Nicholas Griffin has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is The Year of Dangerous Days.
The Year of Dangerous Days
Summary
In the tradition of The Wire, the harrowing story of the cinematic transformation of Miami, one of America’s most bustling cities - rife with a drug epidemic, a burgeoning refugee crisis, and police brutality - from journalist and award-winning author Nicholas Griffin Miami, Florida, famed for its blue skies and sandy beaches, is one of the world’s most popular vacation destinations, with nearly 23 million tourists visiting annually. But few people have any idea how this unofficial capital of Latin America came to be. The Year of Dangerous Days is a fascinating chronicle of a pivotal but forgotten year in American history. With a cast that includes iconic characters such as Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, and Janet Reno, this slice of history is brought to life through intertwining personal stories. At the core, there’s Edna Buchanan, a reporter for the Miami Herald who breaks the story on the wrongful murder of a black man and the shocking police cover-up; Captain Marshall Frank, the hardboiled homicide detective tasked with investigating the murder; and Mayor Maurice Ferré, the charismatic politician who watches the case, and the city, fall apart. On a roller coaster of national politics and international diplomacy, these three figures cross paths as their city explodes in one of the worst race riots in American history as more than 120,000 Cuban refugees land south of Miami, and as drug cartels flood the city with cocaine and infiltrate all levels of law enforcement. In a battle of wills, Buchanan has to keep up with the 150 percent murder rate increase; Captain Frank has to scrub and rebuild his homicide bureau; and Mayor Ferré must find a way to reconstruct his smoldering city. Against all odds, they persevere, and a stronger, more vibrant Miami begins to emerge. But the foundation of this new Miami - partially built on corruption and drug money - will have severe ramifications for the rest of the country. Deeply researched and covering many timely issues including police brutality, immigration, and the drug crisis, The Year of Dangerous Days is both a clarion call and a re-creation story of one of America’s most iconic cities.
©2020 Nicholas Griffin. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ping-Pong Diplomacy
Summary
The spring of 1971 heralded the greatest geopolitical realignment in a generation. After 22 years of antagonism, China and the United States suddenly moved toward a détente - achieved not by politicians but by ping-pong players. The Western press delighted in the absurdity of the moment and branded it "Ping-Pong Diplomacy". But for the Chinese, ping-pong was always political, a strategic cog in Mao Zedong's foreign policy. Nicholas Griffin proves that the organized game, from its first breath, was tied to Communism thanks to its founder, Ivor Montagu, son of a wealthy English baron and spy for the Soviet Union. Ping-Pong Diplomacy traces a crucial intersection of sports and society. Griffin tells the strange and tragic story of how the game was manipulated at the highest levels; how the Chinese government helped cover up the death of 36 million peasants by holding the World Table Tennis Championships during the Great Famine; how championship players were driven to their deaths during the Cultural Revolution; and, finally, how the survivors were reconvened in 1971 and ordered to reach out to their American counterparts. Through a cast of eccentric characters, from spies to hippies and ping-pong-obsessed generals to atom-bomb survivors, Griffin explores how a neglected sport was used to help realign the balance of worldwide power.
©2014 Nicholas Griffin (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Before the Swarm
Summary
Intrepid naturalist Mark Moffett is tracking an ant species on a march toward bug-world domination. What a controversial theory of insect society may tell us about our own. Mark Moffett doesn't just study ants, he travels among them. Moffet holds a Harvard Ph.D. in entomology and is an accomplished scientist, an award-winning author and journalist, and one of the best nature photographers of his generation. Years ago, this free-spirited naturalist left academia behind to plunge into the deepest jungles and observe insect societies up close. Now author Nicholas Griffin takes us inside Moffett's own world, to explore his death-cheating quest for discovery and his end-run around the scientific establishment. We'll follow Moffett into the rainforest as he chases a groundbreaking theory of ant superorganisms and supercolonies, one that may help us understand our own increasingly urbanized society. Along the way we'll meet a fascinating cast of battling army ants, farming leafcutter ants, and the insatiable Argentines: an ant species built to take over the world. Nicholas Griffin is the author of four novels and one work of nonfiction. He lives in New York City. His next book comes out in 2013.
©2011 The Atavist, Nicholas Griffin (P)2011 The Atavist, Nicholas Griffin
Dizzy City
Summary
The year is 1916, Europe is at war, and American industrialists are getting rich. Englishman Benedict Cramb deserts the trench warfare of northern France and stows away on an outbound transatlantic ship. When the ship docks in New York City, a place untouched and largely unaware of the horrors of war, he realizes that this is the place to reinvent himself. Ben soon falls under the sway of the urbane and mysterious Julius McAteer, who sees in Ben his chance to finely hone the tools of someone who can master the art of the con. They concoct a ruse, pick their mark - a blustering Midwestern cattleman named Henry Jergens - and the game is afoot. In the process, Ben falls in love with the beguiling actress Katherine Howells, who in turn is connected to even more men of vast means. But the further Ben follows the money in New York, the closer he moves back to the war in Europe and his shattering experiences there. This compellng novel is rich in historical detail and filled with suspense, romance and adventure.
©2007 Nicholas Griffin (P)2011 Nicholas Griffin