In 1960, at age 18, future bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe ("Bitter Blood" & "The Angel Doll") told an Army recruiter that he wanted to be an artist. This was his lucky day, the recruiter informed him. The Army had the best art school in the world. But after being sworn in, Bledsoe was pulled aside by a major and informed that no Army art school existed. He was being assigned instead to Information School.Although Bledsoe, who had flunked high school English for failure to write book reports and term papers, had no idea what this unexpected decision entailed, it would set the direction for the rest of his life.Bledsoe limits this warm, deeply personal and often humorous memoir to the turbulent '60s, which he began as a psychological warfare writer in the early stages of the Vietnam War. His Army experiences led him to become a newspaper reporter and columnist, thrusting him into the major stories of the decade and leading him to meet and write about hosts of remarkable and engaging people, including a relatively unknown musician named Jimi Hendrix who was opening for the Monkees, comedy legend Brother Dave Gardner, and civil rights leader Ben Elton Cox. From moments of true Catch-22 absurdities in the Army to historic events of the civil rights movement, "Do-Good Boy" gives its readers an insider's view as a young author discovers his calling.
The “riveting” #1 New York Times bestseller: A true story of three wealthy families and the unbreakable ties of blood (Kirkus Reviews). The first bodies found were those of a feisty millionaire widow and her daughter in their posh Louisville, Kentucky, home. Months later, another wealthy widow and her prominent son and daughter-in-law were found savagely slain in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mystified police first suspected a professional in the bizarre gangland-style killings that shattered the quiet tranquility of two well-to-do southern communities. But soon a suspicion grew that turned their focus to family. The Sharps. The Newsoms. The Lynches. The only link between the three families was a beautiful, aristocratic young mother named Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch. Could this former child “princess” and fraternity sweetheart have committed such barbarous crimes? And what about her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor? In this tale of three families connected by marriage and murder, of obsessive love and bitter custody battles, Jerry Bledsoe recounts the shocking events that ultimately took nine lives, building to a truly horrifying climax that will leave you stunned. “Recreates . . . one of the most shocking crimes of recent years.” —Publishers Weekly “Absorbing suspense.” —Chicago Tribune “Astonishing . . . Brilliantly chronicled.” —Detroit Free Press “An engrossing southern gothic sure to delight fans of the true-crime genre. Bledsoe maintains the suspense with a sure hand.” —The Charlotte Observer
New York Times–bestselling author: “In the art of true-crime reportage, Jerry Bledsoe is the best in the country . . . Before He Wakes has the suspense of a novel” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Barbara Stager was known as a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader in her Durham, North Carolina, community. When she “accidentally” shot her husband, popular high school coach, Russ, the police were inclined to believe her—until they learned that ten years earlier, her first husband had died in a strangely similar way. Sgt. Rick Buchanan’s relentless investigation into Stager’s life revealed a stunning vortex of compulsive lying, obsessive spending, and sexual promiscuity. With every new discovery, more of Barbara’s impeccable image unraveled. But the greatest shock—a damning piece of evidence Russ Stager left behind—revealed the nightmare truth about Barbara. With “the fine-toothed-comb reporting of [an] ace crime journalist,” this book takes us deep into a spellbinding case of double life, lethal lust, and almost perfect murder (Kirkus Reviews). “A shocking and well-written portrait of a dangerous woman.” —The New York Times “Mesmerizing.” —Ann Rule, New York Times–bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me “This account of manipulation, compulsive spending, lying, promiscuity, and murder is made even more chilling by the fact that appearances are often deceiving.” —Library Journal “A profile of evil . . . Fascinating.” —The Baltimore Sun “Jerry Bledsoe is the master of true crime, the conclusion to what Truman Capote began. . . . Another stunning success.” —Patricia Cornwell, New York Times–bestselling author of Chaos
In this “true story that reads like a novel,” the #1 New York Times–bestselling author reveals the facts behind a notorious Southern murder case (Library Journal). When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his forty-six-year-old fiancée, Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor’s family grieved with her—until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn’t the first time she had committed cold-blooded murder, and she would eventually be tried by the “world’s deadliest prosecutor” and sentenced to death. This book probes Velma’s stark descent into madness, her prescription drug addiction, and her effort to turn her life around through Christianity. From her harrowing childhood to the crimes that incited a national debate over the death penalty, to the final moments of her execution, Velma Barfield’s life of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption, this is crime reporting at its most gripping and profound. “A painfully intimate, moving story about the life and death of the only woman executed in the U.S. between 1962–1998 . . . With graceful writing and thorough reporting, it makes the reader look hard at something dark and sad in the human soul . . . Breathes new life into the true crime genre.” —The News & Observer “Undertakes to answer the questions about the justice system and the motives that drive women to kill.” —The Washington Post Book World “An extraordinary piece of writing . . . The most chilling description of a legal execution that we are ever likely to get.” —Citizen-Times “Taut and engrossing on the nature of justice and the death penalty as well as on guilt and responsibility.” —Booklist
In a style as easygoing as rocking on the front porch & as mellow as June in North Carolina, Jerry Bledsoe takes us on a journey of the heart through bittersweet memories & delicious observations about people & places, wild creatures & bygone days. Roaming hills, woodlands, seacoasts & sidewalks, Bledsoe shows us things we might have missed, tells us secrets, & introduces us to relatives, neighbors, & friends -- including one impossible goat & a gallant..
If even a small part of a child still lives within your heart, you can't help but be captivated by this deeply moving novella based on bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe's childhood memories. Set in a North Carolina manufacturing town during the 1950s, it is the poignant story of two ten-year-old boys and their search for an angel doll, a search that turned into a lesson of love. Every day Whitey Black reads The Littlest Angel to his sister Sandy, a four-year-old stricken with polio. Now she wants just one thing for Christmas: an angel doll. Unfortunately, in this small North Carolina town, no one has ever heard of such a thing. Nevertheless, Whitey Black and his best friend set out to find her one, at great cost and for even greater reward. Along the way they learn much about sadness and heartbreak, but most important, they learn about the transformative power of love. The Angel Doll is about childhood reaching out in later life and grabbing hold-never to be forgotten or remembered exactly as it was. Timeless and touching, The Angel Doll is sure to become a family favorite and a tradition for years to come.
Critics proclaimed Jerry Bledsoe's bestseller, The Angel Doll, an instant classic and a family treasure. It sold more than 110,000 copies in hardcover, was excerpted in Good Housekeeping, selected by The Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Crossings Book Club, and was made into a Lifetime movie.. In The Angel Doll, we met Whitey Black, who despite his poverty sets out to get an angel doll for his four-year-old sister because she loves The Littlest Angel story so much. Although his sister doesn't live to see her doll, we learn of another angel who many years later gives angel dolls to children in terminal hospital wards each Christmas. In this deeply moving sequel to The Angel Doll, Bledsoe tells the rest of the story and brings the characters full-circle to the present day. A story of friendship, love, and giving, it is certain to bring tears to the eyes of all who read it -- even if they never heard of The Angel Doll.
When Bill Pratt and Powell Seymour got laid off from their technology jobs in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1991, they had no idea that they were about to become leaders of a revolution in electronic communications. They did know that they wanted to start their own company, although they had no means to fund it. They asked their friend Jerry Neal to leave his job at the same company and join them to raise money and market their products. Those products numbered only seven at the time, and they could fit in a small matchbox with plenty of room to spare. But they were unlike any other products. Bill Pratt had designed the first radio frequency integrated circuits, the semiconductor chips that would make the cell-phone phenomenon possible. Within a year of starting the company, Pratt had designed another chip, the first power amplifier using an exotic technology that many considered unreliable and impossible to commercialize. Although the chip failed at first, it became a company builder. Now more than half of the cell phones made in the world contain power amplifiers made by RF Micro Devices of Greensboro, the world's leading supplier. The company has plants and offices around the world, and has broadened its reach into every aspect of wireless electronic communications. Jerry Neal's revealing, entertaining, often funny account of how this came about is much more than a story of one company's beginnings. It's a wild ride through the technology boom of the 1990s, at the peak of which, just nine years after its founding, RF Micro Devices had a market value of $16 billion, twice that of its technology partner, the huge, long-established defense contractor TRW. Fire in the Belly should be a handbook for entrepreneurs and a textbook for college business majors.
