Audiobooks by Charles River Editors

‘Ndrangheta: The History of Italy’s Most Powerful Organized Crime Syndicate

The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin,[1] is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region.[2] A “mafia” is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups.[3] In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it.[4] The ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced an-drang-et-ah) is a close neighbor of the Cosa Nostra and currently considered the most powerful (and difficult to spell) criminal organization in Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta is centered around Calabria, the most southwestern region of Italy, almost touching the Sicilian city of Messina. Though it began as far back as the late 19th century, it was not until the 1950s that the ‘Ndrangheta started to spread its tentacles throughout Italy and then across the entire globe, forming an empire that now ranges from Australia and Turkey to Chile to Canada. The fact that the ‘Ndrangheta is overshadowed by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, as well as by the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, allowed it to grow and develop outside of the public eye. For years, people actually considered the Calabrian mafia to be part of the Cosa Nostra as a mere appendage, rather than its own entity.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim Johnston (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - Extraña Radio: Una colección de transmisiones de espionaje, estaciones no identificadas

Desde hace más de un siglo, la radio ha sido parte de la vida de las personas. Nadie que esté vivo hoy recuerda algún tiempo en el que no haya estado siempre ahí, como una fuente familiar y confiable de información y entretenimiento. Hoy en día parece algo mundana, sobrepasada por el Internet y la televisión satelital. Incluso en la década de 1980, el surgimiento y desarrollo de la televisión por cable (cincuenta canales en lugar de cinco) y el comienzo de MTV hicieron que la radio pareciera pintoresca o, como muchos afirmaran alguna vez, que “La radio está muerta”. No lo estaba, por supuesto. La radio es todavía muy popular, con tantas estaciones como siempre y sigue siendo una parte del mundo que se toma por sentada. Si bien aún no muere, su familiaridad la ha hecho parecer algo mundana, pero la gente no debería pensar de esa manera. De hecho, las ondas radiales siempre han sido un lugar de misterio, un campo de batalla de ideologías en competencia, y una fuente de voces anónimas. La radio se ha usado para apoyar esfuerzos de guerra, derrocar gobiernos, comunicarse en secreto, e incluso para intentar comunicarse con los muertos. Extraña radio: Una colección de transmisiones de espionaje, estaciones no identificadas y otros misterios de las ondas radiales incluye extrañas historias que harán que este familiar medio parezca un poco menos familiar, y mucho más interesante.

Charles River Editors (Author), Nina Reyes (Narrator)

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[German] - The Disappearance of the USS Thresher: The History of the American Nuclear Submarine that

Given that there’s such little margin for error in a submersible, many submarine losses remain sources of intrigue and mystery, and few rival the disappearance of the USS Thresher in that regard. In 1963, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was at its peak, as the Cuban Missile Crisis the previous year had brought the world to the brink of nuclear war and tensions were still running high. In space, the Soviet Union seemed to have taken the lead, putting the first satellite in Earth’s orbit and placing the first man in space. There was also another new theater of war, but one that was little-known at the time. Under the waters of the world’s oceans, Soviet and American nuclear submarines were in intense competition, pushing the boundaries of new technologies. Some of these submarines carried nuclear missiles that carried more destructive power than all the bombs dropped by the U.S. Army Air Force throughout World War II, including the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Other submarines, the hunter-killers, were designed to find and destroy these missile-carrying submarines. All of these submarines engaged in their activities while aiming to avoid detection by the other side, establishing a clandestine conflict that was carried out far from the gaze of the public but still strategically vital. If either side could gain a notable advantage, it could abruptly change the fragile balance of power. Then, in April 1963, one of the most advanced U.S. hunter-killer nuclear submarines and the 129 men onboard vanished while on a routine voyage. The USS Thresher was one of the country’s most advanced ships, but it had the misfortune of becoming the first American nuclear submarine to be lost at sea, prompting obvious questions over what had happened.

