Most Popular Books by Ellis Henican

""Lebanon" Levi Stoltzfus, star of the #1 top-rated Discovery Channel reality show Amish Mafia, delivers a sizzling tell-all about Amish life today. From the forbidden joyrides to the senseless shunnings to the colorful family feuds, he shares his frank insider''s view of this fascinating and secretive society. You''ve seen the pretty postcards and the shiny tourist brochures. Now, Amish Confidential takes readers beyond the buggies, bonnets, and beards--into the hidden heart of back-roads Amish country. The all-night field parties. The prohibited automobiles. The nosy neighbors and prissy tattletales. It''s all here: the many "English temptations." The stitch-and-bitch quilting bees. The sex, alcohol, and illicit Wi-Fi. And the random acts of kindness and remarkable forgiveness, too. Interest in the Amish has never been greater. The tourist counts keep breaking new records. Amish Mafia is back for a fourth blockbuster season on TV, joined now by several spinoff shows. Amish Confidential taps right into America''s fresh fascination with the throwback Amish. Stoltzfus weaves his never-before-told personal story through some high-profile Amish episodes that rocked the news in recent years, including the Nickel Mines shooting massacre, the Amish sisters'' farm-stand kidnapping, and the Amish-Pagan drug gang. As America''s most famous Amish tough guy makes clear on every page, there is nothing plain or simple about the plain-and-simple life"--

"A Navy SEAL commander explores the practical and philosophical questions of heroic service that have emerged about America''s past decade at war, from the qualities of heroes and the reasons we fight to how war impacts families and whether or not soldiers can be held accountable for wartime actions, "--NoveList.

*A Wall Street Journal, Southern Indie, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller* Stock-car racing star, country singer, and sports broadcaster Kyle Petty shares his familial legacy, intertwined with NASCAR’s founding and history, in Swerve or Die—written with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellis Henican, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of In the Blink of an Eye. “Born into racing royalty. The only son of NASCAR’s winningest driver ever. The grandson of one of the sport’s true pioneers. The nephew of our very first Hall of Fame engine builder. It’s quite a family to represent, and through it all, I’ve somehow managed to keep being Kyle.” Kyle Petty won his very first stock-car race, the Daytona ARCA 200, in 1979 when he was eighteen. Hailed as a third-generation professional NASCAR racer, he became an instant celebrity in circles he had been around all his young life. Despite being the grandson and son of racing champions Lee Petty and Richard Petty, Kyle didn’t inherit innate talent. Working in his family’s North Carolina race shop from an early age, he learned all about car mechanics and maintenance long before he got behind the wheel. And although Kyle continued the family business, driving “Petty blue” colored cars emblazoned with his grandfather’s #42—a number once used by Marty Robbins—his career took a different route than his forebears’. In Swerve or Die: Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing, Kyle chronicles his life on and off the racetrack, presenting his insider’s perspective of growing up throughout the sport’s popular rise in American culture. In between driving and running Petty Enterprises for thirty years, Kyle took some detours into country music, voiced Cal Weathers in Pixar’s Cars 3, and started his annual motorcycle Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. And when his nineteen-year-old son Adam, a fourth-generation racing Petty, tragically lost his life on the track, Kyle founded Victory Junction, a camp for children with chronic and serious medical conditions in Adam’s name—with help from Academy Award-winning actor and motorsports enthusiast Paul Newman. Filled with NASCAR history, stories of his family’s careers, and anecdotes about some of stock-car racing’s most famous drivers, Kyle’s memoir also tackles the sport’s evolution, discussing how welcoming diverse racers, improving car and track safety features, and integrating green technology will benefit NASCAR’s competitors and fans in the future. Includes Photographs

Everyone knows you can''t build things in America anymore. Everyone, that is, except John D. Bassett III. While one corporation after another exported their manufacturing to high-volume factories in low-wage locations overseas, Bassett''s traditional wood bedroom furniture manufacturing company has not only survived, but thrived, making premium products right here in America. When everyone else was rushing for the exits, Bassett bet on the talent, dedication, and uncompromising quality of American workmanship. And he won. In Making It in America, Bassett tells you the secrets that have made Vaughan-Bassett Furniture so successful doing what everyone said couldn''t be done. Drawing on rich life experience, including the everyday challenges running a traditional manufacturing company, Bassett constructs a 12-point plan to achieve successful leadership in any business. These steps include: Have a winning attitude, respect your employees, don''t panic, reinvest constantly, and make the best of the worst. Bassett''s story is about how those values underpinned his personal success and how they can revitalize America itself. In the face of feckless leadership, crumbling infrastructure, and global competition, Bassett''s story is a blueprint for how America can revitalize its role as leader of the free world and how your success can be part of it.

