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Hold Fast
- The Unadulterated Story of the World’s Most Scandalous Website
- Narrated by: Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, Michael Mooney
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Hold Fast is the uncompromising story of Backpage.com, the world’s most scandalous website, and the rise and fall of alternative weekly newspapers nationwide.
Over four decades, Michael Lacey and his business partner James Larkin built the largest, most influential company in alternative media—a colossal chain of muckraking newspapers that included The Village Voice, LA Weekly, Phoenix New Times, Dallas Observer, Miami New Times, and others. These alternative newspapers published writers who were fierce investigators, stylish storytellers, and astute cultural critics. These papers also published loads and loads of ads, including page after page of so-called “adult ads”—ambiguously written ads that appeared to offer illegal sexual services, but were nonetheless protected by the First Amendment.
As lucrative classified ads moved to the internet, cutting a hole in the money bag of newspapers everywhere, Lacey and Larkin founded Backpage.com, a classifieds website that would become synonymous with sex ads and scandal. The Justice Department alleges that Lacey and Larkin weren’t just newspapermen. They were, prosecutors say, the biggest pimps in the history of the world.
Reported, written, and hosted by three writers who once worked for Lacey’s newspaper chain—Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, and Michael Mooney—Hold Fast is a romp through the weird history and boundary-pushing culture of alternative newspapers; the controversies surrounding Backpage.com and the government investigations; and fraught frontiers of free speech in America.
![About the Creator- Trevor Aaronson About the Creator- Trevor Aaronson](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/Trevor_Aaronson-desktop.png)
About the Creator
![About the Creator- Sam Eifling About the Creator- Sam Eifling](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/Sam_Eifling-desktop.png)
About the Creator
![About the Creator- Michael J. Mooney About the Creator- Michael J. Mooney](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/Michael_J_Mooney-desktop.png)
About the Creator
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Could have been interesting if...
- By M Ren on 06-09-20
By: Marc Fennell
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The Debutante
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
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Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
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"I'll Get You!" Drugs, Lies, and the Terrorizing of a PTA Mom (true crime)
- By: Riley J. Ford
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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TRUE CRIME! PTA president Kelli Peters had a normal, happy life in Orange County, California, where she volunteered at her daughter's school, carpooled, and took care of her family. When a school parent angrily accused Kelli of keeping her son waiting during the afterschool pick-up, it appeared to be a simple confrontation with an overprotective mother. Kelli soon learned, however, that she was the target of a twisted plot against her that involved drugs, lies, schemes, and a campaign to ruin her life. The vendetta led to reputations tarnished, careers lost, secret lives uncovered, two ...
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Could have been good
- By Dante D. on 05-18-24
By: Riley J. Ford
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House of Skulls with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the basement of one of the world's most prestigious universities, there was a classroom lined with a collection of human skulls from around the globe. Join award-winning journalist Marc Fennell (It Burns, Nut Jobs, Stuff the British Stole) as he takes you on a captivating global journey through the mysterious Morton Cranial Collection.
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Another fascinating piece by Marc
- By Sugaree on 10-02-23
By: Marc Fennell
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Exposed
- The Ashley Madison Hack
- By: Sophie Elmhirst, Maria Luisa Tucker
- Narrated by: Sophie Nélisse
- Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
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Millions of people–looking to cheat on their partners–signed up for Ashley Madison in the early 2000s, seeking a private space to share their public desires. The promise of discretion was shattered in the summer of 2015, when anonymous hackers stole the company’s cache of user information and published it worldwide. The result? One of the most shocking data breaches of the internet age. Overnight, millions of unfaithful spouses had their real names, addresses and sexual preferences published online in a searchable database that anyone could browse.
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Hard to feel sorry for the cheaters
- By Kim Kormylo on 02-21-24
By: Sophie Elmhirst, and others
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Love Until Death
- The Sudden Demise of a Music Icon and a Trail of Mystery and Alleged Murder
- By: Mark Seal
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
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In 2019, veteran journalist Mark Seal began investigating the suspicious death of music mogul Peter Ikin. Just 32 days before he was found dead in his Paris hotel room, Ikin had married a handsome, debonair Frenchman named Alexandre, who would claim to be entitled to his late husband’s fortune. As Seal dug into the case, he had no idea that tracing the incredible life of Alexandre Despallieres would take him from Paris to London to Beverly Hills, and unspool a web of intricate plots and deceptions.
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NEVER ENDING😑
- By Beth on 06-24-22
By: Mark Seal
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French & Saunders Titting About (Series 5)
- By: Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders
- Narrated by: Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
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Once again, the legendary comedy duo unearth six vitally important subjects... and then tit about about them. From surviving on a desert island to being eaten by a cardboard crocodile, Dawn and Jennifer will entertain, inform and thoroughly tit about for your pleasure. (Batteries not included.)
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hilarious…but why are these listed differently?!
- By Bryan J on 09-06-24
By: Dawn French, and others
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Chasing Boaz Manor
- By: Leah McLaren
- Narrated by: Serinda Swan
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
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Boaz Manor was a finance wunderkind. He started a hedge-fund company in Canada and later burst onto Wall Street with a product that could transform the crypto market. By all accounts, he was incredibly hard-working. Possibly brilliant. And...a shameless con man who ended up wanted in multiple countries. Chasing Boaz Manor explores Boaz’s schemes through the perspective of those he left in his wake.
