How It Feels to Be Free
Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Adenrele Ojo
-
By:
-
Ruth Feldstein
About this listen
In 1964, Nina Simone sat at a piano in New York's Carnegie Hall to play what she called a "show tune". Simone, and her song, became icons of the civil rights movement. But her confrontational style was not the only path taken by black women entertainers.
In How It Feels to Be Free, Ruth Feldstein examines celebrated black women performers, illuminating the risks they took, their roles at home and abroad, and the ways that they raised the issue of gender amid their demands for black liberation. Feldstein focuses on six women who made names for themselves in the music, film, and television industries: Simone, Lena Horne, Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, and Cicely Tyson. These women did not simply mirror black activism; their performances helped constitute the era's political history. Makeba connected America's struggle for civil rights to the fight against apartheid in South Africa, while Simone sparked high-profile controversy with her incendiary lyrics. In 1968, Hollywood cast the outspoken Lincoln as a maid to a white family in For Love of Ivy. That same year, Diahann Carroll took on the starring role in the television series Julia.
How It Feels to Be Free demonstrates that entertainment was not always just entertainment and that "We Shall Overcome" was not the only soundtrack to the civil rights movement.
©2013 Ruth Feldstein (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Playing for Keeps
- Michael Jordan and the World He Made
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan's epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the audiobook chronicles the forces in Jordan's life that have shaped him into history's greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.
-
-
If You Liked "The Last Dance," You Will Love This
- By John on 06-13-20
By: David Halberstam
-
Madam Secretary
- A Memoir
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 24 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A national best seller on its original publication in 2003, Madam Secretary is a riveting account of the life of America's first woman Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. For eight years, during Bill Clinton's two presidential terms, Albright was a high-level participant in some of the most dramatic events of our time - from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East to NATO's intervention in the Balkans to America's troubled relations with Iran and Iraq.
-
-
SUCH an Interesting Life
- By Grace on 02-28-14
-
America, Goddam
- Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice
- By: Treva B. Lindsey
- Narrated by: Treva B. Lindsey
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful account of violence against Black women and girls in the United States and their fight for liberation, America, Goddam explores the combined force of anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy, and capitalism in the lives of Black women and girls in the United States today. Through personal accounts and hard-hitting analysis, Black feminist historian Treva B. Lindsey starkly assesses the forms and legacies of violence against Black women and girls, as well as their demands for justice for themselves and their communities.
-
-
Fantastic Read!!
- By Parron B. on 12-30-22
By: Treva B. Lindsey
-
White Negroes
- When Cornrows Were in Vogue . and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation
- By: Lauren Michele Jackson
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American culture loves Blackness. From music and fashion to activism and language, Black culture constantly achieves worldwide influence. Yet, when it comes to who is allowed to thrive from Black hipness, the pioneers are usually left behind as Black aesthetics are converted into mainstream success - and White profit. Weaving together narrative, scholarship, and critique, Lauren Michele Jackson reveals why cultural appropriation - something that's become embedded in our daily lives - deserves serious attention.
-
-
White people: Don’t steal this book. Learn from it.
- By Michael Loeb on 12-03-19
-
The Madness of Crowds
- Gender, Race and Identity
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of ‘woke’ culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of ‘wokeness’, the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.
-
-
An Urgent Read for Our Over-woke Times
- By Justin J. Norman on 09-26-19
By: Douglas Murray
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
Playing for Keeps
- Michael Jordan and the World He Made
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing for Keeps, David Halberstam takes the first full measure of Michael Jordan's epic career, one of the great American stories of our time. A narrative of astonishing power and human drama, brimming with revealing anecdotes and penetrating insights, the audiobook chronicles the forces in Jordan's life that have shaped him into history's greatest basketball player and the larger forces that have converged to make him the most famous living human being in the world.
-
-
If You Liked "The Last Dance," You Will Love This
- By John on 06-13-20
By: David Halberstam
-
Madam Secretary
- A Memoir
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 24 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A national best seller on its original publication in 2003, Madam Secretary is a riveting account of the life of America's first woman Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. For eight years, during Bill Clinton's two presidential terms, Albright was a high-level participant in some of the most dramatic events of our time - from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East to NATO's intervention in the Balkans to America's troubled relations with Iran and Iraq.
