William Hughes has narrated 48 audiobooks on Listento.it by 51 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 322 ratings. The most-rated is NeuroTribes.
The Defender
Summary
Giving voice to the voiceless, the Chicago Defender condemned Jim Crow, catalyzed the Great Migration, and focused the electoral power of black America. Robert S. Abbott founded the Defender in 1905, smuggled hundreds of thousands of copies into the most isolated communities in the segregated South, and was dubbed a "Modern Moses", becoming one of the first black millionaires in the process. His successor wielded the newspaper's clout to elect mayors and presidents, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, who would have lost in 1960 if not for the Defender's support. Along the way, its pages were filled with columns by legends like Ida B. Wells, Langston Hughes, and Martin Luther King Jr. Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive archival research, Ethan Michaeli constructs a revelatory narrative of race in America from the age of Teddy Roosevelt to the age of Barack Obama, and brings to life the reporters who braved lynch mobs and policemen's clubs to do their jobs.
©2016 Ethan Michaeli (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Brothers, Rivals, Victors
Summary
The true story of the friendship—and rivalry—among the greatest American generals of World War II Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, General George S. Patton, and General Omar N. Bradley engineered the Allied conquest that shattered Hitler’s hold over Europe. But they also shared an intricate web of relationships going back decades. In the cauldron of World War II, they found their prewar friendships complicated by shifting allegiances, jealousy, insecurity, patriotism, and ambition. Meticulously researched and vividly written, Jonathan W. Jordan’s book recounts the battle for Europe through the eyes of these three legendary generals. For the first time in such detail, the bonds between them are explored, and readers are treated to an insider’s view of life at the summit of raw, violent power. Throughout three years of hard, bloody warfare, Eisenhower, the Alliance’s great diplomat, sought victory in the fighting qualities and tactical genius of his most trusted subordinates, Bradley and Patton. They, in turn, owed their careers to Eisenhower. Yet their friendship would be put to the ultimate test as life-and-death decisions were thrust upon them, and honor and duty conflicted with personal loyalty. Brothers, Rivals, Victors is drawn from the candid accounts of its main characters and strips away much of the public image of “Ike” (Eisenhower), the “GI’s General” (Bradley), and “Old Blood and Guts” (Patton) to reveal the men behind the legend. Adding richness to this story are the words and observations of a supporting cast of generals, staff officers, secretaries, aides, politicians, and wives, brought together to produce a uniquely intimate account of a relationship that influenced a war. The story of how these three great strategists pulled together to wage the deadliest conflict in history, despite their differences and rivalries, is marvelously told in this eye-opening narrative that is sure to become a classic of military history.
©2011 Jonathan W. Jordan (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Buried Book
Summary
One day in 1872, self-taught Assyriologist George Smith was sifting through a pile of clay tablets when he realized he was reading about "a flood, storm, a ship caught on a mountain, and a bird sent out in search of dry land". This is the riveting story of the discovery of the world's first literary epic, the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
©2006 David Damrosch (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
In the Graveyard of Empires
Summary
This definitive account of the American experience in Afghanistan is a political history of Afghanistan in the “Age of Terror” from 2001 to 2009, exploring the fundamental tragedy of America’s longest war since Vietnam. After the swift defeat of the Taliban in 2001, American optimism has steadily evaporated in the face of mounting violence; a new “war of a thousand cuts” has brought the country to its knees. After a brief survey of the great empires in Afghanistan, Seth G. Jones examines the central question of our own war: how did an insurgency develop? Following September 11, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country, and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of conflict. But Jones argues that, as early as 2001, planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, the United States had pushed al-Qaeda’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan. While observing the tense, often adversarial relationship between NATO allies in the Coalition, Jones introduces us to key figures on both sides of the war. Using important new research and integrating thousands of declassified government documents, Jones analyzes the insurgency from a historical and structural point of view, showing how a rising drug trade, poor security forces, and pervasive corruption undermined the Karzai government, while Americans abandoned a successful strategy, failed to provide the necessary support, and allowed a growing sanctuary for insurgents in Pakistan to catalyze the Taliban resurgence. Examining what has worked thus far—and what has not—this serious and important book underscores the challenges we face in stabilizing the country and explains where we went wrong and what we must do to avoid the disastrous fate that has befallen many of the great world powers to enter the region.
