The Chris Voss Show

Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Leonard Sax Something scary is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, they are less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. As for young men, it turns out the film Failure to Launch is not far from the truth. Fully one-third of men ages 22-34 are still living at home with their parents-about a 100 percent increase in the past twenty years. Boys nationwide are increasingly dropping out of school; fewer are going to college; and for the first time in American history, women are outnumbering men at undergraduate institutions three to two. Parents, teachers, and mental health professionals are worried about boys. But until now, no one has come up with good reasons for their decline-and, more important, with workable solutions to reverse this troubling trend. Now, family physician and research psychologist Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature and draws on his vast clinical experience to propose an entirely original view of why boys and young men are failing in school and at home. He argues that a combination of social, cultural, and biological factors is creating an environment that is literally toxic to boys, ranging from environmental estrogens to the over-prescription of ADHD drugs. And he presents practical solutions-from new ways of controlling boys’ use of video games, to innovative (and workable) education reforms.

Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick by J. David McSwane For readers of War Dogs and Bad Blood, an explosive look inside the rush to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, from the award-winning ProPublica reporter who saw it firsthand. The United States federal government has spent over $10 billion on medical protective wear and emergency supplies, yet as COVID-19 swept the nation, life-saving equipment such as masks, gloves, and ventilators was nearly impossible to find. In this brilliant nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter J. David McSwane takes us behind the scenes to reveal how traders, contractors, and healthcare companies used one of the darkest moments in American history to fill their pockets. Determined to uncover how this was possible, he spent over a year on private jets and in secret warehouses, traveling from California to Chicago to Washington DC, to interview both the most treacherous of profiteers and the victims of their crimes. Pandemic, Inc. is the story of the fraudster who signed a multi-million-dollar contract with the government to provide lifesaving PPE, and yet never came up with a single mask. The Navy admiral at the helm of the national hunt for additional medical resources. The Department of Health whistleblower who championed masks early on and was silenced by the government and conservative media. And the politician who callously slashed federal emergency funding and gutted the federal PPE stockpile. Winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, McSwane connects the dots between backdoor deals and the spoils systems to provide the definitive account of how this pandemic was so catastrophically mishandled. Shocking and revelatory, Pandemic, Inc. exposes a system that is both deeply rigged, and singularly American.

Dennis Littley of “Ask Chef Dennis” Askchefdennis.com

Blue Fire: A Riveting New Thriller (A Victoria Emerson Thriller) by John Gilstrap A thrilling new suspense novel with shades of The Stand and One Second After from the New York Times bestselling author of the Jonathan Grave series, that fans of Ben Coes and Brad Taylor won’t want to miss! In the wake of a global conflict that has devastated America, those who survived live in a world without technology or governance. They look to one woman—single mother and former West Virginia Congressperson Victoria Emerson—to lead and protect those determined to rebuild all they have lost… “Engrossing…Fans of doomsday military thrillers will delight in the resilience of Gilstrap’s family of preppers and their quest for survival on their terms.” –Publishers Weekly They call it Hell Day—a world war that lasted less than twenty-four hours. Nations unleashed weapons that destroyed more than a century’s worth of technology. Electrical grids cannot generate power. Communications and computers cannot run. And the remnants of the U. S. government cannot be depended upon. Those who survived must live as their ancestors did, off a land ruled by the whims of nature. One-time congressional representative Victoria Emerson has become the new leader of the small town of Ortho, West Virginia. She has been struggling to provide food and shelter for the town’s inhabitants, while coping with desperate refugees. An autumn morning’s calm is shattered when her teenage son sounds the alarm with the cry “Blue Fire”—the code phrase for imminent danger. A band of National Guardsmen intends to take Ortho and its resources for themselves. They have enough soldiers and firepower to eliminate anyone who dares to stop them. But Victoria swore an oath to defend and protect her people, and she isn’t about to surrender. It’s time to tap into the traditional American values of courage, ingenuity, and determination – and fight fire with fire.

The Last Keeper by J.V. Hilliard A young boy’s prophetic visions. Blind at birth, Daemus Alaric is blessed with the gift of prophetic Sight. Now, as a Keeper of the Forbidden, he must use his powers of the Sight to foil the plans of a fallen Keeper, Graytorris the Mad. An elven Princess with a horrifying secret. Princess Addilyn Elspeth travels from Eldwal, the magically hidden home of the Vermilion elves, to begin her life as a diplomat to the human capital of Castleshire. During her journey, she stumbles upon a mystical creature foretelling ill tidings. A terrifying force of evil. Daemus’ recurring nightmare vision threatens to catapult him into a terrifying struggle that will leave the fate of the Keepers—and the realm—hanging in the balance. Daemus and Princess Addilyn must set out to face the menace that threatens their very existence. Will the entire realm fall to its knees? The Last Keeper is the first book in The Warminster Series. With gripping, epic action and heart-pounding adventure, you’ll love this new adventure series.

Dr. Lyn Yaffe, Chairman and CEO/Chairman of EPR-Technologies, Inc. Epr-technology.com Startengine.com/epr-technologies

Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past by Richard Cohen A fascinating, epic exploration of who gets to record the world’s history—from Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Ken Burns—and how their biases influence our understanding about the past. There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as “objective” history? In this lively and thought-provoking book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of “Bad History” and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country. Making History investigates the published works and private utterances of our greatest chroniclers to discover the agendas that informed their—and our—views of the world. From the origins of history writing, when such an activity itself seemed revolutionary, through to television and the digital age, Cohen brings captivating figures to vivid light, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, Winston Churchill and Henry Louis Gates. Rich in complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a revealing exploration of both the aims and art of history-making, one that will lead us to rethink how we learn about our past and about ourselves.