-
-
SUCH an Interesting Life
- By Grace on 02-28-14
-
America, Goddam
- Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice
- By: Treva B. Lindsey
- Narrated by: Treva B. Lindsey
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful account of violence against Black women and girls in the United States and their fight for liberation, America, Goddam explores the combined force of anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy, and capitalism in the lives of Black women and girls in the United States today. Through personal accounts and hard-hitting analysis, Black feminist historian Treva B. Lindsey starkly assesses the forms and legacies of violence against Black women and girls, as well as their demands for justice for themselves and their communities.
-
-
Fantastic Read!!
- By Parron B. on 12-30-22
By: Treva B. Lindsey
-
White Negroes
- When Cornrows Were in Vogue . and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation
- By: Lauren Michele Jackson
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American culture loves Blackness. From music and fashion to activism and language, Black culture constantly achieves worldwide influence. Yet, when it comes to who is allowed to thrive from Black hipness, the pioneers are usually left behind as Black aesthetics are converted into mainstream success - and White profit. Weaving together narrative, scholarship, and critique, Lauren Michele Jackson reveals why cultural appropriation - something that's become embedded in our daily lives - deserves serious attention.
-
-
White people: Don’t steal this book. Learn from it.
- By Michael Loeb on 12-03-19
-
The Madness of Crowds
- Gender, Race and Identity
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of ‘woke’ culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of ‘wokeness’, the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.
-
-
An Urgent Read for Our Over-woke Times
- By Justin J. Norman on 09-26-19
By: Douglas Murray
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
Jay-Z
- Made in America
- By: Michael Eric Dyson, Pharrell - foreword
- Narrated by: Michael Eric Dyson, Nick Cannon
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jay-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson’s decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he’s sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he’s been for so long.
-
-
No Surprises for Fans
- By Tim & Ty on 12-22-19
By: Michael Eric Dyson, and others
-
What Truth Sounds Like
- Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America
- By: Michael Eric Dyson
- Narrated by: Michael Eric Dyson
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook exists at the tense intersection of the conflict between politics and prophecy - of whether we embrace political resolution or moral redemption to fix our fractured racial landscape.
-
-
Riffing on a meeting with RFK and James Baldwin
- By Adam Shields on 06-08-18
-
White Tears/Brown Scars
- How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color
- By: Ruby Hamad
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Called "powerful and provocative" by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times best-selling How to Be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how White feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women and women of color.
-
-
Though provoking and Important
- By Gabriella Hernandez on 05-06-21
By: Ruby Hamad
-
Brit(ish)
- On Race, Identity and Belonging
- By: Afua Hirsch
- Narrated by: Afua Hirsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Afua Hirsch is British. Her parents are British. She was raised, educated and socialised in Britain. Her partner, her daughter, her sister and the vast majority of her friends are British. So why is her identity and sense of belonging a subject of debate? The reason is simply because of the colour of her skin. Blending history, memoir and individual experiences, Afua Hirsch reveals the identity crisis at the heart of Britain today. Far from affecting only minority people, Britain is a nation in denial about its past and its present.
-
-
Important read
- By L. Ingarfield on 01-04-23
By: Afua Hirsch
-
Why They Marched
- Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
- By: Susan Ware
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For far too long, the history of how American women won the right to vote has been told as the tale of a few iconic leaders, all white and native-born. But Susan Ware uncovered a much broader and more diverse story waiting to be told. Why They Marched is a tribute to the many women who worked tirelessly in communities across the nation, out of the spotlight, protesting, petitioning, and insisting on their right to full citizenship.
-
-
a needed history lesson
- By Jerseycookie on 05-14-22
By: Susan Ware
-
Sisters in Hate
- American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
- By: Seyward Darby
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist Seyward Darby's "masterfully reported and incisive" (Nell Irvin Painter) exposé pulls back the curtain on modern racial and political extremism in America by telling the "eye-opening and unforgettable" (Ibram X. Kendi) account of three women immersed in the White-nationalist movement.
-
-
Listen to this book! (But maybe alone?)
- By Aimee on 07-31-20
By: Seyward Darby
-
When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
-
-
Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
-
Hair Story
- Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America
- By: Ayana D. Byrd, Lori L. Tharps
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a "free" person to the 2013 uproar over an Ohio school that banned Afro puffs, the issues surrounding Black hair continue to linger as we move through the 21stst century.
