The True American
Murder and Mercy in Texas
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Narrated by:
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Anand Giridharadas
About this listen
Imagine that a terrorist tried to kill you. If you could face him again, on your terms, what would you do?
The True American tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren't so lucky, dying at once.
The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives - one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country.
Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He longs to confront Stroman and speak to him about the attack that changed their lives. Bhuiyan publicly forgives Stroman, in the name of his religion and its notion of mercy. Then he wages a legal and PR campaign, against the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry, to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.
Ranging from Texas's juvenile justice system to the swirling crowd of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca; from a biker bar to an immigrant mosque in Dallas; from young military cadets in Bangladesh to elite paratroopers in Israel; from a wealthy household of chicken importers in Karachi, Pakistan; to the sober residences of Brownwood, Texas, The True American is a rich, colorful, profoundly moving exploration of the American dream in its many dimensions. Ultimately, it tells a story about our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter between Islam and the West, about how - or whether - we choose what we become.
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- By: M. William Phelps
- Narrated by: J. Charles
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Jeanne Dominico's fiancé found her body on her kitchen floor. More than forty stab wounds and blows to her head with a blunt instrument had cut her life short. What monster had struck in the heart of a peaceful New England town?
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"True?" Crime
- By Shelli on 09-30-09
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Son of a Grifter
- The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America: A Memoir by the Other Son
- By: Kent Walker, Mark Schone
- Narrated by: John Glouchevitch
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her 23-year-old son Kenny. But the most chilling story of all was never told - until now. Kent Walker, Sante's elder son, reveals how he survived 40 years of "the Dragon Lady's" very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away.
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CON PEOPLE AT THEIR WORST!
- By jaye on 07-03-17
By: Kent Walker, and others
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Girls Like Us
- Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
- By: Rachel Lloyd
- Narrated by: Rachel Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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During her teens, Rachel Lloyd ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. With time, through incredible resilience, and with the help of a local church community, she finally broke free of her pimp and her past and devoted herself to helping other young girls escape "the life". In Girls Like Us, Lloyd reveals the dark world of commercial sex trafficking in cinematic detail and tells the story of her groundbreaking nonprofit organization: GEMS.
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Rachel Lloyd is an Amazing Woman
- By joan m. on 01-14-22
By: Rachel Lloyd
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Last Dance, Last Chance
- And Other True Cases (Ann Rule's Crime Files, Book 8)
- By: Ann Rule
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Ann Rule presents her 8th collection of crime stories drawn from her private files - and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences. Dr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But no one was safe if they got in his way. With scalpel, drugs, and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes - until his own schemes backfired.
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Enjoyed the stories
- By Grace on 05-13-14
By: Ann Rule
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To Obama
- A Diary of a Nation
- By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
- Narrated by: Jeanne Marie Laskas, Sullivan Jones, MacLeod Andrews, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given 10 handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens - the unfiltered voice of a nation - from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years:
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a must have audible book or print, it will amaze u
- By 1mercedeb8 on 11-08-18
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Unholy Messenger
- The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer
- By: Stephen Singular
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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To all appearances, Dennis Rader was a model citizen in the small town of Park City, Kansas, where he had lived with his family almost his entire life. He was a town compliance officer, a former Boy Scout leader, the president of his church congregation, and a seemingly ordinary father and husband. But Rader's average life belied the existence of his dark, sadistic other self: he was the BTK serial killer.
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It's a Christian Book!!
- By Nick on 07-07-16
By: Stephen Singular
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Wilde Lake
- A Novel
- By: Laura Lippman
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney, Nicole Poole
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Luisa "Lu" Brant is the newly elected - and first female - state's attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It's not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard County doesn't see many homicides.
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In a word saccharine and boring
- By Rena on 05-12-16
By: Laura Lippman
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The Pursuit of Happyness (Abridged)
- By: Chris Gardner
- Narrated by: Andre Blake
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Abridged
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At the age of 20, Chris Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. However, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him part of the city's working homeless with his toddler son.
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Very Good Story!
- By Lito Da Critic on 06-02-06
By: Chris Gardner
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Hate Crime
- The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas
- By: Joyce King
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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On June 7, 1998, James Byrd, Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was dragged to his death while chained to the back of a pickup truck driven by three young white men. It happened just outside of Jasper, a sleepy East Texas logging town that, within 24 hours of the discovery of the murder, would be inextricably linked in the nation's imagination to an exceptionally brutal, modern-day lynching. In this superbly written examination of the murder and its aftermath, award-winning journalist Joyce King brings us on a journey that begins at the crime scene.
