Audiobooks narrated by Reader Tbd 1

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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(S)Kin

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her groundbreaking contemporary fantasy debut—a novel in verse based on Caribbean folklore—about the power of inherited magic and the price we must pay to live the life we yearn for. Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother. Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask. But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.

Ibi Zoboi (Author), Bahni Turpin, Reader Tbd 1, Robin Miles (Narrator)

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The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men

Read the history behind the series THE HUNTERS (starring Al Pacino) in this "captivating book rooted in first-rate research" (New York Times Book Review) that tells the true story of how America became home to thousands of Nazi war criminals. For the first time, once-secret government records and interviews tell the full story of the thousands of Nazis-from concentration camp guards to high-level officers in the Third Reich-who came to the United States after World War II and quietly settled into new lives. Many gained entry on their own as self-styled war "refugees." But some had help from the U.S. government. The CIA, the FBI, and the military all put Hitler's minions to work as spies, intelligence assets, and leading scientists and engineers, whitewashing their histories. Only years after their arrival did private sleuths and government prosecutors begin trying to identify the hidden Nazis. Now, relying on a trove of newly disclosed documents and scores of interviews, Eric Lichtblau reveals this shocking, shameful, and little-known chapter of postwar history. New York Times bestseller - Espionage category "Disturbing." - Salon "Engaging." - Chicago Tribune "A gripping chronicle." - Times of Israel "Riveting . . . An important, fascinating read." - Jewish Book Council

Eric Lichtblau (Author), David De Vries, Reader Tbd 1 (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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Women Holding Things

From the critically acclaimed artist, designer, and author of the bestsellers The Principles of Uncertainty and My Favorite Things comes a wondrous collection of words and paintings that is a moving meditation on the beauty and complexity of women’s lives and roles, revealed in the things they hold. “What do women hold? The home and the family. And the children and the food. The friendships. The work. The work of the world. And the work of being human. The memories. And the troubles. And the sorrows and the triumphs. And the love.” In the spring of 2021, Maira and Alex Kalman created a small, limited-edition booklet “Women Holding Things,” which featured select recent paintings by Maira, accompanied by her insightful and deeply personal commentary. The booklet quickly sold out. Now, the Kalmans have expanded that original publication into this extraordinary visual compendium. Women Holding Things includes the bright, bold images featured in the booklet as well as an additional sixty-seven new paintings highlighted by thoughtful and intimate anecdotes, recollections, and ruminations. Most are portraits of women, both ordinary and famous, including Virginia Woolf, Sally Hemings, Hortense Cezanne, Gertrude Stein, as well as Kalman’s family members and other real-life people. These women hold a range of objects, from the mundane—balloons, a cup, a whisk, a chicken, a hat—to the abstract—dreams and disappointments, sorrow and regret, joy and love. Kalman considers the many things that fit physically and metaphorically between women’s hands: We see a woman hold a book, hold shears, hold children, hold a grudge, hold up, hold her own. In visually telling their stories, Kalman lays bare the essence of women’s lives—their tenacity, courage, vulnerability, hope, and pain. Ultimately, she reveals that many of the things we hold dear—as well as those that burden or haunt us—remain constant and connect us from generation to generation. Here, too, are pictures of a few men holding things, such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Anton Chekhov, as well as objects holding other objects that invite us to ponder their intimate relationships to one another. Women Holding Things explores the significance of the objects we carry—in our hands, hearts, and minds—and speaks to, and for, all of us. Maira Kalman’s unique work is a celebration of life, of the act and the art of living, offering an original way of examining and understanding all that is important in our world—and ultimately within ourselves.

