Audiobooks narrated by Christina Delaine

Crime and No Punishment: Wealth, Power, and Violence in America

"The United States is an exceptionally violent country, increasingly unable or unwilling to stem violence in its many forms. A growing corporate crime wave has gone unprosecuted and unpunished. Meanwhile, the country has doubled down on pursuing people accused of street and drug crimes and immigration offenses. Corporate impunity, the financialization of the economy, militarized policing, the burgeoning carceral state, and the forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere all have fostered corporate, economic, and state violence in America. In Crime and No Punishment, Marie Gottschalk argues that these developments have undermined the legitimacy of American political and economic institutions. Gottschalk analyzes how the concentration of economic, political, and military power has siphoned off vital resources. The United States continues to incarcerate more of its people than nearly every other country even as it decriminalizes or turns a blind eye to elite-level corporate crime. Public and scholarly attention, however, remains fixated on violent street crime—although corporate and white-collar crime and state and economic violence directly and indirectly hurt far more people in the United States. Gottschalk contends that the US failure to protect its people from these harms has increased the fragility of democracy in America."

Marie Gottschalk (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Rewire Your Food-Addicted Brain: Fight Cravings and Break Free from a High-Sugar, Ultra-Processed Di

"A game-changing approach to overcome food addiction and radically improve your health. Have you ever wondered why you're addicted to certain foods? Would it shock you to learn that the food industry engineers food products with the express purpose of getting you hooked? With millions wrestling with food addiction, is it any surprise that much of what is meant to sustain us is in fact making us sick? The increasing dependence on unhealthy, ultra-processed foods invites a host of health problems—from obesity and heart disease to diabetes. So, how can you break free from this destructive cycle? Written by an addiction psychiatrist with decades of experience, this powerful guide combines proven-effective techniques based in addiction and eating disorder treatments to help you overcome the unhealthy food habit, once and for all. In addition to real-world stories from others who have battled food addiction, you'll learn how certain foods can actually alter your neurochemistry—lighting up reward centers in your brain just like nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs. Most importantly, you'll discover how to move beyond the self-blame, shame, and internalized stigma that is associated with food addiction, so you can start taking steps toward lasting recovery. This powerful book can help you get started today."

Claire Wilcox MD (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Forged: A Novel

"A thrilling and immersive tale of an impoverished woman turned con-artist by the critically acclaimed author of All the Ever Afters In the Gilded Age, a time of abject poverty and obscene wealth, a desperate and ambitious young woman strikes out for a new life in the rising industrial cities of America. Naive Fanny is thrust into a Darwinian world where she is cast out and preyed upon, but she’s a survivor and quickly learns from her struggles. Thanks to her close observations of the mercenary actors around her, Fanny discovers the power of illusion and how it can overcome the immutability of social class and the ruthless rules of capitalism. Shedding her past, Fanny embarks on a darkly thrilling transformation. She becomes Kitty Warren—a forger, con artist, and thief. Exploiting the greed and self-regard of the powerful, Kitty builds her own castle in the sky, yet she finds real pleasure and fulfilment elusive, and soon her foundations start to crumble. With schemes more wicked than Jay Gatsby’s, yet with more humanity than Tom Ripley, Kitty Warren exposes the dark heart of the American dream, making Forged a gripping narrative and a parable for the ages."

Danielle Teller (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Spent: A Comic Novel

"Brought to you by Penguin. From her pygmy goat farm in Vermont, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel wonders: Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathing memoir about her own greed and privilege? But how can she just sit around writing a book when the world is hanging on a thread? In this hilariously skewering comic novel, Alison is existentially pained by a climate-challenged world and a country on the brink of civil war. Her first graphic memoir about growing up with her taxidermist father has been adapted into a highly successful TV series, Death and Taxidermy. It’s a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group. As the TV show racks up Emmy after Emmy, Alison’s own envy spirals. Surely writing her own wildly popular reality TV series wouldn’t be that hard? One that shows people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?! In Spent, the celebrated, bestselling author of the modern classic Fun Home presents a laugh-out-loud and passionately political work of autofiction, and once again proves that “nobody does it better” (New York Times) than the real Alison Bechdel. 'The funniest, most satirical cartoon she has ever written – as well as, perhaps, the most prescient' OBSERVER © Alison Bechdel 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025"

