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Great American Authors Read from Their Works, Volume 1
- James Baldwin Reading from Another Country
- Narrated by: James Baldwin
- Length: 15 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Great American Authors Read from Their Works, Volume 1
- James Baldwin Reading from Giovanni's Room
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James Baldwin gives an electrifying reading about a young gay American in Paris recalling a dramatic and transforming incident from his boyhood, as he struggles to accept his sexual identity.
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Heart-achingly beautiful
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James Baldwin
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This is a biography of James Baldwin, author, one-time preacher, and civil rights activist. He chose David Leeming, a close friend and colleague, to write his biography and granted him access to his correspondence. Leeming traces his life from his birth in Harlem in 1924 to his self-imposed exile in Europe, his later years as political activist, and his public funeral in 1987.
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On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America's most influential conservative intellectual. The topic was "the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro", and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it. Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is upon Us is the first book to tell the full story of the event.
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James Baldwin, an Original
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A portrait of the singular author at 40, Gloria Steinem's James Baldwin, an Original finds Baldwin between rehearsals for his Broadway play, Blues for Mister Charlie, a tragedy loosely based on the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, as he attempts to get his vision from page to stage uncompromised - and wrestles with his growing fame as a writer and activist.
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Greek Myths
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The ancient texts we call Greek Myths are our window into the distant past, a view of a world that existed not only in the mind of the poets, but also in the hearts of the humble natives of ancient Greece. Listen to the wonderful journeys and adventures of these ancient Greek Gods and heroes.
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Had to stop listening
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Small Island
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Andrea Levy's acclaimed Small Island is a delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel of empire, prejudice, war, and love. It was awarded the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize. It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun.
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A breath taking saga.
- By Dolly on 01-10-15
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Great American Authors Read from Their Works, Volume 1
- James Baldwin Reading from Giovanni's Room
- By: Calliope Author Readings, James Baldwin
- Narrated by: James Baldwin
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Baldwin gives an electrifying reading about a young gay American in Paris recalling a dramatic and transforming incident from his boyhood, as he struggles to accept his sexual identity.
-
-
Heart-achingly beautiful
- By Schwep Fizz on 07-08-16
-
James Baldwin
- A Biography
- By: David Leeming
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a biography of James Baldwin, author, one-time preacher, and civil rights activist. He chose David Leeming, a close friend and colleague, to write his biography and granted him access to his correspondence. Leeming traces his life from his birth in Harlem in 1924 to his self-imposed exile in Europe, his later years as political activist, and his public funeral in 1987.
-
-
Must try harder
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-
The Fire Is upon Us
- James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America
- By: Nicholas Buccola
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America's most influential conservative intellectual. The topic was "the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro", and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it. Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is upon Us is the first book to tell the full story of the event.
-
James Baldwin, an Original
- By: Gloria Steinem
- Narrated by: Marianne Fraulo
- Length: 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A portrait of the singular author at 40, Gloria Steinem's James Baldwin, an Original finds Baldwin between rehearsals for his Broadway play, Blues for Mister Charlie, a tragedy loosely based on the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, as he attempts to get his vision from page to stage uncompromised - and wrestles with his growing fame as a writer and activist.
-
Greek Myths
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Michael Scott
- Length: 1 hr and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The ancient texts we call Greek Myths are our window into the distant past, a view of a world that existed not only in the mind of the poets, but also in the hearts of the humble natives of ancient Greece. Listen to the wonderful journeys and adventures of these ancient Greek Gods and heroes.
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Had to stop listening
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Small Island
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- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Andrea Levy's acclaimed Small Island is a delicately wrought and profoundly moving novel of empire, prejudice, war, and love. It was awarded the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction, the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize. It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun.
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A breath taking saga.
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A Song Flung Up to Heaven
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- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
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This is the next installment in a six volume autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In A Song Flung Up to Heaven Maya Angelou describes her poignant encounters with Martin Luther King, Jr.; her work with the civil rights movement; and witnessing the Watts riots. Battered by the loss of revered black leaders, it takes writer James Baldwin to finally force her out of isolation with a dinner party that inspired her to write.
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Harlem, Anfang der 70er-Jahre: Tish und Fonny sind ein Paar. Ihren zerrütteten Familien setzen sie trotzige Hoffnung entgegen. Tish ist schwanger, sie wollen heiraten und malen sich eine große Zukunft in der Beale Street aus. Doch dann wird Fonny der Vergewaltigung einer Puertoricanerin beschuldigt und inhaftiert. Tish und ihr Anwalt unternehmen alles Menschenmögliche, Fonnys Unschuld zu beweisen, bevor das Baby zur Welt kommt - gegen die Widerstände einer weißen Justiz. Der Fall spaltet die Nachbarschaft, führt aber auch zusammen, was einst zerrüttet war.
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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born - a history whose epicentre is rooted in Vietnam - and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class and masculinity.
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Zadie Smith's White Teeth is a classic international best seller and an unforgettable portrait of London. One of the most talked about fictional debuts ever, White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-listen.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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Maya Angelou's six volumes of autobiography are a testament to the talents and resilience of this extraordinary writer. Loving the world, she also knows its cruelty. As a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement, and celebration. In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover.
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Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
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A Signature Performance: Kenneth Branagh plays this like a campfire ghost story, told by a haunted, slightly insane Marlow.
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A Very Interesting and Challenging Listen
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Summary
In the first passage James Baldwin reads with passion about the suicide of a young black man in despair. The second passage takes place at his funeral service, where Baldwin speaks with both anger and eloquence, in the voice of the minister attempting to comfort his friends and family.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Great American Authors Read from Their Works, Volume 1
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Performance
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- m@chaka
- 26-12-17
As James Baldwin reads...
The story is a tragedy, make no mistake. But I loved the violence in James Baldwin's narration - I loved the distance he goes to brutally persuade the listener with his vivid voice that the tragedy is in fact a release - a justifiable act, an act not so 'dishonerable'... getting the whole book now
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- Simon
- 27-05-16
The book is great but this is only an extract.
The book is great but this is only an extract of it narrating the decisive moment for Rufus and the preacher in the church.
3 people found this helpful
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- Michell Graham
- 23-03-16
Baldwin: The best that ever was.
A compellingly told account, written with the emotion that only Baldwin brings. You felt this characters turmoil.
1 person found this helpful