11 Best Labor Books
Labor is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top Labor audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 11 Labor audiobooks below.
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The Great Escape
- By: Saket Soni
- Narrator: Saket Soni
- Length: 12 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: January 24, 2023
- Language: English
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5(7 ratings)
5(7 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDIn this eye-opening true story about immigrants in America, a visionary labor leader devises a plan that wins the citizenship of 500 workers from India after being exposed to inhumane conditions. In late 2006, Saket Soni, a 28-year-old, Indian-bornIn this eye-opening true story about immigrants in America, a visionary labor leader devises a plan that wins the citizenship of 500 workers from India after being exposed to inhumane conditions.
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In late 2006, Saket Soni, a 28-year-old, Indian-born community organizer received an anonymous phone call from an Indian migrant worker inside a Mississippi labor camp. He and 500 other men were living in squalor in Gulf Coast “man camps,” surrounded by barbed wire, watched by armed guards, crammed into cold trailers with putrid portable toilets, forced to eat moldy bread and frozen rice. Worse, lured by the promise of good work and green cards, the men had desperately scraped together up to $20,000 each to apply for this “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina, putting their families into impossible debt. During a series of clandestine meetings, Soni and the workers devise a bold plan. In The Great Escape, Soni traces the workers’ extraordinary escape, their march on foot to Washington DC, and their 23-day-hunger strike to bring attention to their cause. Along the way, ICE agents try to deport the men, company officials work to discredit them, and politicians avert their eyes. But none of this shakes the workers’ determination to win their dignity and keep their promises to their families.
Weaving a deeply personal journey with a riveting tale of 21st-century forced labor, Soni takes us into the hidden lives of the foreign workers the US increasingly relies on for cheap skilled labor to rebuild after climate disasters. The Great Escape is the astonishing story of one of the largest human trafficking cases in modern American history–and the workers’ heroic journey for justice. -
Made in China
- By: Amelia Pang
- Narrator: Nancy Wu
- Length: 7 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: February 02, 2021
- Language: English
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4.38(1363 ratings)
4.38(1363 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDA Most-Anticipated Book of the Year: Newsweek * Refinery29 “Timely and urgent . . . Pang is a dogged investigator.” —The New York Times“Moving and powerful.” –Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist andA Most-Anticipated Book of the Year: Newsweek * Refinery29
“Timely and urgent . . . Pang is a dogged investigator.” —The New York Times
“Moving and powerful.” –Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
Discover the truth behind the discounts.
In 2012, an Oregon mother named Julie Keith opened up a package of Halloween decorations. The cheap foam headstones had been five dollars at Kmart, too good a deal to pass up. But when she opened the box, something shocking fell out: an SOS letter, handwritten in broken English.
“Sir: If you occassionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicuton of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.”
The note’s author, Sun Yi, was a mild-mannered Chinese engineer turned political prisoner, forced into grueling labor as punishment for campaigning for the freedom to join a forbidden meditation movement. He was imprisoned alongside petty criminals, civil rights activists, and tens of thousands of others the Chinese government had decided to “reeducate,” carving foam gravestones and stitching clothing for more than fifteen hours a day.
In Made in China, investigative journalist Amelia Pang pulls back the curtain on Sun’s story and the stories of others like him, including the persecuted Uyghur minority group, whose abuse and exploitation is rapidly gathering steam. What she reveals is a closely guarded network of laogai–forced labor camps–that power the rapid pace of American consumerism. Through extensive interviews and firsthand reportage, Pang shows us the true cost of America’s cheap goods and shares what is ultimately a call to action–urging us to ask more questions and demand more answers from the companies we patronize.
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The Fourth Age
- By: Byron Reese
- Narrator: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.03(758 ratings)
4.03(758 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDAs we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our species. “If you onlyAs we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our species. “If you only read just one book about the AI revolution, make it this one” (John Mackey, cofounder and CEO, Whole Foods Market).
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In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language; 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare; 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state.
We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. “Timely, highly informative, and certainly optimistic” (Booklist), The Fourth Age provides an essential background on how we got to this point, and how–rather than what–we should think about the topics we’ll soon all be facing: machine consciousness, automation, changes in employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity.
By asking questions like “Are you a machine?” and “Could a computer feel anything?”, Reese leads you through a discussion along the cutting edge in robotics and AI, and provides a framework by which we can all understand, discuss, and act on the issues of the Fourth Age and how they’ll transform humanity. -
Work Won’t Love You Back
- By: Sarah Jaffe
- Narrator: Sarah Jaffe
- Length: 12 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: January 26, 2021
- Language: English
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4.02(2993 ratings)
4.02(2993 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.99 USDA deeply-reported examination of why “doing what you love” is a recipe for exploitation, creating a new tyranny of work in which we cheerily acquiesce to doing jobs that take over our lives.You’re told that if you “do whatA deeply-reported examination of why “doing what you love” is a recipe for exploitation, creating a new tyranny of work in which we cheerily acquiesce to doing jobs that take over our lives.... Read more
You’re told that if you “do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whether it’s working for “exposure” and “experience,” or enduring poor treatment in the name of “being part of the family,” all employees are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do what we love.
