John F. Kennedy – 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy died. A shocked nation grieved and hundreds of conspiracy theories were born. As we look at the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s death, his intricate personal life, and his brief administration we honor a man whose life and 1,036 days as president ended much too soon.

 

Five Days in November

Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin, 11/19/13

• On November 22 , 1963, three shots were fired in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the world stopped for four days. For an entire generation, it was the end of an age of innocence.

That evening, a photo ran on the front pages of newspapers across the world, showing a Secret Service agent jumping on the back of the presidential limousine in a desperate attempt to protect the President and Mrs. Kennedy. That agent was Clint Hill. A story that has taken Clint Hill fifty years to tell, this is a work of personal and historical scope.

 

The Kennedy Detail

Gerald Blaine and Lisa McCubbin

THE SECRET SERVICE. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss.

 

Kennedy

Ted Sorensen

The classic, intimate, and magisterial biography of JFK

In January 1953, freshman senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts hired a twenty-four-year-old from Nebraska as his Number Two legislative assistant—on a trial basis. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, in the eleven years that followed Sorensen became known as Kennedy’s intellectual blood bank, top policy aide, and alter ego. Kennedy is an account of this president’s failures as well as successes, told with surprising candor and objectivity.

 

Kennedy & Nixon

Chris Matthews

First as friends, then as bitter enemies, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon shared a rivalry that had a dramatic impact on American history and that has never been understood until now. One would become the most dashing figure of the post-World War II era, the other would live into his eighties, haunted and consumed by the rivalry. In Kennedy and Nixon, Christopher Matthews offers a fresh and surprising look at these two political giants, offering a stunning portrait that will change the way we think about both of them.

 

President Kennedy: Profile of Power

Richard Reeves

President Kennedy is the compelling, dramatic history of JFK’s thousand days in office. It illuminates the presidential center of power by providing an in-depth look at the day-by-day decisions and dilemmas of the thirty-fifth president as he faced everything from the threat of nuclear war abroad to racial unrest at home.

 

 

These Few Precious Days

Christopher Andersen

They were the original power couple— outlandishly rich, impossibly attractive, and endlessly fascinating. Now, in this rare, behind-the-scenes portrait of the Kenne­dys in their final year together, #1 New York Times bestselling biographer Christopher Andersen shows us a side of JFK and Jackie we’ve never seen before. Tender, intimate, complex, and, at times, explosive, theirs is a love story unlike any other—filled with secrets, scandals, and bomb­shells that could never be fully revealed . . . until now.

 

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

• Kenneth P. O’Donnell and David F. Powers

An intimate portrait of an iconic American from the men closest to him

As a politician, John F. Kennedy crafted an image that inspired and thrilled millions—and left an outsize legacy after his tragic murder. Only a select inner circle was privy to the man behind Camelot. In Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, Kenneth P. O’Donnell and David F. Powers, two members of Kennedy’s “Irish Mafia,” give an unflinching, honest, and intimate portrayal of the Kennedy family and JFK’s presidency.

Sons of Camelot: The Fate of an American Dynasty

Laurence Leamer

One of Bobby Kennedy’s first acts after JFK’s assassination was to write a letter to his eldest son, reminding him of the obligations of his name. Bobby sent the letter to eleven-year-old Joe, but the message was meant for all his sons and nephews.

Sons of Camelot is the compelling story of that message and how it shaped each Kennedy son and grandson in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s death. Based on five years of rigorous research and unprecedented cooperation from both the Kennedys’ and the Shrivers’, Sons of Camelot examines the lives characterized by overwhelming drama — from the most spectacular mishaps, excesses, and tragediesto the remarkable accomplishments that have led to better lives for Americans and others around the world.

 

Jack Kennedy Elusive Hero

Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography is based on personal interviews with those closest to JFK, oral histories by top political aide Kenneth O’Donnell and others, documents from his years as a student at Choate, and notes from Jacqueline Kennedy’s first interview after Dallas. You’ll learn the origins of his inaugural call to “Ask what you can do for your country.” You’ll discover his role in the genesis of the Peace Corps, his stand on civil rights, his push to put a man on the moon, his ban on nuclear arms testing. You’ll get, more than ever before, to the root of the man, including the unsettling aspects of his personal life.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

November Notables

Here in North Carolina, our weather has been changing every day. Hot one day, freezing the next – you never know what you’re going to get! But, you know one thing that never changes? The fact that it’s always a great time to read 🙂 Here are some of our favorite finds and new releases that top our eReatah reading list this week!

