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Desperate
- An Epic Battle for Clean Water and Justice in Appalachia
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
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Desperate
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Publisher's summary
Set in Appalachian coal country, this “superb” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) legal drama follows one determined lawyer as he faces a coal industry giant in a seven-year battle over clean drinking water for a West Virginia community.
For two decades, the water in the taps and wells of Mingo County didn’t look, smell, or taste right. Could the water be the root of the health problems - from kidney stones to cancer - in this Appalachian community? Environmental lawyer Kevin Thompson certainly thought so.
For seven years, Thompson waged an epic legal battle against Massey Energy, West Virginia’s most powerful coal company, helmed by CEO Don Blankenship. While Massey’s lawyers worked out of a gray glass office tower in Charleston known as “the Death Star”, Thompson set up shop in a ramshackle hotel in the fading coal town of Williamson. Working with fellow lawyers and a crew of young activists, Thompson would eventually uncover the ruthless shortcuts that put the community’s drinking water at risk.
Retired coal miners, women whose families had lived in the area’s coal camps for generations, a respected preacher and his brother - all put their trust in Thompson when they had nowhere else to turn. Desperate is a masterful work of investigative reporting about greed and denial, “both a case study in exploitation of the little guy and a playbook for confronting it” (Kirkus Reviews). Maher crafts a revealing portrait of a town besieged by hardship and heartbreak, and an inspiring account of one tenacious environmental lawyer’s mission to expose the truth and demand justice.
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excellent
- By BoxerBran on 09-29-22
By: Scott Ellsworth
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Tulia
- Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town
- By: Nate Blakeslee
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 211
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 129
Early one morning in the summer of 1999, authorities in the tiny West Texas town of Tulia began a roundup of suspected drug dealers. By the time the sweep was done, over 40 people had been arrested and one of every five black adults in town was behind bars, all accused of dealing cocaine to the same undercover officer, Tom Coleman.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Must Read
- By JOHN on 03-23-08
By: Nate Blakeslee
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Furious Hours
- Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
- By: Casey Cep
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,387
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,190
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,194
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great book, needs a Southern narrator
- By Joseph Wu on 06-06-19
By: Casey Cep
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A Death in White Bear Lake
- The True Chronicle of an All-American Town
- By: Barry Siegel
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
In 1962, Jerry Sherwood gave up her newborn son, Dennis, for adoption. Twenty years later, she set out to find him - only to discover he had died before his fourth birthday. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. To all appearances, they were a normal Midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. She demanded to know the truth about her son's death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really, really good book.
- By Danette on 12-23-20
By: Barry Siegel
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Class Action
- The Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law
- By: Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy Gansler
- Narrated by: Gabrielle De Cuir
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
When the local iron mine began hiring women in 1975, Lois Jenson, a single mother on welfare, didn't think twice about accepting the grueling but well-paid job. What she hadn't considered was that she was entering a male-dominated society that fiercely resisted the inclusion of women, a prejudice born out in the brutal harassment of every female miner.
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4 out of 5 stars
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infuriating
- By Ron on 05-20-06
By: Clara Bingham, and others
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The Farmer’s Lawyer
- The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm
- By: Sarah Vogel
- Narrated by: Sarah Vogel
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story5 out of 5 stars 41
The unforgettable true story of a young lawyer's impossible legal battle to stop the federal government from foreclosing on thousands of family farmers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book!!
- By Mindy Knupp on 03-13-22
By: Sarah Vogel
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Paradise Falls
- The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe
- By: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 84
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story5 out of 5 stars 69
Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground, and rows of affordable homes. In the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly-sweet smell of chemicals.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Informative!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-20-24
By: Keith O'Brien
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Yellow Dirt
- An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed
- By: Judy Pasternak
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
From the 1930s to the 1960s, the United States knowingly used and discarded an entire tribe of people. The Navajo worked unprotected in the uranium mines that fueled the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Long after these mines were abandoned, Navajos in all four corners of the Reservation (which borders Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona) continued grazing their animals on sagebrush flats riddled with uranium that had been blasted from the ground.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Dirty little secret of nuclear development
- By Buretto on 08-13-20
By: Judy Pasternak
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Floodpath
- The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles
- By: Jon Wilkman
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story5 out of 5 stars 51
Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind LA noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible story
- By C. Jackson on 04-07-21
By: Jon Wilkman
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The Killing of Karen Silkwood
- The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case
- By: Richard Rashke
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Richard Rashke leads us through the myriad of charges and countercharges, theories and facts, and reaches conclusions based solely on the evidence in hand. Originally published in 1981, his audiobook offers a vivid, edgy picture of the tensions that racked this country in the 1970s. However, the volume is not only an important historical document. Complex, fascinating characters populate this compelling insider's view of the nuclear industry.
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3 out of 5 stars
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If you can get past the terrible narration. . .
- By Surrounded By Chocolate on 04-29-15
By: Richard Rashke
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The Vapors
- A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice
- By: David Hill
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 173
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Story4 out of 5 stars 172
Back in the days before Vegas was big, when the Mob was at its peak and neon lights were but a glimmer on the horizon, a little Southern town styled itself as a premier destination for the American leisure class. Hot Springs, Arkansas was home to healing waters, Art Deco splendor, and America's original national park - as well as horse racing, nearly a dozen illegal casinos, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals.
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1 out of 5 stars
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If you don’t live in Arkansas…
- By JohnFern0813 on 08-14-20
By: David Hill
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The Southern Lawyer
- Joe Hennessy Legal Thriller Series, Book 1
- By: Peter O'Mahoney
- Narrated by: Bradford Hastings
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 563
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 499
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 498
After more than twenty years away from the law, Joe Hennessy is forced back into the courtroom. Trying to save his vineyard after years of drought, Hennessy returns to practice in Charleston, South Carolina–the city he walked away from after the murder of his ten-year-old son. When one of South Carolina’s most powerful men is charged with possessing stolen artwork, Hennessy steps forward to defend him. But as Hennessy digs into the evidence, as he navigates the truth, he finds that the criminal charges are only the start of their problems.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed it
- By Rick 73000 on 05-11-23
By: Peter O'Mahoney
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The Suspect
- An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle
- By: Kent Alexander, Kevin Salwen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 797
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 702
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 703
On July 27, 1996, a hapless former cop turned hypervigilant security guard named Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious bag in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, the town square of the 1996 Summer Games. Inside was a bomb, the largest of its kind in FBI and ATF history. Minutes later, the bomb remotely detonated by the attacker amid a crowd of 50,000 people. But thanks to Jewell, it only killed two and wounded 111, not the hundreds who authorities estimated could have otherwise died. With the eyes of the world on Atlanta, the games continued.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Kudos !
- By Tyree on 11-24-19
By: Kent Alexander, and others
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West of the West
- Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story5 out of 5 stars 20
Teddy Roosevelt once exclaimed, "When I am in California, I am not in the West. I am west of the West", and in this book, Mark Arax spends four years travelling up and down the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. This is California beyond the clichés. This is California as only a native son, deep in the dust, could draw it.
By: Mark Arax
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American Fire
- Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
- By: Monica Hesse
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 444
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 386
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Story4 out of 5 stars 387
Shocked by a five-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to 67 counts of arson. But Charlie wasn't lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice - his girlfriend, Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Narration is horrible
- By Bryan Campbell on 08-17-17
By: Monica Hesse
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 138
Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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4 out of 5 stars
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
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Get Capone
- The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 82
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Get this book
- By Jonathan on 05-13-10
By: Jonathan Eig
What listeners say about Desperate
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- Hemera Pen
- 10-29-21
Fabulous investigative reporting
This is a wonderful book chronicling the fight for clean water and truth in the face of coal companies in West Virginia. In the lineage of “The Smartest Guys in the Room” and “Empire of Pain”, Maher brings the communities and people into fully realized characters showing the challenges and drama of small town Appalachia where coal companies are both large employers and powerful forces driven by profit maximization. Centered around an epic court battle, “Desperate” is both impossible to put down and enormously educational.
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