Showing results by narrator "Douglas R Pratt" in All Categories

The laparoscopic adjustable gastric band, or Lap-Band, can be the weight loss tool you need to overcome obesity - but only if you use it right. The Big Book on the Lap-Band: Everything You Need to Lose Weight and Live Well with the Adjustable Gastric Band! is your complete manual, from considering surgery until maintaining your goal weight - and everything in between.

Bloodier than Verdun, the battles for Fortress Przemyl were pivotal to victory on the Eastern Front during the early years of World War I. Control of the fortress changed hands three times during the fall of 1914. In 1915, the Austro-Hungarian armies launched three major offensives to penetrate the Russian encirclement and relieve the 120,000 trapped in the besieged fortress.

Engines of Empire tells the story of the complex relationship between Victorians and their wondrous steamships, following famous travelers like Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Jules Verne as well as ordinary spectators, tourists, and imperial administrators as they crossed oceans bound for the colonies. Rich with anecdotes and wry humor, it is a fascinating glimpse into a world where an empire felt powerful and anything seemed possible if there was an engine behind it.

In Frontier Country, Patrick Spero addresses one of the most important and controversial subjects in American history: the frontier. Countering the modern conception of the American frontier as an area of expansion, Spero employs the eighteenth-century meaning of the term to show how colonists understood it as a vulnerable, militarized boundary. The Pennsylvania frontier, Spero argues, was constituted through conflicts not only between colonists and Native Americans but also among neighboring British colonies.

Wagner examines a series of defining moments that were among Eisenhower's greatest challenges, some of which resulted in his greatest accomplishments: the decision to run for president, his political philosophy of the "Middle Way," the creation of a national security policy, the French Indochina War, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the Little Rock Desegregation Crisis, the Race for Space, and the famous Farewell Address. Wagner looks at Eisenhower's executive ability, leadership, decision making, and willingness to compromise, as well as the qualities of duty, integrity, and good character.

In Smitten, Rodney Hessinger examines how the Second Great Awakening disrupted gender norms across a breadth of denominations. The displacement and internal migration of Americans created ripe conditions for religious competition in the North. Hessinger argues that during this time of religious ferment, religious seekers could, in turn, play the missionary or the convert. The dynamic of religious rivalry inexorably led toward sexual and gender disruption.

Although Lincoln’s adult life as president, statesman, and savior of the Union has been well documented and analyzed, most biographers have regarded his early years as inconsequential to his career and accomplishments. But in 1920, a group of historians known as the Lincoln Inquiry were determined to give Lincoln’s formative years their due. Abe’s Youth takes a look into their writings, which focus on Lincoln’s life between seven and 21 years of age.

The global coffee industry, which fuels the livelihoods of farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers around the world, rests on fragile ecological foundations. In Coffee Is Not Forever, Stuart McCook explores the transnational story of this essential crop through a history of one of its most devastating diseases, the coffee leaf rust. In the process, he illuminates the progress and prognosis of the challenges - especially climate change - that pose an existential threat to a crop that global consumers often take for granted.

When Meriwether Lewis began shopping for supplies and firearms to take on the Corps of Discovery’s journey west, his first stop was a federal arsenal. For the following 29 months, weapons were a crucial component of the participants’ tool kit. Historian Jim Garry describes the arms and ammunition the expedition carried, and the use and care those weapons received. Each chapter focuses on one of the major types of weapons, and weaves accounts from the expedition journals, with the added bonus of the author’s knowledge, gained from field-testing the muskets and rifles he describes.

In The Best Gun in the World, Robert S. Seigler explains how South Carolina created its own armory and then enlisted the help of a weapons technology inventor to meet the demand.

In 1943, Captain Peter O’Connell leaves the 82nd Airborne through a mysterious invitation and joins the first US Special Forces, the Office of Special Services (OSS). O’Connell soon realizes the OSS mission to support the Resistance in Occupied Europe is more than just sabotage and subversion. It also means staying alive behind the lines when you rarely know who is friend and who is your enemy. Reassigned to India in late 1944, Peter and his British colleagues work to destroy a Nazi sabotage ring based in Goa. Success in this operation uncovers O’Connell’s treasure.

William Vacchiano (1912 - 2005) was principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic from 1942 to 1973. While at the Philharmonic, Vacchiano performed under the batons of Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Dimitri Mitropoulos, and Leonard Bernstein, and played in the world premieres of almost 200 pieces by such composers as Vaughan Williams, Copland, and Barber. Vacchiano was important not only for his performances, but also for his teaching. Two of his better known students are Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis.

It has only recently become the case that political differences between family members, friends, and colleagues have become such landmines in our relationships. What forces are at work that have made differences so problematic? Who benefits? We seem to be recognizing that we need to embark on a journey together through our current crisis and emerge on the other side with a more productive shared focus. Vote like a Grownup hopefully offers some insights on the nature of that journey, both politically and personally.

Empire of Water explores the history of New York City’s water system - from the late 19th century to the early 21st century - focusing on the geographical, environmental, and political repercussions of the city’s search for more water. By tracing the evolution of the city’s water conservation efforts and watershed management regime, Soll reveals the tremendous shifts in environmental practices and consciousness that occurred during the 20th century.

During the late 1880's, the Cornett-Whitley gang rose on the Texas scene with a daring train robbery at McNeil Station, only miles from the capital of Texas. In the frenzy that followed the robbery, the media castigated both lawmen and government officials, at times lauded the outlaws, and indulged in trial by media. Fans of the Old West and true crime stories will appreciate this sordid tale of outlawry and the lawmen who put a stop to it. Those who study the media and “fake news” will appreciate the parallels from the 1880's to today.

Over the last 30 years, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has grown from a small group of disaffected conservative law students into an organization with extraordinary influence over American law and politics. Although the organization is unknown to the average citizen, this group of intellectuals has managed to monopolize the selection of federal judges, take over the Department of Justice, and control legal policy in the White House.

Hightower frames his story within the larger history of Old Oklahoma, beginning in Indian Territory, where displaced tribes and freedmen, wealthy cattlemen, and prospective homesteaders became embroiled in disputes over public land and federal government policies. Hightower captures the drama of the Boomer incursions and the Run of ’89, as well as the nascent urbanization of the townsite that would become Oklahoma City. All of these events played out in a political vacuum until Congress officially created Oklahoma Territory in the Organic Act of May 1890.

Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush both led the United States through watershed events in foreign relations: the end of the Cold War and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In The Gulf, Michael F. Cairo reveals how, despite many similarities, father and son pursued very different international strategies. He explores how the personality, beliefs, and leadership style of each man influenced contemporary US foreign policy.

A comprehensive review of the mom and pop farming era (early 1800s through 1980s) in Orleans County, NY, which ended when local canning factories closed. Current oral histories, as well as those of early pioneers, provide first-hand accounts of farming with teams of horses, steel-wheel tractors, and plenty of "kid power". Emphasis is placed on the exceptional fruit industry along the south shore of Lake Ontario and the modern technology developed in Orleans County, NY.

An exciting and accurate portrayal of the military action in the southern colonies that led to a new American nation. A companion to Pancake's study of the northern campaign, 1777: The Year of the Hangman, this volume deals with the American Revolution in the Carolinas. Together, the two books constitute a complete history of the Revolutionary War.