Politics & Economy audiobooks

Texas Murders

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Law enforcement officials in Kaufman County, Texas, are investigating whether a white supremacist prison gang can be linked to the recent murders of assistant district attorney Mark Hasse and district attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia. Judy Woodruff interviews Tanya Eiserer of The Dallas Morning News. Read more

Interview with diplomat George Kennan

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Robert MacNeil interviews American diplomat George Kennan about the failed coup in the Soviet Union to overthrow Gorbachev. Read more

John Lewis: Walking With The Wind

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) remembers his experiences on the streets and in jail during the civil rights movement. His book is titled, Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. Read more

Interview with Nelson Mandela

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 22 minutes

Abridged: No

A 1990 interview with Nelson after his release from prison. Originally broadcast on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on February 16, 1990. Read more

Good Times Go on Holiday in Oregon Tourist Town

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

As part of the Patchwork Nation series examining communities across the U.S., Ray Suarez travels to picturesque Lincoln City, Oregon, where the recession has sapped the local tourism industry. Read more

Krugman: Eurozone Has Big, Big Problems

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

As Greece struggles to repair its debt crisis, Jeffrey Brown gets two points of view from economists Paul Krugman and Robert Barbera about how the financial and social unrest could impact the European Union and its economy. Read more

Death Penalty discussion

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

PBS NewsHour presents a discussion about the death penalty in Illinois and wrongful convictions that have called it into question. Read more

Mass Incarceration

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

During Michael Santos’ 26 years in federal prisons, he read books on history and law, earned undergraduate and master’s degrees and wrote seven books about the criminal justice system. Now, just six months after his release, Santos is imploring prisoners to follow his lead, and speaking out against the U.S. correctional system. Jeffrey Brown has... Read more

Interview with Gerald and Betty Ford

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 10 minutes

Abridged: No

In an interview at the 1984 Republican Convention, former President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford talk about the re-nomination of President Reagan and Vice President Bush, the conservative movement in the Republican Party, the rising federal deficit, women’s issues and more. Read more

Edwidge Danticat: The Dew Breaker

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In this 2004 interview, Edwidge Danticat talks about her new novel The Dew Breaker, the story of Haitian-Americans who bear emotional and physical scars from Haitis violent past under the Duvalier dictatorship of the 1960s and 70s. Read more

Threats on Internet

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In the first in a series of reports about cybersecurity, correspondent Spencer Michels reports from Las Vegas on governmental and citizen-led efforts to stop online crime that could threaten critical infrastructure. Read more

Interview with Margaret Thatcher

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 26 minutes

Abridged: No

Prime Minister Thatcher was interviewed following two days of meetings in Washington with the newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan. She discusses the war in El Salvador, the prospects for a Reagan-Brezhnev summit, the nascent democracy movement in Poland and what western nations can do, Israeli/Palestinian relations, the possibility of... Read more

Conviction Overturned

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Louis Taylor was a teenager when he was convicted of murder for supposedly starting a fire that killed 29 people. Now 58, Taylor has been released from an Arizona prison after new information cast doubt on the evidence he committed arson. Judy Woodruff talks to Richard Ruelas of the Arizona Republic, who was in the courtroom. Read more

Overcome obstacles to effective climate policy?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

The latest UN report on climate change suggests ways to potentially ward off the worst impacts of rising emissions. But these scenarios come with real costs, and have faced political opposition as well as reluctance from the American public. Judy Woodruff learns more from Robert Stavins of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Maura... Read more

How Much Does it Really Cost to Live in a City Like Seattle?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In Seattle, there is a growing push to raise the minimum wage 62 percent to $15 an hour, which the University of Washington has calculated as the minimum cost of living for an adult with one child. But would the benefits of the wage hike actually outweigh the costs? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports. Read more

Questioning solitary confinement for teens

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

At Rikers Island, New York City’s main jail complex, about a quarter of the underaged teenagers who are awaiting trial are in solitary confinement, spending 23 hours a day in a 6 by 8 ft cell. Daffodil Altan of the Center for Investigative Reporting takes a look at concern from city officials and others about the psychological effects of... Read more

Alberto Gonzales: Wiretap

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 11 minutes

Abridged: No

PBS NewsHour's Jim Lehrer interviews Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the lawfulness of President Bush's domestic surveillance program. Read more

Silk Road

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Unlike other online commerce businesses, Silk Road offered sales of illegal drugs, fake IDs and even hitmen. How were buyers and sellers able to remain anonymous? Ray Suarez talks to Glenn Chapman of Agence France-Presse about how this widely known online drug market was able to evade law enforcement for so long. Read more

Leahy: Wiretap

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 10 minutes

Abridged: No

A resolution was introduced in the Senate today by Democrats that rejects the president's arguments for the use of domestic surveillance. Jim Lehrer discusses today's resolution with co-sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Read more

Debating criminal justice reforms

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

The calls to address prison crowding and conditions have intensified as American inmate populations have grown. Jeffrey Brown gets debate on the shifting perceptions of the criminal justice system from Bill McCollum, former attorney general of Florida, Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative, and Pat Nolan of the American Conservative Union... Read more

How Big a Boost Do Working Seniors Give the Economy?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Americans who work past traditional retirement age are extending their productive lives. They're also paying taxes longer, which may have big implications for the country's finances. As part of his Making Sen$e series, economics correspondent Paul Solman reports. Read more

Adolescents at Rikers Island face excessive force

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

There’s a deep-seated culture of violence against teen inmates at one of the country’s largest municipal jails, Rikers Island in New York City. That’s how the U.S. attorney in Manhattan described practices and conduct there in a report.It also said staff at Rikers Island — quote — “routinely utilize force not as a last result, but instead as a... Read more

High Rents Force Some in Silicon Valley to Live in Vehicles

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Faced with some of the most expensive rental housing in the nation, some Bay Area residents are feeling priced out and are seeking low-cost alternatives. In Silicon Valley, a hub of computer and technology companies, some people are even turning to cars, vans and RVs for housing. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Joanne Elgart Jennings has... Read more

William Jones: The March on Washington

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Historian William P. Jones joins Gwen Ifill to offer an overview of how the March on Washington came to be, why President Kennedy feared it would cause negative aftermath and what roles women of color played on that historic day. Their discussion is one a series of conversations looking back at the legacy of August 28, 1963. Read more