Listeners may find themselves checking for symptoms as they explore this well-researched volume detailing efforts to identify and eradicate better known and more obscure pandemics of the twentieth century, including Spanish influenza, parrot fever, AIDS and ebola. John Lee's narration appreciably enhances this illuminating audiobook. His steady voice, careful pacing, and authoritarian intonation help listeners consider the alarming statistics on worldwide deaths from pandemics and absorb the abundant medical and scientific data, although these findings occasionally become too technical for a general audience. Medical historian Honigsbaum intersperses factual information with multiple accounts of individuals struck by these illnesses and those who worked to save them. Lee's voice warms and softens to express small moments in these lost lives.
Pub Date: April 9, 2019
Duration: 13 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781684419883
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Geoffrey C. Ward's audiobook version of the current Ken Burns documentary series recounts the history of the Revolution as a story, and Robert Petkoff delivers it as such. He matches its narrative flow with a polished performance that draws the listener compulsively and pleasurably along. Never calling attention to himself, he narrates the text deftly with a subtle but perceptible mirroring of both sense and feeling. Petkoff's performance is like a dish that the more you have of it, the more you want. Six sidebar essays by other authors are split between narrators Beth Hicks and Fred Sanders. While they're not up to Petkoff's level of fluidity--Sanders' performance is somewhat stiff--both are able and professional enough. Overall, an engaging, illuminating retelling of America's founding story.
Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
Duration: 22 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217165483
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Never underestimate the value of a pleasing voice, especially when the subject is history--in particular, a topic as obtuse as the English Civil War. Mark Meadows's light British accent is an enhancement and a defining feature of this well-told narrative, a sequel of sorts to Oxford scholar Jonathan Healey's THE BLAZING WORLD. That narrative surveyed the entire revolutionary 17th century in Britain. This one focuses on a few momentous months when King Charles I and his Parliament split irrevocably, and England spiraled into civil war. As a case study in government deadlock and division, these events draw numerous parallels to contemporary scenarios. As an audiobook experience, Meadows delivers a lucid, arresting analysis of the how and why of England's most tragic era.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217165612
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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