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Thunderstruck
- Narrated by: Bob Balaban
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
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Thunderstruck
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Publisher's summary
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men", nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate.
Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the 20th century.
Gripping from the start, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.
Critic reviews
"Larson has a knack for creating genuine suspense in his writing, and his latest is thoroughly enthralling." (Booklist)
"Splendid, beautifully written.... Thunderstruck triumphantly resurrects the spirit of another age." (Publishers Weekly)
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30,465
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25,160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25,148
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Rich Read!
- By D on 09-18-03
By: Erik Larson
-
How to Survive the Titanic
- The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay
- By: Frances Wilson
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
On the terrifying, chaotic night of April 14, 1912, while the Titanic was sinking, Bruce J. Ismay, the ship's owner, made a decision that would save his life - and end it. Ismay boarded a lifeboat meant for women and children, and within days became The Most Talked-of Man in the World. Branded a coward, he became a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Joseph Conrad's legendary eponymous character, Lord Jim.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Not especially uplifting, but quite good
- By Anonymous User on 04-18-12
By: Frances Wilson
-
Eighty Days
- Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world. Also departing from New York that day—and heading in the opposite direction by train—was a young journalist from The Cosmopolitan magazine, Elizabeth Bisland.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Who knew?
- By Susan Gardner Bowers on 03-18-13
By: Matthew Goodman
-
Mark Twain: Man in White
- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twain’s twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary author’s life. Drawing heavily on Twain’s own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twain’s private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic book
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-10
By: Michael Shelden
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In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 9,004
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,607
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7,594
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
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5 out of 5 stars
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I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
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The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 31 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,457
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,160
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,161
The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
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4 out of 5 stars
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No Stone Unturned
- By Tim on 06-25-13
By: David McCullough
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Jack London
- An American Life
- By: Earle Labor
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Jack London was born a working class, fatherless Californian in 1876. In his youth, he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling West Coast - an oyster pirate, a hobo, a sailor, and a prospector by turns. He spent his brief life rapidly accumulating the experiences that would inform his acclaimed best-selling books The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Glad I chose this
- By SherryH on 04-14-19
By: Earle Labor
-
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
- The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World
- By: Hugh Brewster
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
The Titanic has often been called "An exquisite microcosm of the Edwardian era", but until now, her story has not been presented as such. In Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage, historian Hugh Brewster seamlessly interweaves personal narratives of the lost liner's most fascinating people with a haunting account of the fateful maiden crossing. Employing scrupulous research, he accurately depicts the ship's brief life and tragic denouement and presents compelling, memorable portraits of her most notable passengers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Lots of interesting details
- By Rachel on 10-16-18
By: Hugh Brewster
-
Chief Engineer
- Washington Roebling, the Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: Erica Wagner
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
His father conceived of the Brooklyn Bridge, but after John Roebling's sudden death, Washington Roebling built what has become one of American's most iconic structures - as much a part of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Yet, as recognizable as the bridge is, its builder is too often forgotten - and his life is of interest far beyond his chosen field. It is the story of immigrants, of the frontier, of the greatest crisis in American history, and of the making of the modern world.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Monumental
- By charles mueller on 07-09-19
By: Erica Wagner
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The Italian Secretary
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 583
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 310
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 308
The best-selling author of the Alienist series returns with a chilling elaboration on the Sherlock Holmes canon, as the famed detective investigates a pair of gruesome murders, which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as Queen Victoria herself.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A True Delight for the Holmes Enthusiast
- By Sagar on 06-03-05
By: Caleb Carr
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The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,956
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,450
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,412
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Sara on 07-10-16
By: David McCullough
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The Colony
- The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles on Molokai
- By: John Tayman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 113
In 1866, 12 men and women and one small child were forced aboard a leaky schooner and cast away to a natural prison on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Two weeks later, a dozen others were exiled, and then 40 more, and then 100 more. Tracked by bounty hunters and torn screaming from their families, the luckless were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and most of those who did were not contagious.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting
- By Matt on 10-31-06
By: John Tayman
-
Voyage of the Damned
- A Shocking True Story of Hope, Betrayal, and Nazi Terror
- By: Max Morgan Witts, Gordon Thomas
- Narrated by: Chris Kayser
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 159
This book is a meticulous reconstruction of a tragic episode in the history of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. The SS. St. Louis left Hamburg in May of 1939 with 937 Jewish refugees on board who thought they had bought visas to enter Cuba. Refused entry in Cuba and the United States the ship eventually had to turn around and return to Europe. The voyage to freedom was in the end nothing more than a roundabout journey to the concentration camps.
