Literary Criticism audiobooks

The Partly Cloudy Patriot

By: Sarah Vowell

Narrated by: Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert, Pau...

Length: 5 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

From This American Life contributor and self-described “history nerd” Sarah Vowell comes a collection of humorous and personal essays investigating American history, pop culture, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell travels through the American past and in doing so ponders a number of... Read more

Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

In 2003, author Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel Middlesex. Jeffrey Brown talks to PBS NewsHour correspondent Eugenides about the book and his writing. Read more

Michael Beschloss: The Conquerors

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Terence Smith talks with Michael Beschloss about his new book, The Conquerors. Read more

Jane Leavy: Sandy Koufax

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Media correspondent Terence Smith interviews Jane Leavy about her book on baseball legend Sandy Koufax, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy. Read more

Sandra Cisneros: Caramelo

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros tells the story of the Reyes family who has members and memories on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. In this interview, Cisneros discusses the context of her novel, her personal connection to the characters, learning her family history, and more. Read more

Oscar Hijuelos: A Simple Habana Melody

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

In this 2002 interview, Ray Suarez speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos about his new book, A Simple Habana Melody: From When the World was Good. It's the story of a Cuban composer whose 1928 Rumba composition, Rosas Poros, or Pretty Roses, takes Europe and America by storm. Read more

William F. Buckley: Nuremberg

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Author William F. Buckley tells the story of young German-American Sebastian Reinhardt who served as an interpreter during the Nuremberg trials of 1945 in his novel Nuremberg: the Reckoning. In this interview, Buckley discusses the synergy of fact and fiction in the novel, performing research, the impact of the trials, and more. Read more

Richard Russo: Empire Falls

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

In his novel Empire Falls, author Richard Russo tells the stories of Empire Grill manager Miles Roby and the residents of a blue-collar town in Maine. In this interview, Russo discusses the character development of Roby, what he wanted to accomplish with the novel, his connection to Roby, and more. Read more

John Laurence: The Cat from Hue

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Terence Smith talks with former Vietnam War correspondent John Laurence about his new book, The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story. Read more

James Bellows: The Last Editor

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Terence Smith talks with author Jim Bellows about his new book, The Last Editor. Read more

Jim Squires: Horse of a Different Color

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

"Jim Squires: Horse of a Different Color", a tale of breeding geniuses, dominant females, and the fastest derby winner since Secretariat. Read more

Ronald C. White Jr: Lincoln's Greatest Speech

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

In his book, Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, historian Ronald White reveals how Americans, including Frederick Douglas and John Wilkes Booth, responded to the 16th president's declarations on March 4, 1865 and Lincoln's intentions. In this interview, White quotes from the book, explains why he believes the speech was Lincoln's... Read more

Charles Dickens

By: Jane Smiley

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

Of Charles Dickens, Jane Smiley says that "his novels shaped his life as much as his life shaped his novels." Smiley's Charles Dickens is at once a sensitive profile of the great master and a fascinating meditation on the writing life. Smiley evokes Dickens as he might have seemed to his contemporaries: convivial, astute, boundlessly... Read more

Stephen Ambrose: The Wild Blue

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Gwen Ifill talks with historian and author Stephen Ambrose and World War II pilot and former Senator George McGovern about Ambrose's new book, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B24's over Germany. Read more

Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle

By: Daniel Stashower

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

Length: 15 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

This compelling biography examines the extraordinary life and strange contrasts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the struggling provincial doctor who became the most popular storyteller of his age when he created Sherlock Holmes. From his youthful exploits aboard a whaling ship, to his often stormy friendships with such figures as Harry Houdini and... Read more

Daniel Schorr: Staying Tuned

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Veteran television and radio correspondent Daniel Schorr discusses his life, his career and his new book Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism. Read more

The World of Atlas Shrugged - Abridged

By: The Objectivist Center

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann & Lynn Redgrave

Length: 1 hour 22 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Ayn Rand's famous 1957 classic, Atlas Shrugged, has become more widely read and influential with each passing year, thanks in part to its brilliant dramatization of Rand's Objectivist philosophy and its celebration of self-reliance, integrity, rationality, and productive effort. Like any great work of literature, however, Atlas Shrugged can be... Read more

Michael Chabon: Kavalier and Clay

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

In the second of a series of conversations with 2001's Pulitzer Prize winners, Elizabeth Farnsworth talks with fiction winner Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Read more

The Best Business Stories of the Year 2001 - Abridged

By: Andrew Leckey

Narrated by: James Lurie & Eliza Floss

Length: 11 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: Yes

“[The editors] cast their net wide, picking up some excellent stories from nontraditional sources that even avid readers of the business press may have missed.”–USA Today, on the 2001 edition

Series editor Andrew Leckey and guest editor Ken Auletta have scoured the print media, consulted with the editors of major business and general interest... Read more

Jane Austen

By: Carol Shields

Narrated by: Donada Peters

Length: 5 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

With the same sensitivity and artfulness that are the trademarks of her award-winning novels, Shields here explores the life of a writer whose own novels have delighted readers for the past 200 years. In Jane Austen, Shields follows this superb novelist from her early family life in Steventon to her later years in Bath, her broken engagement,... Read more

The Iliad

By: Homer

Narrated by: John Lescault

Length: 16 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

The first of Homer's epic poems tells of the counsel of Nestor, Achilles' slaying of Hector, and the defeat of the Trojans by the Greeks.Little is known about the Ancient Greek oral poet, Homer, the supposed 8th century BC author of the world-read Iliad and his later masterpiece, The Odyssey. These classic epics provided the basis for Greek... Read more

Gloria Whelan: Homeless Bird

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Gloria Whelan's book Homeless Bird chronicles the story of 13-year-old Koly who entered an arranged marriage in India and became a widow. In this interview, Whelan discusses Koly's story, widows in white sarees, writing about other places, and more. Read more

On The Road With Charles Kuralt - Abridged

By: Charles Kuralt

Narrated by: Charles Kuralt

Length: 1 hour 2 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Charles Kuralt's classic bestseller is now on audio!

On The Road With Charles Kuralt

Featuring Charles Kuralt with an introduction by Wallace Kuralt

"To read the front pages, you might conclude that Americans are mostly out for themselves...but you can't travel the back roads very long without discovering a multitude of gentle people doing good for... Read more

Hooking Up - Abridged

By: Tom Wolfe

Narrated by: Tom Wolfe & Ron Rifkin

Length: 6 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Nine unabridged essays from Hooking Up with five read by Tom Wolfe!

Only yesterday boys and girls spoke of embracing and kissing (necking) as getting to first base. Second base was deep kissing, plus groping and fondling this and that. Third base was oral sex. Home plate was going all the way. That was yesterday. Here in the year 2000 we can... Read more