24 Best Middle Atlantic DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) Books
Middle Atlantic DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top Middle Atlantic DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 24 Middle Atlantic DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA) audiobooks below.
-
Mayday 1971
- By: Lawrence Roberts
- Narrator: Kiff Vandenheuvel
- Length: 15 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: July 28, 2020
- Language: English
-
4.3(101 ratings)
4.3(101 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.99 USDA vivid account of the largest act of civil disobedience in US history, in Richard Nixon’s Washington They surged into Washington by the tens of thousands in the spring of 1971. Fiery radicals, flower children, and militantA vivid account of the largest act of civil disobedience in US history, in Richard Nixon’s Washington
They surged into Washington by the tens of thousands in the spring of 1971. Fiery radicals, flower children, and militant vets gathered for the most audacious act in a years-long movement to end America’s war in Vietnam: a blockade of the nation’s capital. And the White House, headed by an increasingly paranoid Richard Nixon, was determined to stop it.
Washington journalist Lawrence Roberts, drawing on dozens of interviews, unexplored archives, and newfound White House transcripts, recreates these largely forgotten events through the eyes of dueling characters. Woven into the story too are now-familiar names including John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers. It began with a bombing inside the U.S. Capitol—a still-unsolved case to which Roberts brings new information. To prevent the Mayday Tribe’s guerrilla-style traffic blockade, the government mustered the military. Riot squads swept through the city, arresting more than 12,000 people. As a young female public defender led a thrilling legal battle to free the detainees, Nixon and his men took their first steps down the road to the Watergate scandal and the implosion of the presidency.
... Read more
 
Mayday 1971 is the ultimately inspiring story of a season when our democracy faced grave danger, and survived.
  -
The Gotti Wars
- By: John Gleeson
- Narrator: Adam Grupper
- Length: 13 hours 38 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
-
4.28(317 ratings)
4.28(317 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USD“Riveting…an electrifying true crime story of the Mafia-smitten eighties and nineties. Suspenseful and multifaceted, The Gotti Wars can’t be missed.” —Esquire, The Best Nonfiction Books of the Year A “meticulous“Riveting…an electrifying true crime story of the Mafia-smitten eighties and nineties. Suspenseful and multifaceted, The Gotti Wars can’t be missed.” —Esquire, The Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
... Read more
A “meticulous chronicle of good triumphing over evil” (The Washington Post) from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America’s most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John Gotti–and ultimately took down the Mafia altogether.
John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion–with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement’s radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname “The Dapper Don;” his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.”
This is the captivating story of Gotti’s meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti’s legal adversary–John Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn–was watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal racketeering prosecutions, Gleeson prosecuted both. As the junior lawyer in the first case–a bitter seven-month battle that ended in Gotti’s acquittal–Gleeson found himself in Gotti’s crosshairs, falsely accused of serious crimes by a defense witness Gotti intimidated into committing perjury.
Five years later, Gleeson was in charge of the second racketeering investigation and trial. Armed with the FBI’s secret recordings of Gotti’s conversations with his underboss and consigliere in the apartment above Gotti’s Little Italy hangout, Gleeson indicted all three. He “flipped” underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of nineteen men, who became history’s highest-ranking mob turncoat–resulting in Gotti’s murder conviction. Gleeson ended not just Gotti’s reign, but eventually that of the entire mob.
A spellbinding, page-turning courtroom drama, The Gotti Wars “tells us in electrifying detail how the good guys finally won, how justice triumphed over evil, and how Gleeson himself was transformed by his long war” (Nelson DeMille). -
Smoketown
- By: Mark Whitaker
- Narrator: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 13 hours 30 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
-
4.25(368 ratings)
4.25(368 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThe other great Renaissance of black culture, influence, and glamour burst forth joyfully in what may seem an unlikely place–Pittsburgh, PA–from the 1920s through the 1950s. Today black Pittsburgh is known as the setting for AugustThe other great Renaissance of black culture, influence, and glamour burst forth joyfully in what may seem an unlikely place–Pittsburgh, PA–from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Today black Pittsburgh is known as the setting for August Wilson’s famed plays about noble but doomed working-class strivers. But this community once had an impact on American history that rivaled the far larger black worlds of Harlem and Chicago. It published the most widely read black newspaper in the country, urging black voters to switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party and then rallying black support for World War II. It fielded two of the greatest baseball teams of the Negro Leagues and introduced Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Pittsburgh was the childhood home of jazz pioneers Billy Strayhorn, Billy Eckstine, Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner; Hall of Fame slugger Josh Gibson–and August Wilson himself. Some of the most glittering figures of the era were changed forever by the time they spent in the city, from Joe Louis and Satchel Paige to Duke Ellington and Lena Horne.
