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Audiobooks Narrated by Robert Fass
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"A "meticulously researched and comprehensive" (Financial Times) history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa's Congo
At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of western Europe. It borders nine other nations, and since 1996 it has been racked by a brutal war in which millions have died. In Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, renowned political activist and researcher Jason Stearns has written a compelling and deeply reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters tells the full story of Africa's great war. "
"A chilling documentary history of the most notorious cults of the past two thousand years, from the Celtic druids whose ritual sacrifices inspired the folk horror film The Wicker Man all the way up to the Peoples Temple and Heaven's Gate
A Penguin Classic
The word "cult" conjures images of people in thrall to a charismatic leader who extracts obedience through lies and threats, and of apocalyptic prophecies, ritual sacrifices, sexual perversion, and mass suicide. The Penguin Book of Cults charts the history of our fear of the religious other: the arrest and public execution of thousands of members of an ancient Roman cult devoted to Bacchus, the god of wine; the burning alive of victims in giant wicker effigies as an offering to Celtic gods; the nocturnal orgies, murder of children, and demon worship of medieval heretics; a church of "human vampires" in nineteenth-century Kansas City; moral panics over the hypnotic powers of yoga; and mass casualty events like the sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.
Bringing to light little-known sources such as a "death tape" of Jonestown's final hour, when Jim Jones led more than 900 of his followers to drink poison, and a minute-by-minute log of the FBI's final assault on the Branch Davidian headquarters, and including accounts of drinking the blood of sacrificed cats, theories that we are living inside a hollow earth, and reports that space brothers from Venus are coming to redeem us from the threat of nuclear war, this volume opens a fascinating window into cults and why some of them have ended in spectacular violence."
"With his customary verve and insight, Terry Roberts's latest novel is an evocative portrait of humankind's capacity for courage, love, and hope as well as folly, and another love ballad to his region of North Carolina.
Clinton Salter is the sheriff who never wanted to be sheriff. A World War II veteran and widower, he is elected due to the political machinations of his brother. His new territory is the fabled Madison County, North Carolina—a place of the steepest mountain ridges and most isolated coves and valleys. A place where the seasons matter more than the calendar and the past is as real as the present.
When he first takes office, he hopes only to deal with the drunk and disorderly and stolen tractors, but matters quickly accelerate into arson, grave robbing, and murder, and he begins to suspect his own brother's motives. He finds solace in the friendship of Catherine Metcalf, a lonely high school principal whose husband has been in a coma and dying for years. Their only refuge is Clinton's farm high in the mountains, where they can retreat from the world. As they seek to create a new life for themselves and the county, political violence and family cruelty threaten to shatter their visions."
"A couple's new life in Lisbon unravels in this heady and unsettling psychological thriller from one of Spain's most celebrated writers.
A man travels to Lisbon ahead of his wife to prepare their new home, while she stays in New York to oversee a research project on the neuroscience of memory and fear. Leaving behind a phase of their relationship indelibly marked by 9/11, the man revels in the Portuguese capital's temperate weather and the neighborhood's calmness, meticulously planning the details of their future.
Yet beneath the peace and quiet of this routine, he feels a growing unease he can't explain. Is it the similarity between the two cities, and the two apartments? A mysterious threat waiting in the wings?
A brilliant, deceptively simple novel of psychological suspense, Your Steps on the Stairs explores how our emotions and memories shape our perception of reality. With his subtle, masterful style, Antonio Muñoz Molina lays bare the fragility of the stories we so carefully craft about ourselves."
"An exciting audio adaptation of the classic DC comic book series, All-Star Superman by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, featuring a full cast, sound effects, and music.
All-Star Superman is a spectacular reimagining of the Superman mythos, from the Man of Steel's origin to his greatest foes and beyond and is considered one of the most iconic storylines in the character's history. In the audiobook, The Man of Steel goes toe-to-toe with Bizarro, his oddball twin, and the new character Zibarro, also from the Bizarro planet. And Superman faces the final revenge of Lex Luthor in the form of his own death!
Adapted from writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely's brilliant vision of the Man of Steel, this is one of the greatest Superman stories ever imagined."
"The panoramic, untold story of domestic terrorism and political radicalism in '60s and '70s New York City and its echoes in our current moment
New York City in the 1960s was the beating heart of the United States, a global metropolis thriving on its abundance and diversity. But in a short time, "Gotham" went through an extraordinary transition. The postwar golden years gave way to a frantic era of social, political, racial, and economic turmoil. Groups with their own distinct ideological aims gained a presence in the city. And with this frenzied new era came a new wave of violence.
Terrorism has had an impact on the course of US history far greater and for far longer than is commonly understood. The ripple effects of this largely forgotten moment-and importantly, how the authorities countered-have played a significant role in how contemporary American life has unfolded.
Professor at the Center on Terrorism at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, David Viola unveils archival collections, newly declassified files, and preserved court records in this groundbreaking account of New York City's divergent radical groups, bringing to light a candid picture of remarkable people in a remarkable setting."
"From Douglas Waller, New York Times bestselling author of Wild Bill Donovan, an intimate and expertly researched biography of little-known early CIA leader Frank Wisner, whose behind-the-scenes influence on Cold War policy--and hundreds of highly secret anti-Soviet missions--resonates with the international crises we see today.
Frank Wisner was one of the most powerful men in 1950s Washington, though few knew it. Reporting directly to senior U.S. officials--his work largely hidden from Congress and the public-- Wisner masterminded some of the CIA's most daring and controversial operations in the early years of the Cold War, commanding thousands of clandestine agents around the world.
