Nine Black Robes
Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences
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Narrated by:
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Kirsten Potter
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By:
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Joan Biskupic
About this listen
New York Times Editor's Choice
"Biskupic, an accomplished and well-sourced journalist, knows the court as well as anyone now covering it... In her new book Biskupic has done something different and a good deal harder. She has written a group narrative that combines close accounts of the court's public business in the Trump years with a history of its private dramas and conflicts... The deeper message of 'Nine Black Robes' is that even with a new president in office we remain captive to the Age of Trump... A quiet urgency ripples through this informative, briskly paced and gracefully written book."—New York Times Book Review
"Biskupic opens a window onto the opaque, insular world of the justices to show an institution sinking gradually into crisis . . . Biskupic is a longtime chronicler of the court, and "Nine Black Robes" puts on display her connections within its chambers."—Washington Post
"[Biskupic] knows how to make news and illuminate the personalities atop the judicial org chart . . . The book reveals unseen sausage-making . . ."—Wall Street Journal
"Fascinating and informative . . . [Biskupic's] long experience covering the court . . . has put her in an incomparable position to comment on its make-up, historical positions and direction. It has also made her privy to many significant, little-known secrets about Supreme Court personalities and their historical behaviors."—The National Book Review
CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic provides an urgent and inside look at the history-making era in the Supreme Court during the Trump and post-Trump years, from its seismic shift to the Right to its controversial decisions, including its reversal of Roe v. Wade, based on access to all the key players.
Nine Black Robes displays the inner maneuverings among the Supreme Court justices that led to the seismic reversal of Roe v. Wade and a half century of women’s abortion rights. Biskupic details how rights are stripped away or, alternatively as in the case of gun owners, how rights are expanded. Today’s bench—with its conservative majority—is desperately ideological. The Court has been headed rightward and ensnared by its own intrigues for years, but the Trump appointments hastened the modern transformation. With unparalleled access to key players, Biskupic shows the tactics of each justice and reveals switched votes and internal pacts that typically never make the light of day, yet will have repercussions for generations to come.
Nine Black Robes is the definitive narrative of the country’s highest court and its profound impact on all Americans.
©2023 Joan Biskupic (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and others
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Broken Government
- How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches
- By: John W. Dean
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In his eighth book, Dean takes the broadest and deepest view yet of the dysfunctional chaos and institutional damage that the Republican Party and its core conservatives have inflicted on the federal government. He assesses the state of all three branches of government, tracing their decline through the presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II.
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Attention Policy Wonks - This is the book for you
- By Neal on 09-19-09
By: John W. Dean
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The Supremes' Greatest Hits, 2nd Revised & Updated Edition
- The 44 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life
- By: Michael G. Trachtman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Supreme Court's rulings have shaped American life and justice and allowed Americans to retain basic freedoms such as privacy, free speech, and the right to a fair trial. This revised and updated edition of Michael G. Trachtman's riveting work includes 10 important cases from 2010 to 2015.
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Nice review overall.
- By "freeindeed4ever" on 02-10-20
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Justice Corrupted
- How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The left has corrupted the U.S. legal system. Wielding the law as a weapon, arrogant judges and lawless prosecutors are intimidating, silencing, and even imprisoning Americans who stand in the way of their radical agenda. Their "enemies list" even includes parents who dare to speak up for their children at school board meetings. In this shocking new book, Senator Ted Cruz takes listeners inside the justice system, showing how the wrong hands on the levers of power can strangle liberty, crush opposition, and wreck lives.
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Very Informative
- By Michael Screws on 01-03-23
By: Ted Cruz
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Give Us the Ballot
- The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
- By: Ari Berman
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The adoption of the landmark Voting Rights Act in 1965 enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. Yet fifty years later, we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power - over the right to vote, the central pillar of our democracy. A groundbreaking narrative history of voting rights since 1965, Give Us the Ballot tells the story of what happened after the act was passed.
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In-Depth Blow by Blow Account of the VRA
- By Gillian on 10-25-16
By: Ari Berman
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A People's History of the Supreme Court
- The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution
- By: Peter Irons, Howard Zinn - foreword
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court.
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Really enjoyed this book
- By Paul on 02-19-20
By: Peter Irons, and others
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Scorpions
- The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: Cotter Smith
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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They began as close allies and friends of FDR, but the quest to shape a new Constitution led them to competition and sometimes outright warfare. Scorpions tells the story of four great justices: their relationship with Roosevelt, with each other, and with the turbulent world of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. It also serves as a history of the modern Constitution itself.
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A MOST HONOURABLE SWANSONG
- By Dudley H. Williams on 05-27-12
By: Noah Feldman
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The Majesty of the Law
- Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice
- By: Sandra Day O'Connor
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable book, Sandra Day O’Connor explores the law, her life as a Supreme Court Justice, and how the Court has evolved and continues to function, grow, and change as an American institution. Tracing some of the origins of American law through history, people, ideas, and landmark cases, O’Connor sheds new light on the basics, exploring through personal observation the evolution of the Court and American democratic traditions.
