Jonathan Davis has narrated 394 audiobooks on Listento.it by 317 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 17,095 ratings. The most-rated is All These Worlds.
Political Order and Political Decay
Summary
The second volume of the best-selling landmark work on the history of the modern state. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In the New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time." And in the Washington Post, Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered. Bring on volume two." Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation. Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West. A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well-functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2014 Francis Fukuyama (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Vanishing Acts
Summary
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes the world as she knows it. What happens when you learn you are not who you thought you were? When the people you've loved and trusted suddenly change before your eyes? When getting your deepest wish means giving up what you've always taken for granted? Vanishing Acts explores how life as we know it might not turn out the way we imagined; how doing the right thing could mean doing the wrong thing; and how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat.
©2005 Jodi Picoult (P)2016 Simon & Schuster
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Summary
The overthrow of the Republic is complete. The Separatist forces have been smashed, the Jedi Council nearly decimated, and the rest of the Order all but destroyed. Now absolute power rests in the iron fist of Darth Sidious - the cunning Sith Lord better known as the former Senator, now Emperor, Palpatine. But more remains to be done. Pockets of resistance in the galaxy must still be defeated and missing Jedi accounted for...and dealt with. These crucial tasks fall to the Emperor's ruthless enforcer, Darth Vader. In turn, the Dark Lord has groomed a lethal apprentice entrusted with a top-secret mission: to comb the galaxy and dispatch the last of his masters' enemies, thereby punctuating the dark side's victory with the Jedi's doom. Since childhood, Vader's nameless agent has known only the cold, mercenary creed of the Sith. But his future beckons with the ultimate promise: to stand beside the only father he has ever known, with the galaxy at their feet. It is a destiny he can realize only by rising to the greatest challenge of his discipleship: destroying Emperor Palpatine. The apprentice's journeys will take him across the far reaches of the galaxy. And he will be tested as never before - by shattering revelations that strike at the very heart of all he believes and stir within him long-forgotten hopes of reclaiming his name...and changing his destiny.
©2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. (P)2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM.
Tales of Anyar
Summary
The Destiny’s Crucible series chronicles the incredible adventure of Joseph Colsco, a college student of no particular importance who is thrust into an unimaginable fate by an accident that couldn’t happen - but did. Cast naked on the planet Anyar, he forges a new life for himself and rises to prominence and responsibilities he would otherwise never have imagined. However, much is left undone and uncertain. For fans who finished the first four installments, many questions were left unanswered and many stories left untold. This collection of short stories and novellas addresses some of the questions, expands previous books, and points to future directions. The anthology begins not on the planet Anyar but on Earth, with the aftermath of the improbable accident that starts Joseph Colsco on his new life.
©2018 Olan Thorensen (P)2018 Podium Publishing
The Forgotten: The Complete Trilogy
Summary
Contains books 1-3 of The Forgotten. Forgotten, book 1 Sheriff Hayden Duke was born on the Pilgrim, and he expects to die on the Pilgrim, like his father, and his father before him. That's the way things are on a generation starship centuries from home. He's never questioned it. Never thought about it. And why bother? Access points to the ship's controls are sealed, the systems that guide her automated and out of reach. It isn't perfect, but he has all he needs to be content. Until a malfunction forces his engineer wife to the edge of the habitable zone to inspect the damage. Until she contacts him, breathless and terrified, to tell him she found a body, and it doesn't belong to anyone on board. Until he arrives at the scene and discovers both his wife and the body are gone. The only clue? A bloody handprint beneath a hatch that hasn't opened in hundreds of years. Until now. Forsaken, book 2 Sheriff Hayden Duke expects to die any second. He's already been attacked by demonic aliens, rogue soldiers, and even the people he thought were his friends. They took his wife. He has to find her. He has to survive. Another second. Another breath. He can never give up. He can never rest until she's back in his arms. They'll try to stop him, but it won't be as easy as they think. A new hope is rising in an old world. Unforgiven, book 3 Sheriff Hayden Duke has got a long way to go before he can rest. How can he when the entire world is under siege by demonic aliens and a brutal thug who calls himself King? It's an unknown and powerful threat that may be responsible for the end of humankind. The road may be long. The odds may be bad. The stakes may be high. But you can’t keep a good Sheriff down.
