-
Pure America
- Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Between 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte's Pure America, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. Virginia's 20th-century eugenics program was not the misguided initiative of well-meaning men of the day, says Catte, with clarity and ferocity. It was a manifestation of white supremacy. It was a form of employment insurance. It was a means of controlling "troublesome" women and a philosophy that helped remove poor people from valuable land. It was cruel, and it was wrong, and yet today sites where it was practiced like Western State Hospital, in Staunton, Virginia, are rehabilitated as luxury housing, their histories hushed up in the service of capital.
As was amply evidenced by her acclaimed 2018 book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, Catte has no room for excuses; no patience for equivocation. What does it mean for modern America, she asks here, that such buildings are given the second chance that 8,000 citizens never got? And what possible interventions can be made now, repair their damage?
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Guarded Gate
- Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants out of America
- By: Daniel Okrent
- Narrated by: Daniel Okrent
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper-class Bostonians and New Yorkers - many of them progressives - who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years.
-
-
Is history actually ‘repeating itself with Trump/Stephen Miller Policies?
- By Sean O'Shea on 07-21-19
By: Daniel Okrent
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Significantly outdated.
- By Bill Hawks on 02-15-24
By: Adam Rutherford
-
White Kids
- Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America
- By: Margaret A. Hagerman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociologist Margaret A. Hagerman zeroes in on affluent white kids to observe how they make sense of privilege, unequal educational opportunities, and police violence. In fascinating detail, Hagerman considers the role that they and their families play in the reproduction of racism and racial inequality in America. White Kids, based on two years of research involving in-depth interviews with white kids and their families, is a clear-eyed and sometimes shocking account of how white kids learn about race.
-
-
Being a good parent is racist
- By Amazon Customer on 12-07-20
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Guarded Gate
- Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants out of America
- By: Daniel Okrent
- Narrated by: Daniel Okrent
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper-class Bostonians and New Yorkers - many of them progressives - who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years.
-
-
Is history actually ‘repeating itself with Trump/Stephen Miller Policies?
- By Sean O'Shea on 07-21-19
By: Daniel Okrent
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Significantly outdated.
- By Bill Hawks on 02-15-24
By: Adam Rutherford
-
White Kids
- Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America
- By: Margaret A. Hagerman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociologist Margaret A. Hagerman zeroes in on affluent white kids to observe how they make sense of privilege, unequal educational opportunities, and police violence. In fascinating detail, Hagerman considers the role that they and their families play in the reproduction of racism and racial inequality in America. White Kids, based on two years of research involving in-depth interviews with white kids and their families, is a clear-eyed and sometimes shocking account of how white kids learn about race.
-
-
Being a good parent is racist
- By Amazon Customer on 12-07-20
-
Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County
- A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle
- By: Kristen Green
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, Virginia's Prince Edward County refused to obey the law. Rather than desegregate, the county closed its public schools, locking and chaining the doors. The community's White leaders quickly established a private academy, commandeering supplies from the shuttered public schools to use in their all-White classrooms. Meanwhile, Black parents had few options: keep their kids at home, move across county lines, or send them to live with relatives in other states. For five years, the schools remained closed.
-
-
Performance was well done and delivered clearly
- By Drew DeJesus on 04-04-24
By: Kristen Green
-
Caste
- The Origins of Our Discontents
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.
-
-
Brilliant, articulate, highly listenable.
- By GM on 08-05-20
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
Blackout
- How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation
- By: Candace Owens, Larry Elder
- Narrated by: Candace Owens, Larry Elder
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black Americans have long been shackled to the Democrats. Seeing no viable alternative, they have watched liberal politicians take the Black vote for granted without pledging anything in return. In Blackout, Owens argues that this automatic allegiance is both illogical and unearned. She contends that the Democrat Party has a long history of racism and exposes the ideals that hinder the Black community’s ability to rise above poverty, live independent and successful lives, and be an active part of the American dream.
-
-
Thought provoking!
- By Girl with curls on 09-16-20
By: Candace Owens, and others
-
The Sum of Us
- What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
- By: Heather McGhee
- Narrated by: Heather McGhee
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all.
-
-
Good book but Recording tech is poor. Glitches
- By Jeannepup on 02-25-21
By: Heather McGhee
-
The United States of Socialism
- Who's Behind It. Why It's Evil. How to Stop It.
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: Dinesh D'Souza
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For those who witnessed the global collapse of socialism, its resurrection in the 21st century comes as a surprise, even a shock. How can socialism work now when it has never worked before? In this pathbreaking audiobook, best-selling author Dinesh D’Souza argues that the socialism advanced today by the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, and Elizabeth Warren is very different from the socialism of Lenin, Mao, and Castro.
