This history rows us across the Styx and into a time very like our own. It takes a golden-voiced narrator to bring the shades to life. Thus, narrator Arthur Morey literally holds his breath when James Monroe takes command at Trenton and stops a musket ball. The spurting artery is clamped. The fifth president will carry Hessian lead throughout a life that would be stupendous, even if he hadn't been critical of the purchase of Louisiana and Florida. An abolitionist, Monroe agonized over the country's original sin, but kept his slaves. Morey narrates this superb biography as if it were a thriller, though our fledgling nation has yet to reach the happy shores Americans--at least since Disney--have come to expect.
Pub Date: May 5, 2020
Duration: 28 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593164488
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Newsom sets the record straight in this above average political memoir.
Newsom’s friendly, solicitous narration of his memoir is especially impressive considering that he suffers from dyslexia, a condition that he wasn’t diagnosed with until he was in the fifth grade. Newsom uses his memoir to clarify and examine his life and to preemptively respond to critics about the myths and faux pas connected with his past, including his connection to the Getty family, his four-year marriage to Kimberly Guilfoyle, and, most revealing, the fractured patrician and plebian childhood he spent with his divorced parents. His father was a judge and a friend of Gordon Getty, and his mother worked three jobs to keep Gavin and his sister fed and clothed. The memoir makes for an engaging listen, with Newsom’s rise to governor taking a back seat to his surprising self-examination.
Newsom sets the record straight in this above average political memoir.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 57 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217070619
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
Brisk, fluent, pleasing to the ear, Emma Gregory's narration does justice to a fine historian and her landmark biography of one of Britain's most misunderstood rulers. On the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, Scotland's James VI became England's James I, first in the Stuart line. James was one of Britain's most intelligent and energetic rulers, and one the most complex. Today he is accepted for the inclinations that have marginalized him for centuries and in this fine narrative is properly assessed for the singular place he holds in Britain's history. The narrative is organized topically, rather than strictly chronologically, and requires a high level of vocal skill to deliver clearly and effectively. This finely nuanced biography has the gifted, insightful narrator it deserves.
Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
Duration: 18 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318527753
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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