
The Outlaw Ocean
Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier
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Narrated by:
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Jason Culp
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Ian Urbina
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By:
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Ian Urbina
About this listen
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A riveting, adrenaline-fueled tour of a vast, lawless, and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas.
There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.
Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways—drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world's economies rely.
Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching.
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Critic reviews
"The Outlaw Ocean brings the reader up close to an overwhelming truth... An impressive feat of reporting... Urbina deftly reveals complicated ideas through his stories." —The Washington Post
"This body of work is a devastating look at the corruption, exploitation, and trafficking that thrive on the open ocean... The writing is straightforward but clever... Eerie and beautiful." —Outside
"The Outlaw Ocean is enriched by Urbina’s gifted storytelling about the destruction of marine life and the murder, crime, and piracy that make the seas so dangerous for those who make their living on them." —The National Book Review
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Performance
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On rounds at Mount Misery, it's not always easy for Basch to tell the patients from the doctors: Errol Cabot, the drug cowboy whose practice provides him with guinea pigs for his imaginative prescription cocktails . . . Blair Heiler, the world expert on borderlines (a diagnosis that applies to just about everybody) . . . A. K. Lowell, née Aliyah K. Lowenschteiner, whose Freudian analytic technique is so razor sharp it prohibits her from actually speaking to patients . . . And Schlomo Dove, the loony, outlandish shrink accused of having sex with a beautiful, well-to-do female patient.
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Not as good as The House Of God
- By Thomas C. Kelley on 02-03-23
By: Samuel Shem
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Target Omega
- A Novel
- By: Peter Kirsanow
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Buried deep in the US defense and special forces architecture is an elite, ultra-black unit created expressly to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists and rogue regimes. Their covert, surgical strikes eliminate grave threats so the rest of America can sleep without fear. Until now. After returning from a successful operation in Pakistan, the entire team is assassinated within 48 hours. Only their leader, Michael Garin, survives.
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Good start to a new series...
- By shelley on 06-11-18
By: Peter Kirsanow
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Last Hope Island
- Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times best-selling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days.
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Not What I Expected--More What I Needed to Know
- By DanD on 06-25-17
By: Lynne Olson
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Horses of Fire
- A Novel of Troy
- By: A. D. Rhine
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Hillary Huber, Vaneh Assadourian, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Andromache is cast as the doting wife of Prince Hector, yet her Amazon warrior name means “battler of men.” The only one with the cunning to outwit the invading Greeks, she must gather a band of outcasts and become the military commander she was born to be before the life she and Hector have built is reduced to ashes. Rhea is a war refugee and a horse whisperer who finally earns a place and sense of belonging in Hector’s stables. To save her new home, she must become an unlikely spy and face down a forbidden love that will test all her loyalties.
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The Women Of Troy
- By Stefan Filipovits on 08-05-23
By: A. D. Rhine
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Sailing Alone
- A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea
- By: Richard J. King
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Sailing by yourself, out of sight of land, can be invigorating and terrifying, compelling and tedious—and sometimes all of the above in one morning. But it is also a wide expanse of time in which to think. Sailing Alone tells the story of some of the remarkable people who, over the last four centuries, have spent weeks and months, moving slowly over the world's largest laboratory: a capricious and startling place in which to observe oneself, the weather, the stars, and countless sea creatures, from the tiniest to the most massive and threatening.
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Excellent book and narration
- By Waldo1812 on 10-24-24
By: Richard J. King
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The Outlaw Sea
- A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime
- By: William Langewiesche
- Narrated by: William Langewiesche
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Even if we live within sight of the sea, it is easy to forget that our world is an ocean world. The open ocean, that vast expanse of international waters, begins just a few miles out and spreads across three-fourths of the globe. It is a place of storms and danger, both natural and manmade. And at a time when every last patch of land is claimed by one government or another, it is a place that remains radically free.
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wow!
- By Darren on 07-09-04
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The Burning Island
- By: Hester Young
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Journalist Charlie Cates has always believed in facts, in what can be proved - her career depends on it. Which is why she has never truly accepted the supernatural visions that guide her to children in danger. After her work on a high-profile missing-child case brings unwanted fame, she reluctantly flees to the lush Big Island of Hawaii with her best friend, Rae. Determined to avoid her disturbing visions, Charlie begins writing what seems to be a harmless interview of a prominent volcanologist. But soon, she's haunted by dreams of a local girl who went missing six weeks earlier.
