★ “A thoroughly absorbing and inherently fascinating account of a most unusual life lived out in a series of equally unusual circumstances.”—Midwest Book Review ★ Everyone has dreams of what they want to accomplish in life. Marty Essen’s childhood dream of becoming a herpetologist gave way to his dream of becoming a popular DJ, which led to his dream of becoming a big-time talent manager, which morphed into the dream of becoming an in-demand author and college speaker. While he achieved most of his dreams at various levels, he also realized that he didn’t necessarily have to reach the top to find success or happiness. Sometimes “almost” is close enough. Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer is a humorous and inspirational memoir that explores relationships and careers and how seemingly minor events can lead to life-changing results. Compelling stories have filled Marty’s life, and he tells those stories in a conversational style that combines his talents as an award-winning author with his talents as the creator of a one-man stage show that he has performed at hundreds of colleges across the United States. This is a must-read for anyone faced with an unexpected career change, worried about finding and keeping the partner of their dreams, forced to take on bullies (whether individual, political, or corporate), eager for ideas to make life more satisfying, or just in search of a fun-filled adventure. Marty’s stories include: ◆ Growing up with an over-the-top, born-again Christian father, who prayed aloud in restaurants, thought Satan possessed his Masonic lodge watch, and attempted to faith-heal his old Toyota. ◆ Becoming the youngest disc jockey in Minnesota history, where he survived an on-air attack from a jealous DJ and learned that rock ’n’ roll and country radio stations have vastly different groupies. ◆ Running multiple music talent agencies and becoming one of the top young talent managers in America. ◆ Telling the best lie ever to reel in and marry an amazing woman that the media would later dub as his “intrepid wife.” ◆ Moving to Montana, where he founded one of the state’s fastest growing independent telephone companies and an unusual baseball league with pro-prospects and out-of-control players. ◆ Surviving as an outspoken liberal in the most conservative region of Montana and dealing with the death threats and dirty tricks that came with it. ◆ Heartwarming and humorous stories from his relationships with musicians, governors, senators, and a very special Democratic nominee for President of the United States. ◆ Traveling to all seven continents in search of rare and interesting wildlife, backpacking with a tribe known for headhunting, and surviving a vicious hippo attack. Be inspired, intrigued, and entertained! ★ Reviews: ◆ "Hits, Heathens, and Hippos proves life is mostly luck and a little timing with many laughs along the way. Marty Essen has demonstrated that life is what you do while you decide what you are going to be when you grow up. This is a great book about a life of ventures, friends and a few lessons about winning and losing."--Governor Brian Schweitzer (Democrat, Montana 2005-2013) ◆ "What I like about this book is the personal style Essen writes with. You really get a sense of his personality, sense of humor, and the way he thinks. It's a fun, clever way of discussing the world of work and relationships, more memoir than self-help, yet the advice is there, dramatized. His talent for storytelling gives you the feeling you're in an audience, listening to him. You'll find yourself amused, shocked, and touched. One of the best stories is about the hippo attack, but you'll have to read the book to get the details. For an entertaining read that would make a great movie or documentary, pick up your copy of Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer by Marty Essen."--Tammy Ruggles for Readers' Favorite Book Reviews ◆ "A thoroughly absorbing and inherently fascinating account of a most unusual life lived out in a series of equally unusual circumstances."--Midwest Book Review ◆ "Marty Essen's latest book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos--which includes a funny story from my days working with his talent agency--really drew me in. His descriptions of our old Minneapolis stomping grounds, and our mutual hometown of Duluth, brought back a lot of forgotten memories, and it was a pleasure to delve into his recollections through his colorful storytelling. Even if you're not in the music business, Marty's stories will fascinate you!"--Phil Solem, The Rembrandts ◆ "These days it's imperative to be reminded that one's dreams can still be made manifest through a combination of fortitude, aptitude, and a good-humored willingness to fail miserably. Marty Essen's aptly titled new book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos is a glorious romp through the pathos, triumph, and sheer absurdity of a small scale rock and roll universe, one that nonetheless, has all the trimmings of the big one."--Peter Himmelman, musician ◆ "Marty Essen's book, Hits, Heathens and Hippos, takes you on a comedy journey that never ends. It's a wicked funny ride. And I know funny."--Karen Pickering, comedian ◆ "Renaissance man Marty Essen takes us on a journey through his life's many adventures in Hits, Heathens, and Hippos. From his days working in radio as Minnesota's youngest DJ, to his time as agent/manager in the music world, his ownership of an amateur baseball league (yes, baseball league) and telecommunications company, world traveler, award winning nature author, progressive political activist (in rural Montana!), and public speaker; Hits, Heathens, and Hippos is entertaining, funny, and evocative. Oh, and tell Deb, her Fairchild backdrop is in my garage waiting for the reunion tour to be booked by Marty."--Brian Kinney, Fairchild ◆ "With thought-provoking explorations into making peace with family members who adhere to differing religious values, tales of his time as a talent agent, and escapades with gigantic rainforest monitor lizards--there is much to enjoy in Marty Essen's memoir Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer."--a 4/5 starred IndieReader-Approved title, reviewed by C.S. Holmes

