Performance audiobooks

Novelist Valeria Luiselli On Writing To Document ‘Political Violence’

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

The U.S. is reportedly experiencing illegal immigration at the highest rates since 2007, with significant increases in the number of unaccompanied minors. It is these child migrants who are the subject of Valeria Luiselli’s book “Lost Children Archive.” Luiselli talks to Jeffrey Brown about her experience helping child asylum seekers, balancing... Read more

This festival aims to bridge the urban-rural political divide ‘in a time of rot’

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

A food and arts festival in central Wisconsin has grand ambitions. “Fermentation Fest” celebrates art, farming and all things fermented. But in addition to serving up sauerkraut and kombucha, festival organizers from The Wormfarm Institute also hope it provides an opportunity for people living in urban and rural areas to connect with each other.... Read more

Why the rise of the electric scooter has been a bumpy ride

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

It began with just 10 electric scooters in Santa Monica, California, but soon sidewalks and streets were flooded with thousands of them. Essentially skateboards with handles that can be picked up and dropped off anywhere, they've been rolled out in scores of U.S. cities, where local officials have struggled to cope and residents have mixed... Read more

Self-awareness is key to self-sufficiency at this job training program

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

For workers trying to break the generational cycle of poverty, keeping a job can be as important as getting the job in the first place. As part of our series Chasing the Dream, John Yang reports on a program called Cara in Chicago that teaches the personal attributes and soft skills needed to succeed. Read more

Florida's toxic red tide is a perfect storm for the Gulf Coast

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In Florida, a toxic algae bloom that began last fall has killed dolphins, sea turtles, manatees, even a whale shark. And the toxins are not only devastating to wildlife, but difficult for humans and the economy as well. William Brangham reports from Sanibel Island on the slow-moving catastrophe. Read more

After The Fall Of Isis Caliphate, Its Capital Remains A City Of The Dead

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Although the Islamic State’s physical territory has dissolved, immense destruction from the brutal battle to eradicate the militant group remains. In the former caliphate’s capital city, Raqqa, survivors sort through the wreckage in search of bodies, recalling the atrocities they’ve seen in this city of the dead. Special correspondent Jane... Read more

Author Dani Shapiro On The Power And Danger Of Family Secrets

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 2 minutes

Abridged: No

After taking a DNA test on a whim, author Dani Shapiro discovered that her beloved late father had not been, in fact, her biological parent. She had been conceived using a sperm donor, and as was common at the time, the real story of her conception was kept secret. Shapiro shares her humble opinion on why not knowing the truth can cause more... Read more

Doris Kearns Goodwin on What Today's Leaders Can Learn From Past ‘Turbulent Times'

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In her new book, “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin explores the trajectories of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, arguing that for all four of them, “at some point, ambition for the self became ambition for something larger.” Judy Woodruff interviews the... Read more

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

By: Tennessee Williams

Narrated by: Edward Albee

Length: 2 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof first heated up Broadway in 1955 with its gothic American story of brothers vying for their dying father's inheritance amid a whirlwind of sxuality, untethered in the person of Maggie the Cat. The play also daringly showcased the burden of sxuality repressed in the agony of her husband, Brick Pollitt. In spite of the public... Read more

Why Climate Change Is An 'All-Encompassing Threat'

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Although a candidate just entered the 2020 presidential race with a platform centered on climate change, some experts say Americans aren’t fully aware of the scope and seriousness of global warming. Among them is David Wallace-Wells, who argues in a new book that the severity of the climate crisis has not yet been acknowledged, let alone... Read more

Around the World in 80 Days

By: Jules Verne

Narrated by: Orson Welles

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

As Welles mentions in his introduction, Howard Hughes's record-breaking round-the-world flight had taken place just months before and was no doubt still in the public mind. Hughes had not, however broken Phileas Fogg's record of 80. Welles makes an interesting, impatient Fogg, rushing to win his bet accompanied by his long-suffering... Read more

David Brooks On Emerging From Loneliness To Find ‘Moral Renewal’

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In his new book, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, New York Times columnist and News-Hour regular David Brooks explores the current American cultural moment, in which he argues we have become self-centered and cognitive at the expense of joy and community. Brooks sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss his personal struggles with... Read more

Political Columnist Michael Gerson On Coping With ‘Insidious’ Depression

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Michael Gerson is a political columnist for the Washington Post and a regular contributor to the NewsHour. But this past weekend, he delivered a sermon at the Washington National Cathedral that focused on a more personal topic: his battle with depression. Gerson joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his experience with the "chronic insidious disease"... Read more

Kojak - Tourist Trap

By: Arthur Korb

Narrated by: The Power Performance Players

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

A dramatic performance by the Power Performance Players of one of Kojak's cases from the fictional files of the New York Police Department. Read more

Why Chernobyl has suddenly become a hotspot for global tourists

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

The site of the world’s worst radiological catastrophe is unexpectedly coming back to life -- due to an American television show. Scores of tourists are visiting Chernobyl, located in northern Ukraine, in response to an HBO miniseries that illuminates the disaster, which occurred before Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, in new... Read more

Shutdown Of U.S.-Mexico Border Leaves Migrants In Limbo And In Danger

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

President Trump recently announced strict new border controls, citing
concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Officials will now turn away most
migrants entering the country from the U.S.-Mexico border -- including
people coming legally and fleeing violence. Jean Guerrero of KPBS spoke to
families stuck in limbo at the country’s busiest land... Read more

What 1 Euro Can Buy You In Sicilian Real Estate

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

In Sicily and across Italy, towns are on the brink of extinction. Locals have been leaving these picturesque communities, with their antique buildings and narrow roads, in search of economic opportunity, and few babies are being born there. Some towns are trying to lure new residents with the prospect of cheap real estate. Special correspondent... Read more

Coronavirus Pandemic Finally Hits Home For The United Kingdom

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

In the United Kingdom just days ago, the attitude toward the novel
coronavirus pandemic was “keep calm and carry on.” Now, however, the stakes
are higher -- and the national feeling more grim. Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has ordered pubs and restaurants to close and residents to work
from home. He’s also promising billions in relief. Special... Read more

Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times, author of “The Economists’ Hour,” to discuss growth vs. inequality

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the second time in three months in a bid to keep the U.S. economy growing. What indicators are driving the recent rate reductions, and what is the larger influence of economists on U.S. fiscal and monetary policy? Judy Woodruff sits down with Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times, author of “The... Read more

Summer Reading Lists For Young People At A Time Of Crisis

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Amid dual national crises of a pandemic and outrage over racism and police
brutality, books provide opportunities both to learn more and to find
distraction from reality. Jeffrey Brown talks to writer Jason Reynolds, the
Library of Congress’ ambassador for young people’s literature, about summer
reading lists for youth that fit the current... Read more

‘Inheritance’ author Dani Shapiro answers your questions

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Dani Shapiro talks about memoir about her reckoning with an ancestry test that revealed a life-changing family secret: The beloved man who had raised her wasn't her biological father. Read more

‘The Overstory' Author Richard Powers Answers Your Questions

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Richard Powers, author of our November pick for the NewsHour-New York Times book club, Now Read This, joins Jeffrey Brown to answer reader questions on “The Overstory,” and Jeff announces the December book selection. Read more

What Ronan Farrow Discovered About The Systems That Cover Up Sexual Misconduct

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Ronan Farrow’s explosive reporting on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct helped launch the MeToo movement in 2017 and won him a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. In his latest book, Farrow accuses NBC, his former employer, of trying to thwart his investigation of Weinstein. Farrow joins Judy Woodruff to discuss “Catch and Kill: Lies,... Read more

Wisconsin Nonprofit Seeks To Better Connect U.S. Farmers With Their Mexican Employees

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Mexicans who come to the U.S. seeking employment often leave their loved ones and culture behind. In Wisconsin, a nonprofit helps connect American farmers with their migrant employees through language and cultural education. Some of the farmers travel to Mexico to visit the families of their workers -- who can't risk the trip home themselves.... Read more