A Kim Jong-Il Production
The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power
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A Kim Jong-Il Production
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Park
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By:
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Paul Fischer
About this listen
Before becoming the world's most notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea's Ministry for Propaganda and its film studios. Conceiving every movie made, he acted as producer and screenwriter. Despite this control, he was underwhelmed by the available talent and took drastic steps, ordering the kidnapping of Choi Eun-Hee (Madam Choi) - South Korea's most famous actress - and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, the country's most famous filmmaker.
Madam Choi vanished first. When Shin went to Hong Kong to investigate, he was attacked and woke up wrapped in plastic sheeting aboard a ship bound for North Korea. Madam Choi lived in isolated luxury, allowed only to attend the Dear Leader's dinner parties. Shin, meanwhile, tried to escape, was sent to prison camp, and "re-educated". After four years he cracked, pledging loyalty. Reunited with Choi at the first party he attends, it is announced that the couple will remarry and act as the Dear Leader's film advisors. Together they made seven films, in the process gaining Kim Jong-Il's trust. While pretending to research a film in Vienna, they flee to the U.S. embassy and are swept to safety.
A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, A Kim Jong-Il Production offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today.
©2015 Paul Fischer (P)2014 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good old Radzinsky
- By Babs on 03-13-18
By: Edvard Radzinsky, and others
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Paradise Falls
- The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe
- By: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story5 out of 5 stars 87
Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground, and rows of affordable homes. In the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly-sweet smell of chemicals.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible work of everyday people
- By J. C. Edens on 11-20-24
By: Keith O'Brien
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Avenue of Spies
- A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 296
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 265
The leafy Avenue de Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris' hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son, Phillip, at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping, inspirational, and informative!!
- By Constance M. Specht on 09-26-15
By: Alex Kershaw
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The Confidence Men
- How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History
- By: Margalit Fox
- Narrated by: Richard Elfyn
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 174
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Story4 out of 5 stars 152
Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors. To stave off despair and boredom, Jones takes a handmade Ouija board and fakes elaborate séances for his fellow prisoners. Word gets around, and one day, an Ottoman official approaches Jones with a query: Could Jones contact the spirit world to find a vast treasure rumored to be buried nearby?
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5 out of 5 stars
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home run as usual
- By thaichicken on 01-17-23
By: Margalit Fox
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Church of Spies
- The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
- By: Mark Riebling
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 387
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 350
The Vatican's silence in the face of Nazi atrocities remains one of the great controversies of our time. History has accused wartime pontiff Pius the Twelfth of complicity in the Holocaust and dubbed him "Hitler's Pope". But a key part of the story has remained untold. Pius ran the world's largest church, smallest state, and oldest spy service. Saintly but secretive, he skimmed from church charities to pay covert couriers, and surreptitiously tape-recorded his meetings with top Nazis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Pius XII Vindicated
- By James Clark on 04-17-16
By: Mark Riebling
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Veritas
- A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 209
In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star religion professor at Harvard, announced a breathtaking discovery just steps from the Vatican: she’d found an ancient scrap of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my wife”. The mysterious manuscript, which King provocatively titled “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife”, had the power to topple the Roman Catholic Church. It threatened not just the all-male priesthood, but centuries of sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership, much of it premised on the hallowed tradition of a celibate Jesus.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow
- By Dorothy on 08-23-20
By: Ariel Sabar
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The Rasputin File
- By: Edvard Radzinsky, Judson Rosengrant - translator
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 106
For almost a century, historians could only speculate about the role Grigory Rasputin played in the downfall of tsarist Russia. But in 1995 a lost file from the state archives turned up, a file that contained the complete interrogations of Rasputin's inner circle. With this extensive and explicit amplification of the historical record, Edvard Radzinsky has written a definitive biography, reconstructing in full the fascinating life of an improbable holy man who changed the course of Russian history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good old Radzinsky
- By Babs on 03-13-18
By: Edvard Radzinsky, and others
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The Coen Brothers
- By: Adam Nayman
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 170
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 143
From such cult hits as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski to major critical darlings Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan and Joel Coen have cultivated a bleakly comical, instantly recognizable voice in modern American cinema. Film critic Adam Nayman carefully sifts through their complex cinematic universe in an effort to plot, as he puts it, "some Grand Unified Theory of Coen-ness." The book combines critical text with a visual aesthetic that honors the Coens' singular mix of darkness and levity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant companion!
