Politics & Economy audiobooks

Refresh Irish Economy After Global Recession

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Ireland was hit hard during the global recession, suffering dramatic job losses and a mass exodus of skilled workers. Though the Irish are still cautious, a recovery is being driven by locally-grown businesses, startups and new takes on heritage industries. Ray Suarez reports from Dublin on pioneering businesses sprouting up. Read more

Behind the Indictment: Did Texas Gov Rick Petty Abuse the Power of His Office?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 2 minutes

Abridged: No

One day after a grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on two felony counts, charging that he abused the power of his office last year, questions remain about the governor's actions and what comes next. Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper joins Hari Sreenivasan from Austin. Read more

How poverty and mental illness are putting more people behind bars

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

More Americans than ever before are spending time in jail despite a drop in the crime rate in the past two decades. That's according to a new report that also found that a disproportionate number of people in jail suffer from mental illness. Judy Woodruff discusses the findings with Nicholas Turner of the Vera Institute of Justice and Margo... Read more

Women leading Danish mosque challenge patriarchy and right-wing religious control

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Along with Scandinavia’s first female imam, Mariam mosque in Copenhagen is reinterpreting the Koran with a focus on women’s rights, including the right to marry outside the faith and file for divorce. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports on how these Muslim women are not just fighting patriarchy, but those who use... Read more

Foreign-born workers in UK share fears for future

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Uncertainty prevails in Britain after Brexit has left immigrants feeling vulnerable. The service sector, a large part of the British economy, is also a big employer of foreigners, which means these workers may be hit hard. Hari Sreenivasan reports from London about some of their worries. Read more

Yemen was poor before, but "the war just finished us"

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

It's being called the forgotten war. With access for journalists limited and dangerous, Yemen, home to the world's worst humanitarian crisis, goes largely ignored. Special correspondent Marcia Biggs was able to enter the country to learn how its people are struggling, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Read more

Why this 13-year-old Rohingya refugee faces intense pressure to marry

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Child marriage is common among the Rohingya, but for those who have fled terror in Myanmar, insecurity and poverty is pushing many families to marry off their daughters even earlier. Special correspondent Tania Rashid and videographer Phil Caller meet a girl who is about to become a bride. Read more

Desperate migrants share horror stories from Libya

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

The sea route from Libya to Italy is dangerous, even deadly, for African migrants and refugees who are desperate to cross. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from a Doctors Without Borders rescue ship that’s attempting to save people victimized in Libya from then dying at sea. Read more

Survival is a struggle in the rubble of Yemen’s war

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

With its infrastructure broken, the constant threat of starvation and a failed state, Yemen is on the brink of collapse. Less than half of its health facilities are functional amid a health crisis that has seen epidemics of preventable and largely eradicated diseases like cholera. Special correspondent Marcia Biggs reports in partnership with... Read more

The how and why of buying bitcoin

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

The basic idea of bitcoin is simple: Instead of a financial institution holding a bank ledger, a chain of computers linked through the internet are all using the same software to record and verify every transaction. But how can a cryptocurrency be worth anything in the first place? Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports. Read more

How this Farming Project Helps Afghan Women Grow Financial Independence

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In the 15 years since the U.S. went into Afghanistan, $1.5 billion has been spent to develop women’s rights in the country. But even with significant improvements, there remain many hardships, including domestic violence and the lack of educational opportunity. Special correspondent Jennifer Glasse visits a farming project that aims to provide... Read more

Subash Chandra Bose - Maraikkappatta Varalaaru

By: Sakthivel Rajakumar

Narrated by: Sri Srinivasa

Length: 3 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

சுபாஷ் சந்திர போஸ் மரணமடைந்து ஏறக்குறைய 75 ஆண்டுகள் கழிந்துவிட்ட நிலையிலும், இன்றுவரை அவரது மரணத்தில் இருக்கும் மர்மம் விவாதிக்கப்படுகிறது. கடந்த ஏழு பத்தாண்டுகளில், ஒருவரின் மரணத்தைப் பற்றிய உண்மையைக் கண்டறிய மொத்தம் மூன்று கமிஷன்கள் அமைக்கப்பட்டது சுபாஷுக்கு மட்டுமே. இந்திய சுதந்திரப் போராட்டத்தில் சுபாஷ் சந்திர போஸின் பங்கு, அவர்... Read more

Polska na podsłuchu. Jak Pegasus, najpotężniejszy szpieg w historii, zmienił się w narzędzie brudnej polityki

