A Grip of Time
When Prison Is Your Life
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Narrated by:
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Hollis McCarthy
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By:
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Lauren Kessler
About this listen
A Grip of Time (prison slang for a very long sentence behind bars) takes listeners into a world most know little about - a maximum-security prison - and into the minds and hearts of the men who live there. These men, who are serving out life sentences for aggravated murder, join a fledgling Lifers' Writing Group started by award-winning author Lauren Kessler. Over the course of three years, meeting twice a month, the men reveal more and more about themselves, their pasts, and the alternating drama and tedium of their incarcerated lives. As they struggle with the weight of their guilt and wonder if they should hope for a future outside prison walls, Kessler struggles with the fiercely competing ideas of rehabilitation and punishment, forgiveness and blame that are at the heart of the American penal system.
Gripping, intense, and heartfelt, A Grip of Time: When Prison Is Your Life shows what a lifetime with no hope of release looks like up close.
©2019 Lauren Kessler (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Love and Justice
- By: Jonathan Irons, Maya Moore Irons, Bryan Stevenson - foreword, and others
- Narrated by: Jonathan Irons, Maya Moore Irons
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Just Mercy, an inspirational memoir by WNBA star Maya Moore Irons and her husband, Jonathan Irons, who she helped free from a wrongful conviction.
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Storytelling
- By Lydia Neto on 10-26-24
By: Jonathan Irons, and others
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Marked for Life
- One Man's Fight for Justice from the Inside
- By: Isaac Wright Jr., Jon Sternfeld - contributor
- Narrated by: Isaac Wright Jr.
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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An empowering memoir of courage and hope in the face of injustice—and the basis for the ABC television show, For Life—Marked for Life is the true story of Isaac Wright Jr.’s battle to win his freedom after being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes he didn’t commit, and a critical indictment of America’s judicial system.
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Outstanding Book!
- By JXL on 06-10-24
By: Isaac Wright Jr., and others
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Getting Life
- An Innocent Man’s 25-Year Journey from Prison to Peace
- By: Michael Morton
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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On August 13, 1986, just one day after his 32nd birthday, Michael Morton went to work at his usual time. By the end of the day, his wife Christine had been savagely bludgeoned to death in the couple's bed - and the Williamson County Sherriff's office in Texas wasted no time in pinning her murder on Michael, despite an absolute lack of physical evidence. Michael was swiftly sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had not committed
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A must read
- By Kevlar314 on 04-23-15
By: Michael Morton
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So You've Been Publicly Shamed
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. 'It's about the terror, isn't it?' 'The terror of what?' I said. 'The terror of being found out.' For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work.
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You'll never look at public shaming the same way
- By Megan Gunter on 04-02-15
By: Jon Ronson
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To Obama
- A Diary of a Nation
- By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
- Narrated by: Jeanne Marie Laskas, Sullivan Jones, MacLeod Andrews, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given 10 handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens - the unfiltered voice of a nation - from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years:
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a must have audible book or print, it will amaze u
- By 1mercedeb8 on 11-08-18
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Judgment Ridge
- The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders
- By: Dick Lehr, Mitchell Zuckoff
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two of its most beloved professors had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims to their murderer or murderers. A few weeks later, across the river, in the town of Chelsea, Vermont, police cars were spotted in front of the house of a high school senior. Soon, the town discovered the incomprehensible reality that two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons, were now fugitives, wanted for the murders.
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Terrible
- By Maria on 04-26-20
By: Dick Lehr, and others
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When They Call You a Terrorist
- A Black Lives Matter Memoir
- By: Patrisse Cullors, asha bandele, Angela Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Angela Davis - foreword, Angela Davis, Patrisse Cullors
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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When They Call You a Terrorist is the essential audiobook for every conscientious American. From one of the cofounders of the Black Lives Matter movement comes a poetic audiobook memoir and reflection on humanity. Necessary and timely, Patrisse Cullors' story asks us to remember that protest in the interest of the most vulnerable comes from love.
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Everyone should listen!
- By Mary J. Bunker on 01-26-18
By: Patrisse Cullors, and others
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Words Will Break Cement
- The Passion of Pussy Riot
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The heroic story of Pussy Riot, who resurrected the power of truth in a society built on lies. On February 21, 2012, five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. In neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas, they performed a “punk prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” They were quickly shut down by security, and in the weeks and months that followed, three of the women were arrested and tried, and two were sentenced to a remote prison colony. But the incident captured international headlines, and footage of it went viral.
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Therapy in these authoritarian times
- By Emeri Burks on 08-30-22
By: Masha Gessen
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A Second Chance
- By: Catherine Hoke
- Narrated by: Catherine Hoke
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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What if you were only known for the worst thing you've ever done? Not only does the US have the highest rate of incarceration in the world, it also makes certain that the stigma of a felony conviction follows people who have already served their time. After she came to understand both the frustrations and untapped potential of the incarcerated, Catherine Hoke founded Defy Ventures, a revolutionary organization devoted to transforming the lives of people both inside and outside prison walls. A Second Chance is the story of how Defy came to be.
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Awesome every, single, time!
- By Matthew Burnett on 07-06-22
By: Catherine Hoke
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God's Hostage
- A True Story of Persecution, Imprisonment, and Perseverance
- By: Andrew Brunson, Craig Borlase - contributor
- Narrated by: Andrew Brunson
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1993, Andrew Brunson was asked to travel to Turkey, the largest unevangelized country in the world, to serve as a missionary. Though hesitant because of the daunting and dangerous task that lay ahead, Andrew and his wife, Norine, believed this was God's plan for them. What followed was a string of threats and attacks, but also successes in starting new churches in a place where many people had never met a Christian. As their work with refugees from Syria, gained attention and suspicion, Andrew and Norine acknowledged the threat but accepted the risk.
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The raw honesty
- By Osborne’s on 07-04-24
By: Andrew Brunson, and others
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The Ungrateful Refugee
- What Immigrants Never Tell You
- By: Dina Nayeri
- Narrated by: Dina Nayeri
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Eventually, she was granted asylum in America. She settled in Oklahoma, then made her way to Princeton University. In this book, Nayeri weaves together her own vivid story with the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers in recent years, bringing us inside their daily lives and taking us through the different stages of their journeys, from escape to asylum to resettlement.
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Amazing story of resilience and compassion
- By PAH on 09-06-19
By: Dina Nayeri
What listeners say about A Grip of Time
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-29-19
fascinating and insightful
This was an incredible book. Loved the humanity of it. I hope there are future books of inmate stories.
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- M. Owens
- 01-13-22
Everyone should read about the lives behind bars
I couldn’t stop reading (listening) once I started. We have a love affair in this country with punishing people - I’m not saying there shouldn’t be accountability. This book gives insight into a few lives being lived by men serving life in prison. Before we are asked as voters about crime or serving on juries, we need to understand what we are being asked to do. Excellent writing.
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