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4 out of 5 stars
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No propaganda more damning than the truth
- By Buretto on 10-29-20
By: Max Morgan Witts, and others
-
The Witch of Lime Street
- Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World
- By: David Jaher
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 174
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 153
The 1920s are famous as the golden age of jazz and glamour, but it was also an era of fevered yearning for communion with the spirit world, after the loss of tens of millions in the First World War and the Spanish-flu epidemic. A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics - and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Houdini, Conan Doyle and Marjorie
- By Blue Dragonfly on 10-11-15
By: David Jaher
-
Mark Twain
- A Life
- By: Ron Powers
- Narrated by: Ron Powers
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Mark Twain founded the American voice. His works are a living national treasury: taught, quoted, and reprinted more than those of any writer except Shakespeare. His awestruck contemporaries saw him as the representative figure of his times, and his influence has deeply flavored the 20th and 21st centuries.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Buy the Book
- By W.Denis on 10-22-05
By: Ron Powers
-
The Woman Who Smashed Codes
- A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies
- By: Jason Fagone
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,517
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,939
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,927
In 1912, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the US government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the Adam and Eve of the NSA, Elizebeth's story, incredibly, has never been told.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Captivating Biography
- By Jean on 11-20-17
By: Jason Fagone
-
50 Children
- One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany
- By: Steven Pressman
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
In early 1939, few Americans were thinking about the darkening storm clouds over Europe. Nor did they have much sympathy for the growing number of Jewish families that were increasingly threatened and brutalized by Adolf Hitler's policies in Germany and Austria. But one ordinary American couple decided that something had to be done. Despite overwhelming obstacles - both in Europe and in the United States - Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus made a bold and unprecedented decision to travel into Nazi Germany in an effort to save a group of Jewish children.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
I didn't want it to end
- By David Shear on 05-07-14
By: Steven Pressman
-
Labyrinths
- Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl, and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis
- By: Catrine Clay
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Clever and ambitious, Emma Jung yearned to study the natural sciences at the University of Zurich. But the strict rules of proper Swiss society at the beginning of the 20th century dictated that a woman of Emma's stature - one of the richest heiresses in Switzerland - travel to Paris to "finish" her education, to prepare for marriage to a suitable man. Engaged to the son of one of her father's wealthy business colleagues, Emma's conventional and predictable life was upended when she met Carl Jung.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Carl plays center stage
- By Sparrowhawk on 12-23-16
By: Catrine Clay
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On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
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Mary Churchill’s War
- The Wartime Diaries of Churchill’s Youngest Daughter
- By: Mary Churchill, Emma Soames - editor, Erik Larson - introduction
- Narrated by: Beth Eyre, Emma Soames
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
In 1939, seventeen-year-old Mary found herself in an extraordinary position at an extraordinary time: it was the outbreak of World War II and her father, Winston Churchill, had been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; within months he would become prime minister. The young Mary Churchill was uniquely placed to observe this remarkable historical moment, and her diaries—most never published until now—provide an immediate view of the great events of the war, as well as intimate moments with her father. These diaries also capture what it was like to be a young woman during wartime.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Love Mary Soames
- By Robert on 11-21-22
By: Mary Churchill, and others
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How to Survive the Titanic
- The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay
- By: Frances Wilson
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
On the terrifying, chaotic night of April 14, 1912, while the Titanic was sinking, Bruce J. Ismay, the ship's owner, made a decision that would save his life - and end it. Ismay boarded a lifeboat meant for women and children, and within days became The Most Talked-of Man in the World. Branded a coward, he became a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Joseph Conrad's legendary eponymous character, Lord Jim.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not especially uplifting, but quite good
- By Anonymous User on 04-18-12
By: Frances Wilson
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The Myth of Artificial Intelligence
- Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do
- By: Erik J. Larson
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Futurists insist that AI will soon eclipse the capacities of the most gifted human mind. What hope do we have against superintelligent machines? But we aren't really on the path to developing intelligent machines. In fact, we don't even know where that path might be. Erik Larson takes us on a tour of the landscape of AI to show how far we are from superintelligence and what it would take to get there.
