Showing results by narrator "Chris Sorensen" in All Categories

America's history is rich with tales of legendary entrepreneurs who disregarded the "experts" and risked everything to chase their dreams. But for every well-known Tom Edison or Bill Gates, there are unsung thousands whose vision and perseverance have won them success. Here are some of their stories.

After her son's senseless murder, Linda Zweigle knew she could help one dying man. She had no idea, however, just how many lives would eventually be saved as a result.

Helen Perley lived up to her nickname. First and last, the "Animal Lady" was a teacher, giving innumerable tours through the farm and nature walks in the woods and bringing animals with her to schools and nursing homes. If a young person had a special passion for animals, she would spot it instantly, calling it "the spark".

Dave didn't like school, and it showed. As a consequence, his teachers didn't always like Dave. They accused the dark-haired, outgoing, and popular youth of "acting out". But that was before Dave met Frank, a 20-year-old with Down syndrome.

With flames in her hair, her nostrils filled with smoke, eight-year-old Rona Mahilum grabbed the first child she could and rushed down the ladder steps to safety. She then ran back into the smoke, squinting and holding her breath.

The trail went cold for the massive team of trackers - until a dog named Gandalf appeared on the scene.

In December 1988, policeman Danny Miller arrived on a scene he will never forget: a trembling burglar standing at attention before a growling German shepherd. Oden, also known as Badge No. 85, wasn't just the officer's newest partner. He was a cop's best friend.

Despite nearly giving up on his education in his youth, Yang-chin Chi would go on to found South Korea's first private social-welfare center for the poor and become a renowned scholar.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on others; remember just how much difference one person can make in someone's life.

Jeanne Szuber's body tightened as her mind held on to an image of her daughter, Patti, an effervescent, bright­-eyed 22-year-old, the youngest of their six children and one of only two still living at home. "I'm so sorry," the voice on the phone said gently. "I have to tell you that death may be moments away. I'm so very sorry." Jeanne looked at her husband of 37 years. "It's Patti," she whispered, though she knew that Chet knew. "They don't think there's a chance."

"You are fond of Bach?" asked a gentle but surprisingly penetrating voice on my right. I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear fission. I did, however, know one of the most famous faces in the world, with his renowned shock of untidy white hair and an ever-present pipe between his teeth.

The child's hair was wheat yellow, her eyes were sea blue, and once upon a time, not long before, Pete Richards had been in love with a girl with hair of that same yellow and with eyes just as blue. And the turquoise necklace was to have been hers. But there had come a rainy night - a truck skidding on a slippery road - and the life was crushed out of his dream.

When my father said work, he meant work. I dug post holes every morning, slamming that digger into the ground until I had tough calluses on my hands. I had hated hole digging, but it seemed to release some knot inside me, as if the anger I felt went driving into the earth, and I slowly started to feel I could get through this rotten time.

Although poverty and violence persisted, I witnessed the dismantlement of the legal architecture of segregation and a rise in the fortunes of Americans of all races. But I saw something else evolve, too - something disturbing. Despite our great advances, people of different races simply don't talk candidly to each other about race. There is no genuine communication about our differences or our shared values, and, even more sadly, there seems to be a growing lack of interest in trying.

At Christmastime, men and women everywhere gather to worship and wonder anew at the greatest miracle the world has ever known. But Rev. Howard C. Schade's favorite story to recall wasn't a miracle - well, not exactly.

What lights the spark that ignites a revolution? Lost in the story of America’s path to independence is the tumultuous nature of that nation’s origins: the interplay of ideologies and personalities that provoked a group of merchants, farmers, artisans, and sailors to take up arms in pursuit of liberty.... A city of 15,000 inhabitants packed onto a land-connected island a little over one square mile, Boston in 1775 was also a city occupied by the British.

Most people think that Monopoly was invented by an unemployed Pennsylvanian who sold his game to Parker Brothers during the Great Depression in 1935 and lived happily - and richly - ever after. That story, however, is not exactly true. The Monopolists reveals the unknown story of how Monopoly came into existence, the reinvention of its history by Parker Brothers, the lost female originator of the game, and one man's lifelong obsession to tell the true story about the game's questionable origins.

When Leo Nolan's father dies in 1995, his stepson, Adam, now twenty-one, finally asks the question that he has never asked, the question he could never ask. He asks it simply. "Is my father alive?" Thus begins this new odyssey to Dayton, Ohio, to the past, accompanied by family ghosts and the hard truths of the present. Leo's quest is both simple and complex: the need in the human heart for redemption, resolution and homecoming.

Travel north - beyond the Arctic Circle - to Barrow, Alaska, and meet the proud Iñupiaq people. For thousands of years they have hunted whales on the open sea, but now global climate change threatens their way of life. The whale hunt is about to begin, and you're invited to come along! Just as soon as the ice covering the ocean cracks apart, the whales will appear. Set out with the Iñupiaqs in their bearded-sealskin boats to hunt bowhead whales, and witness a tradition that has been followed for 3,000 years.

The epic adventure reaches its zenith, as humankind fights for its very existence. The fearsome armies of the Csendook, sworn destroyers of the human race, have discovered their hidden sanctuary, all but guaranteeing their victory. With the final confrontation at last at hand, the renegade hero Ussemitus struggles to unite humans and the warriors of Innasmorn. But in the face of impending doom, the corrupt master of Man's last citadel seeks to harness the dark and elemental powers of the planet called Mother of Storms in his attempt to win back an empire.