A Book of American Martyrs Audiobook By Joyce Carol Oates cover art

A Book of American Martyrs

A Novel

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

A Book of American Martyrs

By: Joyce Carol Oates
Narrated by: Neil Hellegers, Tavia Gilbert, Kirsten Potter
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $42.29

Buy for $42.29

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

In this striking, enormously affecting novel, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of two very different yet intimately linked American families. Luther Dunphy is an ardent Evangelical who envisions himself as acting out God's will when he assassinates an abortion provider in his small Ohio town while Augustus Voorhees, the idealistic doctor who is killed, leaves behind a wife and children scarred and embittered by grief.

In her moving, insightful portrait, Joyce Carol Oates fully inhabits the perspectives of two interwoven families whose destinies are defined by their warring convictions and squarely - but with great empathy - confronts an intractable, abiding rift in American society.

A Book of American Martyrs is a stunning, timely depiction of an issue hotly debated on a national stage but that makes itself felt most lastingly in communities torn apart by violence and hatred.

©2017 The Ontario Review, Inc. (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Psychological Thriller & Suspense
All stars
Most relevant  
This novel is ugly and beautiful at the same time. Tearful and bloody it moves to an astonishing conclusion. This is deep humanity.

Bloody and beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Masterful story examining the complexities of abortion through its impact on two very different families.

Martyrs of All Ages

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderful account of the collateral damage caused by religion...the families of an assasinated abortion MD and his murderer. Literature...marvelous.

Another great work by JC Oates

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a great story of learning tolerance, and a good representation of issues we still face today.

Tolerance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
After the first hour I considered not reading further--the canned kitschy tone was disappointing & the mispronunciations so distracting. Then suddenly, the middle of this long protracted story showed promise. Many subplots were distracting and lacked development-- teasing the reader into thinking a meaningful turn in this saga was just around the next turn. Sadly I spent some 24 hours listening to a book that ended so weakly. Remembering that Dawn couldn't read--as told to readers multiple times--an ending that relied on a lengthy written message from Naomi was such a bomb.

A weak & disappointing conclusion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It takes something to do that to me. I'm not a crier. It was slow going at first and I didn't care for the first performer. But the tension builds gradually. By the time I was in the third download section I was listening whenever I could. JCO is still killing it!

I cried at the end. No kidding.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written, but way too long with irritating narrators. probably better in paperback than audio.

interesting but very long, with tiring narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This story examines our common human default of believing that God is on OUR side , that WE are the moral ones, the right ones . When rational we’re aware of the many ways to be right and wrong but not when deep in our convictions. Some of us are more guilty of this than others and that is why I , in particular, needed to read this book

Disturbing, timely

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What disappointed you about A Book of American Martyrs?

There are only 2 martyrs in this book.The physician and the clinic escort murdered by a radical religious zealot!(Author tries to portray the murderer as one as well, NO!) The women are written in a sexist/misogynistic manner. Both wives fall apart because their husbands are not there to hold their hands.NO! The wives/mothers abandon their children because they are what..ill equipped to handle life without a man?? NO! The Radical Christian zealot is NOT mentally ill, he is a premeditated-MURDERER! I could go on and on but this book was a complete failure. If I wanted to read about boxing, I would have bought a novel on the sport, not this poor attempt at covering a very important topic in todays society! Only one section in Chapter 66 describes the current situation facing Abortion Providers, women's healthcare rights and dangerous christian radicals in 2017 America." ...the protesters were angrier and more confrontational and there were more of them." almost overnight "He would say somebody was going to be hurt, stronger security was needed from the police" "Right away 2 nasty things appeared on anti-abortion web sites." "Broome county was singled out, Dr. Voorhees was singled out" . "Army of God is strong in Ohio, especially rural Ohio" "Operation Rescue is still strong" "We did not think any of them would murder any one of us" . Reality is that,This is playing out every week across this country and these Zealots will hurt or murder again as they did Dr. Tiller in Colorado. If you do not support ISIS or other Religious Radical groups then make no mistake, that is EXACTLY what the Radical Christian Right of today is! Instead of this poorly researched book, try reading 'Life's Work" by Dr.WIllie Parker.

Would you ever listen to anything by Joyce Carol Oates again?

No

How could the performance have been better?

Performance were fine, just the material was insulting..

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger, as it portrays women so poorly and feeds the misogyny of todays society, Shame on Joyce Carol Oates, she could have risen to the challenge of this topic but chose to troll the bottom of the scum pond. Shame!

Any additional comments?

No

NO! Just NO! INSULTING!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.