-
Mark Twain: Man in White
- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 17 hrs
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $25.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
-
Melville in Love
- The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby-Dick
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Herman Melville's epic novel, Moby-Dick, was a spectacular failure when it was published in 1851, effectively ending its author's rise to literary fame. Because he was neglected by academics for so long, and because he made little effort to preserve his legacy, we know very little about Melville, and even less about what he called his "wicked book". Scholars still puzzle over what drove Melville to invent Captain Ahab's mad pursuit of the great white whale.
-
-
intriguing
- By Jean on 06-18-16
By: Michael Shelden
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
The Modern Scholar: The Life and Times of Mark Twain
- By: Prof. Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Michael Shelden
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of English at Indiana State University and the author of the literary biography Mark Twain: Man in White, Michael Shelden is the perfect candidate to lead this series of lectures on one of the most important—and most influential—of all American authors. From Twain’s early history through his landmark achievements and the defining moments of his extraordinary life, Shelden imparts a learned understanding of both the man and his astounding body of work.
-
-
Flat delivery, great content
- By Tad Davis on 02-07-11
-
England, the 1960s, and the Triumph of the Beatles
- By: Michael Shelden, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael Shelden
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did four young men from a faded old seaport in Northern England lead such an epic musical and cultural revolution? Why could the story of the Beatles only have happened in such a charged decade? What remains to be said about this British band that hasn’t been said before? Questions like these lie at the beating heart of these 12 lessons that offer a fresh look at how this celebrated band became one of the most compelling voices against the status quo.
-
-
Delightful and smart
- By LEE on 12-12-20
By: Michael Shelden, and others
-
Kill Someone
- By: Luke Smitherd
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the international best seller The Stone Man, short-listed for Audible UK's Book of the Year Award 2015. Here are the rules. Method: you can't use a gun. You can't use explosives. You can't use poison. It has to be up close and personal. You don't have to worry about leaving evidence; that will be taken care of. Victim: no one suicidal. No one over the age of 65. No one with a terminal illness. Choose your method. Choose your victim.
-
-
The Good of the Many is More Important...Or is it?
- By JoanneG on 12-06-16
By: Luke Smitherd
-
Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
-
Melville in Love
- The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby-Dick
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Herman Melville's epic novel, Moby-Dick, was a spectacular failure when it was published in 1851, effectively ending its author's rise to literary fame. Because he was neglected by academics for so long, and because he made little effort to preserve his legacy, we know very little about Melville, and even less about what he called his "wicked book". Scholars still puzzle over what drove Melville to invent Captain Ahab's mad pursuit of the great white whale.
-
-
intriguing
- By Jean on 06-18-16
By: Michael Shelden
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
The Modern Scholar: The Life and Times of Mark Twain
- By: Prof. Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Michael Shelden
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of English at Indiana State University and the author of the literary biography Mark Twain: Man in White, Michael Shelden is the perfect candidate to lead this series of lectures on one of the most important—and most influential—of all American authors. From Twain’s early history through his landmark achievements and the defining moments of his extraordinary life, Shelden imparts a learned understanding of both the man and his astounding body of work.
-
-
Flat delivery, great content
- By Tad Davis on 02-07-11
-
England, the 1960s, and the Triumph of the Beatles
- By: Michael Shelden, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael Shelden
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did four young men from a faded old seaport in Northern England lead such an epic musical and cultural revolution? Why could the story of the Beatles only have happened in such a charged decade? What remains to be said about this British band that hasn’t been said before? Questions like these lie at the beating heart of these 12 lessons that offer a fresh look at how this celebrated band became one of the most compelling voices against the status quo.
-
-
Delightful and smart
- By LEE on 12-12-20
By: Michael Shelden, and others
-
Kill Someone
- By: Luke Smitherd
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the international best seller The Stone Man, short-listed for Audible UK's Book of the Year Award 2015. Here are the rules. Method: you can't use a gun. You can't use explosives. You can't use poison. It has to be up close and personal. You don't have to worry about leaving evidence; that will be taken care of. Victim: no one suicidal. No one over the age of 65. No one with a terminal illness. Choose your method. Choose your victim.
-
-
The Good of the Many is More Important...Or is it?
