Audiobooks narrated by Chris Abernathy

Midnight Cry: A Shooting on Sand Mountain

Close to midnight on May 17, 1951, four north Alabama lawmen drove to a bootlegger's home to serve an arrest warrant. Before the clock struck twelve, the bootlegger lay dead in front of the house he shared with his wife and eight children, and three of the four officers were also dead. Afterward, a sixteen-year-old boy would face a series of trials that would divide a county and thrust the state of Alabama into the national spotlight. Lesa Carnes Shaul draws on court documents, trial transcripts, newspaper articles, and personal interviews to weave together a rollicking and illuminating tale of murder and revenge. The narrative explores the cultural shifts that occurred after World War II in the United States, the Deep South, and the state of Alabama in particular. Immediately after the war, many southern states stood poised to advance toward a progressive New South yet struggled with the legacy of race and class inequities, retrograde government policies, and a stubborn resistance to change. Sand Mountain represented a kind of 'land that time forgot,' even as nearby cities like Huntsville and Birmingham sought to claim a place on the national stage in technology, industry, business, and medicine. Through her investigation of this murder trial, Shaul reveals the backwoods justice at play in this isolated area of the American South.

Lesa Carnes Shaul (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Rich's: A Southern Institution

The storied history of the iconic Atlanta department store. In 1867, less than three years after the Civil War left the city in ruins, Hungarian Jewish immigrant Morris Rich opened a small dry goods store on what is now Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Over time, his brothers Emanuel and Daniel joined the business; within a century, it became a retailing dynasty. Join historian Jeff Clemmons as he traces Rich's 137-year history. For the first time, learn the true stories behind Penelope Penn, Fashionata, The Great Tree, the Pink Pig, Rich's famous coconut cake and much more, including how events at the downtown Atlanta store helped John F. Kennedy become America's thirty-fifth president. With an eye for accuracy and exacting detail, Clemmons recounts the complete history of this treasured southern institution.

Jeff Clemmons (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

On Message: How a Compelling Narrative Will Make Your Organization Succeed

In this era of information overload and real-time communication where anyone can publish and broadcast to millions of people with the click of a button, there is no shortage of people talking about the need to get their message across, or having a 'narrative.' But for business, marketing, and political campaigns, there is no definitive how-to on crafting a compelling narrative that achieves lasting results. On Message solves that problem, illustrating how effective communicators understand the power of narrative, emotion, and simple messaging, and posits that having a personal, emotional narrative is the basis for all successful communication. Drawing on Zach Friend's own experience and insights from politics, advertising, corporate communications, entertainment, and social psychology, On Message provides a simple process for applying the powerful principles behind crafting a narrative. Specifically, listeners will learn how to focus their communication efforts in a dramatically more powerful way on the most important factor, narrative; master the mindset needed to become a better communicator and make a forceful impact on their audience; stop wasting time and energy gathering unnecessary facts and data that don't advance their message; and get results faster by using narrative as a productive tool that will fuel success.

Zach Friend (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Murder and Mayhem in Houston

Houston, we have a problem. The largest city in Texas has a wild west past filled with dodgy criminals and murderous madmen. When the Allen brothers sold Houston's first lots, the city became a magnet for enterprising tycoons and opportunistic crooks alike. As the young city grew, a scourge of crime and vice accompanied the success of oil and real estate. The Bayou City's seedy side—flashing Bowie knives, privileged bad boys, hardened prostitutes, and unchecked serial killers—established its hold. From a young Clyde Barrow to the Man Who Killed Halloween, Houston's past is filled with bloody tales, heartbreaking loss, and despicable deeds. Authors Mike Vance and John Nova Lomax shine a light on these dark days.

