While many photographs documented the horrors of the Vietnam War, one stands above the rest as the most indelible image of that conflict: the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a naked Vietnamese girl aflame with burning napalm. Kim Phuc is the girl in the picture. In a soft, pleasant voice, with a touch of an Asian accent, the author reads her biography of a young girl enveloped in a war difficult for us to understand because it had no front. The juxtaposition of such a quiet and reserved narrator and the atrocities she describes make the acts seem even more brutal. But not all of Chong's reading is restrained; at one point she cups her hands and shouts an announcement over a loudspeaker. Kim Phuc's name means happiness in her native language; her personality glows in the warmth of Chong's narration.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2001
Duration: 15 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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