9/11 COMMISSION REPORT

Narrators typically interpret, dramatize, and enliven text. But that approach won't work for the audiobook of the 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT. The task here is to bring life to the words without coloring the message of this carefully balanced analysis. Remarkably, the narrators--a who's who of audio professionals--pull it off, as evidenced by Barbara Rosenblat's voicing of the harrowing air controller and pilot transcripts, Ralph Cosham's perspective on fundamentalist Islam (the British accent helps), Dan Cashman's raspy explanation as to why it's easier to create terror than to stop it, and Scott Brick's re-creation of the final attack plan. Pocket University did an impressive job conveying this provocative and distressing material, and the result is a document that, like history itself, reflects hope and despair. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]