Audiobooks narrated by Arnell Powell

Veracity & Verse: A Preacher’s Reflections & Poems on Faith & Truth

"Explore the remarkable life and heartfelt verse of the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., the first Black senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City, one of the largest multicultural congregations in the US. As the first Black senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City, James A. Forbes Jr. shattered barriers of Black leadership in mainline Christian denominations. Through his powerful sermons, Forbes brought the rich preaching styles of the African American church to white pulpits, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of progressive Christianity. Veracity and Verse provides a chronology of Forbes's life in his own words, detailing his journey through discrimination and rejection to become a revered professor at Union Theological Seminary, ultimately called to the prestigious pulpit of Riverside Church, where he served for eighteen years. Through Forbes's own poems and narratives, readers will be immersed in the triumphant story of his life—from the struggles of the segregated South to his ascent to the greatest liberal Christian pulpit in the world. Veracity and Verse is a testament to the resilience, faith, and enduring impact of an extraordinary individual."

Rev. Dr. James Alexander Forbes, Jr. (Author), Arnell Powell (Narrator)

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I Felt the Cheers: The Remarkable Silent Life of Curtis Pride

"From the deaf baseball legend and MLB Ambassador for Inclusion, a powerful anthem of ability diversity and overcoming the odds for readers of Nyle DiMarco’s Deaf Utopia and sports memoirs such as Imperfect by Jim Abbott, Des Linden’s Choosing to Run, and Limitless by Mallory Weggemann. FOREWORD BY NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME MEMBER CAL RIPKEN, JR. On a September night in Montreal in 1993, Curtis Pride got his first Major League hit, prompting a long, emotional standing ovation from the crowd of 45,757 fans. Profoundly deaf since birth, Pride couldn’t hear their thunderous applause. But as the cheers grew louder and more insistent, he realized he was feeling those vibrations within his chest—an undeniable acknowledgment of an extraordinary achievement. Pride went on to play in 420 more major-league games over eleven different seasons with the Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and New York Yankees. He was then hired as head baseball coach at Gallaudet, the world’s leading university for deaf and hard of hearing students, and was also named Major League Baseball’s Ambassador for Inclusion. Pride has received countless national and local awards for his achievements and his service in inspiring and educating others. With candor, warmth, and humor, Pride writes from the heart in I Felt the Cheers. From the first time he played T‑ball at age six and got a couple of hits, he dreamed of playing in the major leagues. No matter how unlikely it seemed, or how much skepticism he faced from teammates or coaches, Pride stayed resolute. Far from it being a disadvantage, he came to see that his deafness could sometimes be a secret weapon, forcing him to use senses that other players take for granted. Curtis’s personal journey is unique, but his message is a powerful, universal one, sure to resonate deeply with everyone who has faced difficult challenges. I Felt the Cheers is living proof that dreams can come true, no matter how impossible they seem."

Curtis Pride, Doug Ward (Author), Arnell Powell (Narrator)

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The Velvet Hammer: Judge Belvin Perry, Jr.'s Capital Murder Cases and Memoir

"After retiring from twenty-five years on the bench, former chief judge Belvin Perry Jr. reveals a rare and disturbingly vivid firsthand perspective of the most gruesome death penalty cases in which he played a key role, including the infamous Casey Marie Anthony, who was dubbed “America’s Most Hated Mom” after her shocking acquittal. The Velvet Hammer is the gripping, true-crime memoir of former Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr., who sentenced some of Florida’s most evil and notorious murderers to death, fulfilling his oath to uphold justice. Perry provides a clear, accurate description of America’s criminal justice system and explains why the death penalty can, and should, work and how it was applied to certain capital murder cases he either prosecuted or presided over. Perry discusses his journey as an African American growing up in the segregated South, his life as a prosecutor and chief judge, and how he ended up presiding over one of the world’s most intriguing capital murder trials of the century: State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony. From the widow who slowly poisoned her lovers; to the lust murderer who mutilated his victim while she was still alive; to the serial killer who slayed a family of four, including his own child; as well as several other violent and frightening murders, Perry spares none of the gory details when bringing each case back to life in his debut, true crime memoir."

Amy Mitchell, Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. (Author), Arnell Powell (Narrator)

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Blue-Coated Terror: Jim Crow New Orleans and the Roots of Modern Police Brutality

"A searing chronicle of how racist violence became an ingrained facet of policing in the United States Contrary to competing popular beliefs, police violence against African Americans has neither remained unchanged since the era of slavery nor is it a recent phenomenon disconnected from the past. In Bluecoated Terror, Jeffrey S. Adler draws on rich archival accounts to show how racialized police brutality is part of a larger system of state oppression with roots in the early twentieth-century South, particularly New Orleans. Wide racial differentials in the use of lethal force and beatings during arrest and interrogation emerged in the 1930s and 1940s. Adler explains how race control and crime control blended and blurred during this era, when police officers and criminal justice officials began to justify systemic violence against Black people as a crucial—and legal—tool for maintaining law and order. Bluecoated Terrorexplores both the rise of these trends and their chilling persistence, providing critical context for recent horrific police abuses as the ghost of Jim Crow continues to haunt the nation. “Jeffrey S. Adler’s analysis of New Orleans applies to the entire country and provides key insights as to how we arrived at our present crisis.”—Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America"