-
-
Wow! I'm blown away.
- By Nira on 06-17-20
By: Ayana D. Byrd, and others
-
Against White Feminism
- Notes on Disruption
- By: Rafia Zakaria
- Narrated by: Ulka Simone Mohanty
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Upper-middle-class White women have long been heralded as “experts” on feminism. They have presided over multinational feminist organizations and written much of what we consider the feminist canon, espousing sexual liberation and satisfaction, LGBTQ inclusion, and racial solidarity, all while branding the language of the movement itself in whiteness and speaking over Black and Brown women in an effort to uphold privilege and perceived cultural superiority.
-
-
What a rollercoaster. A must read
- By L on 05-28-22
By: Rafia Zakaria
-
I Like to Watch
- Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution
- By: Emily Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Emily Nussbaum
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her creation of the “Approval Matrix” in New York magazine in 2004 to her Pulitzer Prize–winning columns for The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum has argued for a new way of looking at TV. In this collection, including two never-before-published essays, Nussbaum writes about her passion for television, beginning with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the show that set her on a fresh intellectual path. She explores the rise of the female screw-up, how fans warp the shows they love, the messy power of sexual violence on TV, and the year that jokes helped elect a reality-television president.
-
-
Yes, this is worth a credit! 💯
- By Amazon Customer on 07-05-19
By: Emily Nussbaum
-
Sunny Days
- The Children's Television Revolution That Changed America
- By: David Kamp
- Narrated by: David Sadzin
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1970, on a soundstage on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a group of men, women, and Muppets of various ages and colors worked doggedly to finish the first season of a children’s TV program that was not yet assured a second season: Sesame Street. They were conducting an experiment to see if television could be used to better prepare disadvantaged preschoolers for kindergarten. What they didn’t know then was that they were starting a cultural revolution that would affect all American kids.
-
-
Not What You Expect.
- By Erik Peter Carlson on 03-06-21
By: David Kamp
-
Looking for Lorraine
- The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: LisaGay Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lorraine Hansberry, who died at thirty-four, was by all accounts a force of nature. Although best-known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, her short life was full of extraordinary experiences and achievements, and she had an unflinching commitment to social justice, which brought her under FBI surveillance when she was barely in her twenties. While her close friends and contemporaries, like James Baldwin and Nina Simone, have been rightly celebrated, her story has been diminished and relegated to one work—until now.
-
-
Radiant
- By Rose Brookins on 03-20-19
By: Imani Perry
Related to this topic
-
With Amusement for All
- A History of American Popular Culture since 1830
- By: LeRoy Ashby
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Amusement for All is the first comprehensive history of two centuries of mass entertainment in the United States, covering everything from the penny press to Playboy, the NBA to NASCAR, big band to hip hop, and other topics including film, comics, television, sports, and music. Paying careful attention to matters of race, gender, class, economics, and politics, LeRoy Ashby emphasizes the complex ways in which popular culture simultaneously reflects and transforms American culture.
-
-
So Much Fun!
- By Paul on 11-28-13
By: LeRoy Ashby
-
Feminism and Pop Culture
- Seal Studies
- By: Andi Zeisler
- Narrated by: Angela Reed
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether or not we like to admit it, pop culture is a lens through which we alternately view and shape the world around us. When it comes to feminism, pop culture aids us in translating feminist philosophies, issues, and concepts into everyday language, making them relevant and relatable. In Feminism and Pop Culture, author and cofounder of Bitch magazine Andi Zeisler traces the impact of feminism on pop culture (and vice versa) from the 1940s to the present and beyond.
-
-
Really needs an update
- By Lori Grossman on 04-05-18
By: Andi Zeisler
-
Backwards and in Heels
- By: Alicia Malone
- Narrated by: Katherine Littrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman, as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title film editor. Throughout the entire history of Hollywood women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping how we make movies. Yet their stories are rarely shared. This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. Backwards and in Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way.
