
Ungovernable
The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children
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Narrated by:
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Dara Rosenberg
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Betsy Foldes Meiman
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By:
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Therese Oneill
About this listen
From the author of the "hysterically funny and unsettlingly fascinating"* New York Times best seller Unmentionable, a hilarious illustrated guide to the secrets of Victorian child-rearing [*Jenny Lawson]
Feminist historian Therese Oneill is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting...a Victorian baby! In Ungovernable, Oneill conducts an unforgettable tour through the backward, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre parenting fashions of the Victorians, advising us on:
- How to be sure you're not too ugly, sickly, or stupid to breed
- What positions and room decor will help you conceive a son
- How much beer, wine, cyanide, and heroin to consume while pregnant
- How to select the best peasant teat for your child
- Which foods won't turn your children into sexual deviants
- And so much more
Endlessly surprising, wickedly funny, and filled with juicy historical tidbits and images, Ungovernable provides much-needed perspective on - and comic relief from - the age-old struggle to bring up baby.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Therese Oneill (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"An entertaining look at Victorian-era parenting advice...Oneill's irreverent guide is a reality check for those who might romanticize the era of strict self-discipline and unchallenged parental authority." (The Washington Post)
"This wild ride through 19th-century child-rearing is an exploration of anal worms, strange tinctures, inappropriate education, child labor, and questionable food stuffs. Readers will learn the altogether shocking practices of Victorian parenthood-and be reminded that people did live to tell the tale.... The author's breezy style strikes an amusing and marked contrast with the subject matter, which hopefully keeps readers focused on their successes as modern, enlightened parents-which the Victorians also considered themselves, a fact that is slyly related in delicious irony. While Oneill will likely not supplant Spock and Brazelton, she may well set parents at ease in her own hilarious way." (Booklist)
"Unmentionable transports us back to the world of middle-class 19th-century women, with special emphasis on the messy details that costume dramas airbrush out.... With a 4-year-old's scatological glee, Oneill details the logistics of old-time peeing, pooping, gestating, menstruating and mating... Oneill has dug up some lovely tidbits from the dustbin of history." (New York Times)
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Very Worthwhile
- By G. Cole on 12-13-18
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Pale Rider
- The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted - and often permanently altered - global politics, race relations, and family structures while spurring innovation in medicine, religion, and the arts.
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A Predilection for Those in the Prime of Life
- By Cynthia on 02-12-18
By: Laura Spinney
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The Theory of Everything Else
- A Voyage into the World of the Weird
- By: Dan Schreiber
- Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Jamie Morton, Ella Al-Shamahi, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Silicon Valley tech billionaires currently trying to work out whether or not the universe is one giant video game simulation to the self-proclaimed community of Italian time-travelers who are trying to save the world from destruction; The Theory of Everything Else will act as a handbook for those who want to think differently.
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Yawn
- By Tony Love on 08-18-23
By: Dan Schreiber
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Unbecoming a Lady
- The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews That Shaped America
- By: Therese Oneill
- Narrated by: Betsy Foldes Meiman, Chanté McCormick
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Slut. Shrew. Sinful. Scold. The 19th- and early 20th-century American women profiled in this collection were called all these names and worse when they were alive. And that’s just fine. These glorious dames earned those monikers, and one hundred years later they can wear them proudly! With irresistible charm and laugh-out-loud impertinence, New York Times bestselling author Therese Oneill chronicles the lives of eighteen unbecoming ladies whose audacity, courage, and sheer disdain for lady-like expectations left them out of so many history books.
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Ida B Wells
- By Teresa Smith-Dixon on 01-06-25
By: Therese Oneill
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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
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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.
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What Was Learned -Florida's Dozier School for Boys
- By w.l. on 01-06-23
By: Erin Kimmerle
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Yes, My Accent Is Real
- By: Kunal Nayyar
- Narrated by: Kunal Nayyar
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Of all the charming misfits on television, there's no doubt Raj from The Big Bang Theory - the sincere yet incurably geeky Indian American astrophysicist - ranks among the misfittingest. Now we meet the actor who is every bit as loveable as the character he plays on TV.
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not funny but culturally interesting
- By J. T. Lichoulas III on 10-08-15
By: Kunal Nayyar
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The Number Ones
- Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music
- By: Tom Breihan
- Narrated by: Ray Stoney
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Beloved music critic Tom Breihan's fascinating narrative of the history of popular music through the lens of game-changing #1 singles from the Billboard Hot 100, The Numbers Ones features the greatest pop artists of all time, from the Brill Building songwriters to the Beatles and the Beach Boys; from Motown to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Mariah Carey; and from the digital revolution to the K-pop system. Breihan also ponders great artists who have never hit the top spot, like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown.
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Narrator very inept.
- By D. Cutter on 12-24-22
By: Tom Breihan
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Infectious Madness
- The Surprising Science of How We "Catch" Mental Illness
- By: Harriet A. Washington
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In Infectious Madness, Washington presents the new germ theory, which posits not only that many instances of Alzheimer's, OCD, and schizophrenia are caused by viruses, prions, and bacteria but also that with antibiotics, vaccinations, and other strategies, these cases can be easily prevented or treated.