- By JoanneG on 12-06-16
By: Luke Smitherd
-
Fierce Patriot
- The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman
- By: Robert O'Connell
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With a unique, witty, and conversational voice historian Robert O'Connell breaks down the often paradoxical, easily caricatured character of General William T. Sherman for the most well-rounded portrait of the man yet written. There were many Shermans, according to O'Connell. Most prominently was Sherman the military strategist (indeed, one of the greatest strategists of all time), who gained an appreciation of geography from early campaigns out west and applied it to his famed Civil War march.
-
-
An interesting biography
- By Jean on 07-19-14
By: Robert O'Connell
-
The Impending Crisis
- America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861
- By: David M. Potter, Don E. Fehrenbacher
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.
-
-
A Slog for Sure
- By Brux on 04-13-17
By: David M. Potter, and others
-
The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
-
-
A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
-
Frederick Douglass
- Prophet of Freedom
- By: David W. Blight
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 36 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence, he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
-
-
The sound of rollerskating in sand
- By Rico X Ludovici on 02-06-19
By: David W. Blight
-
The Battle of Britain
- Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 26 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.
-
-
The battle up to The Battle of Britain
- By Chiefkent on 11-07-17
By: James Holland
-
The Enlightenment
- The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
- By: Ritchie Robertson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial history - sure to become the definitive work on the subject - recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
-
-
The quickest 40 hour audio book I’ve listen to
- By Joey Caster on 04-02-21
-
The Dead Are Arising
- The Life of Malcolm X
- By: Les Payne, Tamara Payne
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic biography of Malcolm X finally emerges, drawing on hundreds of hours of the author's interviews, rewriting much of the known narrative.
-
-
Much more depth than the Haley book.
- By CapitalHeel on 11-03-20
By: Les Payne, and others
-
A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
-
-
A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
-
The Good Neighbor
- The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
- By: Maxwell King
- Narrated by: LeVar Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first full-length biography of Fred Rogers, The Good Neighbor tells the story of this utterly unique and enduring American icon. Drawing on original interviews, oral histories, and archival documents, Maxwell King traces Rogers’s personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work, including a surprising decision to walk away from the show to make television for adults, only to return to the neighborhood with increasingly sophisticated episodes, written in collaboration with experts on childhood development.
-
-
Fred Rogers was the person you saw on TV
- By Adam Shields on 10-03-18
By: Maxwell King
-
Chasing the Last Laugh
- Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour
- By: Richard Zacks
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate,” he wrote. “When he can’t afford it and when he can.” The publishing company Twain owned was failing; his investment in a typesetting device was bleeding red ink. After losing hundreds of thousands of dollars back when a beer cost a nickel, he found himself neck-deep in debt. His heiress wife, Livy, took the setback hard. “I have a perfect horror and heart-sickness over it,” she wrote. “I cannot get away from the feeling that business failure means disgrace.”
-
-
The Master Storyteller
- By Jean on 08-16-16
By: Richard Zacks
-
Fatal Discord
- Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind
- By: Michael Massing
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 34 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This deeply textured dual biography and fascinating intellectual history examines two of the greatest minds of European history - Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther - whose heated rivalry gave rise to two enduring, fundamental, and often colliding traditions of philosophical and religious thought.
-
-
Excellent work - up until the discussion of America
- By Michele Esposito on 08-24-19
By: Michael Massing
-
In Mortal Combat
- Korea, 1950-1953
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 27 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, Toland lets both the events and the participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the bases for the drama and accuracy of his writing. In Mortal Combat reveals Mao's prediction of the date and place of MacArthur's Inchon landing, Russia's indifference to the war, Mao's secret leadership of the North Korean military, and the true nature of both sides' treatment and repatriation of POWs.
-
-
Slightly disappointed
- By Patrick on 09-02-19
By: John Toland
Publisher's summary
Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twain’s twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary author’s life. Drawing heavily on Twain’s own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twain’s private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Eleanor and Hick
- The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
- By: Susan Quinn
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1932 Eleanor Roosevelt entered the claustrophobic, duty-bound existence of the first lady with dread. By that time she had put her deep disappointment in her marriage behind her and developed an independent life - now threatened by the public role she would be forced to play. A lifeline came to her in the form of a feisty campaign reporter for the Associated Press: Lorena Hickok. Over the next 30 years, until Eleanor's death, the two women carried on an extraordinary relationship.