Jon Ostenson of Franbridge Consulting and Capital Franbridgeconsulting.com

Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America by Mark Follman “An urgent read that illuminates real possibility for change.” —John Carreyrou, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Blood For the first time, a story about the specialized teams of forensic psychologists, FBI agents, and other experts who are successfully stopping mass shootings—a hopeful, myth-busting narrative built on new details of infamous attacks, never-before-told accounts from perpetrators and survivors, and real-time immersion in confidential threat cases, casting a whole new light on how to solve a grievous problem It’s time to go beyond all the thoughts and prayers, misguided blame on mental illness, and dug-in disputes over the Second Amendment. Through meticulous reporting and panoramic storytelling, award-winning journalist Mark Follman chronicles the decades-long search for identifiable profiles of mass shooters and brings readers inside a groundbreaking method for preventing devastating attacks. The emerging field of behavioral threat assessment, with its synergy of mental health and law enforcement expertise, focuses on circumstances and behaviors leading up to planned acts of violence—warning signs that offer a chance for constructive intervention before it’s too late. Beginning with the pioneering study in the late 1970s of “criminally insane” assassins and the stalking behaviors discovered after the murder of John Lennon and the shooting of Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s, Follman traces how the field of behavioral threat assessment first grew out of Secret Service investigations and FBI serial-killer hunting. Soon to be revolutionized after the tragedies at Columbine and Virginia Tech, and expanded further after Sandy Hook and Parkland, the method is used increasingly today to thwart attacks brewing within American communities. As Follman examines threat-assessment work throughout the country, he goes inside the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit and immerses in an Oregon school district’s innovative violence-prevention program, the first such comprehensive system to prioritize helping kids and avoid relying on punitive measures. With its focus squarely on progress, the story delves into consequential tragedies and others averted, revealing the dangers of cultural misunderstanding and media sensationalism along the way. Ultimately, Follman shows how the nation could adopt the techniques of behavioral threat assessment more broadly, with powerful potential to save lives. Eight years in the making, Trigger Points illuminates a way forward at a time when the failure to prevent mass shootings has never been more costly—and the prospects for stopping them never more promising.

Touched by the Music: How the Story and Music of “Rachel’s Song” Can Change Your Life by Dave Combs This book is about an inspired (some say anointed) instrumental song, the man who wrote it, the successful music business that grew from it, and the millions of people whose lives continue to be touched by the music. Come along with musician and master storyteller Dave Combs as he brings to life his life changing journey through up close and personal stories of the many faith-based steps along the way. There are stories of lasting friendships with gifted musicians, like the former piano player for the much loved and admired fellow East Tennessean, Dolly Parton. The book also includes a story about Dave being asked to submit some original music for a James Bond movie. Elevate your joy and peace through the power of his soft, soothing, relaxing music and heartwarming, uplifting, and inspirational stories.

Shawnee Harle Olympic Coach – Mental Toughness Coaching Shawneeharle.com

American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done by Will Hurd From former Republican Congressman and CIA Officer Will Hurd, a bold political playbook for America rooted in the timeless ideals of bipartisanship, inclusivity, and democratic values. It’s getting harder to get big things done in America. The gears of our democracy have been mucked up by political nonsense. To meet the era-defining challenges of the 21st century, our country needs a reboot. In American Reboot, Hurd, called “the future of the GOP” by Politico, provides a clear-eyed path forward for America grounded by what Hurd calls pragmatic idealism—a concept forged from enduring American values to achieve what is actually achievable. Hurd takes on five seismic problems facing a country in crisis: the Republican Party’s failure to present a principled vision for the future; the lack of honest leadership in Washington, DC; income inequality that threatens the livelihood of millions of Americans; US economic and military dominance that is no longer guaranteed; and how technological change in the next thirty years will make the advancements of the last thirty years look trivial. Hurd has seen these challenges up close. A child of interracial parents in South Texas, Hurd survived the back alleys of dangerous places as a CIA officer. He carried that experience into three terms in Congress, where he was, for a time, the House’s only Black Republican, representing a 71 percent Latino swing district in Texas that runs along 820 miles of US-Mexico border. As a cyber security executive and innovation crusader, Hurd has worked with entrepreneurs on the cutting edge of technology to anticipate the shockwaves of the future. Hurd draws on his remarkable experience to present an inspiring guide for America. He outlines how the Republican party can look like America by appealing to the middle, not the edges. He maps out how leaders should inspire rather than fearmonger. He forges a domestic policy based on the idea that prosperity should be a product of empowering people, not the government. He articulates a foreign policy where our enemies fear us and our friends love us. And lastly, he charts a forceful path forward for America’s technological future. We all know we can do better. It’s time to hit “ctrl alt del” and start the American Reboot.

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury, Tom Clavin The explosive true saga of the legendary figure Daniel Boone and the bloody struggle for America’s frontier by two bestselling authors at the height of their writing power—Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. It is the mid-eighteenth century, and in the thirteen colonies founded by Great Britain, anxious colonists desperate to conquer and settle North America’s “First Frontier” beyond the Appalachian Mountains commence a series of bloody battles. These violent conflicts are waged against the Native American tribes whose lands they covet, the French, and the mother country itself in an American Revolution destined to reverberate around the world. This is the setting of Blood and Treasure, and the guide to this epic narrative is America’s first and arguably greatest pathfinder, Daniel Boone—not the coonskin cap-wearing caricature of popular culture but the flesh-and-blood frontiersman and Revolutionary War hero whose explorations into the forested frontier beyond the great mountains would become the stuff of legend. Now, thanks to painstaking research by two award-winning authors, the story of the brutal birth of the United States is told through the eyes of both the ordinary and larger-than-life men and women who witnessed it. This fast-paced and fiery narrative, fueled by contemporary diaries and journals, newspaper reports, and eyewitness accounts, is a stirring chronicle of the conflict over America’s “First Frontier” that places the reader at the center of this remarkable epoch and its gripping tales of courage and sacrifice.

