Paul
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A Better War
- The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam
- By: Lewis Sorley
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing on authoritative materials not previously available, including thousands of hours of tape-recorded allied councils of war, award-winning military historian Lewis Sorley has given us what has long been needed - an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these important years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A thought-provoking history of the war 68-75
- By Rodney W. Schmisseur on 02-05-14
- A Better War
- The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam
- By: Lewis Sorley
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
An odd combination of delusion and gibberish.
Reviewed: 12-04-24
Readers may be surprised to learn that the United States won the war in Vietnam two or three times. Add to that the author's hit job on General Westmoreland and a "stabbed in the back" theory of history (the alleged stabbers are the United States Congress, the media and of all suspects, the American people) and you have a witch's. brew that is at least startling.
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Canada
- By: Mike Myers
- Narrated by: Mike Myers
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,870
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,716
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,714
Comedy superstar Mike Myers writes from the (true patriot) heart about his 53-year relationship with his beloved Canada. Mike Myers is a world-renowned actor, director and writer and the man behind some of the most memorable comic characters of our time. But, as he says, "No description of me is truly complete without saying I'm a Canadian". He has often winked and nodded to Canada in his outrageously accomplished body of work, but now he turns the spotlight full-beam on his homeland.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Thoughtful and perfect for any X-Pat from Canada
- By Hugh Burnham on 05-02-17
- Canada
- By: Mike Myers
- Narrated by: Mike Myers
What a wonderful book
Reviewed: 07-28-24
Mike Myers is a national treasure, times two. This memoir/love song to Canada (and the United States) is the funniest and most patriotic document I have ever read. Try combining humor and patriotism. Mike did it, brilliantly. If I ever see him walking down the street I'm going to holler "Kamloops" even though I am from Spokane. We are brothers after all.
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A Lovely Girl
- The Tragedy of Olga Duncan and the Trial of One of California’s Most Notorious Killers
- By: Deborah Holt Larkin
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Deborah Larkin was only ten years old when the quiet calm of her California suburb was shattered. Thirty miles north, on a quiet November night in Santa Barbara, a pregnant nurse named Olga Duncan disappeared from her apartment. The mystery deepens when it is discovered that Olga’s mother-in-law—a deeply manipulative and deceptive woman—had been doing everything in her power to separate Olga and her son, Frank, prior to Olga’s disappearance.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Tooo much filler.
- By C. Davis on 10-26-22
- A Lovely Girl
- The Tragedy of Olga Duncan and the Trial of One of California’s Most Notorious Killers
- By: Deborah Holt Larkin
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
The investigation and trial for murder was a fascinating return to the 1950s.
Reviewed: 07-26-24
Unfortunately (for me at least) the book is structured in rwo parts. Every other chapter is written in the voice of what seems to be about a 10-year-old girl while the second is a reporter's view of horrific events and the search for Justice. Once I figured this out, I skipped over the little girl and went for the reporter. I found that well worth my time.
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1 person found this helpful
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Hollywood: A Third Memoir
- By: Larry McMurtry
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Story4 out of 5 stars 17
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry follows up Books and Literary Life with this final installment in his memoir trilogy. Tinged with his wry humor and Texas swagger, Hollywood is McMurtry’s anecdote-filled take on Tinseltown from the year his Horseman, Pass By was adapted into Hud (1963) to the year he wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain (2005).
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5 out of 5 stars
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An interesting view to look from!
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 02-14-12
- Hollywood: A Third Memoir
- By: Larry McMurtry
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
A truly wonderful and amazing listen.
Reviewed: 05-18-24
"Lonesome Dove" being my favorite novel and "The Last Picture Show" among my top five films, I began listening filled with admiration for McMurtry. When he signed off, I was filled with admiration of a different kind. He is not at all as I imagined, nor is his writing career. Every page was filled with surprises and laughs.
Way to go, Larry.
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A Good Day to Die
- By: Jim Harrison
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
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Story4 out of 5 stars 116
Their plans were conceived in a drunken excitement and resulted in more horror than any of them could have imagined. There was the poet able to retreat into beatific reveries of superb fishing in cold, fast streams; the Vietnam vet consumed by uppers, downers, and violence; and the girl who loved only one of them - at first. With their ideals ostensibly in order, they set out from Florida to save the Grand Canyon from a dam they believed was being built. Along with the tape deck for the car, the liquor, and the drugs, there was also a case of dynamite.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Very disappointed
- By Tom on 06-19-19
- A Good Day to Die
- By: Jim Harrison
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
Possibly the worst book I have ever read or listened to.