 

Marching to Zion

Mary Glickman

(Historical Fiction), release date 11/12

Marching to Zion is the tragic love story of Minerva Fishbein and Magnus Bailey, a charismatic black man and the longtime business partner of Minerva’s father.    From the brutal riots of East St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee, during the 1920s and the Depression, Marching to Zion is a tale of passion, betrayal, and redemption during an era in America when interracial love could not go unpunished.

 

Five Days in November

Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin

(Biography & Autobiography), release date 11/19

On November 22, 1963, three shots were fired in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the world stopped for four days. For an entire   generation, it was the end of an age of innocence. That evening, a photo ran on the front pages of newspapers across the world, showing a Secret Service agent jumping on the back of the presidential limousine in a desperate attempt to protect the President and Mrs. Kennedy. That agent was Clint Hill. 

A story that has taken Clint Hill 50 years to tell, this is a work of personal and historical scope. Besides the unbearable grief of a nation and the monumental consequences of the event, the death of JFK was a personal blow to a man sworn to protect the first family, and who knew, from the moment the shots rang out in Dallas, that nothing would ever be the same.

 

Tuscan Rose

Belinda Alexandra

(Fiction), release date 11/19

A mysterious stranger known as ‘The Wolf’ leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the only clue to the child’s   identity and so begins a story as intriguing and beautiful as the city of Florence itself. Belinda Alexandra’s new novel, Tuscan Rose, is set in Italy during the time of Mussolini. This richly woven tale of passion, love, longing, witchcraft and magic promises to be everything her readers love and more.

 

Miracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America

Glenn Beck

(History), release date 11/19

Miracles and Massacres is history, as you’ve never heard it told. It’s incredible events that you never knew existed. And it’s stories so important and relevant to today that you won’t have to ask, why didn’t they teach me this? You will instantly know. If the truth shall set you free, then your freedom begins on page one of this book. By the end, your understanding of the lies and half-truths you’ve been taught may change, but your perception of who we are as Americans and where our country is headed definitely will.

Don’t tell us we didn’t warn you, this one’s a page-turner!

 

Hero

Rhonda Byrne

(Body, Mind & Spirit), release date 11/19

From creator of the international bestselling movie and book, The Secret, comes HERO, her latest world-changing project and the most important to date. HERO brings together the wisdom and insight of 12 of the most successful people living in the world today. By following their seemingly impossible journeys to success, HERO reveals that each of us was born with everything we need to live our greatest dream – and that by doing so we will fulfill our mission and literally change the world.

No matter where you are in your life today, no matter what age you are, it is never too late to follow your dream. And when you do, you will make the greatest discovery any human being can make – the discovery of who you really are, and why you are here.

 

Twelve Years A Slave

Solomon Northup

Introduction by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

(History), release date 11/19

The story that inspired the major motion picture produced by Brad Pitt, directed by Steve McQueen, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Benedict Cumberbatch, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing, vividly detailed, and utterly unforgettable account of slavery. This beautifully designed ebook edition of Twelve Years a Slave features an introduction by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the bestselling author of Wench.

Solomon Northup was an entrepreneur and dedicated family man, father to three young children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. What little free time he had after long days of manual and farm labor, he spent reading books and playing the violin. Though his father was born into slavery, Solomon was born and lived free.

In March 1841, two strangers approached Northup, offering him employment as a violinist in a town hundreds of miles away from his home in Saratoga Springs, New York. Solomon bid his wife farewell until his return. Only after he was drugged and bound, did he realize the strangers were kidnappers—that nefarious brand of criminals in the business of capturing runaway and free blacks for profit. Thus began Northup’s life as a slave. Dehumanized, beaten, and worked mercilessly, Northup suffered all the more wondering what had become of his family. Just as he felt the summer of his life fade and all hope nearly lost, he met a kind-hearted stranger who changed the course of his life.

November Notables: Week of 11/3

Life? Of course, we have a life – well, a life filled with books that is and we wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂

Check out our weekly notables blog posts as we highlight new releases that you don’t want to miss, then head over to eReatah to download these riveting reads and curl up on a cool evening with one (…or a few) of these great books – we promise you can’t go wrong!

Happy reading friends!

