Audiobooks narrated by Leon Nixon

For the fiftieth anniversary of his murder, this gritty, engrossing, definitive biography of the legendary Black writer Donald Goines-the Godfather of Urban Street Lit and 'one of hip hop's greatest inspirations' (The Source Magazine)-is back. Addict, thief, pimp, pusher, player-and most notably, groundbreaking writer. Donald Goines was all of these. As a kid, Donald Goines was the product of a middle-class family. After high school, he joined the Air Force-and discovered the heroin that would rule the remainder of his life. On the streets, he turned to writing when he was straight enough to keep at it. He used the language of the streets and he wrote of its people. Goines's success was immediate and exciting. But eventually those same streets claimed him. He was murdered as he sat writing a new book. Yet his legacy continues, as a revolutionary in the literary world and also in music, with major hip-hop artists including 50 Cent, Nas, and Jay-Z all crediting Goines's novels as influences. Here is his complete story.

Eddie Stone (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

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Fire Shut Up in My Bones

A New York Times Notable Book | Lambda Literary Award Winner | Long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award "Charles Blow is the James Baldwin of our age." - Washington Blade "[An] exquisite memoir . . . Delicately wrought and arresting." - New York Times Universally praised on its publication, Fire Shut Up in My Bones is a pioneering journalist's indelible coming-of-age tale. Charles M. Blow's mother was a fiercely driven woman with five sons, brass knuckles in her glove box, and a job plucking poultry at a factory near their segregated Louisiana town, where slavery's legacy felt close. When her philandering husband finally pushed her over the edge, she fired a pistol at his fleeing back, missing every shot, thanks to "love that blurred her vision and bent the barrel." Charles was the baby of the family, fiercely attached to his "do-right" mother. Until one day that divided his life into Before and After-the day an older cousin took advantage of the young boy. The story of how Charles escaped that world to become one of America's most innovative and respected public figures is a stirring, redemptive journey that works its way into the deepest chambers of the heart. "Stunning . . . Blow's words grab hold of you . . . [and] lead you to a place of healing." - Essence "The memoir of the year." - A. V. Club

Charles M. Blow (Author), Leon Nixon, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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True to Our Native Land, Second Edition

True to Our Native Land is a pioneering commentary on the New Testament that sets biblical interpretation firmly in the context of African American experience and concern. In this second edition, the scholarship is cutting-edge, updated, and expanded to be in tune with African American culture, education, and churches. The book calls into question many canons of traditional biblical research and highlights the role of the Bible in African American history, accenting themes of ethnicity, class, slavery, and African heritage as these play a role in Christian Scripture and the Christian odyssey of an emancipated people.

Tbd (Author), Julienne Irons, Leon Nixon, Tbd (Narrator)

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The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback

From a leading scholar of sports and race, a story of two pioneering Black quarterbacks--one who became the first to win a Super Bowl, and one who couldn't make it in the racist world of the NFL. There is no position in pro sports more recognizable, lucrative, and important than NFL quarterback. But while the league itself has always been integrated, quarterbacking was the exclusive domain of white players for many years. When Doug Williams and Vince Evans arrived in the league in the late 1970s, Black players were often dismissed as lacking the intelligence and leadership skills of a QB. They got death threats, faced racist questions, and knew that a single mistake could end their careers at any moment. In this book, Grand Valley State professor Louis Moore tells the twin stories of Vince Evans--the electrifying player who should have succeeded, but could not overcome his numerous obstacles--and of Doug Williams--the star of the Washington Redskins, and the first Black quarterback to become a champion. He shows how easily Williams' triumphant story could have gone wrong, becoming another tale of supreme talent that the world only got to glimpse, and how his success changed the game and the country. A skillful blend of game-time drama and social commentary, this book captures one of the unheralded heroes of the NFL, and all that he meant, both on the field and off.