Reviewed: 03-27-24
Why would anyone spend the time necessary to put together a story about such dimwitted, repulsive characters? It is a question that will haunt me far longer that it took to listen to this colossal waste of energy.
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Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,245
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,210
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Story4 out of 5 stars 8,184
A Signature Performance: Kenneth Branagh plays this like a campfire ghost story, told by a haunted, slightly insane Marlow.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disgusting Revision
- By Long_Schlong_Silver on 09-27-18
Branagh's reading is orchestral.
Reviewed: 02-05-24
This was the third or fourth time I have read or listened to this novel, but my first exposure to Branagh's interpretation. I am grateful to Conrad and Branagh for the experience.
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Menachem Begin
- The Battle for Israel's Soul
- By: Daniel Gordis
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
Reviled as a fascist by his great rival Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel’s underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious one, Menachem Begin was both complex and controversial. Born in Poland in 1913, Begin was a youthful admirer of the Revisionist Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky and soon became a leader within Jabotinsky’s Betar movement.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great story lousy oration
- By Jacob Engelstein on 10-03-14
- Menachem Begin
- The Battle for Israel's Soul
- By: Daniel Gordis
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
The author is honest about his bias.
Reviewed: 01-03-24
When the book reports facts it is valuable. I do not, however, share the author's opinions. But there is no law against publishing your opinions, no matter how repugnant they may be. 
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Norco '80
- The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History
- By: Peter Houlahan
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 939
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 827
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 824
Norco '80 tells the story of how five heavily armed young men - led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian - attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in US history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. Part action thriller and part courtroom drama, Norco '80 transports the listener back to the Southern California of the 1970s, an era of predatory evangelical gurus, doomsday predictions, megachurches, and soaring crime rates, with the threat of nuclear obliteration looming over it all.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A lot more than just a robbery
- By Buretto on 08-17-19
- Norco '80
- The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History
- By: Peter Houlahan
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
One of the most interesting books I have ever listened to (or read) in 73 years.
Reviewed: 10-31-23
A stunning account of an unbelievably stupid 24 hours of criminal violence. And while one must stand in awe at the courage of the dozens of law-enforcement officers involved in their capture, it is hard to imagine a methodology for the pursuit that showed less intelligence or imagination. If you have ever seen "The Sugatland Express", imagine Goldie Hawn and her lame brain husband as psychotic bank robbers/killers and you have some idea of what this true story is all about. On the other hand, on many levels, this book is very satisfying. The bad guys get what they deserve. Sadly, the good guys suffered lifelong injuries to their bodies and spirits, and one lost his life. An excellent listen.
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A Life Wild and Perilous
- Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific
- By: Robert M. Utley
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 342
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 299
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 300
If you have ever wondered what is was like to be an explorer in the unspoiled American West of the early 1800s, then this is the audiobook for you. Not only a groundbreaking work of American history by critically acclaimed author Robert M. Utley, A Life Wild and Perilous is also a dramatic story of innovation and survival. Here is your chance to live in the very heart of the American wilderness with legendary trappers and mountain men like Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, and Jedediah Smith.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A lot of good history and quite a story too.
- By David on 04-01-12
- A Life Wild and Perilous
- Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific
- By: Robert M. Utley
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
If you can forgive the jingoism, this is a great book.
Reviewed: 09-07-23
I' had never read a book that so enthusiastically promoted the less savory aspects of "manifest destiny". That noted, I believe I learned more from this book than the vast majority of others. This is because, I discovered, I knew so little about the geography and 19th century history of the western third of the United States. Now if I can just remember it all.
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The Reckoning
- A Novel
- By: John Grisham
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 23,104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20,718
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Story4 out of 5 stars 20,663
Pete Banning was Clanton's favorite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, a father, a neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning in 1946, he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Time I Won’t Get Back
- By Roma on 10-24-18
- The Reckoning
- A Novel
- By: John Grisham
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
A bored Grisham does a 180?
Reviewed: 08-29-23
How do you explain a book like this? Perhaps Grisham was bored by the thought of cranking out another 300 pages of the same old drivel and produced a story where the victims are the bad guys, the evil doers are the victims and the entitled offspring are the heroes. Oh well, he probably may just as much money but this novel has left me so disinterested I can't bother to look it up.
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