Tony-nominated actress Anne Twomey has the perfect voice for Ehrenreich's prose. Funny, sarcastic, even angry, she's also feminine, charming. Published in 2001, Ehrenreich's bestseller NICKEL AND DIMED chronicled her adventures at the bottom of the pay scale. Here she changes her name and tries to get a middle-class job, but fails. "Hi, I'm Barbara Alexander," she learns to say, "and I'm a crackerjack PR person." No soap, although there are a great many people eager to sell her soap of their own. Those she encounters guide retail techniques, contacts, and perhaps most pernicious--attitude. They recommend a stance so cheerful and so slavish as to constitute a defeat much graver than unemployment.
Pub Date: 2005
Duration: 7 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781593977313
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Buckley offers a reasonable proposal for a national service program without jail or criminal penalties. Narrator Lawrence reads with a slow and careful announcer's voice; one wishes Buckley were reading this one himself. Books on Tape does its usual quality job with formatting, packaging and tape-turning instructions. The reader repeats the last sentence at such times, so you're sure you haven't missed anything. Popular nonfiction collections will appreciate Gratitude, and the topic is likely to prove timely in the years ahead.
Pub Date:
Duration: 5 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kozol’s shocking exposé of inequities in the funding of our public schools contrasts white suburban schools with those serving black and Hispanic populations. Interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators add eloquent testimony to Kozol’s disturbing presentation of facts. Narration by Jack Winston is clear and brisk, but the pace is unrelenting, with little pause for transition between scenes or chapters. Winston’s cool, detached voice contrasts with Kozol’s impasssioned and outraged message. The sheer repetition and magnitude of Kozol’s damning evidence is numbing; the narration gives no relief. Powerful medicine, most easily taken in small doses. Music signalling tape changes is jarringly inappropriate.
Pub Date:
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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