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Informative and well-written
- By James on 07-11-05
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The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America
- The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series
- By: Thom Hartmann
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann asks: What if the Supreme Court didn't have the power to strike down laws? According to the Constitution, it doesn't. From the founding of the republic until 1803, the Supreme Court was the final court of appeals, as it was always meant to be. So where did the concept of judicial review start? As so much of modern American history, it began with the battle between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and with Marbury v. Madison.
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A must read to understand why voting is essential.
- By Brandon WIlliams on 10-05-19
By: Thom Hartmann
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The Next Red Wave
- How Conservatives Can Beat Leftist Aggression, RINO Betrayal & Deep State Subversion
- By: Jordan Sekulow, Matthew Clark - contributor, Benjamin Sisney - contributor
- Narrated by: Jordan Sekulow
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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The next red wave is coming: November 3, 2020. We face battles on many fronts. The Deep State bureaucracy will stop at nothing to undermine the conservative agenda, even when that's the agenda chosen by the American voter. The liberal bureaucracy will continue to work alongside former liberal government officials from, yes, the Obama Administration and Team Clinton. In this election, the Left's prized goal - exclusively - will be defeating President Donald Trump by whatever means necessary.
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FABULOUS AND TIMELY
- By Michael Niebuhr on 09-26-19
By: Jordan Sekulow, and others
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For God and Country
- The Christian Case for Trump
- By: Ralph Reed
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In 2016, many Christian leaders opposed candidate Donald Trump. He was a social liberal, and his vulgarity, divorces, affairs, and scandals made it impossible for him to defend Christian values in public life. Or so they thought. Trump nevertheless won an overwhelming majority of the Evangelical vote in 2016, as well as the Catholic vote. And in 2020, the idea that he can’t represent Christians is demonstrably false.
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OUTSTANDING!
- By A. Brown on 12-13-20
By: Ralph Reed
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How to Read the Constitution - and Why
- By: Kim Wehle
- Narrated by: Kim Wehle
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Constitution is the most significant document in America. But do you fully understand what this valuable document means to you? In How to Read the Constitution - and Why, legal expert and educator Kimberly Wehle spells out in clear, simple, and common-sense terms what is in the Constitution and most importantly, what it means. In compelling terms and including text from the United States Constitution, she describes how the Constitution’s protections are eroding.
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very biased
- By Anonymous User on 01-25-20
By: Kim Wehle
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This should be a serialized media presentation, for the return of some normalization of the Supreme Court.
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Hard to concentrate on, because of author's bias
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Splendid!
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The Nine
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From the moment John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, blundered through the Oath of Office at Barack Obama's inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determined to change the course of the nation - and completely at odds on almost every major constitutional issue. One is radical; one essentially conservative. The surprise is that Obama is the conservative.
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A look at the Supreme Court
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Where was Vladeck?
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The Supermajority
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This should be a serialized media presentation, for the return of some normalization of the Supreme Court.
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Hard to concentrate on, because of author's bias
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Splendid!
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The Nine
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The relatively new judicial philosophy of textualism dominates the Supreme Court. Textualists claim that the right way to interpret the Constitution and statutes is to read the text carefully and examine the language as it was understood at the time the documents were written. This, however, is not Justice Breyer’s philosophy nor has it been the traditional way to interpret the Constitution since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall. Justice Breyer recalls Marshall’s exhortation that the Constitution must be a workable set of principles to be interpreted by subsequent generations.
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Very Annoying Narration
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Nice review overall.
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Following his book Captured on corporate capture of regulatory and government agencies, and his years of experience as a prosecutor, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse here turns his attention to the right-wing scheme to capture the courts, and how it influenced the Trump administration's appointment of over 230 "business-friendly" judges, including the last three justices of the United States Supreme Court.
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Dysfunctional democracy explained
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In Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in The New York Times have come to expect. In a thrilling narrative, she recounts the twelve months when the court turned its back on its legacy and traditions, abandoning any effort to stay above and separate from politics.
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A Must Read, Then A Must Act.
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The Originalism Trap
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Lawyers don’t often admit this in mixed company, but Madiba Dennie wants to let you in on a secret: There's no one true way to interpret the Constitution. Americans saw just how subjective it can be when the Supreme Court denied basic bodily autonomy to millions of people in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, suggesting that our rights and liberties are frozen in a cherry-picked version of history. This is a line of constitutional interpretation called originalism—a framework that says we must be constrained by the meaning of the Constitution's text when it was written.
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In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life—and his family’s—as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence.
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Must reading/listening for every American who has despaired of losing our democracy.
