The authors of this quick-moving examination of the issues and problems of cities, in history and in the age of Covid, narrate its rather personal first section themselves. Both are professors of economics at Harvard. David Cutler displays some warmth, but Edward Glaeser's professorial tone is uncongenial. Narrator Teri Schnaubelt also registers a lack of warmth. Eventually, the listener gets used to the off-putting tone, but the relentless pace of the program--perhaps due to editorial compression--defies listener adjustment. It is always comprehensible but never comfortable. The text is often interesting and informative--covering public health, education, policing, business regulation, and zoning and building--but the failure to accommodate the listener's comfort in tone and pacing keeps this program from being fully enjoyable.
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593453766
Publisher: Penguin 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
An absorbing drama.
Reena Dutt takes listeners to Cleveland Heights, where Sam disappears the morning after a fight with her wife, Aliya. Umrigar’s text immerses listeners in both women’s experiences, switching perspectives deliberately. Dutt evinces grief, terror, and rage (alas, often conveyed in clunky figurative language) as Sam and Ali navigate this cataclysm, which is complicated by their status as a mixed-race, queer couple. Dutt’s voice for Ali is grave and deliberate, and for Sam, lighter but still firm. Secondary figures are also carefully characterized; the lead investigator and Ali’s Indian Muslim father are particularly well realized. Dutt’s attention to detail extends to the pronunciation of Ali’s name: correctly South Asian in the mouths of those who know her well, broadened to a nasal “alley” by Americans who don’t.
An absorbing drama.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668655023
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: yesterday
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