-
A Well-Read Woman
- The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The inspiring true story of an indomitable librarian’s journey from Nazi Germany to Seattle to Vietnam - all for the love of books.
Growing up under Fascist censorship in Nazi Germany, Ruth Rappaport absorbed a forbidden community of ideas in banned books. After fleeing her home in Leipzig at fifteen and losing both parents to the Holocaust, Ruth drifted between vocations, relationships, and countries, searching for belonging and purpose. When she found her calling in librarianship, Ruth became not only a witness to history but an agent for change as well.
Culled from decades of diaries, letters, and photographs, this epic true story reveals a driven woman who survived persecution, political unrest, and personal trauma through a love of books. It traces her activism from the Zionist movement to the Red Scare to bibliotherapy in Vietnam and finally to the Library of Congress, where Ruth made an indelible mark and found a home. Connecting it all, one constant thread: Ruth’s passion for the printed word, and the haven it provides - a haven that, as this singularly compelling biography proves, Ruth would spend her life making accessible to others. This wasn’t just a career for Ruth Rappaport. It was her purpose.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince
- The Ravenhood Legacy, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Joe Arden, Maxine Mitchell
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time… there lived a man with a vengeance-filled heart that held too many secrets and a woman, pure of soul, intent on uncovering them. What they failed to realize is that through the storm their love would create, a legacy would be born.
-
-
I thought I was going to be okay😭❤️❤️❤️
- By Megan Williams on 10-18-23
By: Kate Stewart
-
The Real
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Lance Greenfield
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They say it happens when you least expect it. It did for me. It started the moment I saw the simple message pop up on my computer screen: Cameron’s Mac: Hi. And when I met the eyes of the gorgeous man messaging me from across the coffee shop, I never thought my reply would lead to the most intense, sexual, and passionate relationship of my life. We both agreed to check our bags at the door and put our future hopes and aspirations on the table. It worked. I fell in love with his no-holds-barred attitude, sexy smirk, and undeniably good heart...and for a while we forgot about our baggage.
-
-
First book by a new to me author.
- By Katharoo on 09-18-18
By: Kate Stewart
-
Drive
- Bittersweet Symphony Duet, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Wen Ross, Kai Kennicott
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia. At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key. You see, my favorite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favorite song?
-
-
"I'm right here"....Sigh....
- By AEW on 03-08-23
By: Kate Stewart
-
Flock
- The Ravenhood, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Maxine Mitchell, Joe Arden
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets. Secrets that cost us everything to keep. That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to. Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence, due to my illness, and all were punished.
-
-
Y’ALL!
- By Justin McNulty on 05-14-21
By: Kate Stewart
-
Someone Else's Ocean
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Lila Winters, Jason Clarke
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time I met Ian Kemp in the sparkling blue waters of St. Thomas, I was six years old, and we shared a summer beneath the stars. The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.
-
-
✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 06-21-19
By: Kate Stewart
-
Maniac
- The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1927, while the majority of the township of Bath, Michigan, was celebrating a new primary school - one of the most modern in the Midwest - Andrew P. Kehoe had other plans. The local farmer and school board treasurer was educated, respected, and an accommodating neighbor and friend. But behind his ordinary demeanor was a narcissistic sadist seething with rage, resentment, and paranoia. On May 18 he detonated a set of rigged explosives with the sole purpose of destroying the school and everyone in it.
-
-
One of my favorite true crime authors flops.
- By John L on 03-14-21
By: Harold Schechter
-
One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince
- The Ravenhood Legacy, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Joe Arden, Maxine Mitchell
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time… there lived a man with a vengeance-filled heart that held too many secrets and a woman, pure of soul, intent on uncovering them. What they failed to realize is that through the storm their love would create, a legacy would be born.
-
-
I thought I was going to be okay😭❤️❤️❤️
- By Megan Williams on 10-18-23
By: Kate Stewart
-
The Real
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Lance Greenfield
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They say it happens when you least expect it. It did for me. It started the moment I saw the simple message pop up on my computer screen: Cameron’s Mac: Hi. And when I met the eyes of the gorgeous man messaging me from across the coffee shop, I never thought my reply would lead to the most intense, sexual, and passionate relationship of my life. We both agreed to check our bags at the door and put our future hopes and aspirations on the table. It worked. I fell in love with his no-holds-barred attitude, sexy smirk, and undeniably good heart...and for a while we forgot about our baggage.
-
-
First book by a new to me author.