John Nova Lomax, Mike Vance (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

This Southern Metropolis: Life in Antebellum Mobile

This book is based on visitor descriptions of antebellum Mobile, Alabama's physical and social environment. Mobile's foundational era is a period in which the city transformed from a struggling colonial outpost into one of the nation's most significant economic powerhouses, largely owing to the cotton trade and the labor of enslaved people. On the eve of the Civil War, the Mobile ranked as the fourth most populous community in what would soon become the Confederacy, and within the Gulf Coast region, it stood second only to New Orleans in population, wealth, and influence. The city's remarkable architecture, beautiful natural setting, and abundance of entertainment options made it one of the South's most distinctive communities. Its cultural diversity added to its uniqueness. In addition to being home to the largest white population of any community in Alabama, the city also claimed the state's largest free Black, foreign-born, and Creole communities. Mobile was the slave-trading center of the state until the 1850s and remained intertwined with the institution of slavery throughout the antebellum period. By 1860 Mobile's population stood at nearly thirty thousand people, making it the twenty-seventh-largest city in the US. Although numerous histories of Mobile have been published, none have focused on firsthand accounts published by antebellum-era visitors.

Mike Bunn (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Venture Alchemists: How Big Tech Turned Profits into Power

We once idolized tech entrepreneurs for creating innovations that seemed like modern miracles. We now blame them for spreading lies, breaking laws, and causing chaos. Yesterday's Silicon Valley darlings have become today's Big Tech villains. Which is it? Are they superheroes or scoundrels? Or is it more complicated? In The Venture Alchemists, Rob Lalka demystifies how tech entrepreneurs built empires that made trillions. Meta started as a Halloween prank, Alphabet began as a master's thesis that warned against corporate deception, and Palantir came from a campus controversy over hateful speech. These largely forgotten origin stories show how ordinary fears and youthful ambitions shaped their ventures. Listeners learn about the adversities tech entrepreneurs overcame, the troubling tradeoffs they made, and the tremendous power they now wield. Using leaked documents and previously unpublished archival material, Lalka takes listeners inside Big Tech's worst exploitations and abuses, alongside many good intentions and moral compromises. But this story remains unfinished, and The Venture Alchemists offers hope from the people who, decades ago, warned about the risks of the emerging Internet. Their insights illuminate a path toward more responsible innovations, so that technologies aren't dangerous weapons but valuable tools.

Rob Lalka (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Welcome to Capitol Hill: Fifty Years of Scandal in Tennessee Politics

Although Tennessee has a rich history of political scandals dating back to the founding of the state, the last fifty years have been a confusing, confounding, and sometimes ludicrous period of ne'er-do-welling. Welcome to Capitol Hill is a guide to the state's modern history of corruption. From Governor Ray Blanton's pardon scandals to the FBI investigation that started with now lieutenant governor Randy McNally wearing a wire in the late 1980s to the sexual misconduct that plagues Tennessee politics, this book chronicles it all. Veteran political reporters Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig draw from interviews, archival documents, and never-before-seen federal investigative files to provide listeners with a handy resource about the wrongdoings of our elected officials.

Erik Schelzig, Joel Ebert (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Alabama: The History of a Deep South State, Bicentennial Edition

Alabama: The History of a Deep South State, Bicentennial Edition is a comprehensive narrative account of the state from its earliest days to the present. This edition, updated to celebrate the state's bicentennial year, offers a detailed survey of the colorful, dramatic, and often controversial turns in Alabama's evolution. Once the home of aboriginal inhabitants, Alabama was claimed and occupied by a number of European nations prior to becoming a permanent part of the United States in 1819. A cotton and slave state for more than half of the nineteenth century, Alabama seceded in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America, and occupied an uneasy and uncertain place in America's post-Civil War landscape. General listeners as well as scholars will welcome this up-to-date and scrupulously researched history of Alabama, which examines such traditional subjects as politics, military history, economics, race, and class. It contains essential accounts devoted to Native Americans, women, and the environment, as well as detailed coverage of health, education, organized labor, civil rights, and the many cultural developments, from literature to sport, that have enriched Alabama's history. A key facet of this landmark historical narrative is the strong emphasis placed on the common everyday people of Alabama.

