Browse audiobooks narrated by Laural Merlington, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.com where you can get 3 FREE audiobooks on us
Our Jackie: Public Claims on a Private Life
The story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis through her evolving public persona, from campaign wife to First Lady to fallen idol to treasured national icon When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became First Lady of the United States over sixty years ago, she stepped into the public spotlight. Although Jackie is perhaps best known for her two highly-publicized marriages, her legacy has endured beyond twentieth-century pop culture and she remains an object of public fascination today. Drawing on a range of sources—from articles penned for the women's pages of local newspapers, to esteemed national periodicals, to fan magazines, and film—Our Jackie evaluates how media coverage of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis changed over the course of her public life. Jackie's interactions with and framing by the American media reflect the changing attitudes toward American womanhood. Over the course of four decades, Jackie was alternatively praised for her service to others, and pilloried for her perceived self-interest. In Our Jackie, Karen M. Dunak argues that whether she was portrayed as a campaign wife, a loyal widow, a selfish jet-setter, or a mature career woman, the history of Jackie's highly publicized life demonstrates the ways in which news, entertainment, politics, and celebrity evolved and intertwined over the second half of the twentieth century.
Karen M. Dunak (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Since its first publication in 1981, Daughters of Copper Woman has become an underground classic, selling over 200,000 copies. Now comes a new edition that includes many pieces cut from the original as well as fresh material added by the author. Here finally, after twenty-two years of gathering dust, is the complete version of the groundbreaking bestseller. In this, her best-loved work, Anne Cameron has created a timeless retelling of northwest coast Native myths that together create a sublime image of the social and spiritual power of woman. Cameron weaves together the lives of legendary and imaginary characters, creating a work of fiction with an intensity of style matched by the power of its subject.
Anne Cameron (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Beyond Piggly Wiggly: Inventing the American Self-Service Store
Patented in 1917, Piggly Wiggly was by far the most influential self-service store of the early twentieth century. Before 1940 it was the only self-service chain with a national distribution network, but it was neither the first nor the only version. Beyond Piggly Wiggly reveals the importance of Piggly Wiggly in the invention of self-service and goes beyond the history of a single firm to explore the role of small business entrepreneurs who invented the first self-service stores in a grassroots social process. During the 1920s and 1930s a minority of enterprising grocers experimented with a wide variety of (sometimes wacky) design ideas for automating shopping. They created specialized stores designed as enclosed retail systems that went far beyond open display techniques to construct unique physical and psychological advantages for automating salesmanship. Beyond Piggly Wiggly offers the first perspective on the national scale of experimentation and connects the southern Jim Crow origins of self-service to the national history of this mass retailing method. Empirical analysis of store arrangements demonstrates how small stores that have previously been overlooked or undervalued as quaint anomalies were integral to the creation of supermarkets. Ultimately, self-service was more than a business decision; it was a fundamentally new social practice.
Lisa C. Tolbert (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, a
In Pricing the Priceless, renowned environmental strategist, speaker, world traveler, and author Paula DiPerna brings a unique voice and optic to demystify and unveil today's most fascinating financial disruption-pricing the priceless to flip conventional ideas of how we value natural assets and why. She asks the provocative question long ignored: Why do we value the indispensable atmosphere at zero, but dispensable production in the trillions? She digs into alternatives, with real-life examples from around the globe of fascinating and pioneering financial innovations. With power, clarity, and real-world experience, the author also examines: fascinating new financial inventions and experiments-insurance, bonds, markets, investment funds-all aimed at pricing what is precious and vital to human well-being; how the great current intergenerational shift in wealth and attitudes is redefining investment trends and the idea of what constitutes wealth and return; how climate change and other urgent environmental problems now require entirely new financial thinking to trigger solutions; how once-radical ideas about measuring economic progress are now reimagining the very purpose of capitalism; and why finance needs critical reinvention to remain credible in the face of increasing public skepticism of business-as-usual economic practice.
Paula Diperna (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Moving Past Marriage: Why We Should Ditch Marital Privilege, End Relationship-Status Discrimination,
A must-listen for anyone who has felt they are at a disadvantage simply because they are single or unmarried. Married Americans enjoy over 1,000 benefits and entitlements that are withheld from our nonmarital counterparts. Health insurance, immigration rights, tax privileges (such as the estate tax), and hiring policies favor the married. Marriage is financially supported and incentivized by the federal government. Social customs such as blockbuster weddings, subvented honeymoons, and gifts reserved for wedded couples reify matrimony as a centering norm and further the idea that 'marriage is best,' a commonplace in popular psychology, where marriage-averse people are often tarred as 'commitment-phobes.' Despite this blatant and widespread prejudice, nonmarital Americans-nonmarital people-have not galvanized as a group to demand equality and inclusion. Why? Moving Past Marriage argues that it is because of our troubled relationship to history. As women's history once was, nonmarital history has been buried, so the disenfranchisement that nonmarital people share in wedlock-dominated societies, as well as our remarkable, far-ranging achievements, have been hard to spot. In recovering our own history, nonmarital people can become self-aware as a group and begin to challenge marriage-centric thinking and practice.
Jaclyn Geller Phd, Jaclyn Geller, Phd (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era
The smooth faces of boy soldiers stand out in Civil War photography. Yet until now, scholars have largely overlooked the masses of underaged youths who served as musicians, carried wounded from the field, ran messages, took up arms, and died in both the Union and Confederate armies. Of Age is the first comprehensive study of how Americans responded to the unauthorized enlistment of minors in this conflict and the implications that followed. Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant offer military, legal, medical, social, political, and cultural perspectives as well as demographic analysis of this important aspect of the war. They find that underage enlistees comprised roughly ten percent of the Union army and likely a similar proportion of Confederate forces-but these enlistees' importance extended beyond sheer numbers. African American youths discovered that Union and Confederate officers ignored their age when using them as conscripts or military laborers. Meanwhile, nineteenth-century Americans expressed little concern over what exposure to violence might do to young minds, readily accepting their presence in battle. An original and sweeping work, Of Age convincingly demonstrates why underage enlistment is such an important lens for understanding the history of children and youth and the transformative effects of the US Civil War.
