Billy Budd
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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Herman Melville
About this listen
Set in 1797, Herman Melville's Billy Budd exploits the tension of this period during the war between England and France to create a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice.
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- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Megan Tusing
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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As Charly struggles to recover from her brain injury, she begins to realize that the events of that fateful night are trapped in the damaged right side of her brain. Now, she must put the jigsaw pieces together to discover the identity of the man who tried to kill her...before he finishes the job he started.
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Who Else Laughed, Cried, and Shuddered?
- By Jennifer Chichester on 09-16-22
By: Freida McFadden
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Starship Troopers
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- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
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Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.
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The definitive version!
- By Kristopher G. Hesson on 10-03-24
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Slayers: A Buffyverse Story
- By: Christopher Golden, Amber Benson
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- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
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Original cast members from the beloved TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reunite for an all-new adventure about connections that never die—even if you bury them. A decade has passed since the epic final battle that concluded Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The game-changing spell that gave power to all potential Slayers persists. With new Slayers constantly emerging, things are looking grim for the bad guys.
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A dream come true
- By Anonymous User on 10-12-23
By: Christopher Golden, and others
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Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.
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A good reading of a classic story
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In 1797, young Billy Budd is impressed into naval service. It is a perilous time for a British Royal Navy still reeling from mutinies and marauding French ships. When Billy is forcibly transferred to HMS Bellipotent, he evokes the wrath of John Claggart, the ship's master-at-arms. Claggart falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny, a charge that will have a profound effect on the fates of both seamen.
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H2O here isn't wide, but deep w/ strong currents
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It's 1791. Friendly, handsome, and popular Billy Budd is a sailor on board the British warship HMS Indomitable. Britain is at war with France, and because of the famous Nore and Spithead mutinies that occurred earlier in the year, every captain is alert for signs of mutiny and rebellion. The master-at-arms, John Claggatt, a vicious bully, is insanely jealous of Billy's good looks and popularity.
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Poor quality
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The collision of good and evil in this magnifcent novella is brilliantly depicted when an honorable young sailor is tried for unwittingly killing his cruel master-at-arms. In this, his last work, Melville explores the conflict between social authority and individual freedom, justice, and abstract good.
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WOW!
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The action is set within the claustrophobic confines of a British man-of-war ship in the summer of 1797. Here live the crew of the HMS Indomitable, many of them pressed into service against their will.
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“I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony,” begins one of the most famous tales from the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, we follow the straying mind of the unnamed prisoner in his quest for hope in a world of darkness and despair. This episode skyrocketed The Classic Tales Podcast to number 3 on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts chart.
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I loved the story this is a must read.
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Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.
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A good reading of a classic story
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In 1797, young Billy Budd is impressed into naval service. It is a perilous time for a British Royal Navy still reeling from mutinies and marauding French ships. When Billy is forcibly transferred to HMS Bellipotent, he evokes the wrath of John Claggart, the ship's master-at-arms. Claggart falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny, a charge that will have a profound effect on the fates of both seamen.
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H2O here isn't wide, but deep w/ strong currents
- By Darwin8u on 12-04-13
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It's 1791. Friendly, handsome, and popular Billy Budd is a sailor on board the British warship HMS Indomitable. Britain is at war with France, and because of the famous Nore and Spithead mutinies that occurred earlier in the year, every captain is alert for signs of mutiny and rebellion. The master-at-arms, John Claggatt, a vicious bully, is insanely jealous of Billy's good looks and popularity.
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Poor quality
- By Turner on 04-12-07
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The collision of good and evil in this magnifcent novella is brilliantly depicted when an honorable young sailor is tried for unwittingly killing his cruel master-at-arms. In this, his last work, Melville explores the conflict between social authority and individual freedom, justice, and abstract good.
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The action is set within the claustrophobic confines of a British man-of-war ship in the summer of 1797. Here live the crew of the HMS Indomitable, many of them pressed into service against their will.
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“I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony,” begins one of the most famous tales from the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, we follow the straying mind of the unnamed prisoner in his quest for hope in a world of darkness and despair. This episode skyrocketed The Classic Tales Podcast to number 3 on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts chart.
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I loved the story this is a must read.
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On one level...Melville’s tale is an historical adventure telling the story of life aboard ship shortly after the mutiny at Spithead in 1797. Billy is taken from a homeward bound merchantman to serve on the ‘Seventy Four’ HMS Indomitable. He falls foul of Claggart, the ‘Master at Arms’, and the final confrontation results in death. Billy becomes an unwilling martyr - what passes for justice must be implemented because of the rebellious climate of the time.
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Well done, a pleasure to listen to!
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Billy Budd, Sailor is a novel by American writer Herman Melville, first published posthumously in London in 1924. Melville began writing the work in November 1888, but left it unfinished at his death in 1891. It was acclaimed by British critics as a masterpiece when published in London, and quickly took its place among the canon of significant works in the United States.
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Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.
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Very strange, very haunting
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Following its initial appearance in serial form, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was published as a complete work in 1895 and quickly became the benchmark for modern antiwar literature. In the character of Henry Flemming, Stephen Crane provides a great and realistic study of the mind of an inexperienced soldier trapped in the fury and turmoil of war. Flemming dashes into battle, at first tormented by fear, then bolstered with courage in time for the final confrontation.
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A Powerful, Moving Classic
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Typee
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Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.
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Peeping Typee is Tapu; Reading Typee is Noa!
