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Wilde in America
- Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
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Publisher's summary
The story of Oscar Wilde's landmark 1882 American tour explains how this quotable literary eminence became famous for being famous. On January 3, 1882, Oscar Wilde, a 27-year-old "genius" - at least by his own reckoning - arrived in New York. The Dublin-born Oxford man had made such a spectacle of himself in London with his eccentric fashion sense, acerbic wit, and extravagant passion for art and home design that Gilbert & Sullivan wrote an operetta lampooning him. He was hired to go to America to promote that work by presenting lectures on interior decorating. But Wilde had his own business plan. He would go to promote himself. And he did, traveling some 15,000 miles and visiting 150 American cities as he created a template for fame creation that still works today. Though Wilde was only the author of a self-published book of poems and an unproduced play, he presented himself as a "star", taking the stage in satin breeches and a velvet coat with lace trim as he sang the praises of sconces and embroidered pillows - and himself. What Wilde so presciently understood is that fame could launch a career as well as cap one.
David M. Friedman's lively and often hilarious narrative whisks us across 19th-century America, from the mansions of Gilded Age Manhattan to roller-skating rinks in Indiana, from an opium den in San Francisco to the bottom of the Matchless silver mine in Colorado - then the richest on earth - where Wilde dined with twelve gobsmacked miners, later describing their feast to his friends in London as "First course: whiskey. Second course: whiskey. Third course: whiskey". But, as Friedman shows, Wilde was no mere clown; he was a strategist. From his antics in London to his manipulation of the media - Wilde gave 100 interviews in America, more than anyone else in the world in 1882 - he designed every move to increase his renown. There had been famous people before him, but Wilde was the first to become famous for being famous.
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When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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In Montmartre
- Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Emma Bering
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district.
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Florid narrative history with suspect details
- By Keith on 10-30-19
By: Sue Roe
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The Sun and the Moon
- Hoaxers, Showmen, and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th-Century New York
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
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some very good some very bad
- By peter on 10-30-10
By: Matthew Goodman
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The Prince and the Pauper
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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They look alike, but they live in very different worlds. Tom Canty, impoverished and abused by his father, is fascinated with royalty. Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, is kind and generous but wants to run free and play in the river - just once. How insubstantial their differences truly are becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing - and roles. The pauper finds himself caught up in the pomp and folly of the royal court, and the prince wanders horror-stricken through the lower strata of English society.
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Wonderful author, terrific narrator, splendid book
- By Rahni on 10-01-17
By: Mark Twain
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Emily Post
- Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
- By: Laura Claridge
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From the excesses of the late 19th-century Gilded Age, through the horrors of World War I, to the transformations of the Roaring 20s that gave birth to her magisterial Etiquette, Emily Post unfailingly took the measure of her era. A Baltimore blue blood with a populist heart, she helped the masses live the American dream with her hugely popular book, which has been continuously in print for over 85 years.
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Typical for Emily Post
- By Stephanie on 01-07-19
By: Laura Claridge
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Careless People
- Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby
- By: Sarah Churchwell
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the world's best-loved books, delighting audiences across the world. Careless People tells the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, exploring in newly rich detail the relation of Fitzgerald's classic to the chaotic world he in which he lived. Fitzgerald set his novel in 1922, and Careless People carefully reconstructs the crucial months during which Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald returned to New York in the autumn of 1922.
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Fascinating study of the Fitzgeralds and Jazz Age
- By Sand on 06-11-14
By: Sarah Churchwell
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Empire of Self
- A Life of Gore Vidal
- By: Jay Parini
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The product of 30 years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini's Empire of Self probes behind the glittering surface of Gore Vidal's colorful life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truth underlying his celebrity-strewn life. But there is plenty of glittering surface as well - a virtual who's who of the American Century, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart through the Kennedys, Princess Margaret, and the creme de la creme of Hollywood.
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Well done!
- By Christopher on 03-22-16
By: Jay Parini
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Lincoln at Cooper Union
- The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President
- By: Harold Holzer
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln’s most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address—an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln’s suitability for the presidency and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.
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Important Book, Poor Narrator
- By Eric Kolvig, PhD on 10-23-20
By: Harold Holzer
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The Club
- Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In 1763, the painter Joshua Reynolds proposed to his friend Samuel Johnson that they invite a few friends to join them every Friday at the Turk's Head Tavern in London to dine, drink, and talk until midnight. Eventually, the group came to include among its members Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, and James Boswell. It was known simply as "the Club". In this captivating audiobook, Leo Damrosch brings alive a brilliant, competitive, and eccentric cast of characters.
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Wonderful survey
- By Tad Davis on 05-10-19
By: Leo Damrosch
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Flapper
- A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern
- By: Joshua Zeitz
- Narrated by: Daniella Rabbani
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Blithely flinging aside the Victorian manners that kept her disapproving mother corseted, the New Woman of the 1920's puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, and necked in roadsters. More important, she earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted. Her newfound freedom heralded a radical change in American culture.
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Good Book, Poor Performance
- By redsrule1 on 03-16-14
By: Joshua Zeitz
What listeners say about Wilde in America
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Natalie Bartels
- 01-30-17
Full of amusing Wilde trivia
What made the experience of listening to Wilde in America the most enjoyable?
The style was vivid like a novel.
What did you like best about this story?
I loved getting to see how Wilde behaved in America - his reactions, his weekly routines.
Which scene was your favorite?
Wilde interacts with coal miners in Colorado. Classic Wilde.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
One of the most interesting threads throughout the story Wilde's photo-shoot in New York with Napoleon Sarony. I like the history of how those photos were misused and because of early copyright laws.
Any additional comments?
Not a fan of Friedmans' assumptions at the end of the book concerning Wilde's demise. It is one of my pet-peeves when critics try to pretend that they have a perfect understanding of Wilde's motives to take legal action against Queensburry.
It was a good read though. Loads of work went into researching
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- Bee
- 09-25-16
Flamboyant Mr. Wilde
A wonderful portrayal of the inimitable Oscar Wilde woth a foxus on his travels in America. Great performance by the narrator.
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- Clio
- 01-29-15
I love Wilde
The story made some good points about celebrity, though Wilde really wasn't sui generis. The narrator's affectations were over the top, and while perfectly understandable given the subject matter, that gets very tiring to listen to for several hours.
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- Andre
- 06-25-23
Profound and Painful
“Wilde in America” is a profound and painful analysis on how Oscar Wilde created the cult of the celebrity and became its victim by “believing in his own hype.” Many parallels are drawn to the celebrities of today, and the author takes great pains to show how Wilde did things first or better than people before or since. In many ways we are still living today in the America he toured and the celebrity he exploited in 1882.
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