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The Lucky Few
- Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom
- Narrated by: Nick Landrum
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
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The Lucky Few
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Publisher's summary
Born during the Great Depression and World War Two (1929-1945) an entire generation has slipped between the cracks of history. These Lucky Few became the first American generation smaller than the one before them, and the luckiest generation of Americans ever.
As children they experienced the most stable, intact parental families in the nation’s history. Lucky Few women married earlier than any other generation of the century and helped give birth to the Baby Boom, yet also gained in education compared to earlier generations. Lucky Few men made the greatest gains of the century in schooling, earned veterans benefits like the Greatest Generation, but served mostly in peacetime with only a fraction of the casualties; they came closest to full employment and spearheaded the trend toward earlier retirement. Even in retirement/old age the Lucky Few remain in the right place at the right time. Here is their story and the story of how they have affected other recent generations of Americans before and since.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.
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fantastic report on the dangers of nostalgia
- By Richard Stine on 06-29-21
By: Stephanie Coontz
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The Son Also Rises
- Surnames and the History of Social Mobility
- By: Gregory Clark
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4 out of 5 stars 32
How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does this influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries.
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4 out of 5 stars
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It’s mostly genetics
- By Nobody on 09-10-20
By: Gregory Clark
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Ethnic America
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: James Bundy
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 497
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 396
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Story5 out of 5 stars 394
Thomas Sowell provides us with a useful and concise record tracing the history of nine ethnic groups: Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Understanding the ethnic tapestry of America
- By Amazon Customer on 12-23-19
By: Thomas Sowell
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Discrimination and Disparities
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,002
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,477
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,452
Discrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation, or genetics. It is listenable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological spectrum.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Hard Pill To Swallow - I’m better for it
- By Charles on 01-14-19
By: Thomas Sowell
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Who’s Your City?
- How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life
- By: Richard Florida
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
All places are not created equal. In this groundbreaking book, Richard Florida shows that where we live is increasingly a crucial factor in our lives, one that fundamentally affects our professional and personal prospects. As well as explaining why place matters now more than ever, Who's Your City? provides indispensable tools to help you choose the right place for you.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Mimi Routh on 08-08-10
By: Richard Florida
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The 9.9 Percent
- The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture
- By: Matthew Stewart
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
In 21st century America, the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90 percent have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9 percent that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country - and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic
- By Davena on 01-05-23
By: Matthew Stewart
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The WEIRDest People in the World
- How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
- By: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 448
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 354
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 349
In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lots of mispronounced words
- By Phillip Falk on 10-24-20
By: Joseph Henrich
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The Complacent Class
- The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream
- By: Tyler Cowen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 295
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
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Story4 out of 5 stars 250
Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist, and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition - we're working harder than ever to avoid change.
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5 out of 5 stars
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MUST READ
- By RJW on 05-06-17
By: Tyler Cowen
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Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
- By: Anne Case, Angus Deaton
- Narrated by: Kate Harper
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 146
Life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen for three years in a row - a reversal not seen since 1918 or in any other wealthy nation in modern times. In the past two decades, deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism have risen dramatically, and now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives each year - and they're still rising. Case and Deaton, known for first sounding the alarm about deaths of despair, explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class.
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2 out of 5 stars
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So many words, so little insight
- By Trebla on 03-22-20
By: Anne Case, and others
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Upside
- Profiting from the Profound Demographic Shifts Ahead
- By: Kenneth W. Gronbach, M.J. Moye, John Zogby - foreword
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
Demographics not only define who we are, where we live, and how our numbers change. For those who can read beyond the raw figures, they open up hidden business opportunities that lie ahead. What will happen when retiring Boomers free up jobs? How will Generation Y alter supermarkets? Which states will have the most dynamic workforces? Will American manufacturing rebound as Asia's population declines? Upside puts this powerful yet little-understood science to work finding answers.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Needs rework to become an audio-book
- By Kristofer Jarl on 11-18-20
By: Kenneth W. Gronbach, and others
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Korea
- The Impossible Country
- By: Daniel Tudor
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
Long overshadowed by Japan and China, South Korea is a small country that happens to be one of the great national success stories of the postwar period. From a failed state with no democratic tradition, ruined and partitioned by war, and sapped by a half-century of colonial rule, South Korea transformed itself in just 50 years into an economic powerhouse and a democracy that serves as a model for other countries. With no natural resources and a tradition of authoritarian rule, Korea managed to accomplish a second Asian miracle.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing book
- By Antoine on 12-14-18
By: Daniel Tudor
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Forget "Having It All"
- How America Messed Up Motherhood - and How to Fix It
- By: Amy Westervelt
- Narrated by: Amy Westervelt
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
In Forget "Having It All", Westervelt traces the roots of our modern expectations of mothers and motherhood back to extremist ideas held by the first Puritans who attempted to colonize America and examines how those ideals shifted - or didn't - through every generation since.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Thorough and Well-Researched Book on The "Mom Predicament"
- By Merle B on 04-10-19
By: Amy Westervelt
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The Technology Trap
- Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation
- By: Carl Benedikt Frey
- Narrated by: Richard Lyddon
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very good
- By Brad on 07-04-19
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Losing Ground
- American Social Policy, 1950 - 1980
- By: Charles Murray
- Narrated by: Robert Morris
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 303
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 266
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 263
Beginning in the 1950s, America entered a period of unprecedented social reform. This remarkable book demonstrates how the social programs of the 1960s and ’70s had the unintended and perverse effect of slowing and even reversing earlier progress in reducing poverty, crime, ignorance, and discrimination. Using widely understood and accepted data, it conclusively demonstrates that the amalgam of reforms from 1965 to 1970 actually made matters worse.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A great book ruined by a terrible recording
- By Michael on 04-05-13
By: Charles Murray
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Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
In his controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America - including the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Let's talk truth!
- By Jeff on 09-02-12
By: Arthur C. Brooks