Biography & Memoir Audiobooks

'I dissent - Ich widerspreche.': Die wichtigsten Statements der berühmten Supreme Court Richterin un

'Vorreiterin. Heldin. Wonderwoman.' (ttt) 'I dissent - Ich widerspreche.' - diese Worte haben sie berühmt gemacht. Ruth Bader Ginsburg hat die Welt verändert. Die zierliche Richterin am Obersten Gerichtshof der USA war moralischer Kompass und feministische Ikone der Millennials - geschätzt, mitunter auch gefürchtet für ihren messerscharfen Verstand, ihren Witz und ihren Kampfgeist. Zeit ihres Lebens hat sie unbeirrt für Gerechtigkeit gekämpft. Im Alter von 87 Jahren ist sie am 18. September 2020 in Washington einem Krebsleiden erlegen. Nicht nur ihre hier ausgewählten wichtigsten Statements wirken weiter, auch ihre Botschaften hallen unvermindert nach. Ihre mutige Haltung inspiriert Menschen aller Generationen. Die Meilensteine ihrer Biografie sprechen für sich. 1956 begann RBG, wie viele sie heute nennen, ihr Jurastudium an der Eliteuniversität Harvard - als eine von nur neun Frauen unter 500 Männern. Sie wurde eine der ersten Jura-Professorinnen in den USA und erkämpfte in den 1970er-Jahren gegen alle Widerstände bahnbrechende Gerichtsurteile zur Gleichstellung der Geschlechter. 1993 ernannte Präsident Clinton sie zur Richterin am Supreme Court, die zweite Frau überhaupt am Obersten Gerichtshof der Vereinigten Staaten.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Author), Wiebke Puls (Narrator)

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'Ich hätte mitschreiben sollen ...': Elfriede Ott erzählt Splitter ihres Lebens

Memoiren einer 'lustigen Person' würde man sich von 'der Ott' erwarten. Doch, ist das Leben einer Lustigen immer lustig? Elfriede Ott gewährt einen sehr persönlichen Einblick in ihr Leben und schildert berührend dramatische Erlebnisse, wie den Verlust des Vaters und des Bruders. Immer wieder lässt sie uns teilhaben an Begegnungen mit großen Persönlichkeiten ihrer Zeit, wie z. B. Oskar Werner, Erni Mangold, Maxi Böhm, Lore Krainer oder Fritz Muliar, mit dem sie eine innige Freundschaft verband. Ungeschminkt schildert sie die Ehe mit Ernst Waldbrunn. Sie erzählt davon, wie Hans Weigel in ihr Leben trat und als ihr Lebensmensch blieb ... Elfriede Ott spannt den Bogen von ihrer Kindheit bis heute, an dem wieder ein Anfang steht: 'Jetzt bin ich so alt, aber das Anfangen habe ich nicht verloren! Ich hab immer in meinem Leben angefangen ...'

Elfriede Ott (Author), Elfriede Ott (Narrator)

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'Immer ist es Liebe, die gewinnt': Helene Fischer. Die Biografie

Helene Fischer weiß schon früh, dass sie später einmal auf der großen Bühne stehen will. Der samstägliche Putztag wurde in ihrem Elternhaus stets durch die Komödie Hurra, die Schule brennt aufgelockert. An diesen Tagen steht Helene begeistert vor dem Fernseher und singt leidenschaftlich alle Lieder mit. Mit Anfang 20 ist sie selbst das erste Mal im Fernsehen zu sehen. In einem orange glänzenden Abendkleid schreitet sie gemeinsam mit Florian Silbereisen auf die Bühne der Show Das Hochzeitsfest der Volksmusik und singt im Duett mit ihm ein ungarisches Medley. Damit ist der Grundstein für ihre steile Karriere gelegt. Etwas über ein Jahrzehnt später ist Helene Fischer ein absoluter Megastar. Sie singt, tanzt und moderiert, füllt die größten Konzertsäle und ihre Plattenverkäufe gehen weit in die Millionen. Helene Fischer hat nicht nur den Schlager revolutioniert, mit ihren Texten gibt sie ihren Fans auch Halt und Hoffnung. Diese Biografie bietet die Gelegenheit, hinter die Kulissen zu schauen, und zeigt die beliebte Sängerin von ihrer privaten Seite. Aktualisierte und überarbeitete Neuausgabe.

Cord Balthasar (Author), Shirin Lotze (Narrator)

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'Kill The Black One First': The most moving story you'll read this year

A story about race, identity, belonging and displacement, Kill the Black One First is the memoir from Michael Fuller - Britain's first ever black Chief Constable, whose life and career is not only a stark representation of race relations in the UK, but also a unique morality tale of how humanity deals with life's injustices. Michael Fuller was born to Windrush-generation Jamaican immigrants in 1959, and experienced a meteoric career in policing, from the beat to the Brixton inferno, through cutting edge detective work to the frontline of drug-related crime and violence on London's most volatile estates. He took a pivotal role in the formation of Operation Trident, which tackled gun crime and gang warfare in the London community, and was later appointed as chief constable of Kent. Kill the Black One First is a raw and unflinching account of a life in policing during a tumultuous period of race relations throughout the UK. Includes an exclusive interview with the author.

