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The Boy Who Runs
- The Odyssey of Julius Achon
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
In the tradition of Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation by way of Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, this is the inspirational true story of the Ugandan boy soldier who became a world-renowned runner, then found his calling as director of a world-renowned African children's charity.
"Julius can't remember who first saw the men. He heard no warning sounds - no dog barking or twig snapping. Until this point, events had moved too swiftly for Julius to be afraid, but now panic seized him. In another instant he realized that his old life was finished."
Thus begins the extraordinary odyssey of Julius Achon, a journey that takes a barefoot 12-year-old boy from a village in northern Uganda to the rebel camp of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army, where he was made a boy soldier, and then, miraculously, to a career as one of the world's foremost middle-distance runners. But when a devastating tragedy prevents Julius from pursuing gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he is once again set adrift and forced to forge a new path for himself, finally finding his true calling as an internationally recognized humanitarian. Today Julius is the director of the Achon Uganda Children's Fund, a charity whose mission is to improve the quality of life in rural Uganda through access to health care, education, and athletics.
While pursuing his destiny, Julius encounters a range of unforgettable characters who variously befriend and betray him: the demonic Joseph Kony, a "world-class warlord"; John Cook, a brilliant and eccentric US track coach; Jim Fee, an American businessman who helps Julius build a state-of-the-art medical center deep in the Ugandan bush; and finally Kristina, Julius' mother, whose own tragic journey forms the pivot for this spellbinding narrative of love, loss, suffering, and redemption.
Written by award-winning sportswriter John Brant, The Boy Who Runs is an empowering tale of obstacles overcome, challenges met, and light wrested from darkness. It's a story about forging your true path and finding your higher purpose - even when the road ahead bends in unexpected directions.
“Brant proves again why he is one of our best sportswriters, masterfully weaving a compelling narrative of an African country at war, along with the transformation of a young man from athlete to humanitarian.... [Achon’s] life story is a shining example of the Olympic spirit.” (Booklist, starred review)
“Fantastic... Brant does a beautiful job of chronicling the tension.... Indeed, his work is first-rate throughout the book, and it makes for a read-in-one-sitting story.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
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"This is an astonishing story about an amazing athlete who outruns not only the grinding poverty and deprivation of the Ugandan bush but brutal war and imminent death, then dedicates himself to saving his family and friends. This man has the heart of a lion. I couldn't put this book down." (John L. Parker, Jr., author of Once a Runner)
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Performance
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14 Minutes is the memoir of Alberto Salazar, the most accomplished, charismatic, and controversial marathoner in history. The narrative follows Alberto's boyhood in New England, his rise to stardom at the University of Oregon, his dramatic victories in the New York City and Boston Marathons, his long malaise due to injuries, which resulted in a near-suicidal depression; his resurgence due to intense spiritual experiences and discipline; his close alliance with Phil Knight and the Nike corporation; and describes his numerous near-death experiences.
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Terrible and Distracting Narration
- By Mark on 06-04-14
By: Alberto Salazar, and others
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Outcasts United
- An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference
- By: Warren St. John
- Narrated by: Lincoln Hoppe
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals.
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great story, lackluster narration
- By CRE on 02-19-13
By: Warren St. John
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Forty Autumns
- A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall
- By: Nina Willner
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this illuminating and deeply moving memoir, a former American military intelligence officer goes beyond traditional Cold War espionage tales to tell the true story of her family - of five women separated by the Iron Curtain for more than 40 years and their miraculous reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A personal look at a tenuous era that divided a city and a nation and continues to haunt us, Forty Autumns is an intimate and beautifully written story of courage, resilience, and love.
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Excellent look into the divided Germanys
- By Mary Aalgaard on 01-18-18
By: Nina Willner
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The Queen of Katwe
- A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl
- By: Tim Crothers
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Phiona Mutesi sleeps in a decrepit shack with her mother and four siblings and struggles to find a single meal each day. Phiona Mutesi is also one of the best chess players in the world. One day in 2005, while searching for food, nine-year-old Phiona followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende, another child of the Ugandan slums, who works for an American organization that offers relief and religion through sports. Robert introduced Phiona to the game of chess and soon recognized her immense talent.
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Outstanding!!
- By The Book Hound on 10-22-16
By: Tim Crothers
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City of Thorns
- Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
- By: Ben Rawlence
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of Northern Kenya, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks, or plastic; its entire economy is gray; and its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a firsthand witness to a strange and desperate limbo-land, getting to know many of those who have come there seeking sanctuary.
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Compelling but dry
- By Megan on 09-16-16
By: Ben Rawlence
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Sometimes Brilliant
- The Impossible Adventure of a Spiritual Seeker and Visionary Physician Who Helped Conquer the Worst Disease in History
- By: Larry Brilliant
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Larry Brilliant's life journey has led him on a purposeful path across continents and countercultural movements, marching arm in arm with the men and women who defined a generation. A man who has always been in the right place at the right time, Brilliant has engaged with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world, including Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, Mikhail Gorbachev, Wavy Gravy, the Grateful Dead, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama.