Following an early career marked by exciting escapades as a key World War II spy under General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Wisner quickly rose through the postwar intelligence ranks to lead a newly created top-secret unit tasked--under little oversight--with overseeing massive propaganda, economic warfare, sabotage, subversion, and guerrilla operations all over the world, including such daring initiatives as the CIA-backed coups in Iran and Guatemala.
But simultaneously, Wisner faced a demon few at the time understood: bipolar disorder. When this debilitating disease resulted in his breakdown and transfer to a mental hospital, the repercussions were felt throughout Washington's highest levels of power.
Waller's sensitive and exhaustively researched biography is the riveting story of both Frank Wisner as a national figure who inspired a cadre of future CIA secret warriors, and also an intimate and empathetic portrait of a man whose harrowing struggle with bipolar disorder makes his impressive accomplishments on the world stage even more remarkable."
"A swoonworthy queer romance set against a riveting story of social change in the 1880s, this historical novel reimagines the life of America's first stunt girl-a young undercover reporter-and her whirlwind summer of romance and fighting injustice.
Seventeen-year-old Helena "Nell" Cusack came to New York this summer looking for a story-a real story. She dreams of one day writing hard-hitting articles for the New York Chronicle, but so far she's only managed to land a job as a lowly society reporter. That is, until Alice Austen strolls into her life, an audacious street photographer who encourages Nell to shake up polite society…and maybe also take a chance on love.
When her best friend, Lucia, is injured while working in a garment factory, Nell is determined to crack the story wide open. Posing as a seamstress, she reports on the conditions from the inside, making a name for herself as the Chronicle's first ever stunt girl. But as Nell's reporting gains momentum, so do the objections of those who oppose her. Will Nell continue to seek justice-even if it hurts her in the end?
Based on real-life stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen, this tenderly drawn narrative is about bringing buried stories to light and the bravery of first love."
"What has happened to the dream of beloved community embraced by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement of the early 1960s—the vision of a just, humane, and colorblind America, a nation of 'black and white together' animated by mutual respect and strengthened by the bonds of brotherly love? As Adam Gussow shows, the dream, although pressured on every front, remains alive.
At the heart of My Family and I is Gussow's determination to live out the meaning of America's creed—a quest for transracial brotherhood that takes him from a blues partnership forged on the streets of 1980s Harlem through graduate training at Princeton and, decades later, a transformative course on the blues literary tradition that he shares with inmates at Mississippi's notorious Parchman Farm. Anchoring Gussow's quest is a story of enduring love: an interracial romance between the newly hired professor at Ole Miss and his soon-to-be-wife that blossoms with the birth of a musically gifted son. As America explodes with protest and riots in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, as social justice fundamentalists insist on stigmatizing whiteness and hardening the color line rather than healing divisions, Gussow is forced to fight for what he loves.
My Family and I gifts the listener with hope for a future beyond America's seemingly insoluble racial dilemmas."
"An in-the-room account of John Colt's scandalous nineteenth-century murder trial from 'America's principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers' (BostonReview).
In this masterful account, renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter takes you into the life and crimes of convicted murderer John Caldwell Colt, drawing parallels between John's rise to notoriety and his brother Samuel Colt's rise to fame as the inventor of the legendary revolver. With a killing that made headlines around the nation, John Colt became a cultural touchstone whose shocking villainy inspired and provoked such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville.
Unlike his brother, John lived a nomadic existence, bouncing from one job to another. His one distinction, writing a reference accounting book, would play a part in his fall from grace, for in New York City, on September 17, 1841, John murdered printer Samuel Adams with a hatchet during a heated argument over proceeds from book sales.
A media circus ensued, galvanizing the penny press, which printed lurid headlines and gruesome woodcut illustrations. The standing-room-only trial created unforgettable moments in legal history, including such dramatic evidence as Samuel Adams's decomposed head. The verdict and its aftermath would reverberate throughout the country and beyond, giving John Colt lasting infamy."
"A collection of the year’s best essays, selected by Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Wesley Morris and series editor Kim Dana Kupperman.
“Imparting some piece of yourself—any part—is arduous and warrants some kind of commendation,” writes guest editor Wesley Morris in his introduction. Both personal and personable, the essayists in this volume use their own vulnerability to guide readers on excursions that unfold on uncomfortable edges. From contemplating the nuances of memory to exploring the complexities of family, romance, gender identity, illness, and death, Morris’s selection of essays presents a roundup of the thinkers who masterfully grapple with the issues of our time.
The Best American Essays 2024 includes TEJU COLE • MICHAEL W. CLUNE • YIYUN LI • JAMES McAULEY • RÉMY NGAMIJE • JENNIFER SENIOR • SALLIE TISDALE • JERALD WALKER • JENISHA WATTS and others"
"Hailed "the deepest and the best" of a Pulitzer-Prize winning author's novels, a business man struggles to restore his faith after his son is killed (New York Times Book Review).
In 1960s New York, Edward Ives is a picture of the American dream. Adopted as a child by a widowed print shop manager who helped him cultivate a love of drawing, he now has a successful career as an illustrator in advertising, a beautiful home with his wife and muse, Annie, and two loving children. But this idyllic life is brutally wrenched away when Ives's 17-year-old son, Robert is murdered in a crime of opportunity that proves to be as random as it is senseless.
Consumed by grief, Ives withdraws from the world. Grappling with a loss of faith-a force that has guided him steadfastly since childhood-he starts to question every aspect of human existence, contemplating what it really means to live an emotionally and spiritually fulfilling life. This mourning consumes him-until faces his son's killer.
Mr. Ives' Christmas is a tender, passionate story of a man working to rediscover what it means to love and forgive after unspeakable tragedy. It is another tremendous achievement from one of America's most talented writers.
Includes a Reading Group Guide."