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I enjoyed the story
- By M. Abrego on 03-04-20
By: Hester Young
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The Ancients
- A Novel
- By: John Larison
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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A young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly and utterly alone, orphaned in an abandoned fishing village. Their food supplies dwindling, they set out across a breathtaking yet treacherous wilderness in search of the last of their people. Down the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her family, she plots her escape—while her fellow captives plan open revolt.
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Sociological SF — imaginative and deeply intelligent
- By AlishaKJ on 10-26-24
By: John Larison
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Empires of the Sky
- Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men's Epic Duel to Rule the World
- By: Alexander Rose
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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At the dawn of the 20th century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany’s Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin vied with the Wright Brothers to build the world’s first successful flying machine. As the Wrights labored to invent the airplane, Zeppelin fathered the remarkable airship, sparking a bitter rivalry between the two types of aircraft and their innovators that would last for decades, in the quest to control one of humanity’s most inspiring achievements. And it was the airship—not the airplane—that led the way.
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Actually, a One-Sided Story
- By JP on 08-03-20
By: Alexander Rose
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Hell's Angels
- The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were crippled. The first target was the Luftwaffe—the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. The United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain’s already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group—Hell’s Angels.
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Captivating
- By rswaf86 on 11-12-21
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Shores of Tripoli
- Lieutenant Putnam and the Barbary Pirates
- By: James L. Haley
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1801, and President Thomas Jefferson has assembled a deep-water navy to fight the growing threat of piracy, as American civilians are regularly kidnapped by Islamist brigands and held for ransom, enslaved, or killed, all at their captors' whim. The Berber States of North Africa, especially Tripoli, claimed their faith gave them the right to pillage anyone who did not submit to their religion.
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Listen to the sample
- By Mike on 10-30-18
By: James L. Haley
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The Prisoner's Wife
- By: Maggie Brookes
- Narrated by: Alicia Suszka-Fielder, David John
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible - until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs. Izzy's disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun.
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Good but ended abruptly
- By Emily on 10-08-21
By: Maggie Brookes
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In the Beauty of the Lilies
- A Novel
- By: John Updike
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Faith ultimately bursts into flame as Updike's major new novel, charting the lives of one family through four generations, shows listeners an America whose dream of perfection is translated into an obsession with God and the moving picture. Paterson, New Jersey, 1910: When a Presbyterian minister suddenly loses his faith and leaves the pulpit to become a salesman, he becomes a movie addict as well.
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In the Beauty of the Lillies
- By linda on 08-15-20
By: John Updike
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The Slaughterman's Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Yaniv Iczkovits
- Narrated by: Tovah Feldshuh
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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With her reputation as a vilde chaya (wild animal), Fanny Keismann isn’t like the other women in her shtetl in the Pale of Settlement - certainly not her obedient and anxiety-ridden sister, Mende, whose “philosopher” of a husband has run off to Minsk, abandoning her and their two children. As a young girl, Fanny felt an inexorable pull toward her father’s profession of ritual slaughterer and, under his reluctant guidance, became a master with a knife. And though she long ago gave up that unsuitable profession, Fanny still keeps the knife tied to her right leg.
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The narration - why?????
- By agarista on 07-20-21
By: Yaniv Iczkovits
Great read
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My biggest struggle was not listening to it but coming back to it. And because I liked the stories, I'm guessing the issue was that it's pretty depressing and you can feel quite powerless. But even ostriches don't really hide their heads when there's trouble and neither should we. It's an important matter that concerns all of us.
The performance is perfect. I listened with 1.6x speed and it was perfectly clear at all times. Great voice.
Fascinating stories about an unsexy topic
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An astounding deep dive into the human experience at sea in the modern era
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Great but has misleading info
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-That bag of frozen shrimp from Indonesia or Viet Nam you bought at the grocery store has about a 20% chance of having been harvested by slaves. Slaves who live in inhuman conditions that are life-threatening, and where murder of crew members isn't unknown.
-That once you take your boat 25 miles off shore, there are literally no rules. This lawlessness is making the oceans a dead zone and a haven for human rights violations. Also some pretty scary war games.
Urbina's approach is to go directly on these ships whenever possible, so the visceral descriptions of what it's like to sleep two inches under the behind of a colleague that hasn't washed in two weeks, but inches above the rats and fish guts, makes this book readable and compelling.
Do you know where your frozen shrimp comes from?
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Great insights into the out of sight out of mind world of our oceans
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Despite some flaws, an eye-opening must-listen!
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Life changing information
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Riveting and eye opening
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great book
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