Audiobooks narrated by Karen Murray

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler

A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work. As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler was a trailblazer. With her deft pen, she created stories speculating the devolution of the American empire, using it as an apt metaphor for the best and worst of humanity—our innovation and ingenuity, our naked greed and ambition, our propensity for violence and hierarchy. Her fiction charts the rise and fall of the American project—the nation’s transformation from a provincial backwater to a capitalist juggernaut—made possible by chattel slavery—to a bloated imperialist superpower on the verge of implosion. In this outstanding work, Susana M. Morris places Butler’s story firmly within the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life: the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, women’s liberation, queer rights, Reaganomics. Morris reveals how these influences profoundly impacted Butler’s personal and intellectual trajectory and shaped the ideas central to her writing. Her cautionary tales warn us about succumbing to fascism, gender-based violence, and climate chaos while offering alternate paradigms to religion, family, and understanding our relationships to ourselves. Butler envisioned futures with Black women at the center, raising our awareness of how those who are often dismissed have the knowledge to shift the landscape of our world. But her characters are no magical martyrs, they are tough, flawed, intelligent, and complicated, a reflection of Butler’s stories. Morris explains what drove Butler: She wrote because she felt she must. “Who was I anyway? Why should anyone pay attention to what I had to say? Did I have anything to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy, for God’s sake. At that time nearly all professional science-fiction writers were white men. As much as I loved science fiction and fantasy, what was I doing? Well, whatever it was, I couldn’t stop. Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you’re afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It’s about not being able to stop at all.”

Susana M. Morris (Author), Karen Murray, TBD (Narrator)

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Mad House: How Donald Trump, Maga Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a

An exclusive fly-on-the-wall account of the epic dysfunction of the American Congress, from the rotating cast of failed Speakers to the MAGA efforts to impeach President Joe Biden to the insanity of the 2024 presidential race-by the star congressional reporters at The New York Times The United States Congress has always been messy and far-from-august, but as Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater show here, in scorching, shocking detail, it has reached some kind of chaotic bottom. The anarchy that reigned over Congress's lower chamber in the wake of the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building-the election of serial liar and con man George Santos, revenge porn being shown on the floor of the house, and the theatrical high jinks of Lauren Boebert-all were a sign of decay and dysfunction of the highest order. Even the members of the 118th Congress would admit it was a circus-but up close, the spectacle was more alarming than funny. Taking the reader into closed door meetings as House Republicans, in thrall to a cult of personality, bumble ever deeper into extremism, and sniping House Democrats lose faith in their president, the authors reveal a level of disorder that we have never seen before. Mad House is a searing, rollicking, and deeply reported portrait of a body at war with itself, riven by pettiness, egomania, and score-settling, and defined by the truly unbelievable antics of people like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Jim Jordan, who, handed the reins of power, attempt to actually govern a country. Spoiler: It's more chaotic-a lot more chaotic-than you think.

Annie Karni, Luke Broadwater (Author), Karen Murray, TBD (Narrator)

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Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown

How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit 'revolutionary suicide' by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious cults in American history. Using riveting first-person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming reveals the makings of a monster: from Jones's humble origins as a child of the Depression… to his founding of a group whose idealistic promises of equality and justice attracted thousands of followers… to his relocation of Temple headquarters from California to an unsettled territory in Guyana, South America, which he dubbed 'Jonestown"… to his transformation of Peoples Temple into a nefarious experiment in mind-control. And Fleming heart-stoppingly depicts Jones's final act, persuading his followers to swallow fatal doses of cyanide-to "drink the kool-aid," as it became known-as a test of their ultimate devotion. Here is a sweeping story that traces, step by step, the ways in which one man slowly indoctrinated, then murdered, 900 innocent, well- meaning people. And how a few members, Jones' own son included, stood up to him... but not before it was too late.