-
-
An Icon who was real.
- By Francine Fields on 08-17-17
By: Susan Quinn
-
Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
-
The Prince and the Pauper
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They look alike, but they live in very different worlds. Tom Canty, impoverished and abused by his father, is fascinated with royalty. Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, is kind and generous but wants to run free and play in the river - just once. How insubstantial their differences truly are becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing - and roles. The pauper finds himself caught up in the pomp and folly of the royal court, and the prince wanders horror-stricken through the lower strata of English society.
-
-
Wonderful author, terrific narrator, splendid book
- By Rahni on 10-01-17
By: Mark Twain
-
Mark Twain
- A Life
- By: Ron Powers
- Narrated by: Ron Powers
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Twain founded the American voice. His works are a living national treasury: taught, quoted, and reprinted more than those of any writer except Shakespeare. His awestruck contemporaries saw him as the representative figure of his times, and his influence has deeply flavored the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Buy the Book
- By W.Denis on 10-22-05
By: Ron Powers
-
The Sisters
- The Saga of the Mitford Family
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Annie Wauters
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
-
-
Great story, terrible reader
- By Victoria on 02-27-14
By: Mary S. Lovell
-
World’s End
- The Lanny Budd Novels, Book 1
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lanning “Lanny” Budd spends his first 13 years in Europe, living at the center of his mother’s glamourous circle of friends on the French Riviera. In 1913, he enters a prestigious Swiss boarding school and befriends Rick, an English boy, and Kurt, a German. The three schoolmates are privileged, happy, and precocious - but their world is about to come to an abrupt and violent end. When the gathering storm clouds of war finally burst, raining chaos and death over the continent, Lanny must put the innocence of youth behind him.
-
-
didn't finish
- By Bird Miller on 05-08-22
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Eleanor and Hick
- The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
- By: Susan Quinn
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1932 Eleanor Roosevelt entered the claustrophobic, duty-bound existence of the first lady with dread. By that time she had put her deep disappointment in her marriage behind her and developed an independent life - now threatened by the public role she would be forced to play. A lifeline came to her in the form of a feisty campaign reporter for the Associated Press: Lorena Hickok. Over the next 30 years, until Eleanor's death, the two women carried on an extraordinary relationship.
-
-
An Icon who was real.
- By Francine Fields on 08-17-17
By: Susan Quinn
-
Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
-
The Prince and the Pauper
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They look alike, but they live in very different worlds. Tom Canty, impoverished and abused by his father, is fascinated with royalty. Edward Tudor, heir to the throne of England, is kind and generous but wants to run free and play in the river - just once. How insubstantial their differences truly are becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing - and roles. The pauper finds himself caught up in the pomp and folly of the royal court, and the prince wanders horror-stricken through the lower strata of English society.
-
-
Wonderful author, terrific narrator, splendid book
- By Rahni on 10-01-17
By: Mark Twain
-
Mark Twain
- A Life
- By: Ron Powers
- Narrated by: Ron Powers
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Twain founded the American voice. His works are a living national treasury: taught, quoted, and reprinted more than those of any writer except Shakespeare. His awestruck contemporaries saw him as the representative figure of his times, and his influence has deeply flavored the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Buy the Book
- By W.Denis on 10-22-05
By: Ron Powers
-
The Sisters
- The Saga of the Mitford Family
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Annie Wauters
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
-
-
Great story, terrible reader
- By Victoria on 02-27-14
By: Mary S. Lovell
-
World’s End
- The Lanny Budd Novels, Book 1
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lanning “Lanny” Budd spends his first 13 years in Europe, living at the center of his mother’s glamourous circle of friends on the French Riviera. In 1913, he enters a prestigious Swiss boarding school and befriends Rick, an English boy, and Kurt, a German. The three schoolmates are privileged, happy, and precocious - but their world is about to come to an abrupt and violent end. When the gathering storm clouds of war finally burst, raining chaos and death over the continent, Lanny must put the innocence of youth behind him.