- By Buretto on 12-05-18
By: Adam Nayman
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A Light in the Dark
- A History of Movie Directors
- By: David Thomson
- Narrated by: David Thomson
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20
Directors operate behind the scenes managing actors, establishing a cohesive creative vision, at times literally guiding our eyes with the eye of the camera. But we are often so dazzled by the visions onscreen that it is easy to forget the individual who is off-screen orchestrating the entire production - to say nothing of their having marshaled a script, a studio, and other people's money. David Thomson, in his usual brilliantly insightful way, shines a light on the visionary directors who have shaped modern cinema and, through their work, studies the very nature of film direction.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Thought provoking read on great filmmakers
- By Boxing Fan on 06-17-23
By: David Thomson
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A First-Rate Madness
- Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
- By: S. Nassir Ghaemi
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent read.
- By TvK on 07-12-24
By: S. Nassir Ghaemi
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Like Brothers
- By: Mindy Kaling - foreword, Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
- Narrated by: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 812
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 739
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 732
Whether producing, writing, directing, or acting, the Duplass Brothers have made their mark in the world of independent film and television on the strength of their quirky and empathetic approach to storytelling. Now, for the first time, Mark and Jay take readers on a tour of their lifelong partnership in this unique memoir told in essays that share the secrets of their success, the joys and frustrations of intimate collaboration, and the lessons they’ve learned the hard way....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love, love, love!
- By Nerble Turtle on 05-24-18
By: Mindy Kaling - foreword, and others
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The Money Kings
- The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America
- By: Daniel Schulman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
Joseph Seligman arrived in the United States in 1837, with the equivalent of $100 sewn into the lining of his pants. Then came the Lehman brothers, who would open a general store in Montgomery, Alabama. Not far behind were Solomon Loeb and Marcus Goldman, among the “Forty-Eighters” fleeing a Germany that had relegated Jews to an underclass.
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5 out of 5 stars
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perfect context for issues of antisemitism & money
- By Marjorie on 04-01-24
By: Daniel Schulman
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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister
- Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through 100 years of wars, revolutions, and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating reading
- By David L. Jones on 03-26-20
By: Jung Chang
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Gypsy
- A Memoir
- By: Gypsy Rose Lee, Erik Preminger - afterword
- Narrated by: MEOW MEOW
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
Gypsy Rose Lee’s memoir became a New York Times best seller in 1957, inspiring the 1959 hit musical, two movies, and three revivals. At turns touching and hilarious, Gypsy describes her childhood trouping across 1920s America through her rise to stardom as The Queen of Burlesque in 1930s New York.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved Every Minute of It
- By Cathy Burroughs on 05-15-20
By: Gypsy Rose Lee, and others
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Operation Overflight
- A Memoir of the U-2 Incident
- By: Francis Gary Powers, Curt Gentry
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 276
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 264
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Story5 out of 5 stars 258
U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What A TOTAL Tragedy !
