In a small town just outside of the Research Triangle in North Carolina, a town is turned upside down, when one of their own is sentenced to life in prison for the death of his young wife. Sasha Matthews was diagnosed with ALS when her son David was only six months old. Her husband, James, was sentenced to life in prison for her death in the year 2000. James had finished his residency the previous year and had accepted a position at a local pediatrics clinic. James has carried a secret for the past twenty-four years of his sentence as he has tried to navigate life on the inside of North Carolina’s Central Prison. The secret haunts him as he searches for redemption, forgiveness, and tries to make a fresh start and right wrongs. With the testimony and witness of fellow inmates, the kindness of some correctional officers, will James be able to turn his life around and find the redemption he desires before it is too late?

This is book 2 in the Check Mate series. (Warning: This book series contains violence and suicides. It is recommended for adults only.) The American Townships aren't like they used to be, at least not in San Tropolis, the township where President Aldrich rules. Thanks to the plotters and their attempts to get people to rebel, there's a lot of civil unrest. Bombings and rioting are commonplace now. Such things were unheard of until recently. As more people become brave enough to stand up against Aldrich and the High Council, the president fears he is losing control of the township. Despite their efforts, Darren and the other plotters still haven't been able to put an end to Check Mate, the show that rewards assailants for killing people. To make matters worse, one of the plotters has betrayed their group. Can the remaining plotters ever be able to come up with a plan to end the lethal reality series? Will there be a way to take Aldrich and his brother, Frank Sommers, down? It at least helps that most people hate the president and the High Council. The plotters may get more help than they expected. Their group faces a daunting task, but they will never accept Aldrich's rules or his barbaric TV show. Will they be safe? Will they ever get over the betrayal from one of their own? Will they ever be able to put an end to Check Mate? Whatever happens, they know that they can't sit back and watch people be killed each week for the High Council's entertainment. No matter what, the plotters must do everything they can to stop Aldrich and the High Council!

In Nazi Germany, the cult of celebrity was the embodiment of Hitler s style of cultural governance. Hitler s rise to power owed much to the creation of his own celebrity, and the country s greatest stars, whether they were actors, writers, or musicians, could be one of only two things. If they were compliant, they were lauded and awarded status symbols for the regime; but if they resisted or were simply Jewish they were traitors to be interned and murdered. This fascinating analysis offers a shocking portrait of a Hitler shaped by aspirations to Hollywood-style fame, of the correlation between art and ambition, of films used as weapons, and of sexual predilections. The Fuhrer believed he was an artist, not a politician, and in his Germany politics and culture became one. His celebrity was cultivated and nurtured by Joseph Goebbels, Germany s supreme head of culture. Hitler and Goebbels enjoyed the company of beautiful female film stars, and Goebbels had his own casting couch. In Germany s version of Hollywood there were scandals, starlets, secret agents, premieres, and party politics. The Third Reich would launch filmmaker and actress Leni Riefenstahl to prominence by making her its own glorifying documentarian, most famously in The Triumph of the Will, the innovative propaganda film starring Hitler and widely considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made. It is no coincidence that Eva Braun, Hitler s longtime partner and wife for the two days leading up to their joint suicide, was a photographer, and in fact shot most of the surviving photographs and film footage of her lover. This book reveals previously unpublished information about the Hitler film, which Goebbels envisaged as the greatest story ever told, although it was ultimately trumped by the dictator s own, real-life Wagnerian finale.

Growing up in a small town in Ohio, Chelsea's life is picture-perfect. A solid, Christian family running their little farm while homeschooling their children is what people see on the outside. But that is far from the truth. Her parents' obscure religious beliefs and tainted thinking are a prison for her to thrive while growing up. Sexual abuse by her father, as well as other trusted adults, are normal occurrences during her childhood. The secrets of abuse and the shame it causes build even-thicker prison walls. With incredible strength and the support of friends, Chelsea finds the courage to speak up and break free. She learns that true freedom does not come when the abuse stops. It is a long journey of altering her mind and learning the truth of who God created her to be. This book is a true and raw account of abuse and the damage it does to the hearts of those who endure it. Not only does Chelsea share her pain but also her healing journey and how God has brought redemption from her pain. She explains in detail what has helped her continue to push through and also what has gotten her through many dark, hopeless days. Chelsea's desire for the book is to bring light to the extreme darkness of abuse and to show others there is hope through healing to those fighting to survive.

