Audiobooks narrated by Bob Souer

Golden State: The Making of California Audiobook

From Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik, a definitive new history of California—from the Spanish conquistadors to the Gold Rush to the state’s meteoric rise as a tech powerhouse and bulwark of progressivism—and of its indelible mark on the United States and the world. California has long reigned as the land of plenty, a place where the sun always shines and opportunity beckons. Even prior to its statehood in 1850, it captured the world’s imagination. We think of bearded prospectors lured by the promise of gold; we imagine its early embrace of immigrant labor during the railroad boom as prologue to its diverse social fabric today. But what lies underneath the myth is far more complicated. Thanks to extensive research by Michael Hiltzik, one of our longstanding voices on California, Golden State uncovers the unvarnished truth about the state we think we know well. From Spanish incursions into what became known as Alta California to the rise of Big Tech, the history of California is one of stark contradictions. In rich, previously overlooked detail, we see its earliest statesmen wreak havoc among native peoples while racing to draft their own constitution even ahead of statehood. Gold-hungry settlers venture into the Sierra foothills only to leave with little, while a handful of their suppliers turn themselves into millionaire railroad magnates. Wars erupt in the name of water as Los Angeles booms, and early efforts to tame the vast landscape create a haven for fossil fuel extraction and environmental conservation alike. Hollywood politicians stoke fear, contributing to a centuries-long tradition of anti-Asian violence, and, remarkably, legal redlining and free higher education take root together. Golden State brings a fresh critical eye to the origins of the state against which the rest of the country measures itself. From its very start, Hiltzik shows, the story of the United States was written in California.

Michael Hiltzik (Author), Bob Souer, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle

Skid Road tells the story of Seattle 'from the bottom up,' offering an informal and engaging portrait of the Emerald City's first century, as seen through the lives of some of its most colorful citizens. With his trademark combination of deep local knowledge, precision, and wit, Murray Morgan traces the city's history from its earliest days as a hacked-from-the-wilderness timber town, touching on local tribes, settlers, the lumber and railroad industries, the great fire of 1889, the Alaska gold rush, flourishing dens of vice, the 1919 general strike, the 1962 World's Fair, and the stuttering growth of the 1970s and '80s. Through it all, Morgan shows us that Seattle's one constant is change and that its penchant for reinvention has always been fueled by creative, if sometimes unorthodox, residents. With a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Mary Ann Gwinn, this redesigned edition of Murray Morgan's classic work is a must for those interested in how Seattle got to where it is today.

Murray Morgan (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Puget's Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound

With the same ability to make personalities and events come alive that characterizes his classic Skid Road, Murray Morgan here tells the colorful story of Tacoma, 'the City of Destiny,' and southern Puget Sound, where many major events of Washington's history took place. Drawing upon original journals and reports, Morgan builds Puget's Sound around individuals, interweaving portraits of well-known historical figures with a raucous parade of saloonkeepers, politicians, union organizers, schemers, and swindlers. His account begins with the landing of Captain Vancouver in Puget Sound in 1792 and ends with the founding of Fort Lewis in 1916. Between are the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, the boom-and-bust of lumber mills, the anti-Chinese riots of 1885, and more distinctive Northwest history that will intrigue both new arrivals and longtime residents. With a new introduction by historian and historic preservationist Michael Sean Sullivan, this redesigned edition of Puget's Sound brings new life to Morgan's landmark history.

Murray Morgan (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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The Last Wilderness

Murray Morgan's classic history of the Olympic Peninsula, originally published in 1955, evokes a remote American wilderness 'as large as the state of Massachusetts, more rugged than the Rockies, its lowlands blanketed by a cool jungle of fir and pine and cedar, its peaks bearing hundreds of miles of living ice that gave rise to swift rivers alive with giant salmon.' Drawing on historical research and personal tales collected from docks, forest trails, and waterways, Morgan recounts vivid adventures of the area's settlers—loggers, hunters, prospectors, homesteaders, utopianists, murderers, profit-seekers, conservationists, Wobblies, and bureaucrats—alongside stories of coastal first peoples and striking descriptions of the peninsula's wildlife and land. Freshly redesigned and with a new introduction by poet and environmentalist Tim McNulty, this humor-filled saga and landmark love story of one of the most formidably beautiful regions of the Pacific Northwest will inform and engage a new generation of listeners.

Murray Morgan (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life (Engaging Catholicism)

We can't just talk about Christ's presence in the Eucharist; we have to believe it, celebrate it, and live it both individually and as a community of the faithful. And we must cultivate a culture in our parishes that treats Real Presence not only as an important Catholic doctrine, but also as the most important part of parish identity. In Becoming Eucharistic People, theologian Timothy P. O'Malley, author of Real Presence, outlines four essential dimensions of a Eucharistic culture in a parish—one that fosters reverence and unity among the faithful, includes every dimension of human life in the mystery of Christ's Body and Blood, and invites people back to parish life or to become Catholic for the first time. O'Malley shows what it means to foster a parish culture where the Eucharist infuses the worldview, priorities, and practices of its members. O’Malley leads you through discovery and discernment about how to create a parish culture where each person is called to holiness and receives the spiritual, theological, and pastoral help they need to meet Christ fully present in the Eucharist and to become a witness to him in the world.

McGrath Institute for Church Life, Timothy P. O'Malley (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization

Western civilization is generally regarded as the child of Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome. That is, in the West, our philosophical and political thought is derived from that of the ancient Greeks; our Christian religion comes from the Jewish religion, and both of these came to us via the Roman Empire. Western society has other forefathers as well: we would be unwise to give the Byzantine Empire short shrift. The ways in which it has influenced our world for the good, and indeed, created the parameters of our society at its healthiest and strongest, are insufficiently appreciated today. If the United States were to last as long as the Roman Empire, including its Byzantine period, it would have to continue as an independent country until the year 2899. To maintain a unified nation state for over eleven hundred years is a remarkable achievement by any standard, and the Romans accomplished it while facing existential threats and efforts to extinguish their polity during virtually every period of their existence. Now, nearly six hundred years after the demise of the empire, its influence still resonates in a number of fields. There is no arguing with success. It's time we took notice.

Robert Spencer (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential

You have a calling. First, God calls us all to know and love him. Second, for each individual there is a specific call-a defining purpose or mission, with implications for all of life. In this classic book on vocation, Gordon Smith invites you to discover your calling by listening to God and becoming a coworker with him. Courage and Calling has helped thousands of readers explore questions such as these: What is my calling? How do I live it out in the midst of difficult relationships or moral challenges? Will my vocation change as I enter a new stage of life? With competing needs and demands, how can I craft a balanced way of living? Smith explores how to pursue excellence in all kinds of work and how to continue growing throughout a lifetime. He also considers four examples of particular callings: business, the arts, education, and religious leadership. This third edition includes a new chapter that explores how a church community can be a dynamic venue for discerning vocation.

Gordon T. Smith (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation

A New York Times-bestselling historian charts how and why societies from ancient Greece to the modern era chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization-sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to Hiroshima, moments when war has ended in utter annihilation have reverberated through the centuries, signaling the end of political systems, cultures, and epochs. Though much has changed over the millennia, human nature remains the same. Modern societies are not immune from the horror of a war of extinction. In The End of Everything, military historian Victor Davis Hanson narrates a series of sieges and sackings that span the age of antiquity to the conquest of the New World to show how societies descend into barbarism and obliteration. In the stories of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Tenochtitlan, he depicts war's drama, violence, and folly. Highlighting the naivete that plagued the vanquished and the wrath that justified mass slaughter, Hanson delivers a sobering call to contemporary readers to heed the lessons of obliteration lest we blunder into catastrophe once again.