Louis Moore (Author), Leon Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

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Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad

"There are five square knots on the quilt every two inches apart. They escaped on the fifth knot on the tenth pattern and went to Ontario, Canada. The monkey wrench turns the wagon wheel toward Canada on a bear's paw trail to the crossroads--" And so begins the fascinating story that was passed down from generation to generation in the family of Ozella McDaniel Williams. But what appears to be a simple story that was handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter is actually much, much more than that. In fact, it is a coded message steeped in African textile traditions that provides a link between slave-made quilts and the Underground Railroad. In 1993, author Jacqueline Tobin visited the Old Market Building in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, where local craftspeople sell their wares. Amid piles of beautiful handmade quilts, Tobin met African American quilter Ozella Williams and the two struck up a conversation. With the admonition to "write this down," Williams began to tell a fascinating story that had been handed down from her mother and grandmother before her. As Tobin sat in rapt attention, Williams began to describe how slaves made coded quilts and then used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. But just as quickly as she started, Williams stopped, informing Tobin that she would learn the rest when she was "ready." During the three years it took for Williams's narrative to unfold--and as the friendship and trust between the two women grew--Tobin enlisted Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history professor and well-known African American quilter, to help provide the historical context behind what Williams was describing. Now, based on Williams's story and their own research, Tobin and Dobard, in what they call "Ozella's Underground Railroad Quilt Code," offer proof that some slaves were involved in a sophisticated network that melded African textile traditions with American quilt practices and created a potent result: African American quilts with patterns that conveyed messages that were, in fact, essential tools for escape along the Underground Railroad.

Jacqueline L. Tobin, Raymond G. Dobard (Author), Janina Edwards, Leon Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

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A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin

In December of 1850, a faculty wife in Brunswick, Maine, named Harriet Beecher Stowe hid a fugitive slave in her house. While John Andrew Jackson stayed for only one night, he made a lasting impression: drawing from this experience, Stowe began to write Uncle Tom's Cabin, one of the most influential books in American history and the novel that helped inspire the overthrow of slavery in the United States. A Plausible Man unfolds as a historical detective story, as Susanna Ashton combs obscure records for evidence of Jackson's remarkable flight from slavery to freedom, his quest to liberate his enslaved family, and his emergence as an international advocate for abolition. This fresh and original work takes us through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the restoration of white supremacy-where we last glimpse Jackson losing his freedom again on a Southern chain gang. In the spirit of Tiya Miles's prizewinning All That She Carried and Erica Armstrong Dunbar's Never Caught, Susanna Ashton breathes life into a striving and nuanced American character, one unmistakably rooted in the vast sweep of nineteenth-century America.

Susanna Ashton (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

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No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY A “sensitive, immersive, and exhaustive” portrait of Black workers and white hypocrisy in nineteenth-century Boston, from “a gifted practitioner of labor history and urban history,” (Tiya Miles, National Book Award-winning author of All That She Carried). Impassioned antislavery rhetoric made antebellum Boston famous as the nation’s hub of radical abolitionism. In fact, the city was far from a beacon of equality. In No Right to an Honest Living, historian Jacqueline Jones reveals how Boston was the United States writ small—a place where the soaring rhetoric of egalitarianism was easy, but justice in the workplace was elusive. Before, during, and after the Civil War, white abolitionists and Republicans refused to secure equal employment opportunities for Black Bostonians, condemning most of them to poverty. Still, Jones finds, some Black entrepreneurs ingeniously created their own jobs and forged their own career paths. Highlighting the everyday struggles of ordinary Black workers, this book shows how injustice in the workplace prevented Boston—and the United States—from securing true equality for all.

Jacqueline Jones (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

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This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible

Visiting Martin Luther King Jr., at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. Just for self defense, King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend's Montgomery, Alabama home as an arsenal. Like King, many ostensibly nonviolent civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to self-protection—yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr., describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. In the Deep South, blacks often safeguarded themselves and their loved ones from white supremacist violence by bearing—and, when necessary, using—firearms. In much the same way, Cobb shows, nonviolent civil rights workers received critical support from black gun owners in the regions where they worked. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these courageous men and women and the weapons they carried were crucial to the movement's success. Giving voice to the World War II veterans, rural activists, volunteer security guards, and self-defense groups who took up arms to defend their lives and liberties, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed lays bare the paradoxical relationshaip between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the Second Amendment. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the civil rights movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb provides a controversial examination of the crucial place of firearms in the fight for American freedom. This audio edition is masterfully narrated by Leon Nixon, a listener favorite. This audiobook was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont ©2014 Charles E. Cobb Jr. (P)

Charles E. Cobb (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

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JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography

The first oral biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. is an extraordinarily intimate, comprehensive look at the real man behind the myth. Sharing never-before-told stories and insights, his closest friends, confidantes, lovers, classmates, teachers, and colleagues paint a vivid portrait of one of the most beloved figures of the 20th century, revealing how the boy who saluted became the man America came to know and love who still captures public imagination twenty-five years after his tragic death. Born into the spotlight, John F. Kennedy Jr. lived a short but remarkable life filled with expectation, ambition, family pressures, love, and tragedy. JFK Jr. dives deep into his complicated psyche and explores the what-ifs, illuminating both the cultural and political moment he inhabited and the way this son of a president, so full of promise and possibility, embodied America's most cherished hopes.