Learning America: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children by Luma Mufleh It was a wrong turn that changed everything. When Luma Mufleh—a Muslim, gay, refugee woman from hyper-conservative Jordan—stumbled upon a pick-up game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia, something compelled her to join. The players, 11- and 12-year-olds from Liberia, Afghanistan, and Sudan, soon welcomed her as coach of their ragtag but fiercely competitive group. Drawn into their lives, Mufleh learned that few of her players, all local public school students, could read a single word. She asks, “Where was the America that took me in? That protected me? How can I get these kids to that America?” Learning America traces the story of how Mufleh grew a group of kids into a soccer team and then into a nationally acclaimed network of schools for refugee children. The journey is inspiring and hard-won: Fugees schools accept only those most in need; no student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Soccer as a part of every school day is a powerful catalyst to heal trauma, create belonging, and accelerate learning. Finally, this gifted storyteller delivers provocative, indelible portraits of student after student making leaps in learning that aren’t supposed to be possible for children born into trauma–stories that shine powerful light on the path to educational justice for all of America’s most left-behind.

Septemics: Hierarchies of Human Phenomena: Analysis, Prediction and Management of Human Affairs by Jim Marshall Portions of this book are posted on Septemics.com Isaac Asimov, in his famous Foundation trilogy, imagined a future in which a science of the mind could accurately predict human events.This work is a down payment on that promise. It comprises a revolutionary and elaborate system for accurately analyzing, assessing, predicting and managing the behaviors and characteristics of groups and individuals. It is a textbook about a new philosophical science called Septemics, which consists of thirty-five scales, each of which delineates the exact sequence and patterns in which human beings actually behave and manifest in various contexts. Each of these scales describes an axis upon which individuals, and/or groups, advance or decline. This book would generally fit into the literary category of Psychological Philosophy, although there has never been a book quite like this in human history. One must actually read the book in order to access the power of its contents, because it is not like anything else.

The Soul of an Entrepreneur: Work and Life Beyond the Startup Myth by David Sax An award-winning business writer dismantles the myths of entrepreneurship, replacing them with an essential story about the experience of real business owners in the modern economy. We’re often told that we’re living amidst a startup boom. Typically, we think of apps built by college kids and funded by venture capital firms, which remake fortunes and economies overnight. But in reality, most new businesses are things like restaurants or hair salons. Entrepreneurs aren’t all millennials — more often, it’s their parents. And those small companies are the fabric of our economy. The Soul of an Entrepreneur is a business book of a different kind, exploring our work but also our passions and hopes. David Sax reports on the deeply personal questions of entrepreneurship: why an immigrant family risks everything to build a bakery; how a small farmer fights to manage his debt; and what it feels like to rise and fall with a business you built for yourself. This book is the real story of entrepreneurship. It confronts both success and failure, and shows how they can change a human life. It captures the inherent freedom that entrepreneurship brings, and why it matters.

A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury Ph.D. A brilliant blend of science and crime, A TASTE FOR POISON reveals how eleven notorious poisons affect the body–through the murders in which they were used. As any reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring―and popular―weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict? In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and true crime, Dr. Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level. Alongside real-life accounts of murderers and their crimes―some notorious, some forgotten, some still unsolved―are the equally compelling stories of the poisons involved: eleven molecules of death that work their way through the human body and, paradoxically, illuminate the way in which our bodies function. Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin & tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads readers on a riveting tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive―or don’t.

Take It Off: Revelations Of A Male Exotic Dancer by Corey Laine Hilton

Richard Schreiber Director, RAS Consulting Services, LLC Nycautismcommunity.org Nycautismexpo2022.co Facebook.com/groups/NYCAustimComGroup

Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, Duel Diagnosis Art Exhibit at SXSW 2022 Interview Dueldiagnosis.com

The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body’s Fear Response by Ellen Vora From acclaimed psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora comes a groundbreaking understanding of how anxiety manifests in the body and mind—and what we can do to overcome it. Anxiety affects more than forty million Americans—a number that continues to climb in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While conventional medicine tends to view anxiety as a “neck-up” problem—that is, one of brain chemistry and psychology—the truth is that the origins of anxiety are rooted in the body. In The Anatomy of Anxiety, holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora offers nothing less than a paradigm shift in our understanding of anxiety and mental health, suggesting that anxiety is not simply a brain disorder but a whole-body condition. In her clinical work, Dr. Vora has found time and again that the symptoms of anxiety can often be traced to imbalances in the body. The emotional and physical discomfort we experience—sleeplessness, brain fog, stomach pain, jitters—is a result of the body’s stress response. This physiological state can be triggered by challenging experiences as well as seemingly innocuous factors, such as diet and use of technology. The good news is that this body-based anxiety, or, as Dr. Vora terms it, “false anxiety,” is easily treated. Once the body’s needs are addressed, Dr. Vora reframes any remaining symptoms not as a disorder but rather as an urgent plea from within. This “true anxiety” is a signal that something else is out of balance—in our lives, in our relationships, in the world. True anxiety serves as our inner compass, helping us recalibrate when we’re feeling lost. Practical, informative, and deeply hopeful, The Anatomy of Anxiety is the first book to fully explain the origins of anxiety and offer a detailed road map for healing and growth.

