A great read marred by flawed narration

Would you consider the audio edition of America in the Fifties to be better than the print version?

I would not consider the audio edition of America in the Fifties to be better than the print version with this narrator reading in the unprepared way he reads now. Kindle's robo-narrator would probably have done it better.

What other book might you compare America in the Fifties to and why?

This book would compare favorably to any well-done and accurate Cliff Notes edition of any quality overview of history. It clearly describes events and famous people of the time and explains the significance of political, societal, and cultural matters that characterized the 50s. The book was intended as a meaningful synopsis of the decade and does succeed in recreating the time without going into overwhelming detail.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Mr. Vincent reads as if he was ordered to get through the book quickly as possible, skipping any preparation and sight reading off the cuff, without taking time to look over the script before hand, research pronunciations of unfamiliar terms and names, or receive any guidance by the producer. Two very trying examples of pronunciation refuse to escape my memory: He said Harold STAY-son instead of Harold STASS-en when there is clearly a double S after the A which any competent reader should know makes the A short. There were several such mispronunciations of less obviously spelled names convincing this reader that he's too young to remember the time, which makes the failure to prepare for the job more annoying. Having heard all those familiar names pronounced many times on news broadcasts at the time, I cringed every time he blooped, but was able to mentally fill in the correct pronunciations and not lose meaning. Also he mispronounced common words that any professional reader should be able to handle. For instance: consenshus objecter instead of conscientious objector. On the positive side, this man has a very pleasant voice and mostly clear pronunciation. He should be given a chance to read up to his potential by good preparation and perhaps some guidance beforehand or else a good audio editor to splice in corrections. At this point, his narration was about what one would expect from an unusually well-spoken high school senior football player who is unusually intelligent and has had some successes in school plays on the off season. My other complaint is that whoever edited the recording did not leave enough silence between sections, chapters, etc. so that in about the first half of the book, there was no pause between the last word of the previous chapter and the heading of the next one. I often missed the transition for this reason. This is entirely an editing problem and should not be blamed on the reader. I feel this reader needs some more training before tackling reading another Audible book. He would not have graduated from the American School of Broadcasting, let alone a legitimate university communications program with this performance. He has a lot of potential because of his very clear pronunciation and his very pleasant voice and deserves the training to hone his talent. With that and the support of a production manager who CARES enough to guide him through the preparation it takes to read a book on an unfamiliar subject, he could be one of Audible's best readers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not a book I wanted to listen to all in one sitting. This is a book to savor and appreciate. As I said, I was there in the 50s. All the names and events sounded familiar. But time has endowed those events with significance not obvious at that time. I was especially interested in the radical changes to ordinary life in America brought about by the highway system built in the 50s and read that section several times. The same for the Civil Rights struggle of which I was, believe it or not, totally oblivious until the 60s.

Any additional comments?

I wish this same book could be redone using the same narrator, but with the narrator having gone through the preparation for the flawless performance that the book deserves.

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Good book. AWFUL delivery.......

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The book itself is good. It gives a fairly comprehensive treatment of the period, given the books length.

Would you be willing to try another one of Alex Vincent’s performances?

Not if this performance is indicative of his work. It is frequently choppy and he often stutters and stumbles over his words.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook really needs to be redone. If the publisher is unwilling to do so then I must discourage everyone from buying it.

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