Western Life

Vodun: West African Spiritual Life explores and explains this often-misunderstood religion. It invites listeners to open their eyes and their minds to what Vodun is, where and why began, and how it’s practiced. You may think you know everything you need to know, because you’ve seen Hollywood’s interpretation of these spiritual practices, but this book proves those theories, misconceptions, artistic licenses, and theories wrong.

In the tumultuous landscape of post-Civil War America, "Love on the Oregon Trail" sweeps readers into the heart of Steubenville, Ohio, where dreams of new beginnings clash with haunting memories of the past. Hiram Lewis sells his farm, hoping to carve out a better life for his family out West. Along the journey, his daughter, Mandy, faces her own battles: lost love, unexpected encounters with a reckless suitor, and the aching weight of responsibility for her baby sister, Mary. As the Lewis family forges ahead, they find themselves entangled with the Gilleys, whose own struggles of love and ...

Can a marriage of convenience uncover the truth? Merle Larsen doesn't believe in love. But he needs a wife to inherit the ranch, and the waitress at the local diner seems to be single, sweet, and not expecting too much of life. He can't offer his heart, but he can offer to take care of her. Lu is glad to have snagged a waitress job in a small town where nobody knows her. It's safe, but lonely... At least she can dream about the rugged cowboy at table four, even though he belongs to the town's most powerful family. When Merle asks Lu for a loveless marriage of convenience, she can't make ...

*New Edited Version* This is my self-written autobiography, my true story, starting out as a young educated cosmopolitan woman from Athens Greece when life was opening up before me, full of promise. With dreams of living in Paris, the City of Light that I loved so much… However, love beckoned me in the form of a charming Arab with promises of paradise and I decided to leave everything behind, including my dreams. However, my marriage to a handsome important Saudi will become my prison from which escape seems impossible… Will she make it? Will she manage to escape the nightmare and ...

Among the legendary heroes and outlaws of the Wild West, few names echo louder than that of Wild Bill Hickok. Wild Bill wasn’t just a name whispered in saloons or shouted on the stage of Buffalo Bill’s world-famous Wild West shows. Long before he stepped onto any stage, Wild Bill had carved his path in blood, sweat, and gunpowder. He was a Civil War scout who could read the vast plains like a map, a fearless marshal who faced down lawlessness, and a frontier sheriff whose very name sent ripples through the towns he protected.

When Regina Burns married Blue Hamilton, she knew he was no ordinary man. Regina enjoyed a circle of engaging friends and her own work as communications consultant, but she especially relished the company of her husband, who never ceased to be a source of passion and delight. Then everything changes. Frightened women are showing up in West End, seeking Blue's protection from lovers who have suddenly become violent.

True West: Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard’s long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American archetype: the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land.

Armstrong Brant stepped between Glory Baldwin and a charging cow. He ended up with broken ribs and a farm and family he couldn’t care for through the pain. At the prompting of the Sweet Water Piece Makers Quilting Club, Glory volunteered to watch Armstrong’s four children while he recovers. She owed him, and it made sense. But she never expected to fall for a man with four boys.

For this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier.

A historical fiction book set in the Staked Plains of the American West during the 19th century. Embark on a gripping journey across the unforgiving Staked Plains alongside the Jasper family in "The Treacherous Drive." This tale of courage and resilience follows young Jamie Jasper as he navigates the trials of a perilous cattle drive, where the harshness of nature and the weight of responsibility test the bonds of family and friendship. As the Jasper family battles the scorching heat, dwindling water, and lurking dangers of the plains, Jamie's adventurous spirit leads him into both ...

Hart Jarrett was only supposed to be passing through Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He wasn’t supposed to get involved, no emotional entanglements to tie him down. Setting down roots was never part of the plan, not until he opened himself up to love. Too bad the man he bet on bailed and left Hart holding the ranch. There were two choices after that: run away, or stay and build something real from nothing. Nearly six years later, Hart has created a home and a life he never expected, with the help of his best friend and foreman, Morgan Brace.

Resist and Evade follows Sam and Jane Archer as they continue their nightmarish journey through an increasingly hostile and unrecognizable landscape. Torn between a fundamental duty to protect family and their sworn service to community, the Archers reach a critical decision point -- with all or nothing stakes. As local police officers and military veterans start to retake their communities from a gang of ruthless criminals, unbreakable bonds will be forged and unthinkable sacrifices will be made.

In The Knife Man, Wendy Moore unveils John Hunter's murky and macabre world - a world characterized by public hangings, secret expeditions to dank churchyards, and gruesome human dissections in pungent attic rooms. This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable pioneer and his determined struggle to haul surgery out of the realms of meaningless superstitious ritual and into the dawn of modern medicine.

One look at the rugged rancher, and the years melted away. The man who once set my world on fire still had the power to ignite a passion I thought was long gone. Kelvin Kensington—my first love and the father of my son—never knew the truth. After our unforgettable nights, I found myself pregnant at 19, but with him deployed, I couldn’t reach him. Pressured by my parents, I married another man to avoid shame. Now, my ex—the nightmare I escaped—is threatening to reveal the secret I’ve guarded for so long. I wouldn’t tell Kelvin if it weren’t for the threats, but he needs to ...

Most of us would agree that there’s a clear—and even obvious—connection between the things we believe and the way we behave. But what if our actions are driven not by our conscious values and beliefs but by hidden motivations we’re not even aware of? The “hidden brain” is Shankar Vedantam’s shorthand for a host of brain functions, emotional responses, and cognitive processes that happen outside our conscious awareness but have a decisive effect on how we behave.

Jane Tanner’s friends are settling down, while she’s been settling for less. She longs for adventure and the big city, but caring for her ailing grandfather means she's shackled to her small town. She’s excited her vintage gift shop is finally up and running, but it’s not enough. Longing to fulfill at least one dream—to become a mother before her biological clock ticks out—Jane drunkenly propositions the worst possible candidate for Dad.

Alice Sullivan feels like she’s finally found her groove in middle age, but it only takes one moment for her perfectly curated life to unravel. On the same day she learns her daughter is struggling in second grade, a call from her son’s school accusing him of bullying throws Alice into a tailspin.

Born in London, in 1889, Charlie Chaplin grew up in dire poverty. Both his parents were in show business, but severe alcoholism cut short his father's flourishing career, and his beloved mother first lost her voice, then lost her mind to syphilis. Charlie, at age seven, was committed to the Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. How then did this poor, lonely child become such an extraordinary comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Chaplin cut his teeth in British music halls, but it was America that made him.

In the classic New York Times best-seller, First Person Plural, West offers a poignant account of his efforts to understand the workings of his fragmented mind and to heal his damage spirit as he desperately hangs on to the slender thread that connects him to his wife, Rikki, his son Kyle, and some semblance of a regular life.

Of all the legends and folk heroes who lived in the 19th century, men such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, few actually accomplished as much as Kit Carson. A frontier boy who hopped onto the Santa Fe Trail as a teen, Carson became the quintessential mountain man during the 1830s and was literally a trailblazer for John C. Fremont's historic expeditions through the West in the 1840s.