Konstantina Mahlia of Malia Collection Mahliacollection.com

Walt Thiessen Podcaster and Motivational Speaker Loatoday.net

Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet: The Favorite Founder’s Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity by Michael Meyer The incredible story of Benjamin Franklin’s parting gift to the working-class people of Boston and Philadelphia—a deathbed wager that captures the Founder’s American Dream and his lessons for our current, conflicted age Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump‑start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall. In Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested—but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

Howard Shore, CEO, Founder, Coach and Consultant Activate Group, Inc. Activategroupinc.com

Remember Me Gone by Stacy Stokes Lucy Miller’s family has the unique ability to remove people’s painful memories—but Lucy isn’t prepared for truths she will uncover in this twisty speculative thriller, perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Neal Shusterman. People come from everywhere to forget. At the Memory House, in Tumble Tree, Texas, Lucy’s father can literally erase folks’ heartache and tragic memories. Lucy can’t wait to learn the family trade and help alleviate others’ pain, and now, at sixteen, she finally can. But everything is not as it seems. When Lucy practices memory-taking on her dad, his memory won’t come loose, and in the bit that Lucy sees, there’s a flash of Mama on the day she died, tinged red with guilt. Then Lucy wakes up the next morning with a bruised knee, a pocketful of desert sand, and no memory of what happened. She has no choice but to listen to Marco Warman—a local boy she’s always wondered about, who seems to know more than he should. As Lucy and Marco realize there are gaps in their own memories, they team up to fill in the missing pieces—to figure out what’s really going on in their town, and to uncover their own stolen history along the way. But as the mysteries pile up one thing becomes certain: There are some secrets people will do anything to keep.

Catholiclifecoachformen.com

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy by Thom Hartmann America’s most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how the government and corporate America misuse our personal data and shows how we can reclaim our privacy. Most Americans are worried about how companies like Facebook invade their privacy and harvest their data, but many people don’t fully understand the details of how their information is being adapted and misused. In this thought-provoking and accessible book, Thom Hartmann reveals exactly how the government and corporations are tracking our every online move and using our data to buy elections, employ social control, and monetize our lives. Hartmann uses extensive, vivid examples to highlight the consequences of Big Data on all aspects of our lives. He traces the history of surveillance and social control, looking back to how Big Brother invented whiteness to keep order and how surveillance began to be employed as a way to modify behavior. As he states, “The goal of those who violate privacy and use surveillance is almost always social control and behavior modification.” Along with covering the history, Hartmann shows how we got to where we are today, how China—with its new Social Credit System—serves as a warning, and how we can and must avoid a similarly dystopian future. By delving into the Constitutional right to privacy, Hartmann reminds us of our civil right and shows how we can restore it.

Stephen Shaw: Shamanism, Spiritual Healing And Self Transformation I-am-stephen-shaw.com Globally Renowned Mystic, Spiritual Life Coach, Shaman, Tantra Master, and Author of 12 bestselling, spiritual self-help books. He teaches secrets and keys to help people transform their lives into deep fulfillment, profound self-love and resounding joy. He is the creator of Chakra Shamanism, a powerful combination of life coaching, clairvoyance and energy healing. He works with A-listers and celebrity clients, mostly in my home county Los Angeles and worldwide via Zoom. As seen on KTNV Las Vegas, NBC Palm Springs, multiple radio shows, podcasts, blogs and magazines. THE FRACTAL KEY is a book about shamanism, spiritual healing and profound self transformation. It reveals the secrets of advanced shamans, shamanic practices and shamanic journeys. This book discloses many potent indigenous plant medicines and life-transforming psychedelic therapies. The Fractal Key is the premier, unbridled, tell-all book that unveils powerful healing secrets, techniques and tools. Absorb advanced spiritual and esoteric knowledge and shift your life into fulfillment and bliss. All these sacred teachings are the outcome of my own exhilarating spiritual journey! “One of the best self help books for women and men, and personal growth books. A timely revelation.” Read my books The Fractal Key, They Walk Among Us, I Am and Divine Love together, and create radical self transformation, then proceed to the rest of my 12 self inspiration books. Stephen Shaw is the Author of 12 Spiritual Books Best Sellers: I Am, Heart Song, They Walk Among Us, The Other Side, Reflections, The Fractal Key, The Sorcerer, Divine Love, Atlantis, and the trilogy of 5D, Star Child, The Tribe. Website: www.i-am-stephen-shaw.com

Concentric.io March 12th SXSW panel hosted by Concentric, the largest privately owned security firm on the west coast, will tackle. “Gamers’ Security Paradigm Shift in Physical World” will discuss going “From Virtual to Reality” with Roderick Jones, Executive Chairman of Concentric; Paul Foster, CEO of Global Esports Federation and esports influencer and Pro Basketball Player Aerial Powers. The security paradigm surrounding online influencers, and specifically gamers, has evolved to a dangerous level over the last few years. Ultimately, the uniqueness of influencers’ security problem comes from their real or perceived accessibility, the bipolarization of social consciousness in today’s era, including stigma of their profession, and the ability for bad actors to hide behind pseudonyms and aliases to prevent prosecution for their actions. The dangers of online threats aren’t going away any time soon. According to Roderick, “As influencers bring viewers into their living rooms and/or bedrooms during live-streams or social media stories, participants can feel personally connected to the event, even though they are doing so along with tens of thousands of fellow viewers. A crossover into obsession is enabled by the ease of information about these individuals including physical addresses, familial contact information, and “pattern of life” details such as frequented stores, gyms, and friends’ houses.” Additionally: Influencers are forced to reckon with unsolicited and non-consensual messages, and sometimes photographs or videos, due to the reachability and access users have to their following on social media. Oftentimes this puts influencers in a vulnerable position, usually not realized until it’s too late to control. Desensitization is expected from influencers when negative comments and responses are expected to be seen, allowed, and anticipated, even on a mass scale. Because that baseline of negativity is established, the threat escalation is significantly higher while also being allowed to “drown in the noise.” Virtual attacks are below the threshold of concern and no direct correlation is anticipated to evolve into physical threat, regardless of the data proving otherwise. When physical threats do occur, there is limited recourse that influencers can take. “Unfortunately, the influencer industry is lagging behind on not only acknowledging the security threat posed by their unique accessibility, but also dealing with stigma and technology limitations that prevent adequate and holistic response options for the virtual threats that are directly turning into physical violence.”