- By Jacquelyn on 02-28-18
By: Francis Gary Powers, and others
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Tough as They Come
- By: Travis Mills, Marcus Brotherton, Gary Sinise - foreword
- Narrated by: Travis Mills
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 451
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 402
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Story5 out of 5 stars 406
Thousands of soldiers die every year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was caught in an IED blast four days before his 25th birthday. Against the odds, he lived, but at a severe cost - Travis became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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So-so
- By Rachael Shook on 02-16-19
By: Travis Mills, and others
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The Mirage Factory
- Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 330
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 289
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 289
Little more than a century ago, the southern coast of California - bone-dry, harbor-less, isolated by deserts and mountain ranges - seemed destined to remain scrappy farmland. Then, as if overnight, one of the world’s iconic cities emerged. At the heart of Los Angeles’ meteoric rise were three flawed visionaries: William Mulholland, an immigrant ditch-digger turned self-taught engineer; D.W. Griffith, who transformed the motion picture from a vaudeville-house novelty into a cornerstone of American culture; and Aimee Semple McPherson, a charismatic evangelist.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great start, weak completion
- By steve on 05-11-21
By: Gary Krist
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Rocket Men
- The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, Robert Kurson
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,638
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,381
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,376
By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
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The Spy Who Loved
- The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville
- By: Clare Mulley
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
In June 1952 a woman was murdered by an obsessed colleague in a hotel in the South Kensington district of London. Her name was Christine Granville. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising; that she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. The daughter of a feckless Polish aristocrat and his wealthy Jewish wife, Granville would become one of Britain's most daring and highly decorated special agents.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Spy Who Loved
- By Cam on 03-12-25
By: Clare Mulley
What listeners say about A Kim Jong-Il Production
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sharon
- 09-26-16
Fascinating!!!
A very interesting story, that I think was enhanced by the audible experience. It is a fascinating story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- TIMOTHY RICE
- 08-29-22
an entire nation brainwashed
this book was very enlightening about the lives of the people of North Korea. it was interesting to see how the entire nation had been brainwashed to believe that everyone except for themselves was in worse shape than they were. it was interesting to see how bad their gulags or prisons were how much the prisoners were persecuted torture everyday how they were not only humiliated but so much so that they had they lost hope and everything. but not only that how to know song or whatever his name is how he was so corrupt and how he spent so much money when his people were starving how he really did not care about his people all he wanted was their praise. the story was very nice it was interesting to see how they finally did escape but to me the story of how the North Koreans were and how they were treated and how they were brainwashed and how the entire nation was put on spectacle for the rest of the world is what I really believe the story was about.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul Bogle
- 11-21-20
More Amazing and Inspiring Than You Can Imagine
This kept me wanting to come back to pick up where I left off. A fantastic balance of true-life drama and historical context. The story itself builds effortlessly into suspense and ends perfectly with a touching and humanizing denouement.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Abdel-Rahman
- 08-30-17
Slow Narration
Narration is pretty slow so you'll need to listen to it at 1.5x the normal speed, at least. But everything else is pretty good.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gennaphyr
- 05-30-15
Fascinating read
Where does A Kim Jong-Il Production rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It was my first audiobook!
Who was your favorite character and why?
Probably Kim Jong Il himself,
What does Stephen Park bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He did a wonderful job. I guess one thing would be I wouldn't have known how to pronounce the Korean names and places.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No it didn't make me laugh or cry, however, it did make me want to learn more and read more books about North Korea.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stars482
- 04-10-16
Absolutely incredible.
Fascinating and terrifying. Insightful and well-researched. What a story!!! Also, I learned a lot about Korean name pronunciation from the excellent narrator. Listen now!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- robert
- 11-29-17
accurate
This is a very balanced look at a high profile kidnapping. The good and bad traits of the "dear leader" are explained in all their glory. It's nothing new, but worth a listen. Methinks the poor ratings are from Pyongyang.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dreamsgirl
- 02-03-16
Thrilling true story!
Enjoyed all aspects of the book. Very interesting and engaging. Written well and good narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Margaret Weinert
- 12-31-23
Excellent
The person who recommended this book to me described it as “a La Carre thriller, but true and bizarre”.
Excellent from start to finish.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 02-28-15
Interesting
Moved along pretty well, and kept me interested. I will probably look for more books about North Korea now.
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3 people found this helpful