
The Sing Sing Files
One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice
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
3 months free
Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dan Slepian
-
By:
-
Dan Slepian
About this listen
Long-listed, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2024
Long-listed, Audible.com Best of the Year, 2024
“Bristling with urgency, empathy, and determination…this is investigative journalism at its best and most necessary.”—AudioFile
The author's podcast, Letters from Sing Sing, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
This program is read by the author and features sound design and original archival sound recordings from Sing Sing maximum-security prison, including letters written to the author. It also includes commentary from formerly incarcerated men.
An NBC Dateline producer's cinematic account of his two-decade journey navigating the broken criminal justice system to help free six innocent men
In 2002, Dan Slepian, a veteran producer for NBC’s Dateline, received a tip from a Bronx homicide detective that two men were serving twenty-five years to life in prison for a 1990 murder they did not commit.
Haunted by what the detective had told him, Slepian began an investigation of the case that eventually resulted in freedom for the two men and launched Slepian on a two-decade personal and professional journey into a deeply flawed justice system fiercely resistant to rectifying—or even acknowledging—its mistakes and their consequences.
The Sing Sing Files: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice is Slepian’s account of challenging that system. The story follows Slepian on years of prison visits, court hearings, and street reporting that led to a series of powerful Dateline episodes and eventually to freedom for four other men and to an especially deep and lasting friendship with one of them, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. From his cell in Sing Sing, JJ aided Slepian in his investigations until his own release in 2021 after decades in prison.
Like Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, The Sing Sing Files is a deeply personal account of wrongful imprisonment and the flaws in our justice system, and a powerful argument for reckoning and accountability. Slepian’s extraordinary book, at once painful and full of hope, shines a light on an injustice whose impact the nation has only begun to confront.
A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books.
©2024 Dan Slepian (P)2024 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
Thank You for Smoking
- A novel
- By: Christopher Buckley
- Narrated by: John Glover
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nobody blows smoke like Nick Naylor. He’s a spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies - in other words, a flack for cigarette companies, paid to promote their product on talk and news shows. The problem? He’s so good at his job, so effortlessly unethical, that he’s become a target for both anti-tobacco terrorists and for the FBI. In a country where half the people want to outlaw pleasure and the other want to sell you a disease, what will become of Nick Naylor?
-
-
Verbal Judo
- By A. L. DeWitt on 01-13-03
-
The Exvangelicals
- Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
- By: Sarah McCammon
- Narrated by: Sarah McCammon
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in a deeply evangelical family in the Midwest in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sarah McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him, and not question the faith. Persistently worried that her gay grandfather would go to hell unless she could reach him, or that her Muslim friend would need to be converted, and that she, too, would go to hell if she did not believe fervently enough, McCammon was a rule-follower. But through it all, she was plagued by fears and deep questions as the belief system she'd been carefully taught clashed with her expanding understanding of the outside world.
-
-
Multiple Reasons
- By Meghan Smith on 03-30-24
By: Sarah McCammon
-
Framed
- Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
- By: John Grisham, Jim McCloskey
- Narrated by: Jim McCloskey, Michael Beck, John Grisham
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, #1 bestselling author John Grisham and Centurion Ministries Founder Jim McCloskey share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. Impeccably researched and grippingly told, Framed offers an inside look at the injustice faced by the victims of the United States criminal justice system.
-
-
Believable but unbelievable
- By kimberly on 10-20-24
By: John Grisham, and others
-
33 Place Brugmann
- A Novel
- By: Alice Austen
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Jilly Bond, Nicholas Boulton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever. Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer’s family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.
-
-
No flow, no plot
- By KSCAR70 on 05-25-25
By: Alice Austen
-
When Truth Is All You Have
- A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
- By: Jim McCloskey, Philip Lerman, John Grisham - foreword
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would change his life. A former management consultant, McCloskey had grown disenchanted with the business world; he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment, in 1980, was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison. Among the inmates was Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who'd been convicted of murder years earlier. He swore to McCloskey that he was innocent - and, over time, McCloskey came to believe him.