-
-
Thank you again Mr. D'Souza
- By Karen K. Morrison on 06-04-20
By: Dinesh D'Souza
-
The Thomas Sowell Reader
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of half a century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from latetalking children to tax cuts for the rich, baseball, race, war, the role of judges, medical care, and the rhetoric of politicians.
-
-
The Best Book By The Smartest Guy in the Room
- By Dave on 10-20-11
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Race Crazy
- BLM, 1619, and the Progressive Racism Movement
- By: Charles Love
- Narrated by: Charles Love
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When did America become obsessed with racial differences? After decades of progress healing real-world prejudices and anger, we suddenly live in an America where we’re expected to view every single thing through the lens of race. Children are taught the politics of racial resentment and fear in schools. Films, novels, and even comic books are judged by the color of their protagonists — and their adherence to the latest “woke” messaging.
-
-
Foundation For Our Future
- By Michael on 12-01-21
By: Charles Love
-
Letters to My White Male Friends
- By: Dax-Devlon Ross
- Narrated by: Dax-Devlon Ross
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
White men are finally realizing that simply not being racist isn’t enough to end racism. These men want deeper insight not only into how racism has harmed Black people, but, for the first time, into how it has harmed them. They are beginning to see that racism warps us all. Letters to My White Male Friends promises to help men who have said they are committed to change and to develop the capacity to see, feel and sustain that commitment so they can help secure racial justice for us all.
-
-
Not just for White Males
- By Anonymous User on 07-08-23
By: Dax-Devlon Ross
-
Healing Politics
- A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic
- By: Abdul El-Sayed
- Narrated by: Abdul El-Sayed
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Healing Politics, El-Sayed traces the life of a young idealist, weaving together powerful personal stories and fascinating forays into history and science. Marrying his unique perspective with the science of epidemiology, El-Sayed diagnoses an underlying epidemic afflicting our country, an epidemic of insecurity. And to heal the rifts this epidemic has created, he lays out a new direction for the progressive movement. This is a bold, personal, and compellingly original book from a prominent young leader.
-
-
Meh
- By outraged on 03-22-22
By: Abdul El-Sayed
-
The Devil You Know
- A Black Power Manifesto
- By: Charles M. Blow
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From journalist and New York Times best-selling author Charles Blow comes a powerful manifesto and call to action for Black Americans to amass political power and fight white supremacy.
-
-
A radical plan for Black liberation
- By Elizabeth on 01-27-21
By: Charles M. Blow
-
Is Reality Optional?
- And Other Essays
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Sowell challenges all the assumptions of contemporary liberalism on issues ranging from the economy to race to education in this collection of controversial essays, and captures his thoughts on politics, race, and common sense with a section at the end for thought-provoking quotes.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Anonymous User on 09-28-22
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
-
-
Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
Related to this topic
-
Disintegration
- The Splintering of Black America
- By: Eugene Robinson
- Narrated by: Alan Bomar Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book Disintegration, longtime Washington Post journalist Eugene Robinson argues that, through decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered.
-
-
Written for Popular Consumption
- By Catherine S. Read on 06-03-11
By: Eugene Robinson
-
The 9.9 Percent
- The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture
- By: Matthew Stewart
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 21st century America, the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90 percent have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9 percent that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country - and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Davena on 01-05-23
By: Matthew Stewart
-
Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
-
-
Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
-
This Noble Land
- My Vision For America
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Arthur Addison
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Noble Land is Michener's most personal statement about America, an examination of the issues that threaten to fragment and undermine the nation - racial conflict, the widening gulf between rich and poor, the decline of education, the inadequacies of our health care system - as well as a thought-provoking prescription for sustaining our "outstanding success". First published shortly before Michener's death, This Noble Land stands as a wake-up call for a troubled era, infused with the wisdom and passion of a lifetime.
-
-
A startling realization
- By Amazon Customer on 08-15-15
-
The Inconvenient Indian
- A Curious Account of Native People in North America
- By: Thomas King
- Narrated by: Lorne Cardinal
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inconvenient Indian is at once a “history” and the complete subversion of a history - in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be “Indian” in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other.
-
-
I Thought I'd Enjoy This More
- By Kristy Grainger on 08-11-18
By: Thomas King
-
Americans Against the City
- Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century
- By: Steven Conn
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An aversion to urban density and all that it contributes to urban life, and a perception that the city was the place where "big government" first took root in America fostered what historian Steven Conn terms the "anti-urban impulse." In this provocative and sweeping audiobook, Conn explores the anti-urban impulse across the 20th century, examining how the ideas born of it have shaped both the places in which Americans live and work, and the anti-government politics so strong today.
