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The Vanderbilts
- Narrated by: Ray Childs
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
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- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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Audible Masterpiece
- By Phoenician on 09-10-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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The Debutante
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
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Two Women Walk into a Bar
- By: Cheryl Strayed
- Narrated by: Cheryl Strayed
- Length: 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-one years after Cheryl Strayed set off on the Pacific Crest Trail to heal from the death of her beloved mother, Cheryl’s mother-in-law, Joan, is given weeks to live. As she and her husband help see Joan through her final days, Cheryl reckons with their complicated relationship, determined to connect with a woman who both showed her love and (sometimes hilariously) held her at a distance. Cheryl reflects on their two decades together as she comes to a deeper understanding of the secrets and sorrows in Joan’s complicated past.
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Cheryl tells a great story!
- By Amazon Customer on 01-01-24
By: Cheryl Strayed
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The Year of Magical Thinking
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Vanessa Redgrave
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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When celebrated writer Joan Didion’s life was altered forever, she wrote a new chapter. In this adaptation of her iconic memoir, Didion transforms the story of the shattering loss of her husband and their daughter into a one-woman play performed by Tony Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, who originated the role on Broadway in 2007.
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Difficult story, but worth it
- By Maya on 08-07-20
By: Joan Didion
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Something Ain't Right
- By: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Narrated by: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
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Roger Stringer grew up in rural Mississippi, hunting and eating everything from deer to rabbits. When he had two sons, Zac and Justin, he gave them guns and took them to the woods as well. Then one day when the boys were home alone, he got a call from Zac that Justin had been shot. What follows is an intimate and gripping memoir about the shooting’s aftermath. The story moves between the perspectives of Roger and Zac as they take us through their journey of betrayal, redemption, and ultimately confrontation with a company that had kept its corruption a secret for decades.
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The Journey for Truth
- By samsararose on 05-19-23
By: Roger Stringer, and others
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Chase Darkness with Me
- How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders
- By: Billy Jensen, Karen Kilgariff - foreword
- Narrated by: Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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In Chase Darkness with Me, you’ll ride shotgun as journalist Billy Jensen identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You’ll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle’s pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle’s passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family.
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COULD NOT STOP
- By KK on 04-14-19
By: Billy Jensen, and others
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Own It
- The Secret to Life
- By: Diane von Furstenberg
- Narrated by: Diane von Furstenberg
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Diane von Furstenberg, entrepreneur and philanthropist, presents her words to live by. In an easy-to-navigate A-Z dictionary format, designed to be browsed or listened to as a whole, Own It offers listeners Diane’s well-earned wisdom for enjoying both personal and professional growth at any age.
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Some books should just never be opened
- By Mark on 06-08-22
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Impossible not to like for old movie buffs
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Wow! Did not want this to end!
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A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism. Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire.
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Great! If you can get through it...
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Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York's best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness.
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Very factual
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I learned a lot about this piece of history and the family that cares for it.
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In the 1950s, Confidential magazine, America's first celebrity scandal magazine, revealed Hollywood stars' secrets, misdeeds, and transgressions in gritty, unvarnished detail. Deploying a vast network of tipsters to root out stars' sexual affairs, drug use, and sexuality, publisher Robert Harrison destroyed celebrities' carefully constructed images and built a media empire. Confidential became the best-selling magazine on American newsstands in the 1950s, surpassing Time, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. Confidential's spectacular rise was followed by an equally spectacular fall.
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Heiresses: Surely they are among the luckiest women on earth. Are they not to be envied, with their private jets and Chanel wardrobes and endless funds? Yet all too often those gilded lives have been beset with trauma and despair. Before the 20th century a wife’s inheritance was the property of her husband, making her vulnerable to kidnap, forced marriages, even confinement in an asylum. And in modern times, heiresses fell victim to fortune-hunters who squandered their millions.
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Too much fluff
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By: Laura Thompson
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American Heiresses of the Gilded Age
- By: Melissa Ziobro, The Great Courses
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Welcome to the era of true marriages of convenience. Discover the reality of trading someone’s hand in marriage, such as an American heiress, in exchange for money, power, or political clout through compelling history lectures. Showcased in novels such as Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and in present day pop culture through works like Downtown Abbey, the Gilded Age was an era of contradictions. Life on both sides of the Atlantic was grimy and glamorous, prosperous and impoverished, traditional and revolutionary.
