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A Long Way Gone
- Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- Narrated by: Ishmael Beah
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
In A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah tells a riveting story in his own words: how, at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is how wars are fought now by children, hopped up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s. In the more than fifty violent conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers.
Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But it is rare to find a first-person account from someone who endured this hell and survived.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Critic reviews
“A Long Way Gone is one of the most important war stories of our generation. The arming of children is among the greatest evils of the modern world, and yet we know so little about it because the children themselves are swallowed up by the very wars they are forced to wage. Ishmael Beah has not only emerged intact from this chaos, he has become one of its most eloquent chroniclers. We ignore his message at our peril.” —Sebastian Junger, author of A Death in Belmont and A Perfect Storm
“This is a beautifully written book about a shocking war and the children who were forced to fight it. Ishmael Beah describes the unthinkable in calm, unforgettable language; his memoir is an important testament to the children elsewhere who continue to be conscripted into armies and militias.” —Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for general Nonfiction
“A Long Way Gone hits you hard in the gut with Sierra Leone's unimaginable brutality and then it touches your soul with unexpected acts of kindness. Ishmael Beah's story tears your heart to pieces and then forces you to put it back together again, because if Beah can emerge from such horror with his humanity in tact, it's the least you can do.” —Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Featured Article: The top 100 memoirs of all time
All genres considered, the memoir is among the most difficult and complex for a writer to pull off. After all, giving voice to your own lived experience and recounting deeply painful or uncomfortable memories in a way that still engages and entertains is a remarkable feat. These autobiographies, often narrated by the authors themselves, shine with raw, unfiltered emotion sure to resonate with any listener. But don't just take our word for it—queue up any one of these listens, and you'll hear exactly what we mean.
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Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until one day a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good.
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Beautiful, full of sadness, power, and heart.
- By Melissa L. Magana on 04-27-17
By: Kao Kalia Yang
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Slave
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- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mende Nazer tells the story of her kidnap, at age 12, from an idyllic life with her family in a village in Sudan, and being sold into slavery. Trafficked to Europe and the London home of a diplomat, Nazer escaped - only to find she had to fight for asylum.
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Heartbreaking dose of reality
- By Sarah on 09-02-09
By: Mende Nazar, and others
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I, Who Did Not Die
- A Sweeping Story of Loss, Redemption, and Fate
- By: Zahed Haftlang, Najah Aboud
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Khorramshahr, Iran, May 1982 - It was the bloodiest battle of one of the most brutal wars of the twentieth century, and Najah, a 29-year-old wounded Iraqi conscript, was face to face with a 13-year-old Iranian child soldier who was ordered to kill him. Instead, the boy committed an astonishing act of mercy. It was an act that decades later would save his own life.
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- By jennie on 04-10-24
By: Zahed Haftlang, and others
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Stars Between the Sun and Moon
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- By: Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland
- Narrated by: Janet Song
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Performance
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Story
Born in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household - her parents worked in the factories, and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine. Jang married an abusive man who sold their baby. She left him and went home to help her family by illegally crossing the river to China to trade goods. She was caught and imprisoned twice.
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Fantastic story. Well read.
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Remember Us
- My Journey from the Shtetl Through the Holocaust
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- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Remember Us is a look back at the lost world of the shtetl: a wise Zayde offering prophetic and profound words to his grandson, the rich experience of Shabbos, and the treasure of a loving family. All this is torn apart with the arrival of the Holocaust, beginning a crucible fraught with twists and turns so unpredictable and surprising that they defy any attempt to find reason within them. Through the eyes of 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Martin Small, we learn that these priceless memories that are too painful to remember are also too painful to forget.
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A Tragic and Rich Life, With Lessons For All
- By still reading on 03-17-16
By: Vic Shayne, and others
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When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
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- By: Le Ly Hayslip, Jay Wurts
- Narrated by: Nancy Kwan
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This haunting memoir tells the brutal story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by violence, devastation, and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. The youngest in a close-knit Buddhist family, Le Ly Hayslip was 12 years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her village. She was raped and "ruined" for marriage by Viet Cong soldiers, imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese, and sentenced to death by the Viet Cong. Ultimately fleeing to the U.S. with her children, she finally found peace, and in 1986, she was reunited with her family in Vietnam. The story of her homecoming, interwoven with her memories of the war years, paints a vivid picture of a noble, optimistic woman and her native country.
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Difficult to listen to
- By heatherhg on 07-01-07
By: Le Ly Hayslip, and others
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The Hundred Wells of Salaga
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- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Aminah lives an idyllic life until she is brutally separated from her home and forced on a journey that turns her from a daydreamer into a resilient woman. Wurche, the willful daughter of a chief, is desperate to play an important role in her father's court. These two women's lives converge as infighting among Wurche's people threatens the region, during the height of the slave trade at the end of the nineteenth century. The Hundred Wells of Salaga offers a remarkable view of slavery and how the scramble for Africa affected the lives of everyday people.
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She Would Be King
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- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
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Beautiful example of magical realism.
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By: Wayétu Moore
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The Orenda
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Christophe has been in the New World only a year when his native guides abandon him to flee their Iroquois pursuers. A Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed, and holds them captive in his massive village. Champlain's Iron People have only recently begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and her people, of course, have become the Huron's greatest enemy.
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Thoughtful and interesting, if not always gripping
- By David on 06-15-14
By: Joseph Boyden
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Tears of the Desert
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Halima Bashir was born into the Zaghawa tribe, whose customs have remained unchanged for centuries, in the remote western deserts of Sudan in the region of South Darfur. Halima's father named his daughter after the traditional medicine woman of the village, and she grew up in a happy and close-knit childhood environment. Her father became a wealthy man by his tribe's standards, so he could afford to send Halima to school and university. Halima went on to study medicine, and at 24 she returned to her tribe and began practicing as their first ever qualified doctor.