Candace Fleming (Author), Karen Murray, TBD (Narrator)

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Tools to Save Our Home Planet: A Changemaker's Guidebook

A Global Guidebook for Activism in the Age of Climate Chaos and Social Injustice In 1994, Patagonia invited representatives from 75 grassroots nonprofit organizations to gather and learn from active experts how to be more effective at what they do. Through this ongoing conference as well as years of funding these organizations, Patagonia has helped thousands of activists make the changes they envision for the world. In 2016, Patagonia published Tools for Grassroots Activists, a compilation of presentations from the Tools conferences, accompanied by case studies and inspiring essays from environmental leaders. The world since then has changed in profound ways, and this new edition reflects the world we now occupy. Completely revised, Tools to Save Our Home Planet: A Changemaker's Guidebook, captures the wisdom and best advice from activists in the field, creating a resource for any organization hoping to hone core skills. The lessons and examples it shares are as current, diverse, and global as the changemakers working around the world. At a high level, the book's structure echos an activist's journey. It begins with self-reflection, essays prompting readers to identify their purpose and clarify their cause. The focus shifts to the inner workings of an organization or campaign-how to create a communications strategy, organize people, and fundraise-before taking an outward look at creating momentum through mobilizing and events, using political tools, collaborating with other people and organizations, and taking legal action. The book culminates with a chapter all about movements: How combining purpose, effective organizations, and momentum can create a tidal wave that can change the world. A go-to resource for driving change, offering anyone who is passionate about environmental and social justice a timely and relevant resource to support their mission-aligned work, this book is intended for both those who are new to taking action and seasoned activists and community organizers who want to learn how others are finding success. The hope is that, like its predecessor, it will become a reassuring and resourceful companion to the environmental and environmental justice movements.

Nick Mucha (Author), Karen Murray, Peter Ganim, TBD (Narrator)

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When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

A New York Times Bestseller A Cosmopolitan Best Nonfiction Book of 2024 'Compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel' The Wall Street Journal 'Riveting' Financial Times The New York Times bestselling story of the golden age of luxury department stores, and the trailblazing women who ran them. The twentieth century department store: a wonderland of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof. Dropping off the baby at nursery; an afternoon tea; a stroll through the latest fashions. A wedding (or funeral) could be planned. A Bengal Tiger cub could be purchased. Inside these towering price-tag palaces, anything was possible. They were beacons of modernity, and within this atmosphere of glamour and luxury, women dominated. Men may have owned the buildings, but inside women ruled. Among the rising prices and growing opulence, three women climbed to the top: Hortense Odlum, Dorothy Shaver, and Geraldine Stutz. Julie Satow draws back the curtain on these three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round. 'If you liked Mad Men then you'll love When Women Ran Fifth Avenue' #1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Andersen Brower, author The Residence and First Women

Julie Satow (Author), Karen Murray (Narrator)

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Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net

Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. Holding It Together chronicles the causes and dire consequences. America runs on women-women who are tasked with holding society together at the seams and fixing it when things fall apart. In this tour de force, acclaimed Sociologist Jessica Calarco lays bare the devastating consequences of our status quo. Holding It Together draws on five years of research in which Calarco surveyed over 4000 parents and conducted more than 400 hours of interviews with women who bear the brunt of our broken system. A widowed single mother struggles to patch together meager public benefits while working three jobs; an aunt is pushed into caring for her niece and nephew at age fifteen once their family is shattered by the opioid epidemic; a daughter becomes the backstop caregiver for her mother, her husband, and her child because of the perceived flexibility of her job; a well-to-do couple grapples with the moral dilemma of leaning on overworked, underpaid childcare providers to achieve their egalitarian ideals. Stories of grief and guilt abound. Yet, they are more than individual tragedies. Tracing present-day policies back to their roots, Calarco reveals a systematic agreement to dismantle our country's social safety net and persuade citizens to accept precarity while women bear the brunt. She leads us to see women's labor as the reason we've gone so long without the support systems that our peer nations take for granted, and how women's work maintains the illusion that we don't need a net. Weaving eye-opening original research with revelatory sociological narrative, Holding It Together is a bold call to demand the institutional change that each of us deserves, and a warning about the perils of living without it.

