History Storytellers

World at War follows the stories of several men along their journey throughout WW1 and WW2. Walk in the boots of the world’s fighters during long years of slaughter, exhaustion, and the near-collapse of our civilization. Hear about about a time when many of the world’s mightiest empires were reduced to rubble, millions of people killed, and the foundations of our modern world fractured forever.

In this collection of natural-history essays, biologist Joan Maloof embarks on a series of lively, fact-filled expeditions into forests of the eastern United States. Through Maloof's engaging, conversational style, each essay offers a lesson in stewardship as it explores the interwoven connections between a tree species and the animals and insects whose lives depend on it - and who, in turn, work to ensure the tree's survival.

WW2: Spies, Snipers and Tales of the World at War follows the stories of several men along their war journey. Walk in the boots of the world’s fighters during long years of slaughter, exhaustion, and the near collapse of our civilization. Hear about a time when many of the world’s mightiest empires were reduced to rubble, millions of people killed, and the foundations of our modern world fractured forever.

Have you ever read a suspense novel so good you had to stop and think to yourself, "How did the author come up with this idea? Their characters? Is some of this story real?" For more than five years, Mark Rubinstein, physician, psychiatrist, and mystery and thriller writer, had the chance to ask the most well-known authors in the field just these kinds of questions in interviews for the Huffington Post. Collected here are interviews with 47 accomplished authors, including Michael Connelly, Ken Follett, Meg Gardiner, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, and Don Winslow.

Sefia is determined to keep Archer out of the Guard's clutches and their plans for war between the Five Kingdoms. The Book, the ancient, infinite codex of the past, present, and future, tells of a prophecy that will plunge Kelanna in that bloody war, but it requires a boy - Archer - and Sefia will stop at nothing to ensure his safety. The Guard has already stolen her mother, her father, and her Aunt Nin. Sefia would sooner die than let them take anymore from her - especially the boy she loves.

The war for the Pacific rages on. The US has set their sights on the Tarawa atoll - a small yet vital island which, if captured, would give the Allies a powerful stepping stone into the heart of Japanese waters and the rest of the Gilbert Islands. Through a coordinated assault of carefully planned beach landings, the Marines made their attack on November 20, 1943...and encountered a resistance so fierce and violent it shook the Allies to the core.

Spotlighting an extraordinary career, this autobiography reviews the author’s accomplishments working and playing alongside some of Canada’s greatest writers. These humorous chronicles relate the projects he brainstormed for writer Barry Broadfoot, how he convinced eventual Nobel Prize contender Alice Munro to keep writing short stories, his early morning phone call from a former Prime Minister, and his recollection of yanking a manuscript right out of Alistair MacLeod’s own reluctant hands....

The invasion of Saipan kicked open the doors to Tokyo. In June 1944, American forces had their sights focused on the Marianas islands. Located about 1,500 miles from Japan's major cities, these islands would be used as bases for the new Boeing B-29 heavy bomber, which could strike Japan's most important cities.

Sage Singer has a past that makes her want to hide from the world. But when she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Josef Weber, a quiet old man and respected pillar of the community, she feels that finally, she may have found someone she can open up to. Until Josef tells her the evil secret he's kept for sixty years…

Listen to this detailed and chilling account of the influenza outbreak of 1918. A terrifying virus that stretched across the globe. Even now, a century after the great flu of 1918, which left an estimated 50 to 100 million people dead worldwide, there's still no cure. This audiobook examines influenza from all sorts of angles - history, diagnosis and treatment, economics and epidemiology‚ healthcare policy, and prevention.

A daring captain. A ship full of weapons. And a sinister plot that could cripple Britain. In the heart of world war one, a devious plan devised by the German navy led to Naval Officer Captain Karl Spindler embarking on a perilous and secret mission. His task - to deliver German weaponry to Ireland and spark what would become the Easter Uprising. Departing from Norway with a disguised ship, Spindler undertook a perilous mission with a small crew and a hold full of explosives.

In 17th century Paris, a group of women who called themselves conteuses (female storytellers) came together to weave the very first fairy tales. One of them, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, actually coined the term ‘fairy tale’ and some of these stories contain many familiar (and well-loved) elements that appear in tales like Rapunzel and Beauty and the Beast. Unfortunately, these women, and their tales, have mostly been forgotten to history. Women of the Fairytale Resistance uncovers seven of these writer’s biographies—and retells 12 of their original stories.

Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities, I have decided to tell these stories just as I have always done, in my own voice. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I’ve recorded and can’t wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child.

On a long, cold Icelandic night in March 1920, Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith, finds himself with an unwanted lodger - Sigurd, an injured stranger who offers a story from the past. But some stories, even those of an old man who can barely walk, are too dangerous to hear. They alter the listeners' lives forever...by ending them. Others are keen on changing Gunnar's life as well. Depending on who gets to tell his story, it might lead toward an unwanted marriage, an intervention, rejoining the Church, letting the elf drive him insane, or succumbing to the demons in his mind.

Suspended in an eerie state of limbo, an entity called the Gatekeeper tells Nikki, Ronnie, and Mrs. Hawthorne they are on the cusp of entering the afterlife—but only if the women can persuade him that in their earthly lives, they knew the meaning of love. Fragments of their memories return, plunging them back into their pasts, and forcing them to face the desires, disappointments, addictions, lies, and obsessions they battled in life. But before time runs out, will they find the answer to the ultimate question: what is love?

Born in Britain, Saira Shah was inspired by her father's dazzling stories to rediscover the now lost life their forebears knew for 900 years within sight of orchards, snow-topped mountains, and the minarets of Kabul. This is Saira, part sophisticated and sensitive Western liberal, part fearless (even fierce) life-gulping Afghan, falling in love with her ancestral myth, chasing Afghanistan.

This project has taken me a lot longer than anticipated. I would guess that I’ve been at it for more than 20 years. It started as a result of wanting to let the mother of a fallen soldier know what happened to her son, as well as where his death took place. She and I had been in contact over the years, during which she asked quite a few questions; so I began writing it all down.

It is 1876 America. Ulysses S. Grant is completing his second term as president, the Civil War has been over for 11 years, and Sitting Bull’s Lakota have just defeated Custer’s seventh calvary. But now as rumors begin circulating about a mystical being that is stalking the moonlit skeletons on the battlefield, the US Army begins developing a plan to investigate. A year later, the army dispatches an expedition to return to the Little Bighorn to retrieve the remains of the officers and unearth the alleged mystery behind the rumors.

Keri Cleary is worried about her brother, Alistair. Everyone is worried about Alistair. As the one witness to a shooting, he has been shocked into silence. But everyone needs to know three things: Who shot Kyle Dwyer? Where is Charlie Dwyer? What does this all have to do with the disappearance of Fiona Loomis? Perhaps the answers lie in stories. As Alistair makes strange confessions to his sister, Keri becomes inspired.

Lieutenant John Ryan couldn’t wait to see action in WWI. He joined up with the British colors out of Canada. As one of several American pilots in the Royal Flying Corps before the US joined the war, he earned his wings and became an ace through fierce air battles over the skies of Germany. After getting shot down twice behind enemy lines, Lieutenant Ryan recounts the trials, tragedies, and tribulations of 72 days on the run behind enemy lines.