The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (History & Biography)

The great Sioux warrior-statesman Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army in a war, forcing the government to sue for peace on his terms. At the peak of Red Cloud’s powers the Sioux could claim control of one-fifth of the contiguous United States and the loyalty of thousands of fierce fighters. But the fog of history has left Red Cloud strangely obscured. Now, thanks to the rediscovery of a lost autobiography, and painstaking research by two award-winning authors, the story of our nation’s most powerful and successful Indian warrior can finally be told.

In The Heart of Everything That Is, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, the New York Times bestselling authors of Halsey’s Typhoon and The Last Stand of Fox Company, restore Red Cloud to his rightful place in American history in a sweeping and dramatic narrative based on years of primary research.

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

Doris Kearns Goodwin (History & Biography)

The gap between rich and poor has never been wider . . . legislative stalemate paralyzes the country . . . corporations resist federal regulations . . . spectacular mergers produce giant companies . . . the influence of money in politics deepens . . . bombs explode in crowded streets . . . small wars proliferate far from our shores . . . a dizzying array of inventions speeds the pace of daily life.

These unnervingly familiar headlines serve as the backdrop for Doris Kearns Goodwin’s highly anticipated The Bully Pulpit—a dynamic history of the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air.

Karma Gone Bad: How I Learned to Love Mangos, Bollywood and Water Buffalo

Jenny Feldon (Memoir & Autobiography)

Made in America. Outsourced to India. At Home with Herself? A charming yet honest memoir of one Upper West side housewife who finds herself saying good-bye to Starbucks and all her notions of “home” when she and her husband are outsourced to Hyderabad.

Jenny Feldon imagined life in India as a glitzy yoga whirlwind. Instead she found buffalo-related traffic jams. Jenny struggled to fight the depression, bitterness, and anger as her sense of self and her marriage began to unravel. And it was all India’s fault–wasn’t it? Equally frustrating, revealing, and amusing, this is the true story of an accidental housewife trapped in the third world.

Bellman & Black

Diane Setterfield (Fantasy)

One Moment in Time Can Haunt Your Forever. Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain with an even stranger partner.

Alligator Blood: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the High-rolling Whiz-kid who Controlled Online Poker’s Billions

James Leighton (Non-fiction Thriller, Poker)

Daniel Tzvetkoff was just another Brisbane teenager working for peanuts at Pizza Hut. That is until he discovered the lucrative world of payment processing for online poker companies. Soon the Australian whiz-kid was living the American dream, raking in as much as $3m a week. Revelling in his jet set lifestyle of fast cars, luxury yachts and VIP nightclubs, he embarked on an epic rollercoaster of champagne fuelled excess which mirrored that of the extraordinary world of online poker, where hot shot college students won millions from the confines of their dorms, and fortunes were won or lost in seconds.

However, Tzvetkoff’s move to the neon splattered underworld of Las Vegas would soon see him facing the abyss. Owing millions to the poker companies, and with the FBI hot on his trail, the tarnished boy wonder needed to pull an ace from his sleeve to keep from busting out. And when he did, it resulted in a day that sent a seismic shockwave through the world of online poker and saw him take the blame.

The Definition of Value: eBook Subscription Services, Which is Right for You?

Since eReatah stepped onto the scene last month, it seems like the industry is buzzing with talk about subscription eBook services. We love that we have the space talking about a new era in eReading! Each service offering brings something to the table but the question is, which is the best fit for you?

To answer that question, you have to ask yourself, “How do I define value?” Do you find value in downloading as many $0.99 books as you want or getting the new Stephen King novel for 50% cheaper than you can find it elsewhere? Is value the monthly cost, the number of books per month, the ability to download new releases, platform availability, owning your books, or catalog content?

We all offer different subscription plans and a very different catalog of books. So, what sets eReatah apart? Our goal is to provide an affordable service that is a less expensive alternative to the big name services out there (Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, iTunes, and Google Play) and give you access to a catalog of valuable content that contains books you want to read, new releases included.

Out of the gate, we also wanted to provide a service to users on both Android and iOS devices. We didn’t want to limit our audience because we believe all those that love to read should be able to read more, for less.

Yes, we know these big players also offer “free” eBooks (those in the public domain or with an expired copyright) but eReatah is not focused on those books. Our focus is on providing titles from leading publishers with the availability to download books the same day as their release.

