Showing results by narrator "Leon Nixon" in All Categories

Luis Tiant is one of the most charismatic and accomplished players in Boston Red Sox history - a cigar-chomping maestro who was the heart and soul of Boston's teams in the 1970s. Nobody was a tougher competitor on the diamond, and few were as successful. There may be no more qualified pitcher not yet enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In Son of Havana, Tiant puts his huge heart on his sleeve and describes his road from fields strewn with rocks and rubbish in Havana to the pristine lawns of Major League ballparks.

A sweeping, and groundbreaking treasury of the most essential presidential writings, The Best Presidential Writing features a mix of the beloved and the little-known, from stirring speeches and shrewd remarks to behind-the-scenes drafts and unpublished autobiographies.

The US Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that law-enforcement agencies have access to more than 100 million names stored in criminal history databases. In some cities, 80 percent of the black male population is registered in these databases. Digitize and Punish explores the long history of digital computing and criminal justice, revealing how big tech, computer scientists, university researchers, and state actors have digitized carceral governance over the past 40 years - with devastating impact on poor communities of color.

Changes in the American religious landscape enabled the rise of mass incarceration. Religious ideas and practices also offer a key for ending mass incarceration. These are the bold claims advanced by Break Every Yoke. Once, in an era not too long past, Americans, both incarcerated and free, spoke a language of social liberation animated by religion. In the era of mass incarceration, we have largely forgotten how to dream - and organize - this way. To end mass incarceration, we must reclaim this lost tradition.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the greatest of all time. With a foreword by Jerry West and a new tribute from the author about Kobe’s tragic death.

Nowhere else in the world have both Islam and Christianity been more instrumental in shaping the history of a people and their way of life than in Africa. African Muslims and Christians have a lot in common, including kinship ties, shared languages and citizenship. Yet, despite the centuries of deep historical links and harmonious existence between the two religions, new challenges threaten this harmony. Conflicts involving Christians and Muslims in places like Sudan, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast are common.

Herbert Carnegie was the complete hockey package in the 1940s and 1950s. Though his contributions to society both in sport and education have been referenced and profiled in books, documentaries, and thousands of articles, this is Carnegie's own account of striving to break the glass ceiling, starting with his career as a professional hockey player on all-white teams. In 1978, noted hockey journalist Stan Fischler wrote a powerful headline about Carnegie: "Born Too Soon."

Sonya Lee and Eric Morris have been homicide detectives for more than two years and have worked hundreds of cases together. They have impeccable conviction rates and numerous accommodations. When a psychopath terrorizes the streets of Cleveland, decapitating bodies along the way, the case is then placed into the hands of two detectives who have only been given a limited amount of time to solve it and hold someone accountable. That is, until one of their own is murdered and the daughter whose parents are politically connected are abducted.

Menace and Speedy are two local dope slingers with much in common, but two things in particular. They're both young and hungry. Business is booming, and while most people in their position would be satisfied, Menace and Speedy aren't "most people". They want to be among the drug game elite, and the only way to do that is get hooked up with a "connect". A major supplier who can provide enough product to help the duo graduate from "dealers" to "kingpins". One day, the pair finally acquire the long sought-after connect.

In this thought-provoking and heartbreaking memoir, an award-winning writer tells the story of his father, John Stanley Ford, the first Black software engineer at IBM, revealing how racism insidiously affected his father’s view of himself and their relationship.

Blogger, Ocean Braxton, suffered a loss back-to-back, so she decided to live life to the fullest starting with her dating life. Deciding to go out on a blind date, her night is interrupted by a handsome stranger who notices her needing saving. There's an attraction, but no names or numbers are exchanged. With them seeing each other on two different accounts, they eventually agree to a date of their own. The only problem is he isn't the only date she's interested in.

Lessons in Gratitude tells the story of Aaron Dworkin, a MacArthur Fellow, social entrepreneur, and spoken word artist who has dedicated his life’s work to changing the face of classical arts in the world. The themes of persistence, passion, and loyalty shine through stories of an unhappy childhood, a lifelong search for identity, and the obstacles of race, culture, and class. Listeners will learn how the author greets these challenges and how they drove him to make a difference for people who are shut out of opportunity.

My mission in life is simple. Family. Food. Freedom. Most people don't question my love for my family. And I make my living as a celebrity chef. The freedom part? The thought of being confined-behind bars, at a desk, or in a monogamous relationship-is not something I want for myself. Unfortunately, it becomes a problem when women want to make me their Forever Bae. Even after I make it clear that I'm not looking for more than short interlude.

Kin is a story and a celebration of Black womanhood, of resistance, and of perseverance—while simultaneously an indictment of American history. Kin is a tree—alive in places, broken in others—that offers shelter for women seeking respite in the midst of family-making. This tree depicts family grafted together by blood, law, or choice; its stories are voiced through blues-infused poetry, one-act plays, oral history, and reportage that are combined to form an orchestra of Black history and re-memory.

Addict, thief, pimp, pusher, player—and most notably, groundbreaking writer. Donald Goines was all of these. As a kid, Donald Goines was the product of a middle-class family. After high school, he joined the Air Force—and discovered the heroin that would rule the remainder of his life. On the streets, he turned to writing when he was straight enough to keep at it. He used the language of the streets and he wrote of its people. Goines's success was immediate and exciting. But eventually those same streets claimed him.

A lie can follow you to death. The first time my mother told me that, it didn't resonate. I'd made it a point to always tell the story that suited me in the moment. Truth or fiction. Except . . . I didn't count on the lies I told myself. Or the woman who held up the mirror so I could see them.

They promised to love one another deeply, madly, and unconditionally, forever and ever.

What greater act of friendship is there than making someone dear look and feel their most beautiful and powerful? That was the priceless gift acclaimed designer B Michael gave to one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses, Cicely Tyson over the course of their close, decades-long relationship. In this glorious memoir, B Michael recalls the bond they shared and what it was like to dress the Queen of Hollywood for all the extraordinary events of her life.

A long time ago, I helped her. Little tips about what to wear, how to leave a man wanting more, ways to be sexy without being too obvious. The guy she'd wanted was wrong for her, though. Still, she'd wanted him anyway and ended up with a broken heart. But she wasn't the only one, because even after I'd made my own intentions known, she walked away. Now, she's back in town. Still beautiful, still intelligent, still funny, and ready to start over after a bad breakup from someone who never deserved her in the first place.

Axel Chamberlain hadn't foreseen ending one relationship, only to find himself immersed in another soon after. Emersyn Myers, on the other hand, returned to Los Angeles with her heart open to putting down roots in the city she's always known as home. For these two—while the unexpected had occurred—it was what they needed most.