◆ Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents follows Marty and Deb Essen on a three-and-a-half-year-long adventure to some of the wildest places on all seven continents. The American couple began crisscrossing the globe with the simple intention of searching for rare and interesting wildlife. When their travels coincided with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the added element made them unwitting ambassadors for peace. Their experiences—from amusing to life threatening—changed their lives forever. This is not your average travelogue. Marty Essen has written a book that entertains, informs, and poignantly reminds us that we all share a small planet. Locations visited include: Belize, Peru (the Amazon Rainforest), Argentina, Australia (Queensland), Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories), Antarctica, Europe (Spain, France, Switzerland, and Andorra), Malaysia (Borneo), and Africa (Zimbabwe). “This is a wonderful book—a labor of love—that describes in soul-stirring language what it is like to live with the people, the animals, the birds, the snakes, the insects, the jungles, the treacherous rivers, the gorgeous scenery of seven continents. It is the best travel and exploratory work I have yet encountered. Marty Essen and his wife, Deb, are two highly intelligent, imaginative, and brave people.”—Senator George McGovern, 1972 Democratic nominee for president “An exciting and adventurous read. Cool Creatures, Hot Planet by Marty Essen is a roller coaster ride through the natural world that will both entertain and enlighten readers.”—Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience

Kelley unearths freedom dreams in this exciting history of renegade intellectuals and artists of the African diaspora in the twentieth century. Focusing on the visions of activists from C. L. R. James to Aime Cesaire and Malcolm X, Kelley writes of the hope that Communism offered, the mindscapes of Surrealism, the transformative potential of radical feminism, and of the four-hundred-year-old dream of reparations for slavery and Jim Crow. From'the preeminent historian of black popular culture' (Cornel West), an inspiring work on the power of imagination to transform society.

In 1994, entrepreneur and award-winning businessman Bernard Horton decided to give up the rat-race and all the trappings of wealth and security in order to follow his heart, and live amongst the Bushman people of Botswana's Western Kalahari. He bought and converted an ex-military Land Rover 101" Forward Control (nicknamed I a bo pe - let it roar - by the Bushmen from the distinctive sound of the V8 engine), and with a friend, Dr. Murdoch Laing set about driving all the way up from Durban to Maun, Botswana - still a dusty frontier town in those days. The doctor returned to England but Bernard had found his calling and stayed. My Forever Heartache is the fascinating story of Bernard's four-year adventure which saw him become one with these gentle and inspirational people who still live in harmony with mother nature as they have done for thousands of years. As the title suggests it is also a study of how the Bushmen struggle to adapt and survive in a modern world that doesn't share their same core values, perhaps ultimately to the detriment of all of us. Bernard Horton was born in Wales, and spent many happy years in Scotland before making his home in Maun, Botswana, where he still lives with his daughter Themma. He is the founder of the Horton Crossbow empire and owner of Gidichaa Camp, a Bushman safari lodge in northern Botswana. www.gidichaa.com He is the author of The Horton Story, also published by Black Crake Books. www.blackcrakeboooks.com

