Chris Voss's Blog, page 118

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – I Am Still With You: A Reckoning with Silence, Inheritance, and History by Emmanuel Iduma

I Am Still With You: A Reckoning with Silence, Inheritance, and History by Emmanuel Iduma

A deeply moving, lyrical journey through the author’s homeland of Nigeria, in search of the truth about his disappeared uncle and the history of a war that shaped him, his family, and a nation

In inimitable, rhythmic prose, the author and winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize Emmanuel Iduma tells the story of his return to Nigeria, where he grew up, after years of living in New York. He traveled home with an elusive mission: to learn the fate of his uncle Emmanuel, his namesake, who disappeared in the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s. A conflict that left so many families broken, the war remains at the margins of the history books, almost taboo to discuss. To find answers, Iduma stopped in city after city throughout the former Biafra region, reconnecting with relatives dear and distant to probe their memories, prowling university libraries to furtively photocopy illicit books, and visiting half-abandoned monuments along the highway. Perhaps, he realized, if he could understand how his father grieved the loss of a brother in the war, he might learn how to grieve his late father in turn.

His is also the story of countless families across the country and across the world who will never have answers or proper funerals for their loved ones. It’s a story about the birth of an artist, about writing itself as an act both healing and political, even dangerous. And it’s a story about family history and legacy, and all the questions the dead leave unanswered. How much of the author’s identity is wrapped up in this inheritance? And what does it mean to return home, when the people who define it are gone?

Equal parts memoir, national history, and political reckoning, I Am Still With You is a profoundly personal story of collective loss and making peace with the unknowable.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – All Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid Crisis by Dana Sachs

All Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid Crisis by Dana Sachs

As hundreds of thousands of displaced people sought refuge in Europe, the global relief system failed. This is the story of the volunteers who stepped forward to help.

In 2015, increasing numbers of refugees and migrants, most of them fleeing war-torn homelands, arrived by boat on the shores of Greece, setting off the greatest human displacement in Europe since WWII. As journalists reported horrific mass drownings, an ill-prepared and seemingly indifferent world looked on. Those who reached Europe needed food, clothing, medicine, and shelter, but the international aid system broke down completely.

All Else Failed is Dana Sachs’s compelling eyewitness account of the successes—and failures—of the volunteer relief network that emerged to meet the enormous need. Closely following the odysseys of seven individual men and women, and their families, it tells a story of despair and resilience, revealing the humanity within an immense humanitarian disaster.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Case for Cancel Culture: How This Democratic Tool Works to Liberate Us All by Ernest Owens

The Case for Cancel Culture: How This Democratic Tool Works to Liberate Us All by Ernest Owens

Refinery 29’s Most Anticipated Books By Black & Latine Authors in 2023!

Philadelphia Inquirer’s Best New Books for February!

“A necessary discourse about power and control, and who ultimately has a voice versus whose is often stifled.” ―Preston D. Mitchum, LGBTQIA attorney, activist, and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University

The first major case for cancel culture as a fundamental means of democratic expression throughout history, and timely necessity aimed at combating systems of oppression.

“___ is canceled.”

Chances are, you’ve heard this a lot lately. What might’ve once been a niche digital term has been legitimized in the discourse of presidents, politicians, and lawmakers.

But what really is cancel culture? Blacklisting celebrities? Censorship? Until now, this has been the general consensus in the media. But it’s time to raise the bar on our definition― to think of cancel culture less as scandal or suppression, and more as an essential means of democratic expression and accountability.

The Case for Cancel Culture does just that. This cultural critique from 2023 Philly News Award-Winning journalist Ernest Owens offers a fresh progressive lens in favor of cancel culture as a tool for activism and change. Using examples from politics, pop culture, and his own personal experience, Owens helps readers reflect on and learn the long history of canceling (spoiler: the Boston Tea Party was cancel culture); how the left and right uniquely equip it as part of their political toolkits; how intersections of society wield it for justice; and ultimately how it levels the playing field for the everyday person’s voice to matter.