- By Darwin8u on 04-21-14
By: Herman Melville
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Billy Budd, Sailor
- Enriched Classics
- By: Herman Melville
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Billy Budd, Sailor is the final novel by American writer Herman Melville, first published posthumously in London in 1924 as edited by Raymond M. Weaver, a professor at Columbia University. Other versions were later published. Melville had begun writing the original work in November 1888, but left it unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by British critics as a masterpiece when published in London, it quickly took its place as a classic literary work in the United States.
By: Herman Melville
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Herman Melville 3 Complete Works
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- By: Herman Melville
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Herman Melville, born in 1819 in New York City, led a life filled with adventure, literary exploration, and contemplation. His early experiences as a sailor aboard whaling ships provided the inspiration for his most famous work, "Moby-Dick," a literary masterpiece that would later secure his place in literary history. Melville's writings delve into profound themes such as obsession, the human condition, morality, and the conflict between man and nature.
By: Herman Melville
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Moby Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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- Unabridged
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The outcast youth Ishmael, succumbing to wanderlust during a dreary New England autumn, signs up for passage aboard a whaling ship. The Pequod sails under the command of the one-legged Captain Ahab, who has set himself on a monomaniacal quest to capture the cunning white whale that robbed him of his leg: Moby-Dick. Capturing life on the sea with robust realism, Melville details the adventures of the colorful crew aboard the ship as Ahab pursues his crusade of revenge, heedless of all cost.
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Gripping despite the minutiae
- By Sarah C on 06-06-08
By: Herman Melville
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Benito Cereno
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This is the epic sea adventure, a harrowing tale of slavery and revolt aboard a Spanish ship, is often regarded as Melville's finest short story. The balance of forces is complete, the atmosphere one of epic significance, the light cast upon the hero intense to the highest degree, the realization of the human soul profound, and the telling of the story orchestrated like a great symphony.
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The literary equivalent of a caste painting from the same time
- By Auggie on 09-10-20
By: Herman Melville
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Bartleby, the Scrivener
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The life of a Scrivener can be a dull one. After all, your entire occupation has to do with the handwritten copying of law documents. But when Bartleby arrives, he turns the office upside down with the enigmatic phrase: “I prefer not to.”
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"I would prefer not to REVIEW"
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-12
By: Herman Melville
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Moby Dick
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"Call me Ishmael." Thus starts the greatest American novel. Melville said himself that he wanted to write "a mighty book about a mighty theme" and so he did. It is a story of one man's obsessive revenge-journey against the white whale, Moby-Dick, who injured him in an earlier meeting. Woven into the story of the last journey of The Pequod is a mesh of philosophy, rumination, religion, history, and a mass of information about whaling through the ages.
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Excellent, EXCELLENT reading!
- By Jessica on 02-18-09
By: Herman Melville
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Moby-Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Labeled variously a realistic story of whaling, a romance of unusual adventure and eccentric characters, a symbolic allegory, and a drama of heroic conflict, Moby Dick is first and foremost a great story. It has both the humor and poignancy of a simple sea ballad, as well as the depth and universality of a grand odyssey.
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I Had No Idea Melville Was So Funny
- By Dave on 05-09-12
By: Herman Melville
What listeners say about Billy Budd
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- TMD
- 01-27-23
Sad but beautiful story
Didn’t expect this story would be as moving as it is. Available for free. Thank you.
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- Skeeterbait
- 04-24-24
Delivers a punch!
Whew! Quite a powerful short story! Set in 1997 aboard a English war ship this story about a an able seaman held appeal to me as an aficionado of sailing ships & its crews. This fiction occurs in that labile period shortly after the English Navy mutinies & not long before Nelson’s feats. I found it necessary to plow through excessive descriptive sentences characteristic of the writing style of Melville’s time but after all the characters were developed the storyline smooths out to become a gripping tale that I won’t soon forget. 
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-21-21
Verbose
It seems the author was fond of using as many syllables as possible when fewer would suffice.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Robert S. Becker
- 06-10-21
Didactic
The story of Billy Budd is timeless and burns with a gemlike flame but the writing feels instructive and preachy. The performance here is strangely wooden, more recitation than embodiment.
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- FUN AND GAMES
- 07-29-21
a great Voyage of a story
a wonderful day all the voyage and a life Billy Budd. another great story by Herman Melville
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- John A.
- 10-12-22
A great book
A wonderful book that I found to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found this book to be relatable and generally intelligent. I further highly recommend this book.
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- Benjamin McNiel
- 08-10-23
Wonderful!
Stefan Rudnicki’s voice alone is worth the listen. Melville’s now archaic language and style is a wonderful treat, full of interestingly constructed sentences and rich word choices. I found myself smiling and even laughing out loud in spite of myself at the sheer joy of masterful writing. Melville is a legend for a reason.
The story unwinds with a sense of foreboding, a tacit knowledge of approaching tragedy, and finishes in moving prose. Let this sea tale and Rudnicki’s sonorous baritone roll you into another time and place as a great audiobook ought.
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- maxcap60
- 01-23-23
Wow
So many words. It was difficult to hear the story through all of those unnecessary words.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AnneMarie Wedin
- 10-24-23
Intriguing narration, classic historical fiction.
The narrator’s voice is rich and soothing, but the English accent he imitated was poorly done. Good consistency in the uniqueness of each voice of the characters.
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- Elmer Sklue
- 03-12-17
Very good
The narrator is good. His voice is very deep and somewhat brooding.
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3 people found this helpful