Maira Kalman (Author), Maira Kalman, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Afrocentric Style

Illustrated with more than 100 color and black-and-white photos, a rich celebration linking the vibrancy of Black identity and expression with mainstream popular culture from the past to the present. The top memes, movements, and milestone moments dominating today’s social media have focused on Beyoncé, Black Panther, Black Lives Matter, Lil Nas, Kanye, Serena and Meghan Markle. Driven by Black millennials, these trending topics demonstrate the influence and power of Black artistry and celebrity in American popular culture and around the globe. As Shirley Neal argues, this is more than just a fleeting style. It is a profound display of how pop culture is being used as a conduit for the revival of Black identity, culture, and history. The impact of Blackness in pop culture has never been as significant as it is today. African-themed searches have grown exponentially, and the surge of interest in Black pop culture crosses generations. Beautifully designed, Afrocentric Style explores the connection between Black identity and mainstream culture, interweaving more than 100 full-color and archival black-and-white photographs with thought-provoking commentary that offers parallels between the top Afrocentric stories that have trended on social media and their historical roots. Timely and timeless, this stunning anthology educates celebrates, and elevates readers' knowledge about the powerful influence of Afrocentric Style on mainstream pop culture and America’s increasingly diverse society.

Shirley Neal (Author), Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Reconstruction Updated Edition: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877

From the ''preeminent historian of Reconstruction'' (New York Times Book Review), the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period that shaped modern America. Eric Foner's ''masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history'' (New Republic) redefined how the post-Civil War period was viewed. Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans—black and white—responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves' quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction; the remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it; the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans. This ''smart book of enormous strengths'' (Boston Globe) remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War period—an era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.

Eric Foner (Author), Grover Gardner, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Unti Memoir

Anon9780063140271 (Author), Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Break to You

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love—no matter the consequences. Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she’s allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big. Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings—and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back. Jon’s story is different than Adriana’s; he’s already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away. This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention—and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.

Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden, Neal Shusterman (Author), Elisa Meléndez, Jaqwan J. Kelly, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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I've Been to the Mountaintop

Martin Luther King Jr. (Author), Dominic Hoffman, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded American is Tearing Us Apart

The untold story of why America is so culturally and politically divided America may be more diverse than ever coast to coast, but the places where we live are becoming increasingly crowded with people who live, think, and vote as we do. This social transformation didn't happed by accident. We’ve built a country where we can all choose the neighborhood -- and religion and news show -- most compatible with our lifestyle and beliefs. And we are living with the consequences of this way-of-life segregation. Our country has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, that people don’t know and can’t understand those who live just a few miles away. The reason for this situation, and the dire implications for our country, is the subject of this groundbreaking work. In 2004, the journalist Bill Bishop, armed with original and startling demographic data, made national news in a series of articles showing how Americans have been sorting themselves over the past three decades into alarmingly homogeneous communities -- not by region or by red state or blue state, but by city and even neighborhood. In The Big Sort, Bishop deepens his analysis in a brilliantly reported book that makes its case from the ground up, starting with stories about how we live today and then drawing on history, economics, and our changing political landscape to create one of the most compelling big-picture accounts of America in recent memory. The Big Sort will draw comparisons to Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone and Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class and will redefine the way Americans think about themselves for decades to come.

Bill Bishop (Author), Graham Halstead, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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A Drop of Night

A genre-bending thriller from internationally bestselling author Stefan Bachmann perfect for fans of The Maze Runner and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods. “A fast-paced thrill ride . . . Chilling . . . The suspense begins from the first page. I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Frankenstein.”—YA Books Central Seventeen-year-old Anouk has finally caught the break she’s been looking for—she’s been chosen to participate in an exclusive program that includes an all-expenses-paid trip to France and a chance to explore the hidden underground Palais du Papillon, or Palace of the Butterfly. Along with four other gifted teenagers, Anouk will be one of the first people to set foot in the palace in more than two hundred years. But the expedition is not all it seems. The students’ supposed benefactors are trying to kill them. And so is the palace itself, which is filled with deadly traps and invisible monsters. Can Anouk and the others figure out how to work together and escape? Bachmann’s masterful scene-building alternates between Anouk’s flight through the palace and the struggles of Aurélie, who escaped the French Revolution by fleeing into the Palais du Papillon in 1789. “Certain to please those who demand constant action blended with their historical fiction.”—Booklist

Stefan Bachmann (Author), Lauren Ezzo, Reader Tbd 1 (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Reader Tbd 1