©2017 M. R. Forbes (P)2020 Podium Audio
The Gravity of Us
Summary
Teen boys find love when their parents' NASA mission uproots their lives in this sweet debut perfect for Adam Silvera fans. As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, 17-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus. Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another "Astrokid", and finds himself falling head over heels - fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him. Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch. Narrated by Michael Crouch The Shooting Stars TV show is brought to life with a full cast featuring: Jonathan Davis as Josh Farrow Gabra Zackman as StarWatch announcer January LaVoy as Grace Tucker Angelo Di Loreto as Mark Bannon Chris Andrew Ciulla as Calvin Lewis, Sr. Dorothy Dillingham Blue as Donna Szleifer Cynthia Farrell as Ariana Rogers Soneela Nankani as Halima Ali Sullivan Jones as Leon Tucker Bahni Turpin as Kat Tucker Author's Note read by Phil Stamper Includes an About the Audiobook conversation between Phil Stamper and producer Diane McKiernan
©2020 Phil Stamper (P)2020 Listening Library
Passages
Summary
For Mark Caldwell, an unsatisfying life was about to take a turn both terrifying and exhilarating as his fate took an unimaginable turn. When Mark took his aisle seat aboard United flight 4382, he was ignorant of three facts. The fellow passenger in the window seat was named Joseph Colsco. Neither of them would ever set foot on Earth again. They both would be cast naked on an alien planet. Adapt or die. Those were the choices. Determined to grasp the chance at a second life, Mark plunges into an adventure he couldn’t anticipate and leading to a future he can’t predict.
©2019 Olan Thorensen (P)2020 Podium Publishing
Wicca
Summary
Witchcraft and Wicca for a modern world, from YouTube vlogger and Instagram sensation Harmony Nice. Welcome to Generation "Hex" - an era where young Americans know that witchcraft isn't about devil worship and spooky curses and instead are openly embracing meaningful Wiccan rituals that can enrich our lives in real-world ways. In Wicca, 21-year-old Harmony Nice - a YouTube and Instagram star with 700,000 followers - offers modern listeners a guide to overcoming obstacles and maximizing happiness. She offers practical guidance on: Using crystals, wands, tarot cards, and magical tools Setting up an altar Introductory spells for health and protection Finding your own witchy path - solitary or with a coven Wicca offers listeners spiritual authenticity, a hint of glamour, and a perfect guide to infusing their lives with spiritual purpose, confidence, and resilience.
©2019 Harmony Nice (P)2019 Hachette Audio
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
Summary
Author of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novels Rendezvous with Rama and The Fountains of Paradise along with such memorable novels as Childhood's End, Sir Arthur C. Clarke was - with Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein - one of the writers who defined the classic era of science fiction. From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre" through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.
©2000 Arthur C. Clarke (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Open Veins of Latin America
Summary
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe. Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably. This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.
©1997 Eduardo Galeano (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Hearthglen
Summary
Having accepted the love of both Myna Mooncaller and Fiona Mithrilsoul, Sean discovered happiness he hadn’t ever thought he would know, and began to acknowledge how different this society was from his old world. Everywhere they went, they ran into trouble. First had been bandits, which actually proved to be fortuitous, with Ryann Cullin entering Sean’s service after that attack. The sudden harsh blizzard had been the worst trial they had to endure. Cold that even Sean couldn’t withstand had nearly stopped them in their tracks, but they managed to reach Flento. Once the storm had passed, they were finally on their way to Hearthglen. Sean was hoping to use the city to settle down and learn more about what he could do. However, that would require finding a way to make a living, which meant Sean would have to make a name for himself. That was always something he hadn’t wanted to do; it might earn him some friends, but the enemies he would certainly make might very well be his undoing. (This work contains adult situations that some might find offensive, the least of which is graphic sex. This book is about an Overpowered MC, and contains a harem. You’ve been warned.)
