Social Science
The Rise of Fascism: 1919-1945
By: Julia Boyd / Narrated By: Christa Lewis
Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
Three words? Stunning. Terrifying. Timely…
A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life
By: David Giffels / Narrated By: Eric Michael Summerer
Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
No I didn’t weep; but gosh! did I feel, or what?!
How Caffeine Created the Modern World
Written and Narrated By: Michael Pollan
Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
Full of the enthusiasm and inspired ideas that fuel a single cup o’ joe’s rush
By: Carlie Sorosiak / Narrated By: Taylor Meskimen
Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
Wonderful for kids… and, like, meeee! but oh DO keep hankies nearby…
How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart
By: Jarvis Jay Masters / Narrated By: Dion Graham
Length: 4 hrs
In a Bad Place? There’s ALWAYS Jarvis Jay Masters
Travels with Albie: An American Journey
By: Peter Zheutlin / Narrated By: Gregg Rizzo
Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
Looking to escape Political Commentary…? >Ooooops< -Still- it has a DOG in it!!!
A True Story About the Power of Giving People Second Chances
By: Bruce Deel, Sara Grace / Foreword By: Simon Sinek / Narrated By: Bruce Deel
Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
My first Listen of 2023, and pass the tissues please…!
The Madness of American Incarceration
Written and Narrated By: Christine Montross
Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
A most DEFinite slug to the gut—with the tiiiiiniest of glimmers of Hope at the end. And I DO mean TINY
The Lost Recordings
By: Luis Alberto González Arenas, Diego Morales De Murga / Narrated By: Robb Moreira, Thom Rivera, Ozzie Rodriguez, Gabriel Romero, Pietro Gonzalez, Julia Vera Andrews, Frankie Maria Corzo, Rene Veron
Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
Intricate, Inspiring, Very Well-Done
By: José Saramago / Translated By: Margaret Jull Costa / Narrated By: Paul Baymer
Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
Social Commentary? Check. A Bit O’ Sweetness…? Uhm, well, yeah… Go Death, Go!
Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany
By: Monica Black / Narrated By: Erin Dion
Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
I don’t know; but I don’t think Monica Black quite knows either… hmmm…
By: Kurt Vonnegut / Narrated By: Eric Michael Summerer
Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
“We Are Here On Earth To Fart Around”—Kurt Vonnegut (YouTube 2004)!!!
Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
Written and Narrated By: Caitlin Doughty
Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
Secular, yes. Irreverent, yes. Honoring our dead loved ones and bringing grief into the light? Oh my, yesss!
Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Written and Narrated By: Sasha Sagan
Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
I was going for treatises on Embracing Life for those who are secular… got a lot of autobiography instead…
A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South
By: Ruth Coker Burks, Kevin Carr O'Leary / Narrated By: Ruth Coker Burks
Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
Moving, heartfelt, emotionally evocative, and I could go on. Let’s leave it at simply stunning.
By: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn / Narrated By: Frank Muller
Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
Uhm, not what I expected, but oddly grand.
Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine
Written and Narrated By: Timothy Snyder
Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
Timothy Snyder is a MUST Listen!!!
Trust in the Age of Surveillance
By: Jessica Bruder, Dale Maharidge / Narrated By: Chloe Cannon, Jonathan Todd Ross
Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
Good enough that I might tackle other Snowden accounts…?
The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West
By: Luke Harding / Narrated By: Nicholas Guy Smith
Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
Enlightened the first Listen morphs into, well, stunned for the second… Do give this a Listen
Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
By: Timothy Snyder / Narrated By: Ralph Cosham
Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
Overwhelming… Familiar…
Pioneer in Racial Advancement
By: John M. Carroll / Narrated By: JD Jackson
Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
The man’s story is sooo good, sooo inspiring…!
A Falconer's Journey and the Healing Power of Wildlife
By: Rodney Stotts, Kate Pipkin - contributor / Narrated By: James Fouhey
Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
Listen to the Universe; Lean into the Dream…!
The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness
By: Jennifer Berry Hawes / Introduction: Jennifer Berry Hawes / Narrated By: Karen Chilton
Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
ExTENsive and even-handed reporting on a tragedy made this a MUST Listen
How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place
By: David Sheff / Narrated By: Michael Boatman
Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
Listened to it twice cuz once, quite simply, was NOT enough.
(Abridged)
By: Chris Gardner / Narrated By: Andre Blake
Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
Soooo torn about this one! Would you respect me less were I to be as indecisive as to neither Yay nor Boo it?!
The Power of Extravagant Tenderness
Written and Narrated By: Gregory Boyle
Length: 10 hrs
I prefer to say “Gosh”, but here? I HAVE to say it: Thank God for Gregory Boyle!
By: Alicia Elliott / Narrated By: Kyla Garcia
Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
Kyla Garcia turns mostly-crotchety essays into chipper and jaunty musings… Whatthe?!?
Migrant Farmworkers in the United States
By: Seth Holmes / Narrated By: Paul Costanzo
Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
No really, beYONd a Left/Right Issue—this is just a shared humanity, isn’t it?!?
Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
By: Bill Bryson / Narrated By: Rob McQuay
Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! …oops… wait… is it okay to laugh…?
Written and Narrated By: Kevin Tuerff
Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
Actionable steps to be taken if you’re feeling grateful around 9-11 anniversaries