NPR culture commentator Goldsmith greatly embellishes the true story of how his mother and father survived the Holocaust with the help of love, music, and Goebbels’s Juedische Kulturbund, an organization showing off Jewish artists formed by the Nazis to dispel rumors of anti-Semitism. The stiff deadpan of his oral delivery, which so well serves him on air, may be inappropriate for the drama of this story, but it does tend to mitigate against his writer’s schmaltz. Besides, the history has some importance and is, despite the faults of its telling, totally absorbing.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2001
Duration: 12 hrs
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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