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The Secret Token
- Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence XVII
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 06-05-18
- Language: English
- Publisher: Random House Audio
Regular price: $31.50
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A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.
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A "must read" for all fish professionals.
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Turncoat
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General Benedict Arnold's failed attempt to betray the fortress of West Point to the British in 1780 stands as one of the most infamous episodes in American history. In the light of a shining record of bravery and unquestioned commitment to the Revolution, Arnold's defection came as an appalling shock. Contemporaries believed he had been corrupted by greed; historians have theorized that he had come to resent the lack of recognition for his merits and sacrifices. In this provocative book, Stephen Brumwell challenges such interpretations and draws on unexplored archives to reveal other crucial factors that illuminate Arnold's abandonment of the revolutionary cause he once championed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Uniquely Informative
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Railroaded
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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The transcontinental railroads of the late 19th century were the first corporate behemoths. Their attempts to generate profits from proliferating debt sparked devastating panics in the US economy. Their dependence on public largess drew them into the corridors of power, initiating new forms of corruption. Their operations rearranged space and time, and remade the landscape of the West. As wheel and rail, car and coal, they opened new worlds of work and ways of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Way to Tell the History
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A People’s Tragedy
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 7
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People’s Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.
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The Library Book
- By: Susan Orlean
- Narrated by: Susan Orlean
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, “Once that first stack got going, it was good-bye, Charlie.” The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Makes me want to get a library card
- By Georgia Lady on 11-01-18
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Fear
- Trump in the White House
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15,332
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13,757
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13,659
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files, and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One, and the White House residence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extremely Depressing...
- By Sena on 09-11-18
Publisher's Summary
A sweeping account of America's oldest unsolved mystery, the people racing to unearth its answer, and what the Lost Colony reveals about America today
In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish the first English settlement in the New World. But when the new colony's leader returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers had vanished, leaving behind only a single clue - a "secret token" etched into a tree.
What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archeologists, and amateur sleuths for 400 years. In The Secret Token, Andrew Lawler sets out on a quest to determine the fate of the settlers, finding fresh leads as he encounters a host of characters obsessed with resolving the enigma. In the course of his journey, Lawler examines how the Lost Colony came to haunt our national consciousness.
Incisive and absorbing, The Secret Token offers a new understanding not just of the Lost Colony and its fate, but of how its absence continues to define - and divide - America.
Critic Reviews
"Part detective novel, part historical reckoning, Lawler’s engrossing book traces the story of - and the obsessive search for - the lost colony of Roanoke...[l]eading to a thoughtful and timely discourse about race and identity.... Lawler makes a strong case for why historical myths matter.” (Publishers Weekly)
“[Lawler] creates a vivid picture of the roiling, politically contentious, economically stressed Elizabethan world.... [T]he author doggedly traces down frauds and hoaxes, no matter how improbable.... In this enjoyable historical adventure, an unsolved mystery reveals violent political and economic rivalries and dire personal struggles.” (Kirkus Reviews)
"The 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke is one of this country's most enduring mysteries. Andrew Lawler turns Roanoke into one of our history's best stories, recounting not only the fascinating, little-known history of the colony itself but that of the incredible swirl of historians, archaeologists, hoaxers, actors, priests, Native Americans, and experts on arcane subjects who have been caught up in the quest to find it. A tale of cock-eyed historical obsession, The Secret Token is also a serious look at America's confused ideas about itself." (Charles Mann, New York Times best-selling author of The Wizard and the Prophet and 1491)
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars22
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4 Stars9
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2 Stars0
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1 Stars1
Performance
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars21
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4 Stars8
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3 Stars3
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2 Stars0
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1 Stars0
Story
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars20
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4 Stars7
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3 Stars4
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2 Stars0
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1 Stars1
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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
- gc dunn
- 08-03-18
Excellent take on Lost Colony history
Wow! Best Lost Colony story I've read in years. Roanoke Island is my home and the author took me back to the Outer Banks and eastern NC with ease.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- D. Littman
- OH
- 10-07-18
the first half of this book is terrific
The first half of this book is good history, probably worth the $ for the entire audiobook. The second half is rambling. In the first half, Lawler tells the history of the voyage and colonization, include a good deal of background about what was going on in England around colonization in the late 1500s and some information that was new to me about the settlement. In the second half, he reverts to newspaper-style journalism rather than history and historical analysis. The one piece of history in the second half he uncovers, and is interesting, is about the Portuguese pirate/navigator/investor but this section isn't connected up to the broader theory of the lost colony, is perhaps irrelevant to it. To readers interested in the historical portions, you might (as I did) slow those sections to 1x, and in the journalistic and more rambling sections, speed the MP3 player to 1.5x (as I did). If I had had the physical book, I probably would have read the thesis statements at the head of each paragraph or section in the second half of the book, but that is not possible in the audio format.
I would still give a 5-5-5 star grade to the first half, and in the second half, a lower grade to the "story" portion. Which explains the overall score in the story category of 3. The narration performance is excellent throughout.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful