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
The road to online romance has victims on both sides of the ocean.
Nathan Luwa’s mastery of Nigerian accents lends authenticity to his narration and humanizes the four digital scammers profiled in this nonfiction exposé. Flush with wired money and gift cards, these youths (nicknamed Yahoo Boys) spend their nights trolling lonely Americans on the internet and their days living off hotel room service, buying Gucci for girlfriends and watered-down champagne for friends. They share backstories of extreme poverty and an inability to envision a future; Yahoo Boys don’t save or plan ahead, living from one romance scam to the next. The author has a personal stake in all this—his mother gave thousands of dollars to a Yahoo Boy posing as a U.S. soldier—and he spent months embedded among Yahoo Boys in Lagos.
The road to online romance has victims on both sides of the ocean.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 4 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250459060
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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