-
-
You will be better & changed
- By B. J. Murrey on 09-03-20
By: Jim McCloskey, and others
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
Thank You for Smoking
- A novel
- By: Christopher Buckley
- Narrated by: John Glover
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nobody blows smoke like Nick Naylor. He’s a spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies - in other words, a flack for cigarette companies, paid to promote their product on talk and news shows. The problem? He’s so good at his job, so effortlessly unethical, that he’s become a target for both anti-tobacco terrorists and for the FBI. In a country where half the people want to outlaw pleasure and the other want to sell you a disease, what will become of Nick Naylor?
-
-
Verbal Judo
- By A. L. DeWitt on 01-13-03
-
The Exvangelicals
- Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
- By: Sarah McCammon
- Narrated by: Sarah McCammon
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in a deeply evangelical family in the Midwest in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sarah McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him, and not question the faith. Persistently worried that her gay grandfather would go to hell unless she could reach him, or that her Muslim friend would need to be converted, and that she, too, would go to hell if she did not believe fervently enough, McCammon was a rule-follower. But through it all, she was plagued by fears and deep questions as the belief system she'd been carefully taught clashed with her expanding understanding of the outside world.
-
-
Multiple Reasons
- By Meghan Smith on 03-30-24
By: Sarah McCammon
-
Framed
- Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
- By: John Grisham, Jim McCloskey
- Narrated by: Jim McCloskey, Michael Beck, John Grisham
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, #1 bestselling author John Grisham and Centurion Ministries Founder Jim McCloskey share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. Impeccably researched and grippingly told, Framed offers an inside look at the injustice faced by the victims of the United States criminal justice system.
-
-
Believable but unbelievable
- By kimberly on 10-20-24
By: John Grisham, and others
-
33 Place Brugmann
- A Novel
- By: Alice Austen
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Jilly Bond, Nicholas Boulton, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever. Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer’s family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.
-
-
No flow, no plot
- By KSCAR70 on 05-25-25
By: Alice Austen
-
When Truth Is All You Have
- A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
- By: Jim McCloskey, Philip Lerman, John Grisham - foreword
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jim McCloskey was at a midlife crossroads when he met the man who would change his life. A former management consultant, McCloskey had grown disenchanted with the business world; he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary at the age of 37. His first assignment, in 1980, was as a chaplain at Trenton State Prison. Among the inmates was Jorge de los Santos, a heroin addict who'd been convicted of murder years earlier. He swore to McCloskey that he was innocent - and, over time, McCloskey came to believe him.
-
-
You will be better & changed
- By B. J. Murrey on 09-03-20
By: Jim McCloskey, and others
-
The World Record Book of Racist Stories
- By: Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar
- Narrated by: Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her raucous musical numbers to turning upsetting news into laughs as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show or in her Late Night with Seth Meyers segments, Amber is no stranger to finding the funny wherever she looks. With equal parts heart and humor, she and her sister Lacey Lamar shared some of the eye-opening and outrageous experiences Lacey had faced in Nebraska in their first book. Now, the dynamic duo makes it clear—Lacey isn’t the only one in the family with ridiculous encounters to share!
-
-
LOVED it
- By Meadow Walker on 01-19-23
By: Amber Ruffin, and others
-
We Carry Their Bones
- The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys
- By: Erin Kimmerle
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Arthur G. Dozier Boys School was a well-guarded secret in Florida for over a century, until reports of cruelty, abuse, and “mysterious” deaths shut the institution down in 2011. Established in 1900, the juvenile reform school accepted children as young as six years of age for crimes as harmless as truancy or trespassing. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school’s management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions.
-
-
What Was Learned -Florida's Dozier School for Boys
- By w.l. on 01-06-23
By: Erin Kimmerle
-
Here After
- A Memoir
- By: Amy Lin
- Narrated by: Amy Lin
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband, Kurtis, a gifted young architect who pulls her toward joy, adventure, and greater self-acceptance. On a sweltering August morning, only a few months shy of the newlyweds’ move to Vancouver, thirty-two-year-old Kurtis heads out to run a half-marathon with Amy’s family. It’s the last time she sees her husband alive.
-
-
Super sad
- By lilikoi on 06-10-25
By: Amy Lin
-
Stolen Pride
- Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right
- By: Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all the attempts to understand the state of American politics and the blue/red divide, we've ignored what economic and cultural loss can do to pride. What happens, Arlie Russell Hochschild asks, when a proud people in a hard-hit region suffer the deep loss of pride and are confronted with a powerful political appeal that makes it feel "stolen"? Hochschild's research drew her to Pikeville, Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, within the whitest and second-poorest congressional district in the nation.
