Showing results by narrator "Ray Montecalvo" in All Categories

On March 20, 1822, the Missouri Republican published a notice addressed “to enterprising young men” in the St. Louis area. “The subscriber,” it said, “wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry…or of the subscriber near St. Louise.” The “subscriber” was General William H. Ashley, and among the “enterprising young men” who embarked with Major Henry less than a month later was 18-year-old James Bridger.

Everyone deserves a vacation… even Grant Wolfe. But private investigators don't get to choose when cases come their way, especially this shocking kidnapping in Hawaii… Where Grant is the victim!

From the author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies, a probing exploration of the bizarre and dangerous conspiracies that have roiled America over the past decade and captured the minds of so many Americans Some of the conspiracy theories now gripping American politics contend that Joe...

Louis "Pete" Rogers Browning was one of the greatest baseball players of the nineteenth century. His skills with the bat made the difficult art of hitting a baseball appear easy. Over his thirteen-year career, he won three batting titles, finished in the top three nine times, and was one of the premodern era's greatest hitters. Browning is recognized as not only the namesake but also the genesis for the famed Louisville Slugger, as the Hillerich & Bradsby Company shaped the first ever custom-made bat based on his instructions.

The American Revolution gave birth to a nation, forever changed the course of political thought, and shattered and transformed the lives of the citizens of the new republic. An iconic figure of the Old Northwest, governor, Indian fighter, general in the War of 1812, and ultimately president, William Henry Harrison was one such citizen. The son of a rich Virginia planter, Harrison saw his family mansion burned and his relatives scattered.

After the tragedies befalling their parents… siblings Grant Wolfe and Charlotte Greene prepare to return to their broken lives, a continent apart. But when a persuasive associate of their late father asks them to track down a precious gem stolen from his estate, the pair are thrust back together in their first paying job as a private investigation team. As they unravel the convoluted secrets behind the infamous jewel, their research leads them to Tanzania and the mysterious East African Island of Zanzibar.

Although Montaigne’s writing resists easy analysis, Montaigne includes seven essays before he even explicitly states the purpose of the Essays. Manent finds in it a subtle unity, and demonstrates both the philosophical depth of Montaigne’s reflections and the distinctive and even radical character of his central ideas.

The Revolutionary War is often celebrated as marking the birth of American republicanism, liberty, and representative democracy. Yet for the tens of thousands of British and Hessian troops sent 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to wage war under alien skies, such a progressive picture, as Vaughn Scribner reveals, could not have been further from the truth. In Under Alien Skies, Scribner illustrates how foreign soldiers' negative perceptions of the American environment merged with harsh wartime realities to elicit considerable physical, mental, and emotional anguish.

In Unfriendly to Liberty, Christopher F. Minty explores the origins of loyalism in New York City between 1768 and 1776, and revises our understanding of the coming of the American Revolution.

The White Cockade is the story of the early days of the American Revolution and of the men and women caught up in it: Josiah, who doesn’t want war but can’t escape it. Hugo, once Josiah’s best friend but now his bitter enemy. Mercy, who dreams of marrying Josiah. Walter, eager to fight the British. Alice, whose desperate love for Josiah knows no limits. Tarleton, the roguish, womanizing British officer. Patrick, who can solve the most complex mathematical equations while living in his own world.

When rookie teacher Todd Hunter greets his first class of ninth graders, he sees in half their faces bedtime stories and good-night kisses, piano lessons and 4-H clubs. In the other half, he sees ducking and dodging, last picked and first kicked. At that moment, Todd decides to make the bruised and beaten half of his class as successful as the cheerful, confident half. Somehow, some way, he’s going to help the pelicans soar with the eagles.

Caleb Saunders, the elusive ex-government assassin known as Corsair, is navigating the shadows, juggling the responsibilities of protecting not only his daughter but also Khloe—a young woman he rescued from the clutches of the mafia and drug cartels. As he strives to secure new identities for Khloe, Corsair is drawn to Cartagena, Colombia, on an assignment for a skilled counterfeiter. However, in this vibrant city, he unexpectedly crosses paths with an old adversary, Minuit, a former DGSE agent with a personal vendetta against Corsair, further fueled by the bounty on Caleb's head.

Charlie Greene's life is unraveling…. Dismissed from Scotland Yard, she's jobless, aimless, and living with her father in London. But as she struggles to get her life in order, he mysteriously disappears while on a business trip to Florida. With nothing more than a duffel bag and an uneasy feeling, Charlie flies to Miami and quickly discovers… someone has their sights set on her too.

In The Devil and Philosophy, 34 philosophers explore questions about one of the most recognizable and influential characters (villains?) of all time. From Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion to Bram Stoker's Dracula to Darth Vader to Al Pacino's iconic performance in The Devil's Advocate, this book demonstrates that a little devil goes a long way.

Caleb Saunders was a killer—codenamed Corsair—working for a shadowy government office. Until one day he vanished in the middle of an assignment. Presumed dead, Caleb Saunders assumed a new role—father. When a random crime steals that away, Corsair is unmasked. Now, he's in hiding again, trying to find a new life. But his enemies know he's alive, and they'll stop at nothing to make sure he dies with all his secrets.

Walker Monroe, Yale professor, librarian, and expert in ancient languages, gets an unexpected visit from two U.S. Geological Service members. They show him a piece of unknown metal engraved with a mysterious, coded text, and seek his help in translating it.

Blankenship identifies three factors that determine the severity of this burden-sharing dilemma and how it is managed: the latent military power of allies, the shared external threat environment, and the level of a patron's resource constraints. Through case studies of US alliances formed during the Cold War, he shows that a patron can mitigate the dilemma by combining assurances of protection with threats of abandonment and by exercising discretion in its burden-sharing pressure.

Esteemed bounty hunter Charlie Archer isn’t looking for that one last majestic ride into the sunset. He’d much prefer to spend his days hitting the bars and blackjack tables, and his evenings mourning the loss of his family. But when a representative from the United States government comes knocking on the door with an opportunity too good to turn down, well...looks like Charlie will be jumping into that saddle for one last hunt—track down the bastard Francis Burner, murderer of his wife and child.

James Abijah Brooks (1855-1944) was one of the four Great Captains in Texas Ranger history, others including Bill McDonald, John Hughes, and John Rogers. Over the years historians have referred to the captain as “John” Brooks, because he tended to sign with his initials, but also because W. W. Sterling’s classic Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger mistakenly named him as Captain John Brooks.

Caleb Saunders was a killer—codenamed Corsair—working for a shadowy government office. Until one day he vanished in the middle of an assignment. Presumed dead, Caleb Saunders assumed a new role—father. When a random crime steals that away, Corsair is unmasked. Now, he's in hiding again, trying to find a new life. But his enemies know he's alive, and they'll stop at nothing to make sure he dies with all his secrets.