Lucian of Samosata

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Revisado: 05-27-16

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Competently written narrative but absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable dialogue between some English snobs. Did people actually talk like this? To say nothing of the incessant themes of misogyny and latent homosexuality. A horribly dated and largely forgettable book.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reader was excellent.

Any additional comments?

Not worth your time.

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Four stories from Lovecraft

Revisado: 10-01-15

If you could sum up Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories in three words, what would they be?

This contains only four stories, two of which are among Lovecraft's most famous, "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Dunwich Horror." The third is the very short but interesting "Dagon," which foreshadows a lot of later Lovecraft stories. The fourth story, "The Hound," is not one of the author's best but not bad.

Have you listened to any of William Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The reading by William Roberts is dramatic and well done.

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Not really a biography of Roger Williams

Revisado: 06-28-15

What did you like best about Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul? What did you like least?

I bought this expecting a biography of Roger Williams. But his life is only one of many explored in this book. The title should actually be, "The Puritan Movement in England and America, 1560-1640," since that better captures the true subject of this book. There are huge sections, especially the first 10 chapters, that have little or nothing to do with Williams, though all of it is relevant to the Puritan movement that produced him. So it's a good book if you're interested in the subject of Puritanism and its impact on the colonization of America, but I don't like misleading titles.

Would you be willing to try another one of Richard Poe’s performances?

The reader's voice is more suited to NFL Films or something like that rather than books. His turgid narration made it that much harder to get through this book.

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The ugly realpolitik of the early Republic

Revisado: 05-27-15

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Strip away the soaring rhetoric of "The Declaration of Independence" and "The Federalist Papers," and you are left with the ugly, sleazy, embarrassing reality of politics as they really were in the 1790s-early 1800s, with scenes that would be more appropriate to the caricatures of Thomas Nast than the heroic paintings of John Trumbull. The life of Colonel Burr is worth reading for this reason. He didn't write anything lasting or memorable, unlike his rival Hamilton. He just played hardball politics, like a prototype Boss Tweed or LBJ. It was Burr who helped lay the foundation for the otherwise strongly southern Democratic Party in New York City, and it was his influence in that city that helped Jefferson get elected President in the election of 1800 (a scandalous affair that is covered in-depth by the author). Though the author tries hard to give Burr the benefit of the doubt in every scenario, he never really comes across as an underdog unfairly treated, by either his peers or historians. I wouldn't trust him, though he had his admirers, such as Andrew Jackson. The only interesting thing about Burr was his attitude toward women -- he was a champion of Mary Wollstonecraft's then-radical ideas, such as allowing women to vote -- but even this has a dark side to it, as his countless sexual trysts show. He was hooking up with women shortly after his duel with Hamilton, even.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader seems to think he's performing "Hamlet." The over-dramatic vocal performance made this a lot harder to slog through.

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History as literature

Revisado: 05-20-15

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Adams was at the center of events in America from 1770-1800, and along with Franklin, was the leading diplomat overseas during the crucial period after 1783 when it was far from clear European nations would recognize or trade with the new government. That the fledgling Congress chose Adams to represent America to the world at that time speaks volumes of the respect in which he was held. Yet Adams was never a larger-than-life, mythologized character like Washington or Jefferson, and never wanted to be. His ideas and personality come shining through this brilliant biography and he emerges as a far more likeable, honorable, funny, and amiable person than his political opponents (including Jefferson), using unfair slanders that had an embarrassingly long life in American history writing. This book and others should silence the slanders once and for all. His life and career are free from scandal. That he chose to represent the British soldiers during the trial of the Boston Massacre tells you what sort of character Adams had. No other lawyer in Boston would touch the case, but Adams said that everybody deserves representation and a fair trial in a free country, and delivered one of the greatest courtroom defenses ever in an American courtroom.

What about Nelson Runger’s performance did you like?

The reading was strong, with correct pronunciations of many difficult French names and titles.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The death of Abigail was the most moving part of the book. Such a fine, intelligent, generous woman, who was very much an equal in her marriage to John (very unusually for the wives of public men in this time). Her death might provoke tears.

Any additional comments?