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Drawn out and unresolved waste of time
- By DC on 06-06-24
By: Leah McLaren
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This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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This Is Not a Game is the extraordinary untold story of the internet’s first conspiracy theory, the legend of Ong’s Hat. Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.
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WOW!
- By pondo on 05-09-24
By: Marc Fennell
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Chase Darkness with Me
- How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders
- By: Billy Jensen, Karen Kilgariff - foreword
- Narrated by: Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
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In Chase Darkness with Me, you’ll ride shotgun as journalist Billy Jensen identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You’ll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle’s pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle’s passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family.
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COULD NOT STOP
- By KK on 04-14-19
By: Billy Jensen, and others
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Bloodbath Nation
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In this short, searing book, Auster traces centuries of America’s use and abuse of guns, through the colonial prehistory of the Republic, armed conflict against the native population, the forced enslavement of millions, and the mass shootings that dominate the current news cycle. He examines the embattled gun-control and anti-gun-control camps, frames gun violence as a public health issue, and investigates the details of one horrific incident including the perpetrator’s unchecked purchase of the gun he used and the suffering of a bystander-turned-hero.
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Thank you Paul Auster
- By Mark on 07-09-24
By: Paul Auster
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Hold Fast
- By: Blue Balliet
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Where is Early's father? He's not the kind of father who you think would disappear. But he's gone. And he's left a whole lot of trouble behind. As danger closes in, Early, her mom, and her brother have to flee their apartment. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to move into Chicago's shelter system. Once there, Early starts asking questions and looking for answers. There are patterns and rhythms to what's happened, and Early might be the only one who can use them to track him down and make her way out of a very tough place.
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Awesome Book
- By brenda transon on 05-17-20
By: Blue Balliet
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MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
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This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
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Balanced Examination of History
- By James Peacock on 08-14-24
By: Curtis Bryant, and others
What listeners say about Hold Fast
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- SammyInCO
- 04-17-24
Exceptional
As a native of Phoenix, I only had half of the story. A wonderful and informative listen!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Stacey J
- 04-17-24
Very engaging listen
Thank you to On The Media for highlighting this story and sending me to this story. Excellent listen!! I highly recommend!
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4 people found this helpful
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- MICHELE CROMER
- 08-06-24
Great Interesting Listen!
I had no idea about this. I was a reader of alternative papers in the early 2000’s and enjoyed reading the backpage, it was most interesting!
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- Ronda
- 06-02-24
Very interesting
I had never heard of this incident. It was very interesting. Times changed and the internet changed everything. I enjoyed the listen and learned a lot. Well done!
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- Troy Harris
- 07-30-24
Fascinating Insights
Other than the fake drama Audible introduces with their background music, this was an excellent listening experience. Learned a lot. My heart goes out to the sex workers who lost their voice and faced increased risk due to the moralizing jerks who shut down BackPage.
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- Miamimama
- 04-13-24
Blackbeard's diary basically
A well done capture of morally ambiguous pirates in the waning days of American journalism as we knew it. As someone privileged to ride along for a bit in the young writer churn& burn factory, I can attest Lacey and Co. were the best, the worst -- always a hell of a ride.
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4 people found this helpful
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- kyungil
- 04-24-24
Raw and unfiltered
Absolutely love the storytelling. I would be listening and find myself absorbed in the story. Mike Lacey is what the story is…. Raw and unfiltered. The “no f*cks” given attitude really makes this a movie for your ears.
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- DHK
- 07-24-24
Before Backpage, there was journalism
Learning the history of gonzo journalism starting w/the 70s/80s, entrepreneurship, capitalism, and the reasons local alt-newspapers imploded is important for anyone who engages w/American society to understand. The story follows the typical newsworthy yet anticipated, 50-year culture cycle- beginning and ending on headlines reporting the latest method(s) to control women. Informative, educational story. Blissfully limited political content. Will be listening again for missed info.
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- trisula
- 04-19-24
So good
Deep, nuanced, exactly like things used to be. Not telling you what to think, telling you what happened. Skepticism rules. Anything else and the reader thinks you take him for a rube.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Stephen Lemons, reader and scribe
- 04-29-24
1A R.I.P.
Backpage fell victim to a modern-day witch hunt and Messrs. Lacey and Larkin became the targets of a governmental overreach only surpassed by that wreaked on Julian Assange. The lesson? Freedom of speech is a chimera, and you defy the federal government at your peril. Backpage, a massive website filled with Constitutionally-protected speech, was intentionally taken down and destroyed so that it could not be rebuilt -- without so much as a warrant. Lacey, Larkin, and four co-defendants bravely endured the full prosecutorial weight of the U.S. government for more than five years. Larkin was hounded to suicide. Two worker bees at Backpage were fully acquitted, but not before having their names trashed, their lives ruined. Three men, all in their 70s, now face the prospect of death in prison. Even if their convictions are overturned on appeal, the government has extracted from each its pound of flesh and then some. I hope this podcast is the beginning of a paradigm shift in a media narrative that has unthinkingly echoed the talking points of the powerful and the mendacious.
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1 person found this helpful