Purity and Danger is acknowledged as a modern masterpiece of anthropology. It is widely cited in non-anthropological works and gave rise to a body of application, rebuttal and development within anthropology. In 1995 the book was included among the Times Literary Supplement's hundred most influential non-fiction works since WWII. Incorporating the philosophy of religion and science and a generally holistic approach to classification, Douglas demonstrates the relevance of anthropological enquiries to an audience outside her immediate academic circle. She offers an approach to understanding rules of purity by examining what is considered unclean in various cultures. She sheds light on the symbolism of what is considered clean and dirty in relation to order in secular and religious, modern and primitive life.

Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Brent Nongbri dispels the commonly held idea that there is such a thing as ancient religion. Nongbri shows how misleading it is to speak as though religion was a concept native to pre-modern cultures.

“An original book…about individuals who used ideas to change the world” (The New Yorker)—the fascinating exploration into the creation and history of the Paris Peace Pact, an often overlooked but transformative treaty that laid the foundation for the international system we live under today. In 1928, the leaders of the world assembled in Paris to outlaw war. Within the year, the treaty signed that day, known as the Peace Pact, had been ratified by nearly every state in the world. War, for the first time in history, had become illegal. But within a decade of its signing, each state that had gathered in Paris to renounce war was at war. And in the century that followed, the Peace Pact was dismissed as an act of folly and an unmistakable failure. This book argues that the Peace Pact ushered in a sustained march toward peace that lasts to this day. A “thought-provoking and comprehensively researched book” (The Wall Street Journal), The Internationalists tells the story of the Peace Pact through a fascinating and diverse array of lawyers, politicians, and intellectuals. It reveals the centuries-long struggle of ideas over the role of war in a just world order. It details the brutal world of conflict the Peace Pact helped extinguish, and the subsequent era where tariffs and sanctions take the place of tanks and gunships. The Internationalists is “indispensable” (The Washington Post). Accessible and gripping, this book will change the way we view the history of the twentieth century—and how we must work together to protect the global order the internationalists fought to make possible. “A fascinating and challenging book, which raises gravely important issues for the present…Given the state of the world, The Internationalists has come along at the right moment” (The Financial Times).

This is the true story of one small boy, me, Will Sergeant, navigating the 60's and 70's, a woolly-back (hick) spawned one drunken night on the outskirts of a Nazi pocked and battered Liverpool, growing up with the spectre of WW2 still creeping about most adults padlocked minds. I trudge on into a piss wet 1970s, just as the pustules of teenage years approach popping point. It is a heady time of power cuts, strikes, flying pickets, bread shortages, skinhead gangs, IRA bomb scares, nuclear war fears, rock gigs, glam clothes, drowned motorbikes, explosives, dead-end jobs and the usual school lessons of chicken strangulation. With the help of music, I manage to navigate myself through the sinking sand of prog rock and into the safety of punk. My boots still muddy with a bad attitude, I head into the winter of discontent to become a post-punk trailblazer worshipped all over the world as a god. Well? An inventive and influential guitarist of some note at the very least.

Parts 1-3 illustrate my childhood adventures, habits, pastimes, family structure, hilarious moments, relatives' antics, and stable home environment within western Pennsylvania! I also outline my diverse college experience at Penn State University. For you, younger folks, that might be compelling since you can see/read how I accomplished my goals that might mirror your own. On the other hand, you might want to follow my advice on what NOT to do if you walk in my shoes! Parts 4-7, in my second compilation, reflect my career progress, advancement, promotions, and all my ventures across the USA, from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, to Georgia, Florida, then retreating back up North again before bravely migrating down South again in northern Virginia, then Texas! Millennials and middle-aged adults may find these texts more appealing. Having said that, if you are spiritual or follow GOD, then part 7 is absolutely critical for your soul's progress! It describes my three-year ministry (similar to Jesus) as well as my own insights, wisdom, facts, fictions, illusions, and horrors gleamed from my forty years of experience as well as my conversations with GOD! 1