-
-
Great Book
- By Alfie on 09-27-21
By: Alicia Malone
-
Shakespeare in a Divided America
- What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes—presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike—have turned to Shakespeare’s works to explore the nation’s fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare’s four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
-
-
An Entertaining History Lesson
- By David on 08-17-20
By: James Shapiro
-
Sidney Poitier
- Man, Actor, Icon
- By: Aram Goudsouzian
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first full biography of actor Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian analyzes the life and career of a Hollywood legend, from his childhood in the Bahamas to his 2002 Oscar for lifetime achievement. Poitier is a gifted actor, a great American success story, an intriguing personality, and a political symbol; his life and career illuminate America's racial history.
-
-
The Man, the Star, the Lightning Rod
- By Susie on 01-28-13
By: Aram Goudsouzian
-
On the Shoulders of Giants
- My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
- By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In On the Shoulders of Giants, indomitable basketball star and best-selling author and historian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites listeners on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace. He leads us through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in our history, revealing the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life.
-
-
The best of both worlds
- By Marianne on 10-06-08
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and others
-
With Amusement for All
- A History of American Popular Culture since 1830
- By: LeRoy Ashby
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 33 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Amusement for All is the first comprehensive history of two centuries of mass entertainment in the United States, covering everything from the penny press to Playboy, the NBA to NASCAR, big band to hip hop, and other topics including film, comics, television, sports, and music. Paying careful attention to matters of race, gender, class, economics, and politics, LeRoy Ashby emphasizes the complex ways in which popular culture simultaneously reflects and transforms American culture.
-
-
So Much Fun!
- By Paul on 11-28-13
By: LeRoy Ashby
-
Feminism and Pop Culture
- Seal Studies
- By: Andi Zeisler
- Narrated by: Angela Reed
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether or not we like to admit it, pop culture is a lens through which we alternately view and shape the world around us. When it comes to feminism, pop culture aids us in translating feminist philosophies, issues, and concepts into everyday language, making them relevant and relatable. In Feminism and Pop Culture, author and cofounder of Bitch magazine Andi Zeisler traces the impact of feminism on pop culture (and vice versa) from the 1940s to the present and beyond.
-
-
Really needs an update
- By Lori Grossman on 04-05-18
By: Andi Zeisler
-
Backwards and in Heels
- By: Alicia Malone
- Narrated by: Katherine Littrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Women have been instrumental in the success of American cinema since its very beginning. One of the first people to ever pick up a motion picture camera was a woman, as was the first screenwriter to win two Academy Awards, the inventor of the boom microphone, and the first person to be credited with the title film editor. Throughout the entire history of Hollywood women have been revolutionizing, innovating, and shaping how we make movies. Yet their stories are rarely shared. This is what film reporter Alicia Malone wants to change. Backwards and in Heels tells the history of women in film in a different way.
-
-
Great Book
- By Alfie on 09-27-21
By: Alicia Malone
-
Shakespeare in a Divided America
- What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes—presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike—have turned to Shakespeare’s works to explore the nation’s fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare’s four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
-
-
An Entertaining History Lesson
- By David on 08-17-20
By: James Shapiro
-
Sidney Poitier
- Man, Actor, Icon
- By: Aram Goudsouzian
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first full biography of actor Sidney Poitier, Aram Goudsouzian analyzes the life and career of a Hollywood legend, from his childhood in the Bahamas to his 2002 Oscar for lifetime achievement. Poitier is a gifted actor, a great American success story, an intriguing personality, and a political symbol; his life and career illuminate America's racial history.
-
-
The Man, the Star, the Lightning Rod
- By Susie on 01-28-13
By: Aram Goudsouzian
-
On the Shoulders of Giants
- My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
- By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
- Narrated by: Richard Allen
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In On the Shoulders of Giants, indomitable basketball star and best-selling author and historian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites listeners on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace. He leads us through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in our history, revealing the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life.
-
-
The best of both worlds
- By Marianne on 10-06-08
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and others
-
Jay-Z
- Made in America
- By: Michael Eric Dyson, Pharrell - foreword
- Narrated by: Michael Eric Dyson, Nick Cannon
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jay-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson’s decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he’s sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he’s been for so long.
-
-
No Surprises for Fans
- By Tim & Ty on 12-22-19
By: Michael Eric Dyson, and others
-
An African American and Latinx History of the United States
- By: Paul Ortiz
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spanning more than 200 years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism.
