Glass House
The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town
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Narrated by:
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Bob Souer
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By:
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Brian Alexander
About this listen
The Anchor Hocking Glass Company, once the world's largest maker of glass tableware, was the base on which Lancaster's society was built. As Glass House unfolds, bankruptcy looms. With access to the company and its leaders, and Lancaster's citizens, Alexander shows how financial engineering took hold in the 1980s, accelerated in the 21st century, and wrecked the company. We follow CEO Sam Solomon, an African-American leading the nearly all-white town's biggest private employer, as he tries to rescue the company from the New York private equity firm that hired him. Meanwhile, Alexander goes behind the scenes, entwined with the lives of residents as they wrestle with heroin, politics, high-interest lenders, low wage jobs, technology, and the new demands of American life: people like Brian Gossett, the fourth generation to work at Anchor Hocking; Joe Piccolo, first-time director of the annual music festival who discovers the town relies on him, and it, for salvation; Jason Roach, who police believed may have been Lancaster's biggest drug dealer; and Eric Brown, a local football hero-turned-cop who comes to realize that he can never arrest Lancaster's real problems.
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Feels biased. Well researched, but not engaging.
- By Anonymous User on 04-03-19
By: Keach Hagey
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Good for the Money
- My Fight to Pay Back America
- By: Bob Benmosche
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2009, at the peak of the financial crisis, AIG - the American insurance behemoth - was sinking fast. It was the peg upon which the nation hung its ire and resentment during the financial crisis: the pinnacle of Wall Street arrogance and greed. When Bob Benmosche climbed aboard as CEO, it was widely assumed that he would go down with his ship. In mere months, he turned things around, pulling AIG from the brink of financial collapse and restoring its profitability.
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Worthwhile, informative, and just short of inspiring
- By Preston on 11-17-21
By: Bob Benmosche
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Bitter Brew
- The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer
- By: William Knoedelseder
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The engrossing, often scandalous saga of one of the wealthiest, longest-lasting, and most colorful family dynasties in the history of American commerce—a cautionary tale about prosperity, profligacy, hubris, and the blessings and dark consequences of success. This engrossing, vivid narrative captures the Busch saga through five generations. At the same time, it weaves a broader story of American progress and decline over the past 150 years. It's a cautionary tale of prosperity, hubris, and loss.
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Couldn't stop listening...
- By Jeremy McGough on 11-09-12
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Sellout
- How Washington Gave Away America's Technological Soul, and One Man's Fight to Bring It Home
- By: Victoria Bruce
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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American technological prowess used to be unrivaled. But because of globalization, and with the blessing of the US government, once proprietary materials, components, and technologies are increasingly commercialized outside the United States. Nowhere is this more dangerous than in China's monopoly of rare earth elements - materials that are essential for nearly all modern consumer goods, gadgets, and weapons systems.
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Uncovering unsung heroes of modern America
- By Ben DeNardo on 08-24-17
By: Victoria Bruce
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How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune
- The Billionaire Who Wasn't
- By: Conor O'Clery
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In 1988 Forbes magazine hailed Chuck Feeney as the 23rd richest American alive. No one knew until then that he was extremely wealthy. Or was he? Born during the Depression in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Feeney had made a fortune as co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers, the world's largest duty-free retail chain. How he did it is one of the great untold retail stories of modern times. The greater untold story is that Feeney had in fact given away his fortune, in its totality, to endow Atlantic Philanthropies - one of the most generous and secretive philanthropic funds in the world.
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Horizons I never knew were there!
- By DTU_Garza on 08-13-17
By: Conor O'Clery
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Methland
- The Death and Life of an American Small Town
- By: Nick Reding
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.
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Beautifully written, but insubstantial
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 02-10-10
By: Nick Reding
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The Money Culture
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1980s was the most outrageous and turbulent era in the financial market since the crash of ’29, not only on Wall Street but around the world. Michael Lewis, as a trainee at Salomon Brothers in New York and as an investment banker and later financial journalist, was uniquely positioned to chronicle the ambition and folly that fueled the decade. In these trenchant, often hilarious true tales we meet the colorful movers and shakers who commanded the headlines and rewrote the rules.
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Not the normal great Michael Lewis
- By Me on 05-12-12
By: Michael Lewis
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The Frackers
- The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters
- By: Gregory Zuckerman
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knew it was crazy to try to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deep below the ground. Everyone, that is, except a few reckless wildcatters - who risked their careers to prove the world wrong. Things looked grim for American energy in 2006. Oil production was in steep decline and natural gas was hard to find. The Iraq War threatened the nation’s already tenuous relations with the Middle East. China was rapidly industrializing and competing for resources.
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Balanced approach on controversial topic
- By Chris on 01-02-14
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The Zeroes
- My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane
- By: Randall Lane
- Narrated by: Randall Lane
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Magazine entrepreneur Randall Lane had a prime seat at Wall Street's biggest greed fest. The Zeroes is a memoir about the excesses and bad behavior of an outsider who got pulled into a crazy, self-contained world.
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A very entertaining tale
- By andy on 11-03-13
By: Randall Lane
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Sam Walton
- Made in America
- By: John Huey, Sam Walton
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America's heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late 20th century, Sam never lost the common touch. Here, finally, inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure of his ambitions and achievements. Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style. In a story rich with anecdotes and the "rules of the road" of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream.
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Capitalism Is The Way
- By Nathan Ruff on 04-14-19
By: John Huey, and others
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A Man and His Mountain
- The Everyman Who Created Kendall-Jackson and Became America's Greatest Wine Entrepreneur
- By: Edward Humes
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the story of the self-made billionaire who built the Kendall-Jackson empire from nothing into the biggest-selling brand of premium wines in the U.S. Jess Stonestreet Jackson was one of a small band of pioneering entrepreneurs who put California's wine country on the map. His life story is a compelling slice of history, daring, innovation, feuds, intrigue, talent, mystique, contrarianism, and luck, offering a unique window on the elegant, adventurous, and cut-throat worlds of Jackson's two passions: wine and horseracing.
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Required listening for any wine maker
- By Michael Carr on 01-10-15
By: Edward Humes
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In-N-Out Burger
- A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
- By: Stacy Perman
- Narrated by: Loren Lester
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the untold story of the renegade burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other. In fast-food corporate America, In-N-Out Burger stands apart. Begun in a tiny shack in the shadow of World War II, this family-owned chain has steadfastly refused to franchise or be sold. It is a testament to old-fashioned values and reminiscent of a simpler time when people, loyalty, and a freshly made, juicy hamburger meant something.
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Flowery Promo Piece
- By Melissa on 02-22-10
By: Stacy Perman
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
What listeners say about Glass House
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sharkbite
- 10-26-17
Fantastic book!
This is one of the best books I've listened to. An accurate and telling story of America's struggling middle class. I would highly recommend it
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- Cleve
- 02-23-18
Learn how to pronounce Lancaster
If you're going to narrate a book learn how to pronounce the name of the town it's about. The locals say Lan cuh stir not Lan CAS ter. Ask the author. He's from there.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Misshedra
- 05-29-18
Do Your Homework!
I am appalled! I grew up in (LANK-uster). I know the (HAY-jost (rhymes with ghost) family and the STEEBL-ton family. John GOOSH-man was a respected leader. There is no Bis Road or prison. There does exist a B.I.S. (bee-eye-ess) Road - I’ve never heard of the facility referred to as the B.I.S. prison since the reformatory school closed and the transformation to a minimum security prison was completed. The author, Brian Alexander, worked for me for a short time while a broken bone was healing. How is it that the readers do not check pronunciations prior to recording? This is one book that I should have read. Listening to the mis-pronunciations was unbearable. I will likely never listen to another reading by Bob Souer. He has a good voice, but he has lost credibility as a reader. Painful. Brian’s work was spot-on and my walk around town yesterday as I listened to the final chapters was surreal.
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2 people found this helpful
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- womthang
- 07-18-22
a sensitive story of the death of an American town
a thorough and well researched story of the slow death of an iconic American workplace and the town it supported
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- Bill
- 05-10-17
What really happened to the American Dream?
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. There are a lot of books out there that seek to explain what hat happened to the white working class in the last half century. Many focus on free trade and globalization. Some blame white working class culture. This book focuses squarely on the primary culprit: the corporate raider culture unleashed during the Reagan Revolution. Many other prosperous nations weathered the transition to globalism without thoroughly eviscerating their working class. Alexander's book reveals that we did this to ourselves, and we continue to permit and even celebrate a particularly predatory version of capitalism that is sucking the blood out of the nation.
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
Alexander effectively explains how predatory raider culture works, in all its complexities. But he humanizes the story by introducing us to its real victims.
Would you be willing to try another one of Bob Souer’s performances?
Probably not. The narration was wooden, and was often jarringly disconnected from the journalistic style of Alexander's writings. The narrator's voice seemed especially at odds with those parts of the book when Alexander was depicting his working class subjects, and when we were hearing their words and viewpoints. The book deserved a livelier, earthier narration.
If you could give Glass House a new subtitle, what would it be?
How Corporate Raiders Killed the American Dream.
Any additional comments?
I wish this book received at least as much attention as Hillbilly Elegy has received. I think it is a truer portrayal of what has happened to the white working class.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Laurie
- 06-10-17
A different listen for me
I had heard a lot about this book and wanted to listen to it. While it is very informative, I found that the author didn't organize the chapters very well, and sometimes it was tough to follow. To me, it's the kind of book that you would probably prefer to read, not listen to, as some of the financial terms are a bit hard to understand.
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- beachbum
- 04-23-21
Slow, disjointed storyline. Narrator was boring.
First of all, the narrator was a total bore and didn't add any personality to the words he read, and to top it all off: pronounced the name of the town incorrectly. Come on! Do a little research!
The first chapter follows a couple of drug addicts and then it jumps to some other period of time that is very unclear and moves to a story line with different people altogether. I admit, I don't know how it turns out because I simply cannot listen to this terrible narrator for one more boring moment. I only made it to chapter 4.
So sorry. But it was pretty bad.
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- Paul L Kabel
- 02-21-19
Awesome book.
I learned so much about the town I lived in for 49 years. The story was very interesting and I couldn't wait to hear more.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-28-19
the reader pronounced Lancaster wrong
having grown up in Lancaster in the 1970s and 80s that's very sad that this has happened to my hometown another towns like it
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- Jeremy Foltz
- 07-05-23
Thanks Brian! Bob, you blew it.
Honestly, this was hard to listen to as this is my hometown but I’m glad that Brian went into great depth and was able to shine a light on the absolutely heartbreaking demise of my hometown and how soulless corporate American has become.
The 1% completely has turned everyone else against each other while everyone is pointing fingers, blaming political parties and hitting exponential levels of selfishness.
It’s damn shame. Lancaster was a great place to grow up.
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