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1 out of 5 stars
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dead wrong after 2 years
- By K. Lyon on 07-11-23
By: Erik J. Larson
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Empire of Deception
- The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
- By: Dean Jobb
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
It was a time of unregulated madness. And nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. Speakeasies thrived, gang war shootings announced Al Capone's rise to underworld domination, Chicago's corrupt political leaders fraternized with gangsters, and the frenzy of stock market gambling was rampant. Enter a slick, smooth-talking, charismatic lawyer named Leo Koretz, who enticed hundreds of people (who should have known better) to invest as much as $30 million.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Incredible Tale!
- By electricblue201 on 10-11-15
By: Dean Jobb
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The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel
- Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
- By: Douglas Brunt
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,292
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,192
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,192
September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book!
- By Scott F on 09-24-23
By: Douglas Brunt
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman, Will Damron, John Berendt
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,706
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,471
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,466
Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative flows like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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LOVED IT!!!
- By Heidi on 07-11-10
By: John Berendt
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My Name Is Lucy Barton (Dramatic Production)
- By: Elizabeth Strout, Rona Munro
- Narrated by: Laura Linney
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
Praised as "deeply affecting" and "heartbreaking" by The Guardian (UK), this is a faithful adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout's best-selling novel of the same name. Unsteady after an operation, Lucy Barton wakes to find her mother sitting at the foot of her bed. She hasn't seen her in years, and her visit brings back to Lucy her desperate rural childhood, and her escape to New York. As she begins to find herself as a writer, she is still gripped by the urgent complexities of family life.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Great actress- No story
- By Richard M. on 04-02-21
By: Elizabeth Strout, and others
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The Spy and the Traitor
- The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 10,541
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,376
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Story5 out of 5 stars 9,342
If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
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5 out of 5 stars
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John Lee is GREAT!
- By David on 09-21-18
By: Ben Macintyre
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The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,839
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,287
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,285
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
What listeners say about Thunderstruck
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Enrique
- 02-19-13
Great listening!!!
Would you consider the audio edition of Thunderstruck to be better than the print version?
Way much YES
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Not on the edge, however I did not stop reading daily
Have you listened to any of Bob Balaban’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, i do not have a reference
If you could give Thunderstruck a new subtitle, what would it be?
Wireless
Any additional comments?
Enhance the cover image it is blured
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Peter
- 04-22-15
Weakest Erik Larson book
Only moderately interesting. Author apologizes for his penchant for detail, but apology not nearly adequate for the amount of irrelevant detail. Ending of the coda leaves the reader/listener hanging.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Laura
- 07-07-17
Production
Outstanding reader and compelling story. Unfortunately, the piece skipped three separate times. I was unable, even with rewinding, to play the skipped sections.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tricia C.
- 06-21-21
Enjoyed! Recommend! Would make a good move!
Thunderstruck brought me back to my youth. My grandfather ran Marconi's station on Nantucket Island I had heard many many stories growing up, especally about how my grandfather was the one who trained David Sarnoff... and as a Retired Law Enforcement Officer I found the Crippen story fascinating & griping... Would make a good movie!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nancy
- 10-26-22
Great book!
Enjoyed this presentation very much...another great book by author! I love the way he ties the stories and history together. Good narration also!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- peter taylor
- 11-01-22
Exhausting
I loved Devil in the White City by same author but this seemed to be too detailed for me regarding Marconi's experiments. I liked his telling of the events leading up to murder and aftermath.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CR mama
- 12-07-22
Fascinating
Larson is the best. I love his books. This one was so much fun to read and I learned so much!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Natalie Edmonds
- 01-15-23
For History buffs only
Dry as dust delivery. Requires the reader to have some interest and knowledge in radio to really understand the technical bits. Crippen parts were better, but would have been more interesting if told under dramatization. Did not care for Balaban as a narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bill Stewart
- 10-12-23
Great Author and Narrator
Erik Larson paints an amazing picture of the time and culture surrounding the true life character’s characters in this historical nonfiction book. Highly recommended.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Laura Roberts
- 04-24-24
Story and history
Monotone voice. Story subject beyond my understanding.. my bad! I learned a lot … but not very interested in subject.
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