Performance audiobooks

A Career Truck Driver On Why His Is No Longer ‘A Middle-Class Job’

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Jobs in the trucking industry are increasingly threatened by technology and the rise of driverless trucks. But what explains the contradictory dynamic between fears of job elimination and a current shortage of truck drivers in the U.S.? The NewsHour returns to the unusual story of driver Finn Murphy, who left college and a literary family for... Read more

Tech Leader And Philanthropist Jean Case On Achieving Transformative Success

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Tech leader and philanthropist Jean Case has written a book describing what she sees as the five key principles needed for achieving transformative success. The book, “Be Fearless,” leverages years of research conducted by the Case Foundation, where she is CEO. Judy Woodruff sits down with the author to discuss why she is sharing this road map... Read more

Classic Radio's Greatest Christmas Shows Collection 2

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 5 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

This collection contains 12 of the greatest Christmas shows ever broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio! You’ll hear Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood reprising their roles from Miracle on 34th Street; Dick Powell as Detective Richard Diamond narrating A Christmas Carol; Eve Arden in a yuletide comedy on Our Miss Brooks; Hal Peary as The Great... Read more

Box Thirteen, Collection 2

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 5 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Movie star Alan Ladd played Dan Holiday, retired newspaperman turned fiction writer and adventurer extraordinaire. To gain ideas for his books, Holiday placed an ad in the Star-Times newspaper "Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box Thirteen." It wasn’t long before his Box Thirteen became jammed with adventures galore. Holiday... Read more

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar Collection 2

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 7 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

First heard on network radio in 1948, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar chronicled the adventures of freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "The man with the action-packed expense account.” For 15 years, it was one of the most popular detective shows on the air, lasting until the final days of network radio drama in 1962. Each story started... Read more

Burns & Allen Show Collection 2

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 5 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

When real life husband and wife George Burns and Gracie Allen worked together in vaudeville, George was the comic and his wife Gracie had the straight lines. They switched their roles upon discovering that Gracie’s delivery got a bigger laugh than George’s punch lines. The duo became a big hit on vaudeville and in films so when radio beckoned,... Read more

Old Time Radio's Greatest Stars: Orson Welles Collection 1

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 5 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

Orson Welles was an actor, director, writer and producer who worked in theatre, radio, TV and film. His film Citizen Kane (1941) is ranked as one of the greatest movies ever made. In 1937, Orson Welles and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions (including Julius... Read more

Gang Busters Collection 1

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 4 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1935 when Phillips H. Lord created Gang Busters, the crime rate was high and confidence in law enforcement was low. Crimes were highly publicized, and their perpetrators were sometimes glamorized in Hollywood movies. With most radio crime programs dramatizing pulp-fiction stories, Lord decided to portray the procedure and practices of... Read more

Lear

By: Harold Bloom

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 3 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare's most moving, tragic hero.



Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom,... Read more

The Little Foxes

By: Lillian Hellman

Narrated by: Will Brittain, Tim DeKay, Heidi Dippold, Jamie ...

Length: 1 hour 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Lillian Hellman examines a wealthy southern family and the greed that tears them apart. Regina’s brothers have inherited their father’s wealth, while after years of neglect, her dying husband is determined to see she gets nothing. It will take every ounce of her ruthless guile to outwit her relations and assure herself a gilded future.

Directed... Read more

Fighting Malaria In The Remote Reaches Of Cambodia

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Malaria causes nearly half a million deaths worldwide every year. Ninety percent of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where poor infrastructure limits delivery of drugs. But now there is worry that those drugs are losing effectiveness as disease strains become resistant. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Cambodia, where... Read more

How Glory Edim'S Online Book Club Provides Community For 'Invisible' Black Women

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a book club that has transformed into an online community and literary festival, all celebrating voices that otherwise might not be heard. She talks with Jeffrey Brown about her original goal of making new friends, seeing herself in literature and creating community through books in the age of... Read more

Yemen'S Ongoing Civil War Creates A Life Of Loss For Children

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

As the civil war in Yemen enters its sixth year, tens of thousands have died in the fighting, while disease and hunger have killed thousands more. The many children who have lost or been abandoned by parents have suffered the most, both physically and emotionally. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports on the devastating effects of the war... Read more

