Performance audiobooks

Why we need to stop sharing American Dream success stories

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Why would author Casey Gerald want people to stop highlighting success stories like his own? Gerald says he grew up on “the wrong side of the tracks” and went on to Harvard Business school. But he says celebrations of the American Dream distract from reality, letting society off the hook for failing to give all children a fair shot. Gerald... Read more

Native Guard

By: Author

Narrated by: Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant, January LaVoy, Nicole...

Length: 1 hour 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Based on Natasha Trethewey’s collection of poems, The Alliance Theatre’s production of Native Guard is both an elegy to her mother and a journey into Mississippi’s Civil War history. In poetry and song, she reflects on her mother’s passing while contemplating the former slaves who became soldiers in a regiment known as the Native Guard.... Read more

Why we need to stop sharing American Dream success stories

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Why would author Casey Gerald want people to stop highlighting success stories like his own? Gerald says he grew up on “the wrong side of the tracks” and went on to Harvard Business school. But he says celebrations of the American Dream distract from reality, letting society off the hook for failing to give all children a fair shot. Gerald... Read more

Rohingya Mother Remembers Her Rapists Every Time She Holds Her Baby

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

It’s a horrific byproduct of the Rohingya flight to Bangladesh: babies who are the product of rape, born to refugees who were assaulted by the Myanmar military. Compounding the trauma, their community views the women as dishonored. Special correspondent Tania Rashid reports on mothers living in hiding. Judy Woodruff talks about the crisis with... Read more

Doris Kearns Goodwin on What Today's Leaders Can Learn From Past ‘Turbulent Times'

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In her new book, “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin explores the trajectories of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, arguing that for all four of them, “at some point, ambition for the self became ambition for something larger.” Judy Woodruff interviews the... Read more

Aging Maine repays college debts to attract younger workers

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Maine, land of lobsters and lighthouses, is also the nation’s oldest state. With a median age of 43, roughly a third of its population is in or approaching retirement. To counter its aging workforce, the state is attempting to attract more recent college graduates by helping to repay their student loans. Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our... Read more

Michael Lewis traces the ‘gutting of the civil service' under Trump

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Bestselling author Michael Lewis says the idea that civil servants are “lazy or stupid or dead weight on the society is...the most sinister idea alive in this country right now." In his new book, “The Fifth Risk,” Lewis examines how the Trump administration has been staffing the federal government, and its “ignorance of the mission.” Lewis sits... Read more

Michael Lewis Traces the ‘Gutting of the Civil Service' Under Trump

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Bestselling author Michael Lewis says the idea that civil servants are “lazy or stupid or dead weight on the society is...the most sinister idea alive in this country right now." In his new book, “The Fifth Risk,” Lewis examines how the Trump administration has been staffing the federal government, and its “ignorance of the mission.” Lewis sits... Read more

Will The Traditions Of Tiny Tangier Island Survive Or Sink?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Life on Tangier Island has always been defined by water. Now it is menacing its very existence. Battered by Chesapeake Bay's relentless waves, scientists say the land’s shrinking is accelerating, as man-made climate change makes the waves from rising seawater worse. John Yang talks with Earl Swift, author of Chesapeake Requiem, and examines how... Read more

Tiny Easter Island deals with giant trash problem

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Easter Island off the coast of Chile has a major trash problem. It’s near what’s known as a “trash vortex” in the middle of the South Pacific and floating waste is constantly washing ashore. Local officials estimate the growing population is producing more than 20 tons of trash per day. What’s to be done? Jeffrey Brown explores some creative... Read more

Short Story Press Presents Love Shackles

By: Short Story Press & Walter Price

Narrated by: Falon Echo

Length: 39 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the most miserable and lonely places in the world is in a prison cell. The reason not being because you are locked away in a space the size of closet, away from society but because you have so much time to think. In the outside world you have resources to help make decisions and can move around to see for yourself when making choices.... Read more

Short Story Press Presents Bedeviled Nightingale

By: Short Story Press & Ruth Pettite

Narrated by: Aida-Maria Boiesan

Length: 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Incorporating real-time happenings, "Bedeviled Nightingale" works to explain tragic times for even those people to whom we don't think it could happen. Brianna is an author, hunkered in her cabin for relaxation and work. She uses the cabin as her office and her home, away from the hustle from the city.Divorced and focused, Brianna wants nothing... Read more

Joe Lycett’s Obsessions: Series 1

By: Joe Lycett

Narrated by: Joe Lycett

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Joe Lycett explores the nation's weird and wonderful obsessions by getting to know a selection of famous and not so famous guests.

