Annabelle Hirsch's feminist look at history through 101 idiosyncratic objects is given a captivating performance by the author and 100 narrators. The choice of performers, including actors, authors, and commentators, is as clever as the short essays about the objects. We have an anecdote about a healed femur from 30,000 BCE, narrated by Gillian Anderson; a fifth-century BCE Amazon warrior doll, read by Len Pennie; a seventeenth-century thumbscrew, read by Val McDermid; an eighteenth-century bidet, read by Olivia Colman; a nineteenth-century knife, read by Samin Nosrat; Greta Garbo's 1927 pen, read by Christiane Amanpour; 2017's pussy hat, read by Vivian Opara. These and many more voices enhance the informative, insightful, subversive, and witty writing, making this an audiobook to savor and recommend.
Pub Date: March 5, 2024
Duration: 13 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593868171
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Carol Matthau epitomizes a glamour and lifestyle not associated with the 1990's. Here is a life of privilege, tragedy and worry about what friends would think of her new frock or lover. Matthau possesses a voice and delivery that simply could not be improved on. In her coy whisper, she tells compelling stories involving everyone from William Saroyan (husband #1) and Truman Capote to Carson McCullers, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Walter Matthau (husband #2). This excellent audio presentation will leave you wanting to read the entire book to discover what juicy tidbits were left out.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: The Publishing Mills
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A fascinating, well-conceived history.
In a series of highly focused but expansive chapters, author Willetts shows how a society reveals itself through its night life. That focus proves especially dramatic in revealing the anxieties underlying the surface gaiety of Paris' belle epoque and Berlin's Weimar Republic. Earlier examples, such as Japan’s floating world and Georgian London’s pleasure gardens, seem more elegant and more genuinely pleasurable as compared to Willetts’ studies of more recent cases, such as Warhol’s Factory and Studio 54 in New York. Narrator Emily Pennant-Rea has a British accent and a tendency to crowd her words. But the narrative is absorbing enough to reward close listening.
A fascinating, well-conceived history.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 38 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668192160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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