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Mother of the Pride

By: Catherine Muschamp

Narrated by: Eileen Page

Length: 1 hour 20 minutes

Abridged: No

A woman of extraordinary courage, beauty and iron will - uniquely Queen of France then Queen of England, and mother of two English Kings - Eleanor of Aquitaine’s name was legendary even before her death.
B7 Media have teamed up with Tara Arts to release for the first time on audio Eileen Page's mesmerising final performance as 'Eleanor of... Read more

How Muslim Women'S Fashion Is Shaping Conversation Around Creativity And Power

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

What’s long been referred to as the “modest” fashion of Muslim women has grown into a major industry generating hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The first U.S. museum exhibit highlighting Islamic culture within the context of fashion opened in San Francisco’s de Young museum in 2018. Jeffrey Brown reports on why fashion that has... Read more

Susan Calman is Convicted: Series 1 and 2

By: Susan Calman

Narrated by: Susan Calman

Length: 3 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Susan Calman has some very strong opinions and in her radio debut she expresses them with her trademark wit and charm. In Series 1, she examines the current hot political topic of equal marriage; looks at the issues surrounding the death penalty from the perspective gained whilst working on Death Row; considers how best to deal with depression;... Read more

Water Crisis May Make Gaza Strip Uninhabitable By 2020

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In the Gaza Strip, 97 percent of freshwater is unsuitable for human consumption, and raw sewage pours into the Mediterranean Sea. Facilities for desalinating and treating water function on only a limited basis, as Israel controls the flow of fuel and supplies into the region. But Israelis, too, could face consequences from contaminated water.... Read more

Arid Middle East Faces Political Battles Over Water Shortfalls

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

The Middle East is facing a water crisis, and the divisions between Israel and Palestinians have only exacerbated the problem. But whereas Israel is a pioneer in desalination and produces much of its own water, in Gaza, Palestinians struggle with access to clean water due to an Israel-imposed blockade. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro... Read more

Fighting, Starvation And Disease Yield Grim Crisis In Yemen

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

The United Nations calls Yemen the site of the worst humanitarian suffering in the world. Years of war have caused widespread starvation and disease; supply routes are blocked by fighting, and fuel and food prices have spiked. With the economy destroyed, many Yemenis cannot even afford transportation to the medical facilities they so desperately... Read more

Author Paul Greenberg On Why Americans Should Eat More Fish

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Americans consume about 14 pounds of seafood per person annually, compared to over 200 pounds of meat. But many try to capture the nutritional benefits of fish, such as omega-3 fatty acids, by taking fish oil supplements. Paul Greenberg, author of three books on the fishing industry, offers his humble opinion on why the fish oil trend is less... Read more

Despite Oil Wealth, Iraq'S Basra Plagued By Broken Infrastructure, Poverty And Violence

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Basra, in southern Iraq, contains much of the country’s oil wealth -- yet residents there are struggling just to survive. The city lacks basic services like clean water and reliable electricity, and jobs are rare. But people taking to the streets to protest what they see as government failures to provide say they've been brutally punished.... Read more

Author Elaine Pagels Explores Why Humans Rely On Religious Belief

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Why do people have faith in what they cannot see? Author Elaine Pagels explores the concept of religious belief, and shares her own experience with finding faith in the face of tragedy, in her new book, “Why Religion?” Jeffrey Brown caught up with Pagels at this year’s Miami Book Fair. Read more

Why Iraq's Biblical Paradise Is Becoming A Salty Wasteland

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In addition to recovering and rebuilding after a brutal war with ISIS, Iraq is facing a dire water shortage. Levels in the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have plummeted, in part because neighboring Turkey built a dam upstream that restricts the flow into Iraq. The remaining water is too salty to sustain life. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson... Read more

Poet Franny Choi On The Value Of Imagining Alternate Realities

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 2 minutes

Abridged: No

What’s the value of asking questions to which we don’t know the answer? Poet Franny Choi’s “Introduction to Quantum Theory” does just that, and she calls it “one of the scariest things” she’s ever written. Choi offers her brief but spectacular take on imagining alternate realities. Read more