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Mobituaries
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's summary
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries—reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his #1 hit podcast. But here, in this “delightful, hilarious romp through history” (Booklist) he has gone much further, with all-new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
Take Herbert Hoover: before he was president, he was the “Great Humanitarian,” the man who saved tens of millions from starvation. But after less than a year in the White House, the stock market crashed, and all the good he had done seemed to be forgotten. Then there’s Marlene Dietrich, well remembered as a screen goddess, less remembered as a great patriot. Alongside servicemen on the front lines during World War II, she risked her life to help defeat the Nazis of her native Germany. And what about Billy Carter and history’s unruly presidential brothers? Were they ne’er-do-well liabilities…or secret weapons? Plus, Mobits for dead sports teams, dead countries, the dearly departed station wagon, and dragons. Yes, dragons.
Rocca is an expert researcher and storyteller who offers “joy for curious minds” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci), and with his dogged reporting and trademark wit, he brings these men and women back to life like no one else can. “In our fact-challenged times, Rocca’s joyful tour through the didja know’s of history is an unexpected antidote” (The New Yorker).
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We Had a Little Real Estate Problem
- The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy
- By: Kliph Nesteroff
- Narrated by: Kliph Nesteroff
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 174
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 151
It was one of the most reliable jokes in Charlie Hill’s stand-up routine: “My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem.” In We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, acclaimed comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff focuses on one of comedy’s most significant and little-known stories: how, despite having been denied representation in the entertainment industry, Native Americans have influenced and advanced the art form.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing book!
- By Gregg Anderson on 03-22-21
By: Kliph Nesteroff
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Shakespeare in a Divided America
- What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 280
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 277
The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes—presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike—have turned to Shakespeare’s works to explore the nation’s fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare’s four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Entertaining History Lesson
- By David on 08-17-20
By: James Shapiro
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Toksvig's Almanac 2021
- An Eclectic Meander Through the Historical Year by Sandi Toksvig
- By: Sandi Toksvig
- Narrated by: Sandi Toksvig
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story5 out of 5 stars 49
Let Sandi Toksvig guide you on an eclectic meander through the calendar, illuminating neglected corners of history to tell tales of the fascinating figures you didn't learn about at school. From popes who gave birth during papal processions, to the inventor of Scrabble, to pioneering civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, who refused to give up her seat on a train decades before Rosa Parks was born. As witty and entertaining as it is instructive, this is an essential companion to each day of the year.
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5 out of 5 stars
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simply one of my favorite people
- By Rae on 06-05-22
By: Sandi Toksvig
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No Stopping Us Now
- The Adventures of Older Women in American History
- By: Gail Collins
- Narrated by: Gail Collins, Tanya Eby
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries. From Plymouth Rock (when a woman was considered marriageable if "civil and under fifty years of age"), to a few generations later, when they were quietly retired to elderdom once they had passed the optimum age for reproduction, to recent decades, American attitudes towards age have been a moving target.
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4 out of 5 stars
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amazing
- By Elaine Sharon Davis on 06-09-20
By: Gail Collins
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When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
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Audience of One
- Television, Donald Trump, and the Politics of Illusion
- By: James Poniewozik
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
In the tradition of Neil Postman's masterpiece Amusing Ourselves to Death, Audience of One shows how American media have shaped American society and politics, by interweaving two crucial stories. The first story follows the evolution of television from the three-network era of the 20th century, which joined millions of Americans in a shared monoculture, into today's zillion-channel, internet-atomized universe, which sliced and diced them into fractious, alienated subcultures. The second story is a cultural critique of Donald Trump.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enlightening, insightful, terrifying.
- By L Watson on 09-22-19
By: James Poniewozik
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"The Rest of Us"
- The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the "old country" to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Book 3 of 3
- By Etoile NEOhio on 11-15-22
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Dead Famous
- An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Greg Jenner
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Celebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern. But the famous and infamous have been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for much longer than we might realize. Whether it was the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; or Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor whose monstrous ego and terrible alcoholism saw him nearly murdered by his own audience....
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5 out of 5 stars
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I’ll read everything Greg writes
- By Patrick White on 09-19-22
By: Greg Jenner
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On the Shoulders of Giants
- My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
- By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
In On the Shoulders of Giants, indomitable basketball star and best-selling author and historian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites listeners on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace. He leads us through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in our history, revealing the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The best of both worlds
- By Marianne on 10-06-08
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and others
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Boom!
- Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today
- By: Tom Brokaw
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
Boom! One minute it was Ike and the man in the grey flannel suit, and the next minute it was time to "turn on, tune in, drop out". While Americans were walking on the moon, Americans were dying in Vietnam. Nothing was beyond question, and there were far fewer answers than before.
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2 out of 5 stars
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boring survey of a generation
- By Andy on 01-01-08
By: Tom Brokaw
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100 Things the Simpsons Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
- By: Allie Goertz, Julia Prescott
- Narrated by: Pete Cross, Angie Kane
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Most fans of The Simpsons can distinguish Lenny from Carl without checking their hands. But only real fans recall the Eastern European equivalent of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, know the name of Barney Gumble's submission to the Springfield Film Festival, and have road tripped to the World's Fair in Knoxville. 100 Things The Simpsons Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource for true fans, whether you comprehend at a Ralph Wiggum or Lisa Simpson level.
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5 out of 5 stars
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BEST BOOK EVER!!😁
- By Kathleen on 11-22-20
By: Allie Goertz, and others
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The American Experiment
- Dialogues on a Dream
- By: David M. Rubenstein
- Narrated by: David M. Rubenstein, Ken Burns, Madeleine Albright, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
Exploring the diverse make-up of our country’s DNA through interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning historians, diplomats, music legends, and sports giants, The American Experiment captures the dynamic arc of a young country reinventing itself in real-time. Through these enlightening conversations, the American spirit comes alive, revealing the setbacks, suffering, invention, ingenuity, and social movements that continue to shape our vision of what America is — and what it can be.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A post graduate experience
- By Barbara or Jerold Gendler on 12-08-21
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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
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4 out of 5 stars 65
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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Rush Limbaugh
- An Army of One
- By: Zev Chafets
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 210
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Do you remember your first time? People tend to remember the moment they first heard The Rush Limbaugh Show on the radio. For Zev Chafets, it was in a car in Detroit, driving down Woodward Avenue. Limbaugh's braggadocio, the outrageous satire, the slaughtering of liberal sacred cows performed with the verve of a rock-n-roll DJ-it seemed fresh, funny and completely subversive.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed it, despite poor narration
- By David on 06-02-10
By: Zev Chafets
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The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
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Backwards and in Heels
- By: Alicia Malone
- Narrated by: Katherine Littrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman, as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title film editor. Throughout the entire history of Hollywood women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping how we make movies. Yet their stories are rarely shared. This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. Backwards and in Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book
- By Alfie on 09-27-21
By: Alicia Malone
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Stealing Home
- Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
- By: Eric Nusbaum
- Narrated by: David Owen Nelson
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 352
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 299
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 297
Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Once Upon a Time at Dodger Stadium
- By James Gamble on 03-06-21
By: Eric Nusbaum