“There is, in the best of us, a search for the truth, to serve the living and dead alike...Jax Miller is one of those people and Hell in the Heartland is one of those books.”—Robert Graysmith, New York Times bestselling author of Zodiac As seen in Marie Claire's "Best True Crime Books of 2020" • HuffPost • OK! Magazine • CrimeReads • LitHub's "Best New Summer Books" S-Town meets I'll Be Gone in the Dark in this stranger-than-fiction cold case from rural Oklahoma that has stumped authorities for two decades, concerning the disappearance of two teenage girls and the much larger mystery of murder, possible police cover-up, and an unimaginable truth... On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing. While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found. In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller--who had been haunted by the case--decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: evidence of jaw-dropping levels of police negligence, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern. These forgotten towns were wild, lawless, and home to some very dark secrets.

David Obey has in his nearly forty years in the U.S. House of Representatives worked to bring economic and social justice to America’s working families. In 2007 he assumed the chair of the Appropriations Committee and is positioned to pursue his priority concerns for affordable health care, education, environmental protection, and a foreign policy consistent with American democratic ideals. Here, in his autobiography, Obey looks back on his journey in politics beginning with his early years in the Wisconsin Legislature, when Wisconsin moved through eras of shifting balance between Republicans and Democrats. On a national level Obey traces, as few others have done, the dramatic changes in the workings of the U.S. Congress since his first election to the House in 1969. He discusses his own central role in the evolution of Congress and ethics reforms and his view of the recent Bush presidency—crucial chapters in our democracy, of interest to all who observe politics and modern U.S. history. Best Books for Regional General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association

Freedom Oliver has plenty of secrets. She lives in a small Oregon town and keeps mostly to herself. Her few friends and neighbors know she works at the local biker bar; they know she gets arrested for public drunkenness almost every night; they know she’s brash, funny, and fearless. What they don’t know is that Freedom Oliver is a fake name. They don’t know that she was arrested for killing her husband, a cop, twenty years ago. They don’t know she put her two kids up for adoption. They don’t know that she’s now in witness protection, regretting ever making a deal with the Feds, and missing her children with a heartache so strong it makes her ill. Then, she learns that her daughter has gone missing, possibly kidnapped. Determined to find out what happened, Freedom slips free of her handlers, gets on a motorcycle, and heads for Kentucky, where her daughter was raised. As she ventures out on her own, no longer protected by the government, her troubled past comes roaring back at her: her husband’s vengeful, sadistic family; her brief, terrifying stint in prison; and the family she chose to adopt her kids who are keeping dangerous secrets. Written with a ferocious wit and a breakneck pace, Freedom’s Child is a thrilling, emotional portrait of a woman who risks everything to make amends for a past that haunts her still.

Most people think of Illinois as Chicago only, but our fine state is so much more than that. There are cornfields and hundreds of small towns that harbor their own dark, untold secrets. Tales of abuse, murder, and things that do more than go bump in the night. All can be found here...if you're brave enough to look for them.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The author went to Oklahoma to meet the living, but spent winters trying to get to know the dead. In the dead of winter, Oklahomans carry on as they always have. #2 I went to Oklahoma to meet the living, but spent winters learning about the dead. The Freemans were the living, and I was trying to understand the dead.

Life is nothing more than a collection of stories – but within those stories there are threads of meaning that, over a seventy-year journey, make sense of one human life. Kim Workman grew up in the Wairarapa, son of a Pākehā mother and Māori father. His whakapapa comes from Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne; Pāpāwai Marae near Greytown is the place to which he always returns. Jazz musician, policeman, public servant, prison manager, prominent campaigner for restorative justice – Kim’s life is full of passion and spirit, research and writing, action and commitment. His childhood was shaped by life in a country town, by family and Māori community, somewhat by school and rather more by playing jazz. Working as a police officer in the 1960s prompted his engagement with justice reform – and brought into sharp relief the racism that he has challenged throughout his working life. His career in prison management strengthened his commitment to prisoners’ welfare. Kim’s visionary work in justice reform began when he became director of Prison Fellowship New Zealand, and ultimately found expression in the Rethinking Crime and Punishment project and in supporting the activist group JustSpeak. His thinking draws on both his Christian faith and his Māori heritage: he was instrumental in establishing one of the first faith-based prison units, and his understanding of restorative justice draws strongly on Māori customary practice. Journey Towards Justice is an eloquent account of a life that is at once ordinary and exceptional, told with warmth and honesty. There are dark moments and hilarious ones, achievements and failures. Above all, there is love, compassion, vision, and a profound determination to bring justice to all.

An October 2022 IndieNext pick ”[An] engaging and beautifully narrated quest for personal fulfillment and musical recognition...This is a fast-paced tale in which music and love always take center stage...A truly gifted musician, Price writes about her journey with refreshing candor.”—Kirkus, starred review ”Brutally honest...a vivid and poignant memoir.”—The Guardian Country music star Margo Price shares the story of her struggle to make it in an industry that preys on its ingenues while trying to move on from devastating personal tragedies. When Margo Price was nineteen years old, she dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to become a musician. She busked on the street, played open mics, and even threw out her TV so that she would do nothing but write songs. She met Jeremy Ivey, a fellow musician who would become her closest collaborator and her husband. But after working on their craft for more than a decade, Price and Ivey had no label, no band, and plenty of heartache. Maybe We’ll Make It is a memoir of loss, motherhood, and the search for artistic freedom in the midst of the agony experienced by so many aspiring musicians: bad gigs and long tours, rejection and sexual harassment, too much drinking and barely enough money to live on. Price, though, refused to break, and turned her lowest moments into the classic country songs that eventually comprised the debut album that launched her career. In the authentic voice hailed by Pitchfork for tackling "Steinbeck-sized issues with no-bullshit humility," Price shares the stories that became songs, and the small acts of love and camaraderie it takes to survive in a music industry that is often unkind to women. Now a Grammy-nominated “Best New Artist,” Price tells a love story of music, collaboration, and the struggle to build a career while trying to maintain her singular voice and style.