Dreamland (YA edition)
The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Dreamland (YA edition)
Buy for $16.23
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joseph Balderama
-
By:
-
Sam Quinones
About this listen
As an adult book, Sam Quinones's Dreamland took the world by storm, winning the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction and hitting at least a dozen Best Book of the Year lists. Now, adapted for the first time for a young adult audience, this compelling reporting explains the roots of the current opiate crisis.
In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital center of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland. Quinones explains how the rise of the prescription drug OxyContin, a miraculous and extremely addictive painkiller pushed by pharmaceutical companies, paralleled the massive influx of black tar heroin—cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico’s west coast, independent of any drug cartel.
Introducing a memorable cast of characters—pharmaceutical pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, teens, and parents—Dreamland is a revelatory account of the massive threat facing America and its heartland.©2015 Sam Quinones (P)2019 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Dreamland
- The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 182
In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Joe on 08-01-22
By: Sam Quinones
-
The Least of Us
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 550
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 486
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 488
From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Top tier journalism and 100% honest
- By Anonymous User on 11-24-21
By: Sam Quinones
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 9,065
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 7,896
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7,852
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
Pain Killer
- An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 346
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 300
Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin. Families, working class and wealthy, have been torn apart, businesses destroyed, and public officials pushed to the brink. Meanwhile, the drugmaker’s owners, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, whose names adorn museums worldwide, made enormous fortunes from the commercial success of OxyContin.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Infuriating and Compelling
- By TiffanyD on 12-24-18
By: Barry Meier
-
American Overdose
- The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Chris McGreal
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 123
The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An important read
- By Macmom4 on 02-18-19
By: Chris McGreal
-
The Premonition
- A Pandemic Story
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,703
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,895
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,890
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why not Michael Lewis?
- By Brian on 05-04-21
By: Michael Lewis
-
Dreamland
- The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 211
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 182
In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Joe on 08-01-22
By: Sam Quinones
-
The Least of Us
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 550
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 486
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 488
From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Top tier journalism and 100% honest
- By Anonymous User on 11-24-21
By: Sam Quinones
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 9,065
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 7,896
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7,852
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
Pain Killer
- An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 346
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 300
Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin. Families, working class and wealthy, have been torn apart, businesses destroyed, and public officials pushed to the brink. Meanwhile, the drugmaker’s owners, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, whose names adorn museums worldwide, made enormous fortunes from the commercial success of OxyContin.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Infuriating and Compelling
- By TiffanyD on 12-24-18
By: Barry Meier
-
American Overdose
- The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Chris McGreal
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 123
The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An important read
- By Macmom4 on 02-18-19
By: Chris McGreal
-
The Premonition
- A Pandemic Story
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,703
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,895
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,890
For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’ taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Why not Michael Lewis?
- By Brian on 05-04-21
By: Michael Lewis
-
I'll Push You
- A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair
- By: Patrick Gray, Justin Skeesuck
- Narrated by: Patrick Gray, Justin Skeesuck
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 404
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 355
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 357
Meet Justin and Patrick. Born in the same hospital two days apart, they grew up together, faced life shoulder to shoulder, and were best man in each other's weddings. It was the way things had always been. It was the way things were always going to be. But then the unexpected struck - Justin was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease that robbed him of the use of his arms and legs. As Justin transitioned to life lived in a wheelchair, Patrick stayed by his side, and together they refused to give in to despair or physical limitations.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Mixed Feelings!
