If you are a registered user of the Nebraska Talking Book and Braille Service (TBBS) and would like to order any of the books from the following list, please a) click the checkbox next to the books you would like to request, b) fill out the mailing information at the end, c) then click the send order button.

A Native American veteran recounts his experiences growing up in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma, before engaging in combat duirng World War II in Tunsia, Morocco, Italy, and France, and enduring the loss of his brother. Upon returning home to Nebraska as a decorated war veteran, he felt the estrangement of living in two worlds. After graduation from Friends University, he pursued a successful career as an educator. Contains strong language and descriptions of sex. Narrated by Brad Meurrens.

The author describes the lives of her grandmother and other women in Paxton, Nebraska, who are involved in literacy work. Activities include writing news articles and memoirs, working at the library, and participating in the Garden Club. These women use their work to help sustain their town and nourish themselves as well. Narrated by Mary Elizabeth Anderson.

Widely respected as an avid hunter and fisherman, Miles Maryott hosted wealthy guests at his hunting lodge on Nebraska's Crescent Lake in his beloved Sandhills. A gentle man when sober, he gained a reputation for ill-temperament when drunk. On Thanksgiving eve, 1926, he shot and killed Marshal George Albee, leaving behind a widow and eight children. Sentenced to the Nebraska State Penitentiary, Maryott produced dozens of wildlife paintings, some of which continue to bring high bids at auction. Narrated by Karen Boyer. (4 hours, 40 minutes)

A family memoir, written by the youngest daughter of Nebraska's former "Boy Governor" Keith Neville. The author lived a charmed life, growing up in North Platte, Nebraska, and Pass-a-Grille, Florida. Her family's saga includes hunting and fishing, pets and family, politics and travel, the Great Depression, two world wars, and raising Baby Boomer children. Narrated by Janet Remmenga. (15 hours, 15 minutes)

True story of growing up in Palisade, Nebraska, with a father who believed fervently that the government was on the brink of collapse and banks could not be trusted. He started hiding large quantities of gold and silver in and around his house. With the father's declining years and then death, the family became increasingly dysfunctional as members struggled with how to deal with the hoarded wealth. Narrated by Brad Meurrens. (8 hours, 20 minutes)

The newest members of America’s family--the refugees--have fled oppressive regimes to live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in every town across the United States. Bringing with them their own endurance to survive in the face of tragedy, they often come with nothing except the desire to live the American dream. Their stories show how recent immigrants from numerous countries and traditions offer a wider perspective on the world. Contains strong language. 2002. Narrated by Beth McNeil. (11 hours, 53 minutes)

Raised on a farm near the Republican River and later moving with his family into Red Cloud, the author tells what it was like to grow up in mid 20th century rural Nebraska. Farm chores, his first bicycle, school sports, his first car...James Hager describes a life filled with mischievous and sometimes dangerous escapades. Narrated by Cherie Frederick. (7 hours, 35 minutes)

Memoir in the form of letters to his childhood friend about life in New Iberia, LA, during the late 1940s and 50s. Childhood experiences included helping out in his parent's grocery store and in his older brother's feed store, music and dance lessons, football, friendships, family vacations, and parochial school. Along the way, the author learned hard yet valuable lessons about life, death, dangers, heartaches, and triumphs. Narrated by Peter E. Mayeux. (3 hours, 50 minutes)

Short essays by a regular contributor to CBS News Sunday range from hunting morel mushrooms to money, from his wife's battle with cancer to restoring old homes. Some essays are humorous; others are serious and reflective. Narrated by Alice Timm. (1 hour, 25 minutes)

Bill Rush, a person who is experiencing cerebral palsy, does not have the use of his arms, legs or voice. Yet, in this autobiography, he tells how, as a person who can think, feel, remember, see and hear, he has used those abilities to earn a degree in journalism at a leading midwest university. Second edition. 2008. Narrated by Scott Scholz. (8 hours, 46 minutes)

The authors share their story of love that sprang from their engagement with both disability rights advocacy and their Christian faith. Through vignettes the couple tells of facing opposition and adversity, standing up for one's rights, and growing in their faith and love. 2019. Narrated by Christine F. Robinson. (13 hours, 2 minutes)

Nebraska humorist and self-proclaimed tractor nut delves into the fine art of maintaining a health relationship with ones spouse and family. Contains strong language. Narrated by Tami Works.