McCullough is trying to squeeze a ton of information into a single volume. If you want to know more, you may want to pick up Page Smith's more detailed two volume biography from the '60s, and I recommend also the Adams-Jefferson Letters and the two volumes of Adams writings in the Library of America series.

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Good, but too long

Revisado: 04-08-15

What made the experience of listening to The Power Broker the most enjoyable?

Basically, if you love Caro's LBJ's books, you'll love "The Power Broker" (and vice versa). Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson's backgrounds were completely different, but both men wielded power in similar ways -- ruthlessly and effectively. Both were capable of great compassion and great cruelty. People who tried to stop them were crushed. And the press excused them over and over again until their destructive ways could no longer be excused or concealed. Caro is brilliant, but he really doesn't know how to edit information. The book was 1,300 pages (66 hours) but even that was cut down from its original 1,700+ pages, and you get the distinct impression that it could have been 3,000 pages or more if Caro could have sold a book that long. Caro, like this book's subject, doesn't really know when to stop. While I appreciate all the detail, the slow pace gets tiresome after awhile. Like most people, Moses's most interesting years were the early ones. As the story goes on, he simply acquires more and more power as he transforms from an anti-corruption idealist to a thoroughly corrupt demagogue of the worst kind -- the kind who cannot be voted out of office. The last 20 hours or so are simply painful to listen to. Moses's claims to be apolitical and always acting in the interest of the taxpayer is revealed to be, in Caro's devastating introduction, "a gigantic hoax."The book is basically an indictment of American journalism for naively believing all the lies and deceptions that people in power like Moses yield. It was only when younger reporters actually started taking a critical view of Moses's activities in the late 1950s that his reputation started to take some well-deserved hits. But Moses had been raping the taxpayer without their knowledge for 30 years by then. "The Power Broker" will make you look at your city's roads, bridges, and freeways in a different light, and make you wonder what the "Parks Commissioner" in your town was really like.

What does Robertson Dean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reading by Robertson Dean was superb.

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One of the greatest political biographies.

Revisado: 03-28-15

Would you listen to The Path to Power again? Why?

This is the only audiobook I've listened to more than once.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Path to Power?

The best part of the book is the long sections devoted to the 19th century background of Johnson's ancestors, and the very hard life led by the people of the "hill country" in Texas. Johnson's mother and father are fascinating people in their own right, and Caro devotes some brilliantly written and moving passages to their travails. Life was still hard for people of Lyndon's generation until he brokered legislation of dubious legality (with FDR's help) that brought electricity to the hill country -- in 1939, 30+ years after urban areas.

What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Grover Gardner's reading was perfect in every way.

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A New History of Global Capitalism

Revisado: 03-17-15

What made the experience of listening to Empire of Cotton the most enjoyable?

A compelling socioeconomic history of the "white gold" -- a commodity so familiar that we take it for granted. The thrust of the author's thesis is that cotton is central to any discussion of the rise of capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, and global markets from the 1700s, not peripheral to it like some people would like to believe. The UK subtitle "A New History of Global Capitalism" better captures the book's real subject. The emphasis is on the period of the mid-1700s to mid-1800s when cotton growing and manufacturing were at their peak in the UK and the USA, though India, China, and other countries factor into the discussion. There is far less emphasis on cotton in the 20th-21st Century.

A highly detailed, mature history of one of humanity's most essential commodities, and the greed, brutality, and ingenuity that human beings have applied to its cultivation, manufacture, and sale.

What does Jim Frangione bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reading was very strong. Considering the large number of non-English names, societies, and companies cited throughout the book, learning the correct pronunciation for everything must have taken considerable time and effort on the reader's part.

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Good book but the English reader is horrible

Revisado: 03-06-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The book is somewhat old (1962) but was for years the standard book on the Great Irish Famine. There are probably more up-to-date books out there now but I'm not sure of their availability on audiobook. It is a solid introduction to one of the great tragedies of the 19th Century.

How could the performance have been better?

If I had previewed the audio before purchasing, I would not have bought this. The reader has such an insufferable, upper-crust British accent, that it is almost a comical parody of British accents. For someone in America or Canada especially, this is very hard to listen to for any extended period of time.

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