
Home Fires
An Intimate Portrait of One Middle-Class Family in Postwar America
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About this listen
Home Fires is the powerful saga of the Gordon family--real people, names unchanged. Spanning nearly five decades, from the end of World War II to the early 1990s, their story has the scope, depth, wealth of incident, and emotional intensity of a great novel, and an abundance of humor, scandal, warmth, and trauma--the recognizable components of family life. This is also a masterful chronicle of the turbulent postwar era, illuminating the interplay between private life and profound cultural changes.
Donald Katz begins his account in 1945, when Sam Gordon comes home from the war to his young wife, Eve, and their two-year-old, Susan, eager to move his family into the growing middle class. After a few years in the Bronx, Sam and Eve move to a new Long Island subdivision and have two more children. As the '50s yield to the '60s, the younger Gordons fly out into the culture like shrapnel from an artillery shell, each tracing a unique trajectory: Susan, early into rock 'n' roll and civil rights, Vassar girl, feminist, author of "The Politics of Orgasm", and recovering drug addict; Lorraine, teenage beatnik and leftie, onetime member of a women's rock band, longtime follower of an Indian religious teacher; Sheila, the "good" daughter who married then remarried, with a big suburban house, two kids, and a therapist; and Ricky, the youngest, witness to the family traumas and cause of a few himself, openly gay, eclectically New Age, and a successful songwriter and composer. And all Sam and Eve ever wanted--like millions of others who had experienced the Depression and the war--was a "normal family".
Katz tells the Gordons' story--from the unraveling of Sam and Eve's American dream to the slow, hopeful reknitting of the family--marshaling a vivid cast of supporting characters. Deftly juxtaposing day-to-day family life with landmark public events, Katz creates a rich and revealing portrait of the second half of the 20th century in America.
©1992 Donald Katz (P)2014 Donald KatzListeners also enjoyed...
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Hardy's first major literary success, here brought to life by narrator Nathaniel Parker, is the story of the independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene, who inherits her uncle's farm, the largest estate in the area. She surprises the villagers of Weatherbury by deciding to run it herself. Attracted to this bold young woman are three suitors all vying for her affections. They include the lonely gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the young and handsome but inconsiderate Sergeant Troy and the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak.
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Does Thomas Hardy justice
- By vhuggins on 06-11-13
By: Thomas Hardy
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Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The work tells the story of Jane's early life, her experience at Lowood School and as a governess. Her refusal to accept Rochester's love on any but her own strictly moral terms is a passionate cry for independence.
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Excellent, but second best...
- By R. David Mintz on 02-15-10
By: Charlotte Brontë
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The Prophet
- By: Kahlil Gibran
- Narrated by: Riz Ahmed
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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On the face of it, a simple book of 26 poem fables sharing one man’s wisdom. But The Prophet is so much more than that. It has inspired people from John F Kennedy to The Beatles and became the '60s Bible of counterculture – all because of the timeless truths it shared. Each poem takes a different theme – pleasure, beauty, freedom, joy and sorrow – as the fictional Al Mustapha shares his thoughts and experiences as he prepares to travel back to his island home.
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Riz Ahmed's Narraration Is So Moving!
- By Dee Tree on 09-12-21
By: Kahlil Gibran
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Gingerella
- By: Dina Gregory
- Narrated by: Amy Enticknap
- Length: 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Gingerella is an undecorated gingerbread girl who, neglected by the royal baker, fears she will not be allowed to the Gingerbread Fair. Running away to the forest, she encounters a woodsman with a secret passion...for baking. A mashup of Cinderella and The Gingerbread Man, this funny and fast-paced fairytale features a medieval baking contest, a ravenous queen and a ginger-bottomed prince!
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Sweet little bon bon
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 09-30-23
By: Dina Gregory
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Emma
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Emma can be enjoyed as a charming love story, a detective story, and a comic and lively picture of English life 200 years ago. Austen's beautiful, clever, wilful but fallible heroine Emma Woodhouse believes she knows best. Perfectly content with her life she sees no need for either love or marriage, yet nothing pleases her more than meddling in the romantic lives of others.
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pure pleasure
- By Elizabeth on 05-14-10
By: Jane Austen
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Impact Winter
- By: Travis Beacham
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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From executive producers of The Walking Dead and Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, comes a heart-stopping Audible Original featuring a brilliant British cast. It’s the near future and seven years since a comet hit the earth and blotted out the sun. The world is a dark, frozen landscape. And then, beastly creatures emerge and take over. A story of apocalypse, horror, and adventure, Impact Winter is a wholly original new saga created just for Audible with immersive 3D audio that dares you to pop in your earbuds and listen in the dark.
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can't stand the sounds
- By Joseph on 02-18-22
By: Travis Beacham
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Around the World in 80 Days
- By: Jules Verne, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Toby Jones, George Blagden, Don Gilet, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Original Recording
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One of the most celebrated tales of all time, Around the World in 80 Days is part high-octane thriller, part fascinating fantasy travelogue. Pragmatic gambler Phileas Fogg has made a gentlemanly wager to the members of his exclusive club: that he can circle the world in just 80 days, right down to the minute. Fetching his newly appointed French valet, Fogg embarks on a fabulous journey across land and sea - by steamer, rail, and elephant - to win the bet of a lifetime.
