjoying. Behr focuses on aroma, appearance, flavor, and texture to determine what "the best" means for each food.

President William McKinley initially tried at all costs to avoid war with Spain over a rebellion in Cuba. Refusal by Spain of his offer to arbitrate an end to the conflict triggered US military action, which resulted in a swift American victory.