-
-
didn't finish
- By Bird Miller on 05-08-22
By: Upton Sinclair
-
Louisa
- The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams
- By: Louisa Thomas
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in London to an American father and a British mother on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Louisa Catherine Johnson was raised in circumstances very different from the New England upbringing of future president John Quincy Adams, whose life had been dedicated to public service from the earliest age. And yet John Quincy fell in love with her almost despite himself. Their often tempestuous but deeply close marriage lasted half a century.
-
-
Insightful
- By Jean on 05-18-16
By: Louisa Thomas
-
Clementine
- The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill
- By: Sonia Purnell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By Winston Churchill's own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been "impossible without her". Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill's wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR's initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain's close relationship with America.
-
-
Exasperating At Times But Very Good--
- By Gillian on 04-09-18
By: Sonia Purnell
-
Melville in Love
- The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby-Dick
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Herman Melville's epic novel, Moby-Dick, was a spectacular failure when it was published in 1851, effectively ending its author's rise to literary fame. Because he was neglected by academics for so long, and because he made little effort to preserve his legacy, we know very little about Melville, and even less about what he called his "wicked book". Scholars still puzzle over what drove Melville to invent Captain Ahab's mad pursuit of the great white whale.
-
-
intriguing
- By Jean on 06-18-16
By: Michael Shelden
-
Zelda Fitzgerald
- The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age's High Priestess
- By: Sally Cline
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zelda Fitzgerald was the mythical American Dream Girl of the Roaring Twenties who became, in the words of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, "the first American flapper." Their romance transformed a symbol of glamour and spectacle of the Jazz Age. When Zelda cracked up, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, Scott remained loyal to her through a nightmare of later breakdowns and final madness.
-
-
The Beautiful and the Bungled
- By Silverthorne on 12-08-17
By: Sally Cline
-
In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
-
-
I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
-
Franklin and Lucy
- President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life
- By: Joseph E. Persico
- Narrated by: Ted Barker
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest figure of the 20th century. While FDR's official circle was predominantly male, it was his relationships with women - particularly with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd - that most vividly bring to light the human being beneath this towering statesman.
-
-
Franklin and Lucy
- By Connie's on 03-06-09
-
America's Queen
- The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- By: Sarah Bradford
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Using remarkable new sources, Sarah Bradford has written a timely celebration of a life that was more private than commonly supposed. Revealing new testimony from many of the couple's friends shows the complexities of this apparently very public relationship and of her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis. Here is the private Jackie - neglected wife, vigilant mother, and working widow - whose contradictory and fascinating nature is illuminated by all that Bradford has discovered.
-
-
American Royalty
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-16
By: Sarah Bradford
-
Inga
- Kennedy's Great Love, Hitler's Perfect Beauty, and J. Edgar Hoover's Prime Suspect
- By: Scott Farris
- Narrated by: Scott Farris
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In addition to her romance with Kennedy, Arvad married four times - including to an Egyptian prince, the brilliant filmmaker Paul Fejos, and the famed cowboy movie star Tim McCoy. She had affairs with Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the noted surgeon Dr. William Cahan, and Winston Churchill's right hand man, Baron Robert Boothby. But by all accounts her admirers among the European and American elite loved Inga not for her physical beauty, but for her joie de vivre.
-
-
Excellent Kennedy Read
- By James P. Barraza on 04-14-17
By: Scott Farris
-
Emily Post
- Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
- By: Laura Claridge
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the excesses of the late 19th-century Gilded Age, through the horrors of World War I, to the transformations of the Roaring 20s that gave birth to her magisterial Etiquette, Emily Post unfailingly took the measure of her era. A Baltimore blue blood with a populist heart, she helped the masses live the American dream with her hugely popular book, which has been continuously in print for over 85 years.
-
-
Typical for Emily Post
- By Stephanie on 01-07-19
By: Laura Claridge
-
The Churchills: In Love and War
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) was a soldier of such genius that a lavish palace, Blenheim, was built to honor his triumphs. Succeeding generations of Churchills sometimes achieved distinction but also included profligates and womanizers, and were saddled with the ruinous upkeep of Blenheim. The Churchills were an extraordinary family: ambitious, impecunious, impulsive, brave, and arrogant. Winston - recently voted "The Greatest Briton" - dominates them all. His failures and triumphs are revealed in the context of a poignant and sometimes tragic private life.