New You! Who Knew : Surprising foundations to get more done, feel more connected, and stay balanced in a rapidly changing world by David Edwards Life is messy. It flashes by as you wonder what your future will be and how to influence it. You struggle to take charge of your life and it’s frustrating. Trying new things never works as well as you hoped. Why isn’t your story as wonderful as those you read about? YOU are the focus in New You! Who Knew? Each chapter helps you build the core skills you need for everything else to fall into place. The surprising but enduring foundations encourage you to build a life to be proud of. Without these, many people experience unnecessary frustration and disappointment. Be the captain of your own life! Follow step by step to learn the fundamentals needed to overcome challenges, accomplish goals and persist when the going gets tough. By making the principles your own, every relationship and effort will improve, guiding you to lead your own way through life. The book helps people living real lives with real struggles achieve a new normal of accomplishment, relationship, control, and balance. Written for average people working on the front lines of business and life you must get a lot done with fewer resources and less help. The most amazing lives are always built on enduring principles. This book is built on the ten surprising, enduring principles that lead to success in life be it personal, relationships, or work. It invites you to put some realistic effort into becoming the captain of your own life and shares principles and tools that have proven effective through history, updated with the latest in human science. No hacks, shortcuts, ridiculous promises, or BS. Easy to read, easy to follow, powerful and effective. A self-help book for regular people who desire and are willing to put a bit of consistent effort into creating an amazing new normal, overcome challenges, persist through struggles, and lead their own way through the journey of life. No other book on the market: Is written specifically for this vast and underserved audience. Covers the foundations of your values, self-efficacy, and self-compassion in an approachable way. Avoids the hyperbole and inflated promises that so often lead to discouragement and even lower esteem. Is easy to digest and learn from wherever you are, whatever your background, whatever your age, whatever your income. Is grounded in enduring principles and the latest in behavioral science. Will help you be more successful in every other effort you make. Guides you through the process of becoming the captain of your own life.

The President’s Man: The Memoirs of Nixon’s Trusted Aide by Dwight Chapin In time for the 50th anniversary of President Nixon’s epic trips to China and Russia, as well as his incredible Watergate downfall, the man who was at his side for a decade as his aide and White House Deputy takes readers inside the life and administration of Richard Nixon. From Richard Nixon’s “You-won’t-have-Nixon-to-kick-around-anymore” 1962 gubernatorial campaign through his world-changing trips to China and the Soviet Union and epic downfall, Dwight Chapin was by his side. As his personal aide and then Deputy Assistant in the White House Chapin was with him in his most private and most public moments. He traveled with him, assisted, advised, strategized, campaigned and learned from America’s most controversial president. As Bob Haldeman’s protege, Chapin worked with Henry Kissinger in opening China—then eventually went to prison for Watergate although he had no involvement in it. In this memoir Chapin takes readers on an extraordinary historic journey; presenting an insider’s view of America’s most enigmatic President. Chapin will relate his memorable experiences with the people who shaped the future: Henry Kissinger, his close friend Bob Haldeman, Choi En-lai, Pat Nixon, the embittered Spiro Agnew, J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Sinatra, Mark “Deep Throat” Felt, young and ambitious Roger Ailes, and John Dean. It’s a story that ranges from Coretta Scott King to Elvis Presley, from the wonder of entering a closed Chinese society to the Oval Office, and concludes with startling new insights and conclusions about the break-in that brought down Nixon’s presidency.

Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War by Roger Lowenstein From renowned journalist and master storyteller Roger Lowenstein, a revelatory financial investigation into how Lincoln and his administration used the funding of the Civil War as the catalyst to centralize the government and accomplish the most far-reaching reform in the country’s history Upon his election to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln inherited a country in crisis. Even before the Confederacy’s secession, the United States Treasury had run out of money. The government had no authority to raise taxes, no federal bank, no currency. But amid unprecedented troubles Lincoln saw opportunity—the chance to legislate in the centralizing spirit of the “more perfect union” that had first drawn him to politics. With Lincoln at the helm, the United States would now govern “for” its people: it would enact laws, establish a currency, raise armies, underwrite transportation and higher education, assist farmers, and impose taxes for them. Lincoln believed this agenda would foster the economic opportunity he had always sought for upwardly striving Americans, and which he would seek in particular for enslaved Black Americans. Salmon Chase, Lincoln’s vanquished rival and his new secretary of the Treasury, waged war on the financial front, levying taxes and marketing bonds while desperately battling to contain wartime inflation. And while the Union and Rebel armies fought increasingly savage battles, the Republican-led Congress enacted a blizzard of legislation that made the government, for the first time, a powerful presence in the lives of ordinary Americans. The impact was revolutionary. The activist 37th Congress legislated for homesteads and a transcontinental railroad and involved the federal government in education, agriculture, and eventually immigration policy. It established a progressive income tax and created the greenback—paper money. While the Union became self-sustaining, the South plunged into financial free fall, having failed to leverage its cotton wealth to finance the war. Founded in a crucible of anticentralism, the Confederacy was trapped in a static (and slave-based) agrarian economy without federal taxing power or other means of government financing, save for its overworked printing presses. This led to an epic collapse. Though Confederate troops continued to hold their own, the North’s financial advantage over the South, where citizens increasingly went hungry, proved decisive; the war was won as much (or more) in the respective treasuries as on the battlefields. Roger Lowenstein reveals the largely untold story of how Lincoln used the urgency of the Civil War to transform a union of states into a nation. Through a financial lens, he explores how this second American revolution, led by Lincoln, his cabinet, and a Congress studded with towering statesmen, changed the direction of the country and established a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts With deeply personal and uplifting essays in the vein of Black Girls Rock, You Are Your Best Thing, and I Really Needed This Today, this is “a necessary testimony on the magic and beauty of our capacity to live and love fully and out loud” (Kerry Washington). When Tracey M. Lewis-Giggetts wrote an essay on Black joy for The Washington Post, she had no idea just how deeply it would resonate. But the outpouring of positive responses affirmed her own lived experience: that Black joy is not just a weapon of resistance, it is a tool for resilience. With this book, Tracey aims to gift her community with a collection of lyrical essays about the way joy has evolved, even in the midst of trauma, in her own life. Detailing these instances of joy in the context of Black culture allows us to recognize the power of Black joy as a resource to draw upon, and to challenge the one-note narratives of Black life as solely comprised of trauma and hardship. “Lewis-Giggetts etches a stunning personal map that follows in her ancestors’ footsteps and highlights their ability to take control of situational heartbreak and tragedy and make something better out of it….A simultaneously gorgeous and heartbreaking read” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Majority Minority by Justin Gest How do societies respond to great demographic change? This question lingers over the contemporary politics of the United States and other countries where persistent immigration has altered populations and may soon produce a majority minority milestone, where the original ethnic or religious majority loses its numerical advantage to one or more foreign-origin minority groups. Until now, most of our knowledge about largescale responses to demographic change has been based on studies of individual people’s reactions, which tend to be instinctively defensive and intolerant. We know little about why and how these habits are sometimes tempered to promote more successful coexistence. To anticipate and inform future responses to demographic change, Justin Gest looks to the past. In Majority Minority, Gest wields historical analysis and interview-based fieldwork inside six of the world’s few societies that have already experienced a majority minority transition to understand what factors produce different social outcomes. Gest concludes that, rather than yield to people’s prejudices, states hold great power to shape public responses and perceptions of demographic change through political institutions and the rhetoric of leaders. Through subsequent survey research, Gest also identifies novel ways that leaders can leverage nationalist sentiment to reduce the appeal of nativism–by framing immigration and demographic change in terms of the national interest. Grounded in rich narratives and surprising survey findings, Majority Minority reveals that this contentious milestone and its accompanying identity politics are ultimately subject to unifying or divisive governance.

Roger Williams of The Crossing It Off Podcast Subscribe to the podcast at: Podcasts.apple.com

Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right by Randall Balmer A surprising and disturbing origin story There is a commonly accepted story about the rise of the Religious Right in the United States. It goes like this: with righteous fury, American evangelicals entered the political arena as a unified front to fight the legality of abortion after the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The problem is this story simply isn’t true. Largely ambivalent about abortion until the late 1970s, evangelical leaders were first mobilized not by Roe v. Wade but by Green v. Connally, a lesser-known court decision in 1971 that threatened the tax-exempt status of racially discriminatory institutions—of which there were several in the world of Christian education at the time. When the most notorious of these schools, Bob Jones University, had its tax-exempt status revoked in 1976, evangelicalism was galvanized as a political force and brought into the fold of the Republican Party. Only later, when a more palatable issue was needed to cover for what was becoming an increasingly unpopular position following the civil rights era, was the moral crusade against abortion made the central issue of the movement now known as the Religious Right. In this greatly expanded argument from his 2014 Politico article “The Real Origins of the Religious Right,” Randall Balmer guides the reader along the convoluted historical trajectory that began with American evangelicalism as a progressive force opposed to slavery, then later an isolated apolitical movement in the mid-twentieth century, all the way through the 2016 election in which 81 percent of white evangelicals coalesced around Donald Trump for president. The pivotal point, Balmer shows, was the period in the late 1970s when American evangelicals turned against Jimmy Carter—despite his being one of their own, a professed “born-again” Christian—in favor of the Republican Party, which found it could win their loyalty through the espousal of a single issue. With the implications of this alliance still unfolding, Balmer’s account uncovers the roots of evangelical watchwords like “religious freedom” and “family values” while getting to the truth of how this movement began—explaining, in part, what it has become.

Ana Lennyr, Family Relationships Mentor & Life Strategist Analennyr.com

Decide and Conquer: 44 Decisions that will Make or Break All Leaders by David Siegel Success boils down to one thing: making good decisions. Learn the right framework now that can make all the difference later when faced with terrible options, deep anxiety and fear of failure. Access the decision framework David Siegel used when he took over as CEO of Meetup, the world’s leading platform for making connections and finding your community. Let David’s success during one of the most tumultuous times in his company’s history help guide you on your own path. Decide and Conquer helps all leaders navigate the big decisions that will impact their future and make their organizations a success. David outlines the 44 challenges leaders face when starting a new position, then shows you the decision framework he applied to overcome challenges in his own role. David takes you on an epic journey of corporate and personal survival that includes industry titans like Adam Neumann, Barry Diller, Jack Welch, Bill Ackman, and other leaders. In Decide and Conquer, you will learn to: Apply principles like open communication, transparency, and kindness to inform great decision making. Set yourself up to succeed, even before you start, by removing potential roadblocks before they become a problem. Be a bold and decisive leader and not succumb to fear. By applying the principles he had learned in previous leadership positions, David was able to make the many critical decisions that would mean life or death for Meetup when WeWork decided to sell the company. From deciding to accept the position and negotiating terms to managing a seemingly endless series of crises during the sale and global pandemic, Decide and Conquer walks readers through the key decisions they will face with invaluable advice for each one.

