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W.E.B. "Dark Web (Live)" from the album "Darkness Alive"

W.E.B. "Dark Web (Live)"

B2B2B

From a New York Times bestselling author, a deeply reported account of how the USC Trojan football team captivated the sporting world in the 2000s.

The University of Southern California received thousands of calls, emails and letters in 2001, after hiring former NFL coach, Pete Carroll, to resurrect its moribund program. Carroll was a “failure,” a “fraud,” and a “flake” according to USC boosters, the fans in Los Angeles and the college football cognoscenti. But by the middle of the decade, he had turned USC into a legendary juggernaut, with multiple Heisman Trophy winners and national championships.

In Men of Troy, Monte Burke, provides the definitive account of this singular dynasty, based on original reporting and more than 150 new interviews. Burke illustrates how Carroll and his colorful cast of coaches and players—including cross-eyed quarterback turned national heartthrob, Matt Leinart, and the electric, generational running back, Reggie Bush—not only took over college football, but Los Angeles and the country, as well.

Burke not only takes readers through the iconic games of the era, but also behind the scenes—in the locker room, on the recruiting trail and into the LA nightlife scene, where the players enjoyed their celebrity status and, at times, succumbed to illicit temptations. He also puts the dynasty in proper context, tracing the breathtaking rise of the program, the sudden and inglorious fall, and the scandal that left a program in ruins and precipitated the drastic changes that led to the current era of college football.

Men of Troy by Monte Burke Read by Gregory Jones

In this fast-paced and deliciously witty spy romcom, a single mom finds herself on a mission with the CIA as they attempt to uncover a cult—perfect for fans of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It.

Gabby Greene: Secret agent. Mother of two. Figuring it out as she goes along.

After her divorce, Gabby never expected that she’d be this close to having it all. Spying with a hot handler who’s an expert in after-hours under-the-covers work was not on her current bingo card. But balancing romance, espionage, and school lunches is a job for a magician, not a secret agent. Gabby will just have to keep dreamy Markus at arm’s-length . . .

Easier said than done. Her next mission, should she choose to accept it: Pretend to be Markus’s fiancée so they can infiltrate a Power Couples Retreat to see whether the group is selling national security secrets (in addition to questionable beauty products).

To avert a national crisis, Gabby and Markus will need to look like they’re in love, planning their wedding—and enjoying the honeymoon cottage. Faking a relationship with the perfect man without actually falling for him? Piece of calorie-free cake, right?

Gabby Greene Knows Whodunit by Sam Tschida Read by Mia Hutchinson Shaw

When the FBI turned an Irish mobster into an informant, they corrupted the entire judicial system and sanctioned the worst crime spree Boston has ever seen. This is the true story behind the major motion picture.

James “Whitey” Bulger became one of the most ruthless gangsters in US history, and all because of an unholy deal he made with a childhood friend. John Connolly a rising star in the Boston FBI office, offered Bulger protection in return for helping the Feds eliminate Boston’s Italian mafia. But no one offered Boston protection from Whitey Bulger, who, in a blizzard of gangland killings, took over the city’s drug trade. Whitey’s deal with Connolly’s FBI spiraled out of control to become the biggest informant scandal in FBI history.

Black Mass is a New York Times and Boston Globe bestseller, written by two former reporters who were on the case from the beginning. It is an epic story of violence, double-cross, and corruption at the center of which are the black hearts of two old friends whose lives unfolded in the darkness of permanent midnight.

Black Mass by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill read by John Pirhalla with An Introduction Read by Dick Lehr

Goodbye, diets, restriction, and food noise. Hello, delicious food, satiety, and a healthy way to eat for life!

We have never been more informed—and yet, more confused—about what we eat as we are today. And between our cultural fear over food additives and the buzz around GLP-1 drugs, the noise has become impossible to tune out. Registered dietitian Abbey Sharp has seen—and debunked—it all. Her revolutionary Hunger Crushing Combo Method helps you banish fear foods, guilt, and cheat days, and finally get off the diet roller coaster for good. It’s a simple framework that teaches you to effortlessly balance your meals by combining two or more of the Hunger Crushing Compounds: protein, fiber, and healthy fats. The result? You crush physical hunger, silence emotional cravings, and eat well without deprivation, denial, or dieting. No counting. No tracking. No restricting. Even better, the HCC is adaptable to your goals and unique needs while restoring joy and pleasure to eating.

 Discover:
• Science-backed insight into why the HCC compounds work
• Tips on how to use the HCC method effortlessly and intuitively
• Chapters devoted to specific conditions including weight loss, insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes and PCOS), fitness, menopause, and raising healthy kids
• Thirty easy and adaptable recipes
• Cheat sheets for building your own HCCs
• and much more!
 
Learn how to turn your “unhealthy” cravings into HCCs to stabilize blood sugars and help support a healthy weight—all without giving up the food you love. The Hunger Crushing Combo Method helps you finally feel full and reduce food cravings without ever dieting again. And, yes, you can have your cake and eat it too!

The Hunger Crushing Combo Method by Abbey Sharp read by Abbey Sharp

The “irresistible” (Susan Orlean) untold story of a trailblazing Paris correspondent for The New Yorker, who sounded the alarm about the rise of fascism in Europe while becoming enmeshed in the sensational case of a German serial killer stalking the streets of the French capital on the eve of WWII.

