Narrator Alex Boyles presents this inspiring audiobook with deliberate enunciation and creative pacing that make the author's writing sound important, relevant to our times. His flinty vocal tone and strategic use of pauses give the audio appealing impact without calling attention to his outsized talent. The awakened democracy that author Michael Levitin refers to includes voting rights but also the stalled progressive agenda that led to Occupy Wall Street and was subsequently amplified by Bernie Sanders and other Democratic lawmakers. Levitin shows how the 2011 Manhattan demonstration breathed new life into issues like the minimum wage, Black Lives Matter, the #MeToo movement, and more. His sharp historical summaries, stories of his own activism, and Boyles's performance combine to make this a riveting call to action.
Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2021
Duration: 14 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798200798933
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While author Zengerle provides a workmanlike reading of the lengthy prologue, Beth Hicks successfully presents an engaging, straightforward, and unadorned narration of the balance. Zengerle, a New York Times Magazine writer, presents a well-researched, if highly-opinionated, examination of the life and evolution of conservative pundit Tucker Carlson. Zengerle also examines the polarization of media covering American politics online and on cable networks, such as CNN and Fox News. Despite the author's sharply critical and, at times, angry rhetoric, Hicks manages to offer a calm and nuanced narration. Hicks delivers on this treatise profiling the American body politics' radicalization and extreme polarity in both the process itself and its coverage reporting.
Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217296149
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Zygar, who was born at the beginning of the last decade of the USSR, is now an expatriate Russian journalist living in the West. In this audiobook he provides great detail on the interpersonal relationships among the various members of the Soviet ruling elite and how what seemed like an opportunity for "democracy" was muffed by all parties concerned. Henning's clear voice is easily understood. While his frequent mispronunciations of Russian names and words may be a distraction, the information he presents is interesting, and Zygar is a good writer. Henning's overall narration brings clarity to the decades-long decline and seemingly sudden demise of the Soviet Union.
Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
Duration: 22 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797192918
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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