Audiobooks narrated by Luis Soto

The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon

"A revelatory new biography of the writer-activist who inspired today's movements for racial liberation In the era of Black Lives Matter, Frantz Fanon's shadow looms larger than ever. He was the intellectual activist of the postcolonial era, and his writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements across the world. In this searching biography, Adam Shatz tells the story of Fanon's stunning journey, which has all the twists of a Cold War-era thriller. Fanon left his modest home in Martinique to fight in the French Army during World War II; when the war was over, he fell under the influence of Existentialism while studying medicine in Lyon and trying to make sense of his experiences as a Black man in a white city. Fanon went on to practice a novel psychiatry of 'dis-alienation' in rural France and Algeria, and then join the Algerian independence struggle, where he became a spokesman, diplomat, and clandestine strategist. He died in 1961, while under the care of the CIA in a Maryland hospital. Today, Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth have become canonical texts of the Black and global radical imagination, comparable to James Baldwin's essays in their influence. And yet they are little understood. In The Rebel's Clinic, Shatz offers a dramatic reconstruction of Fanon's extraordinary life--and a guide to the books that underlie today's most vital efforts to challenge white supremacy and racial capitalism."

Adam Shatz (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Charles Leclerc: A Biography

"From acclaimed journalist Adam Hay-Nicholls, the very first biography of rising star Charles Leclerc. Few of the drivers on the F1 grid have the racing pedigree of Charles Leclerc. Widely regarded as one of the sport's hottest prospects, he was crowned F3 and then F2 champion in back-to-back seasons before he made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018. Now firmly established as Ferrari's great hope, following in the footsteps of legends Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher, Leclerc has his eyes set on becoming world champion. Born in Monaco to a family of comparatively modest means, Leclerc remembers playing with toy cars on a friend's balcony as the best drivers in the world whizzed around the Monte Carlo circuit on the streets below. This early experience inspired him to get behind the wheel, encouraged by his father Hervé, and so began his meteoric rise in the sport. Along the way, he lost his father, his godfather and his best friend - all racing drivers - and this gave Leclerc the inner steel to become a winner. Writer Adam Hay-Nicholls, who has spent much of his career in the Formula One paddock, provides the inside track on this rising star, recounting how he has taken the racing world by storm. And as Leclerc's Ferrari is beginning to fire on all cylinders, will he beat his old rival and adversary Max Verstappen to the world title?"

Adam Hay-Nicholls (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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The Seaweed Revolution: Uncovering the Secrets of Seaweed and How It Can Save the Planet

"Of all the unexploited resources in the world, seaweed is the greatest. Without it, there would be no crustaceans, nor fish. The ocean would be a desert without carbon or oxygen, and half of our atmosphere’s oxygen would be gone. The most recent research tells us that seaweed is one possible solution for our future on the planet. It could feed human beings, reduce plastic pollution, absorb enough carbon to cool the atmosphere, reconstruct generative ecosystems, treat certain illnesses that are incurable today, replace land livestock farming that exhausts the environment, and give jobs to coastal populations. The seaweed revolution is a hope for tomorrow!"

Vincent Doumeizel (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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The English Adventurer: Conquistador Book 2

"When there is gold then there will be those who wish to take it. If the gold is aboard a ship then there will be pirates. Thomas is a former slave who has become a gunner on a Spanish galleon. His life is no less parlous than when he was a slave but through courage and determination, not to mention more than a little luck, he becomes successful and joins Francisco Pizzaro as the conquistador conquers an empire with less than 200 men."

Griff Hosker (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Estoril

"Set in a luxurious grand hotel just outside Lisbon, at the height of the Second World War, 'Estoril' is a delightful and poignant novel about exile, divided loyalties, fear and survival. The hotel's guests include spies, fallen kings, refugees from the Balkans, Nazis, American diplomats and stateless Jews. The Portuguese secret police broodingly observe the visitors, terrified that their country's neutrality will be compromised. The novel seamlessly fuses the stories of its invented characters with appearances by historical figures like the ex-King Carol of Romania, the great Polish pianist Jan Paderewski, the British agent Ian Fleming, the Russian chess grandmaster Alexander Alekhine and the French writer and flyer Antoine de St Exupery, who forms a poignant friendship with a young Jewish boy living alone in the hotel. The stories, most of them true, from Popov's rigorous debriefings by his German intelligence handler to Alekhine's terrible death, are extraordinary... ['Estoril' is] a diverting romp' ― The Sunday Times 'Oddly captivating' ― Spectator - Born in the former Yugoslavia in 1965, Dejan Tiago-Stanković is an author and translator. He studied architecture in Belgrade before moving to London. Since 1996 he has lived in Lisbon, translating between his native Serbo-Croatian and Portuguese."