-
-
Gripping and insightful
- By Marianna Grossman on 12-27-24
-
Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
-
-
Describes a well funded international fascist cult
- By marwalk on 03-24-25
-
The Fairbanks Four
- Murder, Injustice, and the Birth of a Movement
- By: Brian Patrick O’Donoghue
- Narrated by: Chris Henry Coffey
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October, 1997. Late one night in Fairbanks, Alaska, a passerby finds a teenager unconscious, collapsed on the edge of the road, beaten nearly beyond recognition. Two days later, he dies in the hospital. His name is John Gilbert Hartman and he's just turned 15 years old. The police quickly arrest four suspects, all under the age of 21 and of Alaska Native and American Indian descent. Police lineup witnesses, trials follow, and all four men receive lengthy prison terms. Case closed. But journalist Brian Patrick O'Donoghue can't put the story out of his mind.
-
-
Heartbreaking
- By Dean Cook on 06-02-25
-
Tell Me Everything
- The Story of a Private Investigation
- By: Erika Krouse
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erika Krouse has one of those faces. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” people say, spilling confessions. In fall 2002, Erika accepts a new contract job investigating lawsuits as a private investigator. The role seems perfect for her, but she quickly realizes she has no idea what she’s doing. Then a lawyer named Grayson assigns her to investigate a sexual assault, a college student who was attacked by football players and recruits at a party a year earlier. Erika knows she should turn the assignment down.
-
-
Love this author
- By Jessica on 04-08-22
By: Erika Krouse
-
The Book of Murder
- A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death
- By: Matt Murphy
- Narrated by: Matt Murphy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News legal analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families. Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his 26 years in the Orange County DA’s office (17 in the Homicide Unit).
-
-
Great book
- By Last Lemming on 10-04-24
By: Matt Murphy
-
When the Sea Came Alive
- An Oral History of D-Day
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Garrett M. Graff, full cast
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A visceral drama, When the Sea Came Alive is the most comprehensive account of D-Day that we have yet to see, and an unforgettable, fitting tribute to the men and women of the Greatest Generation.
-
-
Just a great "oral" history of d day
- By PAUL on 07-25-24
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
The Longest Con
- How Grifters, Swindlers, and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism
- By: Joe Conason
- Narrated by: Steve Marvel
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Longest Con tells the fascinating story of the partisan con artists who have corrupted conservative politics in our time, creating a toxic phenomenon that culminated in the election of Donald Trump, a bumptious fraud whose checkered career and tawdry retinue, including his presidential cabinet, have featured almost every variety of scam. But long before he appeared, Trump's path to power was blazed by the motley horde of swindlers and quacks who preceded him.
-
-
Avalanche of Facts
- By K. Clark on 01-13-25
By: Joe Conason
-
The Project
- How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America
- By: David A. Graham
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Project, award-winning journalist David A. Graham offers much-needed context and distills the essential elements of this sprawling document. Breaking down the Project’s strategy for transforming—and radically empowering—the executive branch, Graham then explains what the architects behind Project 2025 would do with that power: restoring traditional gender norms and the supremacy of the nuclear family, decimating the civil service, performing mass deportations, reducing corporate regulation and worker protections, and more.
-
-
Valid Information
- By Kindle Customer on 06-17-25
By: David A. Graham
-
Polybius
- By: Collin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Rachanee Lumayno
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October, 1982. Forced to move to the quiet seaside town of Tasker Bay by her mother, the only thing on high schooler Andi’s mind is saving up enough money to return to her old stomping grounds in Silicon Valley. Her self-taught skills with all things electronic make her a perfect fit for a job at the dingy local arcade. When Polybius—a new game of unknown origin arrives—the shop is suddenly overwhelmed with players fighting for time on the machine. Seemingly overnight, a virus-like epidemic grips Tasker Bay while a violent coastal storm rolls in, isolating it from the outside world.
