Showing results by narrator "Jeffrey Machado" in All Categories

When fifteen-year-old Trayvon Clapper is murdered by a guard at Camp B in Florida, his fringe-living mother and boyfriend come to Bergman-Deketomis to file a lawsuit against the facility. Details of the case trigger in Deke memories of his own troubled childhood. As a boy, Deke had no stable parents around him, so he lived with several different families over the years as he grew up, avoiding the foster care system. However, his best friend, Bucky, was not so fortunate.

Whether you’re a teenager figuring out who your people are, a young adult navigating new cities and shifting circles, or someone in midlife or beyond wondering what happened to the closeness you once felt—How to Be a Friend (In an Unfriendly World) is for you.

Stay defiant. Most people settle. They take the safe job, follow the accepted path, and silence the voice that says there's something more. One day, they realize they've been living someone else's life. Consistency, compliance, and complacency aren't virtues. They're traps that keep you stuck...

The Home Model is the love story—and life story—of Jennifer and Bryan Martin. It began when they were a young couple dreaming about the kind of home they wanted for their future children. Long before the babies arrived, the vision was already alive in their hearts. They were thrilled to become Mom and Dad. Love swept them into a joy that felt as natural and powerful as the sun, the moon, and the stars. Life felt like a beautiful fable…until reality set in.

A sweeping history of Christianity in America, from the arrival of the first Europeans to the political triumphs of evangelicalism, showing the powerful, singular role the faith has always played in American public life. In the United States today, there is no faith more dominant than...

In the gripping title story, a Vietnam vet revisits the war-torn landscape of his past, searching for the grave of a forgotten soldier—only to uncover far more than he bargained for. In another tale, a wildlife photographer in the African savanna risks everything for a chance at true love. A thief escaping Central America finds himself aboard a ship, only to be thrust into the peril of an approaching storm.

In the realm of small businesses, a common obstacle is the lack of leadership. To bridge this gap, this book offers a comprehensive guide incorporating the wisdom amassed over years of practical business experience. Authored by an industry expert, the content is derived from a bi-weekly blog that was initially addressed to his leadership team, and now has been curated into a single, impactful volume for a wider audience.

“Read the tape” is the first lesson Bennett Gates learns after discovering podcast host Mike Shapiro. That nugget of wisdom catapults his journey of personal and professional transformation. Follow Bennett’s journey of self-discovery as he listens to Mike’s podcast and applies the lessons learned to his own life. While feeling lost without direction and having a hard time finding success, Bennett "finds his inner genius,” a “Mikeism” he learns during one of the podcasts.

A year after Emma Henson, a young, genius biotech scientist, dies in a covert AI brain-chip experiment, her father, Josh, has nothing left to live for and vows to get revenge on the Silicon Valley CEO responsible. Josh has thirty days to make his homemade bombs and to say goodbye to life. To give himself courage in the countdown, he records daily video messages to his lost "Em." Memories flood him as he searches for the moments in Emma’s short life where he could have been a better father and saved her.

The Boardroom Journey: Practical Guidance for Women to Secure a Seat Table by Dr. Keith D. Dorsey offers a clear, actionable roadmap for women at any career stage to strategically build a path to the boardroom. The evidence-based strategies and inspiring success stories presented throughout this book have been gleaned from interviews with hundreds of current corporate board members.

Two expert collaborative problem solvers deliver an incisive, hands-on guide to de-escalating conflict and constructively engaging with those you disagree with to find better solutions to problems. In this book full of real-life stories and examples, you'll find a collection of tried and tested strategies you can employ immediately as you negotiate and navigate your most seemingly intractable conflicts. You'll learn how finding what the authors call “higher ground” can advance your interests even when facing people and groups you think you have little in common with.

Newly minted research economists are equipped with a PhD’s worth of technical and scientific expertise but often lack some of the practical tools necessary for “doing economics.” With this book, economics professor Marc Bellemare breaks down the components of doing research economics and examines each in turn.

The city of Tafuna may be located on a tropical paradise, but it's no stranger to crime. Just like anywhere else in the world, it has its fair share of murder, drugs, and robbery. Which makes Apelu Soifua the perfect man for his job. He's a cop of two worlds: San Francisco, where he started his career, and now his native Samoa. Following up on a routine burglary call, Apelu heads to a palangi, or Caucasian, neighborhood. The victim, a VP at SeaKing Tuna—the largest employer on the island—reports only a few items missing.

Det. Apelu Soifua risks losing his career—and his life—in a case that exposes the dark heart of American Samoa, from the author of Pago Pago Tango. Long before he was a cop, Apelu Soifua performed as a fire knife dancer during his teen years in San Francisco. The Polynesian dance troupe was headed by Ezra Strand and his wife, who now live in a secluded house on the cliffs between the ocean and the jungle in Piapiatele. The elderly Ezra has once again been caught discharging a firearm, and Apelu must confiscate the weapon. He never expects Ezra to turn the shotgun on him.

In Growing Moral, philosopher Stephen C. Angle engages listeners to reflect on and to practice the teachings of Confucianism in the contemporary world. Angle draws on the whole history of Confucianism, focusing on three thinkers from the classical era (Kongzi, Mengzi, and Xunzi) and two from the Neo-Confucian era (Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming). While laying out the fundamental teachings of Confucianism, the book highlights the enduring lessons that the philosophy offers contemporary listeners.