Alison Bechdel (Author), Adenrele Ojo, Ali Liebegott, Alison Bechdel, Bill McKibben, Christina Delaine, Dan Bittner, Gilli Messer, Hayden Bishop, Holly Rae Taylor, Jenn Colella, Joe Barrett, Keylor Leight, Kimberly Farr, Maggie-Meg Reed, Naomi Liv Joseffy, Renata Friedman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Down to the Bone: A Missing Family's Murder and the Elusive Quest for Justice

"On February 15, 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two young sons were reported missing from their new home in San Diego County. Their truck sat in the driveway. Their dogs were outside without food. But investigators found no blood, signs of a struggle, or clues to their whereabouts. Did the family take an unannounced vacation? Were they running away from personal problems? Or were they victims of foul play? Nearly four years later, a motorcyclist found the McStays' remains in and around two shallow graves, one hundred miles away in the Mojave Desert. Their skulls showed signs of blunt-force trauma, likely due to the sledgehammer buried with them. Authorities focused on Charles Merritt, a close friend and subcontractor for Joseph's company. Despite a lack of physical evidence, scenarios that defied logic, and numerous unanswered questions, prosecutors convinced a jury of Merritt's guilt. After an emotional sentencing hearing, the judge imposed the death penalty. But did another possible suspect, who was ignored by investigators and ducked a subpoena to testify, get away with murder? In this twisting, deeply researched true-crime mystery, New York Times bestselling investigative journalist Caitlin Rother hunts for answers to reveal the truth behind a heinous crime that became a nation's obsession."

Caitlin Rother (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures

"A groundbreaking new perspective on catastrophes throughout human history, with vital lessons for our future 'This book upended my understanding of the ancient world' Zoë Schlanger, author of The Light Eaters 'Lizzie Wade is an exceptional journalist and a master storyteller' Ed Yong, author of An Immense World The history of humanity is one of devastating, once-in-a-thousand-year events: rising seas that make land uninhabitable, decades-long droughts, civilisational collapse, epidemics like the Black Death and the Spanish Flu that reduce a city’s population by fifty percent. And yet, despite enormous destruction and very real tragedy, these catastrophes all share one common denominator: we survived. In APOCALYPSE, Lizzie Wade reframes the story of human history to show how we can learn from these apocalyptic moments, seeing them not just as violent, world-ending events but as moments of progress and transformation. We travel back in deep time to when homo sapiens replaced other human species including the Neanderthals, witness the fall of the kingdom of Old Egypt, the end of the Mayans and the Black Death, as well as lesser-known catastrophes. To weave this unique narrative, Lizzie introduces us to a new generation of archaeologists using cutting-edge technology to tell new stories about our deep past, including flying planes equipped with lasers over Mayan ruins deep in the jungle, scuba diving to the bottom of the ocean, and sequencing the DNA of ancient people to show how we are far more connected to our ancestors than we think. Written in a gripping style that reads like an Indiana Jones mystery, APOCALYPSE offers a refreshingly optimistic take on the crises our own generation and those after us will face – arguing that yes, catastrophes are painful and destructive, but we can and will survive them."

Lizzie Wade (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mother Media: Hot and Cool Parenting in the Twentieth Century

"From the nursery to the prison, from the clinic to the commune, Mother Media tells the story of how we arrived at our contemporary understanding of what a mother is and how understandings of 'bad' mothering formed our contemporary panics about 'bad' media. In this book, leading historian of psychology Hannah Zeavin examines twentieth-century pediatric, psychological, educational, industrial, and economic norms around mediated mothering and technologized parenting. The book charts the crisis of the family across the twentieth century and the many ingenious attempts to remediate nursemaid and mother via speculative technologies and screen media. Growing out of her previous award-winning book The Distance Cure, which considered technologized care, the book lays bare the contradictions of techno-parenting and how it relates to conceptions of 'maternal fitness,' medical redlining, and surveillance of children, parents, and other caregivers. The author offers narratives of parenting in its extremity (for example, Shaken Baby Syndrome) and its ostensible banality (for example, the Nanny Cam) and how the two are often intertwined. Ultimately, Zeavin grapples with a simple contradiction: technology is seen and judged as harmful in domestic and educational spaces, even as it is a saving grace in the unending labor of raising a family."

Hannah Zeavin (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Humans: A Monstrous History

"A history of how humans have created monsters out of one another—from our deepest fears—and what these monsters tell us about humanity's present and future. Monsters are central to how we think about the human condition. Join award-winning historian of science Dr. Surekha Davies as she reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and E.T., Humans: A Monstrous History shows how monster-making is about control: it defines who gets to count as normal. In an age when corporations increasingly see people as obstacles to profits, this book traces the long, volatile history of monster-making and charts a better path for the future. The result is a profound, effervescent, empowering retelling of the history of the world for anyone who wants to reverse rising inequality and polarization. This is not a history of monsters, but a history through monsters."

Surekha Davies (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Watching the Jackals: Prague's Covert Liaisons with Cold War Terrorists and Revolutionaries

"In the 1970s and 1980s, Prague became a favorite destination for the world's most prominent terrorists and revolutionaries. They arrived here to seek refuge, enjoy recreation, or hold secret meetings. While some were welcome with open arms, others were closely watched and were eventually ousted. Watching the Jackals is the untold history of Czechoslovakia's complex relations with Middle Eastern terrorists and revolutionaries during the closing decades of the Cold War. Richterova unveils the story of Prague's engagement with various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization, along with some of the era's most infamous terrorists. In this gripping account, Richterova explains why 'Cold War Jackals' gravitated toward Prague and how the country's leaders reacted to their visits, and she uncovers the role Czechoslovakia's security and intelligence apparatus—the StB played in these, at times, dangerous liaisons. Drawing on interviews and detailed records from the former Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic), Richterova offers listeners interested in the intelligence world a fascinating account of how states use their spies to pursue covert policies with violent nonstate actors. The book also introduces new evidence and nuances into old debates about whether the Communist Bloc supported terrorism."

Daniela Richterova (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Kills Well with Others

""Much like fine wine, battle-hardened assassins grow better with age."-#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner Four women assassins, senior in status-and in age-sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age. After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone...literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers. Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungry plans and the aging quartet of killers is next. Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum's mole and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move before they make it. Their enemy is unlike any they've faced before, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this mission alive."

Deanna Raybourn (Author), Christina Delaine, Jane Oppenheimer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Someone Cruel in Coyote Creek

"Turning fifty in her childhood bedroom wasn't on her bucket list . . . Kate Tessler is convinced her sister is trying to kill her. In fact, she might prefer death to Jen's '50 for 50 Challenge,' where Kate will try fifty new things throughout the year she turns fifty. Still adjusting to her new underemployed life back in her childhood home in Phoenix, the last thing Kate wants is to prepare for paddle boarding, especially when she receives an anonymous message claiming that Mayor Todd Paradise is taking bribes. The author claims to have proof, including photos, and challenges Kate to publish the story. Could good guy Todd, Kate's almost boyfriend, really be corrupt or is someone trying to set him up? Kate sets out to discover the truth, with help from her multi-generational, unconventional, and often unhelpful crew. She thrived reporting from war zones as an international war correspondent, but can she survive a deadly fundraising party, a close encounter with a taser, a turn at an open mic night, and a 100-pound dog named Whiskers? Contains mature themes."

Kris Bock (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sad Planets

"'Everything is sad,' wrote the Ancient poets. But is this sadness merely a human experience, projected onto the world, or is there a gloom attributable to the world itself? Could the universe be forever weeping the 'tears of things'? In this series of meditations, Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker explore some of the key 'negative affects'—both eternal and emergent—associated with climate change, environmental destruction, and cosmic solitude. In so doing they unearth something so obvious that it has gone largely unnoticed: the question of how we should feel about climate change. Between the information gathered by planetary sensors and the simple act of breathing the air, new unsettling moods are produced for which we currently lack an adequate language. Should we feel grief over the loss of our planet? Or is the strange feeling of witnessing mass extinction an indicator that the planet was never 'ours' to begin with? Spanning a wide range of topics—from the history of cosmology to the 'existential threat' of climate change—this book is a reckoning with the limits of human existence and comprehension. As Pettman and Thacker observe, never before have we known so much about the planet and the cosmos, and yet never before have we felt so estranged from that same planet, to say nothing of the stars beyond."

Dominic Pettman, Eugene Thacker (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Christina Delaine