- By Sharpie on 02-13-20
By: Patrick Gray, and others
-
Narconomics
- How to Run a Drug Cartel
- By: Tom Wainwright
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,761
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,315
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,295
What drug lords learned from big business. How does a budding cartel boss succeed (and survive) in the $300 billion illegal drug business? By learning from the best, of course. From creating brand value to fine-tuning customer service, the folks running cartels have been attentive students of the strategy and tactics used by corporations such as Walmart, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Worthy book in the "economics explains X" genre
- By A reader on 04-11-16
By: Tom Wainwright
-
1493 for Young People
- From Columbus's Voyage to Globalization
- By: Rebecca Stefoff, Charles Mann
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 10
How did the lowly potato plant feed the poor across Europe and then cause the deaths of millions? How did the rubber plant enable industrialization? What is the connection between malaria, slavery, and the outcome of the American Revolution? How did the fabled silver mountain of 16th-century Bolivia fund economic development in the flood-prone plains of rural China and the wars of the Spanish Empire? Here is the story of how sometimes the greatest leaps also posed the greatest threats to human advancement.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Mind Blowing
- By Susie on 06-15-16
By: Rebecca Stefoff, and others
-
The Fifth Vital
- By: Mike Majlak, Riley J. Ford
- Narrated by: Mike Majlak
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,408
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,196
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,193
Mike Majlak was a 17-year-old from a loving middle-class family in Milford, Connecticut, when he got caught up in the opioid epidemic that swept the nation. For close to a decade thereafter, his life was a wasteland of darkness and despair. While his peers were graduating from college, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and leading normal lives, Mike was snorting Oxycontin, climbing out of cars at gunpoint, and burying his childhood friends.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Book is straight fire
- By Amazon Customer on 03-04-21
By: Mike Majlak, and others
-
Parkland
- Birth of a Movement
- By: Dave Cullen
- Narrated by: Dave Cullen, Robert Fass
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 206
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 176
On the first anniversary of the events at Parkland, the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author of Columbine offers an intimate, deeply moving account of the extraordinary teenage survivors who became activists and pushed back against the NRA and feckless Congressional leaders - inspiring millions of Americans to join their grassroots #neveragain movement.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
10 Hours of Gen Xer in Awe of Gen Z
- By Incog Neat Oh on 02-22-19
By: Dave Cullen
-
Being Heumann
- An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
- By: Judith Heumann, Kristen Joiner
- Narrated by: Ali Stroker
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 537
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 453
A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism - from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington - Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a "fire hazard" to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher's license because of her paralysis, Judy's actions set a precedent that improved rights for disabled people.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must read for everyone
- By Christopher A Cawthon on 09-28-20
By: Judith Heumann, and others
-
Lost Girls
- An Unsolved American Mystery
- By: Robert Kolker
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,372
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,193
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,184
One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert - after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life - went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the 24-year-old: She was a Craigslist escort who had been fleeing a scene - of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County police, too, seemed to have paid little attention - until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
No answers
- By Sam on 07-24-13
By: Robert Kolker
-
Surviving Deep Waters
- A Legendary Reporter's Story of Overcoming Poverty, Race, Violence, and His Mother's Deepest Secret
- By: Bruce Johnson
- Narrated by: Bruce Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 31
There was no reason to bet on Bruce Johnson, given where he started out. Poor, Black, and raised by a single mother who had a secret. He was the child she hid in plain view from the rest of her family. As an adult, he set out to just make a living - to do better than Black folks who tried their best before, while making his Momma and Grandmomma proud. His journey to becoming a successful TV journalist nearly killed him, but he refused to treat himself as a victim. His role was to use his voice and example to pull others out of deep waters.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wake up call
- By Francenia Beech-Martin on 12-05-22
By: Bruce Johnson
-
Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 240
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 242
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Compelling
- By Jean on 06-18-17
By: Susan Burton, and others
-
Killing Season
- A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic
- By: Peter Canning
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 42
When Peter Canning started work as a paramedic on the streets of Hartford, Connecticut, 25 years ago, he believed drug users were victims only of their own character flaws. Although he took care of them, he did not care for them. But as the overdoses escalated, Canning began asking his patients how they had gotten started on their perilous journeys. And while no two tales were the same, their heartrending similarities changed Canning's view and moved him to educate himself about the science of addiction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Informative
- By HJones on 11-24-24
By: Peter Canning
-
Twelve Patients
- Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
- By: Eric Manheimer
- Narrated by: Eric Manheimer
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 514
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 468
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 464
In the spirit of Oliver Sacks Awakenings and the TV series House, Dr. Eric Manheimer's Twelve Patients is a memoir from the medical director of Bellevue Hospital that uses the plights of 12 very different patients - from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners from Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons - to illustrate larger societal issues.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome Book
- By NanaLyn on 08-06-12
By: Eric Manheimer
-
Chasing the Scream
- By: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 53
One of Johann Hari’s earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realized he had addiction in his family. Confused, not knowing what to do, he set out and traveled over 30,000 miles over three years to discover what really causes addiction - and what really solves it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible
- By c.caste on 09-09-23
By: Johann Hari
Related to this topic
-
American Pain
- How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic
- By: John Temple
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,358
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,215
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,210
American Pain chronicles the rise and fall of this game-changing pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis. The narrative, which swings back and forth between Florida and Kentucky, is populated by a diverse cast of characters.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Now I understand the problem
- By Amazon Customer in Sanford NC on 07-07-16
By: John Temple
-
Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 240
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 242
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Compelling
- By Jean on 06-18-17
By: Susan Burton, and others
-
American Overdose
- The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Chris McGreal
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 123
The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An important read
- By Macmom4 on 02-18-19
By: Chris McGreal
-
Pill City
- How Two Honor Roll Students Foiled the Feds and Built a Drug Empire
- By: Kevin Deutsch
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
April 28, 2015, West Baltimore, Maryland: ground zero in America's Opiate Wars. In this crime-plagued section of the city, the death of Freddie Gray has triggered the worst domestic rioting since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and created a terrifying new breed of criminal entrepreneur.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Race baiting bullshit.