Jessica Calarco (Author), Jessica Calarco, Karen Murray, TBD (Narrator)

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American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden

The first definitive exploration of the changing role of the twenty-first-century First Lady, painting a comprehensive portrait of Jill Biden-from a White House correspondent for The New York Times Since the Clinton era, shifts in media, politics, and pop culture have all redefined expectations of First Ladies, even as the boundaries set upon them have often remained anachronistic. With sharp insights and dozens of firsthand interviews with major players in the Biden, Obama, Trump, Bush, and Clinton orbits, including Jill Biden and Hillary Clinton, New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers traces the evolution of the role of the twenty-first-century First Lady from a ceremonial figurehead to a powerful political operator, which culminates in the tenure of First Lady Jill Biden. Dr. Jill Biden began her journey toward public life in 1975 as a twenty-three-year-old who caught the eye of a widowed Senator Joe Biden. Recovering from the heartbreak of her failed first marriage, she found a man who was still grieving. She knitted his life together after unspeakable tragedy and stood by his side through three presidential campaigns. In some ways, her legacy as First Lady was set before she ever entered the White House: She is the first presidential spouse in history to work in a paid role outside the White House, a decision that blazes the path for future first spouses. But as a prime guardian of one of the most insular operations in modern politics, she is also a central part of her husband's presidential legacy. Through deep reporting and newly discovered correspondence, American Woman is the first book to paint a full picture of Jill Biden while exploring how she helps answer the evolving question of what the role of the modern First Lady should be.

Katie Rogers (Author), Karen Murray, Katie Rogers, TBD (Narrator)

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American Wings: Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky

From the acclaimed author of Flygirl and the bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes the thrilling and inspiring true story of the desegregation of the skies. In the years between World War I and World War II, aviation fever was everywhere, including among Black Americans. But what hope did a Black person have of learning to fly in a country constricted by prejudice and Jim Crow laws, where some previous Black aviators like Bessie Coleman had to move to France to earn their wings? American Wings follows a group of determined Black Americans: Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, skilled auto mechanics; Janet Harmon Bragg, a nurse; and Willa Brown, a teacher and social worker. Together, they created a flying club and built their own airfield on Chicago's South Side. As the U.S. hurtled toward World War II, they established a school to train new pilots, teaching both Black and white students together and proving, in a time when the U.S. military was still segregated, that successful integration was possible. Complete with black-and-white photographs throughout, American Wings brings to light a hidden history of pioneering Black men and women who, with grit and resilience, battled powerful odds for an equal share of the sky.

Elizabeth Wein, Sherri L. Smith (Author), Karen Murray, TBD (Narrator)

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Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism

The "extraordinary" (New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice) story of FDR's fight for the soul of American capitalism-from award-winning journalist Diana B. Henriques, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust "I thought I was well versed in the New Deal, but it turns out I knew next to nothing. Diana Henriques's chronicle is meticulous, illuminating, and riveting."-Kurt Andersen, New York Times bestselling author of Evil Geniuses and Fantasyland Taming the Street describes how President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression. With deep reporting and vivid storytelling, Diana B. Henriques takes readers back to a time when America's financial landscape was a jungle ruled by the titans of vast wealth, largely unrestrained by government. Roosevelt ran for office in 1932 vowing to curb that ruthless capitalism and make the world of finance safer for ordinary savers and investors. His deeply personal campaign to tame the Street is one of the great untold dramas in American history. Success in this political struggle was far from certain for FDR and his New Deal allies, who included the political dynasty builder Joseph P. Kennedy and the future Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas. Wall Street's old guard, led by New York Stock Exchange president Richard Whitney, fought every new rule to the "last legal ditch." That clash-between two sharply different visions of financial power and federal responsibility-has shaped how "other people's money" is managed in the United States to this day. As inequality once again reaches Jazz Age levels, Henriques brings to life a time when the system worked-an idealistic moment when ordinary Americans knew what had to be done and supported leaders who could do it. A vital history and a riveting true-life thriller, Taming the Street raises an urgent and troubling question: What does capitalism owe to the common good?