Liz Mcneil, Rosemarie Terenzio (Author), Jade Wheeler, Kathe Mazur, Kevin R. Free, Lanna Joffrey, Leon Nixon, Michael David Axtell, Rosemarie Terenzio, TBD (Narrator)

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American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—And Could Again

A top conservative scholar reveals the Constitution's remarkable power to repair our broken civic culture, rescue our malfunctioning politics, and unify a fractious America Common ground is hard to find in today's politics. In a society teeming with irreconcilable political perspectives, many people have grown frustrated under a system of government that constantly demands compromise. More and more on both the right and the left have come to blame the Constitution for the resulting discord. But the Constitution is not the problem we face; it is the solution. Blending engaging history with lucid analysis, conservative scholar Yuval Levin's American Covenant recovers the Constitution's true genius and reveals how it charts a path to repairing America's fault lines. Uncovering the framers' sophisticated grasp of political division, Levin showcases the Constitution's exceptional power to facilitate constructive disagreement, negotiate resolutions to disputes, and forge unity in a fractured society. Clear-eyed about the ways that contemporary politics have malfunctioned, Levin also offers practical solutions for reforming those aspects of the constitutional order that have gone awry. Hopeful, insightful, and rooted in the best of our political tradition, American Covenant celebrates the Constitution's remarkable power to bind together a diverse society, reassuring us that a less divided future is within our grasp.

Yuval Levin (Author), Leon Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

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In These Streets: Reporting from the Front Lines of Inner-City Gun Violence

A groundbreaking expose on the rise of gun violence in recent years. Journalist Josiah Bates pulls back the curtain on a crisis that continues to plague the United States in this gripping narrative. Fueled by the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, gun violence has surged to unprecedented levels, devastating marginalized communities and urban areas across the nation. Bates embarks on a heart-wrenching journey, crisscrossing the country to meet victims, perpetrators, community activists, and renowned scholars. Through their powerful stories, he unearths the hidden causes behind the escalating gun violence epidemic. From the corrosive effects of poverty to the contentious debates surrounding policing and calls to defund law enforcement, Bates fearlessly navigates the intricate web of factors influencing gun violence. Through firsthand accounts and expert analysis, he exposes the systemic failures that perpetuate this cycle of destruction and delivers a powerful clarion call for change. Batesamplifies rarely heard voices in this debate, including both victims and perpetrators of shootings, some of whom now work tirelessly to dismantle the violence in their communities. Their stories, alongside Bates's unflinching reporting, illuminate a path toward long-term solutions. As the nation grapples with this relentless epidemic, Bates presents a compelling case for unity and action. In These Streets is a groundbreaking investigation that uncovers the deep-rooted causes of gun violence, empowering readers with the knowledge, empathy, and inspiration needed to drive meaningful transformation.

Josiah Bates (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

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Breaking the Chains: African American Slave Resistance

Centering Black voices and the narratives of enslaved people, this young adult history offers a thoroughly researched account with first-hand testimonies of how people in bondage were themselves a driving force behind their own emancipation. Features a new introduction by Robin D. G. Kelley, black white illustrations and photographs, and updates throughout. 'A significant contribution to American history.'–Kirkus Reviews “[Breaking the Chains] will force many readers to reexamine their assumptions about American history….Young adults will be fascinated and better informed for having experienced this book.” –School Library Journal, starred review Generations of American history students have grown up believing that enslaved people accepted their lot and became attached to their enslavers, that rebellion was rare, and that liberation from slavery happened thanks to the enslavers. Celebrated historian and children’s book author, William Loren Katz offers a thoroughly researched look at the lives of enslaved people in the United States in Breaking the Chains. From their African abductions through their brave resistance to and escape from the ships and harsh plantation life to their roles in the Civil War, those given voice here show that enslaved people themselves were a driving force behind their emancipation. This compelling look at history is an educational eye-opener for history buffs of all ages, and offers clarity on one of the most turbulent periods of US history. This new paperback edition features a new introduction by historian Robin D. G. Kelley. “Katz masterfully steers the reader step by step through the astonishing forms of resistance, both active and passive. . . . powerful and authentic.” –Publishers Weekly

William Loren Katz (Author), Leon Nixon, TBD (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Leon Nixon