American Entertainment History

Product List
    • A History
    • By: Jeremy Dauber
    • Narrated by: Jeremy Dauber
    • Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
    • Release date: 11-30-21
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 125 ratings
    • Starting with the Civil War and cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the lasting images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, author Jeremy Dauber whizzes listeners through comics’ progress in the 20th century and beyond....

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    • A Critical History of Witches in American Film and Television
    • By: Heather Greene
    • Narrated by: Eva Wilhelm
    • Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
    • Release date: 10-08-21
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
    • No industry has been as influential at shaping the popular notion of what it means to be a witch quite as much as Hollywood. This book traces the fascinating history of witchcraft and witches in American film and television....

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    • The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
    • By: Ted Gioia
    • Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
    • Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
    • Release date: 03-16-21
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 78 ratings
    • Tracing the history of the Delta blues from the field hollers and plantation music of the 19th century to the exploits of modern-day musicians in the Delta tradition, Delta Blues tells the full story of this timeless and unforgettable music....

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    • Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema
    • By: Anne Helen Peterson
    • Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
    • Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
    • Release date: 09-30-14
    • Language: English
    • 3.5 out of 5 stars 167 ratings
    • Based on Anne Helen Petersen's popular column on the Hairpin, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart....

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    • The Life of Alain Locke
    • By: Jeffrey C. Stewart
    • Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
    • Length: 45 hrs and 34 mins
    • Release date: 05-28-19
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 65 ratings
    • In The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, Jeffrey C. Stewart offers the definitive biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance, based on the extant primary sources of his life and on interviews with those who knew him personally....

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    • The Story of Kiss's Destroyer and the Making of an American Icon
    • By: James Campion
    • Narrated by: Stephen Borne
    • Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
    • Release date: 01-26-21
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 55 ratings
    • Shout It Out Loud is a serious examination of the circumstance and serendipity that fused the creation of the band's seminal work, Destroyer....

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    • An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up
    • By: Budd Friedman, Tripp Whetsell, Jay Leno - foreword
    • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
    • Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
    • Release date: 09-29-17
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 47 ratings
    • In 1963, 30-year-old Friedman - who had recently quit a job as a Boston advertising executive and came to New York to become a theatrical producer - opened a coffee house for Broadway performers....

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    • The Lives and Times of Sun Ra
    • By: John Szwed
    • Narrated by: Leon Nixon
    • Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
    • Release date: 11-09-21
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
    • Considered by many to be a founder of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra - a.k.a. Herman Blount - was a composer, keyboardist, bandleader, philosopher, entrepreneur, poet, and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn....

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    • An Autobiography
    • By: Dick Gregory, Dr. Christian Gregory - introduction, Robert Lipsyte
    • Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Dr. Christian Gregory
    • Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
    • Release date: 01-28-20
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 1,265 ratings
    • Fifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America....

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    • Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History
    • By: Yunte Huang
    • Narrated by: Rebecca Lam
    • Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
    • Release date: 10-10-23
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
    • Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress. Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story....

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    • The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
    • By: Dan Charnas, Jeff Peretz - contributor
    • Narrated by: Dan Charnas
    • Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
    • Release date: 02-01-22
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 668 ratings
    • He wasn’t known to mainstream audiences, even though he worked with renowned acts like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu and influenced the music of superstars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. He died at the age of 32, and in his lifetime he never had a pop hit....

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    • The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound
    • By: Daphne A. Brooks
    • Narrated by: Janina Edwards
    • Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins
    • Release date: 05-24-22
    • Language: English
    • 3.5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
    • Liner Notes for the Revolution offers a new perspective on acclaimed figures such as Aretha Franklin and Beyonce, who exist simultaneously at the center and on the fringe of the culture industry—a perspective informed by the overlooked contributions of other Black women....

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    • How Japan Saved American Style
    • By: W. David Marx
    • Narrated by: Brian Nishii
    • Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
    • Release date: 05-31-16
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 91 ratings
    • In Ametora, cultural historian W. David Marx traces the Japanese assimilation of American fashion over the past 150 years....

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    • The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History
    • By: Yunte Huang
    • Narrated by: Alfred Gingold
    • Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
    • Release date: 06-27-13
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 30 ratings
    • Yunte Huang ingeniously traces Charlie Chan from his real beginnings as a bullwhip-wielding detective in territorial Hawaii to his reinvention as a literary sleuth and Hollywood film icon....

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    • An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
    • By: Daniel De Visé
    • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
    • Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
    • Release date: 03-19-24
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 80 ratings
    • Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy....

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    • A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present
    • By: Robin R. Means Coleman
    • Narrated by: Julienne Irons
    • Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
    • Release date: 05-16-23
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
    • From King Kong to Candyman, the boundary-pushing genre of horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. This book offers a comprehensive chronological survey of Black horror from the 1890s to present day....

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    • How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America
    • By: Larry Tye
    • Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
    • Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
    • Release date: 05-07-24
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
    • From the New York Times bestselling author of Satchel and Bobby Kennedy, a sweeping and spellbinding portrait of the longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie.

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