-
-
the story was interesting, as long as you ignore the awful narration
- By Anonymous User on 05-07-25
By: Collin Armstrong
Critic reviews
"Dan Slepian has written a book that is as informative as it is enraging. In these gripping case studies of innocent men wrongfully convicted, you learn how and why the truth often does not prevail in the American justice system. You also get a glimpse of the strength of the human spirit and of heroic efforts to right these wrongs. The stories are inspiring and so is the author. He has spent a career 'given the buried voice sound,' as one incarcerated man put it. This volume is on full blast with this tour-de-force. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about criminal justice, mass incarceration, or humanity."—Rachel Barkow, author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration and Professor at NYU, School of Law
"This passionate, gripping, and moving chronicle of a skeptical journalist’s twenty year journey investigating injustice leads him, remarkably, to six innocent men, close friends, and a nuanced understanding of the humanity, resilience, and limitless potential of those we imprison, guilty or innocent. Dan Slepian’s engrossing insider’s narrative lays bare the infuriating incapacity and willful blindness of New York prosecutors, police, defense lawyers, and judges to recognize and correct wrongful convictions. The Sing Sing Files is a vitally important book that inspires hope that we can and will do better."—Barry Scheck, Co-Founder and Special Counsel, the Innocence Project
“While recounting his heroic efforts to free six wrongfully convicted men,
Dan Slepian uncovers the tremendous obstacles to truth and justice that plague our criminal legal system. He shows that the problems are both systemic and personal, as institutions and actors protect their own reputations rather than fix the egregious mistakes and wrongdoings that have ruined the lives of countless people and their families. The Sing Sing Files should inspire readers to create a new generation of leaders who will genuinely pursue justice.”—Marc Howard, director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown University
Interview: Dan Slepian’s "The Sing Sing Files" is a must-listen on the horrors of the criminal justice system
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Letters from Guantánamo
- By: Mansoor Adayfi, Antonio Aiello
- Narrated by: Mansoor Adayfi, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Elias Khalil, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In weeks after the September 11 attacks, 18-year-old Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by Afghan militia and sold to US forces for bounty money. After months of interrogations, he was sent to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as one of its first prisoners. Like the nearly 800 other men imprisoned at Guantanamo, Adayfi didn’t know why he was imprisoned or for how long. He had never seen a skyscraper and couldn’t imagine what the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center looked like, much less how they were destroyed.
-
-
An important reminder
- By Dave Heilman on 05-25-24
By: Mansoor Adayfi, and others
-
Poor Deer
- A Novel
- By: Claire Oshetsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died. No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic—that always end happily.
-
-
Self Forgiveness
- By Rummyfun on 03-08-24
By: Claire Oshetsky
-
Bringing Ben Home
- A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice
- By: Barbara Bradley Hagerty
- Narrated by: Barbara Bradley Hagerty
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1989, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t commit. From the day of his arrest, Spencer insisted that it was “an awful mistake.” The Texas legal system didn’t see it that way. It allowed shoddy police work, paid witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct to convict Spencer of murder, and it ignored later efforts to correct this error. The state’s bureaucratic intransigence caused Spencer to spend more than half his life in prison.
-
-
Very well written and narrated.
- By dom_a_j on 03-19-25
-
Journey's End
- By: R.C. Sherriff
- Narrated by: James Callis, Josh Cole, Jack Cutmore-Scott, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s March 1918, and World War I is raging in Europe. In the trenches in northern France, a group of British officers, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope, ready themselves for a major German attack while facing their worst fears. R.C. Sherriff drew on his own experiences in World War One to create the play, which premiered in 1928 and is now considered one of the preeminent works about the horrors of war.
-
-
Gripping and powerful.
- By Ace777 on 12-01-24
By: R.C. Sherriff
-
The Exvangelicals
- Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
- By: Sarah McCammon
- Narrated by: Sarah McCammon
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in a deeply evangelical family in the Midwest in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sarah McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him, and not question the faith. Persistently worried that her gay grandfather would go to hell unless she could reach him, or that her Muslim friend would need to be converted, and that she, too, would go to hell if she did not believe fervently enough, McCammon was a rule-follower. But through it all, she was plagued by fears and deep questions as the belief system she'd been carefully taught clashed with her expanding understanding of the outside world.