In 1975, the author purchased a farm near Dannebrog, Nebraska, and eventually left city life and a tenured professorship at a university behind. Drawing from over thirty years experience in country living, Welsch offers light-hearted but sincere advice to anyone contemplating a similar move. He discusses the problems of being an outsider in a tight-knit community, how to acquire and move buildings, and how to deal with trespassers and eccentric town folk. While expressing warm affection for is adopted home in the country, he advises newbie countrymen to learn from his mistakes. Narrated by Dan Howell.

Author presents 50 of his favorite "Parting Line" magazine columns originally published in Game and Fish publications. While meeting the minimal obligations of having a wife, four kids, and a job, the author describes with tongue-in-cheek his desire for the stress-free life of outdoors. His misadventures include family camping trips, backcountry excursions, and solo deer hunts. Narrated by Bob Jorgensen. (4 hours, 55 minutes)

A collection of stories which demonstrate that small-town Nebraska life is filled with color and variety, ideas and humor, wit and warmth. Some pieces are short narratives, others are descriptions of characters. 1990. Narrated by Ann Kelley. (5 hours, 37 minutes)

Author, David Hunt, shares humorous stories about growing up in Palisade, Nebraska, which he refers to as Pallywonkersville. Family, friends, and pranks fill these vignettes of small-town life. 2017. Narrated by Bill Ainsley. (3 hours, 17 minutes)

Famous Nebraska politician who served from 1903 until 1943 describes his own forty-year career in the U.S. Congress. His political philosophy, a mixture of Populism, Christianity, and the New Deal, placed the distinguished Senator from a conservative state in the best liberal tradition. Narrated by Mark Baldridge. (15 hours, 10 minutes)

This biography written by her daughter details Helen Boosalis' years of service in Nebraska politics. Her career began in the 1950s as a League of Women Voters volunteer who spearheaded efforts to change Lincoln to a strong mayor form of government. Elected to the city council in 1959, she became mayor of Nebraska's capital city in 1975. and went on to serve as the first woman president of teh U.S. Conference of Mayors. As a Democratic candidate for governor in 1986, she ran against Kay Orr in the first gubernatorial contest between two women in U.S. history. Narrated by Alice Timm. (18 hours, 40 minutes)

Nebraska statesman returns home in 1942 to McCook, Nebraska, after losing his bid for reelection to a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. Known nationally as the prairie populist, Senator George W. Norris (1861-1944) is best remembered for his central role in creating the Tennessee Valley Authority, which brought electricity to farmers and rural communities. 2013. Narrated by Pete Mayeux. (3 hours, 48 minutes)

Born to unwed parents but adopted by a loving couple in Rapid City, Hull went on to a distinguished, six-decade-long career in television. He worked with show-business celebrities and befriended famous Nebraskans such as Mari Sandoz and John Neihardt; brought television to war-torn Vietnam; and initiated the American Experience Series for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. Narrated by Judy Hanefeldt. (8 hours, 17 minutes)

A Nebraska farm girl turned journalist became the longest-serving American correspondent covering the Vietnam War and earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for reporting. With compelling prose, the author tells personal and human stories that are matched by her insights regarding the war's political and military strategies. She draws from interviews with generals, politicians, American marines, captured North Vietnamese soldiers, Buddhist monks, and Viet Cong officials. 2013. Narrated by Judy Hanefeldt. (11 hours, 15 minutes)

From 1967 to 1982, Leta Powell Drake hosted “Cartoon Corral”, a Nebraska children’s television program that aired on KOLN/KGIN-TV. The author chronicles her tenure as Kalamity Kate and provides an insider perspective on the history of children’s television in Nebraska. Narrated by Leta Powell Drake. (3 hours, 58 minutes)

Compilation of letters from a clinical psychologist to a graduate student / therapist-in-training. By mixing storytelling with sharp-eyed observation, the aurthor draws from her experiences helping patients tackle the challenges all humans face in dealing with troubled relationships, stressful jobs and home lives, and having too little time. Narrated by Tami Works.

Controversial newscaster began his career at Lincoln, Nebraska's Journal before becoming editor of the Omaha Bee-News. Hollenbeck went on to report from Europe during World War II and subsequently anchored television newscasts during the era of Edward R. Murrow. On his prize-winning radio program, CBS Views the Press (1947-1950), during the McCarthy era, he criticized several prestigious New York newspapers, including several belonging to Hearst. Plagued by problems in his personal life and attacked by conservative anti-communists, especially Jack O'Brian, Hollenbeck took his own life in 1954. Narrated by Tami Works. (14 hours, 30 minutes)