Frances M. Clarke, Rebecca Jo Plant (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Boys: Masculinities In Contemporary Culture
Analyzing the meanings of masculinity in contemporary culture, this book examines specific cultural male icons like Mohammad Ali, Harvey Keitel, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dan Quayle, and Newt Gingrich and explodes the male stereotypes such as the cowboy, the father, the homosexual, and the Black terror. Written by cultural studies scholars from departments of film, media studies, English, women's studies, and sociology, the discussions touch on almost every conceivable issue concerning the complex meanings of masculinity and contemporary society. The contributors do not offer simple answers to the dilemmas they uncover; rather, they explore the ways different forms of masculinity cut through and invalidate generally accepted monoliths of masculinity. These writers argue that it is inappropriate to ask, 'What is masculinity?' Instead, they focus on what masculinity isn't, demonstrating that there are only masculinities in the plural, defined by differences and contradictions. Boys reveals the depth and breadth of these complexities, offering listeners a far more satisfying definition of what it means to be male in our current culture.
Paul Smith (Author), David Sadzin, Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Training & Development For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Retain outstanding talent with a successful training and development program One of the best ways to retain great talent in your business is to deliver a strong training and development program-and this book gives you the tools to do just that. Featuring the latest strides in talent development, such as social learning, hybrid training, creating videos, and more, it arms you with everything you need to upskill employees to be more effective, productive, satisfied, and loyal. - Develop a robust training and development program - Foster a supportive and innovative work environment - Use mentoring, coaching, and informal learning effectively - Align learning to your organization's needs Engage your employees with a motivating training program using the helpful guidance in Training & Development For Dummies!
Elaine Biech (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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The Birth Certificate: An American History
For many Americans, the birth certificate is a mundane piece of paper, unearthed from deep storage when applying for a driver's license, verifying information for new employers, or claiming state and federal benefits. Yet as Donald Trump and his fellow 'birthers' reminded us when they claimed that Barack Obama wasn't an American citizen, it plays a central role in determining identity and citizenship. In The Birth Certificate: An American History, award-winning historian Susan J. Pearson traces the document's two-hundred-year history to explain when, how, and why birth certificates came to matter so much in the United States. Deftly weaving together social, political, and legal history, The Birth Certificate is a fascinating biography of a piece of paper that grounds our understanding of how those who live in the United States are considered Americans.
Susan J. Pearson (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim our Health
Are you really what you eat? David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle take us far beyond the well-worn adage to deliver a new truth: the roots of good health start on farms. What Your Food Ate marshals evidence from recent and forgotten science to illustrate how the health of the soil ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and ultimately us. The long-running partnerships through which crops and soil life nourish one another suffuse plant and animal foods in the human diet with an array of compounds and nutrients our bodies need to protect us from pathogens and chronic ailments. Unfortunately, conventional agricultural practices unravel these vital partnerships and thereby undercut our well-being. Can farmers and ranchers produce enough nutrient-dense food to feed us all? Can we have quality and quantity? With their trademark thoroughness and knack for integrating information across numerous scientific fields, Montgomery and Bikle chart the way forward. Navigating discoveries and epiphanies about the world beneath our feet, they reveal why regenerative farming practices hold the key to healing sick soil and untapped potential for improving human health.
Anne Biklé, David R. Montgomery (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Antarctic Pioneer: The Trailblazing Life of Jackie Ronne
Jackie Ronne reclaims her rightful place in polar history as the first American woman in Antarctica. Jackie was an ordinary American woman whose life changed after a blind date with rugged Antarctic explorer Finn Ronne. After marrying, they began planning the 1946-1948 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition. Her participation was not welcomed by the expedition team of red-blooded males eager to prove themselves in the frozen, hostile environment of Antarctica. On March 12, 1947, Jackie Ronne became the first American woman in Antarctica and, months later, one of the first women to overwinter there. The Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition secured its place in Antarctic history, but its scientific contributions have been overshadowed by conflicts and the dangerous accidents that occurred. Jackie dedicated her life to Antarctica: she promoted the achievements of the expedition and was a pioneer in polar tourism and an early supporter of the Antarctic Treaty. In doing so, she helped shape the narrative of twentieth-century Antarctic exploration.
Joanna Kafarowski (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession
Girl Archaeologist recounts Alice Kehoe's life, begun in an era very different from the twenty-first century in which she retired as an honored elder archaeologist. She persisted against entrenched patriarchy in her childhood, at Harvard University, and as she did fieldwork with her husband in the northern plains. A senior male professor attempted to quash Kehoe's career by raping her. Her Harvard professors refused to allow her to write a dissertation in archaeology. Universities paid her less than her male counterparts. Her husband refused to participate in housework or childcare. Working in archaeology and in the histories of American First Nations, Kehoe published a series of groundbreaking books and articles. Although she was denied a conventional career, through her unconventional breadth of research and her empathy with First Nations people she gained a wide circle of collaborators and colleagues. Throughout her career Kehoe found and fostered a sisterhood of feminists-strong, bright women archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnohistorians who have been essential to the field. Girl Archaeologist is the story of how one woman pursued a professional career in a male-dominated field during a time of great change in American middle-class expectations for women.
Alice Beck Kehoe (Author), Laural Merlington (Narrator)
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