Grief: A Philosophical Guide by Michael Cholbi An engaging and illuminating exploration of grief―and why, despite its intense pain, it can also help us grow Experiencing grief at the death of a person we love or who matters to us―as universal as it is painful―is central to the human condition. Surprisingly, however, philosophers have rarely examined grief in any depth. In Grief, Michael Cholbi presents a groundbreaking philosophical exploration of this complex emotional event, offering valuable new insights about what grief is, whom we grieve, and how grief can ultimately lead us to a richer self-understanding and a fuller realization of our humanity. Drawing on psychology, social science, and literature as well as philosophy, Cholbi explains that we grieve for the loss of those in whom our identities are invested, including people we don’t know personally but cherish anyway, such as public figures. Their deaths not only deprive us of worthwhile experiences; they also disrupt our commitments and values. Yet grief is something we should embrace rather than avoid, an important part of a good and meaningful life. The key to understanding this paradox, Cholbi says, is that grief offers us a unique and powerful opportunity to grow in self-knowledge by fashioning a new identity. Although grief can be tumultuous and disorienting, it also reflects our distinctly human capacity to rationally adapt as the relationships we depend on evolve. An original account of how grieving works and why it is so important, Grief shows how the pain of this experience gives us a chance to deepen our relationships with others and ourselves.

The Amazon Way: Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles by John Rossman The 3rd edition of The Amazon Way is one of the rare business leadership books giving actionable insights for innovation and business growth to be the basis for your digital transformation gameplan. The Amazon Way translates Amazon’s unique culture and management practices into insights and opportunities, as only an Amazon executive and expert advisor could do for the Amazon Leadership Principles giving readers one of the essential business leadership books for the digital era. Peppered with humorous and enlightening firsthand anecdotes with Jeff Bezos from the author’s career at Amazon, this revealing business guide is also filled with the valuable lessons that have served Jeff Bezos’ “everything store” so well—providing expert advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors. The author was responsible for launching the Amazon Marketplace business and had accountability for the enterprise services business. Since leaving Amazon, Rossman has worked across every industry sector and with companies of all sizes to create business and product strategies, approaches to scale leadership, culture and innovation. It’s this combination of Amazon insider experience coupled with a vast portfolio of helping other businesses compete which make The Amazon Way a guide for anyone looking to compete in the digital era. The 3rd edition has many new and updated sections. This includes a new foreword from Tom Alberg, managing partner at Madrona Venture Group. Tom was on the board of directors at Amazon for 23 years. A new preface is included suggesting a vital strategy for Amazon and the leadership teams for all companies. The Amazon Way is on a short list of essential business leadership books and should be a key addition to business leadership programs to develop a culture of growth and innovation. If you are interviewing at Amazon or for current Amazon employees, The Amazon Way will be an invaluable asset for your success. The Amazon Way doesn’t just explain the Amazon Leadership Principles, but gives tools, mechanisms and atomic habits to create change in a team or business. The leadership principles and examples include customer obsession, long-term thinking, think big, working backwards and the future press release, bias for action, earn trust and free cash flow. Praise for The Amazon Way “In this new edition, John Rossman provides an updated, in-depth and invaluable view of the principles that are fueling Amazon’s extraordinary business success. John’s suggestion to add a new principle focused on the Golden Rule is a great one for every company, as, more than ever, we need business to serve the common good!” – Hubert Joly, former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, author The Heart of Business – Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism “In The Amazon Way, John Rossman brilliantly illuminates Amazon’s secretive corporate culture, using HIS rare insider’s perspective to show how Jeff Bezos has created unique systems that facilitate good decision making at all levels of his company” — Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound

Saul Colt, Founder of The Idea Integration Company Theideaintegration.com

How to Talk to Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down by Y-Vonne Hutchinson An indispensable practical toolkit for dismantling racism in the workplace without fear Reporting and personal testimonials have exposed racism in every institution in this country. But knowing that racism exists isn’t nearly enough. Social media posts about #BlackLivesMatter are nice, but how do you push leadership towards real anti-racist action? Diversity and inclusion strategist Y-Vonne Hutchinson helps tech giants, political leaders, and Fortune 500 companies speak more productively about racism and bias and turn talk into action. In this clear and accessible guide, Hutchinson equips employees with a framework to think about race at work, prepares them to have frank and effective conversations with more powerful leaders, helps them center marginalized perspectives, and explains how to leverage power dynamics to get results while navigating backlash and gaslighting. How to Talk To Your Boss About Race is a crucial handbook to moving beyond fear to push for change. No matter how much formal power you have, you can create antiracist change at work.

A Game of Fear: A Novel (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries, 24) by Charles Todd In this newest installment of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is faced with his most perplexing case yet: a murder with no body, and a killer who can only be a ghost. Spring, 1921. Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to the sea-battered village of Walmer on the coast of Essex, where amongst the salt flats and a military airfield lies Benton Abbey, a grand manor with a storied past. The lady of the house may prove his most bewildering witness yet. She claims she saw a violent murder—but there is no body, no blood. She also insists she recognized the killer: Captain Nelson. Only it could not have been Nelson because he died during the war. Everyone in the village believes that Lady Benton’s losses have turned her mind—she is, after all, a grieving widow and mother—but the woman Rutledge interviews is rational and self-possessed. And then there is Captain Nelson: what really happened to him in the war? The more Rutledge delves into this baffling case, the more suspicious tragedies he uncovers. The Abbey and the airfield hold their secrets tightly. Until Rutledge arrives, and a new trail of death follows…

The High Call of Forgiveness: It’s A Mandate by Rosemarie Downer Ph.D. The High Call of Forgivenes sexposes the strategy of the enemy that has caused too many of us to believe it is too difficult to forgive. Undeniably, forgiving someone who has wronged us is difficult, but we can, if Christ lives in us. In the High Call of Forgiveness, Rosemarie Downer takes you on a faith journey by sharing the context of offense, why we hurt others, why it is as difficult for most of us to forgive, how we can forgive, how we can go beyond forgiveness to reconciliation, and how we can obtain emotional healing. She also gives permission to hurt but notes carefully that hurt must be addressed in a timely manner. This is an eye-opening and honest journey of self-examination. You will ask yourself and find answers to questions like these: What got me here? How can I get past the pain? How is it that I love the Lord and know what the Word of God say about unforgiveness, yet I find it so difficult to obey? This book will change your life!

