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Of Comics and Men
- A Cultural History of American Comic Books
- Narrated by: Scot Wilcox
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
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Of Comics and Men
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Publisher's summary
Originally published in France and long sought in English translation, Jean-Paul Gabilliet's Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books documents the rise and development of the American comic book industry from the 1930s to the present. The book intertwines aesthetic issues and critical biographies with the concerns of production, distribution, and audience reception, making it one of the few interdisciplinary studies of the art form. A thorough introduction by translators and comics scholars Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen brings the book up to date with explorations of the latest innovations, particularly the graphic novel.
The book is organized into three sections: a concise history of the evolution of the comic book form in America; an overview of the distribution and consumption of American comic books, detailing specific controversies such as the creation of the Comics Code in the mid-1950s; and the problematic legitimization of the form that has occurred recently within the academy and in popular discourse.
Viewing comic books from a variety of theoretical lenses, Gabilliet shows how seemingly disparate issues - creation, production, and reception - are in fact connected in ways that are not necessarily true of other art forms. Analyzing examples from a variety of genres, this book provides a thorough landmark overview of American comic books that sheds new light on this versatile art form.
The book is published by 2015 University Press of Mississippi.
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- By: Shannon Appelcline
- Narrated by: Colby Elliott
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
Designers & Dragons: The ’70s is a comprehensive picture of the beginnings of the RPG industry. This second edition expands the original single book into a series of four, and we’ve added over 50,000 new words to this volume alone. Learn about the colorful history of TSR and the wave of D&D inspired games (and gaming companies) to follow, and dip your toes into war gaming trivia. Regardless of your gaming background, Shannon Appelcline’s meticulously researched history won’t disappoint.
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5 out of 5 stars
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the forgotten realm of where RPGs arize
- By RAW-ATX on 01-02-22
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The Library
- A Fragile History
- By: Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stays on point
- By Alex on 04-29-23
By: Andrew Pettegree, and others
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World Without Mind
- The Existential Threat of Big Tech
- By: Franklin Foer
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 255
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 217
Franklin Foer reveals the existential threat posed by big tech, and in his brilliant polemic gives us the toolkit to fight their pervasive influence. Over the past few decades there has been a revolution in terms of who controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has imperiled the way we think. Without pausing to consider the cost, the world has rushed to embrace the products and services of four titanic corporations. We shop with Amazon, socialize on Facebook, turn to Apple for entertainment, and rely on Google for information.
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5 out of 5 stars
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5-Star Book with a 1-Star Title
- By David Larson on 09-18-17
By: Franklin Foer
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The Age of American Unreason
- By: Susan Jacoby
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 265
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon - one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, Jacoby surveys an antirationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought".
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting, but explanation by redescription
- By T. Andrew Poehlman on 07-15-08
By: Susan Jacoby
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The Nineties
- A Book
- By: Chuck Klosterman
- Narrated by: Chuck Klosterman, Dion Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,866
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,620
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,610
It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. In between, one presidential election was allegedly decided by Ross Perot while another was plausibly decided by Ralph Nader. In the beginning, almost every name and address was listed in a phone book, and everyone answered their landlines because you didn’t know who it was. By the end, exposing someone’s address was an act of emotional violence, and nobody picked up their new cell phone if they didn’t know who it was.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Very White Middle-class Take On The Nineties
- By Umar Lee on 02-10-22
By: Chuck Klosterman
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Pure Invention
- How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World
- By: Matt Alt
- Narrated by: Matt Alt
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 246
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 213
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 212
Japan is the forge of the world’s fantasies: karaoke and the Walkman, manga and anime, Pac-Man and Pokémon, online imageboards and emojis. But as Japan media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation, these novelties did more than entertain. They paved the way for our perplexing modern lives.
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3 out of 5 stars
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great book ruined by ending
- By Grant Holder on 06-07-22
By: Matt Alt
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Golden Dreams
- California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963
- By: Kevin Starr
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 29 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
Starr brilliantly illuminates the dominant economic, social, and cultural forces in California in these pivotal years. In a powerful blend of telling events, colorful personalities, and insightful analyses, Starr examines such issues as the overnight creation of the postwar California suburb, the rise of Los Angeles as Super City, the reluctant emergence of San Diego as one of the largest cities in the nation, and the decline of political centrism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Give us more Starr on California!!
- By Roger on 08-24-16
By: Kevin Starr
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With Amusement for All
- A History of American Popular Culture since 1830
- By: LeRoy Ashby
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
With Amusement for All is the first comprehensive history of two centuries of mass entertainment in the United States, covering everything from the penny press to Playboy, the NBA to NASCAR, big band to hip hop, and other topics including film, comics, television, sports, and music. Paying careful attention to matters of race, gender, class, economics, and politics, LeRoy Ashby emphasizes the complex ways in which popular culture simultaneously reflects and transforms American culture.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So Much Fun!
