Showing results by narrator "Michael Gilboe" in All Categories

Tiananmen Square, a large city square in the center of Beijing, can be said to represent the essence of Chinese culture, being the site of several important events in the country's history. It is characterized as being a vast open ground centered on and defined by a series of monuments constructed over a period of 500 years. Named after the Tiananmen gate, one that means the "Gate of Heavenly Peace", the square is located towards the north of the gate, separating it from the Forbidden City.

Next to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young is one of the best known Mormon leaders and perhaps the most important. After Smith's death, it was Young who led Mormon pioneers westward in a journey that the Latter Day Saints often likened to the Exodus, and Young became popular as "American Moses". At the same time, Young and his group were involved in a seemingly never ending list of controversies, both of their own making and the misconceptions of so many Americans who were unfamiliar with the religion.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

Cemeteries are by their very nature tragic places, as they would never exist were it not for the inevitably cold hand of death that will certainly take out each person eventually. Given that fact, each bears its own unique history, whether it be the Valley of the Kings in Egypt or a small family plot in rural Georgia. Naturally, Arlington National Cemetery, sitting as it does on the very edge of the nation's capital upon a hill across the Potomac River, bears its own tragic aura, but it's certainly ironic that it was never intended to be a cemetery at all.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

When Bertram Wiggly leaves his job as an appliance actuary - calculating the life expectancy of major appliances so their warranties expire precisely one day before they implode - he thinks he's found the perfect place to retire in Medville, with its town square, circled by brick-cobbled streets and quaint shops with bright red and white awnings. But then the town rezones itself for musicals. At any moment an invisible orchestra is apt to strike up a melody and the otherwise sane townsfolk of Medville burst into song.

The Olmec people are widely recognized as the first major civilization of Mexico and are thus generally regarded as the mother civilization of Mesoamerica, making them the people from which all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures derived.

Nobody spent more time in the thick of early American political debates than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the aforementioned debates, authoring the Declaration of Independence, laying out the ideological groundwork of the notion of states' rights, leading one of the first political parties, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency.

The Toltec are one of the most famous Mesoamerican groups in South America, but they are also the most controversial and mysterious. The Toltec have been identified as the group that established a strong state centered in Tula (in present-day Mexico), and the Aztec claimed the Toltec as their cultural predecessors, so much so that the word Toltec comes from the Aztec's word Tōltēcatl, translated as artisan.

He listened attentively when Grandpa talked. Curiosity is a terrible curse, he decided. And curious Zander was. He knew that they were considered outsiders on their street even when he was in the second grade. He just knew it even though people were nice to him and to his mother.

A certain inevitability characterizes the rise to fame of Aretha Franklin. Indeed, while it is true that neither of her parents were pop singers, they were each talented vocalists - Aretha's father, C.L., was a particularly famous preacher, with a voice so melodic that his sermons effectively doubled as musical performances. Moreover, in an age in which economic opportunities were particularly limited for African-Americans, Aretha was fortunate enough to grow up in a household of relative comfort.

This is a summary, analysis, and review of Ariana Neumann's riveting memoir, in which she digs through her family’s past to uncover a Holocaust story that is as thrilling as it is heart-wrenching.

Let this audiobook guide you to the many places you must see in Venice to not let your once-in-a-lifetime trip go to waste. This audiobook is filled with suggested places to stay - from budget to luxurious - places to visit, local cuisines to try, and places to shop. All these suggested itineraries have been experienced firsthand and are all highly recommended to tourists.

In Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz cleverly manipulates Big Data to explore the dark underside of American consciousness. Using powerful new methodologies, the author analyzes anonymous Google searches across a wide range of subjects about which people tend to be secretive.

Gundry says that a plant protein called lectin is responsible for obesity, and many autoimmune disorders. Gundry offers a diet that eliminates lectins, GMOs, and other toxins. This diet will allow people to reduce weight, improve health, and eliminate a wide range of conditions including diabetes, heart disease, lupus, and more. Lectins are plant toxins. Plants evolved lectins as poisons to discourage insects from eating plant seeds or other parts of the plant. Lectins are in most plants, and can cause sickness in humans.

Nathan McBride is on the case again - and this time, the stakes are personal. His friend just saw two people killed, and he believes he knows the man responsible. But as McBride and his partner, Fontana, pursue the investigation, they find themselves on the brink of a shadow war, fought in secret by the powerful and wealthy - a war in which a single decision could change the course of history.