Michael Fuller (Author), Michael Fuller (Narrator)

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'Legs' Larry Smith in Conversation with Geoffrey Giuliano

Author Geoffrey Giuliano and Bonzo Dog man 'Legs' Larry Smith had a professional relationship that spanned six wry, weird years in the early 1980s. Together they crafted a cockeyed film script for Giuliano's firm, intended for George Harrison's Handmade Films, entitled Half of Larry's Lunch, which, unfortunately, never made it to the screen and was eventually dropped. With concentrated work on the project conducted in pastoral Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and Toronto, the two men spent untold months living and working together. Only recently was the interview and other material used in the production of this unique audiobook discovered after being lost for over three decades. With a lively, fairly bizarre interview between the two, an oddly amusing collection of Henley street interviews conducted by Geoffrey, and other Giuliano-penned musical odds and ends, here is a rare inside look at not only the unlikely relationship between these two talented men but also a breakdown of the creative process in its rawest and most primal form. An audio biographical must for all pop and rock fans, Bonzo Dog freaks, film buffs, and university and school systems. Series producer Avalon Giuliano in New York Produced by Alex Franchi in Milan Edited and mixed by Macc Kay in Bangkok ICON intern Eden Giuliano Music by AudioNautix

Geoffrey Giuliano (Author), Geoffrey Giuliano (Narrator)

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'Mein Sohn bleibt bei mir!' - Als politische Geisel in türkischer Haft - und warum es noch nicht zu

Sie war eine prominente deutsche Geisel der türkischen Regierung: Als angebliche Terrorunterstützerin saß die Journalistin und Übersetzerin Mesale Tolu mit ihrem kleinen Sohn in Haft; danach wurde ihr die Ausreise aus der Türkei verweigert. Jetzt, wieder in Deutschland, berichtet sie über diese Zeit: über die Brutalität von Polizei und Justiz, das Alltagsleben in der politischen Gefangenschaft zwischen Hoffnung und Verzweiflung, ihren Kampf um Freiheit für ihre Familie und ihren Einsatz für die Pressefreiheit.

Mesale Tolu (Author), Vera Teltz (Narrator)

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'Membering

2016 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (Longlisted) 2016 RBC Taylor Prize (Longlisted) The unforgettable memoir of Giller Prize-winning author and poet Austin Clarke, called "Canada's first multicultural writer." Austin Clarke is a distinguished and celebrated novelist and short-story writer. His works often centre around the immigrant experience, of which he writes with humour and compassion, happiness and sorrow. In 'Membering, Clarke shares his own experiences growing up in Barbados and moving to Toronto to attend university in 1955 before becoming a journalist. With vivid realism he describes Harlem of the '60s, meeting and interviewing Malcolm X and writers Chinua Achebe and LeRoi Jones. Clarke went on to become a pioneering instructor of Afro-American Literature at Yale University and inspired a new generation of Afro-American writers. Clarke has been called Canada's first multicultural writer. Here he eschews a traditional chronological order of events and takes the reader on a lyrical tour of his extraordinary life, interspersed with thought-provoking meditations on politics and race. Telling things as he 'members them. Bespeak Audio Editions brings Canadian voices to the world with audiobook editions of some of the country's greatest works of literature, performed by Canadian actors.

Austin Clarke (Author), Nigel Shawn Williams (Narrator)

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'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?'

Penguin Presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Rommel? 'Gunner Who?' written and read by Spike Milligan. 'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.''That's how I got in, sir.''Didn't we all.' The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them...

Spike Milligan (Author), Spike Milligan (Narrator)

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'Tis

Frank McCourt's sequel to his Pulitzer Prize winning memoir Angela's Ashes, focussing on the "great country", America Angela's Ashes was a publishing phenomenon. Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, lyrical memoir of his Limerick childhood won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Award amongst others, and rapidly became a word-of-mouth bestseller topping all charts worldwide for over two years. It left readers and critics alike eager to hear more about Frank McCourt's incredible, poignant life. 'Tis is the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant with rotten teeth, infected eyes and no formal education to brilliant raconteur and schoolteacher.

