The Known World
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Free
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By:
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Edward P. Jones
About this listen
Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2004
National Book Critics Circle Award, Fiction, 2004
Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief; and things begin to fall apart: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery; and rumor of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years.
An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians, and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery.
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Critic reviews
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2005
"A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon." (Time)
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"A complex, often startling picture of life in the region....[Jones'] narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight, and generous character writing." (Publishers Weekly)
"Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy." (The New Yorker)
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- By Keon Gardner on 12-04-17
By: Howard Fast
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Cold Sassy Tree
- By: Olive Ann Burns
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, is that word gets around fast. If the preacher's wife's petticoat shows, the ladies will make the talk last a week. But on July 5, 1906, things take a scandalous turn. That is the day E. Rucker Blakeslee, proprietor of the general store and barely three weeks a widower, elopes with Miss Love Simpson, a woman half his age and, worse yet, a Yankee!
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A Feel-Good Story
- By Chrissie on 07-13-13
By: Olive Ann Burns
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The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witness
- By: Sharon E. Foster
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Leading a small army of slaves, Nat Turner was a man born with a mission: to set the captives free. When words failed, he ignited an uprising that left over 50 whites dead. In the predawn hours of August 22, 1831, Nat Turner stormed into history with a Bible in one hand, brandishing a sword in the other. His rebellion shined a spotlight on slavery and the state of Virginia and divided a nation's trust. Turner himself became a lightning rod for abolitionists like Harriet Beecher Stowe and a terror and secret shame for slave owners.
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Purchase and Download NOW!
- By Giselle E Ambursley on 03-03-16
By: Sharon E. Foster
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May the Road Rise Up to Meet You
- A Novel
- By: Peter Troy
- Narrated by: John Keating, Allyson Johnson, Marrie Kreinik, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Ethan McOwen is an Irish immigrant whose endurance is tested in Brooklyn and the Five Points at the height of its urban destitution; he is among the first to join the famed Irish Brigade and becomes a celebrated war photographer. Marcella, a society girl from Spain, defies her father to become a passionate abolitionist. Mary and Micah are slaves of varying circumstances, who form an instant connection and embark on a tumultuous path to freedom. All four lives unfold in two beautiful love stories, which eventually collide.
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Four passionate performances give wings to story
- By Cheimon on 04-26-12
By: Peter Troy
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Ruth's Journey
- The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
- By: Donald McCaig
- Narrated by: Cherise Boothe
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On the Caribbean island of Saint Domingue, an island consumed by the flames of revolution, a senseless attack leaves only one survivor - an infant girl. She falls into the hands of two French émigrés, Henri and Solange Fournier, who take the beautiful child they call Ruth to the bustling American city of Savannah. What follows is the sweeping tale of Ruth's life as shaped by her strong-willed mistress and other larger-than-life personalities she encounters in the South.
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Disappointing
- By June McCall on 01-26-17
By: Donald McCaig
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The Sound and the Fury
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
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Hang in
- By W.Denis on 07-11-05
By: William Faulkner
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Trials of the Earth
- The True Story of a Pioneer Woman
- By: Mary Mann Hamilton
- Narrated by: Barbara Benjamin Creel
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Near the end of her life, Mary Mann Hamilton (1866-c.1936) was encouraged to record her experiences as a female pioneer. The result is the only known firsthand account of a remarkable woman thrust into the center of taming the American South - surviving floods, tornadoes, and fires; facing bears, panthers, and snakes; managing a boardinghouse in Arkansas that was home to an eccentric group of settlers; and running a logging camp in Mississippi that blazed a trail for development in the Mississippi Delta.
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Long and slow.
- By Ren on 10-31-17
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To Kill a Mockingbird
- By: Harper Lee
- Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south - and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred, available now for the first time as a digital audiobook. One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the country.
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A gift to be treasured
- By David Shear on 07-09-14
By: Harper Lee
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Clearing in the Wild
- By: Jane Kirkpatrick
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission.
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a clearing in the wild
- By katie on 07-21-09
By: Jane Kirkpatrick
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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
- By: Allan Gurganus
- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 49 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood.
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Dated.