Diana B. Henriques (Author), Karen Murray (Narrator)

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The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church

"An absolutely essential addition to the history of the Catholic Church, whose involvement in New World slavery sustained the Church and, thereby, helped to entrench enslavement in American society."-Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello and On Juneteenth In 1838, a group of America's most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. In this groundbreaking account, journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the saga of the Mahoney family, Swarns illustrates how the Church relied on slave labor and slave sales to sustain its operations and to help finance its expansion. The story begins with Ann Joice, a free Black woman and the matriarch of the Mahoney family. Joice sailed to Maryland in the late 1600s as an indentured servant, but her contract was burned and her freedom stolen. Her descendants, who were enslaved by Jesuit priests, passed down the story of that broken promise for centuries. One of those descendants, Harry Mahoney, saved lives and the church's money in the War of 1812, but his children, including Louisa and Anna, were put up for sale in 1838. One daughter managed to escape, but the other was sold and shipped to Louisiana. Their descendants would remain apart until Rachel Swarns's reporting in The New York Times finally reunited them. They would go on to join other GU272 descendants who pressed Georgetown and the Catholic Church to make amends, prodding the institutions to break new ground in the movement for reparations and reconciliation in America. Swarns's journalism has already started a national conversation about universities with ties to slavery. The 272 tells an even bigger story, not only demonstrating how slavery fueled the growth of the American Catholic Church but also shining a light on the enslaved people whose forced labor helped to build the largest religious denomination in the nation.

Rachel L. Swarns (Author), Karen Murray (Narrator)

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What They Found: Love on 145th Street

By the groundbreaking author of the award-winning Monster-a visionary who influenced and inspired a generation-this story take us back to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places. Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the 'good daughter' who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion. AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS: New York Times Bestselling Author 3-Time National Book Award Finalist Michael L. Printz Award 5 Coretta Scott King Awards 2 Newbery Honors National Ambassador for Young People's Literature (2012-2013) Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement Children's Literature Legacy Award

Walter Dean Myers (Author), Amanda Alcántara, Brandon Gill, Emana Rachelle, Heather Alicia Simms, JaQwan J. Kelly, James Fouhey, Jaqwan J. Kelly, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Kamali Minter, Karen Murray, Khaya Fraites, Shayna Small, Tyla Collier, William DeMeritt, William Demeritt (Narrator)

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Rikers: An Oral History

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE • A shocking, groundbreaking oral history of the infamous Rikers jail complex and an unflinching portrait of injustice and resilience told by the people whose lives have been forever altered by it "This mesmerizing and gut-wrenching book shows the brutal realities that tens of thousands of people have been forced to navigate, and survive, in America's most notorious jail."-Piper Kerman, New York Times bestselling author of Orange is the New Black What happens when you pack almost a dozen jails, bulging at the seams with society's cast-offs, onto a spit of landfill purposefully hidden from public view? Prize-winning journalists Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau have spent two years interviewing more than 130 people comprising a broad cross section of lives touched by New York City's Rikers Island prison complex-from incarcerated people and their relatives, to officers, lawyers, and commissioners, with stories spanning the 1970s to the present day. The portrait that emerges calls into question the very nature of justice in America. Offering a 360-degree view inside the country's largest detention complex, the deeply personal accounts-featured here for the first time-take readers on a harrowing journey into every corner of Rikers, a failed society unto itself that reflects society's failings as a whole. Dr. Homer Venters was shocked by the screams on his first day working at Rikers: "They're in solitary, just yelling . . . the yelling literally never stops." After a few months, though, Dr. Venters notes, one's ears adjust to the sounds. Nestor Eversley recalls how detainees made weapons from bones. Barry Campbell recalls hiding a razor blade in his mouth-"just in case". These are visceral stories of despair, brutality, resilience, humor, and hope, told by the people who were marooned on the island over the course of decades. As calls to shutter jails and reduce the number of incarcerated people grow louder across the country, with the movement to close the island complex itself at the forefront, Rikers is a resounding lesson about the human consequences of the incarceration industry.

Graham Rayman, Reuven Blau (Author), Cary Hite, Eric Jason Martin, Gisela Chipe, James Fouhey, Jonathan Beville, Jose T. Nateras, Kamali Minter, Karen Murray, Kiiri Sandy, Nancy Bober, Nathan Agin, Nicky Endres, Philip Hernandez (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Karen Murray