11 Best History & Criticism, Social Science Books
History & Criticism, Social Science is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top History & Criticism, Social Science audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 11 History & Criticism, Social Science audiobooks below.
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Original Gangstas
- By: Ben Westhoff
- Narrator: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 15 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: September 13, 2016
- Language: English
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4.35(1239 ratings)
4.35(1239 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USD“Raw, authoritative, and unflinching … An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era.” — Kirkus, starred review A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of“Raw, authoritative, and unflinching … An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era.” — Kirkus, starred review
A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of West Coast hip-hop: Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur.
Amid rising gang violence, the crack epidemic, and police brutality, a group of unlikely voices cut through the chaos of late 1980s Los Angeles: N.W.A. Led by a drug dealer, a glammed-up producer, and a high school kid, N.W.A gave voice to disenfranchised African Americans across the country. And they quickly redefined pop culture across the world. Their names remain as popular as ever — Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. Dre soon joined forces with Suge Knight to create the combustible Death Row Records, which in turn transformed Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur into superstars.
Ben Westhoff explores how this group of artists shifted the balance of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. He shows how N.W.A.’s shocking success lead to rivalries between members, record labels, and eventually a war between East Coast and West Coast factions. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change, and became the most dominant musical movement of the last thirty years. At gangsta rap’s peak, two of its biggest names — Tupac and Biggie Smalls — were murdered, leaving the surviving artists to forge peace before the genre annihilated itself.
Featuring extensive investigative reporting, interviews with the principal players, and dozens of never-before-told stories, Original Gangstas is a groundbreaking addition to the history of popular music.
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Shooting Midnight Cowboy
- By: Glenn Frankel
- Narrator: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hours 53 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.26(384 ratings)
4.26(384 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDA history of the controversial Oscar-winning film that signaled a dramatic shift in American popular culture The director John Schlesinger’s Darling was nominated for five Academy Awards and introduced the world to the transcendently talentedA history of the controversial Oscar-winning film that signaled a dramatic shift in American popular culture
The director John Schlesinger’s Darling was nominated for five Academy Awards and introduced the world to the transcendently talented Julie Christie. Suddenly the toast of Hollywood, Schlesinger used his newfound clout to film an expensive Eastmancolor adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd. Expectations were huge, making the movie’s complete critical and commercial failure even more devastating, and Schlesinger suddenly found himself persona non grata in the Hollywood circles he had hoped to join.
Given his recent travails, Schlesinger’s next project seemed doubly daring, bordering on foolish. James Leo Herlihy’s novel Midnight Cowboy, about a Texas hustler trying to survive on the mean streets of 1960s New York, was dark and transgressive. Perhaps something about the book’s unsparing portrait of cultural alienation resonated with him. His decision to film it began one of the unlikelier convergences in cinematic history, centered around a city that seemed, at first glance, as unwelcoming as Herlihy’s novel itself.
Glenn Frankel’s Shooting “Midnight Cowboy” tells the story of a modern classic that, by all accounts, should never have become one in the first place. The film’s boundary-pushing subject matter–homosexuality, prostitution, sexual assault–earned it an X rating when it first appeared in cinemas in 1969. For Midnight Cowboy, Schlesinger–who had never made a film in the United States–enlisted Jerome Hellman, a producer smarting from a failed marriage, and Waldo Salt, a formerly blacklisted screenwriter with a tortured past. The decision to shoot on location in New York, at a time when the city was approaching its gritty nadir, backfired when a sanitation strike filled Manhattan with garbage fires and fears of dysentery.
Much more than a history of Schlesinger’s film, Shooting “Midnight Cowboy” is an arresting glimpse into the world from which it emerged: a troubled city that nurtured the talents and ambitions of the pioneering Polish cinematographer Adam Holender and the legendary casting director Marion Dougherty, who discovered both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight and supported them for the roles of Ratso Rizzo and Joe Buck–leading to one of the most intensely moving joint performances ever to appear on screen.
We follow Herlihy himself as he moves from the experimental confines of Black Mountain College to the theaters of Broadway, influenced by close relationships with Tennessee Williams and Anais Nin, and yet unable to find lasting literary success.