Charles River Editors (Author), Michelle Humphries (Narrator)

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Zulu War and Boer War, The: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts that Cemented British Control of

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together, to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event—known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885—galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa. The conference established two fundamental rules for European seizure of Africa. The first of these was that no recognition of annexation would granted without evidence of a practical occupation, and the second, that a practical occupation would be deemed unlawful without a formal appeal for protection made on behalf of a territory by its leader, a plea that must be committed to paper in the form of a legal treaty. This began a rush, spearheaded mainly by European commercial interests in the form of Chartered Companies, to penetrate the African interior and woo its leadership with guns, trinkets and alcohol, and having thus obtained their marks or seals upon spurious treaties, begin establishing boundaries of future European African colonies. The ease with which this was achieved was due to the fact that, at that point, traditional African leadership was disunited, and the people had just staggered back from centuries of concussion inflicted by the slave trade. Thus, to usurp authority, to intimidate an already broken society, and to play one leader against the other was a diplomatic task so childishly simple, the matter was wrapped up, for the most part, in less than a decade.

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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Zimbabwe under the British Empire: The History of Great Britain’s Colonization and Decolonization Be

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismark, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together, to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event—known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885—galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa. The conference established two fundamental rules for European seizure of Africa. The first of these was that no recognition of annexation would granted without evidence of a practical occupation, and the second, that a practical occupation would be deemed unlawful without a formal appeal for protection made on behalf of a territory by its leader, a plea that must be committed to paper in the form of a legal treaty. This began a rush, spearheaded mainly by European commercial interests in the form of Chartered Companies, to penetrate the African interior and woo its leadership with guns, trinkets and alcohol, and having thus obtained their marks or seals upon spurious treaties, begin establishing boundaries of future European African colonies. The ease with which this was achieved was due to the fact that, at that point, traditional African leadership was disunited, and the people had just staggered back from centuries of concussion inflicted by the slave trade. Thus, to usurp authority, to intimidate an already broken society, and to play one leader against the other was a diplomatic task so childishly simple, the matter was wrapped up, for the most part, in less than a decade.

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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Zebulon Pike: The Life and Legacy of One of Early America’s Most Important Explorers

Given that Lewis and Clark remain so famous, it was inevitable that the other American explorers would be overlooked, particularly William Eaton, the hero of the Battle of Derna in the Barnaby Wars, and Zebulon Montgomery Pike, the explorer of the Mississippi. In the case of Pike, Orsi suggests that the explorer is overlooked and in some cases slighted due to what the expeditions did and did not accomplish. Eaton and Pike represented “the first wave of Manifest Destiny, expanding the republican principles of liberty and citizenship in the world.”[1] Contrasted to that patriotic sentiment are caveats and questions. The career of Zebulon Pike was “dominated by ambiguously motivated explorations of the American West.”[2] With the procurement of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the nation, Pike had the full force of American authority at his disposal, and his travels through the Colorado Rockies into New Mexico pushed the boundaries between America and Spain. Captured by Spanish officials for illegal entry, he was finally released back into American custody after a year’s time with a volume of new information on Spanish territory, its economy, and its military configuration. This sparked a debate about whether the capture was planned by the American government itself. Pike’s return is still debated, as is his relationship with General James Wilkinson and Aaron Burr. The controversy is relevant to Burr’s alleged conspiracy to establish a competing empire in the American Southwest, or perhaps as a way of conquering Spanish America without involving the White House. Pike’s papers, confiscated by the Spanish, have complicated the search for the truth, and any evidence of his complicity remains confidential, in part because of the unpredictable explorer’s unpredictable demise.

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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Yuri Bezmenov: The Life and Legacy of the Influential KGB Informant Who Defected to the West

The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police and internal security agencies. In fact, it is often used to refer to the Soviet state security agencies throughout its history, from the inception of the inception of the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission) in 1917 to the official elimination of the KGB in 1992. Whether it’s associated with the Russian Civil War’s excesses, Stalin’s purges, and even Vladimir Putin, the KGB has long been viewed as the West’s biggest bogeyman during the second half of the 20th century. Yuri Bezmenov was among the first Soviet whistleblowers to attract attention on a global scale, and interest in his story has recently been revived thanks to his surprising cameo in the teaser trailer for Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War in August 2020. This came despite the fact he was far from the first ex-KGB agent or Russian to pull back the curtains on the Russian government and reveal the harrowing “truths” they were once sworn to harbor, as well as the disconcerting covert operations of which they once allegedly partook. In fact, the history of Russian defectors who later emerged as informants in the name of public interest stretches back to the 16th century, when Andrey Kurbsky, a former boyar, high-ranking military commander, and trusted adviser to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, decamped to Lithuania on April 30, 1564.

Charles River Editors (Author), Daniel Houle (Narrator)

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Yuri Bezmenov and Anatoliy Golitsyn: The Controversial History of the Soviet Union’s Most Impactful

The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police and internal security agencies. In fact, it is often used to refer to the Soviet state security agencies throughout its history, from the inception of the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission) in 1917 to the official elimination of the KGB in 1992. Whether it’s associated with the Russian Civil War’s excesses, Stalin’s purges, and even Vladimir Putin, the KGB has long been viewed as the West’s biggest bogeyman during the second half of the 20th century. Inevitably, some of the Cold War’s most shadowy actions involved trying to turn Soviet assets, whether for propaganda or intelligence purposes, but the Soviet system constantly had to worry about defections, as evidenced by the construction of the Berlin Wall in the early 1960s. That said, while the whistleblowers may be celebrated if they damage the public relations of an adversary, they can be controversial if they damage one’s own country, as evidenced by the polarizing reputations of individuals like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. Yuri Bezmenov was among the first Soviet whistleblowers to attract attention on a global scale, and interest in his story has recently been revived thanks to his surprising cameo in the teaser trailer for Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War in August 2020. This came despite the fact he was far from the first ex-KGB agent or Russian to pull back the curtains on the Russian government and reveal the harrowing “truths” they were once sworn to harbor, as well as the disconcerting covert operations of which they once allegedly partook.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Caufield (Narrator)

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Young Turks, The: The History and Legacy of the Political Movement that Attempted to Reform the Otto

In August 2017, Turkey's President Recip Tayyip Erdogan gave a directive to the Foreign Ministry to go into ravaged Syria and rescue an 87-year-old Turkish man stranded in Damascus by the civil war. The elderly gentleman lived his life simply and quietly. He disliked drawing attention to himself, and he was grieving for his wife who had just died. The man called himself Dundar Abdulkerim Osmanoglu, but many affixed the title Sehzade ("Prince") to his name, for he was Head of the imperial House of Osman and heir to the defunct throne of the Ottoman Empire. His ancestors had created an Empire that had lasted for over 600 years and caused the greatest rulers of both the Muslim East and the Christian West to tremble. When studying the fall of the Ottoman Empire, historians have argued over the breaking point that saw a leading global power slowly become a decadent empire, but to men like Erdogan, the long agony of the "sick man of Europe," an expression used by the Tsar of Russia to depict the falling Ottoman Empire, blinds people to its incredible power and history. Overall, the history of the dissolution of the empire can be defined as a race between the empire's growing "illness" on one side (the Ottomans' inability to appease and federate the various people within its territory) and constant attempts to find a cure in the form of broad reforms. As this all suggests, the story of the Young Turks and the last years of the Ottoman Sultanate is a complex and interesting one. It is the history of a state struggling to survive against seemingly impossible odds, featuring a long battle for the minds and souls of the inhabitants of a declining empire between nationalism and liberal imperialism. It is a struggle that has produced not only modern Turkey but several states in the Balkans and the Middle East as they exist today. The Young Turks were triumphant, but in many ways it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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Yakuza and the Triads, The: The History of Asia’s Most Notorious Transnational Criminal Organization

A pack of men in sharp, tailored suits and dark sunglasses strut down the street. Their eyes are shielded, but the icy scowl on their faces is a clear sign to stay out of their paths. A few of their collars hang open, showing off a glimpse of the vibrant and intricate ink work on their chests, and presumably, their entire bodies. Tattoos are the norm these days, but then one suddenly spots a man with a peculiarly pint-sized pinkie. Perhaps it is only a deformity, but upon a closer look, it appears that the entire upper half has been sliced cleanly off, almost as if it were done intentionally. Since the beginning of civilization, crime and injustice has existed. At the same time, gangs in all shapes and sizes have been around, from rebels, dissidents, and rogue soldiers to the average circle of miscreants loitering in alleys and behind convenience stores. In Japan, a gang of a different breed would arise – one underscored by honor, respect, family, and a code of ethics. They are the Yakuza. From running guns to white-collar crimes in cyberspace and illegal seafood, the Triads, the mafia of China, are potent figures in the world of organized crime. Going by enigmatic names like the 14K Triad and the United Bamboo Gang, these criminal groups are enormous, with some organizations boosting memberships ranging in the tens of thousands. A powerful factor in China and throughout Asia, Triads are entrenched in society and the masters of multiple enterprises ranging from extortion, narcotics, prostitution and white collar crime.

Charles River Editors (Author), Scott Clem (Narrator)

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Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson: The Lives of the Wild West’s Most Famous Lawmen

Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the “Wild West”, which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind. Of all the colorful characters that inhabited the West during the 19th century, the most famous of them all is Wyatt Earp, who has long been regarded as the embodiment of the Wild West. Considered the 'toughest and deadliest gunman of his day', Earp symbolized the swagger, the heroism, and even the lawlessness of the West, notorious for being a law enforcer, gambler, saloon keeper, and vigilante. The Western icon is best known for being a sheriff in Tombstone, but before that he had been arrested and jailed several times himself, in one case escaping from prison, and he was not above gambling and spending time in “houses of ill-fame”. The seminal moment in Earp’s life also happened to be the West’s most famous gunfight, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which famously pitted Earp, his brothers Morgan and Virgil, and Doc Holliday against Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. Though he is no longer as well remembered as he once was, one of the most famous and notorious lawmen of the Wild West was Bat Masterson, who drifted around Dodge City and other parts of the West and was associated with legends like Wyatt Earp. Carrying a six-shooter that he called “the gun that tamed the West”, Masterson was involved in several duels and shootouts, much of which was embellished during the early 20th century when he became a newspaper columnist and was given a chance to frame anecdotes about the frontier days and talk about colorful characters like Doc Holliday. He was a lawman, but he had no problem straddling both sides of it.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim Walsh (Narrator)

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Wovoka: The Life and Legacy of the Prophet of the Ghost Dance Movement

Wovoka (1867-1932), the Ghost Dance Prophet, was a member of the Walker River band of Paiutes, in western Nevada. The Walker River Reservation was established in 1859 and was Wokova’s home off and on for years. Wovoka was also known as Jack Wilson, a name he acquired while he was, for some years, employed on the David Wilson family ranch in the Mason Valley. At that time in Nevada, Indians not living on a reservation often lived on a ranch. Wovoka was exposed to the pious Wilson family’s daily Bible readings, and that may have helped shape his own beliefs. His father was a traditional medicine man, himself a devotee of an earlier prophet. In 1889, Wovoka followed his father in also becoming a medicine man. The year, Wovoka had a series of visions that led to what is sometimes called the Ghost Dance religion, which spread like wildfire across much of the West in 1889 and 1890. Wovoka’s 1889 visions grew into a new religion that gripped the hopes and imaginations of dozens of tribal groups, and it eventually extended over much of the West. It was a kind of antidote for defeat and cultural dislocation. The Lakota Sioux in particular were so caught up in the Ghost Dance and their adaptation of Wovoka’s revelations that they remain strongly associated with the Ghost Dance more than a century later.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim D. Johnston (Narrator)

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