With muckraking fervor, popular podcasters Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson ask a complicated question: What's wrong with how our government operates, and what needs to change? Both authors begin in an optimistic tone but shift into a world-weary tone when discussing how seminal institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) once encouraged and supported scientific invention and innovation but now seem tied in knots with budget-slashing from the Right and needless red tape from the Left. Operation Warp Speed's federal/private partnership to quickly create a COVID-19 vaccine is presented as a healthy example of how focus and efficiency can meet a nation's most dire needs. A thorough and intelligent discussion that sounds the alarm without sounding alarmist.
Pub Date: March 18, 2025
Duration: 7 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797168609
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 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: N/A
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: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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