Raised on a small Nebraska farm during the 1930s, Warren Urbom graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Michigan Law School before being appointed in 1970 to a judgeship on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Early in his judicial career, Judge Urbom was assigned a year-long string of trials stemming from the American Indian Movement standoff at Wounded Knee. His memoir as a federal judge is interwoven with stories from his personal life, such as losing an eye as a three-year-old while shooting sparrows with his brother and the poignant account of losing his beloved wife to cancer after 57 years of marriage. 2012. Narrated by Judy Hanefeldt. (13 hours, 20 minutes)

Political cartoonist for the Omaha World Herald and Tourette Syndrome patient grew up with an unstable father who also experienced Tourette's and who felt compelled to pack their small house with broken televisions which he hoped to repair and resell. As a child, the author sought refuge in the Sunday comics. He later studied journalism at the University of Nebraska and established himself as a syndicated cartoonist. Narrated by Alice Timm. (10 hours, 35 minutes)

Following a painful divorce, the author returns to his boyhood home in North Dakota where he rekindled relationships and discovered a new passion--photographing the art of a reclusive local artist, Thorarin Snowfield. For the next seven years, the author traveled thousands of miles through North America to catalog the paintings of this under-recognized artist. His research prompted the North Dakota Museum of Art to host a retrospective of Snowfield's work. Narrated by Michael Cartwright. (5 hours, 55 minutes)

Author presents fourteen essays to explore how his Christian faith has enriched his writing and how creating stories has helped him examine his own faith-filled life. He discusses the poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins, the works of Leo Tolstoy, and the influence of John Gardner as mentor. He includes such religious figures as St. Ignatius of Loyola and the six Jesuit priests murdered in El Salvador, along with his twin brother. Rob, a priest, and their grandfather--a tough-as-nails Colorado rancher. Narrated by Judy Hanefeldt. (6 hours, 50 minutes)

Devotional reflections by Sister Kathryn Leahy, simple and gracefully written, includes her life story. Sr. Kathryn was born on a farm near Ewing, Nebraska, and spent her life of ministry as an educator in Nebraska Catholic schools. Narrated by Alice Timm.

A lifelong family farmer and devout Catholic, Arens describes how his occupation and his faith are inseparable. Arens, his wife, and three children live on a homestead along Bow Creek near the Nebraska-South Dakota border that has been in his family since 1917. The author provides information on the physical and economic burdens faced by family farmers, and reflects on Catholic social teaching and ethical land stewardship. Narrated by Judy Hanefeldt.

An Irish lad named Edward Flanagan joins the priesthood and then follows his brother, who is also a priest, to the plains of Nebraska. After serving several parishes and opening a hotel for homeless men, Father Flanagan finds his life work as founder of Boys Town, a haven for thousands of orphaned, neglected, and abandoned boys of any race or creed. Narrated by Tami Works. (6 hours, 35 minutes)

Grand Dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Nebraska, Larry Trapp was a wheelchair-bound amputee who led a campaign of fear against Jews and other minorities from his cramped apartment in Lincoln. After receiving death threats from Larry, Cantor Michael Weisser and his wife Julie extended friendship to him and later offered to take him into their home. Larry renounced all ties to the Klan, began working with youth groups to educate them about the danger of racist ideology, and, before dying from kidney disease, even converted to Judaism. Adult. Strong language. 2012. Narrated by Kathryn Watterson. (16 hours, 52 minutes)

Tom Osborne, head football coach at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, tells his personal story about a season when everything went right on the field, but not so smoothly off the field. His faith and personal philosophy are brought into sharp focus. Narrated by Maria Elmshaeuser.

Life of Nebraska Cornhusker quarterback killed in plane crash in 1996. Shows his life as full of perseverance and success on and off the field. Narrated by Mark Janda.

Former University of Nebraska volleyball coach led his team to twenty-one conference championships and an NCAA National Championship. He now mentors coaches and leaders throughout the nation on teambuilding, leadership development, and nurturing talent. 2008. (5 hours, 57 minutes) Narrated by Karen Boyer.

Portrait of Nebraska's legendary football coach, drawn from interviews with former players and other coaches. Throughout his twenty-five seasons as head coach, Osborne earned a reputation as a quiet but intense individual of integrity who lead the Cornhuskers from 1973-1997 to a combined record of 255-49-3. Narrated by Carolin Roehr.

Captures the experiences of a Husker player during the five years, 1998-2002, in which he served as Nebraska's backup center and deep snapper. Includes a foreward by 2001 Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch. Narrated by Brad Meurrens. (15 hours, 50 minutes)

An All-American and a member of three national championship teams at the University of Nebraska, Jason Peter was the1998 National Football League first-round draft pick by the Carolina Panthers. As football injuries took their toll, Jason began taking large amounts of Vicodin for pain control. In 2001, when forced to retire because of spinal injuries, he moved on to crack cocaine, then heroine. Severing ties with family and friends, he went through a series of drug treatment programs and became suicidal. He chose life over death, as he fought his way through successful rehab. Contains strong language and descriptions of sex. Narrated by Gail Barnard.