Leah Rawls Atkins, Robert David Ward, Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

The First Hellcat Ace

Hamilton McWhorter III's service to family and country make him a standout among America's Greatest Generation. A Georgia native whose family roots date from that region's settlement during the 1700s, McWhorter was a naval aviation cadet undergoing training when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941. After earning his Wings of Gold in early 1942, Ensign McWhorter was trained as a fighter pilot in the robust but technologically outmoded F4F Wildcat. Initially assigned to VF-9, he saw first combat in November 1942 against Vichy French forces in North Africa. After returning to the United States, VF-9 became the first unit to convert to the new Grumman F6F Hellcat. This was the fighter the U.S. Navy would use to crush Japanese air power during the long offensive from the Southwest Pacific to the shores of Japan. From mid-1943, McWhorter was engaged in the aerial warfare that characterized the battles against Imperial Japan. His fifth aerial victory, in November 1943 off Tarawa Atoll, made him the first ace in the Hellcat, and seven subsequent victories ensured his place in the annals of air-to-air combat. McWhorter's combat service, from the beginning of the war to the last campaign off the shores of Okinawa, makes his story a must-listen for the serious student of the Pacific air war.

Hamilton McWhorter (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Southern Wonder: Alabama's Surprising Biodiversity

When all the species of birds, trees, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, wildflowers, dragonflies, tiger beetles, and ants are tallied, Alabama harbors more species than ninety percent of the other states in the US. The state's 4,533 species, with more being inventoried and discovered each year, are supported by no less than sixty-four distinct ecological systems—each a unique blend of soil, water, sunlight, heat, and natural disturbance regimes. Although Alabama is teeming with life, the state's prominence as a refuge for plants and animals is poorly appreciated. Even among Alabama's citizens, few outside a small circle of biologists, advocates, and other naturalists understand the special quality of the state's natural heritage. R. Scot Duncan rectifies this situation in Southern Wonder by providing a well-written, comprehensive overview that the general public, policy makers, and teachers can understand and use. Listeners are taken on an exploratory journey of the state's varied landscapes—from the Tennessee River Valley to the coastal dunes—and are introduced to remarkable species, such as the cave salamander and the beach mouse. By interweaving the disciplines of ecology, evolution, meteorology, and geology into an accessible whole, Duncan explains clearly why Alabama is so biotically rich and champions efforts for its careful preservation.

R. Scot Duncan (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People

The differentiating mindset and habits that help you turn insight into action. When you put learning at the center of everything you do, you grow your career, your leadership, your relationships, and your joy and fulfillment in life. But even for people who are naturally curious and interested in solving problems, being an effective learner who can turn their learning into action takes insight and practice. With infectious enthusiasm and optimism, David Novak shows you how to master active learning. A trailer-park kid who lived in twenty-three states before entering high school, Novak rapidly ascended the ranks at PepsiCo to become cofounder and CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world, the global restaurant icon Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and the Habit Burger Grill). And he credits active learning with getting him there. This compilation of wisdom and practical habits from Novak's life and from some of the most successful leaders in the world—CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, experts, and coaches—is your active-learning practice manual. Chapter by chapter, Novak and his all-star roster of leaders share how they've climbed to the highest levels in their fields.

David Novak (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Vegas or Bust: A Family Man Takes On the Poker Pros

Can a former semi-pro win against the best poker players in the world? In 2006, Johnny's pie-in-the-sky dreams of becoming world champion were dashed when his kings ran into aces in the World Series of Poker Main Event. But lady luck was with him when he met Amy, the woman of his dreams, who soon became his wife. Like many players, he drifted away from the game after Congress passed a law later that year that cut off funds to online poker and harkened the decline of the game. But even as Johnny returned to the working world, the itch remained. A decade later, now with two small kids in tow, Johnny convinces Amy to take a six-week family trip from their home in rural Alabama to Las Vegas, where he will risk his $10,000 bankroll in hopes of playing in the Main Event again and winning millions. Along the way, he examines how the game has changed since 2006. Although the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was the beginning of the end of the poker boom, the game still thrives, and WSOP is Exhibit A. Johnny also muses on the outlandishness of the adult fairyland that is Vegas.

Johnny Kampis (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Chris Abernathy