Reader Raymond Todd, like his subject, President Grover Cleveland, remains stodgy and proper as he renders a weighty and instructive period of American history, the latter part of the 1800s. Todd lowers his already low voice and modifies his inflection to quote Cleveland, an important feature in a biography with many quotations. Believed to have weighed 300 pounds, the rotund statesman was called "Uncle Jumbo" by his family, and we hear many examples of his speaking and writing in "polysyllabic profundities." The honest man survives a secret and wide excision of an oral cancer aboard a yacht on the Potomac, but not running a Democratic administration during the depression of 1893.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2002
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
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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