Victor Davis Hanson (Author), Bob Souer, TBD (Narrator)

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Searching for Franklin: New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery

Two of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin's expeditions were monumental failures. Yet many still see the Royal Navy man as a heroic figure who sacrificed himself to discover the Northwest Passage. This book interweaves two narratives. The first treats the Royal Navy's Arctic Overland Expedition of 1819, a harbinger-misadventure during which Franklin rejected the advice of Dene and Metis leaders and lost eleven of his twenty-one men. The second discovers a startling new answer to that greatest of Arctic mysteries: what was the root cause of the catastrophe that engulfed Franklin's last expedition? The well-preserved wrecks of Erebus and Terror promise to yield more clues about what cost the lives of the expedition members, some of whom were reduced to cannibalism. Contemporary researchers continue to seek conclusive evidence both underwater and on land. Drawing on his own research and Inuit oral accounts, McGoogan teases out many intriguing aspects of Franklin's expeditions, including the explorer's lethal hubris in ignoring the expert advice of the Dene leader Akaitcho. Franklin disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, yet people remain fascinated with his final doomed voyage: what happened?

Ken Mcgoogan (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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The Dogma of Christ: And Other Essays on Religion, Psychology and Culture

'Fromm's developing thought merits the critical attention of all concerned with the human condition and its future.' -The Washington Post The essays in this fascinating volume examine present-day psychological and cultural problems with the keen insight and humanistic sympathies characteristic of Erich Fromm's work. The Dogma of Christ provides some of the sharpest critical insights into how the contemporary world of human destructiveness and violence can no longer separate religion, psychology, and politics. The book brilliantly summarizes Fromm's ideas on how culture and society shape our behavior.

Erich Fromm (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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The End of the Modern World: With Power and Responsibility

Two monumental works on the nature of the modern age by Romano Guardini, one of the most important Catholic figures of the 20th century. This expanded edition of The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation includes its sequel, Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for the New Age. In both, Guardini analyzes modern man's conception of himself in the world, and examines the nature and use of power. It is the principle of individual responsibility that weaves both works into a seamless, comprehensive, and compelling moral statement. Guardini tirelessly argues that human beings are responsible moral agents, possessed of free will, and answerable to God and their fellow man. On The End of the Modern World: "This book will cauterize the spirit of any man who reads it; it will burn away that sentimentality with which so many today view the advent of the new order, imagining - as they do - that a fully technologized universe can retain every significant cultural and traditional value sustained by the past." - Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, founding editor of Triumph magazine and professor at the University of Dallas On Power and Responsibility: "If the characteristic of Hellenic civilization is to be summed up in the word logos, the characteristic of our own is more exactly summed up in the word power. The fact itself is a challenge to the wisdom of man. One is grateful that Romano Guardini has taken up the challenge... I highly recommend the book to all who are wise enough to know today's need to wisdom. That is, I recommend the book to every thoughtful mind." - John Courtney Murray, S.J., architect of the Vatican II "Declaration on Religious Liberty" and author of We Hold These Truths

Romano Guardini (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them

The world is encountering multiple crises-climate, droughts, floods, energy, food, and pandemics, to name a few. We have a problem, this is the solution. Capitalism and Crises is about how capitalism can fix them-how it can solve not cause them. The reason why it has caused them is that we have misconceived the nature of our capitalist system. We have failed to understand the key institution at the heart of it-business-and as a result we have allowed it to cause as well as solve problems. This book describes why this has happened and what needs to change to address it. Drawing on history, philosophy, psychology, and biology as well economics, law, and finance, Mayer describes what has gone wrong, what needs to change, and how to fix it. He sets out the big challenges that capitalism must address and how it should set about doing that, and discusses how financial institutions should be at the heart of this, and how the public sector can work with the private on a common purpose of solving problems and creating shared prosperity. Capitalism and Crises provides an inspiring and motivational roadmap of how we as practitioners, policymakers, consumers, employees, communities, students, and citizens of the world can together tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century-to flourish and survive.

Colin Mayer (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Bob Souer