In Work Won’t Love You Back, Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements, examines this “labor of love” myth–the idea that certain work is not really work, and therefore should be done out of passion instead of pay. Told through the lives and experiences of workers in various industries–from the unpaid intern, to the overworked teacher, to the nonprofit worker and even the professional athlete–Jaffe reveals how all of us have been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work.
As Jaffe argues, understanding the trap of the labor of love will empower us to work less and demand what our work is worth. And once freed from those binds, we can finally figure out what actually gives us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. -
How to Beat a Broken Game
- By: Pedro Moura
- Narrator: Pedro Moura
- Length: 8 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: March 29, 2022
- Language: English
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4.02(131 ratings)
4.02(131 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDThe inside story of how the Dodgers won their first championship in more than thirty years–but helped cripple the sport of baseball in the processAfter years of frustrating playoff runs, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally reclaimed the WorldThe inside story of how the Dodgers won their first championship in more than thirty years–but helped cripple the sport of baseball in the process
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After years of frustrating playoff runs, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally reclaimed the World Series trophy after more than thirty years, led by star pitcher Clayton Kershaw, electric outfielder Mookie Betts, and a bevy of impressive young players assembled by team president Andrew Friedman. No team is better positioned to win now and in the future.
Yet winning at modern baseball is nothing like it was even twenty years ago. In the years since the famous Moneyball revolution, baseball has grown to look less like a sport than a Wall Street firm that traded its boiler room for a field. Teams relentlessly chase every tiny advantage to win games and make money, even as it hurts fans, TV ratings, and players, courting bigger problems in the long run.
This dramatic and insightful book takes you into the clubhouse with the championship players, as well as into the offices where teams constantly seek new ways to win–even when it hurts the game. How to Beat a Broken Game shows not only what it takes to win, but what it will take to save the sport. -
Still Broke
- By: Rick Wartzman
- Narrator: Rick Wartzman
- Length: 7 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: November 15, 2022
- Language: English
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3.81(9 ratings)
3.81(9 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDHow America’s biggest company began taking better care of its workers–and why such efforts will never be enough. Fifteen years ago, Walmart was the most controversial company in America. By offering incredibly low prices, it had come toHow America’s biggest company began taking better care of its workers–and why such efforts will never be enough.
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Fifteen years ago, Walmart was the most controversial company in America. By offering incredibly low prices, it had come to dominate the retail landscape. But with this dominance came a suite of ethical concerns. Walmart was accused of wiping out of mom-and-pop businesses across the country; ruthlessly pressuring suppliers to cut costs, even if it meant closing up U.S. factories and moving production overseas; and, above all, not taking adequate care of its own employees, who were paid so little that many wound up on public assistance.
Today, while Walmart remains America’s largest employer, the picture is very different. It has become an environmental leader among businesses, and has taken many other steps to use its immense scale to have a positive social impact. Most notably, its starting wage has risen from $7.25 to $12, and employee benefits have improved. With internal and external threats to its business looming, the company began to change directions in 2005–a transformation that accelerated in 2014, with the arrival of CEO Doug McMillon. By undertaking such large-scale change without a legal mandate to do so, Walmart has joined a number of major corporations that say they are dedicated to practicing a new, socially conscious form of capitalism.
In Still Broke, award-winning author Rick Wartzman goes inside the company’s transformation, showing in novelistic detail how the company has gotten to where it is. Yet he also asks a critical question: is it enough? With a still-simmering public debate around the minimum wage and widespread movements by workers demanding better treatment, how far will $12 an hour go in today’s economy? Or even $15? Or Walmart’s average wage, which now hovers above $17–but, even so, doesn’t pencil out to so much as $32,000 a year for a fulltime worker?
In the richest nation on earth, how did the bar get set so low? How did America find itself relying on an army of low-wage workers without ever acknowledging their most basic needs? And if Walmart’s brand of change is the best we have, how can we ever expect to build a healthy society?
With unparalleled access to the key executives and change-makers at Walmart, Still Broke does more than document a remarkable business makeover. It interrogates the role of business in American life, and asks what the future of our economy and country can be–and whose job it is to make it. -
Heavy Metal
- By: Michael Fabey
- Narrator: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: June 14, 2022
- Language: English
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3.68(62 ratings)
3.68(62 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDAn extraordinary story of American can-do, an inside look at the building of the most dangerous aircraft carrier in the world, the John F. Kennedy. Tip the Empire State Building onto its side and you’ll have a sense of the length of the UnitedAn extraordinary story of American can-do, an inside look at the building of the most dangerous aircraft carrier in the world, the John F. Kennedy.
Tip the Empire State Building onto its side and you’ll have a sense of the length of the United States Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the most powerful in the world: the USS John F. Kennedy. Weighing 100,000 tons, Kennedy features the most futuristic technology ever put to sea, making it the most agile and lethal global weapon of war.
Only one place possesses the brawn, brains and brass to transform naval warfare with such a creation – the Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia and its 30,000 employees and shipyard workers. This is their story, the riggers, fitters, welders, electricians, machinists and other steelworkers who built the next-generation aircraft carrier.
Heavy Metal puts us on the waterfront and into the lives of these men and women as they battle layoffs, the elements, impossible deadlines, extraordinary pressure, workplace dangers and a pandemic to complete a ship that will be essential to protect America’s way of life.
The city of Newport News owes its very existence to the company that bears its name. The shipyard dominates the town–physically, politically, financially, socially, and culturally. Thanks to the yard, the city grew from a backwater to be the home of the premier naval contractor in the United States.
Heavy Metal captures an indelible moment in the history of a shipyard, a city, and a country.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
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Why We Work
- By: Barry Schwartz
- Narrator: Barry Schwartz
- Length: 2 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio / TED
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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3.65(1402 ratings)
3.65(1402 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0011.99 USDAn eye-opening, groundbreaking tour of the purpose of work in our lives, showing how work operates in our culture and how you can find your own path to happiness in the workplace.Why do we work? The question seems so simple. But Professor BarryAn eye-opening, groundbreaking tour of the purpose of work in our lives, showing how work operates in our culture and how you can find your own path to happiness in the workplace.
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Why do we work? The question seems so simple. But Professor Barry Schwartz proves that the answer is surprising, complex, and urgent.
We’ve long been taught that the reason we work is primarily for a paycheck. In fact, we’ve shaped much of the infrastructure of our society to accommodate this belief. Then why are so many people dissatisfied with their work, despite healthy compensation? And why do so many people find immense fulfillment and satisfaction through “menial” jobs? Schwartz explores why so many believe that the goal for working should be to earn money, how we arrived to believe that paying workers more leads to better work, and why this has made our society confused, unhappy, and has established a dangerously misguided system.
Through fascinating studies and compelling anecdotes, this book dispels this myth. Schwartz takes us through hospitals and hair salons, auto plants and boardrooms, showing workers in all walks of life, showcasing the trends and patterns that lead to happiness in the workplace. Ultimately, Schwartz proves that the root of what drives us to do good work can rarely be incentivized, and that the cause of bad work is often an attempt to do just that.
How did we get to this tangled place? How do we change the way we work? With great insight and wisdom, Schwartz shows us how to take our first steps toward understanding, and empowering us all to find great work. -
Why We Work
- By: Barry Schwartz
- Narrator: Barry Schwartz
- Length: 1 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: April 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.65(1402 ratings)
3.65(1402 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDOne Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real-time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds ofOne Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real-time from some of the top minds in the United States. Given by award-winning professors and experts in their field, these recorded lectures dive deep into the worlds of religion, government, literature, and social justice. Why do we work? The question seems so simple. But Professor Barry Schwartz will demonstrate that the answer is surprising, complex, and urgent. His class is an eye-opening, groundbreaking tour of the purpose of work in our lives, showing how work operates in our culture, including a focus on how people can find their own path to happiness in the workplace. We’ve long been taught that the reason we work is primarily for a paycheck. In fact, we’ve shaped much of the infrastructure of our society to accommodate this belief. Then why are so many people dissatisfied with their work, despite healthy compensation? And why do so many people find immense fulfillment and satisfaction through “menial” jobs? This audio lecture includes a supplemental PDF. Professor Barry Schwartz explores why so many believe that the goal for working should be to earn money, how we arrived to believe that paying workers more leads to better work, and why this has made our society confused, unhappy, and has established a dangerously misguided system. Through fascinating studies and compelling anecdotes Why We Work by Barry Schwartz dispels the myths of work. It takes us through hospitals and hair salons, auto plants, and boardrooms, showing workers from all walks of life, showcasing the trends and patterns that lead to more fulfilling workplaces.
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Nickel and Dimed
- By: Barbara Ehrenreich
- Narrator: Barbara Ehrenreich
- Length: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: August 13, 2004
- Language: English
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3.65(181258 ratings)
3.65(181258 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDThis engrossing piece of undercover reportage is a New York Times best-seller. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America’s working-class poor. Author BarbaraThis engrossing piece of undercover reportage is a New York Times best-seller. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America’s working-class poor. Author Barbara Ehrenreich decides to see if she can scratch out a comfortable living in blue-collar America. What she discovers is a culture of desperation, where workers often take multiple low-paying jobs just to keep a roof overhead.
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The New American Workplace
- By: James O’Toole
- Narrator: Patrick Cullen
- Length: 10 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThirty years ago, the bestselling “letter to the government” Work in America was published to national acclaim, including front-page coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. It sounded an alarm aboutThirty years ago, the bestselling “letter to the government” Work in America was published to national acclaim, including front-page coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. It sounded an alarm about worker dissatisfaction and the effects on the nation as a whole.
Now, based on thirty years of research, this new book sheds light on what has changed since then—and what hasn’t. This groundbreaking work will illuminate the new critical issues, from worker demands to the new ethical rules to the revolution in culture at work.
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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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