Essays offer a humorous look at supermarkets, shots, visits to the dentist, lawyers, city mottoes, television, awards, fears, Valentine's Day, and the South
On Labor Day weekend of 1972, journalist Jerry Bledsoe hooked up with the stock car racing circuit to begin research for his first book. The result of his efforts, first published in 1975, has been called the classic work on stock car racing. Bledsoe captures the beginnings of the modern NASCAR era, a time when legends like Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, and the Wood brothers ruled. It was also a time when independent drivers like Wendell Scott (NASCAR’s first African American driver) and Larry Smith could build a car in their garages during the week and race on Sunday alongside King Richard. With levels of access impossible to achieve today, Bledsoe is not only in the pits and garages with the drivers, but also is alongside their family driving to the next race in a van piled high with ice chests filled with sandwiches and fried chicken. He digs into the sport’s rough and rowdy history and shines a light into its nooks and crannies, uncovering the forgotten role that women drivers played in creating this most macho of motorsports. And then there are the fans. There’s Red Robinson, the self-proclaimed “World’s Number One Stock Car Racing Fan," who collects racing beauty queens the way some people collects stamps. And the fans camped out in the infield at Darlington, the biggest, wildest, whoopingest, holleringest, drinkingest, gamblingest, carousingest, knock-down, fall-out blowout held in the South. More than a book about racing, this is a close-up look at a cultural phenomenon that illuminates America and the South. In 1965, Tom Wolfe called racer Junior Johnson “the last American hero.” “The World’s Number One, All-Time Great, Stock Car Racing Book” shows that a decade later there were still plenty of heroes circling the track with no signs of them disappearing anytime soon.
Bob Timberlake was 28, married, with three children and a good job in his family's propane gas business, when he came home from work one night and sat down to browse through Life magazine. In it, he came across an article about the painter Andrew Wyeth that was to change his life. Although he'd never had an art lesson or set foot in an art gallery or museum, he was suddenly certain that he was destined to become a painter. Thus was Timberlake set upon an incredible journey that in just a few years would see him become one of America's most successful realist painters, his works fetching high prices and exhibited in prestigious museums. His art not only led him to know presidents, movie stars, the future king of England, and other powerful people but pushed him to become one the world's top 10 designers, creating the most successful furniture line in history as well as many other products, including a new line of Timberlake homes. Yet Timberlake never felt responsible for his successes. He was certain that he was being led by the hand. A warm and touching story of love, place, and family, Timberlake's memoir is certain to become a inspirational classic.
On Labor Day weekend of 1972, journalist Jerry Bledsoe hooked up with the stock car racing circuit to begin research for his first book. The result of his efforts, first published by Doubleday in February, 1975, has been called the classic work on stock car racing. More, though, than a book about racing, it is a close-up look at a cultural phenomenon.
Long before the Patriots took the 21st century by storm and became the most dominant team in NFL history, pro football was something entirely different in New England, something comically atrocious and riddled with heartbreak. Before those juggernaut years of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and sold-out crowds at Gillette Stadium came a hapless franchise that managed only a single playoff victory in a quarter century and spent its entire first decade of existence just trying to establish a permanent home field (and even when they did, none of the toilets worked). In From Darkness to Dynasty, bestselling author Jerry Thornton irreverently chronicles those easily glossed-over, downtrodden decades--years when the team claimed more headlines for lawsuits, arrests, power struggles, drug problems, and inept, bizarre, behavior from players, coaches, and owners than for anything they accomplished on the field. Relive the behind-the-scenes dysfunction, the turmoil of prolonged irrelevance, and the improbable way the Patriots finally ascended to greatness. By turns hilarious and eye-opening, this is an essential history for fans and disparagers alike, and a pointed reminder that the best stories of triumph start with humble beginnings.
