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Charlie Chan
- The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History
- Narrated by: Alfred Gingold
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
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Publisher's summary
Shortlisted for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography and the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Book.
Hailed as "irrepressibly spirited and entertaining" (Pico Iyer, Time) and a "fascinating cultural survey" (Paul Devlin, Daily Beast), this provocative first biography of Charlie Chan presents American history in a way that it has never been told before. Yunte Huang ingeniously traces Charlie Chan from his real beginnings as a bullwhip-wielding detective in territorial Hawaii to his reinvention as a literary sleuth and Hollywood film icon. Huang finally resurrects the "honorable detective" from the graveyard of detested postmodern symbols and reclaims him as the embodiment of America’s rich cultural diversity. The result is one of the most critically acclaimed books of the year and a "deeply personal...voyage into racial stereotyping and the humanizing force of storytelling" (Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times).
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Story
Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California - bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges - seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland. Then, as if overnight, one of the world’s iconic cities emerged. At the heart of Los Angeles’ meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland, an immigrant ditch-digger turned self-taught engineer; D.W. Griffith, who transformed the motion picture from a vaudeville-house novelty into a cornerstone of American culture; and Aimee Semple McPherson, a charismatic evangelist.
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Great start, weak completion
- By steve on 05-11-21
By: Gary Krist
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The Novel of the Century
- The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Misérables
- By: David Bellos
- Narrated by: David Bellos
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Putting a century of scholarship on one of the world's most enduring popular novels into accessible, narrative form, this new approach to a classic of world literature is written for a wide general audience. Packed full of information about the book's origins and later career on stage and screen, The Novel of the Century brings to life the extraordinary story of how Victor Hugo managed to write his novel of the downtrodden despite a revolution, a coup d'etat, and political exile.
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how hard to write a book
- By James Grohs on 08-06-24
By: David Bellos
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When Brooklyn Was Queer
- By: Hugh Ryan
- Narrated by: Hugh Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugh Ryan's When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and beyond. In intimate, evocative, moving prose, Ryan brings this never-before-told story of Brooklyn's vibrant and forgotten queer history to life.
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A Love Letter
- By Jeffrey on 06-26-19
By: Hugh Ryan
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Street Poison
- The Biography of Iceberg Slim
- By: Justin Gifford
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From a career as a, yes, ruthless pimp in the '40s and '50s, Iceberg Slim refashioned himself as the first and still the greatest of the "street lit" masters, whose vivid books have made him an icon to such rappers as Ice-T, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg and a presiding spirit of "blaxploitation" culture.
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A must read for all Robert Beck fans.
- By JMKIII58 on 09-15-16
By: Justin Gifford
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New World Coming
- The 1920s and the Making of Modern America
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Jazz. Bootleggers. Flappers. Talkies. Model T Fords. Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic. The 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime.
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My High School History Class Never Told
- By Charles Stembridge on 06-29-04
By: Nathan Miller
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Careless People
- Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby
- By: Sarah Churchwell
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the world's best-loved books, delighting audiences across the world. Careless People tells the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, exploring in newly rich detail the relation of Fitzgerald's classic to the chaotic world he in which he lived. Fitzgerald set his novel in 1922, and Careless People carefully reconstructs the crucial months during which Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald returned to New York in the autumn of 1922.
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Fascinating study of the Fitzgeralds and Jazz Age
- By Sand on 06-11-14
By: Sarah Churchwell
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Good Day!
- The Paul Harvey Story
- By: Paul J. Batura
- Narrated by: Paul J. Batura
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story, author Paul J. Batura follows the remarkable life of one of the founding fathers of the news media. Paul Harvey started his career during the Great Depression and narrated America's story day by day, through wars and peace, the threat of communism and the crumbling of old colonial powers, consumer booms and eventual busts.
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Should have been better
- By Royce Brown on 12-21-09
By: Paul J. Batura
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The Searchers
- The Making of an American Legend
- By: Glenn Frankel
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1836 in East Texas, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanches. She was raised by the tribe and eventually became the wife of a warrior. Twenty-four years after her capture, she was reclaimed by the U.S. cavalry and Texas Rangers and restored to her white family, to die in misery and obscurity. Cynthia Ann's story has been told and re-told over generations to become a foundational American tale.
