The preeminent historian of the Civil War era

October 22nd, 2014 by audioaudio · Uncategorized

The Big Ratchet Ruth DeFries is a Columbia University professor and MacArthur Fellow who explains an interesting detail of evolution. Have you ever wondered how a species that was essentially a hunter-gatherer tribe came to completely dominate the entire planet? Do you know that we produce enough food to feed every single human being a diet of 3,000 calories per day, every day? That’s essentially what has enabled us to thrive, grow, and populate practically every corner of the planet. When we nourish, we flourish.

With an abundant food supply, population grows. It hasn’t always been easy though. Every time population starts to exceed our ability to survive, we have somehow always found a way to surge ahead quickly and meet that demand. Evolution is not a fluid constant. There are plateaus and peaks, and when we really really need something major to happen, somehow it always has. That is the idea behind Ruth DeFries’ The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis. Whether it’s a scientific discovery or change in how we live, humans have always found a way when we needed it most.

Is it no wonder that all this technological innovation of the last few hundred years has coincided with a massive increase in global population? From innovations in food production, fossil fuel consumption, and water management, our success as a species depends on our ability to feed everyone. DeFries looks at the past and how we’ve managed, and she looks to the future and wonders about what is next and what would the consequences be if there were ever a time when we needed that Big Ratchet, and it didn’t come?

The Big Ratchet is now available for purchase on audio CD and digital audio.

Did you see the book review of The Big Ratchet in The Wall Street Journal?

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The debut of a major literary voice

October 13th, 2014 by audioaudio · Acquisition News

51QGZY-+olL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_We’re excited to announce that HighBridge will publish the audio edition of Jacob Rubin’s debut novel “The Poser“!

A hilarious and dazzling debut novel about a master impressionist at risk of losing his true self

All his life, Giovanni Bernini has possessed an uncanny gift: he can imitate anyone he meets. Honed by his mother at a young age, the talent catapults him from small-town obscurity to stardom.

As Giovanni describes it, “No one’s disguise is perfect. There is in every person, no matter how graceful, a seam, a thread curling out of them. . . . When pulled by the right hands, it will unravel the person entire.” As his fame grows, Giovanni encounters a beautiful and enigmatic stage singer, Lucy Starlight—the only person whose thread he cannot find—and becomes increasingly trapped inside his many poses. Ultimately, he must assume the one identity he has never been able to master: his own.

In the vein of Jonathan Lethem’s and Kevin Wilson’s playful surrealism, Jacob Rubin’s The Poser is the debut of a major literary voice, a masterfully written, deeply original comic novel, and the moving story of a man who must risk everything for the chance to save his life and know true love.

The Poser will release March 17, 2015.

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STAR WARS READS DAY STRIKES BACK OCTOBER 11, 2014

October 6th, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

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Saturday is Star Wars Reads Day, an international event that celebrates two of our favorite things–reading and Star Wars! SWRD events are held all around the world at participating bookstores and libraries. Fans dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters and come together to celebrate a shared passion. Keep an eye on starwars.com/reads and facebook.com/StarWarsReads for the latest info on signings, parties and special events in your town.

Click here for some audiobook recommendations to help you celebrate!
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Featured Audio Giveaway – October 2014 – A Brief History of Seven Killings

October 1st, 2014 by audioaudio · Featured Audio Giveaways

Featured Audio Giveaway
A Brief History of Seven Killings

Hear an excerpt
A Brief History of Seven Killings

Marlon James; read by an ensemble cast
  

From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes a masterfully written novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s.

On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years.

Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters—assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts—A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 1970s, to the crack wars in 1980s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s. Brilliantly inventive and stunningly ambitious, this novel is a revealing modern epic that will secure Marlon James’ place among the great literary talents of his generation.

 

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How to Win This Audio CD

1. Send an email to newsletter@highbridgeaudio.com
2. Put the word “Brief” in the subject line.

Entries must be received by no later than 10/31/2014.
See the Program Details for more information.

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Last Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Yvonne Jefferson, winner of the previous giveaway, Jackaby. Thanks to all who participated.

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November Giveaway

Don’t miss next month’s giveaway, NPR Driveway Moments Love Stories: Radio Stories That Won’t Let You Go!

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The Power of Laughter

September 24th, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

NPR Laughter Therapy: Funny for a Living NPR Laughter Therapy: Funny for a Living NPR shines a spotlight on the power of laughter, as the greatest comedians ever offer the ultimate remedy for chronic seriousness.

This extended session of Laughter Therapy explores the history of all things funny, presenting a cornucopia of comedy from the pioneers of vaudeville and the silent film era, to the wildly creative innovators that transformed television in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, to the modern practitioners that continue to bend the boundaries of comedy today. Chronically serious? Prepare to be cured by this collection of revealing profiles and interviews with some of the funniest personalities ever.

NPR Laughter Therapy: Funny for a Living is now available on audio CD and digital download.

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In case you missed it … NPR Laughter Therapy: A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious released in April!

NPR Laughter Therapy: A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious

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The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

September 18th, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt This new edition of her autobiography has been revised and combined with previous works to create the essential Eleanor Roosevelt.

Now back in print, a candid and insightful look at an era and a life through the eyes of one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century, First Lady and humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt.

The daughter of one of New York’s most influential families, niece of Theodore Roosevelt, and wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt witnessed some of the most remarkable decades in modern history, as America transitioned from the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, and the Depression to World War II and the Cold War.

A champion of the downtrodden, Eleanor drew on her experience and used her role as First Lady to help those in need. Intimately involved in her husband’s political life, from the governorship of New York to the White House, Eleanor eventually became a powerful force of her own, heading women’s organizations and youth movements, and battling for consumer rights, civil rights, and improved housing. In the years after FDR’s death she became a U.N. Delegate, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, a newspaper columnist, Democratic party activist, world-traveler, and diplomat devoted to the ideas of liberty and human rights.

This single volume biography brings her to life through her own words, illuminating the vanished world she grew up, her life with her political husband, and the postwar years when she worked to broaden cooperation and understanding at home and abroad.

The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt will be available on audio CD and digital download October 21.

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ROOS-aboutDon’t miss Ken Burns’ weeklong docuseries ‘The Roosevelts,’ which premiered this past Sunday on PBS. If you missed any of the episodes, you can watch them online here.

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Featured Audio Giveaway – September 2014 – Jackaby

September 2nd, 2014 by audioaudio · Featured Audio Giveaways

Featured Audio Giveaway
9781622314836-204

Hear an excerpt
Jackaby

William Ritter; read by Nicola Barber
  

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre.

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1890, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary—including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant.

On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain the foul deeds are the work of the kind of creature whose very existence the local police seem adamant to deny.

While Abigail finds herself drawn to Jackaby’s keen intelligence and his sensitivity to phenomena others barely perceive, her feelings are confused by the presence of Charlie, a handsome young policeman willing to help Jackaby and Abigail on the case. But is Charlie’s offer a sincere desire to be of service, or is some darker motive at work.

 

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How to Win This Audio CD

1. Send an email to newsletter@highbridgeaudio.com
2. Put the word “Jackaby” in the subject line.

Entries must be received by no later than 9/30/2014.
See the Program Details for more information.

________________________

October Giveaway

A Brief History of Seven Killings

Don’t miss next month’s giveaway, A Brief History of Seven Killings!

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Gateway to Freedom

August 29th, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

gateway cwtGateway to Freedom by Eric Foner is the dramatic story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them reach freedom.

They are little known to history: Sydney Howard Gay, an abolitionist newspaper editor; Louis Napoleon, a furniture polisher; Charles B. Ray, a black minister. At great risk they operated the Underground Railroad in New York, a city whose businesses, banks, and politics were deeply enmeshed in the slave economy. In secret coordination with black dockworkers who alerted them to the arrival of fugitives and with counterparts in Norfolk, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Albany, and Syracuse, underground-railroad operatives in New York helped more than 3,000 fugitive slaves reach freedom between 1830 and 1860. Their defiance of the notorious Fugitive Slave Law inflamed the South. White and black, educated and illiterate, they were heroic figures in the ongoing struggle between slavery and freedom.