-
-
I had to return
- By Andrew Alvarez on 05-19-20
By: Paul Ortiz
-
When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
-
-
Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
-
We Were Feminists Once
- From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement
- By: Andi Zeisler
- Narrated by: Joell A. Jacob
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, feminism is no longer a dirty word, and women purporting to stand up for women's equality now include high-powered names like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Emma Watson. Hip underwear lines sell granny pants with "feminist" emblazoned on the back. In every bookstore, there are scores of seductive feminist how-to business guides telling women how to achieve "it all".
-
-
Fantastic book despite shoddy narration
- By Seth H. Wilson on 05-19-16
By: Andi Zeisler
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
Looking for Lorraine
- The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: LisaGay Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lorraine Hansberry, who died at thirty-four, was by all accounts a force of nature. Although best-known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, her short life was full of extraordinary experiences and achievements, and she had an unflinching commitment to social justice, which brought her under FBI surveillance when she was barely in her twenties. While her close friends and contemporaries, like James Baldwin and Nina Simone, have been rightly celebrated, her story has been diminished and relegated to one work—until now.
-
-
Radiant
- By Rose Brookins on 03-20-19
By: Imani Perry
-
Girl Gurl Grrrl
- On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic
- By: Kenya Hunt
- Narrated by: Kenya Hunt, Ebele Okobi, Jessica Horn, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every milestone, every magazine cover, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience. An American journalist who has been living in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.
-
-
Inspired
- By Amazon Customer on 01-29-21
By: Kenya Hunt
-
Why They Marched
- Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
- By: Susan Ware
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For far too long, the history of how American women won the right to vote has been told as the tale of a few iconic leaders, all white and native-born. But Susan Ware uncovered a much broader and more diverse story waiting to be told. Why They Marched is a tribute to the many women who worked tirelessly in communities across the nation, out of the spotlight, protesting, petitioning, and insisting on their right to full citizenship.
-
-
a needed history lesson
- By Jerseycookie on 05-14-22
By: Susan Ware
-
The Trouble with White Women
- A Counterhistory of Feminism
- By: Kyla Schuller, Brittney Cooper - foreword
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin, Mela Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Women including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, and Sheryl Sandberg are commonly celebrated as leaders of feminism. Yet they have fought for the few, not the many. As award-winning scholar Kyla Schuller argues, their White feminist politics dispossess the most marginalized to liberate themselves. In The Trouble with White Women, Schuller brings to life the 200-year counter-history of Black, Indigenous, Latina, poor, queer, and trans women pushing back against White feminists and uniting to dismantle systemic injustice.
-
-
Reframes the past by today’s standards
- By Dianne on 02-21-23
By: Kyla Schuller, and others
-
The Preacher's Wife
- The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities
- By: Kate Bowler
- Narrated by: Kelly Burke
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the 1970s, an important new figure has appeared on the center stage of American evangelicalism - the celebrity preacher's wife. Although most evangelical traditions bar women from ordained ministry, many women have carved out unofficial positions of power in their husbands' spiritual empires or their own ministries. The biggest stars - such as Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, and Victoria Osteen - write best-selling books, grab high ratings on Christian television, and even preach.
-
-
Excellent and comprehensive review of the American female evangelical experience
- By bamamed on 08-07-24
By: Kate Bowler
-
Dead Famous
- An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Greg Jenner
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern. But the famous and infamous have been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for much longer than we might realize. Whether it was the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; or Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor whose monstrous ego and terrible alcoholism saw him nearly murdered by his own audience....
-
-
Wonderful Performance!
- By Leanna Humble on 11-01-24
By: Greg Jenner
-
Audience of One
- Television, Donald Trump, and the Politics of Illusion
- By: James Poniewozik
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Neil Postman's masterpiece Amusing Ourselves to Death, Audience of One shows how American media have shaped American society and politics, by interweaving two crucial stories. The first story follows the evolution of television from the three-network era of the 20th century, which joined millions of Americans in a shared monoculture, into today's zillion-channel, internet-atomized universe, which sliced and diced them into fractious, alienated subcultures. The second story is a cultural critique of Donald Trump.
-
-
Enlightening, insightful, terrifying.
- By L Watson on 09-22-19
By: James Poniewozik