Mark Whitaker’s Smoketown is a captivating portrait of this unsung community and a vital addition to the story of black America. It depicts how ambitious Southern migrants were drawn to a steel-making city on a strategic river junction; how they were shaped by its schools and a spirit of commerce with roots in the Gilded Age; and how their world was eventually destroyed by industrial decline and urban renewal. Whitaker takes listeners on a rousing, revelatory journey–and offers a timely reminder that Black History is not all bleak.
... Read more -
A Lynching at Port Jervis
- By: Philip Dray
- Narrator: Dion Graham
- Length: 7 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
-
4.18(47 ratings)
4.18(47 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDAn account of a lynching that took place in New York in 1892, forcing the North to reckon with its own racism On June 2, 1892, in the small, idyllic village of Port Jervis, New York, a young Black man named Robert Lewis was lynched by a violent mob.An account of a lynching that took place in New York in 1892, forcing the North to reckon with its own racism
On June 2, 1892, in the small, idyllic village of Port Jervis, New York, a young Black man named Robert Lewis was lynched by a violent mob. The twenty-eight-year-old victim had been accused of sexually assaulting Lena McMahon, the daughter of one of the town’s well-liked Irish American families.
The incident was infamous at once, for it was seen as a portent that lynching, a Southern scourge, surging uncontrollably below the Mason-Dixon Line, was about to extend its tendrils northward. What factors prompted such a spasm of racial violence in a relatively prosperous, industrious upstate New York town, attracting the scrutiny of the Black journalist Ida B. Wells, just then beginning her courageous anti-lynching crusade? What meaning did the country assign to it? And what did the incident portend?
Today, it’s a terrible truth that the assault on the lives of Black Americans is neither a regional nor a temporary feature but a national crisis. There are regular reports of a Black person killed by police, and Jim Crow has found new purpose in describing the harsh conditions of life for the formerly incarcerated, as well as in large-scale efforts to make voting inaccessible to Black people and other minority citizens.
The “mobocratic spirit” that drove the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol–a phrase Abraham Lincoln used as early as 1838 to describe vigilantism’s corrosive effect on America–frightfully insinuates that mob violence is a viable means of effecting political change. These issues remain as deserving of our concern now as they did a hundred and thirty years ago, when America turned its gaze to Port Jervis.
An alleged crime, a lynching, a misbegotten attempt at an official inquiry, and a past unresolved. In A Lynching at Port Jervis, the acclaimed historian Philip Dray revisits this time and place to consider its significance in our communal history and to show how justice cannot be achieved without an honest reckoning.
... Read more -
Mornings On Horseback
- By: David McCullough
- Narrator: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 8 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2004
- Language: English
-
4.08(30015 ratings)
4.08(30015 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0020.95 USDThe National Book Award–winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by masterThe National Book Award–winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by master historian David McCullough.
... Read more
Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as “a masterpiece” (John A. Gable, Newsday), it is the winner of the Los Angeles Times 1981 Book Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Biography. Written by David McCullough, the author of Truman, this is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and almost fatal asthma attacks, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which he was raised.
The father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. The mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and a celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, TR’s first love. All are brought to life to make “a beautifully told story, filled with fresh detail” (The New York Times Book Review).
A book to be read on many levels, it is at once an enthralling story, a brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. It is a book about life intensely lived, about family love and loyalty, about grief and courage, about “blessed” mornings on horseback beneath the wide blue skies of the Badlands. -
Mornings on Horseback
- By: David McCullough
- Narrator: Nelson Runger
- Length: 19 hours 22 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
-
4.08(30015 ratings)
4.08(30015 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0039.95 USDThe National Book Award-winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by masterThe National Book Award-winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by master historian David McCullough.
... Read more
Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as “a masterpiece” (John A. Gable, Newsday), it is the winner of the Los Angeles Times 1981 Book Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Biography. Written by David McCullough, the author of Truman, this is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and almost fatal asthma attacks, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which he was raised.
The father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. The mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and a celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, TR’s first love. All are brought to life to make “a beautifully told story, filled with fresh detail” (The New York Times Book Review).
A book to be read on many levels, it is at once an enthralling story, a brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. It is a book about life intensely lived, about family love and loyalty, about grief and courage, about “blessed” mornings on horseback beneath the wide blue skies of the Badlands. -
Singular Sensation
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrator: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 9 hours 43 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
-
4.07(581 ratings)
4.07(581 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USD“Fun and gossipy.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A masterful history.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) * “Engaging.” —Newsweek A “brisk, insightful, and deliciously detailed take”“Fun and gossipy.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A masterful history.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) * “Engaging.” —Newsweek
... Read more
A “brisk, insightful, and deliciously detailed take” (Kirkus Reviews) on a transformative decade on Broadway, featuring behind-the-scenes accounts of shows such as Rent, Angels in America, Chicago, The Lion King, and The Producers–shows that changed the history of the American theater.