By turns madcap and serious, and enriched by interviews with Hoffman, Voight, and others, Shooting “Midnight Cowboy” is not only the definitive account of the film that unleashed a new wave of innovation in American cinema but also the story of a country (and an industry) beginning to break free from decades of cultural and sexual repression.
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As You Wish
- By: Cary Elwes
- Narrator: Cary Elwes
- Length: 7 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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4.14(56214 ratings)
4.14(56214 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDFrom actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes the New York Times bestselling account of the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews withFrom actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes the New York Times bestselling account of the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.
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The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.
Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets and backstage stories.
With a foreword by Rob Reiner and a limited edition original poster by acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film. -
Footnotes
- By: Caseen Gaines
- Narrator: Caseen Gaines
- Length: 11 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.13(136 ratings)
4.13(136 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDFor readers of Hidden Figures and Something Wonderful, Footnotes is the story of New York in the roaring twenties and the very first Broadway show with an all-Black cast and creative team to succeed–and the indelible mark left on our popularFor readers of Hidden Figures and Something Wonderful, Footnotes is the story of New York in the roaring twenties and the very first Broadway show with an all-Black cast and creative team to succeed–and the indelible mark left on our popular culture.
These pioneering performers and the creators (composer Eubie Blake and lyricist Noble Sissle) sowed the seeds of the Harlem jazz scene and paved the way for people of color on stage and screen with West Side Story, Black Panther, and of course, Hamilton. Importantly, this audiobook illuminates the ways in which Black people in America have attained success amidst a culture actively whitewashing, controlling, or completely preventing their stories from being told.
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Crate Digger
- By: Bob Suren
- Narrator: Bob Suren
- Length: 6 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.13(91 ratings)
4.13(91 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDA small-town Florida teenager discovers punk rock through a loaned mix tape, and punk music and culture slowly takes over all aspects of his life. His new passion causes him to form a band, track down out-of-print records he loves and reissue them,A small-town Florida teenager discovers punk rock through a loaned mix tape, and punk music and culture slowly takes over all aspects of his life. His new passion causes him to form a band, track down out-of-print records he loves and reissue them, open a record store, start a record distribution operation as a public service, mentor a host of young musicians, and befriend all manner of punk luminaries along the way. Slowly his life’s pursuit pushes him to the point of personal ruination and, ultimately, redemption.
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Andy and Don
- By: Daniel De Vise
- Narrator: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.12(1271 ratings)
4.12(1271 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USDA lively and revealing biography of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, this “humorous, informative, and poignant book” celebrates the powerful real-life friendship behind one of America’s most iconic television programs and “showsA lively and revealing biography of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, this “humorous, informative, and poignant book” celebrates the powerful real-life friendship behind one of America’s most iconic television programs and “shows how the magic was created” (Library Journal).
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Andy Griffith and Don Knotts first met on Broadway in the 1950s. When Andy moved to Hollywood to film a TV pilot for a comedy about a small-town sheriff, Don called to ask if Andy’s sheriff could use a deputy. The friendship and comedy partnership between Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife ignited The Andy Griffith Show, elevating the folksy television sitcom into a timeless study of human friendship. Together, they created a program with a uniquely small-town dynamic that captured the hearts of Americans across the country who watched these two men rocking on the front porch, meditating about the pleasure of a bottle of pop.
But behind this sleepy charm, de Vise’s exclusive reporting “captures the complexity of both men and the intimacy of their friendship with extreme detail and sensitivity” (Publishers Weekly), from unspoken rivalries, passionate affairs, unrequited loves, struggles with the temptations of fame, and friendships lost and regained. Although Andy and Don ended their Mayberry partnership in 1965, they remained best friends for the next half-century.
Written by Don Knotts’s brother-in-law, Andy and Don is “a rewarding dual biography that is also a lively look inside the entertainment industry in the latter half of the twentieth century” (News & Observer). Entertaining and provocative, it “captures a golden moment in modern Americana. You’ll not only return again to Mayberry, you’ll feel as though you’ve never left” (Tom Shales, Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic). -
Into the Mystic
- By: Christopher Hill
- Narrator: Christopher Hill
- Length: 10 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.08(29 ratings)
4.08(29 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDExplores the visionary, mystical, and ecstatic traditions that influenced the music of the 1960s * Examines the visionary, spiritual, and mystical influences on the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, theExplores the visionary, mystical, and ecstatic traditions that influenced the music of the 1960s
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* Examines the visionary, spiritual, and mystical influences on the Grateful Dead, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, the Incredible String Band, the Left Banke, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, and others
* Shows how the British Invasion acted as the “detonator” to explode visionary music into the mainstream
* Explains how 1960s rock and roll music transformed consciousness on both the individual and collective levels
The 1960s were a time of huge transformation, sustained and amplified by the music of that era: Rock and Roll. During the 19th and 20th centuries visionary and esoteric spiritual traditions influenced first literature, then film. In the 1960s they entered the realm of popular music, catalyzing the ecstatic experiences that empowered a generation.