Why should we care? Because in a world where protest and free speech are being challenged by the most powerful institutions, those without power deserve to understand the nuance and importance of this democratic tool available to them. Readers will walk away from this first-of-its-kind exploration not despising cancel culture but embracing it as a form of democratic expression that’s always been leading the charge in liberating us all.

“Journalist Owens debuts with an incisive defense of cancel culture… his arguments are thought-provoking and well supported. The result is an invigorating survey of a hot-button political issue.” ―Publishers Weekly

“An important tool for all times, and for anyone looking to learn how to have the difficult but necessary conversations about race, injustice, inequality, and oppression.” ―Dawn Ennis, award-winning journalist, advocate, and university professor

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Pride (7 Deadly Sins) by Victoria Christopher Murray

Pride (7 Deadly Sins) by Victoria Christopher Murray

Mylifetime.com/movies/pride-a-seven-deadly-sins-story

The 7 Deadly Sins series that inspired four Lifetimeoriginal movies continues with this unputdownable novel following mortgage broker Journee Alexander as she tries to escape the secrets of her past without losing all she has worked to build in the present.

Journee Alexander grew up believing that the only person she could depend on was herself. After being abandoned by her mother, burning bridges with friends, and narrowly escaping bad business dealings with her first mentor, her trust is hard to earn and harder to keep. But she has overcome all of that and now, as a successful mortgage broker at the top of her game in Houston’s booming real estate market, she has every reason to be proud of her accomplishments. She achieved this massive success on her own—there’s no need to put her trust in anyone else.

But when Journee starts receiving cryptic text messages from an unknown number threatening to destroy everything she has worked to build, she is out of her depth for the first time. Forced to consider accepting help from someone, Journee turns to the first man she loved, the one who got away. But old habits are hard to break and after trusting only her own instincts for so long, can she put her pride aside and accept advice from an old flame? Or should she put her trust in a brand-new love who is in sync with all that she wants to do?

Journee is forced to confront the secrets of her past, the old hurts that never seem to heal, and the fact that sometimes a meteoric rise is just the first step in a devastating fall that will change her life forever.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – My Recap Thoughts on The Plot To Save South Africa Interview

My Recap Thoughts on The Plot To Save South Africa Interview

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation by Justice Malala

The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation by Justice Malala

A riveting, kaleidoscopic account of nine tumultuous days, as the assassination of Nelson Mandela’s protégé by a white supremacist threatens to derail South Africa’s democratic transition and plunge the nation into civil war.

Johannesburg, Easter weekend, 1993. Nelson Mandela has been free for three years and is in power sharing talks with President FW de Klerk when a white supremacist shoots the Black leader’s popular young heir apparent, Chris Hani, in hopes of igniting an all-out war. Will he succeed in plunging South Africa into chaos, safeguarding apartheid for perhaps years to come?

In The Plot to Save South Africa, acclaimed South African journalist Justice Malala recounts the gripping story of the next nine days, as the government and Mandela’s ANC seek desperately to restore the peace and root out just how far up into the country’s leadership the far-right plot goes. Told from the points of view of over a dozen characters on all sides of the conflict, Malala offers an illuminating look at successful leadership in action and a terrifying reminder of just how close a country we think of today as a model for racial reconciliation came to civil war.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – THE GODDESS COMPASS: “A life-transformational guide for every woman going through physical or emotional trauma.” by Deanna Hann

THE GODDESS COMPASS: “A life-transformational guide for every woman going through physical or emotional trauma.” by Deanna Hann

Goddess compass is not only a guide or a program but a complete lifestyle to help other women overcome trauma and heal on so many levels through the goddess compass and guide them so they can navigate from their pain. The Goddess Compass is the most powerful way to reconnect to self-love, rebuild your stunning self-worth and establish healthy boundaries, so you can have healthy relationships with yourself and others and move away from the pain.Those sister goddesses who have been suffering from emotional or mental trauma, depression, anxiety, failing relationships, physical pain, disease, addiction, sexual or physical abuse will get a love potion to heal themselves in this program. The love potion in this program will help you learn and practice self-love, self-worth, self-esteem, and confidence in your daily routine so that you can create a life that you love, filled with passion, pleasure and purpose. As a coach, I am blessed and grateful for the darkest moments in my life because it makes me resilient, confident, and empowered. Having a strong mindset, I created healthy boundaries. The love potion for me put me on a quest, or should I say an inquiry, to discover who I am and who I was. This is a little to show you the fog of my mind that was and now how I feel the sun shining on my face even when it’s not. I’m connected to the universe, creation, spiritually, and I want every woman to tap into their goddess powers through my program. –Deanna Hann

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman

Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman

A New York Times bestselling Biblical scholar reveals why our popular understanding of the Apocalypse is all wrong—and why that matters.

You’ll find nearly everything the Bible has to say about the end in the Book of Revelation: a mystifying prophecy filled with bizarre symbolism, violent imagery, mangled syntax, confounding contradictions, and very firm ideas about the horrors that await us all. But whether you understand the book as a literal description of what will soon come to pass, interpret it as a metaphorical expression of hope for those suffering now, or only recognize its highlights from pop culture, what you think Revelation reveals…is almost certainly wrong.

In Armageddon, acclaimed New Testament authority Bart D. Ehrman delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, exploring the horrifying social and political consequences of expecting an imminent apocalypse and offering a fascinating tour through three millennia of Judeo-Christian thinking about how our world will end. By turns hilarious, moving, troubling, and provocative, Armageddon presents inspiring insights into how to live our lives in the face of an uncertain future and reveals what the Bible really says about the end.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Plans He Has For Me: A 12-Week Daily Devotional for Freedom from Alcohol by Rose Ann Forte

The Plans He Has For Me: A 12-Week Daily Devotional for Freedom from Alcohol by Rose Ann Forte

Are you ready to change your relationship with alcohol?

Rose Ann Forte was, and she knew she needed an approach that was more meaningful.

And she wanted a fresh start that kept her motivated!

The Plans He Has for Me is a twelve-week guided devotional that will teach you:

What stepping away from alcohol really does for the body and mind

How to positively change the language you use to talk about drinking

How to feel hopeful instead of shameful or restricted

How to refocus your attention on what really adds value to your life

How to stop living in the past, and be a forgiving support system to others!

So how does it work? And what makes this approach different?

Each day you’ll receive biblical guidance in the form of scripture, encouragement, and a daily prayer.

The messages are short, but powerful.

“The mindful minutes were what I found most affecting…these minutes should be lingered over when possible and considered. You may find surprising wisdom after letting them steep for a time in your mind.” – Portland Book Review

Trust that you’ll also find inspiration to create new habits, and motivation to stay the course!

God has a much better plan for you – one of endless possibilities, hope and good health.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Maybe You Should Give Up: 7 Ways to Get Out of Your Own Way and Take Control of Your Life by Byron Morrison

Maybe You Should Give Up: 7 Ways to Get Out of Your Own Way and Take Control of Your Life by Byron Morrison

After years of being his own worst enemy, Byron Morrison knows exactly how frustrating the never-ending cycle of hard work, expectation, and minimal results can be. Maybe You Should Give Up is Morrison’s answer to the question: how can anyone achieve their dreams if hard work isn’t enough?

It seems like every self-help book and personal development program is the same these days, preaching that if someone just does more and pushes harder, they can achieve the life of their dreams. This expectation doesn’t often work with long-term results, which leaves many people to face the unfortunate reality of never reaching their goals.

Why? Because despite their good intentions, they get in their own way, sabotaging themselves and becoming the biggest stumbling block in the way of their success.

Tired of going ‘round in circles, Byron Morrison realized he needed to do something different. He gave up—not on his goals and dreams, accepting a life of mediocrity lying on the couch—but on being controlled by fear. He gave up living in the past. He gave up comparing himself to others. He gave up on being so hard on himself. And he gave up putting off his happiness.

And it worked. He was able to get out of his own way and finally take control of his life.

Maybe You Should Give Up explains how to throw out the rule book, break the mold and do something different. Byron Morrison’s approach helps readers identify 7 areas of their life that cause them to get in their own way and keep them stuck in a self-destructive cycle; he models how to give up on what holds a person back—to finally take control of the life they want and deserve.