©2010 Seth G. Jones (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Third Horseman
Summary
How a seven-year cycle of rain, cold, disease, and warfare created the worst famine in European history. In May 1315 it started to rain. It didn't stop anywhere in north Europe until August. Next came the four coldest winters in a millennium. Two separate animal epidemics killed nearly 80 percent of northern Europe's livestock. Wars between Scotland and England, France and Flanders, and two rival claimants to the Holy Roman Empire destroyed all remaining farmland. After seven years, the combination of lost harvests, warfare, and pestilence would claim six million lives - one eighth of Europe's total population. William Rosen draws on a wide array of disciplines, from military history to feudal law to agricultural economics and climatology, to trace the succession of traumas that caused the Great Famine. With dramatic appearances by Scotland's William Wallace, the luckless Edward II, and his treacherous Queen Isabella, history's best documented episode of catastrophic climate change comes alive, with powerful implications for future calamities.
©2014 William Rosen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio
Billionaire Democracy
Summary
This isn't your America. No matter who the president is. We are told that, when we vote and elect representatives, we gain a voice in government and its policies. Yet, it hasn't translated our preferences into higher living standards for the majority of us. In America, the wealthy few have built a system that works in their favor, while maintaining the illusion of democracy. American voters have little influence on policies engineered by lawmakers. Political scientists call it the "income bias", causing lawmakers to compete to satisfy preferences of donors from the top one percent instead of the middle class. It is why our economy has been misfiring for most Americans for a generation, wages stagnating and opportunity dwindling. Economist George R. Tyler lays out the fundamental problems plaguing our democracy. He explains how our democratic system has eroded the middle class and provides a comparison to peer democracies abroad. He shows where we fall short and how other rich democracies avoid the income bias pitfall. He also outlines reforms to improve our government's responsiveness. It's time for the people of this nation to demand a government that properly serves us, the American people. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2018 George R. Tyler (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
My Dyslexia
Summary
An inspiring memoir of a Pulitzer Prize winner’s triumph over disability. Despite being a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2008, Philip Schultz could never shake the feeling of being exiled to the “dummy class” in school, where he was largely ignored by his teachers and peers and not expected to succeed. Not until many years later, when his oldest son was diagnosed with dyslexia, did Schultz realize that he suffered from the same condition. In this moving memoir, Schultz traces his difficult childhood and his new understanding of his early years. In doing so, he shows how a boy who did not learn to read until he was eleven went on to become a prizewinning poet by sheer force of determination. His balancing act—life as a member of a family with not one but two dyslexics, countered by his intellectual and creative successes as a writer—reveals an inspiring story of the strengths of the human mind.
©2011 Philip Schultz (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Color of a Christmas Miracle
Summary
From best-selling author Julianne MacLean comes a special holiday novella in her popular Color of Heaven series, where people are affected by real life magic and miracles that change everything they once believed about life and love. Claire Radcliffe has been blessed with a wonderful life - a loving husband, a fulfilling career, and a perfect house in a charming historic neighborhood. But with each Christmas that passes, the one thing she longs for most of all continues to elude her, and before long, her life doesn't seem so perfect anymore. When yet another holiday season approaches and her marriage suffers the worst possible blow, Claire must learn to have faith in destiny, and allow herself to believe that miracles can happen to anyone - especially at Christmastime. Heartwarming and inspiring, The Color of a Christmas Miracle is the tale of one woman's journey to find happiness, and to learn the power of forgiveness and redemption on the path to true love.
©2016 Julianne MacLean (P)2016 Julianne MacLean