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A story that takes you there
- By Justicepirate on 05-22-17
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My Brother's Voice
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- By: Stephen Nasser, Sherry Rosenthal
- Narrated by: Maxwell Glick
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Stephen 'Pista' Nasser was 13 years old when the Nazis whisked him and his family away from their home in Hungary to Auschwitz. His memories of that terrifying experience are still vivid, and his love for his brother Andris still brings a husky tone to his voice when he remembers the terrible ordeal they endured together. Stephen's account of the Holocaust, told in the refreshingly direct and optimistic language of a young boy, will help every listener to understand that the Holocaust was real.
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my favorite I've read it 5 times
- By Anonymous User on 04-15-18
By: Stephen Nasser, and others
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The Lightless Sky
- A Twelve-Year-Old Refugee's Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World
- By: Gulwali Passarlay
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen, Susan Duerden
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In 2006, after his father was killed, Gulwali Passarlay was caught between the Taliban, who wanted to recruit him, and the Americans, who wanted to use him. To protect her son, Gulwali's mother sent him away. The search for safety would lead the 12-year-old across eight countries, from the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan through Iran and Europe to Britain. Over the course of 12 harrowing months, Gulwali endured imprisonment, hunger, cruelty, brutality, loneliness, and terror - and nearly drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
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A Face for Refugees
- By Daryl on 12-10-16
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Under the Same Sky
- From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America
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Overall
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A searing story of starvation and survival in North Korea, followed by a dramatic escape, rescue by activists and Christian missionaries, and success in the United States thanks to newfound faith and courage.
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Tugs at the heart strings
- By R3v13w3r on 07-15-15
By: Joseph Kim, and others
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At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family.
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Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in Northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon. On August 15, 2014, when Nadia was just 21 years old, this life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves.
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The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.
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What listeners say about A Long Way Gone
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- LeyC
- 12-26-16
Nothing Like It
I picked up this audiobook after discovering that my ancestors are from the Mende tribe of Sierra Leone. Wanting to hear what it is like there, I said let me give this story a shot (no pun intended). And wow. To hear the chronology of events that took place FROM the author himself. Ismael Beah does an incredible job of taking the listener through this emotional Rollercoaster. Job. Well. Done.
One day.... One day I will meet him and thank him in person. And another day, I will visit the land of my ancestors, Sierra Leone.
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- David
- 04-19-16
A long way gone = intense
Loved it. This was an amazing story, told firsthand by former child soldier Ishmael Bean. I would highly recommend this title. Now to start Beahs next title.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-15-16
it was great!
I loved that it was the actual author telling it in his accent. On some parts I could truly feel the emotion while he told his story
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- chemguy
- 12-07-18
hear the story from the man who lived it
With protagonist, narrator, and author all the same person, this human tragedy can't be missed.
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- AdinaZimsausa
- 03-18-19
Lost childhoods--so sad
Good narration and detailed report of young soldiers experience Left me with a deeper knowledge of conflict and tragedy in Sierra Leone
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- Beledigrrl
- 02-02-21
one of the best books I've ever read.
i first read this book for a school book report but didnt finish it. I finally was able to finish the book and its one of my favorites! Amazing job Mr. Beah!!
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- Melissa L. Cook
- 07-13-22
A Horrific Story of War in Africa
Taken on a life journey of a child soldier, I was horrified at the transformation of an innocent child who danced to his cassette tapes with his friends to a heartless soldier willing to take a life without much thought and at such a young age. I was angry when I learned he had a home in my country; how could our immigration system let in someone with his past to live in our neighborhoods? I feared for my countrymen with his presence. I continued to listen to the story, disgusted by the behavior of the boy soldiers and their treatment of people who were helping them. I tried to put myself in their shoes. Would I be different under the same circumstances? I would be, I thought, but how would I know? I continued to listen.
The boy soldier is reintroduced to extended family and given a second chance at his childhood. Still I wondered. It wasn’t until he made the effort to escape being forced to serve in the military again and his concern for how his foster mother might fear him, that I believed he might have changed.
There were times I wondered about the truthfulness of this story because I felt there were details left out to intentionally improve the author’s image given the gravity of the crimes against innocent people that he committed. In my research, I discovered there are questions about the details but more along the timeline. I still believe there was more to the story of what his group of soldiers did to people than he shared. The whole thing breaks my heart. I think of the innocent people caught in the war, raped and murdered for their food and of the lost innocence of the children forced to fight to survive and who ultimately grew to make a game of taking other people’s lives. I feel extremely fortunate not to have faced anything like this in my own life, so how can I judge without the experience?
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- Shauna
- 12-01-23
Ishmael Beah is AMAZING
What I loved the most is the story made me feel a deep sense of understanding even though I have never gone though anything like this.
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- Kathleen A. McCabe
- 07-26-18
expertly written and narrated
beautifully told story of a difficult subject showing love and loss and terror and healing.
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- CJ
- 04-10-16
Heavy and sad, but hopeful
I've always been drawn to nonfiction, so was interested in listening to this book for a long time, finally doing so on a long hike to complete from start to finish in one go. There have been a lot of complaints about Beah embellishing many parts, but I think the overall message combined the stories of many people. So, to me that was the point. The writing style was at times difficult, and I found myself cringing after awhile every time I heard the phrase,"it was as if...". It was as if (yes, I just had to) Beah was just trying to outright shock you like a horror film more than tell his story from a deep place in his traumatized soul. And though at times it was also hard to understand, the narration needed to come from someone who had lived through the conflict. If you're interested in learning more about what happened in Sierra Leone - more people need to - this book provides a powerful perspective.
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