Audiobooks narrated by Michael Early

Published on the anniversary of when President Abraham Lincoln's order went into effect, this book offers listeners a unique look at the events that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating details, it includes excerpts from historical sources and new research that debunk myths about the Emancipation Proclamation and its causes. Complete with a timeline, glossary, and bibliography, Emancipation Proclamation is an engrossing new historical resource from award-winning children's book author Tonya Bolden.

Tonya Bolden (Author), Michael Early (Narrator)

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Elizabeth and Michael: The Queen of Hollywood and The King of Pop - A Love Story

From the moment Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson met, they were hooked on each other. Soon a deep friendship blossomed, unexpectedly unlike anything either had ever experienced. Through thick and thin, through their various emotional upheavals, through the peaks and valleys of their careers, through their personal traumas and heartaches, through the unending health issues and extreme physical pain that each experienced, and through the glare of the often merciless public spotlight, their bond held them together, and their love for each other endured. Donald Bogle skillfully recreates the moving narrative of Taylor and Jackson's experiences together and their intense emotional connection, without shying away from the controversies that swirled around them. Through interviews with friends and acquaintances of the two stars, as well as anonymous but credible sources, Elizabeth and Michael emerges as a tender, intimate look at this famous odd couple and a treasure to their millions o f fans.

Donald Bogle (Author), Michael Early (Narrator)

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The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race

National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin's 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time. In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin's 1962 "Letter to My Nephew," which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his fifteen-year-old namesake on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: "You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon." Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin's words ring as true as ever today. In response, she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. And she has turned to some of her generation's most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns. The Fire This Time is divided into three parts that shine a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestle with our current predicament, and envision a better future. Of the eighteen pieces, ten were written specifically for this volume. In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin's essay was published, entire generations have dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a "post-racial" society is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin's "fire next time" is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about. Contributors include Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Garnette Cadogan, Edwidge Danticat, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Mitchell S. Jackson, Honoree Jeffers, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Daniel Jose Older, Emily Raboteau, Claudia Rankine, Clint Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Wendy S. Walters, Isabel Wilkerson, and Kevin Young.

Jesmyn Ward (Author), Cherise Boothe, Kevin R. Free, Korey Jackson, Michael Early, Susan Spain (Narrator)

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Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings

A bold, deeply moving, and highly imaginative debut novel about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, in whose story the conflict between the American ideal of equality and the realities of slavery and racism played out in the most tragic of terms. In his vivid, original, and heartrending account of the thirty-seven-year relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one which began in Paris in 1789 and ended with Jefferson's death in 1826, Stephen O'Connor manages to be unsparing in his rendition of the hypocrisy of the slaveholder who wrote "all men are created equal," and yet to allow both of his protagonists their tender, beautiful, and deeply human moments. This is a novel in which nothing is what it seems, in which innocence shares the heart with evil. O'Connor's tale alternates among lush realism, rendered with a historian's eye for detail, a first person confession penned by Hemings after Jefferson has passed away, and fabulistic interludes in which Jefferson watches a movie about his life. Hemings fabricates an "invention" that becomes the whole world, and they run into each other "after an unimaginable length of time" on the New York City subway. Fundamentally, Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings is a story about yearning-for love, for justice, for an ideal world-and about the survival of hope, even in the midst of catastrophe.

Stephen O'Connor (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Lizan Mitchell, Michael Early (Narrator)

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The Jazz Palace

Acclaimed author Mary Morris returns to her Chicago roots in this sweeping novel that brilliantly captures the dynamic atmosphere and the dazzling music of the Jazz Age. In the midst of boomtown Chicago, two Jewish families have suffered terrible blows. The Lehrmans, who run a small hat factory, lost their beloved son Harold in a blizzard. The Chimbrovas, who run a saloon, lost three of their boys on the SS Eastland when it sank in 1915. Each family holds out hope that one of their remaining children will rise to carry on the family business. But Benny Lehrman has no interest in making hats. His true passion is piano-especially jazz. At night he sneaks down to the South Side, slipping into predominantly black clubs to hear jazz groups play. One night he is called out and asked to "sit in" on a group. His playing is first-rate, and the other musicians are impressed. One of them, the trumpeter, a black man named Napoleon, becomes Benny's close friend and musical collaborator, and their adventures together take Benny far from the life he knew as a delivery boy. Pearl Chimbrova recognizes their talent and invites them to start playing at her family's saloon, which Napoleon dubs "The Jazz Palace." But Napoleon's main gig is at a mob establishment, which doesn't take too kindly to freelancing. And as the '20s come to a close and the bubble of prosperity collapses, Benny, Napoleon, and Pearl must all make hard choices between financial survival and the music theylove.

Mary Morris (Author), Michael Early (Narrator)

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The Family Business

New York Times best-selling author Carl Weber and award-winning novelist Eric Pete team up to deliver the first in a much-anticipated new trilogy. The Family Business features two times the heat, two times the fun, and two times the drama as the members of an unforgettable family (not to mention lovers and hangers-on) find their way in and out of trouble. As their many fans will attest, Weber and Pete share a talent for penning juicy fiction that their audience can't get enough of.

Carl Weber, Eric Pete (Author), Adam Alexander, Carra Patterson, Corey Allen, Ezra Knight, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd (Narrator)

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What You Sow

Connoisseurs of edgy, contemporary African-American fiction find the novels of Wallace Fordprime offerings. In this riveting sequel, a powerful and unscrupulous investment banker learns the hard way that what goes up must come down. Ever since Gordon Perkins made off with his partners' money, he's been living fast, but losing even faster.

Wallace Ford (Author), Caroline Clay, Ezra Knight, James Yaegashi, Michael Early, Nyambi Nyambi, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Various Readers, Various Readers (Narrator)

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Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue

As did his father before him, Pierce Butler treats his plantation slaves like family. But massive gambling debts force him to sell 429 "family" members. When the auction begins, torrential rain falls-not stopping until the final slave is sold the next day. The ominous rainfall prompts these words: "This ain't rain. This is God's tears." Based on the largest slave auction in U.S. history, this poignant montage is the fictionalized account of that 1859 Georgia tragedy. All the shrieks and groans, the betrayal and fury, the sorrow and regret are here in the stark, vivid monologues that pour from the souls of master and slave, auctioneer and observer during this "Weeping Time."

Julius Lester (Author), Andy Paris, Ezra Knight, Jill Tanner, John McDonough, Jonathan Davis, Julia Gibson, Katy Kellgren, Kevin R. Free, L.J. Ganser, Lizan Mitchell, Marc Damon Johnson, Marc Johnson, Michael Early, Nick Landrum, Nyambi Nyambi, Richard Ferrone, Ruth Ann Phimister, Sisi Aisha Johnson, Susan Spain, Tom Stechschulte, Tom Stechshulte (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Michael Early