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Sometimes Brilliant--Brilliant
- By Dr. Sharon G. Solloway on 10-24-16
By: Larry Brilliant
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A Moonless, Starless Sky
- Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa
- By: Alexis Okeowo
- Narrated by: Kamali Minter
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Moonless, Starless Sky Okeowo weaves together four narratives that form a powerful tapestry of modern Africa: a young couple, kidnap victims of Joseph Kony's LRA; a Mauritanian waging a lonely campaign against modern-day slavery; a women's basketball team flourishing amid war-torn Somalia; and a vigilante who takes up arms against the extremist group Boko Haram.
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Amazing and Inspirational Stories
- By F L. on 01-01-18
By: Alexis Okeowo
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Three Cups of Tea
- One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations
- By: Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time: Greg Mortenson's one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.
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A Fraud
- By Sara on 02-23-16
By: Greg Mortenson, and others
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Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden
- Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War
- By: Zhuqing Li
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Scions of a once-great southern Chinese family that produced the tutor of the last emperor, Jun and Hong were each other’s best friends until, in their twenties, they were separated at the end of the Chinese Civil War. One became a model Communist, the other a model capitalist. On Taiwan, Jun married a Nationalist general, established a trading company, and emigrated to the United States. On the Communist mainland, Hong built her medical career under a cloud of suspicion about her family and survived two waves of “re-education” before she was acclaimed for her achievements.
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Wonderful Story of a Family’s Survival Through Political Change…
- By Marie G. on 04-12-23
By: Zhuqing Li
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Strength in What Remains
- A Journey of Remembrance and Forgetting
- By: Tracy Kidder
- Narrated by: Tracy Kidder
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man’s remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him–a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances.
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My Favorite of Kidder's Books
- By Roy on 08-31-09
By: Tracy Kidder
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It Happened on the Way to War
- A Marine's Path to Peace
- By: Rye Barcott
- Narrated by: Rye Barcott
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2000 Rye Barcott spent part of his summer living in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. He was a college student heading into the Marines, and he sought to better understand ethnic violence - something he would likely face later in uniform. He learned Swahili, asked questions, and listened to young people talk about how they survived in poverty he had never imagined.
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Not What You Think It Is
- By Hailey on 10-01-12
By: Rye Barcott
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
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The Vortex
- A True Story of History’s Deadliest Storm, an Unspeakable War, and Liberation
- By: Scott Carney, Jason Miklian
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. The Vortex is the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution.
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One of the Best books this year!
- By Nazir on 05-26-22
By: Scott Carney, and others
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Mighty Be Our Powers
- How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War; a Memoir
- By: Leymah Gbowee, Carol Mithers
- Narrated by: Kimberly Scott
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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As a young woman growing up in Africa, 17-year-old Leymah Gbowee was crushed by a savage war when violence reached her native Monrovia, depriving her of the education she yearned for and claiming the lives of relatives and friends. As war continued to ravage Liberia, Gbowee’s bitterness turned to rage-fueled action as she realized that women bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts.
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Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and
- By Kathy on 10-07-11
By: Leymah Gbowee, and others
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Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
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The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
What listeners say about The Boy Who Runs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sarah Annette Piano
- 05-10-18
A Beautiful, Heart-breaking, Inspirational Story
Just listen to this story. Even if you are not a runner you will be moved by the narrative as well as Julius' attitude towards life and the cruelest of its realities. If you are a runner, you'll be moved to put your shoes on and get to work - for the sake of your own heart and other's hearts.
Julius and his family have lived through some very dark times in human history by moving forward, keeping the faith and remaining patiently hopeful in what good people can do when they dream big and put their heads together.
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- bg
- 06-29-19
A 'human person'
I can't say enough good about this book! I'm so glad I took the time to listen to it. I was a little daunted at facing a 'serious' book that was over 10 hours long but the author successfully blends many threads of the story that influenced the development of the 'human person' Julius Achon: the land, politics, horrors, ambition, and internal struggles. Every aspect is well-balanced and leads to a phenomenal story and history that everyone should be exposed to. Thank you for sharing and for the efforts put in to craft an informative memoir. Well done!
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- James J Martin
- 10-07-24
Determination of an individual
Fantastic read and a very good true story of an individual who on his own changed the lives of many people
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- Daryl
- 11-27-16
Not just for Runners
This book will appeal to a wide variety of people. It's the story of a runner from a country that's been in turmoil for most of his (and my) life. It tells of his success, his failure, his mistakes. Julius is both achingly humble and frustratingly proud, and I found John brant did a terrific job of fleshing him out in both of these regards.
The narrator didn't add to nor distract from the story, which I personally prefer in books like this. He characterized as needed, but did nothing overtly dramatic.
Well worth your time and credit if you are at all interested in running, Uganda, NGOs assisting the poor... You know what? If you like reading, this is by all counts a good book.
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- Mitzie Gordon
- 09-29-16
very riveting story and the narration was excelle
I loved it could not stop listening, got my husband who is a sports person but not a reader to listen. my most memorable moment was when at 14 Julius ran
40 miles to his first track meet, by himself.
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