The Federalist Papers

Selected Essays

By: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

Narrated by: Jim Killavey

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles, written between 1897 and 1888, advocating for the ratification of the United States Constitution. They serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government.

The articles were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, under the pseudonym "Publius". James Madison is generally credited as the father of the Constitution and became the fourth president of the United States. Alexander Hamilton was an active delegate at the Constitutional Convention, and became the first Secretary of the Treasury. John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States.

The following representative essays are included in this collection as well as the United States Constitution and the Amendments: "Introduction", by Alexander Hamilton; "Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence", by John Jay (in four parts); "Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States, by Alexander Hamilton; "The Consequences of Hostilities Between the States", by Alexander Hamilton; "The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection", by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison; and more.

Public Domain (P)1988 Jimcin Recordings

Classics must be rated

A timeless classic that simply needs to be read to understand the mindset of our fathers.

Wooden Reader

I have openly wept reading these essays with their vision of what our republic could be and what it could turn into if we make the wrong choices. So I was predisposed to enjoy this audio book, but the reader was so dry and seemingly uninvolved that I can't recommend this one.

Must Read FOR ALL Americans

These papers were written by the founders of the Constitution. Must Read to understand what they were thinking when writing and debating the best Constitution in human history.

Love primary sources.

Fascinating to go back in time, see the perceived problems, desired goals, and proposed solutions. And now we can look at the results. They gave us great start. We need to continue the work.

Abridged!!! Massively Misrepresented!!!

This is NOT the entire 85-article collection. Once I purchased this I the first 20 seconds of the introduction tells you it is only 18 of the essays. What a crock! Why can't audible be honest about their products?

terrible audio quality

my review is of this specific audio version, not the book it's self.

This is the worst quality recording I have experienced on Audible. Throughout the entire book, you can hear not only the voice of the speaker echoing back, you can actually pick hear the muffled conversations of other people in the background.

It sounds like it was recorded in a call center, the background noise and voices make it extremely difficult to focus on the book.

In addition to that there are dozens of "cuts" where short sections where are recorded. (probably due to the background noise). the problem is they didn't even attempt to match the record volumes or voice pitches of the sections they where re dubbing. The result is rapid short fluctuations where the volume becomes too low to hear clearly, only to blast your ear drums when it jumps back to full or higher volume. The re recorded sections where clearly recorded with different equipment as the entire sound is different.

The book is great, but find a different recording.

Very poorly read.

Killavey's diction and pronunciation are acceptable, but he simply doesn't understand what he's reading, and as a result his intonation contributes nothing to understanding the meaning intended by the author, or even the structure of the sentences. He is, in effect, nothing but a human form of text-to-speech. I found myself, after listening to a sentence, re-articulating the same words, with properly distributed emphasis and pauses. I'm no professional actor, but it was easy to improve EVERY sentence.

Other readers featured by Audible range from competent to magnificent.

In addition, the omission from this collection of the great bulk of the Federalist opus is troubling. Shouldn't the description state that it's only "a sampling"?

did audible review this thing?

the narrator was absolutely comatose unbelievably inept. it's almost subversive to inflict this sophomore presentation of such an important collection