Jeffrey S. Adler (Author), Arnell Powell (Narrator)

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Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain: The extraordinary story of love, civil rights, and labor ac

"The remarkable story of a couple who came together during the Civil Rights Movement and made fighting for equality and civil and workers’ rights their purpose for more than sixty years, overcoming adversity—with the strength of their love and commitment—to bring about meaningful change. Norman Hill was the national program director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), staff coordinator for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, staff representative of the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, and president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute from 1980 to 2004, the longest tenure in the organization’s history. He remains its president emeritus. Velma Murphy Hill, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was a leader of the Chicago Wade-in to integrate Rainbow Beach, East Coast field secretary for CORE, and assistant to the president of the United Federation of Teachers, where she unionized 10,000 paraprofessionals, primarily Black and Hispanic, working in New York public schools. She was vice president of the American Federation of Teachers and International Affairs and civil rights director of the Service Employees International Union. The Hills were the only Black couple to hold leadership positions in the civil rights and labor movements. When Velma Murphy was knocked unconscious by a brick thrown by a man from an angry white mob and was carried away by Norman Hill, it was the beginning ofa six-decade-long love story and the turmoil, excitement, and struggle for civil rights and labor movements. In Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain, the Hills reflect upon their more than half century of fighting to make America realize the best of itself. Through profound conversations between the two, Velma and Norman Hill share their earliest memories of facing racial segregation in the 1960s, working with Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, and A. Philip Randolph, crossing paths with Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael. They also reveal how they kept white supremacists like David Duke from taking office, organized workers into unions, met with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and continued to work tirelessly, fighting the good fight and successfully challenging power with truth."

Norman Hill, Velma Murphy Hill (Author), Arnell Powell, Kim Staunton (Narrator)

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Contempt: Grandma BB's Shenanigans

"Grandma BB, the unofficial matriarch of the Jamieson clan, is getting her house in order for the perfect homegoing celebration. After all, she’s eighty-something. She summons Parke Jamieson VI, his brothers, cousins, and their families to play a part in the practice funeral program—only if they follow her instructions to the letter. Since the Jamiesons are at her house with bodyguards Chip and Dale, they might have an impromptu family game night. The evening is full of surprises, especially when an unexpected visitor shows up to steal the show. With more work that needs to be done, Grandma BB plans to put her funeral on hold and stick around for a couple more generations."

Pat Simmons (Author), Arnell Powell, Karole Foreman (Narrator)

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Lifting the Chains: The Black Freedom Struggle Since Reconstruction

"Lifting the Chains is a history of the Black experience in America since the Civil War, told by one of our most distinguished historians of modern America, William H. Chafe. He argues that, despite the wishes and arguments of many whites to the contrary, the struggle for freedom has been carried out primarily by BlackAmericans, with only occasional assistance from whites. Chafe highlights the role of all-black institutions—especially the churches, lodges, local gangs, neighborhood women’s groups, and the Black college clubs that gathered at local pool halls—that talked up the issues, examined different courses of action, and then put their lives on the line to make change happen. The book draws heavily on the tremendous oral history archives at Duke that Chafe founded and nurtured, much of which is previously unpublished. The archives are now a collection of more than 3,600 oral histories tracing the evolution of Black activism, managed under the auspices of the Duke Center for Documentary History. The project uncovered the degree to which Blacks never gave up the struggle against racism, even during the height of Jim Crow segregation from 1900 to 1950. Chafe draws on these valuable resources to build this definitive history of African American activism, a history that can and should inform Black Lives Matter and other contemporary social justice movements."

William H. Chafe (Author), Arnell Powell, George Guidall (Narrator)

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Those Who Saw the Sun: African American Oral Histories from the Jim Crow South

"The past is not past. We may think something ancient history, or something that doesn’t affect our present day, but we would be wrong. Those Who Saw the Sun is a collection of oral histories told by Black people who grew up in the South during the time of Jim Crow. Jaha Nailah Avery is a lawyer, scholar, and reporter whose family has roots in North Carolina stretching back over 300 years. These interviews have been a personal passion project for years as she’s traveled across the South meeting with elders and hearing their stories. One of the most important things a culture can do is preserve history, truthfully. In Those Who Saw the Sun we have the special privilege of hearing this history as it was experienced by those who were really there. The opportunity to read their stories, their similarities and differences, where they agree and disagree, and where they overcame obstacles and found joy, feels truly like a gift."