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Enjoyable, but not entirely cohesive
- By Buretto on 07-16-17
By: Glenn Frankel
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Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher
- The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, Egan's book tells the remarkable untold story behind Edward Curtis's iconic photographs, following him throughout Indian country from desert to rainforest as he struggled to document the stories and rituals of more than eighty tribes. Even with the backing of Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, it took tremendous perseverance. The undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate.
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STUPENDOUS!
- By Curious Artist Librarian on 10-29-12
By: Timothy Egan
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The Last Love Song
- A Biography of Joan Didion
- By: Tracy Daugherty
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 26 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Joan Didion lived a life in the public and private eye with her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, whom she met while the two were working in New York City, when Didion was at Vogue and Dunne was writing for Time. They became wildly successful writing partners when they moved to Los Angeles and cowrote screenplays and adaptations together. Didion is well known for her literary journalistic style in both fiction and nonfiction.
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Riveted for 1591 miles
- By Kaysi12 on 04-11-16
By: Tracy Daugherty
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Empire of Sin
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New Orleans' 30-years war against itself, pitting the city's elite "better half" against its powerful and long-entrenched underworld of vice, perversity, and crime. This early-20th-century battle centers on one man: Tom Anderson, the undisputed czar of the city's Storyville vice district, who fights desperately to keep his empire intact as it faces onslaughts from all sides.
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very interesting
- By Claireoline on 02-20-15
By: Gary Krist
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The Sugar King of Havana
- The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon
- By: John Paul Rathbone
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years after the Cuban revolution, the legendary wealth of the sugar magnate Julio Lobo remains emblematic of a certain way of life that came to an abrupt end when Fidel Castro marched into Havana. Known in his day as the King of Sugar, Lobo was for decades the most powerful force in the world sugar market, controlling vast swaths of the island's sugar interests.
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VERY INFORMATIVE
- By Terry on 03-26-12
What listeners say about Charlie Chan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jennifer H Butler
- 11-27-22
great book strange choice of narrator.
a great book with a very important statement. i am not the best person to make a comment on this being that i am not chinese, however i love the warner oland charlie chan movies and i love historical books. and this book is a loving tribute to apanna (the true charlie chan) and the charlie chan movies.
its amazing to me how something so simple as a movie can offer pride and hope to the world.
Racism in all forms is bad , and i hope one day we can have a chinese actor portray charlie chan and redeem him for a modern world.
i dont know if im wrong for saying that, i hope im not. all i do know is that this book is great if ( big if) you can get past the narrator. he was a wierd choice.
please give this book a chance.
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- henryj
- 07-10-20
Good history of Charlie Chan with modern views
The story is good with good coverage of the Biggers character, the original Hawaiian detective who was the inspiration and the Chan author. The digressions into the authors life are mostly good. Since the author is Chinese, it is good to get his take on the charges of racism now being leveled at the books and movies. As a moderate Charlie Chan fan, I would recommend it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Terry Shepherd
- 09-01-21
Great Book. Mediocre Narrator
What they say about a weak narrator diminishing the quality of the book is exemplified here. I ended up buying the Kindle version. Alexa read it better.
It’s sad because the author does a superlative job putting Charlie Chan’s uneven history in perspective and telling us about his heroic real life personification.
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- MRD
- 11-11-19
Very thorough review of the subject(s)
At first I thought I might not like the narrator. But after awhile I grew to appreciate his clarity and verbal vigor. Not warm and fuzzy or intellectually nuanced, Gingold delivers in a straightforward robust manner. Ultimately it works well for the subject matter and writing style. Beyond that, the book is a deep dive into cultural stereotypes that goes well beyond Charlie Chan in print and on screen. Comprehensive, authoritative, and proves that not all racial stereotypes are created equal. Biggers actually created Chan in counterpoint to Fu Manchu, and the stereotyping was more a product of Hollywood studios repeatedly casting non-Chinese, non-Asian actors in the Chan role.
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- Susan Rangel
- 01-08-24
HORRIBLE narration, okay story
I really cannot fathom how someone picks a narrator for a book that has so much of Hawaii in it and he cannot pronounce a single Hawaiian word. I only finished this book because it cost me a credit. If you have read his book obout Anna May Wong, approximately 1/4 of this book is copied and pasted from that one. The author skims over the radio shows that lead up to the films of CC and spends SO much time on movies that have nothing to do with CC.
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