Audiobooks narrated by Elizabeth Wiley

Beyond Jefferson: The Hemingses, the Randolphs, and the Making of Nineteenth-Century America

A global history of how Thomas Jefferson's descendants navigated the legacy of the Declaration of Independence on both sides of the color line The Declaration of Independence identified two core principles—independence and equality—that defined the American Revolution and the nation forged in 1776. Jefferson believed that each new generation of Americans would have to look to the 'experience of the present' rather than the 'wisdom' of the past to interpret and apply these principles in new and progressive ways. Historian Christa Dierksheide examines the lives and experiences of a rising generation of Jefferson's descendants, Black and white, illuminating how they redefined equality and independence in a world that was half a century removed from the American Revolution. The Hemingses and Randolphs moved beyond Jefferson and his eighteenth-century world, leveraging their own ideas and experiences in nineteenth-century Britain, China, Cuba, Mexico, and the American West to claim independence and equal rights in an imperial and slaveholding republic.

Christa Dierksheide (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between

As a presidency unravels and the fight for women's rights intensifies, a teen girl's future will be determined by her willingness to seek the truth. Patty Appleton is making history. As one of the Senate's first female Congressional Pages, she's not only paving the way for other politically minded girls, she has a front-row seat to debates dividing the nation, especially around women's rights and roles. The battle between the old ways and the new polarizes the women in Patty's life, and she finds herself torn between traditional expectations-to be anobedient daughter aspiring to become a perfect wife-and questions new friends like fiercely feminist Simone encourage her to ask. But the questions don't stop at women's rights: The Watergate scandal is intensifying. As evidence mounts that the White House engaged in crimes, smears, and cover-ups to manipulate an election, Patty worries her dad, a fundraiser for President Nixon, could somehow be involved. Determining truth from lies becomes ever more essential for the nation's future-and for Patty's as well. Illustrated throughout with remarkable real-life images and headlines, this timely exploration of 1973-the year of Watergate hearings, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade-unfolds through the story of a young woman driven to question everything as she learns to think for, and rely on, herself.

L. M. Elliott, L.M. Elliott (Author), Elizabeth Wiley, TBD (Narrator)

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Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond

Hailed by the New Yorker as 'a crucial forebear of generations,' award–winning director Joyce Chopra came of age in the 1950s, prior to the dawn of feminism, and long before the #MeToo movement. As a young woman, it seemed impossible that she might one day realize her dream of becoming a film director. Chopra got her start making documentary films with the legendary D. A. Pennebaker. From her ground-breaking autobiographical short, Joyce at 34, to her rousingly successful first feature, Smooth Talk, to a series of increasingly cruel moves by Hollywood producers unwilling to accept a woman in the director's role, Chopra's career trajectory was never easy or straightforward. In this engaging, candid memoir, Chopra describes how she learned to navigate the deeply embedded sexism of the film industry, helping to pave the way for a generation of women filmmakers who would come after her. During a career spanning six decades, Joyce Chopra has worked through monumental shifts in her craft and in the culture at large, and the span of her life story offers a view into the implacable momentum of the push for all womens' liberation.

Joyce Chopra (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Radical Volunteers: Dissent, Desegregation, and Student Power in Tennessee

Radical Volunteers tells the largely unknown story of southern student activism in Tennessee between the Brown decision in 1954 and the national backlash against the Kent State University shootings in May 1970. As one of the first statewide studies of student activism—and one of the few examinations of southern student activism—it broadens scholarly understanding of New Left and Black student radicalism from its traditionally defined hotbeds in the Northeast and on the West Coast. By incorporating accounts of students from both historically Black and predominantly white colleges and universities across Tennessee, Radical Volunteers places events that might otherwise appear random and intermittent into conversation with one another. This methodological approach reveals that students joined organizations and became activists in an effort to assert their autonomy and, as a result, student power became a rallying cry across the state. Importantly, Ballantyne does not confine her analysis to just campuses. Indeed, Radical Volunteers also situates campus activism within their broader communities. While outnumbered, Tennessee student activists secured significant campus reforms, pursued ambitious community initiatives, and articulated a powerful countervision for the South and the United States.