Dejan Tiago-Stankovic (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Give Me Liberty: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and His Daring Quest for a Free Cuba

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David E. Hoffman comes the riveting biography of Oswaldo Payá, a dissident who dared to defy Fidel Castro, inspiring thousands of Cubans to fight for democracy. Oswaldo Payá was seven years old when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, promising to create a 'free, democratic, and just Cuba.' But Castro instead created an authoritarian regime with little tolerance of free speech or thought. His secret police were trained to crush dissent by East Germany's ruthless Stasi. Throughout Cuba's 20th century history, the dream of democracy was often just within reach, only to be dashed by dictatorship and revived again by a new generation. Payá inherited this dream and it became his life's work. As a teenager in Communist Cuba, he led a protest against the Soviet-led shattering of the Prague Spring. Before long, he was sent to Castro's forced labor camps. Payá later became a leading voice of opposition and formed a pro-democracy movement. A devoted Catholic, he championed a simple, bedrock belief that rights are bestowed by God, and not the state. Every day, he witnessed these rights trampled in Cuba. He could not stay silent. Payá's most daring challenge to the Cuban government was the Varela Project, a one-page citizen petition demanding free speech, a free press, freedom of association, freedom of belief, private enterprise, free elections and freedom for political prisoners. More than 35,000 people signed the Varela Project, an extraordinary outpouring of protest--with nothing more than pen and paper--against Castro's decades of despotism. The regime responded by ignoring the petition, arresting dozens of Payá's followers and sending them to prison for many years. After receiving multiple death threats, Payá was killed in a suspicious car wreck on a remote country road. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David E. Hoffman returns with an epic portrait of a lone individual who had the courage, faith, and persistence to struggle for democracy against an unforgiving dictator. At its heart, Give Me Liberty is a sweeping account of one country's tragic and continuing struggle for its"

David E. Hoffman (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest

"Brought to you by Penguin. The first book of the next crisis. All economic and financial activities take place across time. Interest coordinates these activities. The story of capitalism is thus the story of interest: the price that individuals, companies and nations pay to borrow money. In The Price of Time, Edward Chancellor traces the history of interest from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia, through debates about usury in Restoration Britain and John Law ' s ill-fated Mississippi scheme, to the global credit booms of the twenty-first century. We generally assume that high interest rates are harmful, but Chancellor argues that, whenever money is too easy, financial markets become unstable. He takes the story to the present day, when interest rates have sunk lower than at any time in the five millennia since they were first recorded - including the extraordinary appearance of negative rates in Europe and Japan - and highlights how this has contributed to profound economic insecurity and financial fragility. Chancellor reveals how extremely low interest rates not only create asset price inflation but are also largely responsible for weak economic growth, rising inequality, zombie companies, elevated debt levels and the pensions crises that have afflicted the West in recent years - conditions under which economies cannot possibly thrive. At the same time, easy money in China has inflated an epic real estate bubble, accompanied by the greatest credit and investment boom in history. As the global financial system edges closer to yet another crisis, Chancellor shows that only by understanding interest can we hope to face the challenges ahead. © Edward Chancellor 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022"