-
-
Grand! In it's own wonderful way.
- By Cookie on 12-05-11
By: Mary S. Lovell
-
Guest of Honor
- Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation
- By: Deborah Davis
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to have dinner at the executive mansion with the First Family. The next morning, news that the president had dined with a Black man-and former slave-sent shock waves through the nation. Although African Americans had helped build the White House and had worked for most of the presidents, not a single one had ever been invited to dine there. Fueled by inflammatory newspaper articles, political cartoons, and even vulgar songs, the scandal escalated.
-
-
Great So
- By Maureen Monahan on 04-11-21
By: Deborah Davis
-
And So It Goes
- Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
- By: Charles J. Shields
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author and biographer Charles J. Shields crafts this fascinating portrait of literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. The first authorized biography of the influential American writer, And So It Goes examines Vonnegut’s life, from his childhood to his death in 2007, and explores how the author changed the conversation of American literature.
-
-
Probably only for die hard Vonnegut fans
- By Watery M on 12-22-12
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
A Great Place to Have a War
- America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
- By: Joshua Kurlantzick
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1960 President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation few Americans had ever heard of. Washington feared the country would fall to Communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. So in January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight Communist forces in Laos. While remaining hidden from the American public and most of Congress, Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States.
-
-
illuminating read of Laos' relationship with USA
- By Daniel on 12-28-18
-
Sitting Bull
- The Life and Times of an American Patriot
- By: Robert M. Utley
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reviled by the United States government as a troublemaker and a coward, revered by his people as a great warrior chief, Sitting Bull has long been one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures in American history. Distinguished historian Robert M. Utley has forged a compelling portrait of Sitting Bull, presenting the Lakota perspective for the first time and rendering the most unbiased, historically accurate, and vivid portrait of the man to date.
-
-
Lakota perspective?
- By JoAnne on 02-01-24
By: Robert M. Utley
-
Look at the Birdie
- Unpublished Short Fiction
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Christopher E. Welch
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American literary icon Kurt Vonnegut enjoys immense popularity - and an equally immense amount of critical praise - for such works as his absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five. A must-have for readers everywhere, Look at the Birdie adds further insight into the author's body of work with a riveting collection of his previously unpublished short fiction.
-
-
Great stories and performances to match
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-30-17
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Hank and Jim
- The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart
- By: Scott Eyman
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood for 40 years. They became friends and then roommates as stage actors in New York, and when they began making films in Hollywood, they roomed together again. Between them they made such memorable films as The Grapes of Wrath, Mister Roberts, Twelve Angry Men, and On Golden Pond; and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, and Rear Window.
-
-
Fascinating look into these two actors' lives
- By MPAMIN on 06-25-18
By: Scott Eyman
-
Standard Deviations
- Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics
- By: Gary Smith
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase once cynically observed, "If you torture data long enough, it will confess." Lying with statistics is a time-honored con. In Standard Deviations, economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps that people use to back up their own crackpot theories. Sometimes, the unscrupulous deliberately try to mislead us. Other times, the well-intentioned are blissfully unaware of the mischief they are committing.
-
-
Now, I can't talk to people.....
- By Andrew Dunbar on 09-28-21
By: Gary Smith
-
A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous 14th Century
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.
-
-
A classic history
- By Joshua on 01-19-14
By: Barbara Tuchman
-
A Great Place to Have a War
- America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
- By: Joshua Kurlantzick
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1960 President Eisenhower was focused on Laos, a tiny Southeast Asian nation few Americans had ever heard of. Washington feared the country would fall to Communism, triggering a domino effect in the rest of Southeast Asia. So in January 1961, Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation Momentum, a plan to create a proxy army of ethnic Hmong to fight Communist forces in Laos. While remaining hidden from the American public and most of Congress, Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States.
-
-
illuminating read of Laos' relationship with USA
- By Daniel on 12-28-18
-
Sitting Bull
- The Life and Times of an American Patriot
- By: Robert M. Utley
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reviled by the United States government as a troublemaker and a coward, revered by his people as a great warrior chief, Sitting Bull has long been one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures in American history. Distinguished historian Robert M. Utley has forged a compelling portrait of Sitting Bull, presenting the Lakota perspective for the first time and rendering the most unbiased, historically accurate, and vivid portrait of the man to date.