- By Nick on 02-16-17
By: Kevin Deutsch
-
Methland
- The Death and Life of an American Small Town
- By: Nick Reding
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 883
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 475
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully written, but insubstantial
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 02-10-10
By: Nick Reding
-
One Day
- The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America
- By: Gene Weingarten
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
On New Year’s Day 2013, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Gene Weingarten asked three strangers to, literally, pluck a day, month, and year from a hat. That day - chosen completely at random - was Sunday, December 28, 1986, by any conventional measure a most ordinary day. Weingarten spent the next six years proving that there is no such thing. That Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s turned out to be filled with comedy, tragedy, implausible irony, cosmic comeuppances, kindness, cruelty, heroism, cowardice, genius, idiocy, and much more....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I'm giving this book more credit for its concept
- By J. F. Boyd on 12-24-19
By: Gene Weingarten
-
American Pain
- How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic
- By: John Temple
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,358
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,215
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,210
American Pain chronicles the rise and fall of this game-changing pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis. The narrative, which swings back and forth between Florida and Kentucky, is populated by a diverse cast of characters.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Now I understand the problem
- By Amazon Customer in Sanford NC on 07-07-16
By: John Temple
-
Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 274
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 240
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 242
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Compelling
- By Jean on 06-18-17
By: Susan Burton, and others
-
American Overdose
- The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Chris McGreal
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 123
The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An important read
- By Macmom4 on 02-18-19
By: Chris McGreal
-
Pill City
- How Two Honor Roll Students Foiled the Feds and Built a Drug Empire
- By: Kevin Deutsch
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
April 28, 2015, West Baltimore, Maryland: ground zero in America's Opiate Wars. In this crime-plagued section of the city, the death of Freddie Gray has triggered the worst domestic rioting since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and created a terrifying new breed of criminal entrepreneur.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Race baiting bullshit.
- By Nick on 02-16-17
By: Kevin Deutsch
-
Methland
- The Death and Life of an American Small Town
- By: Nick Reding
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 883
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 475
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully written, but insubstantial
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 02-10-10
By: Nick Reding
-
One Day
- The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America
- By: Gene Weingarten
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
On New Year’s Day 2013, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Gene Weingarten asked three strangers to, literally, pluck a day, month, and year from a hat. That day - chosen completely at random - was Sunday, December 28, 1986, by any conventional measure a most ordinary day. Weingarten spent the next six years proving that there is no such thing. That Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s turned out to be filled with comedy, tragedy, implausible irony, cosmic comeuppances, kindness, cruelty, heroism, cowardice, genius, idiocy, and much more....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I'm giving this book more credit for its concept
- By J. F. Boyd on 12-24-19
By: Gene Weingarten
-
The Queen
- The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
- By: Josh Levin
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 237
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 197
In this critically acclaimed true crime tale of "welfare queen" Linda Taylor, a Slate editor reveals a "wild, only-in-America story" of political manipulation and murder (Attica Locke, Edgar Award-winning author). Part social history, part true-crime investigation, Josh Levin's mesmerizing book, the product of six years of reporting and research, is a fascinating account of American racism, and an exposé of the "welfare queen" myth, one that fueled political debates that reverberate to this day.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very compelling story!
