Billy Budd
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Billy Budd
Buy for $9.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Joyce
-
By:
-
Herman Melville
About this listen
On one level... Melville’s tale is an historical adventure telling the story of life aboard ship shortly after the mutiny at Spithead in 1797. Billy is taken from a homeward bound merchantman to serve on the ‘Seventy Four’ HMS Indomitable. He falls foul of Claggart, the ‘Master at Arms’, and the final confrontation results in death. Billy becomes an unwilling martyr - what passes for justice must be implemented because of the rebellious climate of the time. However, below the surface lie some of Melville’s thematic obsessions: the aristocratic savage placed against an inhumanity born of service in time of war, innocence overtaken by fate and the worthy encompassed by the inevitable. The natures of evil and conscience are explored and ‘Billy Budd’ is the author’s “last word upon the strange mystery of himself and human destiny”. Melville is regarded by many as the finest author America has produced.
©2011 Assembled Stories (P)2006 Assembled StoriesListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Sign of the Beaver
- By: Elizabeth George Speare
- Narrated by: Greg Schaffert
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,747
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,388
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,389
At just 12 years old, Matt must face serious challenges in the Maine wilderness while awaiting his father's return to their cabin. When he is saved from a terrifying bee swarm attack by an Indian chief and his grandson Attean, Matt gains a valuable friend in the young Indian boy.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good story, dubious dialog, irritating music
- By Paul Hubbard on 08-05-12
-
The Scarlet Letter
- By: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Narrated by: Kate Petrie
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,480
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,284
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,282
One of the most important novels in classic literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tackles the subject of adultery, with the notorious Hester Prynne at the forefront of the scandal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is serving time in prison for having a child out of wedlock and is forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing at all times, so she cannot run from her sin no matter where she goes.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
missing the introductory???
- By Savannah on 05-20-20
-
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very strange, very haunting
- By Tad Davis on 11-24-11
By: Herman Melville
-
Typee
- A Peep at Polynesian Life
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Peeping Typee is Tapu; Reading Typee is Noa!
- By Darwin8u on 04-21-14
By: Herman Melville
-
Omoo
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 34
Following the commercial and critical success of Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover, or someone who roams from island to island, Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville's personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
See Melville's Fiction Genius Pushing Hard
- By Darwin8u on 05-16-14
By: Herman Melville
-
Benito Cereno
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
This is the epic sea adventure, a harrowing tale of slavery and revolt aboard a Spanish ship, is often regarded as Melville's finest short story. The balance of forces is complete, the atmosphere one of epic significance, the light cast upon the hero intense to the highest degree, the realization of the human soul profound, and the telling of the story orchestrated like a great symphony.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The literary equivalent of a caste painting from the same time
- By Auggie on 09-10-20
By: Herman Melville
-
The Sign of the Beaver
- By: Elizabeth George Speare
- Narrated by: Greg Schaffert
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,747
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,388
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,389
At just 12 years old, Matt must face serious challenges in the Maine wilderness while awaiting his father's return to their cabin. When he is saved from a terrifying bee swarm attack by an Indian chief and his grandson Attean, Matt gains a valuable friend in the young Indian boy.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good story, dubious dialog, irritating music
- By Paul Hubbard on 08-05-12
-
The Scarlet Letter
- By: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Narrated by: Kate Petrie
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,480
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,284
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,282
One of the most important novels in classic literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tackles the subject of adultery, with the notorious Hester Prynne at the forefront of the scandal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is serving time in prison for having a child out of wedlock and is forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing at all times, so she cannot run from her sin no matter where she goes.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
missing the introductory???
- By Savannah on 05-20-20
-
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very strange, very haunting
- By Tad Davis on 11-24-11
By: Herman Melville
-
Typee
- A Peep at Polynesian Life
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Peeping Typee is Tapu; Reading Typee is Noa!
- By Darwin8u on 04-21-14
By: Herman Melville
-
Omoo
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 34
Following the commercial and critical success of Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover, or someone who roams from island to island, Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville's personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
See Melville's Fiction Genius Pushing Hard
- By Darwin8u on 05-16-14
By: Herman Melville
-
Benito Cereno
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
This is the epic sea adventure, a harrowing tale of slavery and revolt aboard a Spanish ship, is often regarded as Melville's finest short story. The balance of forces is complete, the atmosphere one of epic significance, the light cast upon the hero intense to the highest degree, the realization of the human soul profound, and the telling of the story orchestrated like a great symphony.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The literary equivalent of a caste painting from the same time
- By Auggie on 09-10-20
By: Herman Melville
-
Born Again
- What Really Happened to the White House Hatchet Man
- By: Charles Colson
- Narrated by: Jon Gauger
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,082
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 946
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 947
In the 1970s, against the backdrop of the explosive Watergate scandal, Charles Colson revealed the story of his own search for meaning during the tumultuous investigations that led to the collapse of the Nixon administration. A convicted former special counsel to the president, Colson paradoxically found new life - not with success and power, but while in national disgrace and serving a prison sentence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Read
- By Cindy on 08-27-12
By: Charles Colson
-
Bartleby, the Scrivener
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 484
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 431
The life of a Scrivener can be a dull one. After all, your entire occupation has to do with the handwritten copying of law documents. But when Bartleby arrives, he turns the office upside down with the enigmatic phrase: “I prefer not to.”
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
"I would prefer not to REVIEW"
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-12
By: Herman Melville
-
The Old Man and the Sea
- By: Ernest Hemingway
- Narrated by: Donald Sutherland
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,236
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11,226
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11,186
The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal, a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Truly a Classic
- By Dave on 07-01-08
By: Ernest Hemingway
-
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
- By: Barbara Robinson
- Narrated by: Elaine Stritch
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 901
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 699
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 700
The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, swear, and hit little kids. So no one is prepared when this outlaw family invades church one Sunday and decides to take over the annual Christmas pageant.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
WHAT A WASTE
- By Patty on 10-05-10
By: Barbara Robinson
-
To Kill a Mockingbird
- By: Harper Lee
- Narrated by: Sissy Spacek
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 47,520
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42,193
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 42,046
Harper Lee’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep south - and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred, available now for the first time as a digital audiobook. One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the country.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A gift to be treasured
- By David Shear on 07-09-14
By: Harper Lee
-
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- By: Elizabeth George Speare
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,550
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,080
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,076
Kit Tyler must leave behind shimmering Caribbean islands to join the stern Puritan community of her relatives. She soon feels caged, until she meets the old woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond. But when their friendship is discovered, Kit herself is accused of witchcraft!
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great characters - a delightful listen!
- By Susan on 02-28-04
-
The Pit and the Pendulum
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 216
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
“I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony,” begins one of the most famous tales from the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. Through the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, we follow the straying mind of the unnamed prisoner in his quest for hope in a world of darkness and despair. This episode skyrocketed The Classic Tales Podcast to number 3 on iTunes’ Top 100 Podcasts chart.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
I loved the story this is a must read.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-23
By: Edgar Allan Poe
-
Johnny Tremain
- By: Esther Forbes
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,928
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,531
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,533
Johnny, a young apprentice silversmith, is caught with Otis, Hancock, and John and Samuel Adams in the exciting operations and subterfuges leading up to the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington. As Johnny is forced into the role of a full-grown man in the face of his new country's independence, he finds that his relations with those he loves changes for the better as well.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This has been the favorite
- By Jessica on 01-26-11
By: Esther Forbes
-
The Call of the Wild
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Pablo Schreiber
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,003
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8,009
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,976
Rediscover one of literature’s most beloved classics, richly reissued in a pivotal new audio recording. Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actor Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Orange Is the New Black) delivers a stirring performance of Jack London’s fierce yet tender tale of loyalty between man and beast, told from the point of view of a dog.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Call of the Wild
- By Amazon Customer on 12-18-18
By: Jack London
-
Walden
- Life in the Woods
- By: Henry David Thoreau
- Narrated by: Alec Sand
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,642
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,381
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,381
Thoreau's classic account of the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years, is one of the most influential books ever written. The bible of the environmental movement, Walden vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent book and narration
- By Kindle Customer on 06-14-11
-
An Old-Fashioned Girl
- By: Louisa May Alcott
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
Immediately following the success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott sat down to write An-Old Fashioned Girl, expanding on the subject of rich versus poor that she explored in her first novel. It’s a story of a country mouse and a city mouse: 14-year-old Polly Milton travels to Boston for a stay with her friend Fanny Shaw. The wealthy Shaws’ way of life is foreign to Polly who tries to adapt but is quickly labeled “old-fashioned”. Fanny and her friends dress and behave as their elders do, flirting with boys and gossiping.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Okay
- By selene on 07-15-18
-
Beowulf
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,724
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,388
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,368
New York Times best seller and Whitebread Book of the Year, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Why, oh, why is it abridged?
- By Tad Davis on 09-25-08
By: Seamus Heaney
Critic reviews
About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as "excellent", "remarkable", "entrancing", "superb", "magic for sure", "masterly", "wonderful", "a class act" and "a splendid example of audio at its best".
Related to this topic
-
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very strange, very haunting
- By Tad Davis on 11-24-11
By: Herman Melville
-
Nostromo
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
One of the great adventure novels of our language creates a most engaging central character, Nostromo. A picturesque man of action and popular hero, Nostromo lives to be "well-spoken of" by the citizens of Costaguana, the mythical South American banana republic where the story takes place. Around this figure, Conrad spins a story of revolution, politics, and racial conflict as complex as Nostromo, the man whose greatest enemy is himself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-11-03
By: Joseph Conrad
-
Benito Cereno
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
This is the epic sea adventure, a harrowing tale of slavery and revolt aboard a Spanish ship, is often regarded as Melville's finest short story. The balance of forces is complete, the atmosphere one of epic significance, the light cast upon the hero intense to the highest degree, the realization of the human soul profound, and the telling of the story orchestrated like a great symphony.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The literary equivalent of a caste painting from the same time
- By Auggie on 09-10-20
By: Herman Melville
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,337
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,747
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,717
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Choice of Narrators
- By Frank R. Adams on 04-23-10
By: Patrick O'Brian
-
The Captain of the Pole Star
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 333
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 283
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 280
Word goes among the crew of the Pole Star that the captain is haunted by demons. And after the days turn into weeks in the frigid Arctic Ocean, stories begin to circulate of ghosts and midnight hauntings.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Conan Doyle wrote more than Mr. Holmes.
- By Kristi R. on 11-14-11
-
The Shadow-Line
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Fred Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Written at the start of the Great War, when his son Borys was at the Western Front, The Shadow-Line is Conrad's supreme effort to open man's eyes to the meaning of war through the stimulus of art. In many ways an autobiographical narrative, this masterpiece of his final period relates the story of a young and inexperienced sea captain whose first command finds him with a ship becalmed in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Reflexion on Maturity
- By Darwin8u on 01-05-17
By: Joseph Conrad
-
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 564
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 508
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Herman Melville’s tale of corporate discontent, Bartleby, the Scrivener, tells the story of a quiet, hardworking legal copyist who works in an office in the Wall Street area of New York City. The business where he works handles the official financial paperwork of wealthy men. One day, Bartleby’s employer requests he proofread one of the documents he has copied. Bartleby declines the assignment with the inscrutable “I would prefer not,” the first of what will become many refusals.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very strange, very haunting
- By Tad Davis on 11-24-11
By: Herman Melville
-
Nostromo
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
One of the great adventure novels of our language creates a most engaging central character, Nostromo. A picturesque man of action and popular hero, Nostromo lives to be "well-spoken of" by the citizens of Costaguana, the mythical South American banana republic where the story takes place. Around this figure, Conrad spins a story of revolution, politics, and racial conflict as complex as Nostromo, the man whose greatest enemy is himself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-11-03
By: Joseph Conrad
-
Benito Cereno
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
This is the epic sea adventure, a harrowing tale of slavery and revolt aboard a Spanish ship, is often regarded as Melville's finest short story. The balance of forces is complete, the atmosphere one of epic significance, the light cast upon the hero intense to the highest degree, the realization of the human soul profound, and the telling of the story orchestrated like a great symphony.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The literary equivalent of a caste painting from the same time
- By Auggie on 09-10-20
By: Herman Melville
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,337
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,747
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,717
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Choice of Narrators
- By Frank R. Adams on 04-23-10
By: Patrick O'Brian
-
The Captain of the Pole Star
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 333
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 283
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 280
Word goes among the crew of the Pole Star that the captain is haunted by demons. And after the days turn into weeks in the frigid Arctic Ocean, stories begin to circulate of ghosts and midnight hauntings.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Conan Doyle wrote more than Mr. Holmes.
- By Kristi R. on 11-14-11
-
The Shadow-Line
- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Fred Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Written at the start of the Great War, when his son Borys was at the Western Front, The Shadow-Line is Conrad's supreme effort to open man's eyes to the meaning of war through the stimulus of art. In many ways an autobiographical narrative, this masterpiece of his final period relates the story of a young and inexperienced sea captain whose first command finds him with a ship becalmed in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Reflexion on Maturity
- By Darwin8u on 01-05-17
By: Joseph Conrad
-
The Tell-Tale Heart
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 482
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 433
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 434
It was the eye. The dull, sightless, vulture's eye that shredded his final nerve. But the murder was done so carefully, so perfectly, that only one thing could reveal the whereabouts of the body. B. J. Harrison gives a masterful reading of the famous murder that wouldn't keep quiet. This audiobook was the #3 best-selling audiobook in 2008 at the iTunes Music Store!