The 1990s was a decade of profound change on Broadway. At the dawn of the nineties, the British invasion of Broadway was in full swing, as musical spectacles like Les Miserables, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera dominated the box office. But Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard soon spelled the end of this era and ushered in a new wave of American musicals, beginning with the ascendance of an unlikely show by a struggling writer who reimagined Puccini’s opera La Boheme as the smash Broadway show Rent. American musical comedy made its grand return, culminating in The Producers, while plays, always an endangered species on Broadway, staged a powerful comeback with Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. A different breed of producers rose up to challenge the grip theater owners had long held on Broadway, and corporations began to see how much money could be made from live theater.
And just as Broadway had clawed its way back into the mainstream of American popular culture, the September 11 attacks struck fear into the heart of Americans who thought Times Square might be the next target. But Broadway was back in business just two days later, buoyed by talented theater people intent on bringing New Yorkers together and supporting the economics of an injured city.
“Told with all the wit and style readers could wish for” (Booklist) Michael Riedel presents the drama behind every mega-hit or shocking flop. From the bitter feuds to the surprising collaborations, all the intrigue of a revolutionary era in the Theater District is packed into Singular Sensation. Broadway has triumphs and disasters, but the show always goes on. -
The Contender
- By: Michael Shnayerson
- Length: 23 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: March 31, 2015
- Language: English
-
4.05(97 ratings)
4.05(97 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.98 USDA no-holds-barred biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo is the protagonist of an ongoing political saga that reads like a novel. In many ways, his rise, fall, and rise again is an iconic story: a young American politician ofA no-holds-barred biography of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.Andrew Cuomo is the protagonist of an ongoing political saga that reads like a novel. In many ways, his rise, fall, and rise again is an iconic story: a young American politician of vaunting ambition, aiming for nothing less than the presidency. Building on his father’s political success, a first run for governor in 2002 led to a stinging defeat, and a painful, public divorce from Kerry Kennedy, scion of another political dynasty, Cuomo had to come back from seeming political death and reinvent himself.He did so, brilliantly, by becoming New York’s attorney general, and compiling a record that focused on public corruption. In winning the governorship in 2010, he promised to clean up America’s most corrupt legislature. He is blunt and combative, the antithesis of the glad-handing, blow-dried senator or governor who tries to please one and all. He’s also proven he can make his legislature work, alternately charming and arm-twisting his colleagues with a talent for political strategy reminiscent of President Lyndon Johnson. Political pundits tend to agree that for Cuomo, a run for the White House is not a question of whether, but when.
... Read more -
The House on Henry Street
- By: Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier
- Narrator: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 7 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
-
4(1 ratings)
4(1 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDChronicles the sweeping history of the storied Henry Street Settlement and its enduring vision of a more just society On a cold March day in 1893, 26-year-old nurse Lillian Wald rushed through the poverty-stricken streets of New York’s LowerChronicles the sweeping history of the storied Henry Street Settlement and its enduring vision of a more just society
On a cold March day in 1893, 26-year-old nurse Lillian Wald rushed through the poverty-stricken streets of New York’s Lower East Side to a squalid bedroom where a young mother lay dying–abandoned by her doctor because she could not pay his fee. The misery in the room and the walk to reach it inspired Wald to establish Henry Street Settlement, which would become one of the most influential social welfare organizations in American history.
Through personal narratives, vivid images, and previously untold stories, Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier chronicles Henry Street’s sweeping history from 1893 to today. From the fights for public health and immigrants’ rights that fueled its founding, to advocating for relief during the Great Depression, all the way to tackling homelessness and AIDS in the 1980s, and into today–Henry Street has been a champion for social justice. Its powerful narrative illuminates larger stories about poverty, and who is “worthy” of help; immigration and migration, and who is welcomed; human rights, and whose voice is heard.
For over 125 years, Henry Street Settlement has survived in a changing city and nation because of its ability to change with the times; because of the ingenuity of its guiding principle–that by bridging divides of class, culture, and race we could create a more equitable world; and because of the persistence of poverty, racism, and income disparity that it has pledged to confront. This makes the story of Henry Street as relevant today as it was more than a century ago. The House on Henry Street is not just about the challenges of overcoming hardship, but about the best possibilities of urban life and the hope and ambition it takes to achieve them.
... Read more -
Retail Gangster
- By: Gary Weiss
- Narrator: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: August 23, 2022
- Language: English
-
3.97(217 ratings)
3.97(217 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDA biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as “Crazy Eddie,” whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all timeBack in the fall of 2016A biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as “Crazy Eddie,” whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all time
... Read more
Back in the fall of 2016 we heard the news about the passing of Eddie Antar, “Crazy Eddie” as he was known to millions of people, the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history. Few things evoke the New York of a particular era the way “Crazy Eddie! His prices are insaaaaane!” does. The journalist Herb Greenberg called his death the “end of an era” and that couldn’t be more true. What’s insane is that his story has never been told.
Before Enron, before Madoff, before The Wolf of Wall Street, Eddie Antar’s corruption was second to none. The difference was that it was a street franchise, a local place that was in the blood stream of everyone’s daily life in the 1970s and early ’80s. And Eddie pulled it off with a certain style, an in your face blue collar chutzpah. Despite the fact that then U.S. Attorney Michael Chertoffcalled him “the Darth Vader of capitalism” after the extent of the fraud was revealed, one of the largest SEC frauds in American history after Crazy Eddie’s stores went public in 1984, Eddie was talked about fondly by the people who worked for him. They still do–there are myriads of ex-Crazy Eddie employee web pages that still attract fans, and the Crazy Eddie fraud scheme is now taught in every business school across the United States.
Many years have passed since the franchise went down in spectacular fashion but Crazy Eddie’s moment has endured the way that iconic brands and characters do–one only need Google the media outpouring that accompanied his death. Maybe it’s because it crystallized everything about 1970s New York almost perfectly, the merchandise and rise of consumer electronics (stereos!), the ads (cheesy!), the money (cash!). In Retail Gangster, investigative journalist Gary Weiss takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most unbelievable business scam stories of all time, a story spanning continents and generations, reaffirming the old adage that the truth is often stranger than fiction. -
The Kidnapping Club
- By: Jonathan Daniel Wells
- Narrator: Devante Johnson
- Length: 10 hours 12 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: February 02, 2021
- Language: English
-
3.95(143 ratings)
3.95(143 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDWinner of a 2020-2021 New York City Book AwardIn a rapidly changing New York, two forces battled for the city’s soul: the pro-slavery New Yorkers who kept the illegal slave trade alive and well, and the abolitionists fighting for freedom.WeWinner of a 2020-2021 New York City Book Award
In a rapidly changing New York, two forces battled for the city’s soul: the pro-slavery New Yorkers who kept the illegal slave trade alive and well, and the abolitionists fighting for freedom.
We often think of slavery as a southern phenomenon, far removed from the booming cities of the North. But even though slavery had been outlawed in Gotham by the 1830s, Black New Yorkers were not safe. Not only was the city built on the backs of slaves; it was essential in keeping slavery and the slave trade alive.In The Kidnapping Club, historian Jonathan Daniel Wells tells the story of the powerful network of judges, lawyers, and police officers who circumvented anti-slavery laws by sanctioning the kidnapping of free and fugitive African Americans. Nicknamed “The New York Kidnapping Club,” the group had the tacit support of institutions from Wall Street to Tammany Hall whose wealth depended on the Southern slave and cotton trade. But a small cohort of abolitionists, including Black journalist David Ruggles, organized tirelessly for the rights of Black New Yorkers, often risking their lives in the process.Taking readers into the bustling streets and ports of America’s great Northern metropolis, The Kidnapping Club is a dramatic account of the ties between slavery and capitalism, the deeply corrupt roots of policing, and the strength of Black activism.... Read more -
Jimmy the King
- By: Gus Garcia-Roberts
- Narrator: Marc Vietor
- Length: 16 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: May 03, 2022
- Language: English
-
3.95(102 ratings)
3.95(102 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.99 USDAn incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country’s largest police departments In 1979, the gruesome slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the countyAn incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country’s largest police departments
... Read more
In 1979, the gruesome slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the county hustled to bring the case to a dubious resolution, a wayward local teenager emerged with a convenient story to tell. For his cooperation, Jimmy Burke was rewarded with a job as a cop.
Thus began Burke’s unlikely ascent to the top of one of the country’s largest law enforcement jurisdictions. He and a crew of likeminded allies utilized vengeance, gangster tactics, and political leverage to become the most powerful and feared figures in their suburban empire.
Until a pilfered bag of sex toys brought it all crashing down.
Jimmy the King is the story of the rise, reign, and paranoiac fall of a corrupt cop and his regime–a crime family with badges and guaranteed pensions. Novelistic in detail and piercing in its political insight, this book will leave you questioning who modern policing serves, who it protects, and who it preys upon and abandons. -
A Brotherhood Betrayed
- By: Michael Cannell
- Narrator: Gary Galone
- Length: 12 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: October 06, 2020
- Language: English
-
3.91(221 ratings)
3.91(221 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDThe riveting true story of the rise and fall of Murder, Inc. and the executioner-turned-informant whose mysterious death became a turning point in Mob history. In the fall of 1941, a momentous trial was underway that threatened to end the careersThe riveting true story of the rise and fall of Murder, Inc. and the executioner-turned-informant whose mysterious death became a turning point in Mob history.
In the fall of 1941, a momentous trial was underway that threatened to end the careers and lives of New York’s most brutal mob kingpins. The lead witness, Abe Reles, had been a trusted executioner for Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of a coast-to-coast mob network known as the Commission. But the man responsible for coolly silencing hundreds of informants was about to become the most talkative snitch of all. In exchange for police protection, Reles was prepared to rat out his murderous friends, from Albert Anastasia to Bugsy Siegel–but before he could testify, his shattered body was discovered on a rooftop outside his heavily-guarded hotel room. Was it a botched escape, or punishment for betraying the loyalty of the country’s most powerful mobsters?
