Listeners will be curious to compare the historic 1932 election year with our own--though the issues and the candidates were very different. Franklin Roosevelt, the patrician New York governor, roundly defeated Herbert Hoover, a competent technocrat who was oddly out of touch with his constituents. David Stifel brings both men and their era to life with the authoritative... Read More
What makes Dominic Hoffman such a fine narrator is the clarity of his delivery and his vocal agility. He sounds like he is inside Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s, brilliant mind, and he moves adroitly from the author's knowing perspective to "signifying" in the style of African American folklore. His voice is conversational and his tone thoughtful as he takes the listener from the... Read More
Eric Jason Martin presents this history of the Luddite Uprising in nineteenth-century England like a war correspondent embedded among the rampaging textile workers. His gung-ho narration enlivens the audiobook and complements the workers' fight for their livelihoods against the one percenters of that era. The audiobook sets the record straight regarding the goals of the... Read More
Golden Voice JD Jackson is his usual rough-voiced excellent self as he narrates this compelling exploration of Tulsa's Greenwood section before, during, and after the infamous Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Greenwood was a thriving Black community until a white mob unleashed fury, terror, and flames, killing dozens or hundreds, wounding hundreds more, and destroying wide swaths... Read More
Hannah Curtis's delightfully dry voice narrates this academic-sounding audiobook. Chapters flit through time and topics to cover various Dickensian literary landmarks in and around London, using many primary sources, including century-old tourism guides. Jackson discusses the history of Victorian literary tourism, the challenges of authenticating sites, and the reasons for... Read More
In her latest book of essays, Haynes gives a new, more feminist, perspective on many of the goddesses of Greek mythology--including major figures like Athene, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, and Aphrodite. She discusses their roles and how society has viewed them throughout history. Haynes asks listeners to examine our more traditional assumptions about these goddesses and how... Read More
Mary Beard's audiobook examines the various roles of the emperor during the first three hundred years of the Roman Empire. Her voice and British accent are pleasant, and a slight lisp is not distracting. Her delivery can be a bit slow, but the pace helps comprehension and is easy to get used to. She smoothly matches tone, emphasis, and the shaping of phrases to the text while... Read More
For those who think today's political climate is more partisan than ever, this audiobook will reveal how political disagreements and competing philosophies on the best way to move the nation forward have always been part of our history. Robert Fass brings to this engaging and enlightening history a measured tone that is just right. He captures what must have been highly charged... Read More
Scintillating poetry from Sappho and examinations of Pythagoras's and Homer's lives and ideas are just some of the material that makes up this fascinating audiobook. Narrator Leighton Pugh introduces the literature, art, and thinking of these and other early Greeks. He connects their lives and theories with those of some of our Western thinkers whose own philosophies are rooted... Read More
History buffs will relish this well-narrated history of Britain's wartime disinformation campaign against Germany, but it also speaks to a broader listenership. The author is Ukrainian born, a respected British journalist, and a disinformation expert. He focuses on Thomas Sefton Delmer, a Britisher born and raised in Germany, and a master of German speech and slang. Delmer's... Read More
Rich Miller gives a solid narration of this history of the United States' transition from the post-WWII alliance to the beginning of the Cold War in 1949-50. Bunker shows us the people who made history with all of their foibles, hypocrisy, and human flaws. All of them are very human beings filled with confidence and, all too often, not much wisdom. My father and mother both... Read More
Arthur Morey's pleasing baritone is a wonderful match for this account of the mass migration of Eastern European Jews to the New World. The whole journey involved many people and eventually became big business for bankers, shipping companies (including the White Star Line of TITANIC fame,) railroads, and charities/NGOs, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). I myself,... Read More
Vivienne Leheny's narration of this audiobook brings the remarkable story of the champion racehorse Lexington to life against the backdrop of the Civil War-era South. Leheny's voice captures the essence of each moment--from the exhilarating highs of Lexington's racing triumphs to the tense mood of a nation in turmoil. Leheny's ability to convey a wide range of emotions with... Read More
Will Collyer's narration will hook listeners as author Douglas Preston reveals an assortment of true stories behind his fictional works. Listeners will have to wait for the final chapter to hear about the tomb where several of Ramses II's sons were laid to rest, protected by curses that are both amusing and chilling in Collyer's narration. Collyer also brings drama to his... Read More
Antonia Hylton does a bang-up job narrating her own work, a searing account of Crownsville Hospital, a segregated mental institution in Maryland that served as a dumping ground for any Black person whom white authorities found inconvenient. Crownsville was, for much of its 93-year history, not a place of healing, despite the best efforts of some staff members. Instead, it was a... Read More
John Lee brings continuity to a narrative that has none of the common linkages of time or place. Author Chistopher de Hamel imagines 12 historical manuscript collectors, 11 men and one woman spread over centuries, as a club that spends a pleasant evening together at the Morgan Library. Collectors are a mixed lot, and these 12 include a priest, a prince, and a forger, along with... Read More
Author Ed Conway narrates this fascinating survey of six raw materials essential to civilization: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. Conway's narrative point of view is the plural "we," and his narrative reach is global. We visit salt mines and blast furnaces, and gaze far into the cyberfuture, all of it informative, fresh, and enlightening. Conway is an animated... Read More
It's difficult not to recommend an audiobook this well researched and performed but just as difficult to recommend a history so unrelentingly horrific. Author Anna Reid is a gifted narrator and an equally fine storyteller--brisk, forceful, incisive. Her account of the civil war that followed the 1917 Russian Revolution portrays the international force that was sent to topple... Read More
Structural engineer Roma Agrawal cheerfully tells listeners that she was the type of kid who snapped crayons to see their insides. Narrating in an accent that blends India and Britain, she good-humoredly shows listeners she still is that kid. Her joviality and personal touches make her stories of important inventions relatable. She slips in puns and jokes, and makes light of... Read More
This long and personal account of the Ukrainian-Russian War is narrated ably by David Furr. Trofimov's family has lived in Kiev/Kyiv for many generations, and he is a Ukrainian patriot who has spent much time at the front, interviewing numerous individuals to compile the story of the Ukrainian people's struggle in this horrific war. The current war between eastern Slavs, or... Read More
This audiobook focuses on one of the most contentious and misunderstood periods in American history, the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. Rick Adamson keeps to a steady, impartial tone, carefully pacing a narrative that unties many historical knots while unfolding a sadly paradoxical series of events. The subtitle tells the tale: "How the South Won the War After... Read More
Kohn's history of the "old town" sections of some German, Baltic, and Eastern European cities calls for the kind of careful and intelligent performance that Philip Battley delivers. Not a travelogue, but rather a general, architectural, and political history, Kohn's book is detailed, fact heavy, and sometimes dry. Battley's British-accented voice is not immediately striking but... Read More
This revealing and provocative audiobook argues that the 1960s weren't the birth of psychedelic research--but the end of a long first chapter dating back to the 1920s. Golden Voice narrator Suzanne Toren effectively balances an account filled with ironies and reversals. The protagonist is famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, an undeserving casualty of the backlash against '60s... Read More
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