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Repetitive and shallow
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The Good Son
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At the heart of The Good Son is the most important relationship in JFK, Jr.'s life: that with his mother, the beautiful and mysterious Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Andersen explores his reactions to his mother's post-Dallas suicidal depression and growing dependence on prescription drugs (as well as men); how Jackie felt about the women in her son's life, from Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker, to Daryl Hannah and Carolyn Bessette, to his turbulent marriage.
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Lies
- By nedra goodwin on 08-24-18
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The Glitter and the Gold
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Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace. The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era.
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Facinating Story- Terrible reading
- By Ashley D on 03-27-14
What listeners say about The Vanderbilts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tracy
- 12-03-13
It only brushes the cold marble surface
What disappointed you about The Vanderbilts?
Listening to this book was like expecting an entertaining description of a dinner party and being read only the ingredient list that went into the food. Besides the early story of "the Commodore" growing the wealth of the family, everything else is a bland repitition of "this person was the son/daughter of who, general disposition, jobs, marriage, houses, death, funeral at which church, reading the will" over and over. You hear more about their houses than their actual lives, and when the author write that there was "considerable scandals filling all the newspapers" he never gives you any of the details, which is almost as annoying as it is boring. There are some interesting facts and history in this book, but not enough.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
the narrator was almost monotone, but I guess he did about as well as he could with such monotone text.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Neil Chisholm
- 05-06-13
Obscene Riches
Everyone has heard about the Vanderbilts and their wealth but I was awed by their totally obscene wealth and their capacity to spend fortunes on mansions that were not noted for their architecture nor their contents just for their opulence and flashy luxury.
The original Vanderbilt made the majority of his money not by hard work but by manipulating the stocks and shares he held and this was how the family continued to hold onto and increase their incredible fortunes.
By and large the vast sums of money didn't seem to bring them happiness - there were famous custody cases, divorces and scandals and other than becoming the leaders of New York society none of them seemed to have a good time with their money.
It made interesting listening but at times the numbers and dates all got a bit confusing and the dollar amounts so vast that I had to repeat them outloud to comprehend them before gasping.
I enjoyed it but I sat there clasping my pearls at my throat at the sheer amounts of money spent on unimportant things while there were so many in great need and so little of their money was spent in philanthropy.
One to listen and gasp at and thank the lord that the gilded age has past!
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7 people found this helpful
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- Diane
- 03-27-12
more of a summary than indepth.
What did you love best about The Vanderbilts?
Easy to listen to
Would you recommend The Vanderbilts to your friends? Why or why not?
not what I thought it would be
Which scene was your favorite?
none
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
no extreme reaction. waiting for more indepth re: Cornelius Vanderbilt and his influence on family and society and never got it
Any additional comments?
no
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5 people found this helpful
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- John T
- 01-01-21
Robot Voice and BORING
If I had known that the voice for the book was a robot... I would have NEVER purchased this book. It’s slow and the robot voice is monotonous. DON’T BUY THIS & DON’T WASTE A CREDIT! 👎👎 💩
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jeffrey J. Kemp
- 06-11-12
An interesting family.......
Would you consider the audio edition of The Vanderbilts to be better than the print version?
A subject I wouldn't normally purchase in print form
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Vanderbilts?
The reading of the Commodore's will
Have you listened to any of Ray Childs???s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
Any additional comments?
A fun, short biography of one of the most iconic names in 20th century history.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lori
- 04-08-15
Good read.
Interesting. Fun. Good read if you want to visit any of the Vanderbilt houses. Even better the second time. End
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2 people found this helpful
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- Donna M. Rhoten
- 10-19-20
History lesson
This book was very interesting history without being boring. This was a Very enjoyable listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Admin User
- 02-03-24
Stunning details
A bit of a laundry list but so well written. Fascinating detail on the interwoven history that our county provides.
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- Keller Sheppard
- 01-08-24
Great details about one of America's gilded age families
Liked the detailed historical accuracy throughout the book. I have always been curious about the family and this book was informative and interesting.
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- Richard Lopez
- 10-23-23
Guilded Age Glory
While this book often reads like a text book...the stories inside are all amazing. I loved listening to the stories about the most famous members of the Vanderbilt family. This book was published long before Anderson Cooper's book about his family so naturally, I read this one first. What a fascinating family. If you enjoy The Guilded Age...you will love this book.
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