©2019 Daniel James Schinhofen (P)2019 Daniel James Schinhofen
The Price of Peace
Summary
New York Times Best Seller An “outstanding new intellectual biography of John Maynard Keynes [that moves] swiftly along currents of lucidity and wit” (The New York Times), illuminating the world of the influential economist and his transformative ideas “A timely, lucid and compelling portrait of a man whose enduring relevance is always heightened when crisis strikes.” (The Wall Street Journal) Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography Named One of the 10 Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly and One of the Best Books of the Year by Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • The Economist • Bloomberg • Mother Jones At the dawn of World War I, a young academic named John Maynard Keynes hastily folded his long legs into the sidecar of his brother-in-law’s motorcycle for an odd, frantic journey that would change the course of history. Swept away from his placid home at Cambridge University by the currents of the conflict, Keynes found himself thrust into the halls of European treasuries to arrange emergency loans and packed off to America to negotiate the terms of economic combat. The terror and anxiety unleashed by the war would transform him from a comfortable obscurity into the most influential and controversial intellectual of his day - a man whose ideas still retain the power to shock in our own time. Keynes was not only an economist but the preeminent anti-authoritarian thinker of the twentieth century, one who devoted his life to the belief that art and ideas could conquer war and deprivation. As a moral philosopher, political theorist, and statesman, Keynes led an extraordinary life that took him from intimate turn-of-the-century parties in London’s riotous Bloomsbury art scene to the fevered negotiations in Paris that shaped the Treaty of Versailles, from stock market crashes on two continents to diplomatic breakthroughs in the mountains of New Hampshire to wartime ballet openings at London’s extravagant Covent Garden. Along the way, Keynes reinvented Enlightenment liberalism to meet the harrowing crises of the twentieth century. In the United States, his ideas became the foundation of a burgeoning economics profession, but they also became a flash point in the broader political struggle of the Cold War, as Keynesian acolytes faced off against conservatives in an intellectual battle for the future of the country - and the world. Though many Keynesian ideas survived the struggle, much of the project to which he devoted his life was lost. In this riveting biography, veteran journalist Zachary D. Carter unearths the lost legacy of one of history’s most fascinating minds. The Price of Peace revives a forgotten set of ideas about democracy, money, and the good life with transformative implications for today’s debates over inequality and the power politics that shape the global order.
©2020 Zachary D. Carter (P)2020 Random House Audio
Thinner
Summary
The unpause-able novel of one man's quest to find the source of his nightmare and to reverse it before he becomes...nothing at all. This number-one national best seller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, "pulsates with evil...it will have you on the edge of your seat" (Publishers Weekly). Billy Halleck commits vehicular manslaughter when his lack of attention results in the death of an old gypsy lady on the street. Overweight Halleck is a lawyer with connections, though, and he gets off with a slap on the wrist. After the trial, the victim's ancient father curses him with a single word: "thinner". Shedding weight by the week, Halleck is desperate enough for one last gamble...one that will lead him to a nightmare showdown with the forces of evil melting his flesh away. With an introduction by Stephen King on "The Importance of Being Bachman", Thinner is a novel of "undeniable suspense" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and "genuine chills" (Kirkus Reviews).
©1984 Richard Bachman (P)2009 Penguin Audio
She Is the Darkness
Summary
The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid. At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the vastness comes a great, deep, slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence. Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence. Stone cannot speak, but stone remembers. So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone....The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other. Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.
©1997 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
The Silver Spike
Summary
....embedded in the trunk of the scion of the godtree, it contains the essence of the maddest of the Ten Who Were Taken...The Dominator. Defeated by the Lady and cast from this world, all that was left of him was a foul trace of lingering evil. But the graveyard that was once the Barrowland contains more secrets than dead. All who would possess the power of the Dominator are drawn to the spike. A foolhardy band of thieves is the first to reach it, and a rapacious and malign spirit is unleashed on an unwary world. The forces gather, sides are drawn, and mortal men can only die as the Dark Lords battle for domination.