Sean O’Rourke of Simple Home Exitz Simplehomeexitz.com Highperformanceedu.com

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby From the New York Times bestselling author of More Money Than God comes the astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture-capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy Innovations rarely come from “experts.” Elon Musk was not an “electric car person” before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. It is the nature of the venture-capital game that most attempts at discovery fail, but a very few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC business, all of Silicon Valley, the wider tech sector, and, by extension, the world. In The Power Law, Sebastian Mallaby has parlayed unprecedented access to the most celebrated venture capitalists of all time—the key figures at Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Benchmark, and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as Chinese partnerships such as Qiming and Capital Today—into a riveting blend of storytelling and analysis that unfurls the history of tech incubation, in the Valley and ultimately worldwide. We learn the unvarnished truth, often for the first time, about some of the most iconic triumphs and infamous disasters in Valley history, from the comedy of errors at the birth of Apple to the avalanche of venture money that fostered hubris at WeWork and Uber. VCs’ relentless search for grand slams brews an obsession with the ideal of the lone entrepreneur-genius, and companies seen as potential “unicorns” are given intoxicating amounts of power, with sometimes disastrous results. On a more systemic level, the need to make outsized bets on unproven talent reinforces bias, with women and minorities still represented at woefully low levels. This does not just have social justice implications: as Mallaby relates, China’s homegrown VC sector, having learned at the Valley’s feet, is exploding and now has more women VC luminaries than America has ever had. Still, Silicon Valley VC remains the top incubator of business innovation anywhere—it is not where ideas come from so much as where they go to become the products and companies that create the future. By taking us so deeply into the VCs’ game, The Power Law helps us think about our own future through their eyes.

How Architecture Tells: 9 Realities that will Change the Way You See by Robert Steinberg The general reading public is likely to think of architecture as buildings. But, with this book, Robert Steinberg would like to help readers understand that architecture shapes lives. Architecture can help communities integrate and thrive. Architecture can touch us, influencing how we feel, and how we interact with others. In short, architecture can fundamentally improve our quality of life. As a young graduate architect fresh from Berkeley, Steinberg began to discover the potential of architecture to shape communities. Working with his father, an architect who had studied with Mies van der Rohe (and whose father was also an architect), one of Steinberg’s first projects was to draft and redraft a parking garage in downtown Silicon Valley, CA. As he mediated between the two architects in charge of the project?his father and the city architect?he noticed that with each evolution, the garage became more beautiful and refined. And with each improvement, this garage became more able to succeed in the goal of reviving the dying downtown core of Silicon Valley. The garage was a huge success, and Steinberg began to codify what he had learned. Thanks to the garage, he wrote the first of what would become the 9 Realities of Architecture: Architecture is the Pursuit of Perfection ? a magnificent take-away from a humble parking garage project. As Steinberg eventually rose to become CEO of his firm and grew it into a global practice with six regional offices including Austin and New York, and a major office in Shanghai, he used his drive for creating thriving communities to eventually touch the lives of countless people around the world.

The Leader’s Mind: How Great Leaders Prepare, Perform, and Prevail by Jim Afremow PhD, Phil White Clear and concise steps to develop the confidence and mental edge that sets you apart as a trailblazing leader—the same approach thousands of professional athletes have used to become champions. TheLeader’s Mind taps into the same tips and techniques honed by top-tier athletes, such as how to get in a “zone,” thrive on a team, and stay humble, to become a champion at work and the ultimate team player at home. Based on high-performance psychology research and Dr. Jim Afremow’s two decades of experience providing mental training services across the globe to athletes and business leaders, TheLeader’s Mind will help you master: Valuable leadership lessons through powerful parables and stories from well-known leaders. The actionable steps leaders must take to change their thinking and become the leader they want to be. The necessary mindset to push through the challenges you face and take control of the direction your career and home life are taking. Tips and techniques to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and challenges in order to excel. Stop struggling with the expectations you face at work and at home by fundamentally changing the way you process what’s happening in your life. The mental edge that sets elite athletes apart outlined in this book will help you become the champion leader you want to be.

No Second Chances: A Novel by Rio Youers From Rio Youers, the acclaimed author of Lola on Fire, comes a blistering high-octane thriller about desperate love, vengeance, and the precarious pursuit of fame. “A rip-roaring Hollywood noir that smashes the pedal to the metal and keeps it there. The best villain since Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels . . . This one is hot.” –Stephen King Luke Kingsley’s glory days are behind him. A star on the rise, his life and career imploded after his soul singer wife, Lisa Hayes, disappeared without a trace, silencing a very public and tumultuous marriage. Most people, especially an avenging PI, think Luke got away with murder. The last thing he expects is to be pulled back from the brink by a starstruck stranger. Wannabe actress Kitty Rae has chased her dreams all the way from Kentucky to Hollywood. Saving a washed-up actor’s life wasn’t one of them, but she believes in Luke—as much as she believes her own career is just one lucky break away. For now, she works for Johan Fly, a charismatic, wealthy, and seriously unbalanced drug dealer to the rich and famous. When Johan discovers that Kitty has been skimming the product, he vows to make her pay. As Luke steps up to help Kitty, he uncovers a web of violence and corruption, as well as a single, enticing clue about his wife’s disappearance. Barreling across the Mojave Desert, Luke and Kitty set off to find the long-lost Lisa. But Johan, hungry for vengeance, is hot on their trail. There’s no limit to what he will do to find them. And in a world where fortune favors the ruthless, there’s also no limit to what Luke and Kitty will have to do to survive.