- By edie butler on 04-06-21
By: Allan Gurganus
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Cataloochee
- By: Wayne Caldwell
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Debut novelist Wayne Caldwell's Cataloochee -a rich, vivid, arresting work beginning at the dawn of Reconstruction - sprawls across the succeeding generations like the vast green mountains of its rural North Carolina setting. Best-selling author Charles Frazier calls it "a brilliant portrait of a community and a way of life long gone, a lost America." This enthralling saga evokes the full color spectrum of mountain life, from lights to darks and every shade in between.
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Love It!
- By Cynthia J. Hakansson on 02-27-09
By: Wayne Caldwell
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At the Edge of the Orchard
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
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The performance was superb
- By cheryl retired bookseller on 05-30-17
By: Tracy Chevalier
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What listeners say about The Known World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rosa Lydick
- 04-10-19
Fascinating and extraordinary.
eye opening to learn the horrific lives people lived in this period of time. Extremely hard to understand a race of people could think and behave in such a manner.
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- Saleh
- 04-17-15
Fascinating Story ...
Fascinating story with rich characters brought to life by Kevin Free. Listen - intently.
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Overall
- Anjan
- 09-14-04
A Fascinating World
Very few people, black or white, would be familiar with this world since it is set in a world of slavery prior to the American Civil war and deals with *black* slave owners. That in itself is a fascinating backdrop that Edward P. Jones masterful utilizes along with the black dialect of the time. The author creates a richly textured story around multiple, intertwined lives within the *known world* that exists largely within the microcosm of the plantation and at most Manchester county. Without making too many proclamations about good and evil (which would have made it a bland read) Edward P. Jones creates characters that are not cleanly delineated or labeled much like real-life where people have their many shaded complexities. The only criticism I have is that it is difficult to follow the numerous characters as they are first introduced. The story does weave in and out of plots so you need to get used to this approach early on. Once you do, it's a great ride that keeps moving forward.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michelle
- 11-04-04
The Know World
This is a unique story written in a unique way. The author weaves a very mesmorizing story with unforgettable characters in an historic tale I was enthralled with!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Gayle A. James
- 01-25-16
Amazing
You all have GOT to read this novel it won the 2004 Pulitzer but I had not heard of it before. Great historical novel with deep character development it stays with you...
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Overall
- Trish
- 11-24-04
A Gem.
This is a rich and moving story of the impact of slavery on the people in a small area of Virginia. It makes no moral judgements, just lets the characters speak. Yes, there are many characters and plotlines but each tells an important aspect of a tale that is far more than the sum of its parts. Very highly recommended.
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- Kandace
- 12-03-15
Great perspective
This was a great book! Yes it is a little slow but the detail is necessary to understand the characters. If you are going to read this book go in with an open mind
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Overall
- Barbara
- 11-25-04
Will be a classic of African American literature
Reminded me of Toni Morrison's "Paradise." Much more readable than Faulkner. The first time you read it for the plot. Then read it again for the way everything links together. There are so many different and opposing types of characters whose inner lives are convincingly conveyed. Jones opens new territory by describing slavery as a commonly accepted economic system, with free blacks being even more likely than free whites to own slaves. Wealth and caste are as divisive as race, and a social hierarchy based on wealth as much as skin color means that below God are wealthy whites, then wealthy blacks, then middle class whites, then middle class blacks (a problem category), then poor whites followed by Indians followed by poor blacks, followed by slaves. My only problem is that Jones claims to have done little research, and made up his county to avoid being held to historical sources. But nevertheless, Jones raises so many important themes in this novel that are supported by historical sources. Anyone who likes African American literature or who is interested in the history of slavery or the American South should read this novel. Slavery is a divisive issue in several black families here (no white families). For some, like Caldonia?s mother, is the only source of wealth, a wealth worth murdering for. For others, like Henry, it is simply a means to an end, and for some, like his parents, the entire system is morally objectionable.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall
- John
- 09-25-04
John
I'm sure it's a great read, but might be too complex as an audio book. If you don't keep the characters straight from the beginning, you're lost for the rest of book. I ended up deleting it from my MP3 because I couldn't give it the concentration that it required (too much going on at work). I'll listen to it again and see if it's better the second time around---it did win a pulitzer, after all
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- MP
- 06-08-05
Majestic
After a slow beginning, this book is mesmerizing. A sweep of a story, a moral tale, a magnificent depiction of a time and a place and complex relationships among extraordinary people. Also, the narration is truly fabulous. One of the best of the many Audible books I've heard.
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5 people found this helpful