- By Katharoo on 09-18-18
By: Kate Stewart
-
Drive
- Bittersweet Symphony Duet, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Wen Ross, Kai Kennicott
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia. At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key. You see, my favorite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favorite song?
-
-
"I'm right here"....Sigh....
- By AEW on 03-08-23
By: Kate Stewart
-
Flock
- The Ravenhood, Book 1
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Maxine Mitchell, Joe Arden
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets. Secrets that cost us everything to keep. That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to. Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence, due to my illness, and all were punished.
-
-
Y’ALL!
- By Justin McNulty on 05-14-21
By: Kate Stewart
-
Someone Else's Ocean
- By: Kate Stewart
- Narrated by: Lila Winters, Jason Clarke
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time I met Ian Kemp in the sparkling blue waters of St. Thomas, I was six years old, and we shared a summer beneath the stars. The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.
-
-
✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 06-21-19
By: Kate Stewart
-
Maniac
- The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1927, while the majority of the township of Bath, Michigan, was celebrating a new primary school - one of the most modern in the Midwest - Andrew P. Kehoe had other plans. The local farmer and school board treasurer was educated, respected, and an accommodating neighbor and friend. But behind his ordinary demeanor was a narcissistic sadist seething with rage, resentment, and paranoia. On May 18 he detonated a set of rigged explosives with the sole purpose of destroying the school and everyone in it.
-
-
One of my favorite true crime authors flops.
- By John L on 03-14-21
By: Harold Schechter
-
Road to Jonestown
- Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
- By: Jeff Guinn
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially mixed, and he was a leader in the early civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California, where he got involved in electoral politics and became a prominent Bay Area leader. But underneath the surface lurked a terrible darkness.
-
-
An Important Accurate Historical Report
- By Julia on 08-24-17
By: Jeff Guinn
-
Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- By: Janet Reitman
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
-
-
My cup of tea.
- By MWMcCabe on 08-09-11
By: Janet Reitman
-
Dear America
- Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
- By: Jose Antonio Vargas
- Narrated by: Jose Antonio Vargas
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called “[T]he most famous undocumented immigrant in America”, tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms.
-
-
Varga's story needs to be read in schools!
- By V R. Jasso on 10-12-18
-
Personal History
- A Memoir
- By: Katharine Graham
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 30 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this widely acclaimed memoir ("Riveting, moving...a wonderful book" The New York Times Book Review), Katharine Graham tells her story—one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candor, and dignity of its telling.
-
-
A Life Told with Honesty, Humility, and Humor.
- By Kalutha on 01-01-18
By: Katharine Graham
-
East West Street
- On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"
- By: Philippe Sands
- Narrated by: David Rintoul, Philippe Sands
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg Trials.
-
-
Outstanding!
- By lori on 05-07-18
By: Philippe Sands
-
The Future Is History
- How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own - as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings.
-
-
The author is an international treasure
- By ThreeGems on 10-16-17
By: Masha Gessen
-
A Personal Odyssey
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the gritty, powerful story of Thomas Sowell's life-long education in the school of hard knocks, a journey that took him from Harlem to the Marines, the Ivy League, and a career as a controversial writer, teacher, and economist in government and private industry. It is also the story of the dramatically changing times in which this personal odyssey took place.
-
-
Thomas Sowell: An American treasure!
- By Wayne on 06-30-20
By: Thomas Sowell
-
A Beautiful Mind
- By: Sylvia Nasar
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Forbes Nash, Jr., a prodigy and legend by the age of 30, dazzled the mathematical world by solving a series of deep problems deemed "impossible" by other mathematicians. But at the height of his fame, Nash suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown and began a harrowing descent into insanity, resigning his post at MIT, slipping into a series of bizarre delusions, and eventually becoming a dreamy, ghostlike figure at Princeton, scrawling numerological messages on blackboards.
-
-
Informative not entertaining
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 08-28-11
By: Sylvia Nasar
-
Song in a Weary Throat
- Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
- By: Pauli Murray, Patricia Bell-Scott - Introduction by
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poet, memoirist, labor organizer, and Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray helped transform the law of the land. Arrested in 1940 for sitting in the whites-only section of a Virginia bus, Murray propelled that life-defining event into a Howard law degree and a fight against "Jane Crow" sexism. Now Murray is finally getting long-deserved recognition: The first African American woman to receive a doctorate of law at Yale, her name graces one of the university's new colleges.