Michael Cannell’s A Brotherhood Betrayed traces the history of Murder, Inc. through Reles’ rise from street punk to murder chieftain to stool pigeon, ending with his fateful death on a Coney Island rooftop. It resurrects a time when crime became organized crime: a world of money and power, depravity and corruption, street corner ambushes and elaborately choreographed hits by wise-cracking foot soldiers with names like Buggsy Goldstein and Tick Tock Tannenbaum.
For a brief moment before World War II erupted, America fixated on the delicate balance of trust and betrayal on the Brooklyn streets. This is the story of the one man who tipped the balance.
A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books
... Read more -
What Is Life Worth?
- By: Kenneth R. Feinberg
- Narrator: James Lurie
- Length: 5 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: August 14, 2018
- Language: English
-
3.87(255 ratings)
3.87(255 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.98 USDSoon to be a major motion picture: the true story of the man put in charge of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and a testament to the enduring power of family, grief, love, fear, frustration, and courage. Just days after September 11, 2001,Soon to be a major motion picture: the true story of the man put in charge of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and a testament to the enduring power of family, grief, love, fear, frustration, and courage.
Just days after September 11, 2001, Kenneth Feinberg was appointed to administer the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a unique, unprecedented fund established by Congress to compensate families who lost a loved one on 9/11 and survivors who were physically injured in the attacks. Those who participated in the Fund were required to waive their right to sue the airlines involved in the attacks, as well as other potentially responsible entities. When the program was launched, many families criticized it as a brazen, tight-fisted attempt to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The Fund was also attacked as attempting to put insulting dollar values on the lives of lost loved ones. The families were in pain. And they were angry. Over the course of the next three years, Feinberg spent almost all of his time meeting with the families, convincing them of the generosity and compassion of the program, and calculating appropriate awards for each and every claim. The Fund proved to be a dramatic success with over 97% of eligible families participating. It also provided important lessons for Feinberg, who became the filter, the arbitrator, and the target of family suffering. Feinberg learned about the enduring power of family grief, love, fear, faith, frustration, and courage. Most importantly, he learned that no check, no matter how large, could make the families and victims of 9/11 whole again.
... Read more -
Ruthless Tide
- By: Al Roker
- Narrator: Mirron Willis
- Length: 8 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 22, 2018
- Language: English
-
3.86(671 ratings)
3.86(671 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.004.99 USDA gripping narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood–the deadliest flood in US history–from New York Times bestselling author, NBC Host, and legendary weather authority Al Roker. May 1889: After a deluge of rainfall–nearly aA gripping narrative history of the 1889 Johnstown Flood–the deadliest flood in US history–from New York Times bestselling author, NBC Host, and legendary weather authority Al Roker.
May 1889: After a deluge of rainfall–nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours–swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork Dam in central Pennsylvania. Though they telegraphed neighboring towns on this last morning in May, warning of the impending danger, residents, used to false alarms, remained in their homes.
At 3:10 P.M., the dam gave way, releasing twenty million tons of water. Gathering speed as it flowed southwest, the deluge wiped out entire towns in its path and picked up debris–trees, houses, animals–before reaching Johnstown, fourteen miles downstream. Traveling forty miles an hour, with swells as high as sixty feet, the deadly floodwaters razed the mill town–home to 20,000 people–in minutes. The Great Flood, as it would come to be called, remains the deadliest in US history, killing more than 2,200 people and causing seventeen million dollars in damage.
Al Roker tells the riveting story of this tragedy, which remains one of the worst weather-related disasters in American history. Ruthless Tide follows a compelling cast of characters whose fates converged because of that tragic day, including John Parke, the engineer whose heroic efforts failed to save the dam; Henry Clay Frick, the robber baron whose fancy sport fishing resort was responsible for modifications that weakened the structure; and Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, who spent five months in Johnstown leading one of the first organized disaster relief efforts. Weaving together their stories and those of many ordinary citizens whose lives were forever altered by the event, Roker creates a classic account of our natural world at its most terrifying.
... Read more -
Philistines at the Hedgerow
- By: Steven Gaines
- Narrator: Steven Gaines
- Length: 2 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: August 07, 2018
- Language: English
-
3.8(440 ratings)
3.8(440 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.98 USDBestselling author Steven Gaines’s “richly entertaining” (People) and juicy social history of the Hamptons. As one of America’s most fabled communities–long a magnet for artists, celebrities, the very rich, and theirBestselling author Steven Gaines’s “richly entertaining” (People) and juicy social history of the Hamptons.
As one of America’s most fabled communities–long a magnet for artists, celebrities, the very rich, and their respective hangers-on–the Hamptons have been a scene of constant collision among the established old guard, New Money, and the local families who farmed and fished the region for generations. In serving up three centuries of Hamptons history, Steven Gaines introduces a host of colorful characters including Jackson Pollock, Ron Perelman, Lauren Bacall, and the Bouvier Beales of Grey Gardens infamy.
Philistines at the Hedgerow is a mesmerizing feat of storytelling–a book that takes us behind the privet hedges and rolling sand dunes and brings vivid life to the curious passions and personalities that animate the Hamptons.
... Read more -
Jewish New York
- By: Deborah Dash Moore
- Narrator: Deborah Dash Moore
- Length: 16 hours 14 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: October 10, 2017
- Language: English
-
3.75(26 ratings)
3.75(26 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDThe definitive history of Jews in New York and how they transformed the city Based on the acclaimed multi-volume series, “City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York,” Jewish New York reveals the multifaceted world of one of theThe definitive history of Jews in New York and how they transformed the city Based on the acclaimed multi-volume series, “City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York,” Jewish New York reveals the multifaceted world of one of the city’s most important ethnic and religious groups. Spanning three centuries, Jewish New York traces the earliest arrival of Jews in New Amsterdam to the recent immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. Jewish immigrants transformed New York. They built its clothing industry and constructed huge swaths of apartment buildings. New York Jews helped to make the city the center of the nation’s publishing industry and shaped popular culture in music, theater, and the arts. With a strong sense of social justice, a dedication to civil rights and civil liberties, and a belief in the duty of government to provide social welfare for all its citizens, New York Jews influenced the city, state, and nation with a new wave of social activism. In turn, New York transformed Judaism and stimulated religious pluralism, Jewish denominationalism, and contemporary feminism. The city’s neighborhoods hosted unbelievably diverse types of Jews, from Communists to Hasidim. Jewish New York not only describes Jews’ many positive influences on New York, but also exposes the group’s struggles with poverty and anti-Semitism. These injustices reinforced an exemplary commitment to remaking New York into a model multiethnic, multiracial, and multi-religious world city.
... Read more -
The Jihad Next Door
- By: Dina Temple-Raston
- Narrator: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 7 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
-
3.61(96 ratings)
3.61(96 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDDina Temple-Raston uncovers a strange corner of the war on terror in Lackawanna, New York, home of the first homegrown al-Qaeda terrorist cell in America. Or was it? The “Lackawanna Six” were young men, born of Yemeni families longDina Temple-Raston uncovers a strange corner of the war on terror in Lackawanna, New York, home of the first homegrown al-Qaeda terrorist cell in America. Or was it?
The “Lackawanna Six” were young men, born of Yemeni families long settled in upstate New York, who took a trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan and spent time in an al-Qaeda training camp—long before the specter of 9/11, before most people had even heard of Osama bin Laden, and before the existence of the Homeland Security Act.
This is a story of preemptive imprisonment for an act of terrorism never committed, a terrorist cell that may not even have been a cell, and a mysterious al-Qaeda contact who was supposedly killed but whose remains were never found. The Jihad Next Door is a book that forces a reevaluation of the casualties of the war on terror.
... Read more -
Sweet and Low
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrator: Rich Cohen
- Length: 7 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: April 04, 2006
- Language: English
-
3.5(1038 ratings)
3.5(1038 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDSweet and Low is the amazing, bittersweet, hilarious story of an American family and its patriarch, a short-order cook named Ben Eisenstadt who, in the years after World War II, invented the sugar packet and Sweet’N Low, converting hisSweet and Low is the amazing, bittersweet, hilarious story of an American family and its patriarch, a short-order cook named Ben Eisenstadt who, in the years after World War II, invented the sugar packet and Sweet’N Low, converting his Brooklyn cafeteria into a factory and amassing the great fortune that would destroy his family.
It is also the story of immigrants to the New World, sugar, saccharine, obesity, and the health and diet craze, played out across countries and generations but also within the life of a single family, as the fortune and the factory passed from generation to generation. The author, Rich Cohen, a grandson (disinherited, and thus set free, along with his mother and siblings), has sought the truth of this rancorous, colorful history, mining thousands of pages of court documents accumulated in the long and sometimes corrupt life of the factor, and conducting interviews with members of his extended family. Along the way, the forty-year family battle over the fortune moves into its titanic phase, with the money and legacy up for grabs. Sweet and Low is the story of this struggle, a strange comic farce of machinations and double dealings, and of an extraordinary family and its fight for the American dream.
... Read more -
Heir to the Empire City
- By: Edward P. Kohn
- Narrator: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 9 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
-
3.46(120 ratings)
3.46(120 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDTheodore Roosevelt is best remembered as America’s prototypical “cowboy” president–a Rough Rider who derived his political wisdom from a youth spent in the untamed American West. But while the great outdoors certainly shapedTheodore Roosevelt is best remembered as America’s prototypical “cowboy” president–a Rough Rider who derived his political wisdom from a youth spent in the untamed American West. But while the great outdoors certainly shaped Roosevelt’s identity, historian Edward P. Kohn argues that it was his hometown of New York that made him the progressive president we celebrate today. During his early political career, Roosevelt took on local Republican factions and Tammany Hall Democrats alike, proving his commitment to reform at all costs. He combated the city’s rampant corruption and helped to guide New York through the perils of rabid urbanization and the challenges of accommodating an influx of immigrants–experiences that would serve him well as president of the United States.