In 1925, the Indianapolis-born Janet Flanner took an assignment to write a regular ‘Letter from Paris’ for a lighthearted humor magazine called The New Yorker. She’d come to Paris to with dreams of writing about “Beauty with a Capital B.” Her employer, self-consciously apolitical, sought only breezy reports on French art and culture. But as she woke to the frightening signs of rising extremism, economic turmoil, and widespread discontent in Europe, Flanner ignored her editor’s directives, reinventing herself, her assignment, and The New Yorker in the process.

While working tirelessly to alert American readers to the dangers of the Third Reich, Flanner became gripped by the disturbing crimes of a man who embodied all of the darkness she was being forced to confront. Eugen Weidmann, a German con-man and murderer, and the last man to be publicly executed in France—mere weeks before the outbreak of WWII. Flanner covered his crimes, capture, and highly politicized trial, seeing the case as a metaphor for understanding the tumultuous years through which she’d just passed and to prepare herself for the dangers to come.

The Typewriter and The Guillotine offers the personal and professional coming-of-age story of an indomitable journalist set against a glamorous, high-stakes backdrop—a tightly-coiled drama full of romance and intrigue. 

The Typewriter and the Guillotine by Mark Braude read by Karen Cass

“A superb biography of a singular life.”–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A Rolling Stone journalist presents the story of the late singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle.

When Justin Townes Earle died of an overdose alone in his Nashville apartment, his death sent waves of grief through the country-Americana music community. The son of alt-country hellraiser Steve Earle had long struggled with mental illness and various addictions. There had been encouraging periods of long-term sobriety and active recovery in his adult life, including the years that led up to his career peak when he released the 2010 masterpiece Harlem River Blues, a career-making album of rambling folk blues set to Southern Gospel.

He sang of cramped Brooklyn apartments and crippling hangovers, about emotional displacement, economic anxiety, and the wandering that characterized his feral, formative years as a rootless kid rambling around Nashville, developing his own unique guitar style and absorbing the musical influences that surrounded him. He was anointed by critics as the next coming of the authentic troubadour. By the time of his death, he’d recorded and released eight albums, creating a striking and original body of work.

Jonathan Bernstein, with the full cooperation of the Justin Townes Earle estate, unravels in these pages a short but incredibly creative life, and reveals the backstories behind Justin’s greatest songs (“Mama’s Eyes,” “White Gardenias”) and what happened when it all fell apart while also capturing a shadow world of the neglected children of Nashville legends who wrestle with the legacies of their hard-living, road-weary, often absent parents.

Justin’s journey to near-stardom is a harrowing story shot through with moments of clarity and promise, including his marriage to his wife Jenn Marie Earle and the birth of their daughter. But what Earle called “the myth”—the idea that one must suffer for one’s art—proved to be too powerful.

This heartbreaking, deeply researched tale is an exemplary music biography.

What Do You Do When You're Lonesome by Jonathan Bernstein read by John Pirhalla

From bestselling author Lisa Graff, this important coming-of-age story follows a thirteen-year-old with a mysterious scar on her face—and a big secret she feels pressured to keep. 

Fallon Little has a secret—and it’s not how she got the enormous scar that divides her face in two.

Thirteen-year-old Fallon has only ever told one person what really happened on the day she got her scar. Why would she? The truth is dark, and Fallon has much brighter things to focus on, like being cast as the lead in the school play, and hanging out with her two best friends, Trent and Kaia. But when Fallon’s uncle Geebie dies, his funeral ignites a wildfire of events that Fallon can’t manage to tamp down. The school play is spiraling out of control, Fallon’s impossible Aunt Lune comes to live with them, and Trent and Kaia might just be so into each other that there isn’t room for Fallon in their friend group any more. And when secrets even worse than the one about Fallon’s scar threaten to come to light, Fallon might not have the strength to keep them buried for much longer.

Through unflinching prose and with a pitch-perfect voice, bestselling author Lisa Graff explores the power of confronting the past as a way to heal in the present in this propulsive and absorbing tour de force.

* “The story’s pitch-perfect tone balances sad and funny moments impeccably….Darkness and light interplay with perfection.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review   * “Graff infuses viscerally rendered realities of lingering trauma with moments of lightheartedness to deliver a meticulously calibrated work about a girl who refuses to be defined by her past.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review 

A Scar like a River by Lisa Graff read by Suzy Jackson

From the acclaimed author of Mao’s America comes the untold story of how misguided and selfish U.S. elites transformed China from a Communist wasteland into a global superpower—at America’s expense.

One of the most effective anti-communist voices in America today, Xi Van Fleet made waves with her breakout book Mao’s America, exposing eerie parallels between China’s past and America’s present woke revolution. Now, alongside renowned Chinese dissident Yu Jie, she sounds the alarm once more—revealing how the CCP’s rise was not just enabled by Soviet Russia but, shockingly, by the United States itself.

Understanding this hidden history is essential for Americans in confronting the CCP’s global ambitions and stopping the spread of Communism at home.
 
For over a century, progressive and Communist ideologies have steadily infiltrated American society, shaping U.S.-China policies that have, intentionally or not, empowered the CCP. From its founding in 1921 to its brutal takeover of China 28 years later, the CCP’s ascent was fueled by foreign support—first from the Soviets, then increasingly from the U.S. After the Sino-Soviet split and the near-collapse of China, the United States emerged as the CCP’s primary enabler, helping transform it into the world’s second-largest economy and our greatest geopolitical threat.
 
Most Americans remain unaware of their own country’s role in the CCP’s unprecedented success. While others have explored pieces of this story, no book has revealed the full picture—until now. With meticulous research and unflinching clarity, this book exposes the uncomfortable truth: to effectively counter the CCP, we must first dismantle communist influence at home.

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