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Dear Committee Members
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary."
Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby.
In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive audiobook uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms.
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In a half century on the national stage, William F. Buckley Jr. achieved unique stature as a polemicist and the undisputed godfather of modern American conservatism. He knew everybody, hosted everybody at his East 73rd Street maisonette, skewered everybody who needed skewering, and in general lived life on a scale, and in a swashbuckling manner, that captivated and inspired countless young conservatives across that half century.
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Excellent...inspiring imagery!
- By Lisa Hill on 10-14-16
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Ida M. Tarbell
- The Woman Who Challenged Big Business - and Won!
- By: Emily Arnold McCully
- Narrated by: Emily Arnold McCully
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in 1857 and raised in oil country, Ida M. Tarbell was one of the first investigative journalists and probably the most influential in her time. Her series of articles on the Standard Oil Trust, a complicated business empire run by John D. Rockefeller, revealed to readers the underhanded, even illegal practices that had led to Rockefeller's success.
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Excellent!
- By AKA1 on 03-16-19
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Mirror to America
- The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin
- By: John Hope Franklin
- Narrated by: John Hope Franklin
- Length: 7 hrs
- Abridged
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John Hope Franklin lived through America's most defining twentieth-century transformation, the dismantling of legally-protected racial segregation. A renowned scholar, he has explored that transformation in its myriad aspects, notably in his 3.5 million-copy bestseller, From Slavery to Freedom. And he was, and remains, an active participant. Intimate, at times revelatory, Mirror to America chronicles Franklin's life and this nation's racial transformation in the 20th century.
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Love story about a history often misunderstood
- By Joy B Joy on 01-23-15
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American Philosophy
- A Love Story
- By: John Kaag
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In American Philosophy, John Kaag - a disillusioned philosopher at sea in his marriage and career - stumbles upon a treasure trove of rare books on an old estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that once belonged to the Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. The library includes notes from Whitman, inscriptions from Frost, and first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As he begins to catalog and preserve these priceless books, Kaag rediscovers the very tenets of American philosophy.
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Awesome Book! But..
- By Kye Sonne on 04-02-17
By: John Kaag
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Draft No. 4
- On the Writing Process
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: John McPhee
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Draft No. 4 is an elucidation of the writer's craft by a master practitioner. In a series of playful but expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he's gathered over his career and refined during his long-running course at Princeton University, where he has launched some of the most esteemed writers of several generations. McPhee offers a definitive guide to the crucial decisions regarding structure, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces and presents extracts from some of his best-loved work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny.
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McPhee is the Craft
- By Darwin8u on 09-19-17
By: John McPhee
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Montaigne in Barn Boots
- An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy
- By: Michael Perry
- Narrated by: Michael Perry
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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"The journey began on a gurney", writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps - including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow - Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two.
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A beacon in a dark time
- By Kelsey on 01-13-18
By: Michael Perry
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Metaphysical Animals
- How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life
- By: Clare Mac Cumhaill, Rachae Wiseman
- Narrated by: Alex Dunmore
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of European philosophy is usually constructed from the work of men. In Metaphysical Animals, a pioneering group biography, Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman offer a compelling alternative. In the mid-twentieth century Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were philosophy students at Oxford when most male undergraduates and many tutors were conscripted away to fight in the Second World War. Together, these young women, all friends, developed a philosophy that could respond to the war’s darkest revelations.
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Book about nothing
- By Gerardo Naranjo Gonzalez on 06-14-22
By: Clare Mac Cumhaill, and others
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The Good Girls Revolt
- How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace
- By: Lynn Povich
- Narrated by: Susan Larkin
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the 1960s - a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the “Help Wanted” ads were segregated by gender and the “Mad Men” office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the “Swinging Sixties.” Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job - for a girl - at an exciting place. But it was a dead end.
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Good book read by Ms Robot.
- By careuther on 09-17-16
By: Lynn Povich
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The Professor Is In
- The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD into a Job
- By: Karen Kelsky
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their PhDs. And each year only a small percentage of them will land jobs that justify and reward their investments. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts and many more who simply give up in frustration. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help job seekers join the select few who get the most out of their PhDs.
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Mostly useless and potentially harmful
- By we3 on 10-20-17
By: Karen Kelsky
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What Teachers Make
- In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World
- By: Taylor Mali
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Former middle school teacher and teachers' advocate Taylor Mali struck a chord with his passionate response to a man at a dinner party who asked him what kind of salary teachers make - a poetic rant that has been seen and forwarded millions of times on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Based on the poem that inspired a movement, What Teachers Make is Mali's sharp, funny, reflective, critical call to arms about the joys of teaching and why teachers are so vital to America today.
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Loved it!!
- By Anonymous User on 02-16-22
By: Taylor Mali
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Ex Libris
- Confessions of a Common Reader
- By: Anne Fadiman
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Anyone who has ever loved a book will relish this playful, yet deeply literate collection of essays celebrating the joy of reading. From building castles with books as a child, to the trauma of joining her library with her husband's, the author reveals, with much warmth and humor, the intimate details of her lifelong affair with books. For Anne Fadiman, books are not built for function, and certainly not for decoration. They are close personal friends who never fail to delight and amaze.
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Reading IS fun!
- By Diana on 04-14-05
By: Anne Fadiman
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J. D. Salinger: A Life
- By: Kenneth Slawenski
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history, J. D. Salinger eluded fans and journalists for most of his life. Now comes a new biography that Peter Ackroyd in the Times of London calls "energetic and magnificently researched" - a book from which "a true picture of Salinger emerges". Filled with new information and revelations garnered from countless interviews, letters, and public records, J. D. Salinger: A Life presents an extraordinary life that spanned nearly the entire 20th century.
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Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida—war photographer, gambler, and closet queen—has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali.
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What listeners say about Dear Committee Members
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Helen T. Cohn
- 05-23-18
Fabulous!
The story is clever, funny, intelligent, delightful. I didn't want it to end. The narrator's voice captured the tone perfectly. This is a book to listen to rather than read, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
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- K. Lange
- 06-03-22
A few charming tales, but.......
A few of these letters are charming, but you can only listen to the mental ramblings of self-important intellegensia for so long.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-10-23
This Book Has Saved Me A Fortune
In the future of contributions to my own university. Fortunately, I only spent four years there, and never contemplated even the smallest foray into academia. Judging from the reviews, there is a wide variety of opinion. I found it understated, amusing and consistent with my understanding of the subject matter.
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-01-20
Fantastically Clever
Clever portrayal of a college professor through his writing of numerous recommendation letters. I am amazed that so much of his character, ideals, and personal life could be conveyed in such a way. This book was an absolute treasure.
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- Amaz0n
- 08-12-22
Disappointing - A Rare DNF
Grimly cynical, bloviating main “character”, venting endlessly and missing the obvious “chapter” after chapter. My sympathy quickly waned and I tired of waiting for realization, redemption or even relief from the repetitious whinging. Could not convince myself to keep listening to the doubtless bitter ending.
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- Robert
- 10-24-23
Funny and entertaining
If you are a high school or university English teacher who has written letters of recommendation, you will appreciate this book!
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- Rachel
- 03-10-20
Surprisingly Emotional
You really feel for the characters even though you only ever meet them through Letters of Recommendation and perception, with the exception of Jason Fitger (sp?) our sardonic narrator. The audio book's narrator is top notch... if I didn't know this was fiction, I would believe he really was this jaded professor. Can't wait to listen to the sequel!
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- Daniel J. Miller
- 10-22-21
Hilarious as an audio book
From the initial description, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Our workplace had a book club to try this out, and so glad I inadvertently went with the audio version. Very reminiscent of similar themes in Netflix's The Chair (albeit the latter has a much more likable protagonist.) The voice acting here is exquisitely well done, an example of a book that is better to hear than to read. At around 4 hours try listening to this driving or doing chores without cracking up. (But gets surprisingly emotional in the latter half for what starts off as more a satire; more poignant themese slowly emerge as the book progresses.) Regardless of whether you care about the plight of liberal arts academia, you will have a blast with this one (although will have to admit for anyone who contemplated a life career at the university, wow am I glad I did *not* try to go down the professorship path in the end after listening to this!) Enjoy.
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- LRWord
- 02-07-24
My Late Father Would Have Laughed
My father was an English professor in a state university system. His accounts of academic office politics dovetailed perfectly with this story. If you don’t have experience with a similar bureaucracy, you might not find this story as entertainingly satiric as I did. I recommend this novel for fans of David Lodge and Alison Lurie.
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- DFK
- 06-25-24
Perfect if you’ve ever been in the academic world
Especially humanities. Or if you have family who are academics. This is an entertaining take on the state of many humanities departments, the students and their aspirations, the faculty, including faculty politics. It’s cleverly done and witty. The narration is good.
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