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NPR ROAD TRIPS: ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS (audiobook)

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Published in 2009 by HighBridge Audio Multicast Performance Duration: about 1 hour. National Public Radio has combed through its broadcast archives and found 13 different stories about the great American institution - the road trip. But, these aren't just any stories. These are stories that feature another great American institution - the roadside attraction.  The stories cover a variety of quirky attractions including the Elvis Is Alive Museum, The Velveteria (featuring black velvet paintings of Elvis and lots more!), the world's 2nd biggest ball of twine, a series of backyard folk art exhibits in Michigan and even a couple of more famous attractions like Florida's Cypress Gardens and Seattle's Space Needle. A slightly off topic, but very interesting, story about the famed Burma Shave signs is also included. The stories wind up with the story of an epic musical piece written in the classical style about the trials and tribulations of the family car-bas

WHAT CAUSED the CIVIL WAR: REFLECTIONS on the SOUTH and SOUTHERN HISTORY by Edward L. Ayers

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Published in 2005 by W.W. Norton and Company This wonderful set of nine essays is just about as complete of a discussion of the South, the Civil War, Reconstruction, family, home, historical research and some practical applications of the lessons of the Civil War for us today as I have read . It seems to me that most of these essays have been published somewhere else first. That being said, Ayers has arranged them in a rough chronological order based not on the historical topic of the essay but on Ayers's own life. He starts with his own childhood in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina and his own growing understand of what it means to be a Southerner. As the essays go along, Ayers goes to college, travels the world a bit and eventually returns to the South to do research and eventually teach at the University of Virginia.  As Ayers moves through his education and his career he develops a perspective on the Civil War and that perspective changes as he grows in his

THE SAVIOR GENERALS: HOW FIVE GREAT COMMANDERS SAVED WARS THAT WERE LOST - from ANCIENT GREECE to IRAQ by Victor Davis Hanson

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  Victor Davis Hanson Delivers Another Quality Book Published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Press Victor Davis Hanson, best known for his works on Ancient Greece, looks at five different generals from five different time periods and discusses how these generals became what he calls "Savior Generals". This book is very similar in structure to his 2003 book Ripples of Battle . Hanson picked five generals to discuss. All are from the West and he notes that this is not an all-inclusive list. They are not even particularly spread out well over history. One is from Ancient Greece, one from the early Byzantine Empire and three of them are American generals. In my opinion, not all of them fit the mold perfectly. In fact, I think only two of them do. To be a Savior General you have to have been on the outs with the establishment and then, when everything has fallen apart and the situation is about as dire as possible, the establishment command structure looks to you to come in with y

THE BEST OF 2014

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THE BEST OF 2014 This is a list of the best of the best of the 72 books and short stories that I read or listened to in 2014. They did not have to be released in 2014. I broke the books into several categories. The reviews are linked.  * indicates the best book in that category. Fiction books: The Black Box (Harry Bosch #18)   by Michael Connelly Steelheart (The Reckoners Book #1)   by Brandon Sanderson Republic: A Novel of America's Future by Charles Sheehan-Miles Short Story: The Big Trip Up Yonder by Kurt Vonnegut Noose by Ernie Lindsey Mildred by Sean Ryan O'Reilly Hard Place by Ernie Lindsey Non-Fiction books: * R ipples of Battle: How  Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think   by Victor Davis Hanson Game Plan:  How to Protect Yourself from the Coming Cyber-economic Attack   by Kevin D. Freeman An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America by Nick Bunker Crazy is Normal: A Classroom Expose by Lloyd Lofth

THE CASE for CHRISTMAS: A JOURNALIST INVESTIGATES the IDENTITY of the CHILD in the MANGER (Kindle e-book) by Lee Strobel

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A Lightweight Version of The Case for Christ I picked The Case for Christmas  up for free on Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book. For a freebie, this is a solid introduction to Lee Strobel and his style. But, if you purchase this book as a stand-alone book at the regular price of $1.99 it has issues. A mosaic from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople Issue #1. This book is a essentially an edited, truncated version of Lee Strobel's signature book, The Case for Christ . Now, I like The Case for Christ  because it is very thorough and includes a lot of detailed arguments as to why Jesus is not who the Church claims he is and then proceeds to counter them. The Case for Christmas is almost exactly 1/3 of the length of The Case for Christ  and the editing hurts. Issue #2. Regularly priced at $1.99, this kindle e-book is 2/3 the price of the original source text it comes from. Right now, you can buy The Case for Christ  for $2.99. Spend the extra dollar and get the much more

SCAVENGERS (Posadas County Mysteries #11) by Steven F. Havill

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   Posadas County Mysteries Not the Same Without Bill Gastner First published in 2002. Synopsis: The Posadas County Sheriff's office is short-handed when it gets word that a pilot spotted a body that has been shot in the middle-of-nowhere. Literally, in the middle-of-nowhere - not near a road, a train track, a business or anything. The bullets were fired just in hearing range of a gravel pit but no one thinks twice about bullets being fired in the New Mexico countryside because people hunt or shoot at varmints on a regular basis. So, new Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her team start to dig into what they have - a body in the desert and no other clues. Soon enough, they discover more, including a local connection to what may be an international crime spree (although, it's not hard to be international so close to such a porous border). With the addition of the sudden death of a suspected animal trafficker in a fiery explosion, the new Undersheriff has her hands full