By: Michał Kokot

Narrated by: Bartosz Głogowski

Length: 7 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

To miał być tajny zakup. 33 miliony złotych z publicznych pieniędzy na narzędzie śledzące terrorystów i szpiegów. Narzędzie, które jednym kliknięciem pozwala całkowicie przejąć zawartość telefonu, łącznie z szyfrowanymi wiadomościami czy hasłami, a jego właściciel nigdy się o tym nie dowie.
Jak to możliwe, że polskie służby zostały uprawnione, by... Read more

Spokojnie już nie będzie

By: Agnieszka Lichnerowicz & Paweł Kowal

Narrated by: Anna Ryźlak & Bartosz Głogowski

Length: 10 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

„Od 1989 roku, początku pięknej epoki naszych czasów, Europa mogła cieszyć się spokojem i rosnącym dobrobytem. Takie możliwości nie otworzyły się przed Polakami być może nawet od XVI wieku – Polska i inne państwa dostrzegły to i z powodzeniem wykorzystały. Agresja Putina wymierzona w Ukrainę może położyć temu kres. Paweł Kowal i Agnieszka... Read more

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By: Benjamin Franklin

Narrated by: Tom Gallagher

Length: 6 hours

Abridged: No

"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The Ingenious Life" - Dive into the Mind of a Legend
Experience firsthand the story of one of the most remarkable and influential figures in history through his very own words. Left incomplete at the time of his death, "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" remains a seminal and iconic piece of... Read more

Notes on Saul D. Alinsky's Rules for Radicals by Instaread

By: Instaread

Narrated by: Dwight Equitz

Length: 12 minutes

Abridged: No

PLEASE NOTE: This is a companion to Saul D. Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and NOT the original book.
Preview:
Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971) by Saul D. Alinsky is a how-to guide for political organizers who want to make real, lasting changes to a political system. Alinksy draws on decades of his own organizing... Read more

Guide to Chris Hayes's A Colony in a Nation by Instaread

By: Instaread

Narrated by: Dwight Equitz

Length: 13 minutes

Abridged: No

PLEASE NOTE: This is a companion to Chris Hayes’s A Colony in a Nation and NOT the original book.
Preview:
A Colony in a Nation is Chris Hayes’s treatise against police brutality, which persisted and continued to develop after Jim Crow laws were dismantled in the 1960s. This police brutality has been endured mostly by people of color...
Inside this... Read more

Guide to Scott Anderson's Lawrence in Arabia by Instaread

By: Instaread

Narrated by: Sam Scholl

Length: 14 minutes

Abridged: No

PLEASE NOTE: This is a companion to Scott Anderson’s Lawrence in Arabia and NOT the original book.
Preview:
Scott Anderson’s Lawrence in Arabia (2014) is a consideration of the colonial designs of the Western imperial powers during the First World War and how their actions shaped the current political situation in the Middle East. The book follows... Read more

Richard Norton Smith: Lincoln's Influence

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

On this Presidents' Day, Hari Sreenivasan and historian Richard Norton Smith discuss President Lincoln's influence on American politics and popular culture as they tour the Ford's Theatre's new Center for Education and Leadership dedicated to the president. Read more

Taylor Branch: Pillar of Fire

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Taylor Branch, author of Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965 discusses Martin Luther King Jr.'s spiritual and political legacy. Read more

How a young Syrian girl's pleas for peace drew international attention

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Last year, Bana Alabed sparked a worldwide following for tweeting from Aleppo in Syria while it was under attack amid a years-long civil war. Now, the 8-year-old is authoring a book about surviving and escaping the conflict. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Marcia Biggs talked to Alabed and her mother in Ankara, Turkey, where they are... Read more

Cleveland Sellers and Bakari Sellers

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 13 minutes

Abridged: No

For civil rights leader Cleveland Sellers, the significance and power of the March on Washington transcends generations. Sellers, who was on the National Mall that historic day, and son Bakari Sellers, a S.C. state representative, join Gwen Ifill to reflect on what the March has meant to their family and to all Americans. Read more

Doctors' Role in Military Interrogation

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

A new report claims that U.S military medical personnel violated ethics by designing and participating in "inhumane and degrading treatment" of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detention sites. Jeffrey Brown speaks with former DOJ official Lee Casey and Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a member of the task force that issued the report. Read more

Second Great Depression Unlikely

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street and around the world on Monday, as President Obama tried to reassure investors that the United States continues to be an “AAA country.” Judy Woodruff discusses the historic drop in the stock market with three experts. Read more