- By Paul on 11-28-13
By: LeRoy Ashby
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The Austrian School of Economics
- A History of Its Ideas, Ambassadors, & Institutions
- By: Eugen Maria Schulak, Herbert Unterköfler
- Narrated by: Paul Strikwerda
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 56
The Austrian School is in the news as never before. It is discussed on business pages, in academic journals, and in speeches by public figures. At long last, there is a brilliant and engaging guide to the history, ideas, and institutions of the Austrian School of economics. It is written by two Austrian intellectuals who have gone to the sources themselves to provide a completely new look at the tradition and what it means for the future.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good book about Austrian Economics and it's histor
- By Kyle and Dawn Christerson on 04-30-19
By: Eugen Maria Schulak, and others
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The Master Switch
- The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
- By: Tim Wu
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,417
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,014
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,013
Could history repeat itself, with one giant entity taking control of American information? Most consider the Internet Age to be a moment of unprecedented freedom in communications and culture. But as Tim Wu shows, each major new medium, from telephone to cable, arrived on a similar wave of idealistic optimism only to become, eventually, the object of industrial consolidation profoundly affecting how Americans communicate.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Read
- By Roy on 11-12-10
By: Tim Wu
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Author in Chief
- The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote
- By: Craig Fehrman
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In Craig Fehrman’s groundbreaking work of history, Author in Chief, the story of America’s presidents and their books opens a rich new window into presidential biography. From volumes lost to history - Calvin Coolidge’s Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929 - to ones we know and love - Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, which was very nearly never published - Fehrman unearths countless insights about the presidents through their literary works.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 03-12-20
By: Craig Fehrman
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Bad News
- How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy
- By: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Narrated by: Batya Ungar-Sargon
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 156
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 142
Today’s newsrooms are propagating radical ideas that were fringe as recently as a decade ago, including “antiracism,” intersectionality, open borders, and critical race theory. How did this come to be? It all has to do with who our news media is written by—and who it is written for. In Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, Batya Ungar-Sargon reveals how American journalism underwent a status revolution over the twentieth century—from a blue-collar trade to an elite profession.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Balanced, informative, and insightful
- By J. B. Eibel on 06-06-22
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Shakespeare's Library
- Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature
- By: Stuart Kells
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Millions of words of scholarship have been expended on the world's most famous author and his work. And yet a critical part of the puzzle, Shakespeare's library, is a mystery. For four centuries people have searched for it: in mansions, palaces, and libraries; in riverbeds, sheep pens, and partridge coops; and in the corridors of the mind. Yet no trace of the Bard's manuscripts, books, or letters has ever been found.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Dismissed Mary Sidney Herbert without explanation
- By Lisa on 07-30-19
By: Stuart Kells
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We Were Feminists Once
- From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement
- By: Andi Zeisler
- Narrated by: Joell A. Jacob
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 96
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
Today, feminism is no longer a dirty word, and women purporting to stand up for women's equality now include high-powered names like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Emma Watson. Hip underwear lines sell granny pants with "feminist" emblazoned on the back. In every bookstore, there are scores of seductive feminist how-to business guides telling women how to achieve "it all".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book despite shoddy narration
- By Seth H. Wilson on 05-19-16
By: Andi Zeisler
-
The Europeans
- Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange - they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures.
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5 out of 5 stars
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DO LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!!!
- By JK on 10-28-21
By: Orlando Figes
-
Blockbusters
- Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment
- By: Anita Elberse
- Narrated by: Renee Raudman
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 87
What's behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Entertainment, and the NFL — along with such stars as Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals? Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School's expert on the entertainment industry, has done pioneering research on the worlds of media and sports for more than a decade. Now, in this groundbreaking audiobook, she explains a powerful truth about the fiercely competitive world of entertainment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I love the autobook the only thing I have
- By brycesp on 03-31-17
By: Anita Elberse
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What listeners say about Of Comics and Men
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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Story4 out of 5 stars
- drakemccrary
- 10-22-19
Pretty Comprehensive
Gabilliet does his best to cover all forms of comics from newspaper strips to graphic novels. In addition to discuss the history and evolution of the form, Gabilliet dives head first into the business side of things. He discusses in details such issues as print runs, demographics, distribution networks, and the working conditions for comic book creators and artists.
Overall, if you are a late comer to comics like me this is a great way to jump start your journey. If you're a long-term fan you might be able to better enjoy the richest of Gabilliet's arguments and the hard look he takes at the business of comics might give you a different perspective. There are some downsides to this book however. For one, it was published in 2005 and therefore does not discuss the recent superhero craze and its impacts. Secondly, as a French scholar Gabilliet has a tendency to be a bit snobbish when it comes to certain aspects of fan culture such as cosplay.
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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
- M
- 01-31-19
good book, odd reader. other than that, very good
the reader was a bit strange, but it's a great history book. I recommend it.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Karrie L.
- 03-12-24
One of the worst narrators of all time
One of the worst narrators of all time and the story gets lost in the weeds the further the book goes on.
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