Frank McCourt (Author), Frank McCourt (Narrator)

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'Tis: A Memoir

Frank McCourt's glorious childhood memoir, Angela's Ashes, has been loved and celebrated by listeners everywhere for its spirit, its wit and its profound humanity. A tale of redemption, in which storytelling itself is the source of salvation, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Rarely has a book so swiftly found its place on the literary landscape. And now we have 'Tis, the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant to brilliant teacher and raconteur. Frank lands in New York at nineteen, in the company of a priest he meets on the boat. He gets a job at the Biltmore Hotel, where he immediately encounters the vivid hierarchies of this "classless country," and then is drafted into the army and is sent to Germany to train dogs and type reports. It is Frank's incomparable voice -- his uncanny humor and his astonishing ear for dialogue -- that renders these experiences spellbinding. When Frank returns to America in 1953, he works on the docks, always resisting what everyone tells him, that men and women who have dreamed and toiled for years to get to America should "stick to their own kind" once they arrive. Somehow, Frank knows that he should be getting an education, and though he left school at fourteen, he talks his way into New York University. There, he falls in love with the quintessential Yankee, long-legged and blond, and tries to live his dream. But it is not until he starts to teach -- and to write -- that Frank finds his place in the world. The same vulnerable but invincible spirit that captured the hearts of listeners in Angela's Ashes comes of age. Frank McCourt's 'Tis is one of the most eagerly-awaited audiobooks of our time, and it is a masterpiece.

Frank McCourt (Author), Frank McCourt (Narrator)

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'Until I Smile At You': How one girl's heartbreak electrified Frank Sinatra's fame

“Until I Smile At You” is a biography/memoir profiling one of the 20th century’s most enduring musical talents: Ruth Lowe, who overcame her grief by writing the song that launched Frank Sinatra’s career into the stratosphere in 1940, “I’ll Never Smile Again”. As Nancy Sinatra writes in the Foreword, “There’s a reason why ‘I’ll Never Smile Again’ has endured: it was a perfect song, interpreted by the perfect singer, at the perfect time.” The book details how Ruth managed to defeat the roadblocks that threatened her life, adopting a fearless attitude by overcoming challenges that might otherwise have broken her soul. And in today’s era of women claiming their full rights, “Until I Smile At You” also reveals Ms. Lowe as one of the earliest liberated females who worked in a man’s world (Tin Pan Alley) and never let her gender, nor her attractive good looks, get in the way of her outstanding talent. That’s why she’s been called, “One of the Architects of the American Ballad”, she is the recipient of a Grammy Award, her songs have been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, her signature tune has been selected as one of the best pop songs of all time and she’s soon to be added to the Great American Songbook Foundation Hall of Fame. “Until I Smile At You” opens up Ruth’s life for the first time, revealing her “on the road” adventures across North America as a member of the all-female band, Ina Ray Hutton’s “Mellowdears”. We also read about luminaries whom the author interviewed and who cast a warm glow on Ruth’s talents such as Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist), Sir Tim Rice (lyric writer for Andrew Lloyd Webber), Alan Bergman (award-winning songwriter for Barbra Streisand, Sinatra, etc.), the late Frank Sinatra Jr., music historian Chuck Granata, Sinatra biographer James Kaplan, singer David Clayton-Thomas, etc.

Peter Jennings (Author), Tom Sandler (Narrator)

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'Until You Are Dead': The Wrongful Conviction of Steven Truscott

“Talk to anyone you find, investigate wherever things lead you. I know I'm innocent and I’m not afraid of what you’ll turn up.” — Steven Truscott to Julian Sher “Until You Are Dead” chronicles the loss of Canada’s innocence. Prior to June 11, 1959, Canadian parents could allow their children to play outdoors, unsupervised, in places children traditionally love: schoolyards, fields and nearby swimming holes. But on that hot summer day, when the body of a twelve-year-old girl turned up in a woody area near Clinton, Ontario, that innocence was shattered. The girl’s name was Lynne Harper and she had been raped and murdered. The summer was barely over before a popular schoolboy named Steven Truscott, fourteen years old at the time, was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang. Truscott spent ten years in prison after the federal cabinet commuted his death sentence. He has always maintained his innocence. His trial in 1959 was the most famous and controversial in Canadian history. As a producer at CBC TV’s the fifth estate, Julian Sher spent two years investigating the Steven Truscott story for an explosive documentary. When it aired in the spring of 2000, more than 1.4 million Canadians watched the program that sparked headlines across the country and questions in Parliament. Now, in this gripping and shocking account, Sher gives us the full story of that investigation, including new material not revealed on television. From the news that a young girl had gone missing in 1959 to the efforts four decades later by lawyers — those who assisted Guy Paul Morin and others — preparing an application to the federal justice minister for a verdict of wrongful conviction, this is a thorough and chilling examination of the case that rocked the country, and the man who continues to reside at its centre. When Steven Truscott decided to come out of hiding and tell his story to the fifth estate, there were no deals, no commitments, no promises. If Sher and the fifth estate were to investigate one of Canada’s most controversial murder cases, they had to have unfettered access. Truscott readily agreed. "Until You Are Dead” reveals witnesses not called upon to testify; other, more likely suspects, including a known pedophile, never questioned; and important leads that were kept from the defence, the judge and jurors. Boxes of police files and military records hidden or buried in government vaults reveal astonishing and disturbing information about an investigation and trial the authorities always claimed was above reproach. All told, the book uncovers a wealth of information that could have lead to a different verdict and a very different life for the young boy who was nearly executed over forty years ago.

Julian Sher (Author), David Ferry (Narrator)

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