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NOT Medical Apartheid
- By RLM on 08-06-18
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Pretty Mess
- By: Erika Jayne
- Narrated by: Erika Jayne
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Erika Jayne didn't make it this far by holding back. Now, in her first-ever memoir, the fan favorite star of Bravo's The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills bares her heart, mind, and soul. In Pretty Mess, Erika spills on every aspect of her life: from her rise to fame as a daring and fiery pop/dance performer and singer; to her decision to accept a role on reality television; to the ups and downs of family life (including her marriage to famed lawyer Tom Girardi, 33 years her senior). There's much more to Erika Jayne than fans see on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
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I wanted to like this so bad.
- By shelly arp on 03-21-18
By: Erika Jayne
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Wild Witchcraft
- Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies
- By: Rebecca Beyer
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn how to cultivate your own magical garden, begin your journey with folk herbalism, and awaken to your place in nature through practical skills from an experienced Appalachian forager and witch.
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Self righteous and racist
- By AW on 10-09-22
By: Rebecca Beyer
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Opium
- How an Ancient Flower Shaped and Poisoned Our World
- By: John H. Halpern, David Blistein
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Opium tells the extraordinary and at times harrowing tale of how we arrived at today's crisis, "mak[ing] timely and startling connections among painkillers, politics, finance, and society" (Laurence Bergreen). The story begins with the discovery of poppy artifacts in ancient Mesopotamia, and goes on to explore how Greek physicians and obscure chemists discovered opium's effects and refined its power, how colonial empires marketed it around the world, and eventually how international drug companies developed a range of powerful synthetic opioids that led to an addiction epidemic.
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Opium a poor excuse for a better history.
- By Jeffrey Olsen on 09-12-19
By: John H. Halpern, and others
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Undisclosed Files of the Police
- Cases from the Archives of the NYPD from 1831 to the Present
- By: Bernard Whalen, Philip Messing, Robert Mladinich
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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More than 175 years of true crimes culled from the city's police blotter, told through an insightful text by two NYPD officers and a NYC crime reporter. From atrocities that occurred before the establishment of New York's police force in 1845 through the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 to the present day, this audio is an insider's look at more than 80 real-life crimes that shocked the nation, from arson to gangland murders, robberies, serial killers, bombings, and kidnappings.
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Good History of Crime in NYC
- By Bob Shinders on 03-10-17
By: Bernard Whalen, and others
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A Comedy of Nobodies
- A Collection of Stories
- By: Baron Ryan
- Narrated by: Baron Ryan
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Charlie knows he’s not the main character in his own story. He’s just another schmuck in the Ivy League looking to be somebody. He plays in a terrible jazz band, falls in love too easily, and struggles with the human being business. Written in a wry, comedic style, A Comedy of Nobodies: A Collection of Stories traces one fall semester in the lives of four typical but unforgettable university students who, as compensation for their existential anxieties, just want to feel understood.
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Brilliant in every way
- By Amazon Customer on 11-16-24
By: Baron Ryan
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The Amusement Park
- 900 Years of Thrills and Spills, and the Dreamers and Schemers Who Built Them
- By: Stephen M. Silverman
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history that begins nine centuries ago with the "pleasure gardens" of Europe and England and ends with the most elaborate modern parks in the world. It's a history told largely through the stories of the colorful, sometimes hedonistic characters who built them. And, of course, this is a full-throttle celebration of the rides, those marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills from an author, Stephen Silverman, whose lifelong passion for his subject shines through.
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A thorough history of amusement.
- By Dayton Burbs on 01-01-24
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The Truth About Animals
- Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife
- By: Lucy Cooke
- Narrated by: Lucy Cooke
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Roach meets Sam Kean and Bill Bryson in this uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world. In The Truth About Animals, Lucy Cooke takes us on a worldwide journey to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret - and often hilarious - habits of the animal kingdom. Charming and at times downright weird, this modern bestiary is perfect for anyone who has ever suspected that virtue might be unnatural.
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Great listen, highly recommend
- By Thomas on 06-26-18
By: Lucy Cooke
Great narration!
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Unexpected and Hilarious
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Not as good as its predecessor
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Listening to some of this was hard. Not going to sugarcoat that. The way kids were treated was horrible.
The worst chapters were the toward the end and I wish that actual people did not live through that.
I noticed that some people were not happy that this book went the route of using humor to share this information, but I think it helped get the message across.
The narration was lovely- the subject matter dark
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the two narrators were hilarious
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I've been waiting So long for this!!!
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great fact based information
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Both are written and performed in an entertaining way that draws you into enjoying history.
History in an entertaining way
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Its light hearted but very informative. I'm a Nurse so I love to hear of historical "cures", treatments, medical school of thought. etc. And as Mom, I found the child rearing info very interesting
absolutely hilarious. Love her humor
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Great style, content, and reader
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