Audiobooks narrated by Stephen Graybill

Equality: What It Means and Why It Matters

In this compelling dialogue, two of the world’s most influential thinkers reflect on the value of equality and debate what citizens and governments should do to narrow the gaps that separate us. Ranging across economics, philosophy, history, and current affairs, Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel consider how far we have come in achieving greater equality. At the same time, they confront head-on the extreme divides that remain in wealth, income, power, and status nationally and globally. What can be done at a time of deep political instability and environmental crisis? Piketty and Sandel agree on much: more inclusive investment in health and education, higher progressive taxation, curbing the political power of the rich and the overreach of markets. But how far and how fast can we push? Should we prioritize material or social change? What are the prospects for any change at all with nationalist forces resurgent? How should the left relate to values like patriotism and local solidarity where they collide with the challenges of mass migration and global climate change? To see Piketty and Sandel grapple with these and other problems is to glimpse new possibilities for change and justice but also the stubborn truth that progress towards greater equality never comes quickly or without deep social conflict and political struggle.

Michael J. Sandel, Thomas Piketty (Author), Derek Dysart, Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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LBJ and McNamara: The Vietnam Partnership Destined to Fail

"In this book, I have sought to blend personal experience, journalism, and scholarship. It is history written by a journalist who was there." —Peter L.W. Osnos Discover untold insights of the critical Vietnam War decisions made by President Johnson and Robert McNamara, their struggles with policy reversals, and the lessons relevant to today's conflicts. Also featuring a unique audio bonus with exclusive, candid audio from McNamara's memoir creation. LBJ and McNamara: The Vietnam Partnership Destined to Fail details how President Lyndon B. Johnson and his secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, made choices central to US strategy in Vietnam, ending in defeat. The portrait emerges of men who knew that conventional victory was impossible but who could not or would not reverse the policies that they and the military pursued. In their own words, especially McNamara's, how and why this happened is a story never before told with such immediacy and insight. LBJ and McNamara reflects how decisions about policy and strategy were made in the Vietnam era—which in the aftermath of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and those in Ukraine and Gaza is relevant to our times. The lessons for today's policy-makers are clear. The imperfections of decision-making are always much more apparent in retrospect. The audiobook also features unique bonus audio in which you will hear McNamara working with his editors as his controversial 1995 memoir In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam was being written, dealing with astonishing frankness on major issues involving President Kennedy, President Johnson, and his own evolving views of the presidents, the Vietnam war, and himself.

Peter L.W. Osnos (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024

Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year. A collection of the best science and nature articles published in 2023, selected by guest editor Bill McKibben and series editor Jaime Green.

Bill Mckibben, Jaime Green (Author), Eileen Stevens, Gina Daniels, Lee Osorio, Stephen Graybill, TBD (Narrator)

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The Shortest History of Economics

The Shortest History of Economics unearths the hidden economic forces behind war, innovation and social transformation, tracing how capitalism and the market system emerged. From the emergence of agriculture to the war in Ukraine, Andrew Leigh weaves a fascinating narrative punctuated by expert insights into major moments in human history - why the invention of the plough led to gender inequality, how certain diseases determined the patterns of colonialism, and even how New York's robber barons inspired the board game Monopoly. Always accessible, expertly written and highly illuminating, The Shortest History of Economics is a perfect introduction to the subject.

Andrew Leigh (Author), Stephen Graybill, TBD (Narrator)

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Gender Queer: A Memoir

2020 ALA Alex Award Winner 2020 Stonewall - Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity-what it means and how to think about it-for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere. 'It's also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.' - SLJ (starred review)

Maia Kobabe (Author), Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Maia Kobabe, Phoebe Kobabe, Stephen Graybill, TBD, Trini Alvarado (Narrator)

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Hypochondria: What's Behind the Hidden Costs of Healthcare in America

A brutally honest but humorous account of the journey through the labyrinth of health care, including an eye-opening exploration of the skyrocketing costs—both personal and systemic—inflicted by hypochondria and the cost to the nation’s health-care system, and how consumers eventually pay for this precipitous rise in costs Hal Rosenbluth, the maverick executive behind Take Care Health Systems, former president of Walgreens Health and Wellness and now chairman and CEO of New Ocean Health Solutions, offers an unfiltered exposé of his 227 medical claims in just two years—exposing the underbelly that illness anxiety may be costing the average sufferer and the health system as a whole. Hypochondria: What’s Behind the Hidden Costs Healthcare Costs in America is a bold exploration and a call to action to address the broader impact that each stakeholder—health plans, providers, health systems and big pharma—have on the nation’s overstressed health-care system. The book also offers a well-rounded guide to the traditional and not so typical solutions that can help people manage illness anxiety. While the book is serious in nature, Rosenbluth and Marnie Hall spin you through an amusement ride of anecdotes. From the evolution of Rosenbluth’s global management firm to his onset of Type 2 diabetes, a tale woven with sleeping meds, nocturnal PB&J sandwiches, and anti-anxiety drugs; to founding a company with the youngest Johnson & Johnson president, and his most recent entry to digital health care, Hypchondria is an unfiltered, no-holds-barred saga that enlightens and entertains and opens a new dialogue about how the United States can get better at managing health and arresting costs of care. Hypochondria is not just a memoir but a call for greater discussion among patients, families, providers, employers, and health-care executives. It’s a beacon for change by unraveling the commercialization of health care, dissecting big pharma’s role in America’s pill-popping culture, and proposing alternative, disruptive solutions.

Hal Rosenbluth, Marnie Hall (Author), Erin Bennett, Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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The World Is Yours: The Story of Scarface

The behind-the-scenes story of the iconic film, featuring new interviews with the cast and crew. An unflinching confrontation of humanity's dark side, Brian De Palma's crime drama film Scarface gave rise to a cultural revolution upon its release in 1983. Its impact was unprecedented, making globe-spanning waves as a defining portrait of the gritty Miami street life. From Al Pacino's masterful characterization of Tony Montana to the iconic "Say hello to my little friend," Scarface maintains its reputation as an unwavering game changer in cult classic cinema. With brand-new interviews and untold stories of the film's production, longtime film critic Glenn Kenny takes us on an unparalleled journey through the making of American depictions of crime. The World Is Yours highlights the influential characters and themes within Scarface, reflecting on how its storied legacy played such a major role in American culture.

Glenn Kenny (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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The Deerfield Massacre: A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early Ameri

In the tradition of the New York Times bestseller Empire of the Summer Moon comes a spellbinding account of a forgotten chapter in American history: the deadly confrontation between Native Americans and colonists in Massachusetts in 1704 and the tragic saga that unfolded, written by acclaimed historian James Swanson. Once it was one of the most famous events in early American history. Today, it has been nearly forgotten. In an obscure, two-hundred-year-old museum in a little village in western Massachusetts, there lies what once was the most revered but now totally forgotten relic from the history of early New England—the massive, tomahawk-scarred door that came to symbolize the notorious Deerfield Massacre. This impregnable barricade—known to early Americans as "The Old Indian Door"—constructed from double-thick planks of Massachusetts oak and studded with hand-wrought iron nails to repel the flailing tomahawk blades of several attacking native tribes, is the sole surviving artifact from the most dramatic moment in colonial American history: Leap Year, February 29, 1704, a cold, snowy night when hundreds of native Americans and their French allies swept down upon an isolated frontier outpost and ruthlessly slaughtered its inhabitants. The sacking of Deerfield led to one of the greatest sagas of adventure, survival, sacrifice, family, honor, and faith ever told in North America. 112 survivors, including their fearless minister, the Reverand John Williams, were captured and led on a 300-mile forced march north, into enemy territory in Canada. Any captive who faltered or became too weak to continue the journey—including Williams's own wife and one of his children—fell under the knife or tomahawk. Survivors of the march willed themselves to live and endured captivity. Ransomed by the King of England's royal governor of Massachusetts, the captives later returned home to Deerfield, rebuilt their town and, for the rest of their lives, told the incredible tale. The memoir of Rev. Williams, The Redeemed Captive, became the first bestselling book in American history and published a few years after his liberation, it remains a literary classic. The old Indian door is a touchstone that conjures up one of the most dramatic and inspiring stories of colonial America—and now, finally, this legendary event is brought to vivid life by popular historian James Swanson.

James L. Swanson (Author), Richard Thomas, Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace

Are you enduring a toxic workplace? Toxic workplaces take all kinds of forms-whether it's a narcissist boss who belittles and bullies, colleagues who backstab and gaslight, 'work friends' who drain you with endless complaining, or a culture of overwork and burnout. It can feel impossible to know whether to speak up and when to keep your head down. Do you try to address it head-on, go to HR, or play office politics? And what can you do if you don't want to leave-or if your situation doesn't allow you to? The HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace will help you set boundaries and change what you can while helping you maintain your mental health and your self-respect in some of the toughest situations at work. You'll learn how to: recognize what's fixable; help bring problems to light; protect your reputation and your career; prevent a toxic culture from infecting your team; keep your performance up; and move on if you choose, without burning bridges. Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

Harvard Business Review (Author), Siiri Scott, Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP

An eye-opening, revelatory account of the future of the Republican party as they unite working-class voters in a multi-racial, cross-generational populist coalition. Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election shocked the world. Yet his defeat in 2020 may have been even more surprising: he received 12 million more votes in 2020 than 2016 and his unexpectedly diverse coalition included millions of nonwhite voters, a rarity for the modern Republican party. In 2020, Trump defied expectations and few journalists, strategists, or politicians could explain why Trump had nearly won reelection. Patrick Ruffini, a Republican pollster and one of the country's leading experts on political targeting, technology, and demography, has the answers—and the explanation may surprise you. For all his apparent divisiveness, Trump assembled the most diverse Republican presidential coalition in history and rode political trends that will prove significant for decades to come. The shift is profound: seven in ten American voters belong to groups that have shifted right in the last two presidential elections, while under three in ten whites with a college degree belong to groups that are trending left. Together, this super-majority of right-trending voters forms a colorblind, populist coalition, largely united by its working-class roots, moderate to conservative views on policy, strong religious beliefs, and indifference to or outright rejection of the identity politics practiced by the left. Not all these voters are Republican, and in certain corners of the coalition, only a small minority are. But recent elections are pointing us towards a future where party allegiances have been utterly upended. The Party of the People demonstrates this data. Ruffini was as wrong as every pollster in 2016 and spent the intervening years figuring out why and developing better methods of analyzing voters in the digital age. Using robust data, he shifts you away from the complacent, widespread narrative that the Republican party is a party of white, rural voters. It is, but more importantly for its longevity, it's a party of non-college educated voters. And as fewer voters attend college, the Republican party shows no signs of stagnation. With rich data and clear analysis, Party of the People explains the present and future of the Republican party and American elections.

Patrick Ruffini (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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In a Flight of Starlings: The Wonder of Complex Systems

Brought to you by Penguin. From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, a remarkable journey into the practice of groundbreaking science The world is shaped by complexity. In this enlightening book, Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work to show us how. It all starts with investigating the principles of physics by observing the sophisticated flight patterns of starlings. Studying the movements of these birds, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds - collections of everything from atoms to planets to other animals like ourselves. Along the way, Parisi reflects on the lessons he's taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth: the importance of serendipity to the discovery of new ideas, the surprising kinship between physics and other fields of study and the value of science to a thriving society. In so doing, he removes the practice of science from the confines of the laboratory and into the real world. Complexity is all around us - from climate to finance to biology, it offers a unique way of finding order in chaos. Part elegant scientific treatise, part thrilling intellectual journey, In a Flight of Starlings is an invitation to find wonder in the world around us. ©2023 Giorgio Parisi (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Giorgio Parisi (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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Lessons from an American Stoic: How Emerson Can Change Your Life

A lifelong Emerson lover, teacher, and spiritual seeker reveals how American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson’s twelve essential teachings hold the answer to living an authentic and fulfilling life, one that is in harmony with our souls. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a spiritual revolutionary whose profound vision of human potential came to define the American character. Known as America’s original Stoic, he offered a radical message of optimism, authenticity, and self-realization that is more necessary today than ever. In this timely, remarkable book, noted memoirist and teacher Mark Matousek reveals the depths of Emerson’s extraordinary wisdom, demonstrating how his timeless philosophy can help us navigate the challenges of contemporary life. Using personal stories, psychological research, and life lessons from Emerson and his contemporaries—including Thoreau and Whitman— he offers practical lessons in the art of living. In the following pages, you will discover: Why Emerson should be considered America’s original stoic How to dispel the illusion of our own powerlessness and turn toward boundless human potential Practical tools for cultivating happiness in a fragile, unpredictable, dangerous world The gifts of self-reliance and spiritual renewal necessary for thriving A roadmap to discovering essential wisdom on living an authentic and meaningful life Emerson’s far-reaching vision of excellence and spiritual flourishing is the medicine we need to heal ourselves. “Trust yourself,” he teaches. “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” This philosophy of hope, known as transcendentalism, is the vein of gold in the American psyche. Lessons from an American Stoic helps us to reclaim our national treasure.

Mark Matousek (Author), Stephen Graybill (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Stephen Graybill