Janina Edwards's voice is direct and concise. Her narration captures the author's tone of serious consideration. While the mainstream public may view child protective services as benevolent, if underfunded, state agencies seeking to provide support and care for children at risk, Roberts provides insight into their systemic racism and bias. These entrenched interventional models lead to traumatic family separations arising from children being needlessly placed in foster care. Worse, Black families are disproportionately affected by a wide margin. Roberts's audiobook makes the case for abolition with a vision of how a different system could actually help families without criminalizing them. Edwards's performance gives the appropriate level of gravitas to this difficult subject.
Pub Date: April 5, 2022
Duration: 11 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781549193170
Publisher: Hachette Audio
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: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Listeners who want to know how we got where we are with the big tech companies should start with this convincing foray into the land of the giants. As Columbia University law professor Tim Wu takes them to task, Frits Zernike's narration is thoughtfully paced, and his tempo appropriately propels the action. His storytelling reveals how the companies' power and our dependence on them have brought about the present imbalances: Amazon undercuts its clients by selling similar products more cheaply; Meta (Facebook) buys Instagram and WhatsApp to avoid competition; Google pays rivals not to do searches. To effect change, Wu suggests treating these behemoths like public utilities. Wu writes authoritatively on how tech platforms that began with altruistic slogans have ended up behaving like monopolies.
Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217165643
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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