Hear Katherine Ryan share her love of the Kardashians, Greg James introduce Joe to the world of cricket, and Janice Connolly share her collection of de-cluttering books. Can Lloyd Griffith inspire you with his... Read more

Why It Will Take More Than Basic Recycling To Cut Back On Plastic

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Around the world, waves of plastic are washing ashore and clogging landfills. Even though plastic pollution is now one of the largest environmental threats facing humans and animals, our appetite for the virtually indestructible material keeps growing. Amna Nawaz and producer Lorna Baldwin begin our series. Read more

Short Story Press Presents Road To Justice

By: Short Story Press & Kim Cruea

Narrated by: Holly Holt

Length: 41 minutes

Abridged: No

Short Story Press presents "Road to Justice", by Kim Cruea. A young girl's family is murdered, leaving her an instant orphan. When her aunt realizes the child's trauma had left her mute, she decides the trouble isn't worth the financial incentive. Justice is placed into a foster home on a beautiful Texas ranch where she meets Bruce, the ranch... Read more

Falstaff

By: Harold Bloom

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 3 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Falstaff is both a comic and tragic central protagonist in Shakespeare's three Henry plays: Henry IV, Parts One and Two, and Henry V. He is companion to Prince Hal (the future Henry V), who loves him, goads, him, teases him, indulges his vast appetites, and commits all sorts of mischief with him—some innocent, some cruel. Falstaff can be lewd,... Read more

Manche mögens tot

By: Andi LaPatt

Narrated by: Andi LaPatt

Length: 8 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Nera Melannino ist Auftragskillerin mit Stil. Seit vielen Jahren zählt sie zur Nummer eins der Szene. Doch mit einer schwierigen Liebesgeschichte aus der Vergangenheit im Gepäck und undurchschaubaren Familiengeheimnissen wird Nera's Berufung auf die Probe gestellt. Als sie auch noch einen Auftragsmord annehmen soll, der mit ihrer eigenen... Read more

I Love Lucy

By: Gregg Oppenheimer

Narrated by: Ron Bottitta, Seamus Dever, Sarah Drew, Abigail...

Length: 1 hour 29 minutes

Abridged: No

The onscreen pairing of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is at the heart of one of the most popular TV shows in history. Who would have thought that to get on the air, they had to battle both a network and a sponsor who thought the show couldn't possibly succeed? Playwright Gregg Oppenheimer – son of I Love Lucy’s creator Jess Oppenheimer – spins the... Read more

Short Story Press Presents Walk a Mile

By: Short Story Press & Calandria JohnLouis

Narrated by: Mary Swanson

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

“Walk A Mile” is a story about the impending divorce of Jackson and Linda Rincon, a wealthy Malibu couple, who have been married for a long time, and the way it complicates the life of their only daughter Melania.• There is a long standing ugly divorce pending• This couple has deep dark secrets that are threatening to come to the light• The... Read more

Florida's toxic red tide is a perfect storm for the Gulf Coast

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In Florida, a toxic algae bloom that began last fall has killed dolphins, sea turtles, manatees, even a whale shark. And the toxins are not only devastating to wildlife, but difficult for humans and the economy as well. William Brangham reports from Sanibel Island on the slow-moving catastrophe. Read more

How ‘the incarceration capital of America’ embraced criminal justice reform

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 10 minutes

Abridged: No

For decades, the state of Louisiana has been known as the incarceration capital of America. But over the past year, the state has been trying to shed that reputation with new reforms that decrease the prison population and save money. William Brangham went to find how it’s playing out for former prisoners, in a story produced by Frank Carlson in... Read more

Resisting the African ‘brain drain’ that has created a health care crisis

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

A "brain drain" is sending many of Africa’s highly skilled workers abroad--and leaving a painful void in their absence. But an organization called Seed Global Health is training new medical professionals and encouraging them to remain in their native countries, where they are so desperately needed. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Uganda as part... Read more

Spill

By: Leigh Fondakowski

Narrated by: Elisa Bocanegra, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Nicholas ...

Length: 1 hour 39 minutes

Abridged: No

In April of 2010, British Petroleum gave orders to speed up production on its colossal drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon. Despite the objections of many on the rig, safety measures were ignored or overlooked. On April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon exploded. Eleven men paid the ultimate price and countless thousands who call the Gulf Coast home... Read more

The Whistler, Collection 2

By: Black Eye Entertainment

Narrated by: Full Cast

Length: 5 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

The Whistler was one of radio’s top mystery programs airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. Sponsored by the Signal Oil Company, The Whistler (Joseph Kearns, Gale Gordon and Bill Forman) was an ominous narrator who knew the killer’s every move even before they did. The stories followed an effective formula in which a person's... Read more