Combines case studies with quantitative analysis to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Voting Rights Act on Latino politics in Texas, by examining electoral structures, representation on both city councils and school boards, and representation in the bureaucracy; by assessing the types of persons selected as political representatives; and by discussing what difference it all makes. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
As a freelance writer, Jack Naile was used to getting an occasional letter from one of his readers, but when one of those readers sent him a clipping from a magazine, it would not only change his life, but could alter the course of history as well. The clipping had a photo, taken in Nevada in 1903, of a street scene, including a story with a sign, _Jack Naile¾General Merchandise.Ó Intrigued, Jack phoned the Nevada towns historian and asked for more information. When the historian sent him a photo of the 19th century Jack Naile, what had seemed like an interesting coincidence immediately became much more bizarre. The four people in the photo, dressed in the style of the time, were unmistakably Jack, his wife, their grown son and teenage daughter. Jack decided he would have to take a trip to that town to investigate further. And if he and his family were somehow going to travel back in time, he was going to be prepared¾and be well-armed. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Revised and updated for 2020! The New England Patriots' feat of six Super Bowls in 17 years represents the gold standard of dominance every sports franchise strives for. With Bill Belichick and Tom Brady at the helm, the Patriots' unlikely victory back in February 2002 became a fulcrum that tipped decades of failure into a run of dynastic success. In this revised and updated edition, bestselling author Jerry Thornton provides a behind-the-scenes look at each of the team's six championships, revealing the adversity they faced and reveling in the hard-fought victories they earned. This is the story of a franchise, a culture, and a people told from a true fan's perspective. It's about a franchise that has seemingly dealt only in extremes, hated by the nation in a way that has only fortified the strength of its supporters. Most of all, it's a story about remarkable people defying history to write their own. Six Rings is the must-read account of this unforgettable era in football.
Since 2001 the Patriots have played in eight Super Bowl championships and won five, a run of excellence unparalleled in all of professional sports. In a league designed to ensure that no one franchise can dominate over time, New England won for over a decade and a half. A dynasty that began with an improbable run to a championship in 2001 has rebuilt, rebooted, and retooled several times over, winning most recently in 2017. But during those years, no other franchise reached the same level of controversy, drama, and turmoil - or even came close. Jerry Thornton, bestselling author of From Darkness to Dynasty, provides an all-access pass to the Patriots' years of unparalleled greatness from the unique perspective of an observant, obsessive, utterly dedicated fan.
Critics proclaimed Jerry Bledsoe's bestseller, The Angel Doll, an instant classic and a family treasure. It sold more than 110,000 copies in hardcover, was excerpted in Good Housekeeping, selected by The Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Crossings Book Club, and was made into a Lifetime movie.. In The Angel Doll, we met Whitey Black, who despite his poverty sets out to get an angel doll for his four-year-old sister because she loves The Littlest Angel story so much. Although his sister doesn't live to see her doll, we learn of another angel who many years later gives angel dolls to children in terminal hospital wards each Christmas. In this deeply moving sequel to The Angel Doll, Bledsoe tells the rest of the story and brings the characters full-circle to the present day. A story of friendship, love, and giving, it is certain to bring tears to the eyes of all who read it -- even if they never heard of The Angel Doll.
IN A CORRUPT CAMPAIGN, ONLY BULLETS COUNT AS VOTES AGAINST TERROR. In the streets of America's most violent city, the radical FLNA continues a ruthless campaign against freedom. Their "law-and-order" candidate for mayor is backed by an international syndicate doing a billion-dollar business in drugs and guns. Only David Holden and his Patriots have the guts-and the grit-to stand in their way. When the FLNA savagely attacks a member of the Special Task Force and kidnaps another, it's meant as a deadly warning. But for Holden and his freedom fighters there's no turning back.
On Labor Day weekend of 1972, journalist Jerry Bledsoe hooked up with the stock car racing circuit to begin research for his first book. The result of his efforts, first published by Doubleday in February, 1975, has been called the classic work on stock car racing. More, though, than a book about racing, it is a close-up look at a cultural phenomenon.
In a style as easygoing as rocking on the front porch & as mellow as June in North Carolina, Jerry Bledsoe takes us on a journey of the heart through bittersweet memories & delicious observations about people & places, wild creatures & bygone days. Roaming hills, woodlands, seacoasts & sidewalks, Bledsoe shows us things we might have missed, tells us secrets, & introduces us to relatives, neighbors, & friends -- including one impossible goat & a gallant..
In 1960, at age 18, future bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe ("Bitter Blood" & "The Angel Doll") told an Army recruiter that he wanted to be an artist. This was his lucky day, the recruiter informed him. The Army had the best art school in the world. But after being sworn in, Bledsoe was pulled aside by a major and informed that no Army art school existed. He was being assigned instead to Information School.Although Bledsoe, who had flunked high school English for failure to write book reports and term papers, had no idea what this unexpected decision entailed, it would set the direction for the rest of his life.Bledsoe limits this warm, deeply personal and often humorous memoir to the turbulent '60s, which he began as a psychological warfare writer in the early stages of the Vietnam War. His Army experiences led him to become a newspaper reporter and columnist, thrusting him into the major stories of the decade and leading him to meet and write about hosts of remarkable and engaging people, including a relatively unknown musician named Jimi Hendrix who was opening for the Monkees, comedy legend Brother Dave Gardner, and civil rights leader Ben Elton Cox. From moments of true Catch-22 absurdities in the Army to historic events of the civil rights movement, "Do-Good Boy" gives its readers an insider's view as a young author discovers his calling.
In this unrelenting real-life drama of three wealthy families connected by marriage and murder, Bledsoe recounts the shocking events, obsessive love, and bitter custody battles that led toward the bloody climax that took nine lives. Reissued to coincide with Bledsoe's new hardcover Blood Games (11/91).
If even a small part of a child still lives within your heart, you can't help but be captivated by this deeply moving novella based on bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe's childhood memories. Set in a North Carolina manufacturing town during the 1950s, it is the poignant story of two ten-year-old boys and their search for an angel doll, a search that turned into a lesson of love. Every day Whitey Black reads The Littlest Angel to his sister Sandy, a four-year-old stricken with polio. Now she wants just one thing for Christmas: an angel doll. Unfortunately, in this small North Carolina town, no one has ever heard of such a thing. Nevertheless, Whitey Black and his best friend set out to find her one, at great cost and for even greater reward. Along the way they learn much about sadness and heartbreak, but most important, they learn about the transformative power of love. The Angel Doll is about childhood reaching out in later life and grabbing hold-never to be forgotten or remembered exactly as it was. Timeless and touching, The Angel Doll is sure to become a family favorite and a tradition for years to come.
After being assaulted in their North Carolina home with a knife and a baseball bat, wealthy Lieth von Stein lay dead and his wife, Bonnie, near death. The crime seemed totally baffling until police followed a trail that led to the charming von Stein stepson. Photographs.
Bledsoe, drawn to the parkway from childhood, decided to take a mountain-bike trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This book is the story of his 17-day trip from one end of the parkway to the other.
Bob Timberlake was 28, married, with three children and a good job in his family's propane gas business, when he came home from work one night and sat down to browse through Life magazine. In it, he came across an article about the painter Andrew Wyeth that was to change his life. Although he'd never had an art lesson or set foot in an art gallery or museum, he was suddenly certain that he was destined to become a painter. Thus was Timberlake set upon an incredible journey that in just a few years would see him become one of America's most successful realist painters, his works fetching high prices and exhibited in prestigious museums. His art not only led him to know presidents, movie stars, the future king of England, and other powerful people but pushed him to become one the world's top 10 designers, creating the most successful furniture line in history as well as many other products, including a new line of Timberlake homes. Yet Timberlake never felt responsible for his successes. He was certain that he was being led by the hand. A warm and touching story of love, place, and family, Timberlake's memoir is certain to become a inspirational classic.
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