Karen Blumenthal has 6 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 3.5★ across 3 ratings. The most-rated is Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different.
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different
Summary
"Your time is limited... have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."—Steve Jobs From the start, his path was never predictable. Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college after one semester, and at the age of 20, created Apple in his parents' garage with his friend Steve Wozniack. Then came the core and hallmark of his genius - his exacting insistence on perfection, his counterculture life approach, and his level of taste and style that pushed all boundaries. A devoted husband, father, and Buddhist, he battled cancer for over a decade, became the ultimate CEO, and made the world want every product he touched. Critically acclaimed author Karen Blumenthal takes us to the core of this complicated and legendary man while simultaneously exploring the evolution of computers. Framed by Jobs' inspirational Stanford commencement speech, this is the story of the man who changed our world.
©2012 Karen Blumenthal (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
Bonnie and Clyde
Summary
Bonnie and Clyde may be the most notorious - and celebrated - outlaw couple America has ever known. This is the true story of how they got that way. Bonnie and Clyde - we've been on a first name basis with them for almost a hundred years. Immortalized in movies, songs, and pop culture references, they are remembered mostly for their storied romance and tragic deaths. But what was life really like for Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in the early 1930s? How did two dirt-poor teens from West Texas morph from vicious outlaws to legendary couple? And why? Award-winning author Karen Blumenthal devoted months to tracing the footsteps of Bonnie and Clyde, unearthing new information and debunking many persistent myths. The result is an impeccably researched, breathtaking nonfiction tale of love, car chases, kidnappings, and murder set against the backdrop of the Great Depression.
©2018 Karen Blumenthal (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Tommy
Summary
The fascinating and topical nonfiction story of how one gun changed American courtrooms, streets, and homes, told for a YA audience by award-winning author Karen Blumenthal John Taliaferro Thompson had a mission: to develop a lightweight, fast-firing weapon that would help Americans win on the battlefield. His Thompson submachine gun could deliver 100 bullets in a matter of seconds - but didn't find a market in the US military. Instead, the Tommy gun became the weapon of choice for a generation of bootleggers and bank-robbing outlaws, and became a deadly American icon. Following a bloody decade - and 80 years before the mass shootings of our own time - Congress moved to take this weapon off the streets, igniting a national debate about gun control. Critically acclaimed author Karen Blumenthal, author of Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History, and Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929, reveals the fascinating story of this famous and deadly weapon - of the lives it changed, the debate it sparked, and the unprecedented response it inspired in Tommy: The Gun That Changed America. Praise for Tommy: The Gun That Changed America: "The Thompson rapid-firing submachine gun is the crux of Blumenthal’s accessible social history, which encompasses military weaponry, gangster warfare, and gun-control legislation.... Engrossing and grisly." (Publishers Weekly, starred review) "Blumenthal’s fascinating biography of the weapon is most dramatic in its chapters on the famous gangsters.... A gripping look at guns, gangsters, and finding the ‘right balance between individual freedoms and community safety.'" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
©2015 Karen Blumenthal (P)2020 Listening Library
Let Me Play
Summary
Did you know that state universities in Virginia turned away more than 20,00 women in the early 1960s, but not a single man was denied admission? In the 1970s, the University of Georgia men's golf team got all the golf balls they needed, while the women's team was allowed only one per round. Here, listeners are treated to the origins of the historic Title IX legislation that, among other things, mandated that equal funds must be available to boys' and girls' activities and interests. The seeds for Title IX were sown amidst the violent social upheavals of the 1960s. And through the perseverance of many women and civil rights advocates, it opened - and kept open - many doors for women beginning in 1972. A Junior Library Guild Selection and winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, Let Me Play is an inspiring collection of stories about women fighting for equality. Read by Christina Moore, this rousing primer is the perfect introduction to a topic that will remain relevant for years to come.
©2005 Karen Blumenthal (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC
Bootleg
Summary
Filled with anecdotes and portraits of unique characters from the era, this fascinating audiobook by an award-winning author looks at the rise and fall of the disastrous social experiment known as Prohibition. It began with the best of intentions. Worried about the effects of alcohol on American families, mothers and civic leaders started a movement to outlaw drinking in public places. Over time, their protests, petitions, and activism paid off - when a Constitutional Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol was ratified, it was hailed as the end of public drunkenness, alcoholism, and a host of other social ills related to booze. Instead, it began a decade of lawlessness, when children smuggled (and drank) illegal alcohol, the most upright citizens casually broke the law, and a host of notorious gangsters entered the public eye. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition is fast-paced nonfiction perfect for anyone who's interested in American history, particularly the 1920s, gangsters, bootleggers, the history of alcohol in the US, the 18th Amendment and the Constitution, and American politics. Praise for Bootleg: A Kirkus Best Teen Book of the Year A School Library Journal's Best Nonfiction Book A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist "A fast-paced, gripping narrative... An informative, insightful account of a fascinating period of American history." (Kirkus Reviews starred review) "Gangsters, guns, and political battles - this book has them all - and presents them in compelling prose...a lively read." (School Library Journal starred review) "Lively anecdotes and personal stories keep the reading brisk and often quite jovial." (Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred review) "A highly readable, well-shaped look at the Eighteenth Amendment...a top-notch resource." (Booklist starred review) "The scope is ambitious, but Blumenthal investigates various tangents with telling anecdotes, quotes, statistics...without losing her focus on the bigger picture. Whether you consider ongoing problems with substance abuse or increasingly polarized political discourse, the book is startlingly relevant to modern times in many ways, marking Blumenthal as one of the more intellectually adventurous authors writing for young adults today." (Horn Book Magazine)
©2011 Karen Blumenthal (P)2020 Listening Library
Jane Against the World
Summary
From award-winning author Karen Blumenthal comes a deep and passionate look at the riveting history of the fight for reproductive rights in the United States. Tracing the path to the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade and the continuing battle for women's rights, Blumenthal examines, in a straightforward tone, the root causes of the current debate around abortion and repercussions that have affected generations of American women. This eye-opening audiobook is the perfect tool to facilitate difficult discussions and awareness of a topic that is rarely touched on in school but affects each and every young person. It's also perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Deborah Heiligman. This journalistic look at the history of abortion and the landmark case of Roe v. Wade is an important and necessary audiobook.
©2020 Karen Blumenthal (P)2020 Listening Library