A riveting account of a man and a city on the brink of greatness, Heir to the Empire City reveals that Roosevelt’s true education took place not in the West but on the mean streets of nineteenth-century New York.
... Read more -
An Unexplained Death
- By: Mikita Brottman
- Narrator: Mikita Brottman
- Length: 8 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: November 06, 2018
- Language: English
-
3.28(786 ratings)
3.28(786 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDThis program is read by the author. An Unexplained Death is an obsessive investigation into a mysterious death at the Belvedere–a once-grand hotel–and a poignant, gripping meditation on suicide and voyeurism. “The poster is new. IThis program is read by the author.
An Unexplained Death is an obsessive investigation into a mysterious death at the Belvedere–a once-grand hotel–and a poignant, gripping meditation on suicide and voyeurism.
“The poster is new. I notice it right away, taped to a utility pole. Beneath the word ‘Missing,’ printed in a bold, high-impact font, are two sepia-toned photographs of a man dressed in a bow tie and tux.”
Most people would keep walking. Maybe they’d pay a bit closer attention to the local news that evening. Mikita Brottman spent ten years sifting through the details of the missing man’s life and disappearance, and his purported suicide by jumping from the roof of her own apartment building, the Belvedere.
As Brottman delves into the murky circumstances surrounding Rey Rivera’s death–which begins to look more and more like a murder–she contemplates the nature of and motives behind suicide, and uncovers a haunting pattern of guests at the Belvedere, when it was still a historic hotel, taking their own lives on the premises. Finally, she fearlessly takes us to the edge of her own morbid curiosity and asks us to consider our own darker impulses and obsessions.
... Read more -
Patriotism and Profit
- By: Susan Nagel
- Narrator: Mack Sanderson
- Length: 10 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
-
3.17(6 ratings)
3.17(6 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe untold story of how America’s beloved first president, George Washington, borrowed, leveraged, and coerced his way into masterminding the key land purchase of the American era, which lead to the creation the nation’s capitalThe untold story of how America’s beloved first president, George Washington, borrowed, leveraged, and coerced his way into masterminding the key land purchase of the American era, which lead to the creation the nation’s capital city.
Contrary to the popular historical record, Thomas Jefferson was not even a minor player at the Dinner Table Bargain, now known as the Compromise of 1790. The real protagonists of the Dinner Table Bargain were President George Washington and New York Senator Philip Schuyler, who engaged in the battle that would separate our financial capital from our political seat of power. Washington and Schuyler’s dueling ambitions provoked an intense decades-long rivalry and a protracted crusade for the location of the new empire city. Alexander Hamilton, son-in-law to Schuyler and surrogate son to George Washington, was helplessly caught in the middle.
This invigorating narrative vividly depicts New York City when it was the nation’s seat of government. Susan Nagel captures the spirit, speech, and sensibility of the era in full and entertaining form–and readers will get to know the city’s eighteenth-century movers, shakers, and power brokers, who are as colorful and fascinating as their counterparts today. Delicious political intrigue and scandalous gossip between the three competing alpha personalities–George Washington, Philip Schuyler, and Alexander Hamilton–make this a powerful and resonant history, reminding us that our Founding Fathers were brilliant but often flawed human beings.They were avaricious, passionate, and visionary. They loved, hated, sacrificed, and aspired. Even their most vicious qualities are part of the reason why, for better or worse, the United States became the premier modern empire, born from figures carving their legacies into history.Not only the dramatic story of how America’s beloved first president George Washington created the nation’s capital city, Patriotism and Profit serves as timely expose on issues facing America today, revealing the origins behind some of our nation’s most pressing problems.
A bonus PDF file includes all charts, diagrams, and photographs that appear in the print edition of the book.
... Read more -
My American Revolution
- By: Robert Sullivan
- Narrator: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: September 25, 2012
- Language: English
-
3.04(162 ratings)
3.04(162 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.009.99 USDIn My American Revolution, Robert Sullivan investigates the true history of the crossing of the Delaware, its down-home reenactment each year for the past half a century, and – toward the end of a personal odyssey that involves camping in NewIn My American Revolution, Robert Sullivan investigates the true history of the crossing of the Delaware, its down-home reenactment each year for the past half a century, and – toward the end of a personal odyssey that involves camping in New Jersey backyards, hiking through lost ‘mountains,’ and eventually some physical therapy – he evacuates illegally from Brooklyn to Manhattan by handmade boat. He recounts a Brooklyn historian’s failed attempt to memorialize a colonial Maryland regiment; a tattoo artist’s more successful use of a colonial submarine, which resulted in his 2007 arrest by the New York City police and the FBI; and last but not least, along New York harbor, Sullivan re-creates an ancient signal beacon.