As timely as it is heartwarming, Tuesday''s Promise is an inspiring memoir of love, service, teamwork, and the remarkable bond between humans and canines. Following the success of his New York Times bestseller, Until Tuesday, Iraq War veteran Luis Carlos Montalvan advocated for America''s wounded warriors and the healing powers of service dogs. In this spectacular memoir, Luis and Tuesday brought their healing mission to the next level, showing how these beautifully trained animals could assist soldiers, veterans, and many others with mental and physical disabilities. They rescued a forgotten Tuskegee airman, battled obstinate VA bureaucrats, and provided solace to war heroes coast-to-coast. As Luis and Tuesday celebrated exhilarating victories, a grave obstacle threatened their work. Luis made great progress battling his own PTSD, but his physical wounds got so bad that he began using a wheelchair. He needed to decide whether to amputate his leg and carry on with a bionic prosthesis. Even as he struggled with dramatic emotional and physical changes, ten-year-old Tuesday was lovingly by his side through it all. Luis'' death in December 2016 was another terrible tragedy of the invisible wounds of war. This book was his last letter of love to his best friend, Tuesday, and to veterans, readers, friends, and fellow dog lovers everywhere.

"In 2008, almost two decades after the Cold War was officially consigned to the history books, an average American guy in his twenties helped to bring down a top Russian spy based at the United Nations. This American had no formal espionage training. Everything he knew about spying he''d learned from books, movies, video games, and TV. And yet, with the help of an initially reluctant FBI duo, he ended up at the center of a highly successful counterintelligence operation that targeted Russian espionage in America"--

Details the author''s decision to become head coach for the devastated New Orleans Saints in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and how he led the team to a Super Bowl victory in 2009 and helped revitalize the city''s spirit.

With the nation badly divided and the two major parties on a bitter collision course, what can we learn from America’s last great president? A lot, says New York Times bestselling author and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. In What Would Reagan Do?, Christie takes a fresh look at President Ronald Reagan’s character-driven political instincts and deeply impactful relationships across party lines—finding plenty of compelling insights for our current national dysfunction. In each chapter, Christie spells out a lesson from a different point in Reagan’s journey, then ties all those lessons to the national challenges of today. When Reagan turned from Hollywood to politics, America was at another breaking point. The economy was battered. Trust in government was at an all-time low. US foreign policy was an embarrassment, and Western ideals were facing enormous challenges in the world, especially from the Russians and the Chinese. Sound familiar? Enter a fading actor who would become the 40th president of the United States. Countless books have been written about President Reagan’s strong conservative leadership. But Christie says few people fully appreciate the clarity of vision and subtle human relations skills that Reagan brought to the negotiating table and into the political realm. Reagan had a remarkable ability to find common ground across party lines—as Christie puts it, to “compromise without being compromised.” Building on lessons from his own hardscrabble upbringing, Reagan transformed the Republican Party and the political landscape forever. Two decades after Reagan’s death, Christie shows how the life lessons of the beloved president are more alive than ever—and can restore American leadership again.

There are many miles from the business school and basketball court at the University of Southern California to 50 million viewers for the final episode of a TV show called Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck has lived every one of those miles in his own iconoclastic and joyful way. Frank, funny and open-hearted, You Never Know is an intimate memoir from one of the most beloved actors of our time, the highly personal story of a remarkable life and thoroughly accidental career. In his own voice and uniquely unpretentious style, the famed actor brings readers on his uncharted but serendipitous journey to the top in Hollywood, his temptations and distractions, his misfires and mistakes and, over time, his well-earned success. Along the way, he clears up an armload of misconceptions and shares dozens of never-told stories from all corners of his personal and professional life. His rambunctious California childhood. His clueless arrival as a good-looking college jock in Hollywood (from the Dating Game to the Fox New Talent Program to co-starring with Mae West and escorting her to black-tie social functions). What it was like to emerge as a mega-star in his mid-thirties and remain so for decades to come, an actor whose authenticity and ease in front of the camera connected with audiences worldwide while embodying and also redefining the clichés of onscreen manhood. In You Never Know, Selleck recounts his personal friendships with a vivid army of A-listers, everyone from Frank Sinatra to Carol Burnett to Sam Elliott, paying special tribute to his mentor James Garner of The Rockford Files, who believed, like Selleck, that TV protagonists are far more interesting when they have rough edges. He also more than tips his hat to the American western and the scruffy band of actors, directors and other ruffians who helped define that classic genre, where Selleck has repeatedly found a happy home. Magnum fans will be fascinated to learn how Selleck put his career on the line to make Thomas Magnum a more imperfect hero and explains why he walked away from a show that could easily have gone on for years longer. Hollywood is never easy, even for stars who make it look that way. In You Never Know, Selleck explains how he’s struggled to balance his personal and professional lives, frequently adjusting his career to protect his family’s privacy and normalcy. His journey offers a truly fresh perspective on a changing industry and a changing world. Beneath all the charm and talent and self-deprecating humor, Selleck’s memoir reveals an American icon who has reached remarkable heights by always insisting on being himself.

Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida, spent years in the party’s inner circle. In this no-holds-barred memoir, he shows why he switched sides and became a Democrat. After serving as a Republican governor—one who was on the short list for the vice presidency in 2008—Charlie Crist made headlines when he decided to run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent. He was on the front page again when he endorsed President Obama in 2012 and spoke at the Democratic National Convention—and yet again when he officially joined the Democratic Party later that year. In The Party’s Over, he’ll make even more news when he reveals: The inside story of his 2010 Senate primary campaign against Marco Rubio, where he learned exactly how vicious the Republican leadership can be. His journey from inner circle to persona non grata, thanks to his literal embrace of President Obama. His very frank opinions on Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and other top-tier Republicans. Why he believes that Democrats have the right vision for Florida and the nation. • What he’s learned as a member of both parties and why he remains convinced that the two-party system can still work—with the right leadership. Rather than just rehashing his career, in this book Crist offers a focused indictment of the failings of the Republican Party, naming names and identifying where things went wrong. The Party’s Over is as far from “politics as usual” as you can get.

Still Standing reveals how an unlikely governor is sparking a whole new kind of politics—and introduces the exciting possibilities that lie ahead. As the rookie Republican governor of deep-blue Maryland, Larry Hogan had already beaten some daunting odds. A common-sense businessman with a down-to-earth style, he had won a long-shot election the Washington Post called "a stunning upset." He''d worked with cops and neighborhood leaders to quell Baltimore''s worst rioting in 47 years. He''d stared down entrenched political bosses to save his state from fiscal catastrophe, winning praise from Democrats, Republicans and independents. But none of that prepared him for the life-threatening challenge he would have to face next: a highly aggressive form of late-stage cancer. Could America''s most popular governor beat the odds again? The people of Maryland, with their "Hogan Strong" wristbands, were certainly pulling for him, sending him back to the governor''s office in a landslide. As Governor Hogan began his second term cancer-free, his next challenge went far beyond Maryland: bringing our divided country together for a better future. And in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic changed that future forever, Hogan was once again called to rely upon his bold, open-minded approach to problem-solving to lead and serve in a time of unprecedented turmoil. In his own words and unique, plain-spoken style, Larry Hogan tells the feel-good story of a fresh American leader being touted as the "anti-Trump Republican." A lifelong uniter at a time of sharp divisions. A politician with practical solutions that take the best from all sides. An open-hearted man who has learned important lessons from his own struggles in life. As we face a future full of questions, Hogan offers some surprising answers. Still Standing is a timely reminder that perseverance in the face of unexpected obstacles is at the heart of the American spirit.

A top negotiator in countless high-stakes missions to free Americans captured abroad and held in the world''s scariest prisons takes readers inside the dramatic and shadowy world of international hostage rescue. Who else are their desperate loved ones supposed to call? Mickey and his tight team of savvy negotiators at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement are the go-to rescuers of last resort, carrying on the high-stakes, round-the-world mission of master negotiator Bill Richardson. Mickey and his team do what U.S. government officials are often unable or unwilling to do: sit down with America’s toughest adversaries and find creative ways to bring our people home. That''s life In the Shadows. This is the heart-pounding story of these urgent negotiations, what it’s like to climb inside the minds of some of the world’s most notorious strongmen, where the clear divisions between good and evil are replaced by a thousand shades of gray. The hard work is done far from the glare of media publicity. The negotiations don’t follow traditional diplomatic rules. As innocent Americans sit behind bars in hellhole foreign prisons, Mickey and his colleagues stop at nothing to get our people home. And these cases almost never go as smoothly as they should, as the independent negotiators navigate between U.S. government officials and some of the world’s most headstrong leaders. And as soon as one American is freed, Mickey is off on another dicey mission to Moscow, Caracas, Naypyidaw, Pyongyang, or some other complex foreign capital. These painstaking campaigns require creative thinking, hardball pressure tactics, excruciating patience, and a genuine sense of compassion for the anxious families whose lives are thrown into turmoil when a loved one is imprisoned abroad. In Mickey Bergman''s own words, In the Shadows tells the hidden story of these high-drama rescue campaigns. The crafty negotiating strategies. The strong-willed foreign leaders. The emotional rollercoaster of being responsible for innocent American lives. The exhilaration when another American is released from a foreign prison—and the terrible letdown when a promising effort hits another maddening roadblock. Mickey recounts his unique relationship with his mentor, the late, great Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico, ambassador to the United Nations and legendary negotiator. He shares the wrenching closeness he develops with the desperate families he serves, who often have nowhere else to turn. He offers a detailed account of his one-on-one interactions with Washington’s top power players, both Democrats and Republicans, and some of the world’s most isolated and misunderstood heads of state. For readers who want the full, searing story of these life-or-death rescue missions and the fascinating people behind them, it’s all In the Shadows. As Mickey Bergman and New York Times bestselling author Ellis Henican make clear on every page, international diplomacy isn’t just for government officials anymore.

