Versatile narrator Tavia Gilbert performs this significant audiobook with a sure sense of its importance. Her focused reading suits the intent of its thought-provoking treatise on how and why truth and reason are vanishing from our national politics and discourse. The literary allusions and philosophical insights packed into the work would create a challenge for any narrator. Gilbert meets that challenge admirably. A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for THE NEW YORK TIMES, Michiko Kakutani casts her net on contemporary America’s thoughts, habits, and attitudes. While her scorn for the style and substance of President Trump is palpable, she blames postmodernist deconstructionism and its appropriation by the alt-right for our current lack of truth-based argument. A.D.M. 2018 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Pub Date: July 17, 2018
Duration: 3 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780525635017
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Buckley offers a reasonable proposal for a national service program without jail or criminal penalties. Narrator Lawrence reads with a slow and careful announcer's voice; one wishes Buckley were reading this one himself. Books on Tape does its usual quality job with formatting, packaging and tape-turning instructions. The reader repeats the last sentence at such times, so you're sure you haven't missed anything. Popular nonfiction collections will appreciate Gratitude, and the topic is likely to prove timely in the years ahead.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 5 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kozol’s shocking exposé of inequities in the funding of our public schools contrasts white suburban schools with those serving black and Hispanic populations. Interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators add eloquent testimony to Kozol’s disturbing presentation of facts. Narration by Jack Winston is clear and brisk, but the pace is unrelenting, with little pause for transition between scenes or chapters. Winston’s cool, detached voice contrasts with Kozol’s impasssioned and outraged message. The sheer repetition and magnitude of Kozol’s damning evidence is numbing; the narration gives no relief. Powerful medicine, most easily taken in small doses. Music signalling tape changes is jarringly inappropriate.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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