- By Marilyn on 06-24-19
By: Josh Levin
-
The Working Poor
- Invisible in America
- By: David K. Shipler
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 150
Nobody who works hard should be poor in America, writes Pulitzer Prize-winner David Shipler. Clear-headed, rigorous, and compassionate, he journeys deeply into the lives of individual store clerks and factory workers, farm laborers and sweat-shop seamstresses, illegal immigrants in menial jobs and Americans saddled with immense student loans and paltry wages. They are known as the working poor.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Textbook Perfect Discussion of the Problem
- By Cynthia on 07-28-12
By: David K. Shipler
-
Don't Shoot
- One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America
- By: David M. Kennedy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Gang- and drug-related inner-city violence, with its attendant epidemic of incarceration, is the defining crime problem in our country. In some neighborhoods in America, one out of every 200 young black men is shot to death every year, and few initiatives of government and law enforcement have made much difference. But when David Kennedy, a self-taught and then-unknown criminologist, engineered the "Boston Miracle" in the mid-1990s, he pointed the way toward what few had imagined: a solution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Tragically Under-Appreciated
- By Nathan Witkin on 12-02-22
By: David M. Kennedy
-
A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves
- One Family and Migration in the 21st Century
- By: Jason DeParle
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 100
When Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with Tita Comodas and her family three decades ago, he never imagined his reporting on them would span three generations and turn into the defining chronicle of a new age - the age of global migration. In a monumental book that gives new meaning to "immersion journalism", DeParle paints an intimate portrait of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent and Important
- By Booklover on 03-22-20
By: Jason DeParle
-
Putin Country
- A Journey into the Real Russia
- By: Anne Garrels
- Narrated by: Anne Garrels
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 361
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 314
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 312
In Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia, Garrels crafts an intimate portrait of the nation's heartland. We meet ostentatious mafiosos, upwardly mobile professionals, impassioned activists, scheming taxi drivers with dark secrets, and beleaguered steel workers. We discover surprising subcultures, like the LGBT residents of Chelyablinsk who bravely endure an upsurge in homophobia fueled by Putin's rhetoric of Russian "moral superiority" yet still nurture a vibrant if clandestine community of their own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting dive into Russia today
- By Keith on 03-25-16
By: Anne Garrels
-
West of the West
- Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Teddy Roosevelt once exclaimed, "When I am in California, I am not in the West. I am west of the West", and in this book, Mark Arax spends four years travelling up and down the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. This is California beyond the clichés. This is California as only a native son, deep in the dust, could draw it.
By: Mark Arax
-
Glass House
- The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town
- By: Brian Alexander
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
The Anchor Hocking Glass Company, once the world's largest maker of glass tableware, was the base on which Lancaster's society was built. As Glass House unfolds, bankruptcy looms. With access to the company and its leaders, and Lancaster's citizens, Alexander shows how financial engineering took hold in the 1980s, accelerated in the 21st century, and wrecked the company.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What really happened to the American Dream?
- By Bill on 05-10-17
By: Brian Alexander
-
Tokyo Underworld
- The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan
- By: Robert Whiting
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
In the ashes of postwar Japan lay a gold mine for certain opportunistic, expatriate Americans. Addicted to the volatile energy of Tokyo's freewheeling underworld, they formed ever-shifting but ever-profitable alliances with warring Japanese and Korean gangsters. At the center of this world was Nick Zappetti, an ex-marine from New York City who arrived in Tokyo in 1945 and whose restaurant soon became the rage throughout the city and the chief watering hole for celebrities, diplomats, sports figures, and mobsters.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Man with a fork in a world of soup
- By Kindle Customer on 09-01-20
By: Robert Whiting
-
The Vapors
- A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice
- By: David Hill
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 224
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 182
Back in the days before Vegas was big, when the Mob was at its peak and neon lights were but a glimmer on the horizon, a little Southern town styled itself as a premier destination for the American leisure class. Hot Springs, Arkansas was home to healing waters, Art Deco splendor, and America's original national park - as well as horse racing, nearly a dozen illegal casinos, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
If you don’t live in Arkansas…
- By JohnFern0813 on 08-14-20
By: David Hill
-
Fulfillment
- Winning and Losing in One-Click America
- By: Alec MacGillis
- Narrated by: Danny Gavigan
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 206
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 173
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 173
Alec MacGillis’ Fulfillment is not another inside account or exposé of our most conspicuously dominant company. Rather, it is a literary investigation of the America that falls within that company’s growing shadow. As MacGillis shows, Amazon’s sprawling network of delivery hubs, data centers, and corporate campuses epitomizes a land where winner and loser cities and regions are drifting steadily apart, the civic fabric is unraveling, and work has become increasingly rudimentary and isolated.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Missing some important angles
- By D. Zimmerle on 08-19-21
By: Alec MacGillis
-
America: The Farewell Tour
- By: Chris Hedges
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,207
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,038
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
America, says Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound hopelessness, a bitter despair and a civil society that has ceased to function. The opioid crisis, the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress, the pornification of culture, the rise of magical thinking, the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the nation and the planet.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narrator for the book
- By H U Rehman on 10-01-18
By: Chris Hedges
-
Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler