Showing results by author "Charles Smith" in All Categories

Inequality is rising globally, and rising inequality is destabilizing. A status quo of increasing inequality self-destructs. To avoid this fate, we must answer this question: Why is the gulf between the wealthy and everyone else widening? The answer boils down to one word: privilege. There are many types of privilege, but they all share two characteristics: Privilege delivers benefits, wealth, and power that are unearned. Privilege is destabilizing for many reasons: The dead weight of privilege reduces productivity, generates perverse incentives, and fuels social injustice.

What every human wants is fairness, a chance to belong that offers everyone opportunities to get ahead by our own merit and a say when decisions are made. Even before the global upheavals, our system was failing - it wasn’t fair at all. Now that it’s unraveling, it’s time for a new arrangement that’s actually sustainable on our resource-depleted planet that doesn’t favor wealthy insiders. Those gorging on inequality will never accept reforms that strip away their unearned privileges, and so the only practical way forward is a Hacker’s Teleology.

With the soaring cost of higher education, has the value of a college degree been turned upside down? College tuition and fees are up 1000% since 1980. Half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, revealing a deep disconnect between higher education and the job market. It is no surprise everyone is asking: Where is the return on investment? Is the assumption that higher education returns greater prosperity no longer true? And if this is the case, how does this impact you, your children and grandchildren? We must thoroughly understand the twin revolutions now ...

Sixteen-year old Claire, overprotected her entire life by a hardworking worry-wart Mom, must now find the father she never knew in Paris, France, and soon, or she'll never have the chance: he'll be dead. What starts out as a simple summer visit to Paris with her best friend Camden and their guardian, Claire’s spinster aunt May, quickly splinters into multiple mysteries: where is her father? What did he do to make such tenacious enemies? The silver ring he sent her—can it really protect her? What do the ring’s Chinese characters mean? Claire and her plucky friend Camden are soon up to ...

Things are falling apart—that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Readers of my blog oftwominds.com asked me to explain why in a clear, comprehensive way, and then present solutions. This book is my answer. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify or understand. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart: 1. Debt and financialization 2. Crony capitalism ...

Heroism takes many forms. Some are spontaneous. Some, like justice delayed but delivered at long last by unconventional means, take planning. Some are open so all may see. Others require artful artifice and subterfuge, so all is hidden from view--especially the heroism. Some are driven by idealism. All demand sacrifice and risk, for the outcome is never certain. Few are tidy. All need indominable spirit. All depend on luck. Many depend on quick-wittedness. Some depend on love. A few depend on foolish love. Some need a bit of each, at just the right time, against long odds. But none of this ...

After his last one-night stand--a new baby and a crushing mortgage came hand in hand-- the last thing Hollywood has-been Hayward West expected was to fall in love. But as 19-year old Valentina, fresh from a border crossing, wolfed down four tamales in a row, he was wildly, uncontrollably, passionately in love. She needed $25,000 to save her father, and he needed $250,000 to stave off bankruptcy. There was a way to raise the cash and win the woman he desired, but it required a marriage--a marriage of many things...

A powerful telling of the first African-American heavyweight champion, this story portrays how a shy, fearful young man learned to fight back and become one of history's more compelling personalities. Children will be awed and inspired by the boxer's energy and drive which is duly reflected through the rhythmic text and excellent narration.

Verona Uyeki is in a romantic pickle she never expected; three men claim to love her, but she only loves one. Two want to marry her, but not the one she is mad for. Beset by family pressures and precarious finances, Verona must respond by Sunday to a suitor's sudden ultimatum. On the weekend she must decide between the three, her first love pays her a surprise visit in San Francisco. What a young woman from Hawaii remembers, and discovers about herself, is also unexpected....

On the eve of a wedding, what to do when the groom mysteriously disappears? When the police and private investigators come up empty, what's a desperate bride to do? Call in the man with no qualifications: Caverlock Victor Oliver -- the world's only Consulting Philosopher. Will he prove there's no mystery that can withstand the prodigious powers of Applied Philosophy? Will he succeed in reuniting sweet Victorine with her lover? Will a Taoist-quoting bookworm solve the mystery ... and will he be paid? How much do you pay a Consulting Philosopher, anyway? The answers to these questions (and ...

Not everyone who served in the Desert War returned home untroubled. When all the other cures for a wounded soul have failed, then action may be the only cure left. An exploration of faith, fate, loss and destiny, and the unforeseen powers of self-change.

Crossing swords on the cyber-battlefield of online auctions, curmudgeons Alexia and Ross each win rare collectibles the other needs to escape financial doom. Each recruits a young neighbor (Kylie and Robin) to coax the key collectible from the other. Their schemes go awry and the resulting complications push all four to the brink of financial and romantic ruin. Set in San Francisco, this is a deliciously distracting escapist romantic romp in the comic tradition of Wodehouse.

C Is for Cannibals, the third book in an epic series of 26 horror anthologies. In this audiobook, you will find a collection of 13 gut-wrenching stories from some of the finest independent writers on the scene today. From those with a taste for human flesh to people merely trying to survive, C Is for Cannibals contains a range of twisted stories not for the weak of stomach.

Shooting the breeze with his boys. Tightening his D on the court. Doing a color check - making sure nobody's wearing blue or red, which some Crip or Piru carrying a cut-down golf club would see as disrespect. Then back to Auntie's, hoping she isn't passed out from whiskey at the end of the day. Now that Shawn is headed for high school, he wonders if he'd be better off at the school in Mama's neighborhood, where he'd be free of Compton's hassles. But then he wouldn't be with his fellas - cracking jokes, covering each other's backs - or the fine Marisol, who's been making star appearances in his dreams.

In every book I write, I combine life experience and research I've done on the subject, Footprints is no different. In the research that I have done for this book, I looked at the 5-7 stages of grief, denial, guilt, anger, bargaining, depression, awakening (upward turn), reconstruction of your life, and acceptance. I began to think about them all, this is what Footsteps focuses upon. Talking about each one and how to get from the shock of stage one (denial) to the seventh stage (acceptance). Keep in mind though that these do not go in order, for instance with one of the most profound deaths...

Trauma. In our modern world, it's a challenge to escape from the horrors we witnessed. Soldiers are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.) struggling to survive on the street. Some become opioid addicts feeling as if there is no hope left. There are survivors of types of mass shootings. Countless millions suffer at the hands of loved ones. Chaos has become a part of everyday life for all of us. We as soldiers should be able to come home to heal from war, but we find ourselves on a whole new battlefield. The challenge with this new battlefield, is it brings new and old ...

I went for a walk at a local place called Purgatory Chasm today. It was a crisp day, here in Massachusetts, as fall normally is. The part of the year that I love in this part of the country. I walk, taking in the serine beauty just before the leaves turn, although it's even more captivating after they turn to those beautiful vibrant colors. I started thinking back to my younger self when I wouldn't be able to walk in silence without headphones. Something to drown out the thoughts in my head was what I always needed. Now, well, I can walk in the woods and be at peace, taking in the wind, ...

A signal. From deep space. Emanating from a rocky planet orbiting a star similar to our sun. It broadcasts for mere seconds before terminating, but within those seconds is buried a tantalizing and familiar message. Rae Francis was only a little girl when Earth’s telescopes detected The Signal for the first time. A year later, when the same message returned, it set into motion a worldwide series of events which would come to define virtually every aspect of Rae’s life from that point forth. She wants to know what’s out there. She wants to know who. If it happens in her lifetime, she ...

A Kindle-exclusive short ghost story from Charles B. Smith, author of 1914: A Novel. At the age of eleven, a boy watches helplessly while a vile, unseen entity takes hold of his young sister, corrupting, and ultimately destroying her life. Vowing revenge, the boy sets out on a path of intellectual and scientific discovery, to uncover the strange truths buried within reality as we know it, all in the name of the vengeance he so desperately craves.

The audiobook, The Arctic Jungles of Vietnam, is the life story of a Black soldier from the Deep South during the Vietnam war era. The story begins with a description of his family and how they survived with the bare minimum of necessities for a life in the South. His experiences in grade school and high school including the Superintendent of Autauga County School System’s commencement message are an integral part of the story. Further, we learn why and how this young man decided to go into the military.