Making brilliant use of fresh evidence—including the meticulous record of slave rescues secretly kept by Gay—Eric Foner elevates the Underground Railroad from folklore to sweeping history.

Foner’s last book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, was the 22nd book by the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. It was praised by critics and won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for History, the Bancroft Prize, and the Lincoln Prize.

Watch a reenactment of the Underground Railroad in New York on The Travel Channel.

Gateway to Freedom will be available on audio CD January 19.

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The high priestess of twentieth-century fashion

August 21st, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

Mademoiselle Mademoiselle by Rhonda Garelick is a stunning new biography of Coco Chanel—the high priestess of twentieth-century fashion—that examines her critical place in history and the ingenious powers by which she internalized and transmitted the cultural trends of her time.

Little black dresses. Fake pearls. Jersey knit. Blazers. Ballet flats. Today—and for nearly the last hundred years—we all see some version of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel every time we pass a woman on the street. But few among us realize that Chanel’s role in the events of the twentieth century was as pervasive as her influence on fashion, or how deeply she absorbed and then brilliantly reimagined the historical currents around her. Here, with unprecedented detail and ambition—and through fascinating, thoroughly researched portraits of Chanel’s lovers and friends—Rhonda Garelick shows us the Chanel who conquered the world: a woman who thirsted to create others in her image, who ruthlessly and innovatively borrowed from her famous (and infamous) intimates, who understood the idea of branding and image well ahead of her time, who created “wearable personality.” This is Chanel at the nexus of history: a woman of daring, passion, and legendary vision, in a wonderful biography that gives her long-awaited due.

Watch this short film that unveils the woman behind the legend.

Meet the Narrator

sweater-slightsmileThe audiobook is narrated by Tavia Gilbert. Tavia is an award-winning narrator with nearly 300 audiobooks under her belt. Classically trained in voice and theater, Tavia attended the University of Washington and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Original Works in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts. She has been singing in choirs since she was 12 years old and has been working full time as a voice actor since 2006. Tavia is also a producer with nine years experience. After moving to Portland, Maine in 2001, she studied audio documentary production at the Salt Institute. You can hear her recent work on A Darker Shade of Sweden, Critical Chain and the upcoming October release of The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Mademoiselle will be available on audio CD and digital download September 30.

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The Wait Wait Is Over!

August 12th, 2014 by audioaudio · Publishing News

The Best of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! More Famous People Play Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, and company bring the stars down to earth, allowing public radio fans everywhere to get to know their favorite celebrities as the mere mortals we suspected they might be.

Billy Collins, U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, plays a game called, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight,” in which he responds to questions about musician Phil Collins. Al Gore tries to match his former boss’ mastery of the My Little Pony children’s show in a game called “Maybe you can beat Bill Clinton at this.” Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee rhymes with “cursy,” so she is invited to play a game called “May Thunder Blast Your Head!” about curses from around the world. Of course. Also featuring Eryka Badu, Tony Danza, Jack Gantos, and Jeff Garlin

Panelists Alonzo Bodden, Tom Bodett, Brian Babylon, Luke Burbank, Amy Dickinson, Adam Felber, Peter Grosz, Kyrie O’Connor, P.J. O’Rourke, Paula Poundstone, Roxanne Roberts, Mo Rocca, and Faith Salie offer plenty of comic highlights as host Peter Sagal and “official scorekeeper” Carl Kasell guide their esteemed guests through unpredictable moments under the intense heat of public radio’s glorious spotlight.

The Best of Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! More Famous People Play “Not My Job” is now available on audio CD and digital download.

More of Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!

The Best of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! Famous People Who Returned Our Calls Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! The Best of The Wait Album: MORE OF THE BEST

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