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Good Dramatization but Abridged Version of Story
- By Dennis & Veronica on 09-18-20
By: Jules Verne, and others
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War and Peace
- By: Leo Tolstoy, Louise Maude - translator, Aylmer Maude - translator
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 60 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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War and Peace is at once an epic war chronicle and an exploration of everything that make us all human: love and hate, ambition and despair, life and death. Allow yourself to get lost in the lives of three Russian aristocratic families, whose triumphs and challenges are every bit as resonant to today’s listener as they were to original readers. Thandiwe Newton inhabits each character with such flair that it is easy to forget that you are listening to one voice.
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Wonderful
- By Tad Davis on 11-14-21
By: Leo Tolstoy, and others
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 38 hrs
- Unabridged
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Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.
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Beautiful story, amazing narration
- By Marcus Vorwaller on 08-02-08
By: Leo Tolstoy
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Crime and Punishment
- By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Narrated by: Will Poulter
- Length: 22 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Often considered one of the first ever psychological thrillers, Crime and Punishment is a gripping tale of a poverty-stricken young man in Saint Petersburg, Russia, who hatches a plan to kill someone for money. Once the deed is done, he finds himself racked with guilt, confusion and disgust for his act. In this new recording, Will Poulter gives new life to the troubled protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, in a performance that will have you questioning where we draw the line between right and wrong.
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Stop this author!
- By Joy Nunnery on 03-25-25
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Pride and Prejudice [Audible Studios]
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Lindsay Duncan
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Pride and Prejudice has delighted generations of readers with its unforgettable cast of characters, carefully choreographed plot, and a hugely entertaining view of the world and its absurdities. With the arrival of eligible young men in their neighbourhood, the lives of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and upside down.
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Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
- By Dr. Roberta on 05-28-09
By: Jane Austen
EVE. At the end of the day the story was hers
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sad but true
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If you could sum up Home Fires in three words, what would they be?
Family's know pain.What was one of the most memorable moments of Home Fires?
Sam coming to terms with his children.What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Joe Barrett does a great job with what you think the voices would sound like. Brings good emotion to the story.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
More laughs than crys.Any additional comments?
If you grew up in this era, and had parents from the depression, with siblings spread apart in age like I did. This book will bring so many memories & emotions back to you. There are lessons for everyone in the book though. Very entertaining!Incredible Nostalgia
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If you could sum up Home Fires in three words, what would they be?
Like being thereWhat did you like best about this story?
The people, especially Mr.and Mrs. Gordon and the depiction of the 60s-70s.What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The narrator takes a few risks with the voices / accents. I think they work. Overall, he does a wonderful job. I'll look for for his other titles.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
How do you feel after an O'Neill play or a Roth novel?Perfect for audio --
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Especially those of us Baby Boomers caught in the undertow of the bewildering historical and cultural tsunamis which battered the last half of the 20th century will readily relate to the pain, struggle, confusion, and hope which unceasingly washed over us. Listening to gifted narrator Joe Barrett infuse Katz's masterpiece with knowing, understanding breath is an unexpectedly rare treat no Audible listener should miss, and gaining the added opportunity to hear Ricky Ian Gordon sum up his family's saga could not have been a more fulfilling conclusion.
You'll have yourself to thank for not missing this superlative family saga!
A Struggle to Savor!
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Very real
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to the Goldens: thank you for lending your lives to us. such a precious gift.
and to Donald Katz, thank you for being there to write this story down, I'll. take it with me always, in my heart, when the words aren't available.
to listeners: it's not long enough. trust me.
unforgettable
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I first read "Home Fires" around 15 years ago, discovering a monumental work that is really two ambitious books in one. It is the intimate, multigenerational story of a real American family, which in itself would be no small accomplishment. But then Don Katz uses the family saga as a framework on which he hangs the country's entire postwar social history. There is Vietnam, then folksingers and later rock 'n' roll, drugs, economic turmoil and our migration to the suburbs. It is related in such rich detail that countless throwaway sentences must have taken a week's research apiece.
As a new audiobook all these years later, "Home Fires" seems a new experience, somehow even more substantive and insightful than before. Narrator Joe Barrett weaves his way carefully through the twists and turns of each year, one after another. His voicing of characters is superb. Sure, all the Brooklyn males may sound more or less like Sam Gordon, but Mr. Barrett manages boys and girls, women, singers and prominent figures. His LBJ is passable, and his Richard Nixon pitch-perfect. Like the best of audiobooks, "the read" adds new dimensions to a remarkable work of journalism and literature. It's a long book. Totally worth it.
The Way We Were
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Terrific, moving, and oddly inspiring
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Tragic, Family Non Fiction.
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