Exploring how 1960s rock and roll music became a school of visionary art, Christopher Hill shows how music raised consciousness on both the individual and collective levels to bring about a transformation of the planet. The author traces how rock and roll rose from the sacred music of the African Diaspora, harnessing its ecstatic power for evoking spiritual experiences through music. He shows how the British Invasion, beginning with the Beatles in the early 1960s, acted as the “detonator” to explode visionary music into the mainstream. He explains how 60s rock and roll made a direct appeal to the imaginations of young people, giving them a larger set of reference points around which to understand life. Exploring the sources 1960s musicians drew upon to evoke the initiatory experience, he reveals the influence of European folk traditions, medieval Troubadours, and a lost American history of ecstatic politics and shows how a revival of the ancient use of psychedelic substances was the strongest agent of change, causing the ecstatic, mythic, and sacred to enter the consciousness of a generation.
The author examines the mythic narratives that underscored the work of the Grateful Dead, the French symbolist poets who inspired Bob Dylan, the hallucinatory England of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, the tale of the Rolling Stones and the Lord of Misrule, Van Morrison’s astral journeys, and the dark mysticism of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. Evoking the visionary and apocalyptic atmosphere in which the music of the 1960s was received, the author helps each of us to better understand this transformative era and its mystical roots. -
Sex and the City and Us
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrator: Joy Osmanski
- Length: 16 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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3.79(1034 ratings)
3.79(1034 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDThe bestselling author of Seinfeldia offers a fascinating retrospective of the iconic and award-winning television series, Sex and the City, in a “bubbly, yet fierce cultural dissection of the groundbreaking show” (Chicago Tribune).ThisThe bestselling author of Seinfeldia offers a fascinating retrospective of the iconic and award-winning television series, Sex and the City, in a “bubbly, yet fierce cultural dissection of the groundbreaking show” (Chicago Tribune).
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This is the story of how a columnist, two gay men, and a writers’ room full of women used their own poignant, hilarious, and humiliating stories to launch a cultural phenomenon. They endured shock, slut-shaming, and a slew of nasty reviews on their way to eventual–if still often begrudging–respect. The show wasn’t perfect, but it revolutionized television for women.
When Candace Bushnell began writing for the New York Observer, she didn’t think anyone beyond the Upper East Side would care about her adventures among the Hamptons-hopping media elite. But her struggles with singlehood struck a chord. Beverly Hills, 90210 creator Darren Star brought her vision to an even wider audience when he adapted the column for HBO. Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha launched a barrage of trends, forever branded the actresses that took on the roles, redefined women’s relationship to sex and elevated the perception of singlehood.
Featuring exclusive new interviews with the cast and writers, including star Sarah Jessica Parker, creator Darren Star, executive producer Michael Patrick King, and author Candace Bushnell, “Jennifer Keishin Armstrong brings readers inside the writers’ room and into the scribes’ lives…The writing is fizzy and funny, but she still manages an in-depth look at a show that’s been analyzed for decades, giving readers a retrospective as enjoyable as a $20 pink cocktail” (The Washington Post). Sex and the City and Us is both a critical and nostalgic behind-the-scenes look at a television series that changed the way women see themselves. -
Laurel Canyon
- By: Michael Walker
- Narrator: Lloyd James
- Length: 8 hours 24 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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3.78(1976 ratings)
3.78(1976 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDLaurel Canyon was the neighborhood perched above the clubs and record companies of Sunset Strip where Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, Graham Nash, Cass Elliot, Carole King, Don Henley, and Peter Tork, just to name a few, lived and collaborated to makeLaurel Canyon was the neighborhood perched above the clubs and record companies of Sunset Strip where Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, Graham Nash, Cass Elliot, Carole King, Don Henley, and Peter Tork, just to name a few, lived and collaborated to make an indelible mark on our music and our culture. Starting with The Byrds in 1965, these musicians began combining the effusive harmonies of folk music with the sounds of the British rock invasion. From their song craft was born the singer-songwriter movement and a new style of American pop that thrives on.
This is not only a history of an important period in rock music but also the story of what happened to the peace and love philosophy of the sixties, as hard drugs and easy sex began to take their toll and the gruesome Wonderland murders signaled the end of the era.
Listen to Lysa William’s interview of the author, Michael Walker!
Learn more about Laurel Canyon at www.laurelcanyonthebook.com
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The Lie About the Truck
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrator: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.18(253 ratings)
3.18(253 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDThe author of the acclaimed Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) brings “her singular sensibility, her genius for language, her love of our deeply imperfect world” (Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women) toThe author of the acclaimed Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) brings “her singular sensibility, her genius for language, her love of our deeply imperfect world” (Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women) to this insightful exploration of reality TV and the shifting definitions of truth in America.
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What is the truth?
In a world of fake news and rampant conspiracy theories, the nature of truth has increasingly blurry borders. In this clever and timely cultural commentary, award-winning author Sallie Tisdale tackles this issue by framing it in a familiar way–reality TV, particularly the long-running CBS show Survivor.
With humor and in-depth superfan analysis, Tisdale explores the distinction between suspended disbelief and true authenticity both in how we watch shows like Survivor, and in how we perceive the world around us. With her “bold and wise, galvanizing and grounding” (Chloe Caldwell, author of I’ll Tell You in Person) writing, Tisdale has created an unputdownable, thoroughly entertaining, and groundbreaking book that we will be talking about for years to come. -
The Compleat Glass Teat
- By: Harlan Ellison
- Length: 24 hours 33 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: February 15, 2022
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDThe Glass Teat: Essays The classic collection of criticism about television and American culture from the late, multi-award-winning legend. From 1968 through 1972, Harlan Ellison penned a series of weekly columns, sharing his uncompromisingThe Glass Teat: Essays
The classic collection of criticism about television and American culture from the late, multi-award-winning legend.From 1968 through 1972, Harlan Ellison penned a series of weekly columns, sharing his uncompromising thoughts about contemporary television programming for the Los Angeles Free Press, a.k.a. “The Freep,” a countercultural, underground newspaper. Sitcoms and variety shows, westerns and cop dramas, newscasts and commercials, Ellison left no pixilated stone unturned, expounding on the insipidness, hypocrisy, and malaise found in the glowing images projected into the faces of American audiences.
The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on the Subject of Television collects fifty-two of Ellison’s columns–including his 2011 introduction “Welcome to the Gulag,” his unapologetic commentary about how cellphones and the internet have extended television’s reach, eroding intelligence and freedom and creating a legion of bloodshot eyed zombies unable to communicate beyond their screens or think for themselves.
Provocative and prescient, irreverent and insightful, Ellison’s critical analyses of the glowing box that became the center of American life are even more relevant in the twenty-first century.
The Other Glass Teat: Essays
The late, multi-award-winning author of The Glass Teat continues his critical assault on television in this second collection of classic criticism.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were only three major television networks broadcasting original programs and news. And there was only one Harlan Ellison taking them all to task in a series of weekly essays he wrote for the countercultural, underground newspaper, the Los Angeles Free Press, a.k.a. “The Freep.” For nearly four years, he channel surfed through the mire of ABC, CBS, and NBC, finding little of value but much to critique. No one offered a more astute analysis of the idiot box’s influence on American culture, or its effects on the intelligence and psyche of viewers.
The Other Glass Teat: Further Essays of Opinion on the Subject of Television collects Ellison’s final fifty columns, presenting his thoughts on everything from dramas and sitcoms to game shows and roundtable discussions, unleashing his fury against sponsors, the nightly news, and the broadcasts of President Nixon–warning readers about the commander-in-chief’s war against the media long before the Watergate scandal broke.
As television has evolved into wireless streaming services and digital interactions on portable devices, Ellison’s timeless rage against the machine has become prophecy. His plea to unplug is an even more necessary call to action in the face of the twenty-first century’s media onslaught.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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