Katherine J. Ballantyne (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Witches: A Compendium

A compendium of witches through the ages, from earliest prehistory to some of the most significant modern practitioners, Witches explores who and what is a witch. Ranging from such famed historical figures as Marie Laveau, Tituba, Sybil Leek, Isobel Gowdie, and Countess Erzsebet Báthory (popularly known as the Blood Countess) to popular literary and cinematic figures such as Endora, the Scarlet Witch, Storm, and the Wicked Witch of the West, Illes offers a complete range of the history of witches. Also included are the sacred (Baba Yaga, Lilith, Isis, Hekate, Diana, Aradia, Circe) and the profane (the Salem Witch trials and the Burning Times), plus travel tips for witches and a guide to the tools of the trade. Witches is appropriate for readers of all ages and serves as an excellent and entertaining introduction for those fascinated by the topic. Previously published in 2010 by Weiser Books as A Weiser Field Guide to Witches, this book has been updated for new witches as well as a new era.

Judika Illes (Author), Elizabeth Wiley, TBD (Narrator)

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Julia Child’s Kitchen: The Design, Tools, Stories, and Legacy of an Iconic Space

Julia Child's 20' x 14' kitchen was a serious workspace and recipe-testing lab that exuded a sense of mid-century homey comfort. Now, it has been on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, for most of the past twenty years. Between lively narrative, compelling photography, and detailed commentary on Julia's favorite kitchen gadgets, Julia Child's Kitchen illuminates the stories behind the room's design, use, significance, and legacy, showing how deeply Julia Child continues to influence food today. The kitchen contains more than one thousand parts and pieces—tools, appliances, utensils, furniture, artwork, knick-knacks, books, and bits of whimsy—all reflecting Julia's status as an accomplished chef, gastronome, delightful cooking teacher, television trailblazer, women's advocate, mentor, and generous, jovial friend. The kitchen's layout, design, and contents reflect Julia's philosophy of cooking as well as a period of social and cultural change in the United States, providing a platform for exploring such post-World War II themes as shifting attitudes about gender roles and domesticity or the tension between tradition and innovation regarding culinary tools, materials, cooking, and food itself. This book, a beautiful tribute to Julia Child's legacy, will be a must-listen for every home cook and Julia Child fan.

Paula J. Johnson (Author), Elizabeth Wiley, Jacques Pépin (Narrator)

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The Good Forest: The Salzburgers, Success, and the Plan for Georgia

Georgia, the last of Britain's American mainland colonies, began with high aspirations to create a morally sound society based on small family farms with no enslaved workers. But those goals were not realized, and Georgia became a slave plantation society, following the Carolina model. But looking at the Salzburgers, who emigrated from Europe as part of the original plan, provides a very different story. The Good Forest reveals the experiences of the Salzburger migrants who came to Georgia with the support of British and German philanthropy, where they achieved self-sufficiency in the Ebenezer settlement while following the Trustees' plans. Because their settlement comprised a significant portion of Georgia's early population, their experiences provide a corrective to our understanding of early Georgia and help reveal the possibilities in Atlantic colonization as they built a cohesive community. The relative success of the Ebenezer settlement, furthermore, challenges the inherent environmental, cultural, and economic determinism that has dominated Georgia history. That well-worn narrative often implies (or even explicitly states) that only a slave-based plantation economy could succeed. With this history, Auman illuminates the interwoven themes of Atlantic migrations, colonization, charity, and transatlantic religious networks.

Karen Auman (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Our Lady of the World's Fair: Bringing Michelangelo's 'Pieta' to Queens in 1964

Driven by different motives, Robert Moses and Francis Cardinal Spellman had the same vision: to display Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Pietà, in the Vatican's pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. As Ruth D. Nelson gracefully showcases, Moses believed this blockbuster would guarantee the fair's financial success. At the same time, Spellman, Archbishop of New York and the spiritual leader of Cold War America's Catholic community, hoped that at a time of domestic strife and global conflict, the Pietà's presence would have a positive spiritual impact on the nation. Although the fair did not turn out to be the financial bonanza that Moses expected, the Pietà drew record crowds of the faithful, art lovers, and the curious. Nelson's fascinating uncovering of the intensive planning that went into designing the pavilion, transporting the art piece across the Atlantic, and coordinating Pope Paul VI's visit to New York in 1965—the first papal visit to the Western Hemisphere—demonstrates the sheer scale and opportunity of the two men's endeavors. Our Lady of the World's Fair depicts the skepticism and fierce criticism that faced the two New York power brokers. Rather than letting the negative weigh them down, they united and called on every resource at their disposal to make this unlikely cultural coup possible.

Ruth D. Nelson (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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I Sleep Around: The Humorous Memoir of a Nomadic Writer

With no camping or RV experience, author Sue Ann Jaffarian decided to chuck her life in Los Angeles for a life on the road in a van. Newly retired from her long-time career as a paralegal, she got rid of most of her belongings, packed up her laptop, and embraced a new adventure of traveling the country and writing full-time, adding travel writing to her career as a popular mystery novelist. Not always sunshine and unicorns, her experiences gave her more self-reliance, a new appreciation of nature, and a love for the quirky, interesting, and thought-provoking. I Sleep Around chronicles her first two years on the road and the time leading up to taking this bold step. All while her friends and family thought she had lost her mind.

Sue Ann Jaffarian (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father

Americans are more familiar with his signature than with the man himself. In this spirited account of John Hancock's life, Brooke Barbier depicts a patriot of fascinating contradictions-a child of enormous privilege who would nevertheless become a voice of the common folk; a pillar of society uncomfortable with radicalism who yet was crucial to independence. Orphaned young, Hancock was raised by his merchant uncle, whose business and vast wealth he inherited-including household slaves, whom Hancock later freed. By his early thirties, he was one of New England's most prominent politicians, earning a place on Britain's most-wanted list and the derisive nickname King Hancock. While he eventually joined the revolution against England, his ever moderate-and moderating-disposition would prove an asset after 1776. Barbier shows Hancock appealing to southerners and northerners, Federalists and Anti-Federalists. He was a famously steadying force as president of the fractious Second Continental Congress. As governor of Massachusetts, Hancock convinced its delegates to vote for the federal Constitution and calmed the fallout from the shocking Shays's Rebellion. An insightful study of leadership in the revolutionary era, King Hancock traces a moment when passion was on the side of compromise and accommodation proved the basis of profound social and political change.

Brooke Barbier (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Respect for Acting: Expanded Edition

Since its original publication in 1973, Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting has remained a durable classic for all students of acting. As an acting instructor at the Herbert Berghof Studio, Hagen helped to develop the talents of world-class actors like Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Gene Wilder, Amanda Peet, Austin Pendleton, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. This updated edition illuminates Hagen's original text with a new foreword written by Katie Finneran, retaining the David Hyde Pierce foreword, along with added background on HB Studio-one of the original New York performing arts training and practice spaces-and an excerpt from Hagen's autobiography SOURCES. Respect for Acting is a book for actors and audiences who understand the need for truth in the creative process. - Discover the acting book that has shaped professional theater performances for decades - Learn the history and background of Herbert Berghof Studio - Practice the craft of acting with concrete exercises and instruction on technique - Delve into the deep questions that arise when actors truly inhabit the lives of their characters

Uta Hagen (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan

Situated in the early decades of the magnificent Mughal Empire, this first ever biography of Princess Gulbadan offers an enthralling portrait of a charismatic adventurer and unique pictures of the multicultural society in which she lived. Following a migratory childhood that spanned Kabul and north India, Gulbadan spent her middle years in a walled harem established by her nephew Akbar to showcase his authority as the Great Emperor. Gulbadan longed for the exuberant itinerant lifestyle she'd known. With Akbar's blessing, she led an unprecedented sailing and overland voyage and guided harem women on an extended pilgrimage in Arabia. Amid increasing political tensions, the women's 'un-Islamic' behavior forced their return, lengthened by a dramatic shipwreck in the Red Sea. Gulbadan wrote a book upon her return, the only extant work of prose by a woman of the age. A portion of it is missing, either lost to history or redacted by officials who did not want the princess to have her say. Vagabond Princess contemplates the story of the missing pages and breathes new life into a daring historical figure. It offers a portal to a richly complex world, rife with movement and migration, where women's conviviality, adventure, and autonomies shine through.

Ruby Lal (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Elizabeth Wiley