... Read more -
Empire of Mud
- By: J. D. Dickey
- Narrator: John Lescault
- Length: 9 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDWashington, DC, gleams with stately columns and neoclassical temples, a pulsing hub of political power and prowess. But for decades it was one of the worst excuses for a capital city the world had ever seen. Before America became a world power inWashington, DC, gleams with stately columns and neoclassical temples, a pulsing hub of political power and prowess. But for decades it was one of the worst excuses for a capital city the world had ever seen. Before America became a world power in the twentieth century, Washington City was an eyesore at best and a disgrace at worst. Unfilled swamps, filthy canals, and rutted horse trails littered its landscape. Political bosses hired hooligans and thugs to conduct the nation’s affairs. Legendary madams entertained clients from all stations of society and politicians of every party. The police served and protected with the aid of bribes and protection money. Beneath pestilential air, the city’s muddy roads led to a stumpy, half-finished obelisk to Washington here, a domeless Capitol Building there. Lining the streets stood boarding houses, tanneries, and slums. Deadly horse races gouged dusty streets, and opposing factions of volunteer firefighters battled one another like violent gangs rather than life-saving heroes. The city’s turbulent history set a precedent for the dishonesty, corruption, and mismanagement that have led generations to look suspiciously on the various sin–both real and imagined–of Washington politicians. Empire of Mud unearths and untangles the roots of our capital’s story and explores how the city was tainted from the outset, nearly stifled from becoming the proud citadel of the republic that George Washington and Pierre L’Enfant envisioned more than two centuries ago.
... Read more
- Previous 29 Best Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, etc., Juvenile Fiction Books
- Next 29 Best Middle East Books
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.
Recent Blogs
-
July 06, 2023
Which books are available on Spotify?
-
July 06, 2023
Are audiobooks free on Spotify with membership?
-
June 25, 2023
Top Destinations for Free eBooks and Audiobooks Online
-
June 25, 2023
Best Alternative to Barnes & Noble Online
-
June 25, 2023
The Best Places to Buy eBooks: Beyond the Kindle Ecosystem
-
June 25, 2023
What are the best places to find free ebooks?
-
June 25, 2023
Best Independent Companies to Buy eBooks from
-
April 19, 2023
How many Game of Thrones books are there?
-
April 19, 2023
Where to buy cheap books: A comprehensive guide
-
April 19, 2023
How many Jack Reacher books are there?
-
April 19, 2023
How many FNAF books are there?
-
April 19, 2023
How many Warrior Cats books are there?
-
April 19, 2023
How many Wheel of Time books are there?
-
April 19, 2023
The best Vampire Survivors powerups in order
-
April 19, 2023
How to read the Robert Galbraith books in order
-
April 19, 2023
How to read the Artemis Fowl books in order
-
April 19, 2023
How to read Craig Johnson’s books in order
-
April 19, 2023
How to read Cassandra Clare’s books in order
-
April 19, 2023
How to read Lee Child’s books in order
-
April 18, 2023
How to read the In Death book series in order
-
April 18, 2023
Best book quotes
-
April 18, 2023
A tale of two cities reviewed
-
April 18, 2023
All the President’s Men reviewed
-
April 18, 2023
Tintin reviewed
-
April 18, 2023
What are adult coloring books?
-
April 18, 2023
How to read the Percy Jackson books in order
-
April 11, 2023
How to find charities for the blind
-
April 11, 2023
What is the best Bible app
-
April 11, 2023
Where to find free audio Bible downloads
-
April 11, 2023
What is the best free Bible app
More in this series
- Best books recommended by Duncan Jones
- 29 Best World War II Books
- 23 Best Witchcraft Books
- 29 Best Religious, Religion Books
- 12 Best Motivational & Inspirational, Sports & Recreation Books
- 24 Best Love & Marriage, Religion Books
- 21 Best Civilization Books
- What are the best books by Mario Puzo?
- 10 Best Trivia Books
- 29 Best Personal Memoirs, Biography & Autobiography Books
- 28 Best Business, Biography & Autobiography Books
- 14 Best Afterlife & Reincarnation Books
- 29 Best Cats Books
- 10 Best Advertising & Promotion, Business & Economics Books
- 29 Best Body, Mind & Spirit Books
- 29 Best Adolescence, Juvenile Fiction Books
- 29 Best African American Studies, Social Science Books
- 23 Best Astrophysics, Science Books
- The best books by Dav Pilkey, Captain Underpants creator
- 14 Best Folk & Traditional Books
- 29 Best Emotions & Feelings, Juvenile Fiction Books
- 29 Best Intelligence & Espionage Books
- 21 Best Love & Marriage Books
- 29 Best Dystopian, Fiction Books
- 29 Best Relationships Books
- 15 Best Literary, Family & Relationships Books
- 26 Best Psychiatry Books
- 29 Best Conservatism & Liberalism, Political Science Books
- 15 Best Italy Books
- 29 Best Prejudice & Racism, Juvenile Fiction Books