Jaha Nailah Avery (Author), Arnell Powell, Jaha Nailah Avery, Kim Staunton (Narrator)

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The Family Bones

"What makes a psychopath? A young woman delves into her family’s shadowy legacy in a terrifying novel by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Strangers We Know. Psychology student Olivia Eriksen’s family is notorious among true-crime buffs. Faced with a legacy of psychopathy that spans generations, Olivia has spent much of her academic life trying to answer one chilling question: Nature or nurture? Although she’s kept a safe distance from her blood relatives for years, Olivia agrees to attend a weekend reunion. After all, her fiancé is eager to meet his future in-laws, and the gathering may give her a chance to interview her elusive grandfather about the family traits. But nothing is ever peaceful among the Eriksens for long. Olivia’s favorite cousin is found dead in a nearby lake. Then another family member disappears. As a violent storm isolates the group further, Olivia’s fears rise faster than the river. And an uninvited guest is about to join the party. True-crime podcaster Birdie Tan has uncovered a disturbing mystery in her latest investigation—and she’s following it right to the Eriksens’ mountain resort. There’s a deadly twist in the family plot that even Olivia doesn’t see coming."

Elle Marr (Author), Arnell Powell, Jennifer Jill Araya, Jesse Vilinsky, Sura Siu (Narrator)

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Witnesses for the Dead: Stories

"Inspired by recent true events, the all-original stories in Witnesses for the Dead are set in motion by the act of witnessing. The characters who populate these pages are not themselves the perpetrators of crimes, but find their lives indelibly changed by what they see as they grapple with coming forward, taking action, or retreating into the shadows. In “Envy” by Christopher Chambers, a sweet, shy wallflower looks on as something horrific happens in his neighborhood—revealing something horrific about himself. Agatha Award–winner Richie Narvaez’s “The Gardener of Roses” sees a Puertorriqueña college student on the run from the FBI for her accidental involvement in a “terrorist” plot. Anthony Award–winner Gary Phillips confronts police corruption in “Spiders and Fly.” And the protagonist of “A Family Matter” by IPPY Award–winner Sarah M. Chen investigates the murder of a stranger, leading her to question the political structure of Taiwan entirely. Other stories feature a brothel, the film industry, immigrant detention centers at the Mexico-US border, World War II–torn France, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The stories are incisive, unflinching, wry, dark, and, in some cases, terrifying. You’ll ask yourself: If I saw what they saw, what would I do?"

Gary Phillips (Author), Arnell Powell, Brian Nishii, Christopher Salazar, Graciela Jones, Marisol Ramirez, Robertson Dean, Suzanne Toren, Tamika Katon-Donegal (Narrator)

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Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep: Ghost Stories

"A collection of short stories moving through time and place, exploring the spaces where we haunt each other and ourselves through our choices, our institutions, and our dreams. Adam Soto, author of the debut novel This Weightless World, which Robin Sloan called “the social novel for the 21st century,” returns with Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep. In the title story, a one-armed Harlem Hellfighter goes in search of his specially altered military uniform while Influenza ravages Philadelphia. In “Sleepy Things,” a man is bound to the bedside of his comatose girlfriend who haunts his mother’s dreams. In “Wren & Riley,” a couple travels to Wyoming to visit a childhood friend who killed her abusive husband. And in “The Vegetable Church,” a pair of Syrian sisters, refugees of the civil war, find themselves at a crossroads in the home of their European hosts while their dead father whispers to them words of comfort and guidance. The stories in Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep, strange and unsettling, explore the quiet spaces where the living and the dead alike haunt one another through their choices, dreams, and institutions."

Adam Soto (Author), Arnell Powell, Christopher Salazar, Dele Ogundiran, Jeed Saddy, Marisol Ramirez, Shridhar Solanki (Narrator)

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The Lies I Told

"For a woman obsessed and a killer in her shadow, remembering the past becomes a mind game in a novel of psychological suspense by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton. Twin sisters Marisa and Clare Stockton were sixteen when Clare’s body was found in Virginia’s James River. No arrests were made. Fourteen years later, Marisa’s friends and dedicated career as a photographer help her to cope with the open wound of the past. But Marisa still feels the hurt—and the unsolved murder isn’t the only thing haunting her. A recent car crash has erased ten days of Marisa’s memories—a black hole leading up to the accident that’s left her disoriented. Every text and phone call from that crucial missing time has vanished, along with her phone. A photograph she took of the river has disappeared. A new neighbor Marisa believes she knows introduces himself as if he were a stranger. And there’s the growing fear that her near-fatal accident was no accident at all. As dreams of Clare and nightmares of the crash begin to converge, so do two disturbing puzzles fourteen years apart. Putting the pieces together could be fatal. As she struggles to remember everything, Marisa closes in on a killer—without realizing that he’s already closed in on her."

Mary Burton (Author), Amanda Stribling, Andrew Eiden, Arnell Powell, Emily Ellet, Josh Bloomberg, Sarah Beth Pfeifer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Arnell Powell