-
-
Multiple Reasons
- By Meghan Smith on 03-30-24
By: Sarah McCammon
-
Brokedown Prophets
- By: S. A. Cosby, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Jonathan Majors, Brian Tyree Henry, Dasha Polanco, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Preach, Digit, and Maria, three lost and damaged souls trying to make it on the streets of New York City, running petty scams to stay alive. A twist of events changes their lives forever when they accidently kill a man connected to the mob and find a small fortune. Now on the run, the trio tries to escape a notorious hit man called B-Boy. Along the way, they run into more shady characters and more trouble. Seduced by the siren call of the money and struggling with their own demons, Preach, Digit, and Maria will soon discover even the closest bonds can't overcome their past traumas.
-
-
Great performance, terrible delivery.
- By Anonymous User on 12-21-23
By: S. A. Cosby, and others
-
Letters from Guantánamo
- By: Mansoor Adayfi, Antonio Aiello
- Narrated by: Mansoor Adayfi, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Elias Khalil, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In weeks after the September 11 attacks, 18-year-old Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by Afghan militia and sold to US forces for bounty money. After months of interrogations, he was sent to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as one of its first prisoners. Like the nearly 800 other men imprisoned at Guantanamo, Adayfi didn’t know why he was imprisoned or for how long. He had never seen a skyscraper and couldn’t imagine what the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center looked like, much less how they were destroyed.
-
-
An important reminder
- By Dave Heilman on 05-25-24
By: Mansoor Adayfi, and others
-
Poor Deer
- A Novel
- By: Claire Oshetsky
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died. No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic—that always end happily.
-
-
Self Forgiveness
- By Rummyfun on 03-08-24
By: Claire Oshetsky
-
Bringing Ben Home
- A Murder, a Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice
- By: Barbara Bradley Hagerty
- Narrated by: Barbara Bradley Hagerty
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1989, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t commit. From the day of his arrest, Spencer insisted that it was “an awful mistake.” The Texas legal system didn’t see it that way. It allowed shoddy police work, paid witnesses, and prosecutorial misconduct to convict Spencer of murder, and it ignored later efforts to correct this error. The state’s bureaucratic intransigence caused Spencer to spend more than half his life in prison.
-
-
Very well written and narrated.
- By dom_a_j on 03-19-25
-
Journey's End
- By: R.C. Sherriff
- Narrated by: James Callis, Josh Cole, Jack Cutmore-Scott, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s March 1918, and World War I is raging in Europe. In the trenches in northern France, a group of British officers, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope, ready themselves for a major German attack while facing their worst fears. R.C. Sherriff drew on his own experiences in World War One to create the play, which premiered in 1928 and is now considered one of the preeminent works about the horrors of war.
-
-
Gripping and powerful.
- By Ace777 on 12-01-24
By: R.C. Sherriff
-
The Exvangelicals
- Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
- By: Sarah McCammon
- Narrated by: Sarah McCammon
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in a deeply evangelical family in the Midwest in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sarah McCammon was strictly taught to fear God, obey him, and not question the faith. Persistently worried that her gay grandfather would go to hell unless she could reach him, or that her Muslim friend would need to be converted, and that she, too, would go to hell if she did not believe fervently enough, McCammon was a rule-follower. But through it all, she was plagued by fears and deep questions as the belief system she'd been carefully taught clashed with her expanding understanding of the outside world.
-
-
Multiple Reasons
- By Meghan Smith on 03-30-24
By: Sarah McCammon
-
Brokedown Prophets
- By: S. A. Cosby, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Jonathan Majors, Brian Tyree Henry, Dasha Polanco, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Preach, Digit, and Maria, three lost and damaged souls trying to make it on the streets of New York City, running petty scams to stay alive. A twist of events changes their lives forever when they accidently kill a man connected to the mob and find a small fortune. Now on the run, the trio tries to escape a notorious hit man called B-Boy. Along the way, they run into more shady characters and more trouble. Seduced by the siren call of the money and struggling with their own demons, Preach, Digit, and Maria will soon discover even the closest bonds can't overcome their past traumas.
-
-
Great performance, terrible delivery.
- By Anonymous User on 12-21-23
By: S. A. Cosby, and others
-
Rednecks
- By: Taylor Brown
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning novelist Taylor Brown brings to life one of the most compelling events in twentieth-century American history, reminding us of the hard-won origins of today’s unions. Rednecks is a propulsive, character-driven tale that’s both a century old and blisteringly contemporary: a story of unexpected friendship, heroism in the face of injustice, and the power of love and community against all odds.
-
-
Slowest book for no payofff
- By Jackie H on 03-18-25
By: Taylor Brown
-
Bluebeard
- By: Jim Clemente, Peter McDonnell
- Narrated by: Joseph Fiennes, Karen David, Holt McCallany, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1919, Kathryn Wombacher finds a lonely-hearts ad placed by one Walter Andrew: "Would be pleased to correspond with a refined young lady or widow. Object, matrimony.” Kathryn and Walter fall in love and marry within weeks. What Kathryn doesn’t know...is that her new husband is really James “Bluebeard” Watson, a notorious West Coast serial killer who catfished and married 22 women, murdering 10.
-
-
Performances
- By HappyMom on 05-24-24
By: Jim Clemente, and others
-
The Joy of Connections
- 100 Ways to Beat Loneliness and Live a Happier and More Meaningful Life
- By: Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, Allison Gilbert - contributor, Pierre Lehu - contributor
- Narrated by: Tovah Feldshuh, Allison Gilbert, Pierre Lehu
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Surgeon General Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that loneliness “represents an urgent public health concern”—exacerbated by social media overuse, the residual effects of the pandemic, and the lack of meaningful relationships—trusted therapist Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer knew that her unique perspective and expertise could help. Long beloved for breaking stigmas around sexual problems, Dr. Ruth made it her mission to help individuals break free from the bonds of hopelessness and isolation.
-
-
Dr Ruth’s Goodbye message to the lonely
- By JustMe on 11-17-24
By: Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, and others
-
The Evolution of Annabel Craig
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Grunwald
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annabel Hayes—born, baptized, and orphaned in the sleepy conservative town of Dayton, Tennessee—is thrilled to find herself falling quickly and deeply in love with George Craig, a sophisticated attorney newly arrived from Knoxville. But before the end of their first year of marriage, their lives are beset by losses. The strain on their relationship is only intensified when John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the local high school.
-
-
Characters who draw you in to the time and issues
- By Amazon Customer on 05-04-24
By: Lisa Grunwald
-
Legacy
- A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
- By: Uché Blackstock MD
- Narrated by: Uché Blackstock MD
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives.
-
-
I Feel Validated!
- By Lisa M Walker on 07-13-24
-
When the Sea Came Alive
- An Oral History of D-Day
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Garrett M. Graff, full cast
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A visceral drama, When the Sea Came Alive is the most comprehensive account of D-Day that we have yet to see, and an unforgettable, fitting tribute to the men and women of the Greatest Generation.
-
-
Just a great "oral" history of d day
- By PAUL on 07-25-24
By: Garrett M. Graff
-
Patriot
- A Memoir
- By: Alexei Navalny
- Narrated by: Matthew Goode
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020. It is the full story of his life: his youth, his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted—and will come. Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world: a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.
-
-
oh finish your pumpkin latte and go do something to save the world
- By Svetlana on 11-02-24
By: Alexei Navalny
-
The Strange Case
- By: Derek Kolstad, Mitali Jahagirdar, Laurie Kirwan-Ashman, and others
- Narrated by: Vanessa Kirby, David Oyelowo, Sofie Gråbøl, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jekyll (Vanessa Kirby) is an elite international specialist in energy systems, working closely with her handler Louis (David Oyelowo) in a career that takes her across the globe to politically volatile territories such as Iran and North Korea. But when an arms dealer accuses her of having killed his family, Dr. Jekyll begins to question details of her life, who Louis really is, and whether her strange recurring dream has a greater meaning. She enlists the help of psychologist Sigrun (Sofie Gråbøl), and together they delve into Dr. Jekyll’s darker other side, a brutal assassin named… Hyde.
-
-
Love the Originals !!
- By r2coder on 08-04-24
By: Derek Kolstad, and others
-
Farewell Yellow Brick Road
- Memories of My Life on Tour
- By: Elton John, David Furnish - foreword
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Vikas Adam, Daniel Henning, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Farewell Yellow Brick Road is a celebration of Elton John's record-breaking, globe-spanning farewell tour—from Allentown to Auckland, from Sydney to San Francisco. Featured concerts include Elton’s dazzling performances at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in November 2022, the finale of which streamed live on Disney+. Fans will be treated to a behind-the-scenes glimpse into every aspect of these spectacular shows, including Elton’s legendary touring wardrobe by Gucci, the set design, official photography, and more.
-
-
Could have been …
- By Tracy F. on 01-04-25
By: Elton John, and others
-
The Plot
- A Novel
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then...he hears the plot.
-
-
Should be called "The Plod", not The Plot
- By SB on 05-11-21
-
An Unfinished Love Story
- A Personal History of the 1960s
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Bryan Cranston
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of America’s most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. She takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life.
-
-
A Great Listen
- By Bill on 04-20-24
-
After You've Gone
- By: Margot Hunt
- Narrated by: Stephanie Einstein, Tyla Collier, Dina Pearlman, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tessa and Charlie have been best friends since childhood. Now Tess is a famous travel writer who documents her adventures on social media while Charlie rarely leaves the safety of her home, living in fear after narrowly escaping a vicious attack years earlier. But despite their different lives, their bond of friendship remains unbreakable...even in death.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Daniel Garcia on 07-22-24
By: Margot Hunt
Extra extraordinary and captivating Read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Dan Slepian has my utmost respect, not just as a journalist, but as a human being. It takes a special person to be able to see convicted prisoners as more than statistics. It should not be that way, but unfortunately, it is.
JJ Velasquez is the true hero of this story. It is a testament to his character and resilience that he was able to not only survive his ordeal, but turn it into an opportunity to help others. The world needs more people like Dan and JJ.
If you think these injustices don’t apply to you, you’re wrong. Any one of us is just an accident away from winding up on the wrong side of the law. This book is a must-read/listen for anyone interested in justice and reform.
A Powerful Exposé on Justice and Reform
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of the book’s most striking revelations is how the legal system disproportionately affects those who lack financial resources. Many of the cases Slepian highlights involve individuals who could not afford private legal counsel and had to rely on public defenders—lawyers who were often talented and well-meaning but overburdened with enormous caseloads. The book makes it painfully clear how the deck is stacked against defendants in these high-stakes cases, particularly in big cities like New York, where evidence can be flawed, trials move quickly, and juries often place great trust in law enforcement narratives.
Slepian also brings to light the systemic bias in policing, especially against minority communities. At the same time, he doesn’t demonize law enforcement; instead, he paints a nuanced picture of officers struggling under the weight of overwhelming caseloads and the pressure to secure convictions. The book doesn’t excuse misconduct, but it does humanize the people working within a broken system.
Perhaps the most haunting takeaway from The Sing Sing Files is the near-impossibility of getting out once you are inside the prison system. The bureaucracy of incarceration is portrayed as rigid, unyielding, and often more concerned with preserving its own authority than with ensuring actual justice. The analogy that came to mind as I was reading was that of a roach motel—once you’re in, there’s no easy way out. Even in cases where new evidence surfaces or doubts emerge about a conviction, the institutional resistance to reconsidering past mistakes is staggering.
Beyond the legal mechanics, Slepian does an exceptional job illustrating the devastating human cost of incarceration. The book highlights how imprisonment shatters families—children growing up without parents, relationships severed, and entire communities destabilized by the absence of those caught in the system. The sheer isolation of incarceration, the inhumane treatment, and the often vindictive nature of the punishment system make it hard to see how anyone truly "benefits" from these sentences. More than justice, the system seems to demand a form of ritual payment—where the punishment itself is more important than whether it serves any rehabilitative or corrective purpose.
For me, The Sing Sing Files was both eye-opening and deeply unsettling. It left me disturbed not just by the stories Slepian tells, but by the larger implications: How many more people are sitting in prison, unseen, unheard, and without a real path to justice? It’s a book that forces you to question not just the failures of the system but the very purpose of incarceration in America. A powerful, necessary read.
A powerful, necessary read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The storyline was compelling.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Outstanding performance, thought provoking, page turner
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heartbreaking and Hopeful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Eye Opening Cases
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent story!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heart wrenching but the research has been done!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.