-
-
Lakota perspective?
- By JoAnne on 02-01-24
By: Robert M. Utley
-
Look at the Birdie
- Unpublished Short Fiction
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Christopher E. Welch
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American literary icon Kurt Vonnegut enjoys immense popularity - and an equally immense amount of critical praise - for such works as his absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five. A must-have for readers everywhere, Look at the Birdie adds further insight into the author's body of work with a riveting collection of his previously unpublished short fiction.
-
-
Great stories and performances to match
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-30-17
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Hank and Jim
- The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart
- By: Scott Eyman
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Fonda and James Stewart were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood for 40 years. They became friends and then roommates as stage actors in New York, and when they began making films in Hollywood, they roomed together again. Between them they made such memorable films as The Grapes of Wrath, Mister Roberts, Twelve Angry Men, and On Golden Pond; and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, and Rear Window.
-
-
Fascinating look into these two actors' lives
- By MPAMIN on 06-25-18
By: Scott Eyman
-
Standard Deviations
- Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics
- By: Gary Smith
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase once cynically observed, "If you torture data long enough, it will confess." Lying with statistics is a time-honored con. In Standard Deviations, economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps that people use to back up their own crackpot theories. Sometimes, the unscrupulous deliberately try to mislead us. Other times, the well-intentioned are blissfully unaware of the mischief they are committing.
-
-
Now, I can't talk to people.....
- By Andrew Dunbar on 09-28-21
By: Gary Smith
-
A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous 14th Century
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.
-
-
A classic history
- By Joshua on 01-19-14
By: Barbara Tuchman
-
Why We Dream
- The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey
- By: Alice Robb
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming - the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they're dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren't just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma.
-
-
Narrator performance goofy
- By "leemac2003" on 01-02-19
By: Alice Robb
-
The Runaway
- Bane Island, Book 1
- By: Lisa Childs
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a remote island off the coast of Maine lies a secluded estate. There, behind wrought iron gates and rock walls, sits Halcyon Hall. Today, it is an exclusive spa catering to wealthy elites and pampered celebrities. But once, it had another name - and a terrifying reputation.... Rosemary Tulle has come to Halcyon Hall desperate to find her younger sister. Seventeen-year-old Genevieve left a brief, troubling message on Rosemary's phone, begging to be picked up. But Rosemary is not on the visitor list, and no one will let her in....
-
-
just so so all around
- By kate smith on 09-06-24
By: Lisa Childs
-
Post-Truth
- By: Lee C. McIntyre
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What, exactly, is post-truth? Is it wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced lying? McIntyre analyzes recent examples - claims about inauguration crowd size, crime statistics, and the popular vote - and finds that post-truth is an assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone to believe something regardless of the evidence. Yet post-truth didn't begin with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific facts about smoking, evolution, vaccines, and climate change offers a road map for more widespread fact denial.
-
-
A politicallly motivated partisan diatribe!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-06-22
By: Lee C. McIntyre
-
Nothing to Envy
- Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.
-
-
The man who wants to be GOD
- By Gohar on 05-08-10
By: Barbara Demick
-
A Morbid Taste for Bones
- By: Ellis Peters
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cadfael's return to his Welsh homeland for a visit proves a rather discomfiting homecoming when an honorable nobleman turns up in a patch of forest with an arrow embedded in his chest. There are questions about the arrow, the man's daughter needs Cadfael's help, and a very odd burial takes place.
-
-
Very pleasant if not much of a mystery.
- By Zenjen on 04-15-10
By: Ellis Peters
-
All Against All
- The Long Winter of 1933 and the Origins of the Second World War
- By: Paul Jankowski
- Narrated by: Dean Gallagher
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All Against All is the story of the season our world changed from postwar to prewar again. It is about the power of bad ideas - exploring why, during a single winter, between November 1932 and April 1933, so much went so wrong. Historian Paul Jankowski reveals that it was collective mentalities and popular beliefs that drove this crucial period that sent nations on the path to war, as much as any rational calculus called "national interest".