-
-
Excellent book
- By M. M. Conroy on 09-19-20
By: Steven Conn
-
Disintegration
- The Splintering of Black America
- By: Eugene Robinson
- Narrated by: Alan Bomar Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book Disintegration, longtime Washington Post journalist Eugene Robinson argues that, through decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered.
-
-
Written for Popular Consumption
- By Catherine S. Read on 06-03-11
By: Eugene Robinson
-
The 9.9 Percent
- The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture
- By: Matthew Stewart
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 21st century America, the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90 percent have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9 percent that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country - and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Davena on 01-05-23
By: Matthew Stewart
-
Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
-
-
Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
-
This Noble Land
- My Vision For America
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Arthur Addison
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Noble Land is Michener's most personal statement about America, an examination of the issues that threaten to fragment and undermine the nation - racial conflict, the widening gulf between rich and poor, the decline of education, the inadequacies of our health care system - as well as a thought-provoking prescription for sustaining our "outstanding success". First published shortly before Michener's death, This Noble Land stands as a wake-up call for a troubled era, infused with the wisdom and passion of a lifetime.
-
-
A startling realization
- By Amazon Customer on 08-15-15
-
The Inconvenient Indian
- A Curious Account of Native People in North America
- By: Thomas King
- Narrated by: Lorne Cardinal
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inconvenient Indian is at once a “history” and the complete subversion of a history - in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be “Indian” in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other.
-
-
I Thought I'd Enjoy This More
- By Kristy Grainger on 08-11-18
By: Thomas King
-
Americans Against the City
- Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century
- By: Steven Conn
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An aversion to urban density and all that it contributes to urban life, and a perception that the city was the place where "big government" first took root in America fostered what historian Steven Conn terms the "anti-urban impulse." In this provocative and sweeping audiobook, Conn explores the anti-urban impulse across the 20th century, examining how the ideas born of it have shaped both the places in which Americans live and work, and the anti-government politics so strong today.
-
-
Excellent book
- By M. M. Conroy on 09-19-20
By: Steven Conn
-
Know Your Price
- Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities
- By: Andre M. Perry
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The deliberate devaluation of Blacks and their communities has had very real, far-reaching, and negative economic and social effects. An enduring white supremacist myth claims brutal conditions in Black communities are mainly the result of Black people's collective choices and moral failings. But there is nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can't solve. Noted educator, journalist, and scholar Andre Perry takes listeners on a tour of six Black-majority cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued.
-
-
More about Black lives than property
- By J. Craig on 04-13-22
By: Andre M. Perry
-
Ghetto
- The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea
- By: Mitchell Duneier
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On March 29, 1516, the city council of Venice issued a decree forcing Jews to live in il geto - a closed quarter named for the copper foundry that once occupied the area. The term stuck. In this sweeping and original interpretation, Mitchell Duneier traces the idea of the ghetto from its beginnings in the 16th century and its revival by the Nazis to the present. As Duneier shows, we cannot understand the entanglements of race, poverty, and place in America today without recalling the history of the ghetto in Europe, as well as later efforts to understand the problems of the American city.
-
-
Impressive
- By Jean on 12-10-16
By: Mitchell Duneier
-
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
-
The Devil You Know
- A Black Power Manifesto
- By: Charles M. Blow
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From journalist and New York Times best-selling author Charles Blow comes a powerful manifesto and call to action for Black Americans to amass political power and fight white supremacy.
-
-
A radical plan for Black liberation
- By Elizabeth on 01-27-21
By: Charles M. Blow
-
Gods of the Upper Air
- How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
- By: Charles King
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A century ago, everyone knew that people were fated by their race, sex, and nationality to be more or less intelligent, nurturing, or warlike. But Columbia University professor Franz Boas looked at the data and decided everyone was wrong. Racial categories, he insisted, were biological fictions. Cultures did not come in neat packages labeled "primitive" or "advanced". What counted as a family, a good meal, or even common sense was a product of history and circumstance, not of nature.
-
-
Great Book, Much Needed despite poor performance
- By J. Kahn on 08-21-19
By: Charles King
-
Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
- By: Anton Treuer
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of what's up with Indians, anyway.
