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Great Soul
- Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
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Publisher's summary
A highly original, stirring book on Mahatma Gandhi that deepens our sense of his achievements and disappointments - his success in seizing India’s imagination and shaping its independence struggle as a mass movement, and his recognition late in life that few of his followers paid more than lip service to his ambitious goals of social justice for the country’s minorities, outcasts, and rural poor.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Joseph Lelyveld shows in vivid, unmatched detail how Gandhi’s sense of mission, social values, and philosophy of nonviolent resistance were shaped on another subcontinent - during two decades in South Africa - and then tested by an India that quickly learned to revere him as a Mahatma, or “Great Soul,” while following him only a small part of the way to the social transformation he envisioned.
The man himself emerges as one of history’s most remarkable self-creations, a prosperous lawyer who became an ascetic in a loincloth wholly dedicated to political and social action. Lelyveld leads us step-by-step through the heroic - and tragic - last months of this selfless leader’s long campaign when his nonviolent efforts culminated in the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan, and a bloodbath of ethnic cleansing that ended only with his own assassination.
India and its politicians were ready to place Gandhi on a pedestal as “Father of the Nation” but were less inclined to embrace his teachings. Muslim support, crucial in his rise to leadership, soon waned, and the oppressed untouchables - for whom Gandhi spoke to Hindus as a whole - produced their own leaders.
Here is a vital, brilliant reconsideration of Gandhi’s extraordinary struggles on two continents, of his fierce but, finally, unfulfilled hopes, and of his ever-evolving legacy, which more than six decades after his death still ensures his place as India’s social conscience - and not just India’s.
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The Soul of America
- The Battle for Our Better Angels
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Jon Meacham
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and LBJ, and illuminating the courage of influential citizen activists and civil rights pioneers, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. Each of these dramatic hours have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back.
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Thanks! I needed this!
- By Kindle Customer on 05-29-18
By: Jon Meacham
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Becoming Hitler
- The Making of a Nazi
- By: Thomas Weber
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In Becoming Hitler, award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement.
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talented malevolence c a dash of amazing luck
- By emilio squillante on 11-05-18
By: Thomas Weber
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Undelivered
- The Never-Heard Speeches That Would Have Rewritten History
- By: Jeff Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Adam Gifford, Brian Bowles, Elisa Roth, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating insight into notable speeches that were never delivered, showing what could have been if history had gone down a different path. For almost every delivered speech, there exists an undelivered opposite. These "second speeches" provide alternative histories of what could have been if not for schedule changes, changes of heart, or momentous turns of events.
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Recognize that this is a profoundly partisan book
- By Scott on 11-05-23
By: Jeff Nussbaum
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Frederick Douglass
- Prophet of Freedom
- By: David W. Blight
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 36 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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As a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence, he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
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The sound of rollerskating in sand
- By Rico X Ludovici on 02-06-19
By: David W. Blight
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Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
- King Legacy Series #1
- By: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s account of the first successful large-scale application of nonviolent resistance in America is comprehensive, revelatory, and intimate. King described his book as "the chronicle of 50,000 Negroes who took to heart the principles of nonviolence, who learned to fight for their rights with the weapon of love, and who, in the process, acquired a new estimate of their own human worth."
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A look into the mind of Dr King
- By Georgia Burns on 02-06-16
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Forged in Crisis
- The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times
- By: Nancy Koehn
- Narrated by: Nancy Koehn
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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An enthralling historical narrative filled with critical leadership insights that will be of interest to a wide range of listeners - including those in government, business, education, and the arts - Forged in Crisis, by celebrated Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn, spotlights five masters of crisis: polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, President Abraham Lincoln, legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and environmental crusader Rachel Carson.
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Authors are not always the best narrators
- By experimenting on 12-14-17
By: Nancy Koehn
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The Death of Democracy
- Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
- By: Benjamin Carter Hett
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In this dramatic audiobook, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. Benjamin Carter Hett is one of America’s leading scholars of 20th-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of the feckless politicians of the Weimar Republic show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it.
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I can't trust the author's account of these events
- By Example: Mark Twain on 11-10-19
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There Was a Country
- A Personal History of Biafra
- By: Chinua Achebe
- Narrated by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.
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The Audible Edition Is a Disaster
- By Olu on 11-28-12
By: Chinua Achebe
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This Child Will Be Great
- Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President
- By: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The first elected woman president of an African country, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was also listed as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. This evocative memoir recounts Sirleaf ’s childhood upbringing and rise to political power in Liberia. More than a simple biography, Sirleaf ’s account details how she stood firm in the face of physical abuse early in life and carried that strength over into her career as a young economist in Samuel Doe’s regime.
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What a powerfully strong woman!