-
-
Comprehensive history
- By John Cashman on 06-24-20
By: Paul Jankowski
-
The Pope of Physics
- Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age
- By: Gino Segre, Bettina Hoerlin
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world's physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo. Called "the Pope" by his peers, he was regarded as infallible in his instincts and research. His discoveries changed our world; they led to weapons of mass destruction and conversely to life-saving medical interventions. This unassuming man struggled with issues relevant today, such as the threat of nuclear annihilation and the relationship of science to politics.
-
-
Excellent, but...
- By Rubio on 02-28-17
By: Gino Segre, and others
-
The Lost Generation
- American Writers in Paris in the 1920s
- By: Professor Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Professor Michael Shelden
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost Generation from Professor Michael Shelden evokes one of the most creative periods in American literature. Paris of the 1920s served as a base for such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein. In these lectures, Professor Shelden details and provides fresh insight into the unending allure of the Lost Generation - and of the literary output that exerts a continuing influence nearly a century later.
-
-
Very nice introduction
- By Qu on 04-03-17
-
The Queens of Animation
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History
- By: Nathalia Holt
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Snow White to Moana, from Pinocchio to Frozen, the animated films of Walt Disney Studios have moved and entertained millions. But few fans know that behind these groundbreaking features was an incredibly influential group of women who fought for respect in an often ruthless male-dominated industry and who have slipped under the radar for decades.
-
-
Buy this book!! Truly Inspiring and fascinating!
- By Ellen on 02-05-20
By: Nathalia Holt
-
The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success
- By: Brian Tracy
- Narrated by: Brian Tracy
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why are some people more successful in business than others? Why do some businesses flourish where others fail? Renowned business speaker and author Brian Tracy has discovered the answers to these profoundly puzzling questions. In this eye-opening practical audio guide, he presents a set of principles or "universal laws" that lie behind the success of business people everywhere.
-
-
How to achieve business success!
- By morton on 03-12-08
By: Brian Tracy
-
A Summer at Thousand Island House
- By: Susan G Mathis
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She came to work with the children, not fall in love. Part-nanny, part entertainer, Addison Bell has always had an enduring love for children. So what better way to use her creative energy than to spend the summer nannying at the renowned Thousand Island House on Staple's Island? As Addi thrives in her work, she attracts the attention of the recreation pavilion's manager, Liam Donovan, as well as the handsome Navy Officer Lt. Worthington, a lighthouse inspector, hotel patron, and single father of mischievous little Jimmy. But when Jimmy goes missing, Addi finds both her job and her ...
By: Susan G Mathis
-
Minus Me
- By: Mameve Medwed
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart, Sam, are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich - their nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame. But into their mostly charmed marriage comes a scary medical diagnosis for Annie - and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed.
By: Mameve Medwed
What listeners say about Mark Twain: Man in White
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Tad Davis
- 08-23-10
Fantastic book
Shelden's book about the last period of Mark Twain's life is one of the best books about Twain I've ever read. Incidents that are often reduced to summary sentences (like the burglary of Twain's home Stormfield) are here given full (and exciting) narrative treatment. The people surrounding Twain, usually treated as second-class citizens or even footnotes, emerge as living people: his surviving daughters, Clara and Jean; his secretary Isabel Lyon; his financial champion Henry Rogers; even the two men who break into Stormfield, only to flee in a hail of gunfire. (They were later caught and tried, and Twain testified at the trial.)
Shelden goes to great lengths to counter the image of Twain as a bitter and isolated old man. This was no King Lear, raging at the gods in broken grandeur. Yes, there were dark moments in Twain's writing, and they grew darker as he grew older, and Shelden takes it into account; but he also traces Twain's movements and interactions in great detail: and Twain was a man who, to the end of his life, was ALWAYS moving and interacting. Shelden also gains perspective by comparing some of these darker writings to similar attitudes expressed throughout Twain's life. The contrast isn't so much between Twain the young and happy humorist and Twain the old and bitter philosopher; it's between Twain the life-long bitter philosopher and Twain the convivial host, cat-lover, and incorrigible practical joker.
Andrew Garman's narration is excellent. I highly recommend the book.
