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WHY WE DRIVE

TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF THE OPEN ROAD

Ron Butler's narration of this meditation on the meaning of driving takes listeners by the lapels and gently shakes their preconceived notions. His smoothly instructive and carefully paced rendition of this audiobook gives life to this examination of the assumption that a problem's technological solution--whether it's cameras on street lights, autonomous autos, or smart cities--comes without a cost to our individuality. Crawford owns about six vehicles, cars and motorcycles, in various states of repair and sees real value in taking them apart and putting them back together and in indulging in the lure of the open road. At the conclusion of this audiobook, Butler delivers the thesis of Crawford's thought-provoking cri de coeur: "To drive is to exercise one's skill at being free."

Pub Date: June 9, 2020

Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins

DD ISBN: 9780063015685

Publisher: Harper Audio

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026

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    THE EMERSON CIRCLE

    THE CONCORD RADICALS WHO REINVENTED THE WORLD

    Listeners will find much worth discovering in the lives of these vanguards of American intellectual life.

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    Kevin R. Free’s voice is the perfect vehicle for this fascinating portrait of a remarkable group of artists, philosophers, abolitionists, and social reformers who all happened to live in Concord, Massachusetts in the 19th century. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and her father, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, and many others called themselves transcendentalists and became the first truly American philosophical movement. With his genial delivery, Free is up to the task of narrating this complicated account of many intersecting lives; his inflections add character to the correspondence and inject life into the often formal writings the Circle left behind.

    Listeners will find much worth discovering in the lives of these vanguards of American intellectual life.

    Pub Date: April 28, 2026

    Duration: 9 hrs, 53 mins

    DD ISBN: 9781668132777

    Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

    Review Posted Online: July 15, 2026

    Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

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      CAVE MOUNTAIN

      A DISAPPEARANCE AND A RECKONING IN THE OZARKS

      An interesting Ozark history that doesn’t quite cohere.

      Author Hale presents the case of his young cousin Haley's disappearance on Cave Mountain in 2001 and the ensuing search and rescue operation, the largest in Arkansas history. Hale connects this with the murder of 3-year-old Bethany by a small and isolated religious sect decades earlier on the same mountain. Narrating these two stories in a low, slightly gruff tone, Hale weaves together family anecdotes, Ozark lore, local and broader history, and Christian theology. While the two cases are intriguing, the work lacks focus and contains extraneous details.

      An interesting Ozark history that doesn’t quite cohere.

      Pub Date: March 3, 2026

      Duration: 11 hrs, 9 mins

      DD ISBN: 9780063398153

      Publisher: Harper Audio

      Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026

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