To date, eReatah offers over 90,000 titles from a growing list of publishers including Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Workman, Diversion, Berrett-Koehler, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Kensington, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins Christian, IPG, Open Road Media, RosettaBooks, and a distribution deal with Ingram Content Group, which provides full catalogs from 400 additional publishers. eReatah is the only subscription service to offer titles from this many publishers and the only service whose offering consists of new releases, best sellers, classics, new authors, frontlist, and backlist titles from these leading publishers.

eReatah works off a monthly tiered subscription plan with members receiving 2 eBooks for $14.99, 3 eBooks for $22.50, or 4 eBooks for $29.99 and unlike traditional rental plans, once a book is downloaded, it is yours to keep even after cancelling a subscription (which you can do at anytime).

Let’s take a quick look at the facts – these type of eBooks sell on Kindle, iTunes, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble for anywhere from $8 – $20. Here is just a sample chart of books available on eReatah and the price comparison to other eBook retailers:

And in complete transparency, here is a breakdown of the retail price of the books in our catalog:

As you can see, over 80% of our catalog is home to books with a retail price of over $8.99. Looking at the numbers, you can see how we deliver savings to you with our pricing.

Another feature of eReatah that is pretty awesome if you ask us (but don’t take our word for it) is the Recommendation Station. This system uses an algorithm similar to what won the Netflix Prize Challenge in 2009 to tell members about new books based on their past preferences and purchases. We use a new iteration of the algorithm that actually reads the book, understands the content, and makes recommendations for books that share similar content (how cool is that).

The custom algorithm is more than a calculation; it unlocks tremendous value by providing a total understanding of your reading preferences and suggesting books you’re sure to love so you don’t find yourself wasting hours reading a book you “just can’t get through”.

Remember, if “all you can eat” or an “unlimited reading” service sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We all know the saying “you get what you pay for” – our advice is to look closely at the selection and type of titles included in whatever service you sign up for to make sure it meets your needs. And, if you have questions about our offering, please send us an e-mail, we are happy to answer your questions! At eReatah, we believe in building a sustainable company that provides a win for our users, a win for our publishers, and protects the authors.

We hope that you will consider becoming a part of this new era in eReading by signing-up for eReatah beta. You will receive a 7-day free trial and a free eBook download on us. If you love it as much as we think you will, you can share us with your friends for a $5 credit to your account.

Happy reading friends, we can’t wait to hear what you think!

Price comparison chart updated 10/2

Welcome to eReatah – A New Era in eReading

First off, welcome to the eReatah blog! We are so glad you found us. For those of you who are not completely sure who or what eReatah is, then you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

eReatah is your place for eBook subscriptions! We offer you the opportunity to download 2, 3, or 4 books per month on your tablet, iOS, or Android. To sweeten the pot, once you download a book you own it for as long as you chose to keep it on your device! I think that last point is worth repeating, THIS IS NOT A RENTAL, ONCE YOU DOWNLOAD A BOOK IT IS YOURS FOREVVVVERRR! Sound too good to be true? We hope so. Our goal is to create the best reading platform for all readers and exceed your expectations. To do this, we targeted several areas that we felt needed improvement. These areas are:

• Helping readers discover new great books

• Saving readers money

• Convenience

So you may ask, “how does eReatah solve these issues?”

Helping readers discover new great books

We have developed a recommendation system that recommends books based on your reading profile, tastes in other books, and similar interest of readers with similar tastes. However, our system goes further than just making a comparison based on what others have said about a book. Our system can actually read the same books that you are reading, understand the content within the book, and make recommendations for books with similar content!

We also developed a fun discovery tool called “If these books had a baby.” Interesting name, don’t you think? You select 2 books you have read or are familiar with and put them on opposite sides of sliding scale. Then based on where you drag and drop the slider we will recommend different books choices to you. Hurry and check out the Recommendation Station to find your next favorite book!

Saving Money

The eReatah subscription platform will save you ~15 – 40% off of current book pricing. We feel that you should be rewarded for your passion to read and expand your knowledge and imagination! So read on and save!

Convenience

Making a decision on anything can often be difficult. At eReatah, we want to remove the decision-making process for you by helping recommend books for you and allowing you to seamlessly download great books every month. Using your tablet, you can download a book directly from your application and read it immediately. Our goal is to make your life a little easier and a bit better!

Join the new era in eReading with eReatah today at ereatah.com. Any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me at Bryan.Batten@eReatah.com or social@ereatah.com.