Edward Chancellor (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Antonio

"Benjamim, a young man on the cusp of fatherhood, discovers a disturbing family secret: before his father was born, his paternal grandfather had a child with Benjamim's mother. With both men dead, Benjamim turns to three of their confidantes to piece together his family history: Haroldo, his grandfather's best friend; Isabel, his grandmother; and Raul, a friend from his father's youth. Through their conflicting testimonies, full of blind spots and contradictions, Benjamim will gradually learn of the secrets and conflicts that shattered his wealthy family; of his father's search for meaning in the poverty of the backlands, and of his slide into madness. In prose of great subtlety and penetrating insight, Beatriz Bracher builds an indelible portrait of a family and a society in decay. “Bracher brilliantly picks away at the web of secrets and lies plaguing a family and country” NEW YORK TIMES “Bracher takes a dazzling look at the invisible burdens that haunt a well-to-do family in contemporary Brazil... Bracher simultaneously pulls off a searing portrait of class in São Paulo... and of both hereditary trauma and family tenderness. This spellbinding and surprising work announced Bracher as one of the most fascinating contemporary Brazilian writers” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW “Bracher crafts a layered story which brims with mystery and tension... a darkly poetic and deeply moving tragedy” ASYMPTOTE “An intricate multigenerational saga, Bracher's novel is stunning in its complexity and magisterial in its storytelling... It is a captivating story, full of the seductive pull of family secrets and colorful characters. Yet the novel becomes a masterpiece in its use of form to examine the nature of storytelling, the fallibility of memory, and the limitations of perspective"

Beatriz Bracher (Author), Joan Walker, Luis Soto, Saul Reichlin (Narrator)

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España: A Brief History of Spain

"Bestselling author Giles Tremlett traverses the rich and varied history of Spain, from prehistoric times to today, in a brief, accessible primer for visitors, curious listeners and hispanophiles. Spain's position on Europe's south-western corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilizational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians, and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the near east. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Circular winds and currents linked it to the American continent, allowing Spain to conquer and colonize much of it. As a result, Spain has developed a sort of hybrid vigour. Whenever it has tried to deny this inevitable heterogeneity, it has required superhuman effort to fashion a 'pure' national identity – which has proved impossible to maintain. In España, Giles Tremlett argues that, in fact, that lack of a homogenous identity is Spain's defining trait. PRAISE FOR GILES TREMLETT: 'Lively and well-informed ... At once a history, a journalistic inquiry and a travel book' Sunday Telegraph. 'A feast of a book' Irish Times. 'A transfixing, elegantly written account of Spain today' Metro. 'Tremlett writes with humour, modesty and a great affection for his subject'. --Daily Telegraph 'An invaluable book ... Ghosts of Spain has become something of a bible for those of us extranjeros who have chosen to live in Spain ... A country finally facing its past could scarcely hope for a better, or more enamored chronicler of its present' New York Times Book Review."

Giles Tremlett (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Old Man on a Bike

"Outrageously irresponsible and undeniably liberating, Simon Gandolfi's OLD MAN ON A BIKE will fire the imaginations of every traveller, young or old. At 73 years old, Simon Gandolfi sets off from Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico to embark on a five and a half month journey culminating at 'the end of the world', Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. For Simon this is a journey of discovery. Leaving behind the safety and sanctuary of friends and family, he is truly alone but along the way he meets and talks with rich and poor, old and young, officials and professionals, agricultural and industrial workers. This expertly written travelogue reveals not only the stories of those he meets, and his own, but also that of Latin America, its attitudes to itself, to the USA and the UK in the aftermath of the Iraq war and the realities of the poverty and endemic corruption throughout much of this continent."

Simon Gandolfi (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Conquistador

"When a young boy and his father, a master gunner, leave their home in Devon they cannot know that piracy will become their life, for a while, at least. Set in the early days of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and with a young King Henry on the throne of England, this is a novel of discovery and riches, slavery and death. It is a time of innovation when guns changed from being firing tubes to cannons that could bring death and destruction. Above all, it is the story of a youth who, against the odds, becomes a man, and more becomes a master gunner in his own right. This is the first part of a series that will culminate in the heights of the Andes where the power of the Spanish comes up against the Incas in their mountain eyries."

Griff Hosker (Author), Luis Soto (Narrator)

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Trash

"Brought to you by Penguin. Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope. It's a bag that will change everything. Soon Raphael and his friends Gardo and Rat are running for their lives. Wanted by the police, it takes all their quick-thinking, fast-talking to stay ahead. As the net tightens, they uncover a dead man's mission to put right a terrible wrong. And now it's three street-boys against the world... © Andy Mulligan 2010 (P) Penguin Audio 2021"

Andy Mulligan (Author), Federico Louhau, Florencia Cordeu, Fran Canals, Javier Fernandez, Jot Davies, Luis Soto, Nathalie Buscombe (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Luis Soto

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