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
THE VULTURE EYE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-24-16
By: Edgar Allan Poe
-
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: Jamie Hanes
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is a realistic yet romantic nautical adventure about a young stowaway on the high seas. One day in 1827, Arthur Gordon Pym escapes his dreary life in New Bedford and hides on the Grampus, where he befriends the captain's son, Augustus. The two boys witness and participate in a dazzling series of adventures, including shipwreck, famine, rescue, and voyages all over the world.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good but...
- By Marco Berry on 11-17-15
By: Edgar Allan Poe
-
Sacred Hunger
- By: Barry Unsworth
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
In this Booker Prize-winning work, Barry Unsworth follows the failing fortunes of William Kemp, a merchant pinning his last chance to a slave ship; his son, who needs a fortune because he is in love with an upper-class woman; and his nephew, who sails on the ship as its doctor because he has lost all he has loved. The voyage meets its demise when disease spreads among the slaves and the captain's drastic response provokes a mutiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wise, Perceptive, Heart-breaking
- By S. Coldsmith on 04-16-16
By: Barry Unsworth
-
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
- By: Howard Pyle, Merle Johnson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 163
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 111
Merle Johnson has here gathered together in one volume all of the nineteenth-century author-artist's classic pirate stories that had been scattered through many magazines and books. Well researched and with richly drawn characters, Pyle's work will appeal to students of history and adventure lovers alike.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating and wonderfully read
- By Fletch on 09-08-06
By: Howard Pyle, and others
-
Captain Blood
- By: Rafael Sabatini
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,032
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 835
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 838
George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels, praises this hearty saga as "one of the great unrecognized novels of the 20th century." Doctor Peter Blood's quiet life is shattered when he is convicted of treason for helping a wounded nobleman in the 1685 rebellion against King James II.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding rendition of classic swashbuckler
- By Gary on 03-27-04
By: Rafael Sabatini
-
Treasure Island
- By: Robert Louis Stevenson
- Narrated by: David Ian Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
The excitement, adventure, and magical sense of time and place, outraying from the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson's 18th-century pirate tale, is captured in all its glory by actor David Ian Davies in this new One Voice Recordings release. Be swept away by the story of young Jim Hawkins, caught up in his journey to the Caribbean islands upon a ship with a memorable and explosive crew, and led by the cryptic map from a Dead Man's Chest.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Predictable, but enjoyable
- By Alden on 11-28-07
-
Under Enemy Colors
- By: S. Thomas Russell
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 619
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 460
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 460
At the time of the French Revolution, one of Britain's most skillful naval officers, Charles Saunders Hayden, is a young lieutenant, the son of an English father and a French mother. His abilities and his loyalty to the king of England are beyond dispute, yet his career seems doomed by his "mixed" heritage and lack of political connections. Consequently, Hayden is assigned to an aging frigate, the Themis, under the command of Captain Josiah Hart, a man known as "Faint Hart" throughout the service.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Perfect for first timer
- By Blackmac on 08-07-08
-
Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 967
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 845
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 841
The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
-
The Lion of St. Mark
- By: G.A. Henty
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 133
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
Of The Lion of St. Mark, G.A. Henty wrote: "I have laid my story in the time not of the triumphs of Venice but of her hardest struggle for existence, when she defended herself successfully against the coalition of Hungary, Padua, and Genoa, for never at any time were the virtues of Venice, her steadfastness, her patriotism, and her willingness to make all sacrifice for her independence more brilliantly shown.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Great Listen
- By Jef on 04-04-05
By: G.A. Henty
-
The Deerslayer
- By: James Fenimore Cooper
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 484
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 371
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 373
The Deerslayer is the first of the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper. Here we meet Natty Bumppo as a young man living in upstate New York in the early 1740s. The action begins as Bumppo, called "Deerslayer", and his friend Hurry Harry approach Lake Glimmerglass, or Oswego, where the trapper Thomas Hutter lives with his daughters, the beautiful Judith and the feeble-minded Hetty. Hutter's floating log fort is attacked by Iroquois Indians, and the two frontiersmen join in the fight.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
things were slower them
- By Bill on 05-08-05
-
By the Mast Divided
- John Pearce, Book 1
- By: David Donachie
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 171
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. And he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Didn't work for me
- By Michael E on 07-23-08
By: David Donachie
-
Mr Midshipman Hornblower
- By: C. S. Forester
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,924
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,724
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,708
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
First rate historical fiction
- By Jason on 04-30-17
By: C. S. Forester