-
-
one of the better books
- By Erica Kerr on 07-14-18
By: Anton Treuer
-
Learning from the Germans
- Race and the Memory of Evil
- By: Susan Neiman
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wake of white nationalist attacks, the ongoing debate over reparations, and the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and the contested memories they evoke, Susan Neiman's Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. Neiman is a white woman who came of age in the civil rights-era South and a Jewish woman who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin.
-
-
This is an important book.
- By Amazon Customer on 05-29-20
By: Susan Neiman
-
Racecraft
- The Soul of Inequality in American Life
- By: Karen E. Fields, Barbara J. Fields
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most people assume that racism grows from a perception of human difference: the fact of race gives rise to the practice of racism. Sociologist Karen E. Fields and historian Barbara J. Fields argue otherwise: the practice of racism produces the illusion of race, through what they call “racecraft.” And this phenomenon is intimately entwined with other forms of inequality in American life. So pervasive are the devices of racecraft in American history, economic doctrine, politics, and everyday thinking that the presence of racecraft itself goes unnoticed.
-
-
A loose collection of essays
- By Texas Mama on 11-18-21
By: Karen E. Fields, and others
-
Conditional Citizens
- On Belonging in America
- By: Laila Lalami
- Narrated by: Laila Lalami
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to US citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and protections.
-
-
Blew my mind!
- By Leila Jaafari on 10-20-20
By: Laila Lalami
-
Dear White America
- Letter to a New Minority
- By: Tim Wise
- Narrated by: Tim Wise
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation's diverse cultural reality, and a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.
-
-
A Primer on Racism for White People
- By Susie on 07-11-16
By: Tim Wise
-
A Fierce Discontent
- The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920
- By: Michael McGerr
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Progressive Era witnessed the nation's most convulsive upheaval, a time of radicalism far beyond the Revolution or anything since. In response to the birth of modern America, one small group of middle-class Americans seized control of the nation and attempted to remake society from bottom to top. They accomplished an astonishing range of triumphs, yet the progressive movement collapsed as the war came to an end amid race riots, strikes, high inflation, and a frenzied Red scare.
-
-
A well balanced take
- By Ryan Mooney on 04-17-21
By: Michael McGerr
-
After America
- Get Ready for Armageddon
- By: Mark Steyn
- Narrated by: Mark Steyn
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his giant New York Times best seller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn predicted collapse for the rest of the Western World. Now, he adds, America has caught up with Europe on the great rush to self-destruction. What will a world without American leadership look like? It won’t be pretty—not for you and not for your children. America’s decline won’t be gradual, like an aging Europe sipping espresso at a café until extinction. No, America’s decline will be a wrenching affair marked by violence and possibly secession.
-
-
Facts
- By Peter on 11-11-11
By: Mark Steyn
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Devil Is Here in These Hills
- West Virginia’s Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
- By: James Green
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From before the dawn of the 20th century until the arrival of the New Deal, one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were 50,000 mine workers, the nation's largest labor union, and the legendary "miners' angel", Mother Jones.
-
-
Phenomenal labor history, riveting narrative
- By Chris Brooks on 03-11-18
By: James Green
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
Ramp Hollow
- The Ordeal of Appalachia
- By: Steven Stoll
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Appalachia - among the most storied and yet least understood regions in America - has long been associated with poverty and backwardness. But how did this image arise, and what exactly does it mean? In Ramp Hollow, Steven Stoll launches an original investigation into the history of Appalachia and its place in US history, with a special emphasis on how generations of its inhabitants lived, worked, survived, and depended on natural resources held in common.
-
-
Almost unlistenable
- By Golf Fan on 09-13-18
By: Steven Stoll
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Significantly outdated.
- By Bill Hawks on 02-15-24
By: Adam Rutherford
-
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
- By: Elizabeth Catte
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The audiobook analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The audiobook offers a much-needed insider's perspective on the region.
-
-
Stop trying to make us fit into your ideology
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-19
By: Elizabeth Catte
-
Hitler's American Model
- The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
- By: James Q. Whitman
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime.
-
-
Did not we suspect this?
- By dessa on 11-04-18
By: James Q. Whitman
-
The Devil Is Here in These Hills
- West Virginia’s Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
- By: James Green
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From before the dawn of the 20th century until the arrival of the New Deal, one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were 50,000 mine workers, the nation's largest labor union, and the legendary "miners' angel", Mother Jones.
-
-
Phenomenal labor history, riveting narrative
- By Chris Brooks on 03-11-18
By: James Green
-
Imbeciles
- The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck
- By: Adam Cohen
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imbeciles is the shocking story of Buck v. Bell, a legal case that challenges our faith in American justice. A gripping courtroom drama, it pits a helpless young woman against powerful scientists, lawyers, and judges who believed that eugenic measures were necessary to save the nation from being “swamped with incompetence.”
