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Sign up todayTobacco Road
Narrator
John MacDonald
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Length
5 hours 23 minutes
Language
English
Set during the Depression in the depleted farmlands surrounding Augusta, Georgia, Tobacco Road is the story of the Lesters, a family of white sharecroppers so destitute that most of their creditors have given up on them. Debased by poverty to an elemental state of ignorance and selfishness, the Lesters are preoccupied by their hunger, sexual longings, and fear that they will one day descend to a lower rung on the social ladder than the black families who live near them.
Caldwell’s skillful use of dialect and his plain style make the book one of the best examples of literary naturalism in contemporary American fiction. The novel was adapted as a successful play in 1933.
Erskine Caldwell (1903–1987) was an American author known for his writings about poverty, racism, and social problems in his native South. As one of the first authors to be published in mass-market paperback editions, he is a key figure in the history of American publishing. Three of his books were made into movies, and the stage adaption of Tobacco Road made American theater history when it ran for seven-and-a-half years on Broadway.
John MacDonald (1952–2008) was a director, producer, and founder of the Washington Stage Guild in Washington, DC. A graduate of Catholic University, MacDonald was a popular figure in the Mid-Atlantic theater scene. He made dozens of recordings for the Talking Book program at the Library of Congress before entering the commercial audiobook field.
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Reviews
“Caldwell displays a talent which is unique.”
“A good many people will be shocked, but it is a story of force and beauty.”
“Mr. Caldwell’s humor, like Mark Twain’s, has its source in an imagination that stirs the emotions of the reader.”
“An original, mature approach to people who ignore the civilization that contains them as completely as it ignores them.”
“Caldwell’s book is…well served by this classy performance, which manages to highlight the realism amid the rambunctiousness.”
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