- By Gary on 10-18-11
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Jacksonland
- President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
- By: Steve Inskeep
- Narrated by: Steve Inskeep
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men - President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross - who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.
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Fantastic and Thoughtful
- By Elizabeth Westbrook on 05-05-16
By: Steve Inskeep
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One Nation, Under Gods
- A New American History
- By: Peter Manseau
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look.
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Tapestry of different pieces makes for a whole
- By Gary on 03-23-15
By: Peter Manseau
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Great Catastrophe
- Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide
- By: Thomas de Waal
- Narrated by: David Rapkin
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of World War I. Around one million Armenians were killed, and the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is still a live and divisive issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, shapes the identity and politics of modern Turkey, and has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years.
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- By shaq on 02-26-19
By: Thomas de Waal
What listeners say about Great Soul
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- connie
- 04-04-11
Evolution of a great soul
This is not Gandhi hagiography, but neither is it an inflammatory re-interpretation as is suggested by the banning of the book in conservative parts of rural India. Lelyveld (who declares in the intro that his goal is to "amplify not replace existing bios") describes a young Gandhi who could be ambitious as well as altruistic and the subsequent evolution into an older, human Gandhi who could be at times sanctimonious or reinterpret his experience to suit new circumstances (like we all do).
The author brings his long and rich life experience as an observer of India AND South Africa AND Gandhi to the bio so that it's not a short term study for him. His main thesis seems to be that Gandhi failed in his ultimate goal of social justice (bigger than Indian independence), but that doesn't diminish Gandhi's immense historical importance. He focuses on Gandhi the man, not his accomplishments, a "former lawyer, political spokesman and utopian seeker." It's the utopian seeker that we idolize and idealize, but beyond the icon in a loin cloth, Lelyveld shows us a great soul.
This listen is much better narrated than most nonfiction, though for quotations from Gandhi and others, the narrator does attempt an Indian English accent that may not please all listeners.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Raj Saberwal
- 10-30-11
Great history wonderfully narrated................
The book is excellent history. The narration is almost perfect with the right balance of pitch and sonority. As I grew up and lived in India for more then 30 years, cannot understand the quibbles of other reviewers regarding pronunciation.
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4 people found this helpful
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- R.S.
- 05-09-11
The development of Gandhi's ideals
This biography provides fascinating insights into the evolution of Gandhi's ideals, and does not whitewash his foibles. The narrative of Gandhi's efforts to eliminate the prejudices and barriers against the lower castes, the untouchables and his valiant campaign to promote Muslim and Hindu coexistence are moving and heartbreaking. The narrator's performance of the text makes this an outstanding listen.
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6 people found this helpful
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- David P. Stinson
- 09-30-12
Great Rot!
What disappointed you about Great Soul?
The book is skewed to portray the story of Gandhi in as negative a light as possible.
Would you ever listen to anything by Joseph Lelyveld again?
Probably not
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Mark Bramhall?
Bill Wallace
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
None
Any additional comments?
If interested in Gandhi, listen to: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
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1 person found this helpful
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- Silber
- 09-13-11
reading is close to offensive
This is a deliberately provocative study of Gandhi--it's intelligent and well written but Llelyveld pointedly emphasizes Gandhi's defeats and admitted inconsistencies. He has no liking for Gandhi's sense of himself as a religious leader, and I don't think a real understanding of Gandhi is possible without this. The reader uses an Indian accent for Gandhi quotes that is downright mocking in tone--close to offensive (would we like someone making Martin Luther King sound like Aunt Jemima?)--and even the other sections are read a little snidely. A surprisingly tasteless reading.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Vikram Raghavan
- 04-28-11
Completely Unacceptable Narration
There have been enough reviews of the book, so let me focus on the narration. This is a horrible audio edition period. The narrator caricatures Indian accents in a manner that is not only melodramatic, but insulting. He fumbles over and mispronounces basic Indian words and expressions and completely mangles common Indian names (Bose, for instance). Audible should be ashamed of itself for not hiring a more competent narrator who could have been more culturally sensitive to the material.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Basu
- 07-06-11
Horrible narration
I completely agree with Vikram. The mispronunciation of the names and places were totally inexcusable. The name that kept popping over and over again and butchered all through was the Bengali last name "Bose", pronounced correctly it rhymes with "nose". And it was pronounced as in "Bosay". The book is full of them. What were the producers doing - couldn't they bother to have some one Indian to check the proper pronunciations of the names and places all things Indian? How about having an Indian narrate the book?
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3 people found this helpful
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- vbard
- 10-01-18
Couldn't ignore the narrator's faked Indian accent
I was disappointed by the narration. Was it necessary to fake an Indian accent whenever reading out Gandhi's words? It started as an annoyance but I had to put this down after a few chapters. The content is still relevant though, so I'll be switching to the book version.
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1 person found this helpful