Showing results by narrator "Dan Gallagher" in All Categories

Today, the world is in the midst of the transformative and ever-developing digital age, otherwise referred to as the “age of Information.” It has been an unprecedented, remarkable, and explosive era marked by social media and computer-generated imagery (and with it, deep fakes), among other novel, previously unimaginable concepts.

Of all the Civil War generals, none have been mythologized like Stonewall Jackson, whose quirks and piety have made him a subject of study among military historians and Christians alike. This audiobook closely examines Jackson’s military career and discusses the legends and mystique that have since surrounded his legacy, but it also humanizes the devoutly religious and tender husband who humored his students at Virginia Military Institute.

On July 21, 2003, in a speech urging Middle Eastern governments to band together and “[fight] terrorism in all its forms”, President George W. Bush had declared that terrorism was fueling the governments of Syria and Iran. About two years later, he reiterated the bold statement in his State of the Union address, lambasting Iran as the world's “primary state sponsor of terror”. These hostile sentiments toward Iran only continued to escalate.

The Weimar Republic has become a byword for a failed, tragic political experiment. The official period of its existence, 1919-1933, marked the inter-war years in Germany and their related uncertainty, chaos, and the state’s ultimate collapse. Historians have found the roots of Nazism embedded in the Weimar years and that in the final analysis, Weimar politicians voluntarily handed over power to the man who wrought destruction on an epic scale, Adolf Hitler.

Hank Hammond, ink hardly dry on his private investigator business cards, never anticipated that a chance encounter with a pair of suspicious characters and a mysterious crate would change his life forever. But it did, and nearly ended his life...also very much forever. And the deeper Hank gets into his investigation, the more the danger spreads until ultimately imperiling other innocent - and not so innocent - people, including his client, wealthy octogenarian Walter Tompkins, the client's favorite grandson Richard, and Hank's reluctant investigating partner, legal assistant Lori Reed.

When Jolie Gentil goes to buy a cup of coffee the morning after a storm knocks out power at her house in Ocean Alley, she finds Java Jolt unlocked and minus its owner. A bigger surprise is seeing proprietor Joe Regan a few minutes later, badly injured. It seems a potential killer thinks Jolie has something Joe was hiding. The normal routine of appraising houses and volunteering at the Harvest for All food pantry is interrupted by an SUV that nearly smashes Jolie, a break-in at the home Jolie and Scoobie share, and a terrifying kidnapping.

Gold Digger is the pilot novel of The Case Files of Harvey Valentine Private Dick. Written in the tradition of old time radio private detectives, and film noir for the modern era. In this novel, the listener gets inside Harvey's head and learns what makes him tick, and discovers the local corruption existing in Harvey's home town.

The Palace of the Soviets was an unrealized project for the construction of a high-rise administrative building in Moscow to be used for sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and mass demonstrations. The height of the Palace of the Soviets, together with the 100-meter statue of Vladimir Lenin, would be 415 meters. The palace was to become the center of the new Soviet Moscow and the tallest building in the world, symbolizing the victory of socialism. This audiobook examines the grand designs envisioned by the USSR, and how the horrors of war indefinitely scrapped the project.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous women in American history, and from an early age, every American learns of her contributions to abolition and the Underground Railroad. The woman who became known as the Moses of her people personally led more than 13 expeditions to free slaves in the South, and she was so integral in helping escaped slaves achieve freedom that her name is practically synonymous with the Underground Railroad today.

North Korea would be horrific enough if it was a fictional place, but its nuclear weapons program is all too real. Meanwhile, rumors regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities have understandably left many nations on the edges of their seats. Experts insist that the Iranian propaganda program is chiefly responsible for entrenching into its masses a resentment of the West, unlike North Korea, which proudly walls itself off from the rest of civilization.

James Dean has been mythologized more than any other actor in history, a development due more to his off-screen personality and conduct than the films he actually starred in. Much of Dean's appeal derives from his humble and ordinary origins, and audiences are drawn to the romance of the Indiana farm boy who catapulted to the top of the motion picture industry in a single year - the same year that would see him die. Of course, James Dean remains well-known for being anything but humble and ordinary.

Hinduism is one of the world’s great religions, dominating the Indian subcontinent for most of the last millennium, and its largest temple is an unbelievably magnificent structure located in Angkor, Cambodia. Known in English as Angkor Wat (“City Temple”), the gigantic complex was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century to serve as the king’s state temple and capital city. Since it has remained so finely preserved, it has maintained religious significance for nearly 900 years, first dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, and then Buddhist.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to Communism. The most famous victims of these witch hunts were Hollywood actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, whose "Un-American activity" was being neutral at the beginning of World War II. By the late 1950s, the hysteria had waned, recognized in large measure as an overreaction.

Why is North Korea so starkly different from its neighbors when nothing more but mere borders separate them? A tyrannical lineage secured by nepotism. An entire nation indoctrinated by chilling, mindboggling propaganda, molded by fear and forced ignorance. Mass purges doled out seemingly on whims, without fair trials. Unparalleled paranoia and cold-blooded assassinations left and right. An impoverished sphere of barren wastelands inhabited by malnourished masses.

Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence on May 3, 1469, as Florence was undergoing its transition into the Renaissance, guided by the Medicis. Machiavelli was a public servant during the Republic, losing his office when the Medicis returned to power. Despite that, Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to the ruling Medici of the time, leading some today to still speculate whether the book was a satire.

The Founding Fathers have been revered by Americans for over 200 years, celebrated for creating a new nation founded upon the loftiest ideals of democracy and meritocracy. But if the American Dream has come to represent the ability to climb the social ladder with skill and hard work, no Founding Father represented the new America more than Alexander Hamilton.

Over the centuries, the West has become fascinated by the Vikings, one of the most mysterious and interesting European civilizations. In addition to being perceived as a remarkably unique culture among its European counterparts, what’s known and not known about the Vikings’ accomplishments has added an intriguing aura to the historical narrative. Were they fierce and fearsome warriors? Were they the first Europeans to visit North America? It seems some of the legends are true, and some are just that, legend.

Despite the fact the border between North Korea and South Korea remains tense, and former President Bill Clinton once branded it the "scariest place on Earth," more than 7.5 million tourists have visited the notorious demilitarized zone for one reason or another. There, they gazed upon a treacherous but evidently intriguing strip of land, guarded by estranged brothers with a chilling array of weapons directed at one another at all times.

With the exception of George Washington, perhaps the most famous general in American history is Robert E. Lee (January 19, 1807-October 12, 1870), despite the fact he led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia against the Union in the Civil War. Although the Civil War came to define Lee’s legacy, he was involved in some of American history’s other turning points, including the Mexican-American War and the capture of John Brown.

In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the fourth century, when Constantine the Great shifted the power center of the Roman Empire there, effectively establishing two almost equally powerful halves of antiquity's greatest empire. Constantinople would continue to serve as the capital of the Byzantine Empire even after the Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in the late fifth century.