Neal Thompson

“Here is that rare thing: an untold chapter in the Kennedy saga. . .Compelling and illuminating.”—Jon MeachamBased on genealogical breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee couple who escaped famine; created a life together in a city hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics; and launched the Kennedy dynasty in America.Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys’ initial political profile, as JFK leveraged his working-class roots to connect with blue-collar voters. Today, we remember this iconic American family as the vanguard of wealth, power, and style rather than as the descendants of poor immigrants. Here at last, we meet the first American Kennedys, Patrick and Bridget, who arrived as many thousands of others did following the Great Famine—penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly. Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P.J. to become a successful saloon owner and businessman. P.J. went on to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office—the first of many.Written by the grandson of an Irish immigrant couple and based on first-ever access to P.J. Kennedy’s private papers, The First Kennedys is a story of sacrifice and survival, resistance and reinvention: an American story.

Based on genealogical breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee couple who escaped famine, created a life together in a city hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics, and launched the Kennedy dynasty in America.Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys' initial political profile, as JFK leveraged his working-class roots to connect with blue-collar voters. Today, we remember this iconic American family as the vanguard of wealth, power, and style rather than as the descendants of poor immigrants. Here at last, we meet the first American Kennedys, Patrick and Bridget, who arrived as many thousands of others did following the Great Famine--penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick's sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly. Her rise from housemaid to shop owner in the face of rampant poverty and discrimination kept her family intact, allowing her only son P.J. to become a successful saloon owner and businessman. P.J. went on to become the first American Kennedy elected to public office--the first of many. Written by the grandson of an Irish immigrant couple and based on first-ever access to P.J. Kennedy's private papers, The First Kennedys is a story of sacrifice and survival, resistance and reinvention: an American story.

“Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of being the father of adolescent boys.” —Michael Chabon“What a riveting, touching, and painful read!” —Maria Semple“Fun, moving, raw, and relatable.” —Tony HawkWhat makes a good father, and what makes one a failure Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble Kickflip Boys is the story of a father’s struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable “skate dad,” and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future.With searing honesty, Neal Thompson traces his sons’ progression through all the stages of skateboarding: splurging on skate shoes and boards, having run-ins with security guards, skipping classes and defying teachers, painting graffiti, drinking and smoking, and more. As the story veers from funny to treacherous and back, from skateparks to the streets, Thompson must confront his complicity and fallibility. He also reflects on his upbringing in rural New Jersey, and his own adventures with skateboards, drugs, danger, and defiance. A story of thrill-seeking teens, of hope and love, freedom and failure, Kickflip Boys reveals a sport and a community that have become a refuge for adolescent boys who don’t fit in. Ultimately, it’s the survival story of a loving modern American family, of acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go.

“Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of being the father of adolescent boys.” —Michael Chabon“What a riveting, touching, and painful read!” —Maria Semple“Fun, moving, raw, and relatable.” —Tony HawkWhat makes a good father, and what makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father’s struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable “skate dad,” and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future.With searing honesty, Neal Thompson traces his sons’ progression through all the stages of skateboarding: splurging on skate shoes and boards, having run-ins with security guards, skipping classes and defying teachers, painting graffiti, drinking and smoking, and more. As the story veers from funny to treacherous and back, from skateparks to the streets, Thompson must confront his complicity and fallibility. He also reflects on his upbringing in rural New Jersey, and his own adventures with skateboards, drugs, danger, and defiance. A story of thrill-seeking teens, of hope and love, freedom and failure, Kickflip Boys reveals a sport and a community that have become a refuge for adolescent boys who don’t fit in. Ultimately, it’s the survival story of a loving modern American family, of acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go.

'Meditation for Beginners'. Anytime and Anywhere. A pocket size guide that will give you Inner Peace, Mindfulness and Happiness. Simple Techniques to Relieve Stress, Anxiety Depression, to calm your mind. Learn how to practice meditation daily This book applies to anyone, not just for the Buddhist monks. A regular meditation habit can make you healthier, happier and more successful than ever This book will teach you exactly how to calm your mind, release tension and "let go" in a way that will not only get results but change your life forever The process of meditation allows us to gain access to the inner source of strength that can provide us with wisdom and guidance anywhere and anytime. It also teaches us to control rather than be controlled by our thoughts and emotions. When you first start meditating, you will probably find that your mind jumps all over the place, from one topic to another, and you may find it difficult to find the silence between your thoughts. This is normal. When this happens just, notice that you have had a thought and let it go. Over time and with practice the space between your thoughts will increase. With practice, this calmness will continue into the rest of your life, not only the time you are meditating. This is the reason that meditation is such a good stress management tool. This will show up in the way you react to situations in your life. When you are driving, and someone cuts you off you are more likely to say "oh well, they must be in a hurry" rather than cursing and stressing for the rest of your journey. Just because stress occurs in our mind, it does not make it any less real or means it has any less control over our lives. The key to reducing stress and its effects on our physical body is to gain control over our minds and meditation is a wonderful tool to do this. When you meditate regularly, you will find that you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and whom you are through the observation of what occurs in your mind. Meditation increases your ability to do "one thing at a time" and "live in the here and now". Happiness and Peace are what all humans strive for, and it is only by accepting all aspects of your life that you will be able to experience these qualities consistently. This is why so many people are turning to meditation and why meditation is so powerful in today's modern society. Buddhism teaches that taking control of your mind through meditation is the only real antidote to stress, anxiety and depression. Scientific studies have validated this and offer proof that meditation CAN in fact change brain chemistry and alter brain waves. Meditation for Beginners teaches you: Advantages/Health benefits of Meditation Myths about Meditation Appropriate meditation routine How to get meditative state How Do Meditation Scripts Help in Meditation? Suitable time for meditation Meditation Techniques Proper meditation Techniques: Guided meditation Mantra meditation Zane meditation Breathing meditation Walking meditation Mindfulness meditation Music Meditation Meditation with Monaural Beats Meditation with Binaural Beats Meditation with Isochoric Tones Cleansing meditation Flame meditation Guided visualization In a step by step way, Meditation for Beginners will walk you through everything you need to know about meditation and how to successfully meditate every day. People who meditate regularly experience abundance in their life with far less worry, anxiety and stress and are more positive and productive. Practice this regularly and you too can reap the benefits.

A Curious Man is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable. As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley's life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world. After selling his first cartoon to Time magazine at age eighteen, more cartooning triumphs followed, but it was his "Believe It or Not" conceit and the wildly popular radio shows it birthed that would make him one of the most successful entertainment figures of his time and spur him to search the globe's farthest corners for bizarre facts, exotic human curiosities, and shocking phenomena. Ripley delighted in making outrageous declarations that somehow always turned out to be true--such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that "The Star Spangled Banner" was not the national anthem. Assisted by an exotic harem of female admirers and by ex-banker Norbert Pearlroth, a devoted researcher who spoke eleven languages, Ripley simultaneously embodied the spirit of Peter Pan, the fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P. T. Barnum. In a very real sense, Ripley sought to remake the world's aesthetic. He demanded respect for those who were labeled "eccentrics" or "freaks"--whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 1,615 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose. By the 1930s Ripley possessed a vast fortune, a private yacht, and a twenty-eight room mansion stocked with such "oddities" as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices, and his pioneering firsts in print, radio, and television were tapping into something deep in the American consciousness--a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, dumbest and most weird. Today, that legacy continues and can be seen in reality TV, YouTube, America's Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters and a host of other pop-culture phenomena. In the end Robert L. Ripley changed everything. The supreme irony of his life, which was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual, is that he may have been the most amazing oddity of all.

There's always a point in the season when you're faced with a challenge and you see what you're capable of. And you grow up." -- J.T. Curtis, head coach, John Curtis Christian School Patriots On Saturday, August 27, 2005, the John Curtis Patriots met for a grueling practice in the late summer New Orleans sun, the air a visible fog of humidity. They had pulled off a 19-0 shutout in their pre-season game the night before, but it was a game full of dumb mistakes. Head coach J.T. Curtis was determined to drill those mistakes out of them before their highly anticipated next game, which sportswriters had dubbed "the Battle of the Bayou" against a big team coming in all the way from Utah. As fate played out, that afternoon was the last time the Patriots would see one another for weeks; some teammates they'd never see again. Hurricane Katrina was about to tear their lives apart. The Patriots are a most unlikely football dynasty. There is a small, nondescript, family-run school, the buildings constructed by hand by the school's founding patriarch, John Curtis Sr. In this era of high school football as big business with 20,000 seat stadiums, John Curtis has no stadium of its own. The team plays an old-school offense, and Coach Curtis insists on a no-cut policy, giving every kid who wants to play a chance. As of 2005, they'd won nineteen state championships in Curtis's thirty-five years of coaching, making him the second most winning high school coach ever. Curtis has honed to a fine art the skill of teaching players how to transcend their natural talents. No screamer, he strives to teach kids about playing with purpose, the power of respect, dignity, poise, patience, trust in teamwork, and the payoff of perseverance, showing them how to be winners not only on the gridiron, but in life, and making boys into men. Hurricane Katrina would put those lessons to the test of a lifetime. "Hurricane Season" is the story of a great coach, his team, his family, and their school -- and a remarkable fight back from shocking tragedy. It is a story of football and faith, and of the transformative power of a team that rises above adversity, and above its own abilities, to come together again and prove what they're made of. It is the gripping story of how, as one player put it, "football became my place of peace.

Presents the dramatic untold story of the origins of NASCAR racing in the world of Southern moonshiners, who used fast Ford cars to transport bootleg alcohol during the Depression, men who transformed their driving skills to the Dixie racetracks in the aftermath of World War II. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

The definitive biography of Alan Shepard, America's first man in space, with a new Foreword by Chris Kraft "One of the finest books ever written about the space program."--Homer Hickan, author of Rocket Boys "A wonderful and gripping biography . . . meticulously reported in the best tradition of David Halberstam."--Buzz Bissinger, New York Times bestselling author of Friday Night Lights Alan Shepard was the brashest, cockiest, and most flamboyant of America's original Mercury Seven, but he was also regarded as the best. Intense, colorful, and dramatic, he was among the most private of America's public figures and, until his death in 1998, he guarded the story of his life zealously. Light This Candle, based on Neal Thompson's exclusive access to private papers and interviews with Shepard's family and closest friends--including John Glenn, Wally Schirra, and Gordon Cooper--offers a riveting, action-packed account of Shepard's life.