Christian Geiselmann
- 2
- reviews
- 3
- helpful votes
- 5
- ratings
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Hate in the Homeland
- The New Global Far Right
- By: Cynthia Miller-Idriss
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance3 out of 5 stars 4
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
Hate in the Homeland is essential for understanding the tactics and underlying ideas of modern far-right extremism. This eye-opening book takes listeners into the places and spaces where today's far right is engaging and ensnaring young people and reveals innovative strategies we can use to combat extremist radicalization.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Horrible narrator!
- By Gabriel on 12-05-20
- Hate in the Homeland
- The New Global Far Right
- By: Cynthia Miller-Idriss
- Narrated by: Karen White
Narrator ruins the otherwise important book
Reviewed: 12-08-20
I have been following Cynthia Miller-Idriss' work work for a time, and I find it very important, particularly her research on "far-right" mindsets and networks. Miller-Idriss worked for several years in Germany (where I live). Now she is back in the US and continues her research there. I was keen on learning about her perspective on right-wing extremism in the US, especially as societal developments from the US nowadays very quickly arrive also in Europe. The book is therefore very interesting for me.
However, in this review I do not want to comment on the contents, rather on the quality of the audio record.
Unfortunately, buying "Hate in the Homeland" as an audio record turned out to be a bad idea. It is the narrator (voice artist, nota bene not the author!) who makes listening to the book practically impossible. Her prosody is totally contradicting the stream of thoughts in the text. She actually stops after literally every single word (with very few exceptions), thus relentlessly ripping apart both intellectual concepts and syntactical structures,
Just one example of literally thousands: the phrase "[...] which will result in the re-birth of a new world order" (Min. 50:47) in this narrator's reading becomes "[...] which will result. In the re-birth. Of a new world. [Full stop.] Order." Hence, the auditory needs to spend amounts of mental energy to put together the thought elements the narrator just ripped apart so brutally.
This inappropriate reading made me seriously entertain the idea that this narrator might not be human at all. The prosody is just too close to what a reading machine e.g. in a navigation device would deliver (not to mention the ridiculous pronunciation of foreign names), by simply glueing together isolated words with no understanding whatsoever of the contents. Yet, half an hour of listening to other books narrated by this very voice artist (on offer on the same market place) brought me to the conclusion that she anyway is probably human, however, her field of expertise rather being romance literature and books about dogs, where her reading is more fluent. Academic literature, however, usually suffers.
So, in short: This audio record of "Hate in the Homeland" is not acceptable. It does not serve its purpose. I regret having bought it. Should have bought the actual book.
The best solution for the audio version would be the author herself, Mrs. Miller-Idriss, narrate it. She is well-known to the public through video-recorded appearances at conferences and book presentations, and in such cases the reader (or listener) knows what to expect, and usually is happy with it. And by the way: recording a book with the author's voice reduces to some degree the danger that the narrator might utter words he or she had not actually understood.
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Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- By: T. E. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,147
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,010
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,009
Although T. E. Lawrence, commonly known as "Lawrence of Arabia’, died in 1935, the story of his life has captured the imagination of succeeding generations. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a monumental work in which he chronicles his role in leading the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War. A reluctant leader, and wracked by guilt at the duplicity of the British, Lawrence nevertheless threw himself into his role, suffering the blistering desert conditions and masterminding military campaigns which culminated in the triumphant march of the Arabs into Damascus.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the greatest stories ever told.
- By Stevie on 01-11-13
- Seven Pillars of Wisdom
- By: T. E. Lawrence
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
Masterfully read
Reviewed: 12-05-20
The book is famous and does not need rating. I want however to emphasize the masterful performance of the voice artist reading the book, Roy McMillan. His voice is pleasant, as his reading (pronunciation, prosody, rhythm, structuring the text) make listening not only easy but also pure joy. Also I appreciate his attention to adequate pronuncation of foreign names, which in this book of course is essential.
I discovered this voice artist through this book, and since then I have been looking for audio books preferably read by Roy McMillan.
On the downside, this quality of reading has made me very picky when it comes to selecting audio books. I want this quality to be present everywhere, and it isn't.
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