-
-
Compelling Concept, Aggravating Execution
- By Gillian on 04-05-16
By: Adam Cohen
-
Ramp Hollow
- The Ordeal of Appalachia
- By: Steven Stoll
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Appalachia - among the most storied and yet least understood regions in America - has long been associated with poverty and backwardness. But how did this image arise, and what exactly does it mean? In Ramp Hollow, Steven Stoll launches an original investigation into the history of Appalachia and its place in US history, with a special emphasis on how generations of its inhabitants lived, worked, survived, and depended on natural resources held in common.
-
-
Almost unlistenable
- By Golf Fan on 09-13-18
By: Steven Stoll
-
Control
- The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Control is a book about what geneticist Adam Rutherford calls “a defining idea of the twentieth century.” Inspired by Darwin’s ideas about evolution, eugenics arose in Victorian England as a theory for improving the British population, and quickly spread to America. With disarming wit and scientific precision, Rutherford explains why eugenics still figures prominently in the twenty-first century, despite its genocidal past. And he confronts insidious recurring questions, revealing the intellectual bankruptcy of the idea, and the scientific impossibility of its realization.
-
-
Significantly outdated.
- By Bill Hawks on 02-15-24
By: Adam Rutherford
What listeners say about Pure America
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-10-21
Read this!
An honest account of the complicated eugenics programs of Virginia—from confinement, commitment, medicinal procedures, and the relocation of peoples. Should be a required read, especially those living in Virginia.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Saganich
- 11-01-23
Highly recommend
This book is well researched, written and performed. It's a (sad) commentary on how much of our country's history is hidden
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cynthia Roseanna Rast
- 11-04-21
Outstanding and smart
She is not afraid to call monsters what they are and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Powerful and purposeful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- KP
- 06-30-23
Highly recommend this book
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the heartbreaking and extensive history of eugenics in the US. You won’t believe this is real at first because it is so unjust and evil- not to mention a part of history that I have never learned anything about in my 37 years. The book is very interesting, provides a lot of detailed information, and really does a moving job of telling the individual stories. I think this is especially valuable history to learn in the current political landscape.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Albert
- 04-29-24
Hillbillies & Indians gardened the Shenandoah
The author told a compelling tale, but left out something big. Scots Irish burned & farmed the same mountain balds kept open by Native Americans on the Blue Ridge. When they were removed from the land, the open fields were forested over. Biodiversity plummeted.
Hillbillies were doing something very clever, very wise—too complex for Progressives either then or now to understand. They were gardening the wilderness.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Friedrich
- 10-14-24
Long on Commentary, Short on History
This was a very narrowly focused narrative. While it did discuss some of the history of eugenics in Virginia overall, it primarily focused in on Western States Hospital and on Shenandoah Notional Park in Virginia. It certainly did not discuss how eugenics from Virginia tied into eugenics in the US, overall.
The author never refrained from commentary throughout. All history was given in a tainted manner, leading the reader to the author's mindset, not presenting fact that would allow the reader to process.
Further, the author broke her own rule, which she herself set forth early in the essay, not to look at history through the eyes of the present. Instead, this happened constantly throughout, as well. It even got to the point of mentioning at least two current political figures, and attempting to tie them in to the dirt of the historical narrative.
It just was not what it was billed. It was not a history piece. It was an author's opinion with just enough historical veneer to allowed her to comment.
I wanted to like it, and kept hoping it would improve, but it did not.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-02-23
Goes Off Topic
Talks about statues, racism, government grants, tax credits, Elizabeth Warren, capitalism, Trump, white guilt, and what not in what appears to be a way to pad for time. It ignores birth rates, abortion numbers and its historical relevance to the discussion, and plenty more. But we get to hear an hour about mountaineers and another big chunk of time on some story about Catte talking to a publisher, talking about blankets, and her partner. Yay!
This happens repeatedly. I think I heard more about Catte’s partner and daily driving around Virginia than actual history. I’m surprised Catte didn’t add in a portion of how an idea arrived because Catte was on the toilet pushing out a turd and was reminded of something.
I could write a better and more informative book in a day while looking at Wikipedia. Really poorly done. What history is here is good and mostly accurate but, overall, it reminds me of a dump. It’s a turd of a book with a slight coating of real eugenics history.
Performance is okay. Most things are pronounced correctly. Literally this books only saving grace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful