Audiobooks narrated by Alan Sklar

Mark Stevens (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America

In the twenty-first century, America could be destroyed. The dangers are manifold: Terrorism. Judges who think they're God (and who are anti-God). Rising economic challenges from China and India. Immigrants and young Americans who know little about American history and values. Can America survive? Yes, says Newt Gingrich, and we as Americans can do more: We can create a safer, more prosperous, and healthier America for our children and grandchildren. How? By enacting a 21st Century Contract with America. When he was Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich issued his first Contract with America. What was the result? Sweeping reform that shocked Washington and spurred an economic recovery for the nation, including: the first major tax cut in sixteen years; real, lasting welfare reform; and four years of balanced budgets. But the challenges now are even starker, and Newt is back with a new plan for American greatness. The challenges of the 21st Century are great, says Newt Gingrich, but so are the opportunities. The decisions we make over the next four years will determine our future. And no book can be more important for making the right choices than Newt Gingrich's national bestseller Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.

Newt Gingrich (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Wink

'After a number of up-the-track finishes by authors trying to emulate the success of Laura Hillenbrand's bestselling Seabiscuit: An American Legend, a worthy successor has at last broken out of the pack . . .Winkfield's story is so incredible you'll find yourself wondering why you've never heard it before.' --MSNBC 'One of the most extraordinary stories in sports history is also one of its least known. Jimmy Winkfield was a gifted jockey and a remarkably intrepid man, and his life was a singular adventure. His is a story of persistence, hardship, and triumph, and it should be long remembered.'-Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit: An American Legend 'In the entire sweep of American sports, from the days of a roistering John L. Sullivan in the 19th Century through the Tiger Woods phenomenon of the 21st, no figure made a bolder and more original odyssey of his life than Jimmy Winkfield, the poor son of former slaves whose brilliance as a jockey bore him from the winner's circle at the Kentucky Derby to the royal courts of Czarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and from Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany to the salons of Paris. In Wink, author Ed Hotaling skilfully reports and chronicles Winkfield's battles against racism in the New World--his courage and daring in escaping that most implacable of foes--and his success and rise to glory as a rider and then a trainer in the Old World. The tale of Wink is an illuminating and inspiring read.' -William Nack, author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, and My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money and the Sporting Life 'It is phenomenal enough that Jimmy Winkfield became a dominant force in American horse racing half a century before Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But this two-time Kentucky Derby-winner's adventures after leaving to race overseas make his story all the more compelling. Ed Hotaling has a marvelous tale to tell. This is the stuff of great nonfiction.'-Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War 'In this fine book, Ed Hotaling adds the texture of a rich individual life to what his previous work has already told us about the great black jockeys of a century ago.'-Henry Louis Gates, Jr., bestselling author, Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University

Ed Hotaling (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Wikinomics

Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Anthony D. Williams, Don Tapscott (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide

"This is just the kind of synergistic, customer-centric, upsell-driven, out-of-the-box, customizable, strategically tactical, best-of-breed thought leadership that will help our clients track to true north. Let's fly this up the flagpole and see where the pushback is." It's Monday. Time to hit the pause button on your personality and get ready for the next meeting because, for the next five days, we'll be speaking the language of business. And, from bloated jargon and monotonous memos to syrupy slogans and deadly dull presentations, the official language of business is bull. The second we get to work, we join the masses who trade the wit and warmth of their voices for a corporate stamp of approval and the comfort of conformity. This is not because of some evil corporate conspiracy. It's actually the result of four traps - obscurity, anonymity, hard sell, and tedium - that transform us from funny, honest, and engaging weekend people to boring business stiffs. But for you, this epidemic of bull and boredom is a real opportunity. All those human beings who trudged to work Monday morning want something better. They don't want disclaimers, nonpromises, sugar-coated news, or canned speeches. They want someone to capture their imagination, stir their enthusiasm, and tell them the truth. And once you learn to recognize and rise above the four traps, you can be that voice they're looking for. Grab your cape and sharpen your sword. It's time to fight the bull! If you think you smell something at work, there's probably good reason - bull has become the official language of business. Every day, we get bombarded by an endless stream of filtered, antiseptic, jargon-filled corporate speak, all of which makes it harder to get heard, harder to be authentic, and definitely harder to have fun. But it doesn't have to be that way. The team that brought you the Clio Award-winning Bullfighter software is back with an entertaining, bare-knuckled guide to talking straight. This is a book for all those who want to climb the corporate ladder, but refuse to check their personality at the door.

Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, Jon Warshawsky (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given

Considered by many to be the world's greatest bounty hunter, Duane "Dog" Chapman has become famous for capturing fugitives on Dog the Bounty Hunter, his number-one-rated show on A&E. But his job doesn't end when he cuffs his man—or woman. Having personally struggled against abuse, addiction, and a life of crime, Dog knows a thing or two about the path that these fugitives cuffed in the back of his car are on—and he has a good idea of the bad news they'll find at the end of it. As someone who has succeeded in beating the odds and finding a way to live on the right side of the law, Dog also knows what the person in the backseat needs to hear in order to straighten out his or her life. This is your wake up call. You either answer it now, or pay for it later and for the rest of your life. You're being given another shot at things, but only if you take the risk to make the right decision. The choice is yours. What's it going to be, brotha? While he is himself a mentor to many, Dog draws strength from the great teachers in his own life to face the surprising and difficult challenges that have come his way. Through hard work, unflinching faith, and the acknowledgment of his own flaws—along with the overwhelming desire to fix those flaws—Dog has been through the fire again and again, and come out the stronger for it. Revealing, behind-the-scenes looks at Dog's most significant challenges, along with seat-of-your-pants accounts of his most breakneck bounty hunting stories, makes Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given a must-listen for any fan.

Duane "Dog" Chapman (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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When the Headline Is You: An Insider's Guide to Handling the Media

Exposing oneself to media scrutiny requires more than simple candor and honesty. It requires knowledge, training, and a keen understanding of how reporters write the news.from the Introduction Award-winning journalist and crisis communications expert Jeff Ansell provides a complete, values-based framework for successfully navigating all types of media encounters. This framework offers executives, leaders, and communications professionals the practical tools and step-by-step messaging formulae needed to address problematic issues while limiting their exposure to the sensationalism of todays media environment. With nearly 40 years of experience, Ansell reveals the inside secrets to understanding the media, building credibility, and developing persuasive communication skills. To facilitate implementation, this how-to guide includes a complete Media Messaging Toolkit, a six-step interview and message delivery exercise, and numerous real-world illustrative examples. Whether delivering good news, not so good news, or dealing with a full-blown media crisis, When the Headline Is You provides all the insights and strategies necessary to manage image and enhance reputation.

Jeff Ansell, Jeffrey Leeson (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love

The extraordinary story of the little South African boy whose bravery and fierce determination to make a difference despite being born with AIDS has made him the human symbol of the world's fight against the disease, told by the veteran American journalist whose life he changed. Five million more people contracted HIV last year alone. We've all seen the statistics, and they numb us; on some level our minds shut down to a catastrophe of this scope. As with other such immense human tragedies in the past, it can take the story of one special child's life to make us open our minds and our hearts. While the majority of all AIDS cases occur in Africa, a South African boy named Nkosi Johnson did not become "an icon of the struggle for life," in Nelson Mandela's words, because he was representative but because he was so very remarkable. Everyone who met Nkosi Johnson was struck by his blinding life force, his powerful intelligence and drive, his determination to make something of his short life. By the time of his death, the work he had done in his eleven years on earth was such that The New York Times ran his obituary on the front page, as did many other papers, and tributes appeared on the evening news broadcasts of every major network. Nkosi Johnson did not live to tell his own story, but one writer whose life he changed has taken up the work of telling it for him. Luckily for the world that writer is Jim Wooten. In his hands, We Are All the Same is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit, even as it bears witness to the scope of the tragedy that is unfolding in Africa and around the world, cutting down millions of boys and girls like Nkosi Johnson before they can reach their promise. Written with the brevity and power of a parable, We Are All the Same is a book that is meant to be read by all of us, of all ages and walks of life. Its beginning and ending are terribly sad, but in the middle is the extraordinarily inspiring story of a very unlucky little boy who said, Never mind. I'm going to make my life matter. And he did.

James T. Wooten, Jim Wooten (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Unintended Consequences: How War in Iraq Strengthened America's Enemies

Called by New York Times columnist David Brooks the "smartest and most devastating" critic of President George W. Bush's Iraq policies, Peter W. Galbraith was the earliest expert to describe Iraq's breakup into religious and ethnic entities, a reality that is now commonly accepted. The Iraq war was intended to make the United States more secure, bring democracy to the Middle East, intimidate Iran and Syria, help win the war on terror, consolidate American world leadership, and entrench the Republican Party for decades. Instead, —Bush handed Iran its greatest strategic triumph in four centuries. —U.S. troops now fight to support an Iraqi government led by religious parties intent on creating an Iranian-style Islamic republic. —As part of the surge, the United States created a Sunni militia led by the same Baathists the United States invaded Iraq to overthrow. —Obsessed with Iraq's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration gave Iran and North Korea a free pass to advance their nuclear programs. —Turkey, a key NANATO ally long considered a model pro-Western Muslim democracy, became one of the most anti-American countries in the world. —U.S. prestige around the world reached an all-time low. Iraq: Galbraith challenges the assertion that the surge will lead to victory. By creating a Sunni army, the surge has, in fact, contributed to Iraq's breakup and set the stage for an intensified civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. If the United States wishes to escape the Iraq quagmire, it must face up to the reality that the country has broken up and cannot be put back together. Iran: Having helped Iran's allies take control in Baghdad, the Bush administration no longer has a viable military option to stop Iran's nuclear program. Galbraith discusses how a president more pragmatic than Bush might get Iran to freeze its nuclear program as part of a package deal to upgrade relations between two countries equally threatened by Sunni extremism. Turkey, Syria, and Israel: A war intended to make Israel more secure, undermine Syria's Assad regime, and strengthen ties with Turkey has had the opposite result. Nationalism: In the coming decades, other countries may follow Iraq's example in fragmenting along ethnic and religious lines. Galbraith draws on his considerable experience in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia to predict where this might happen and what the United States might do about it. The United States: George W. Bush substituted wishful thinking for strategy and, as a result, made America weaker. Galbraith provides some rules for a national strategy that will appeal equally to conservatives and liberals—indeed, to anyone who believes the United States needs an effective national security strategy.

Peter W. Galbraith (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer

To all appearances, Dennis Rader was a model citizen in the small town of Park City, Kansas, where he had lived with his family almost his entire life. He was a town compliance officer, a former Boy Scout leader, the president of his church congregation, and a seemingly ordinary father and husband. But Rader's average life belied the existence of his dark, sadistic other self: he was the BTK serial killer. The self-named BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill) had terrorized Wichita for thirty-one years, not only with his brutal, sexually motivated crimes, but also through his taunting, elusive communications with the media and law enforcement. In 1974, BTK committed his first murders-torturing and strangling four members of the Otero family-and wrote the police an audacious letter declaring his responsibility for the Oteros' deaths and labeling himself, for the first time, BTK. Thus he established a pattern-stalking and killing a series of ten victims, then bragging and claiming ownership of his crimes-that ended in 1991 but left law enforcement confounded and the public with deeply troubling memories. Until, that is, he resurfaced in 2004 with another string of letters that would finally lead to his arrest. Drawing from extensive interviews with Rader's pastor, congregation, detectives, and psychologists who worked the case, and from his unnervingly detailed thirty-two-hour confession, bestselling author Stephen Singular delves into the disturbing life and crimes of BTK to explore fully-for the first time-the most dangerous and complex serial killer of our generation and the man who embodied, at once, astonishing extremes of normality and abnormality. The result is a chilling story of a man considered a "spiritual leader" by his pastor and congregation, who turned out to be the devil next door. More than just true crime, Unholy Messenger is a powerful, thoroughly engrossing examination of the intersection between good and evil, and of the psychology and spirituality of a killer in whom faith and bloodshed converged.

Stephen Singular (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Trump 101: The Way to Success

An enlightening collection of business wisdom from the world's most famous dealmaker. Trumpisms is a collection of wisdom, pep talks, inspiration, and advice straight from the mouth of Trump himself. Organized around 20 distinct motivational themes-like "think big," "knowledge is power," "learn by doing," "go with your gut," and "don't do it for the money"-this enlightening collection of wisdom on business and life offers inspiration and motivation to businesspeople and entrepreneurs in any industry.

Donald J. Trump, Meredith McIver (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes are Secretly Arming Our Enemies

In this explosive book, New York Times best-selling author Bill Gertz uncovers the most significant threat to U. S. national security today: America's enemies-including radical terrorist groups-are arming themselves with the world's most dangerous weapons. And they're doing it with the help of America's supposed allies. Worst of all, the United States has let it happen. Only Bill Gertz has the contacts and the knowledge to tell the complete story of how France, Germany, Russia, China, and other countries have armed our enemies to the teeth. Treachery is also the definitive account of what the U. S. government is doing to counter the threat-and of how our leaders have too often failed us. "[Gertz] has access to more intelligence information than anyone I know."-Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen

Bill Gertz (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Alan Sklar