Baseball pitcher Dwight Gooden describes his life and career, including his time with the New York Mets, his addiction to drugs, and recovery.

There was one lap to go in the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR''s most celebrated event. Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were running one-two. Junior''s legendary dad, the driver race fans called "The Intimidator," was close behind in third, blocking anyone who might try to pass. Waltrip couldn''t stop thinking about all the times he''d struggled to stay ahead--and the 462 NASCAR Cup races he''d lost without a single win. He''d been a race-car driver all his adult life, following in the footsteps of his brother Darrell, a three-time NASCAR champion. And his losing streak was getting more painful every race. But this day, he knew, could be different. He was driving for Dale Earnhardt now, racing as a team with his close friend and mentor. Yet as his car roared toward the finish line, ending that losing streak once and for all, Waltrip had no clue that the greatest triumph of his life could get mired in terrible tragedy. This is the story of that fateful afternoon in Daytona, a day whose echoes are still heard today. But the story begins years earlier in a small town in Kentucky, with a boy who dreamed of racing cars, a boy who was determined to go from go-karts to the highest levels of NASCAR. For the first time ever, Michael Waltrip tells the full, revealing story of how he got to Daytona, what happened there, and the huge impact it had on so many in the racing world. He reveals for the first time how his own life changed as he dealt with guilt, faced his grief, and searched for the fortitude to climb into a race car again. It''s an inspiring and powerful story, told with Michael''s trademark humor, honesty, and irreverence. It''s a story of family, fulfillment, and redemption--and well-earned victory in the end.

The story of Daytop Village, a successful drug and alcohol rehabilitaton program.

ZWYKŁY CHŁOPAK KONTRA NIEBEZPIECZNI AGENCI MOSKWY Przez trzy lata Naveed szpiegował na rzecz Rosjan, wymieniając pendrive’y z ściśle tajnymi informacjami na wypchane gotówką koperty. Sprzedawał sekrety USA przy stolikach w hałaśliwych restauracjach i na opustoszałych parkingach. A przynajmniej tak myśleli Rosjanie... W rzeczywistości był podwójnym agentem ściśle współpracującym z FBI. Nie dysponował wcześniej żadnym doświadczeniem. Wszystko, co wiedział o pracy w kontrwywiadzie, pochodziło z książek, filmów i seriali. Mimo to sprawnie odnalazł się w roli szpiega. Kiedy zrobiło się naprawdę gorąco, stało się jasne, że jego operację trzeba zakończyć. W wojnie nerwów wygra on, zwykły chłopak z przedmieścia, albo niebezpieczni agenci Moskwy. Zimna wojna wcale się nie skończyła. Gra o dominację na świecie przeszła w nową, bardzo intensywną fazę, o czym nie zdajemy sobie sprawy. Książka Jamali Naveeda odsłania kulisy operacji, których powodzenie przesądza o światowym pokoju.

As seen on CNN! You’ve heard the bonkers rally speeches. You’ve witnessed the pre-dawn Twitter-storms. Now comes the really scary part…the secret confessions of Donald’s brain. It’s all here: • How to choose the perfect supermodel wife. (Not too much English, please.) • How to turn the U.S. presidency into a four-year product-placement campaign. (Why be bashful?) • How to tweet like no one’s looking. (Even if the whole world is.) • When to quit listening to your closest relatives. (We’ll have to get back to you on this one!) Who says you can’t out-Trump Trump? If Donald set the standard—really, how hard can it be? By the time we’re finished, you’ll be palling around with dictators and insulting beloved friends. Your future will be huge-er than you ever imagined. Your hair will defy all gravity—your ego too.

Explaining the unique psychology behind the SEALs'' legendary training program, a high-level SEAL officer reveals the modern techniques that transform a chosen few into lethal warriors and details how the SEALs'' creative operations became front-and-center in America''s War on Terror.