Bo Pelini followed a winding road that took him from Nebraska to Oklahoma and Louisiana State, and then back to Nebraska as head coach. The compilation of articles from the Lincoln Journal Star documents the turbulent post-2003 football season and includes new insider commentary from veteran Husker writer Steve M. Sipple. Narrated by various readers.

News editor for KCOW Radio in Alliance, Nebraska, relates his decades of devotion to Cornhusker football to major events in his own life. He describes the impact of Husker football on his childhood and young adult years in eastern Nebraska, and on his nearly 25-year career in radio broadcasting. He tells what he was doing and who he was with while following the Huskers from 1969 to the present. Narrated by Dick Shasteen. (18 hours, 10 minutes)

Legendary former head football coach and U.S. congressman reflects on the lessons he has learned on and off the football field. His values and faith have guided him on such initiatives as the TeamMates mentoring program for youth at risk, and a training program for Iraqi women so they can change their country. Narrated by Gail Barnard.

Tom Osborne gives an in-depth, personal account of his life--the forces that shaped his values, his own accomplishments in sports, and his experiences as head football coach at Nebraska. Throughout, he maintains that his strength and success come from a deep faith in God. 1985. Narrated by Don Jacks. (5 hours, 31 minutes)

Nebraska's greatest football fan, Charlie Winkler, tells of his own devotion to Big Red football. Charlie offers a history of Nebraska football, at times serious and at times with humor, but always with affection. Narrated by James Shelley. (12 hours, 11 minutes)

This book brings to life the raw intensity and richly colorful experience of Husker Power. Yet it also shows that beneath this mighty exterior lies a turbulent, troubled team of players and coaches. It exposes the big-time money and pressures that come with being the winningest team in college football. 1989. Narrated by Budd Duvall. (7 hours, 51 minutes)

The daughter of Nebraska's poet laureate tells how her parents, though each from strikingly diverse backgrounds, fell in love, married, raised a family, and grew old together. The daughter of an international financier, Mona Martinsen was studying sculpture in Paris under Auguste Rodin. Born into a pioneer family on the Great Plains, John Neihardt was a gifted but impoverished poet and writer. A small book of his poems, Bundle of Myrrh, initially attracted Mona to John. The author uses family memoirs, correspondence, and interviews to tell her parents' love story. Narrated by Marilyn Palmer.

Nebraska's State Poet writes the fourth and final installment of his memoirs. He reflects on his foray into college football, a stint in the Marines, his long-lasting marriage to his childhood sweetheart, a sojourn in California, and his teaching career at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Some strong language. Narrated by Helena Whitaker.

Following the death of his mother, former U.S. poet laureate pens a brief memoir in an effort to keep the world of his childhood from being lost. Raised in a family of German immigrants in the eastern Iowa town of Guttenberg, near the Mississippi River, Kooser writes affectionately of his grandfather who owned a Standard Oil full-service gas station and his Unicle Elvy, who had cerebral palsy. Kooser's mother, Vera, taught the future poet "to see the life at play in everything." Narrated by Cherie Frederick.

Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate, Ted Kooser, covetous of his friend Keith Jacobshagen's journals of everyday observations, proceeds to write his own. This book contains Kooser's "sketches and landscape studies made out of words and he has thrown in a few observations about life. 2014. Narrated by Bill Ainsley. (2 hours, 36 minutes)

Behind the 8-Ball: Fact-based Story of a Youth Worker and Author of Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball by Tom Frye. “This is the story behind all of my stories, starting from when I was a kid growing up in Havelock and moving on through the 45 years I spent in the field of youth work. I may have a wild imagination, but this one is non-fiction and filled with true stories of my life and times.” Adult. Explicit descriptions of sex, violence and strong language. 2021. Narrated by the author. (6 hours, 17 minutes)

The author's personal memoir that is an artfully assembled collection of reminiscences, each having to do with water. 1997. Narrated by Heather Houghton. (4 hours, 37 minutes).

The author paints a realistic picture of growing up in the Midwest at the end of the 19th century, and of the people and events instrumental in shaping his life. 1972. Narrated by Budd Duvall. (5 hours, 20 minutes)

A continuation of the autobiography of John G. Neihardt, covering the years of 1901-1908. 1978. Narrated by Marlys Hughes. (3 hours, 26 minutes)