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Overcoming proverty via education
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Really enjoyed this book
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Worse than Nothing
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Originalism, the view that the meaning of a constitutional provision is fixed when it is adopted, was once the fringe theory of a few extremely conservative legal scholars but is now a well-accepted mode of constitutional interpretation. Noted legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky gives a comprehensive analysis of the problems that make originalism unworkable as a method of constitutional interpretation. He argues that the framers themselves never intended constitutional interpretation to be inflexible and shows how it is often impossible to know the "original intent" of any provision.
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Impeccably Logical, Backed by 100 Specific Example
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The Most Dangerous Branch
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With the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court has never before been more central in American life. It is the nine justices who too often now decide the controversial issues of our time—from abortion and same-sex marriage, to gun control, campaign finance and voting rights.
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Thought provoking!
- By carol utsunomiya on 02-25-19
By: David A. Kaplan
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A Republic, If You Can Keep It
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- Unabridged
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Justice Gorsuch draws on his 30-year career as a lawyer, teacher, judge, and justice to explore essential aspects our Constitution, its separation of powers, and the liberties it is designed to protect. He discusses the role of the judge in our constitutional order, and why he believes that originalism and textualism are the surest guides to interpreting our nation’s founding documents and protecting our freedoms. He explains, too, the importance of affordable access to the courts in realizing the promise of equal justice under law.
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In present political climate crucially important!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-18-19
By: Neil Gorsuch
What listeners say about Nine Black Robes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-30-23
Wow
This was very interesting! It gave great insight into what the justices do! I learned a lot!
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- David
- 12-27-23
Interesting but slanted
Was a nice overview of the court in recent years. However, the author had a specific view (very negative slant) of recent actions. I would have preferred a more balanced approach to better explain arguments on both sides so we understood better why they differed so greatly.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Richard Spitaleri Jr.
- 04-16-23
Another 3 star effort from Biskupic
As a lawyer who watches the Court closely more out of personal interest than work, I read most of Biskupic’s work. This one keeps up a consistent streak of meh. There is almost nothing in here that you don’t already know if you watch the court at all. She provides excessive background and does not make good choices about anecdotes worth delving deeply into. She often veers off into stories from the Justices backgrounds that just aren’t interesting. While the media holds her out as more of an objective “just the facts” reporter, she is not. Her bias to the left is a notch or two above subtle. Having said all this, it’s definitely a worthwhile read for a non lawyer unfamiliar with the Court. She gets the facts mostly right and her writing style is clear and accessible. You can definitely learn a lot from this book too if you know nothing about the modern Court. If someone asked me for one book to get a good feel for the Roberts Court, this would be it.
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- Kevin Farrell
- 04-30-23
Excellent
As a non-attorney observer of the Supreme Court, I found this book interesting and informative. The writer seems to have good sources within the Court, enabling her to provide context and background for decisions. The narration was also excellent.
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- Stephen Culley
- 07-02-23
Excellent resource
This was great and so honest. The author is able to show day by day how democracy has collapsed under Republican rule!
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- Meghan
- 08-05-23
a good, jumping off point for those interested in the inner machinations of the Supreme Court
As a non-lawyer court watcher, who regularly listens to legal podcasts and reads other work related to the current supreme court, I believe that this book is a good primer for someone looking to delve into the basics of why the Supreme Court is behaving as it is and the increasingly conservative direction it has taken. There are certainly stories which I would have liked to see greater detail in, but understand the need to edit such information. The cadence and writing of the book itself, as well as the choice of narrator, made the information contained within, if not easier to accept, at least easier to digest. I would certainly recommend this to a novice court watcher.
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- DMR
- 05-19-23
Excellent Source on the Supreme Court of Today
Great narrative about how Donald Trump and the Right have hijacked the Supreme Court, and how their decisions of today will also have a devastating impact on future generations.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 04-14-23
Great book. Extremely relevant. Wonderful narrator
I really liked this book! I was introduced to the author when she was a guest on the strict scrutiny podcast she piqued my interest enough to get her book. I normally prefer books where the author narrates themselves but this narrator was fantastic.
The book itself is well thought out, historically informative, and a great read!
Definitely would recommend this book
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Performance
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Story
- Andrew Kennedy
- 08-10-23
How the Court moved hard to the right
This book is astonishing in its detail from caselaw, personal interviews, speeches. It offers a detailed portrait of the justices. Most interesting was how the justices negotiated rulings. The author also offers some excellent critiques of slight of hand in opinions. Of great interest to lawyers and general interest readers alike.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Amazons Warrior
- 05-07-23
Flows really well
I felt like the narrator was speaking to me instead of just reading words off a page. I picked up this audible book after listening to an episode of Strict Scrutiny and was worried that it’s be too technical/overly lecture-y. However, this story flowed like a gossip story that you just can’t help ease dropping on.
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