By: Joyce King
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Lethal Guardian
- By: M. William Phelps
- Narrated by: J. Charles
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A real-estate lawyer in Connecticut's moneyed seaside communities, Beth Ann Carpenter, 30, had beauty, brains, and success. But she wanted more - namely guardianship of her two-year-old niece, Rebecca, daughter of Beth's estranged sister, Kim.
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Lethal Guardian
- By Tamara on 10-19-10
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Preemptive Love
- Pursuing Peace One Heart at a Time
- By: Jeremy Courtney
- Narrated by: Jeremy Courtney
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In the middle of the Iraq War, Jeremy and Jessica Courtney found themselves with their two children caught up in the turmoil, just hoping to make a difference. After an encounter with a father whose little girl was dying from a heart defect, they began to investigate options for helping and learned that untold thousands of children across Iraq were in similar need, waiting in line for heart surgery in a country without a qualified heart surgeon.
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Recommended Highly!
- By Zak on 06-13-18
By: Jeremy Courtney
What listeners say about The True American
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- slnichols
- 07-29-16
Great story, a bit padded
The story is great but it feels padded out for length. There is so much extra information that more loose ends are created. I want more because there's so much here. It would have been better if narrowed down a bit.
The narration is clear and easy to follow with the author changing his voice slightly for each person's dialogue to avoid much confusion. My only complaint on the narration is his speed. I kept it on 1.25× speed all the way through because he spoke so slowly. It felt more natural this way. It is an easy fix and you will get through the story a bit faster which is good if you don't have much time to read it.
I recommend the book because it has a powerful message that is important in this time in America.
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- valerie
- 11-10-24
Blending beliefs, cultures and humanity
The story illustrates a path blending aspects of actual factual occurrences with belief’s individually held, along side of intentions which strive to obtain purpose through kindness, faith and love for self and other.
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- Tristan
- 08-21-16
Loved the story! life changing!
i loved this story and the narrator was awesome! the book actually made me cry, but some of the back stories were irrelevant, although mind altering!
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2 people found this helpful
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- denise
- 08-23-21
Heart wrenching
Anand Giridharadas brings an incredibly complex piece of history to us with in this book. The story brought me to tears and downright sobbing at times and also overwhelmed me with joy, with Rais’ love for his mother and humanity, as wretched as we are. I cried the Stromons, for Rais and his family and many times just had to stop and rest from the book. I recommend this as required reading in helping to understand racism, white supremacy and the decay of family.
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- John
- 09-03-15
moving sad story
very much worth a credit. racism and hate eventually give way to forgiveness and beauty.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Rich
- 12-29-19
Heart wrenching and inspirational at the same time.
A great story of the American dream, and what’s so wrong with so much of America today.
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- Socrates
- 03-09-16
What an inspiring story in a selfish country
in this country full of selfishness, it's rare to forgive to this extent. great lesson
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7 people found this helpful
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- JDF
- 06-08-18
Wonderful slice of life story
This is a wonderful yet tragic slice of life story about a white bigot and a Muslim. The story is nicely detailed and shows the backgrounds of the main characters and how they came to intersect. Great unsensational narration - perfect for the subject matter.
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- Daryl
- 04-07-15
Imporetant moving read
What did you like best about this story?
I enjoyed the intertwining stories, what made these two men take the paths they did.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It actually made me uncomfortable. What brought these men to this place? What are their families like now? While I cannot say that I would have made the decisions Rais did, I understand the place he came from. My Christian faith also extols forgiveness.
Any additional comments?
This is an important read. It does ask more questions than it answers, but I loved it for its messiness and non-preachy look at some pretty intense topics - nature vs. nurture, religion, terrorism, patriotism...
Well worth your time and credit!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Angel
- 08-12-16
Great story, lackluster but well spoken narrator
There was never emotion in the narrators voice. This was especially world breaking when it was clear the character was sobbing, but the narrator spoke as if normal conversation. I realize that isn't a theatrical reading, but it would have been nice for a bit more expression. Besides that the narrator was well spoken with very clear annunciation and attempted accents very lightly here and there.
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2 people found this helpful