Jill Fine
- 15
- reviews
- 0
- helpful votes
- 34
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The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
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excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
- The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
Incredibly dense
Reviewed: 05-06-25
There’s far too much information; it overwhelms the narrative. I had to fast forward through the currency conversions. It’s too bad because there is a lot of thrilling drama that gets buried.
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My Lost Family
- An Audible Original
- By: Danny Ben-Moshe, Dasha Lisitsina
- Narrated by: Danny Ben-Moshe
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in a poor Yiddish speaking home in 1950s London, Lillian - then just a teenager - marries charming older man Raymond. One day he takes their children to the local park. But he never returns. When they reappear 40 years later - the search for the truth begins. Unfolding like a mystery, we follow Danny Ben-Moshe and his eccentric Jewish family as they unearth secrets, attempt to reconcile, and hear shocking news that sheds a new light on events.
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uggghhh
- By Keeva Stevens on 10-04-19
- My Lost Family
- An Audible Original
- By: Danny Ben-Moshe, Dasha Lisitsina
- Narrated by: Danny Ben-Moshe
Fascinating
Reviewed: 02-16-25
This is sad story made compelling because everyone reveals themselves during the interviews, even as some try not to.
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King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
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Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
- King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
Essential reading
Reviewed: 02-16-25
This book—the story, the writing, and the performance—is incredible. My only problem with this performance is that there are many passages that are repeated . Someone needs to edit it.
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Persian Fire
- The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In the fifth century BC, a global superpower was determined to bring truth and order to what it regarded as two terrorist states. The superpower was Persia, incomparably rich in ambition, gold, and men. The terrorist states were Athens and Sparta, eccentric cities in a poor and mountainous backwater: Greece. The story of how their citizens took on the Great King of Persia, and thereby saved not only themselves, but Western civilization as well, is as heart-stopping and fateful as any episode in history.
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Engaging
- By Jean on 02-16-17
- Persian Fire
- The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Michael Page
More about the Greeks than the Persians
Reviewed: 01-29-25
This is really more about the Greek response to the Persian invasion than about the Persians themselves, but it does explain the source of today’s issues
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The Bright Sword
- A Novel of King Arthur
- By: Lev Grossman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith, Lev Grossman
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left. The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.
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A rambling woke mess
- By Adam on 07-18-24
- The Bright Sword
- A Novel of King Arthur
- By: Lev Grossman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith, Lev Grossman
Basically fantasy/sci fi
Reviewed: 01-17-25
This takes a while to get interesting and even then it becomes really preachy and tedious at times. I also cannot understand why every character sounds like an 60-year-old man. And Collum has to be one of the most annoying figures in modern literature. Having said all that, it’s a good story and all of the plot lines get resolved in the end, so it was not time wasted,
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
- A History of Nazi Germany
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 57 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the 20th century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
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Held my interest for 57 hours and 13 minutes
- By Jonnie on 11-08-10
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
- A History of Nazi Germany
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Amazing
Reviewed: 09-27-22
The book is amazing, and I got through it in two weeks. I particularly enjoyed the author’s description of the cabal of lunatics that made this horror possible—thugs, sadists, maniacs, illiterates, dimwits, etc. if I had a criticism it’s that it frequently lapses into military history and gives very little explanation of why Germans bought into the Nazi myths. Because this was more than just a dictatorship that gave orders to its citizens at gun point; as he hints at toward the end, it’s Germans who were responsible. We still don’t know why.
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Go Tell It On the Mountain
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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James Baldwin’s stunning first novel is now an American classic. With startling realism that brings Harlem and the black experience vividly to life, this is a work that touches the heart with emotion while it stimulates the mind with its narrative style, symbolism, and excoriating vision of racism in America. Moving through time from the rural South to the northern ghetto, Baldwin chronicles a 14-year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935.
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Knotted Around Some Raw Edge of My Soul
- By Darwin8u on 04-06-15
- Go Tell It On the Mountain
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Extraordinary writing and performance
Reviewed: 09-07-22
Just perfect in all respects. Devastating as context for the black experience in America and as a story of despair and hope. Essential listening.
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The Coldest Winter
- America and the Korean War
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures.
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Almost as good as The Best and the Brightest
- By Doug on 10-02-07
- The Coldest Winter
- America and the Korean War
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Brilliant
Reviewed: 08-09-22
Listen to this. We owe it to the men who fought in Korea.
Quibbles: it goes into a lot of battle detail, but it’s manageable. Also, the musical interludes are silly.
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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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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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Incredible work of everyday people
- By J. C. Edens on 11-20-24
- Paradise Falls
- The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe
- By: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
Fascinating story I hadn’t heard
Reviewed: 05-09-22
I’m 48 and hadn’t heard about this catastrophe. This is a well reported and paced story and nicely read.
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The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
- By: Dawnie Walton
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Bahni Turpin, James Langton, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.
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Outstanding and timely
- By Darrell HANSCHEN on 04-26-21
Very clever
Reviewed: 03-30-22
This is a really interesting book. I thought the premise was very clever and there were times when I thought it had to be real. But I thought Son of the characters were a little thin and based on obvious stereotypes. I also thought the latter half of the book tracked on a bit and could’ve been wrapped up sooner. Overall definitely worth it if you like Rock documentaries.
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