-
-
great American shero
- By Coisge F Mccullough on 04-13-24
By: Pauli Murray, and others
-
The Woman Who Could Not Forget
- Iris Chang Before and Beyond The Rape of Nanking
- By: Ying-Ying Chang
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A moving and illuminating memoir about the life of world-famous author and historian Iris ChangIris Chang's best-selling book, The Rape of Nanking, forever changed the way we view the Second World War in Asia. It all began with a photo of a river choked with the bodies of hundreds of Chinese civilians that shock Iris to her core. Who were these people? Why had this happened and how could their story have been lost to history? She could not shake that image from her head.
-
-
University Thesis Changed Understanding of WWII
- By Charlotte A. Hu on 10-01-14
By: Ying-Ying Chang
-
The Prodigy
- A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy
- By: Amy Wallace
- Narrated by: Aze Fellner
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Sidis, 1897-1944, was the world's greatest child prodigy. His IQ was an estiamted 50 to 100 points higher than Einstein's, the highest ever recorded or estimated. His father, a pioneer in the field of abnormal psychology, believed that he and his wife could create a genius in the cradle. They hung alphabet blocks over the baby's crib-and within six months little Billy was speaking. At 18 months he was reading The New York Times; at three, Homer in the original Greek. At six he spoke at least seven languages.
-
-
A tarnished national treasure lost forever
- By Tom B. on 05-13-12
By: Amy Wallace
-
A Singular Woman
- The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother
- By: Janny Scott
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barack Obama has written extensively about his father, but little is known about Stanley Ann Dunham, the fiercely independent woman who raised him, the person he credits for, as he says, "what is best in me." Here is the missing piece of the story.
-
-
What a Woman!
- By darswords on 10-11-11
By: Janny Scott
Critic reviews
“Stewart is frank about Rappaport’s prickly personality…Those details, coupled with more admirable qualities like curiosity and drive, serve to make her an entertaining presence. A lively, chatty exploration of a life that veered in many intriguing directions.” --Kirkus Reviews
Related to this topic
-
Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- By: Janet Reitman
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
-
-
My cup of tea.
- By MWMcCabe on 08-09-11
By: Janet Reitman
-
And So It Goes
- Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
- By: Charles J. Shields
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author and biographer Charles J. Shields crafts this fascinating portrait of literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. The first authorized biography of the influential American writer, And So It Goes examines Vonnegut’s life, from his childhood to his death in 2007, and explores how the author changed the conversation of American literature.
-
-
Probably only for die hard Vonnegut fans
- By Watery M on 12-22-12
-
Paper Love
- Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind
- By: Sarah Wildman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years after her grandfather's death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters in a file labeled "Correspondence: Patients A-G". What she found inside weren't dry medical histories; instead what was written opened a path into the destroyed world that was her family's prewar Vienna. One woman's letters stood out: those from Valy-Valerie Scheftel, her grandfather's lover who remained behind when he fled Europe six months after the Nazis annexed Austria.
-
-
Compelling and Personal Exploration
- By Murphee on 08-09-23
By: Sarah Wildman
-
The Invitation-Only Zone
- The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project
- By: Robert S. Boynton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout the late 1970s and early '80s, dozens of Japanese citizens were abducted from coastal Japanese towns by North Korean commandos. In what proved to be part of a global project, North Korea attempted to reeducate the abductees and train them to spy on the state's behalf. When the project faltered, the abductees were hidden in a series of guarded communities known as "Invitation-Only Zones" - the fiction being that these were exclusive enclaves, not prisons.
-
-
Over enthusiastic reader!
- By AJW on 02-14-16
-
The Good Girls Revolt
- How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace
- By: Lynn Povich
- Narrated by: Susan Larkin
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the 1960s - a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the “Help Wanted” ads were segregated by gender and the “Mad Men” office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the “Swinging Sixties.” Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job - for a girl - at an exciting place. But it was a dead end.
-
-
Good book read by Ms Robot.
- By careuther on 09-17-16
By: Lynn Povich
-
Inga
- Kennedy's Great Love, Hitler's Perfect Beauty, and J. Edgar Hoover's Prime Suspect
- By: Scott Farris
- Narrated by: Scott Farris
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In addition to her romance with Kennedy, Arvad married four times - including to an Egyptian prince, the brilliant filmmaker Paul Fejos, and the famed cowboy movie star Tim McCoy. She had affairs with Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the noted surgeon Dr. William Cahan, and Winston Churchill's right hand man, Baron Robert Boothby. But by all accounts her admirers among the European and American elite loved Inga not for her physical beauty, but for her joie de vivre.
-
-
Excellent Kennedy Read
- By James P. Barraza on 04-14-17
By: Scott Farris
-
Inside Scientology
- The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion
- By: Janet Reitman
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world's fastest-growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of "volunteer ministers" offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of government to further its goals.
-
-
My cup of tea.
- By MWMcCabe on 08-09-11
By: Janet Reitman
-
And So It Goes
- Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
- By: Charles J. Shields
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author and biographer Charles J. Shields crafts this fascinating portrait of literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. The first authorized biography of the influential American writer, And So It Goes examines Vonnegut’s life, from his childhood to his death in 2007, and explores how the author changed the conversation of American literature.
-
-
Probably only for die hard Vonnegut fans
- By Watery M on 12-22-12
-
Paper Love
- Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind
- By: Sarah Wildman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years after her grandfather's death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters in a file labeled "Correspondence: Patients A-G". What she found inside weren't dry medical histories; instead what was written opened a path into the destroyed world that was her family's prewar Vienna. One woman's letters stood out: those from Valy-Valerie Scheftel, her grandfather's lover who remained behind when he fled Europe six months after the Nazis annexed Austria.
-
-
Compelling and Personal Exploration
- By Murphee on 08-09-23
By: Sarah Wildman
-
The Invitation-Only Zone
- The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project
- By: Robert S. Boynton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout the late 1970s and early '80s, dozens of Japanese citizens were abducted from coastal Japanese towns by North Korean commandos. In what proved to be part of a global project, North Korea attempted to reeducate the abductees and train them to spy on the state's behalf. When the project faltered, the abductees were hidden in a series of guarded communities known as "Invitation-Only Zones" - the fiction being that these were exclusive enclaves, not prisons.
-
-
Over enthusiastic reader!
- By AJW on 02-14-16
-
The Good Girls Revolt
- How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace
- By: Lynn Povich
- Narrated by: Susan Larkin
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the 1960s - a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the “Help Wanted” ads were segregated by gender and the “Mad Men” office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the “Swinging Sixties.” Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job - for a girl - at an exciting place. But it was a dead end.
-
-
Good book read by Ms Robot.
- By careuther on 09-17-16
By: Lynn Povich
-
Inga
- Kennedy's Great Love, Hitler's Perfect Beauty, and J. Edgar Hoover's Prime Suspect
- By: Scott Farris
- Narrated by: Scott Farris
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In addition to her romance with Kennedy, Arvad married four times - including to an Egyptian prince, the brilliant filmmaker Paul Fejos, and the famed cowboy movie star Tim McCoy. She had affairs with Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the noted surgeon Dr. William Cahan, and Winston Churchill's right hand man, Baron Robert Boothby. But by all accounts her admirers among the European and American elite loved Inga not for her physical beauty, but for her joie de vivre.
-
-
Excellent Kennedy Read
- By James P. Barraza on 04-14-17
By: Scott Farris
-
Stalin's Daughter
- The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
- By: Rosemary Sullivan
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators—her father, Josef Stalin. Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy—the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.
-
-
Insightful and thoroughly researched
- By Jean on 06-16-15
-
The Unbreakable Miss Lovely
- How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper
- By: Tony Ortega
- Narrated by: Tony Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.
-
-
A "CHURCH" THAT IS DESTRUCTIVE. INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY
- By Count B on 09-29-16
By: Tony Ortega
-
Spies in the Family
- An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship That Helped End the Cold War
- By: Eva Dillon
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1975, 17-year-old Eva Dillon's family was living in New Delhi when her father was exposed as a CIA spy. Eva had long believed that her father was a US State Department employee. She had no idea that he was handling the CIA's highest ranking double agent - Dmitri Fedorovich Polyakov, a Soviet general whose code name was TOPHAT. Dillon's father and Polyakov had a close friendship that went back years, to their first meeting in Burma in the mid-1960s.
-
-
LOVED it!
- By SaraofDI on 11-06-17
By: Eva Dillon
-
Road to Jonestown
- Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
- By: Jeff Guinn
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially mixed, and he was a leader in the early civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California, where he got involved in electoral politics and became a prominent Bay Area leader. But underneath the surface lurked a terrible darkness.
-
-
An Important Accurate Historical Report
- By Julia on 08-24-17
By: Jeff Guinn
-
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life
- By: Gerald Martin
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his novels and short stories, Gabriel García Márquez has transformed the particulars of his own life and the lives of his fellow Colombians into wondrous fiction. While telling the story of the sloppily dressed, skinny young man who rose from obscurity as a provincial journalist to international fame as the progenitor of a new literature, Gerald Martin also considers the tensions in García Márquez's life between celebrity and the personal quest for literary quality, between politics and writing, and between the seductions of power, solitude, and love.
-
-
Great content, somewhat disappointing narrator.
- By Paola Herrington on 01-08-13
By: Gerald Martin
-
Mirror to America
- The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin
- By: John Hope Franklin
- Narrated by: John Hope Franklin
- Length: 7 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Hope Franklin lived through America's most defining twentieth-century transformation, the dismantling of legally-protected racial segregation. A renowned scholar, he has explored that transformation in its myriad aspects, notably in his 3.5 million-copy bestseller, From Slavery to Freedom. And he was, and remains, an active participant. Intimate, at times revelatory, Mirror to America chronicles Franklin's life and this nation's racial transformation in the 20th century.
-
-
Love story about a history often misunderstood
- By Joy B Joy on 01-23-15
-
Song in a Weary Throat
- Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
- By: Pauli Murray, Patricia Bell-Scott - Introduction by
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poet, memoirist, labor organizer, and Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray helped transform the law of the land. Arrested in 1940 for sitting in the whites-only section of a Virginia bus, Murray propelled that life-defining event into a Howard law degree and a fight against "Jane Crow" sexism. Now Murray is finally getting long-deserved recognition: The first African American woman to receive a doctorate of law at Yale, her name graces one of the university's new colleges.
-
-
great American shero
- By Coisge F Mccullough on 04-13-24
By: Pauli Murray, and others
-
We Are Our Mothers' Daughters
- Revised and Expanded Edition
- By: Cokie Roberts
- Narrated by: Cokie Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this 10th anniversary edition, renowned political commentator Cokie Roberts once again examines the nature of women's roles. From mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, Roberts reveals how much progress has now been made and how much further we have to go. Updated and expanded to include a diverse new cast of women, including Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, and others, this collection of essays offers tremendous insight into the opportunities and challenges that women encounter today.
-
-
A must read or “listen” for all women and girls!!
- By monica on 09-30-19
By: Cokie Roberts
-
Trailblazer
- A Pioneering Journalist's Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America
- By: Dorothy Butler Gilliam
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the US.
-
-
Struggled to finish
- By SL41639 on 04-06-20
-
Hitler's Children
- Sons and Daughters of Third Reich Leaders
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Göring. Hess. Mengele. Dönitz. Names that conjure up dark memories of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. They were the architects of the Third Reich. And they were fathers. Gerald Posner convinced 11 sons and daughters of Hitler's inner circle to break their silence. This second generation of perpetrators in Hitler's Children struggle with their Third Reich inheritance. In grappling with memories of good and loving fathers who were later charged with war crimes, these heirs to the Nazi legacy add a fresh and important perspective.
-
-
Couldn’t put it down!
- By Art Guzman on 02-11-18
By: Gerald Posner
-
The Future Is History
- How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own - as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings.
-
-
The author is an international treasure
- By ThreeGems on 10-16-17
By: Masha Gessen
-
The League of Wives
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home
- By: Heath Hardage Lee
- Narrated by: Heath Hardage Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The true story of the fierce band of women who battled Washington - and Hanoi - to bring their husbands home from the jungles of Vietnam.
-
-
Wow
- By Jen Kerstiens on 02-24-23
What listeners say about A Well-Read Woman
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Victor
- 05-13-24
List, Lots of lists
A very interesting life well lived. Ruth sounds like a very self-sufficient, self-absorbed narcissist. She obviously had many friends & and an equal number of enemies (or as they are currently termed, haters). She was a brilliant thinker & organizer with very large ideas. She seemed to have a split personality with many positive attributes that drew people to her & an equal amount of negative characteristics that drove people away.
My major problem with the author was her obvious obsession with excessively long lists probably due to her librarian background. I found this to be really annoying.
I would recommend this to people who like obscure biographies & have plenty of time; it took me over a year to finish listening to it. I doubt I could ever have finished it by reading vs listening to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thresea Dowell
- 03-27-20
Amazing story, incredible life
Loved the independent and adventurous spirit, no BS attitude, and unbelievable history of Ruth Rappaport. I wish the author had kept to Ruth's story instead of adding her own political opinion at the end. Otherwise, a good book about an extraordinary woman.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful