The story of Charlie Wysocki's life; growing up in a dysfunction African American family, being adopted by an upper middle-class family, becoming a star athlete on the national stage, and his fall into bi-polar disorder.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER The three Great Premises of Idiot America: · Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units · Anything can be true if someone says it loudly enough · Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it With his trademark wit and insight, veteran journalist Charles Pierce delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States. Pierce asks how a country founded on intellectual curiosity has somehow deteriorated into a nation of simpletons more apt to vote for an American Idol contestant than a presidential candidate. But his thunderous denunciation is also a secret call to action, as he hopes that somehow, being intelligent will stop being a stigma, and that pinheads will once again be pitied, not celebrated. Erudite and razor-sharp, Idiot America is at once an invigorating history lesson, a cutting cultural critique, and a bullish appeal to our smarter selves.

The Incredible Story of a Country Music Legend Few artists have left a more indelible mark on America’s musical landscape than Charlie Daniels. Readers will experience a soft, personal side of Charlie Daniels that has never before been documented. In his own words, he presents the path from his post-depression childhood to performing for millions as one of the most successful country acts of all time and what he has learned along the way. The book also includes insights into the many musicians that orbited Charlie’s world, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette and many more. Charlie was officially inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016, shortly before his 80th birthday. He now shares the inside stories, reflections, and rare personal photographs from his earliest days in the 1940s to his self-taught guitar and fiddle playing high school days of the fifties through his rise to music stardom in the seventies, eighties and beyond. Charlie Daniels presents a life lesson for all of us regardless of profession: “Walk on stage with a positive attitude. Your troubles are your own and are not included in the ticket price. Some nights you have more to give than others, but put it all out there every show. You're concerned with the people who showed up, not the ones who didn't. So give them a show and…Never look at the empty seats!”

CHARLIE RUSSELL: The Cowboy Years is not an art book, research paper, or novel, and definitely not fiction. This engaging narrative chronicles the eleven years Charles M. Russell spent on the open range of Montana working as a cowboy, from 1882 until 1893. With Charlie cast as the centerpiece - which he often was during this period - and a supporting cast of friends and horses, this colorful history is filled with adventure. These years as a working cowboy were a formative time for this talented and complex artist, a man of integrity who had a great sense of humor, both childlike and raucous. Saddle up then, and reide along with Charlie and his friends. Tighten your cinch, adjust your stampede string, keep a leg on each side, and expect to have a good time!

"From Hell to Iowa" is the story of an incredible journey taken by Charles Notis. The author was born in 1944 in far southern Albania, which was under the ruthless dictatorship of Enver Hoxha for about forty years. Charlie and his mother were separated from the rest of the family when the border between Albania and Greece was suddenly closed in the spring of 1945. After living in this hell on earth for the first ten years of his life, Charlie and his mother made a miraculous escape from Albania in October 1954. They then joined the rest of the family a year later and settled in Brockton, Massachusetts. The chain of events that followed are miraculous in their own regard. The Vietnam War was especially significant in the author's life, although he served in the Army only a short time. He found his way to graduate school at Iowa State University where he earned a master's degree in meteorology and then, with meteorologist Harvey Freese, founded a weather consulting company called Freese-Notis Weather. This process, along with raising a family in Iowa, is also fascinating in the way it came about. This hard-to-believe contrast in the author's life is appropriately titled "From Hell to Iowa."

He's got a way with horses...and with women... Nate Shawcross is perfectly content to spend his days training wild horses, but after his ambitious ex-girlfriend distributes brochures behind his back, horse lovers from all over the country are arriving at the ranch expecting a three-week workshop. When a beautiful greenhorn unexpectedly shows up for a seminar from the famous "Horse Whisperer" of Wyoming, all Nate wants to do is send her packing—until an impending foreclosure makes him willing to do anything to save his horses. Graduate student and East Coast animal rights activist Charlie Banks is skeptical that a rough and tumble cowboy can teach her anything about animal behavior, but as she watches Nate work, the horse isn't the only one who succumbs to the handsome cowboy's "whispering." Could it be that after all this time Nate has finally found the one woman who can tame his wild heart? Praise for One Fine Cowboy: "An entertaining and humorous romance." —Booklist starred review "Refreshing and fun from the first page to the last. Beautifully done!" —Fresh Fiction "Tender, yet spicy... Joanne Kennedy writes a darn good romance." —Wendy's Minding Spot "Joanne Kennedy delivers the perfect recipe for romance in One Fine Cowboy... an engaging story that will pull you in from the start. She writes characters with depth and brimming with emotion. This one is not to be missed." —Bellas Novellas

"A can't-put-it-down modern Western." —Kirk Siegler, NPR Longlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing The Last Cowboys is Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter John Branch’s epic tale of one American family struggling to hold on to the fading vestiges of the Old West. For generations, the Wrights of southern Utah have raised cattle and world-champion saddle-bronc riders—many call them the most successful rodeo family in history. Now they find themselves fighting to save their land and livelihood as the West is transformed by urbanization, battered by drought, and rearranged by public-land disputes. Could rodeo, of all things, be the answer? Written with great lyricism and filled with vivid scenes of heartache and broken bones, The Last Cowboys is a powerful testament to the grit and integrity that fuel the American Dream.