©1989 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil
Summary
The war that erupted in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones is nearing its boiling point. The dauntless Separatist forces continue their assault on the teetering Republic as the diabolical triumvirate of Count Dooku, General Grievous, and their Master, Darth Sidious, fine-tune their strategy for conquest. In Episode III Revenge of the Sith the fates of key players on both sides of the conflict will be sealed. But first, crucial events that pave the way to that time of reckoning unfold in a labyrinth of evil. Capturing Trade Federation Viceroy and Separatist Councilmember Nute Gunray is the mission that brings Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, with a squad of clones in tow, to Neimoidia. Their daring efforts yield an unexpected prize: a unique holotransceiver that bears intelligence capable of leading the Republic forces to their ultimate quarry, the ever-elusive Darth Sidious. Swiftly taking up the chase, Anakin and Obi-Wan follow clues from the droid factories of Charros IV to the far-flung worlds of the Outer Rim...every step bringing them closer to pinpointing the location of the Sith Lord, whom they suspect has been manipulating every aspect of the Separatist rebellion. Then the trail takes a shocking turn. For Sidious and his minions have set in motion a ruthlessly orchestrated campaign to divide and overwhelm the Jedi forces and bring the Republic to its knees.
©2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. (P)2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.
Swords and Deviltry
Summary
Neil Gaiman Presents: the first book in Fritz Leiber's classic sword-and-sorcery series, which includes the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella, Ill Met in Lankhmar. In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon, facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears. The late Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser launched the sword-and-sorcery genre, and were the inspiration for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Neil Gaiman.
©1995 The Estate of Fritz Leiber (P)2008 Audible, Inc.
Interview with the Robot
Summary
Ages 10+ Fugitive. Criminal. Robot. A sci-fi adventure for young listeners, Interview with the Robot introduces a unique heroine who seeks the truth about herself. Eve looks like an ordinary 12-year-old girl, but there’s nothing ordinary about her. She has no last name. No parents or guardian. She’s on the run from a dangerous and secretive organization that will stop at nothing to track her down. And most astonishing of all: she’s a robot, a product of Eden Laboratories. When Eve discovers the truth, she realizes everything she thought she knew about herself is a lie. Eve manages to escape, fleeing the lab, the only home she’s ever known. After being arrested for shoplifting, Eve is interviewed by Petra Amis from Child Welfare Services. Her incredible story unfolds during the interrogation, with flashbacks to her life inside Eden Laboratories, which has a dark secret. Listeners follow Eve from her first moment of consciousness to her evolution as a nearly-human companion to Emory, the son of the founder of Eden Laboratories. Exploring a range of topics that drive our society and our lives—topics such as artificial intelligence and human nature - Interview with the Robot is a story told by a startlingly original protagonist, a story that explores the vast potential of technology and the deep complexities of humanity.
©2020 Lee Bacon (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.
River of Darkness
Summary
From the acclaimed author of Conquistador comes this thrilling account of one of history's greatest adventures of discovery. With cinematic immediacy and meticulous attention to historical detail, here is the true story of a legendary 16th-century explorer and his death-defying navigation of the Amazon - river of darkness, pathway to gold. In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river. Soon hopelessly lost in the swampy labyrinth, their numbers diminishing daily through disease, starvation, and Indian attacks, Pizarro and Orellana made a fateful decision to separate. While Pizarro eventually returned home barefoot and in rags, Orellana and 57 men, in a few fragile craft, continued downriver into the unknown reaches of the mighty Amazon, serenaded by native war drums and the eerie cries of exotic predators. Theirs would be the greater glory.
©2011 Buddy Levy (P)2017 Tantor
A Drink Before the War
Summary
With novels like Mystic River and Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane has dramatically altered the landscape of the crime thriller—while boldly overstepping the boundaries that have long separated mystery from literature. Now two of his sensational early novels have been combined in a single volume—two gritty and mesmerizing masterworks of suspense featuring the private eye duo of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro—brilliantly showcasing the unique voice and dark, exhilarating vision of a crime fiction phenomenon.
©1994 Dennis Lehane (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers