Audiobooks narrated by Christopher Lane

The master editor of some of the most successful writers of our century shares his craft techniques and strategies, including how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, and how to create interesting writing in the first place. "A practical guide for writers by a master editor who has worked with such figures as Dylan Thomas, James Baldwin, and Jack Higgins covers character development, speeding up the pace, applying the Actors Studio Method, and creating suspense and tension."-Ingram

Sol Stein (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB

A landmark collaboration between a thirty-year veteran of the CIA and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, The Main Enemy is the dramatic inside story of the CIA-KGB spy wars, told through the actions of the men who fought them. Based on hundreds of interviews with operatives from both sides, The Main Enemy puts us inside the heads of CIA officers as they dodge surveillance and walk into violent ambushes in Moscow. This is the story of the generation of spies who came of age in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis and rose through the ranks to run the CIA and KGB in the last days of the Cold War. The clandestine operations they masterminded took them from the sewers of Moscow to the back streets of Baghdad, from Cairo and Havana to Prague and Berlin, but the action centers on Washington, starting in the infamous 'Year of the Spy'--when, one by one, the CIA’s agents in Moscow began to be killed, up through to the very last man. Behind the scenes with the CIA's covert operations in Afghanistan, Milt Bearden led America to victory in the secret war against the Soviets, and for the first time he reveals here what he did and whom America backed, and why. Bearden was called back to Washington after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and was made chief of the Soviet/East Euro-pean Division--just in time to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall, the revolutions that swept across Eastern Europe, and the implosion of the Soviet Union. Laced with startling revelations--about fail-safe top-secret back channels between the CIA and KGB, double and triple agents, covert operations in Berlin and Prague, and the fateful autumn of 1989--The Main Enemy is history at its action-packed best.

James Risen, Milton Bearden (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Spam Nation

There is a Threat Lurking Online with the Power to Destroy Your Finances, Steal Your Personal Data, and Endanger Your Life. In Spam Nation, investigative journalist and cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs unmasks the criminal masterminds driving some of the biggest spam and hacker operations targeting Americans and their bank accounts. Tracing the rise, fall, and alarming resurrection of the digital mafia behind the two largest spam pharmacies—and countless viruses, phishing, and spyware attacks—he delivers the first definitive narrative of the global spam problem and its threat to consumers everywhere. Blending cutting-edge research, investigative reporting, and firsthand interviews, this terrifying true story reveals how we unwittingly invite these digital thieves into our lives every day. From unassuming computer programmers right next door to digital mobsters like 'Cosma'—who unleashed a massive malware attack that has stolen thousands of Americans' logins and passwords—Krebs uncovers the shocking lengths to which these people will go to profit from our data and our wallets. Not only are hundreds of thousands of Americans exposing themselves to fraud and dangerously toxic products from rogue online pharmacies, but even those who never open junk messages are at risk. As Krebs notes, spammers can—and do—hack into accounts through these emails, harvest personal information like usernames and passwords, and sell them on the digital black market. The fallout from this global epidemic doesn't just cost consumers and companies billions, it costs lives too. Fast-paced and utterly gripping, Spam Nation ultimately proposes concrete solutions for protecting ourselves online and stemming this tidal wave of cybercrime—before it's too late. 'Krebs's talent for exposing the weaknesses in online security has earned him respect in the IT business and loathing among cybercriminals.… His track record of scoops…has helped him become the rare blogger who supports himself on the strength of his reputation for hard-nosed reporting.' —Bloomberg Businessweek

Brian Krebs (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

American Tabloid

We are behind, and below, the scenes of JFK's presidential election, the Bay of Pigs, the assassination-in the underworld that connects Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C.... Where the CIA, the Mob, J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Hoffa, Cuban political exiles, and various loose cannons conspire in a covert anarchy.... Where the right drugs, the right amount of cash, the right murder, buys a moment of a man's loyalty.... Where three renegade law-enforcement officers-a former L.A. cop and two FBI agents-are shaping events with the virulence of their greed and hatred, riding full-blast shotgun into history.... James Ellroy's trademark nothing-spared rendering of reality, blistering language, and relentless narrative pace are here in electrifying abundance, put to work in a novel as shocking and daring as anything he's written: a secret history that zeroes in on a time still shrouded in secrets and blows it wide open. "Compulsively readable.... Hard to forget." -CHICAGO TRIBUNE "Vastly entertaining." -LOS ANGELES TIMES

James Ellroy (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown History of the Men and Women of World War II's OSS

"Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs is a superbly told story of the men and women of the OSS. They helped write the book on special operations. I was struck by the similarity of the context of their stories to ones I've experienced in different combat situations. This book is a must-read for those in the special operations business today and anyone else who wants to learn about the exploits of the real warriors of the OSS during WW II. Only by understanding the deeds of those who have gone before us can we appreciate the sacrifices made that paved the way for the outstanding records established by present-day special warriors."-Captain Robert A. Gormly, USN (Ret.), author of Combat Swimmer and former SEAL team commander "A revealing look into the intrigue and extraordinary courage of our intelligence gatherers of World War II. A rare combination of suspense thriller and true heroism by a great American writer."-Clive Cussler, New York Times best-selling author

Patrick K. O'Donnell (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Meatonomics

Americans eat a lot of meat. In fact, our meat consumption has nearly doubled over the last century. Why? In large part because it’s cheaper than ever. But why is it so cheap and what are the consequences of our meat habit? These are the questions underlying this thoroughly researched audiobook. “Meatonomics will grab you and not let you go. [It is] a book that liberates as it illuminates.” —Will Tuttle, PhD, author of The World Peace Diet David Robinson Simon, an attorney and prominent advocate for sustainable consumption, looks at how the animal foods industry has rigged the game with artificially low prices. And the tremendous price we pay—to our health, the environment, the welfare of animals, and elsewhere—for all this meat. By peeling away all the layers of the onion, Simon calculates that these hidden costs are offloaded onto society to the tune of $414 billion every year. Were you to pay the true cost, a fast-food hamburger would set you back about $11 and a carton of organic eggs $13. And you might look to more affordable, plant-based sources for good food. Simon proposes new food policies as well as better personal choices, illustrating amply that every time you say no to the animal foods industry, you are choosing: • a lighter ecological footprint • healthier communities and happier animals • a slimmer waistline • and more money in your pocket. “If you eat meat, you owe it to your body and your planet to read this book.” —Rory Freedman, co-author of the Skinny Bitch books

David Robinson Simon (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

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Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity

In this series of essays written over the past twenty years, Roger Kimball, managing editor of the New Criterion and an art critic for the London Spectator, illuminates some of the chief spiritual itineraries of modern art. His wide range of subjects includes Vincent van Gogh, Clement Greenberg, the Barnes Foundation, Matthew Barney, Mark Rothko, and the Whitney Biennial, as well as the way in which Gilbert and George demonstrate the psychopathology of current cultural influences. "A scathing critic but one whose tirades are usually justified...his intellectual rigor is refreshing."-New York Times Book Review

Roger Kimball (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War

In this brilliant biography T. J. Stiles offers a new understanding of the legendary outlaw Jesse James. Although he has often been portrayed as a Robin Hood of the old west, in this ground-breaking work Stiles places James within the context of the bloody conflicts of the Civil War to reveal a much more complicated and significant figure. Raised in a fiercely pro-slavery household in bitterly divided Misssouri, at age sixteen James became a bushwhacker, one of the savage Confederate guerrillas that terrorized the border states. After the end of the war, James continued his campaign of robbery and murder into the brutal era of reconstruction, when his reckless daring, his partisan pronouncements, and his alliance with the sympathetic editor John Newman Edwards placed him squarely at the forefront of the former Confederates’ bid to recapture political power. With meticulous research and vivid accounts of the dramatic adventures of the famous gunman, T. J. Stiles shows how he resembles not the apolitical hero of legend, but rather a figure ready to use violence to command attention for a political cause—in many ways, a forerunner of the modern terrorist.

T. J. Stiles (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Watch That Ends the Night

More than two thousand men, women, and children are on board. Here on the first-class promenade is millionaire John Jacob Astor, who hopes his return from Egypt with his pregnant teen bride will invite a minimum of media attention. And here, in the third-class common room, a beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers first love. And there in the distance, shrouded in darkness, an ancient iceberg lies patient, awaiting its encounter. The voices in this wholly unique re-creation of the Titanic disaster span classes and stations, from Margaret ("the unsinkable Molly") Brown to Captain E.J. Smith, who went down with his ship; from the lookout and wireless men to a young boy in search of dragons and a gambler in search of fools with money to lose. Slipping in telegraphs, undertaker's reports, and other historic records, poet Allan Wolf offers a breathtaking, intimate glimpse into the lives of two dozen passengers and crew, told with astounding emotional power. Advance Praise "How do you tell a dramatic story when you know that everyone already knows the ending? Allan Wolf has combined meticulous research with open-hearted poetry to craft the story of the Titanic in a fresh and compelling way. A remarkable accomplishment." - ;Helen Frost, author of Crossing Stones and Hidden "Allan Wolf has imagined his way deep into the cold, dark waters of history and has come back carrying a couple of dozen voices that he discovered there, voices whose authenticity is not only convincing but compelling. With the publication of this fine book, we know at last ;- ;and we know as well as sisters and brothers ; - ; some of the people who went down with the Titanic." - ;Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Allan Wolf (Author), Angela Dawe, Christopher Lane, Laural Merlington, Michael Page, Phil Gigante, Various Readers, Various Readers (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

The year is 1364. Hungry creatures stalk the dark woods of medieval Europe, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. There is no foulness, however, no witch nor demon, to rival the grave-robbing twins Hegel and Manfried Grossbart. This is their tale, sad but true. "Darkly funny, profane, erudite, bawdy, and wickedly original... the debut of an amazing new talent." - Jeff VanderMeer

Jesse Bullington (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Jekyll Revelation

A spellbinding thriller from the bestselling author of The Einstein Prophecy. A chilling curse is transported from 1880s London to present-day California, awakening a long-dormant fiend. While on routine patrol in the tinder-dry Topanga Canyon, environmental scientist Rafael Salazar expects to find animal poachers, not a dilapidated antique steamer trunk. Inside the peculiar case, he discovers a journal, written by the renowned Robert Louis Stevenson, which divulges ominous particulars about his creation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It also promises to reveal a terrible secret - the identity of Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, the journal - whose macabre tale unfolds in an alternating narrative with Rafe's - isn't the only relic in the trunk, and Rafe isn't the only one to purloin a souvenir. A mysterious flask containing the last drops of the grisly potion that inspired Jekyll and Hyde and spawned London's most infamous killer has gone missing. And it has definitely fallen into the wrong hands.

Robert Masello (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Left Brain, Right Stuff

Left Brain, Right Stuff takes up where other books about decision making leave off. For many routine choices, from shopping to investing, we can make good decisions simply by avoiding common errors, such as searching only for confirming information or avoiding the hindsight bias. But as Phil Rosenzweig shows, for many of the most important, more complex situations we face — in business, sports, politics, and more — a different way of thinking is required. Leaders must possess the ability to shape opinions, inspire followers, manage risk, and outmaneuver and outperform rivals. Making winning decisions calls for a combination of skills: clear analysis and calculation — left brain — as well as the willingness to push boundaries and take bold action — right stuff. Of course leaders need to understand the dynamics of competition, to anticipate rival moves, to draw on the power of statistical analysis, and to be aware of common decision errors — all features of left brain thinking. But to achieve the unprecedented in real-world situations, much more is needed. Leaders also need the right stuff. In business, they have to devise plans and inspire followers for successful execution; in politics, they must mobilize popular support for a chosen program; in the military, commanders need to commit to a battle strategy and lead their troops; and in start-ups, entrepreneurs must manage risk when success is uncertain. In every case, success calls for action as well as analysis, and for courage as well as calculation. Always entertaining, often surprising, and immensely practical, Left Brain, Right Stuff draws on a wealth of examples in order to propose a new paradigm for decision making in synch with the way we have to operate in the real world. Rosenzweig’s smart and perceptive analysis of research provides fresh, and often surprising, insights on topics such as confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, the illusion of control, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, and the true nature of leadership.

Phil Rosenzweig (Author), Christopher Lane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Christopher Lane