Redemption is a fast-paced “feel good” story of a man with a beautiful family and a promising future who is stricken with terrible calamity and recovers. Matt Dawson has everything going for him—a lovely wife, a teenage daughter, completion of a PhD, and a promising start-up company in a technology sweet spot. Then misfortune comes crushing in on him. He is framed for murder, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. In prison, he is attacked and suffers crippling and disfiguring injuries. His daughter disappears, and his wife commits suicide. Twenty years pass and the truth of Matt’s innocence comes out in a deathbed confession. Matt is released in the care of a beautiful and vivacious nurse, Nancy. Matt regains much of his former life, and finds that with Nancy he still has the capacity to love. He goes in search of, and recovers his daughter. Embittered by his lost years in prison, Matt tries to return his life back to exactly the way it was before he was framed. His bitterness threatens his relationship with Nancy. In the end, Matt arrives at the realization that he can’t live in the past, that he must accept what happened and move on from there. With that realization, Nancy returns to his life, and they both find happiness. From the boardrooms of modern commerce, to the helplessness of prison, to sailing on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay, as you join Matt on his life’s journey, you’ll share his despair and rejoice in his restored life and love. Above all, this is a story of God’s redemptive power in his enduring love for us.

This riveting follow-up to A Conflict of Interest is a gritty, sophisticated thriller that will draw fans of Scott Turow and John Grisham into a world of relentless suspense. Dan Sorenson was once a high-powered New York defense attorney but that was before a horrifying accident killed the two most important people in his life. As he approaches rock bottom, Dan is unexpectedly offered the opportunity of a lifetime: defend an up-and-coming rapper who swears he’s innocent of the brutal slaying of his pop star girlfriend. Dan realizes that this may be his only hope to put his own life back on track, but as he delves deeper into the case, he learns that atonement comes at a very steep price.

“A moving and beautifully crafted memoir.”—SCOTT TUROW “A daring act of justified defiance.”—SHAKA SENGHOR “Nothing less than heroic.”—JOHN GRISHAM He was seventeen when an all-white jury sentenced him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now a pioneering lawyer, he recalls the journey that led to his exoneration—and inspired him to devote his life to fighting the many injustices in our legal system. Seventeen years old and facing nearly thirty years behind bars, Jarrett Adams sought to figure out the why behind his fate. Sustained by his mother and aunts who brought him back from the edge of despair through letters of prayer and encouragement, Adams became obsessed with our legal system in all its damaged glory. After studying how his constitutional rights to effective counsel had been violated, he solicited the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, an organization that exonerates the wrongfully convicted, and won his release after nearly ten years in prison. But the journey was far from over. Adams took the lessons he learned through his incarceration and worked his way through law school with the goal of helping those who, like himself, had faced our legal system at its worst. After earning his law degree, he worked with the New York Innocence Project, becoming the first exoneree ever hired by the nonprofit as a lawyer. In his first case with the Innocence Project, he argued before the same court that had convicted him a decade earlier—and won. In this illuminating story of hope and full-circle redemption, Adams draws on his life and the cases of his clients to show the racist tactics used to convict young men of color, the unique challenges facing exonerees once released, and how the lack of equal representation in our courts is a failure not only of empathy but of our collective ability to uncover the truth. Redeeming Justice is an unforgettable firsthand account of the limits—and possibilities—of our country’s system of law.

There is no more legendary case in American legal history than Dred Scott v. Sanford. An extraordinary example of a slave suing his master for freedom, it led to a devastating pro-slavery ruling by Chief Justice Roger Taney in the Supreme Court and helped precipitate the Civil War. With deep appreciation for the courage required for a slave to challenge a master in court, VanVelde reshapes our understanding of border-state slavery and the impact of the seemingly powerless on American law.

This is my testimony. God had a plan for my life. For the first 30+ years, He allowed me to try and figure it out on my own. Someone, somewhere, was always praying for me and God was having me followed and that angel always was there to stop me from crossing a line that I couldn’t come back from. I have no idea why God chose me, or what He saw in me, but I am grateful. I have endured great hardships, and even greater losses, but God’s faithfulness was always sufficient. God was faithful to me despite the many times I turned my back on Him. I had to take some hard hits in my life, and the sad part is the hurdles that I have had to overcome came from my family, but thanks to God I was able to take their best shots and still I rise. Today I thank GOD for never giving up on me. I wrote this book to tell my story, but most importantly it was time to heal. I may be killed for making this public, but it is important to me to tell my story.