My only regret is that one of the loveliest images in the published book didn't, and couldn't, make it into the audiobook. The book includes a photograph of Twain on Rogers' yacht -- he actually did a fair amount of sailing with Rogers in those last years -- teeth clamped down on a cigar, bowler hat on head, grinning like a monkey. Some misanthrope.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hans Rigelman
- 10-17-17
Final Years of an American Icon
It's not how you begin the race, but how you finish it that matters. Mark Twain finished well. Though his final years were marked with much sadness and betrayal, he stayed true to himself, and his humor and wit remained with him to the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JK
- 05-20-22
RECOMMEND
This is a fascinating study of USA’s quirkiest of characters. The author explores Mark Twain’s life in his declining years, up to the very end he was a character. This is a chronicle of the last years of his life. His literary works had already made him famous. This is a period of flamboyance, triumph and tragedy.
The end is melancholic and sad.
Glad I read most of his books before I started this book.
My thanks to the author, the narrator and Audible to make this book available, JK.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wiregrass18
- 09-27-12
A great look at Twain
The book is well researched and beautifully written. The author has a deep understanding and appreciation of Twain. The story arc is a sad but rich one--the older Twain facing the prospect of his own death and trying to live out his remaining days as fully as he can. Twain's exuberance and irrepressible wit crash continually against the realities of illness, betrayals of trust, the death of friends, and the struggles of children. There is a great sense of humanity in the book that I found interesting and enriching, in addition to the insight it offers into the life of one America's most interesting men. The narration was close to perfect.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Debra Chilcott
- 12-28-18
Superb, honest, shocking, touching
Splendid writing, splendid narration. Sheldon focuses on the last few years of Mark Twain's life, but he folds in history and biography of Twain's earlier years while also sharing a detailed story of family, close friends, and confidants. You get up close and personal with the legendary Mark Twain and the human Sam Clemens.
I never grew bored while listening to the 17 hours of this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MIDan
- 11-19-15
Amazing Tale of an Amazing Life
What made the experience of listening to Mark Twain: Man in White the most enjoyable?
After reading this story, I am convinced that Mark Twain is America's greatest treasure.
What other book might you compare Mark Twain: Man in White to and why?
This book was very well done. It had the feel of a David McCullough biography.
What does Andrew Garman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Andrew Garman is one of the best. Smooth, yet able to relay appropriate tone.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The story surrounding Twain's passing.
Any additional comments?
A "must have"
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maggie Magoo
- 09-14-15
At last, a biography that captures Mark Twain's spirit
What did you love best about Mark Twain: Man in White?
I've read much by and about Twain, but I laughed out loud at Twain's comments more with this book than any other about him--even think it's better than Mark Twain's autobiographies. Perhaps I could have appreciated them more if I had read Michaell Sheldon's book first, since this book provides the back stories for Twain's autobiography.
What did you like best about this story?
One of the liveliest biographies I've ever read. It's as if I know what Mark Twain was really was like after reading this. Hated to finish this book because I knew his death was coming, and I'd miss him like an old friend.
What does Andrew Garman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Writing and narration were perfect. Excellent pacing throughout, especially when reading Mark Twain's quotes. Will look for more books with this reader.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Daniel
- 10-18-10
Excellent.
This is an excellent book on the later years of Mark Twain's life. The anecdotes and tracking of Twain's later years inspired in me a new appreciation for the man and his brand of comedy. It created in interest in his stories that I did not previously have. The story is well read by Mr. Garman and he does not make a mockery of Twain nor of the book. Worth the listen to writers and fans of Mark Twain's work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Roy
- 02-09-11
Mark Twain's Final Years
Michael Shelden in "Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years" has made a welcome addition to what I label the "sunset years genre." In this book, Sheldon follows Mark Twain in his last few years of life allowing the reader to catch a glimpse of how a great man and author spent his last days on earth. The first half of the book digresses a few times relating stories of individuals who had a tangential entrrance into Twain's life, but those are also interesting. Most interesting is the second half which relates how Twain was cheated by trusted associates and family difficulties which he faced. The final chapters detailing his angina and final death are touching. Another book which relates the last years of an individual is David Eisenhower's memoir "Going Home to Glory" about his grandfather's post presidential years and his death. This book is also available from Audible and well worth the reader's time. Andrew Garman does an outstanding job reading "Mark Twain: Man in White."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful