Right, so one way or another I need to find a way to consume Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report On the Miracles At Little No Horse in the next few weeks in order to write a paper, and since I have enough reading to do to make my eyes burn out and fall on my desk, I thought I’d once again look into an Audible subscription since they have a digital audio version (as opposed to the tapes I could buy on the cheap but would not be as convenient).
Good Lord, the Audible website sucks. Browsing is not a realistic option. For instance, I’d really like some books on 18th and 19th century America, but you can’t browse those. You can enter those terms in the advanced search, but then those terms have to explicitly be in the title or description. So something like Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose’s book on Lewis and Clark, would be filtered out. Nice.
And better yet, some bumbling around revealed that their database sucks even worse than I thought. I found that Joseph M Marshall and Joseph M Marshall III (same guy) have different records. If you click on the second one, you get one book. If you click on the first one, you get four books—including the one with the III in the author’s name. Nice.
And the American history books I have found all appear to have an overt political agenda leaning heavily to the conservative/ libertarian/ patriot side. I can handle rah-rah American history (Stephen Ambrose’s cheerleading is tolerable for example) but I don’t want revisionist history, please. Workers were treated poorly across the board in the 19th century, therefore unions shouldn’t be dismissed as rabble-rousing undesirable elements, especially in a general history. Why even go there? If I want politics with my history I’ll go back to Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, thank you.
So the search goes on as I scan through 730 titles filed under History:America, and becoming more and more convinced that I should bring a boom box in the car with me and buy those tapes of the Erdrich novel after all…
Current Mood: Disgusted | 
Currently Listening To – Uncle Tupelo – “No Depression”
6 Comments
People who build websites are convinced that users of old technology have nothing to offer them. Five minutes with a librarian would show them how a name authority record works and Why You Would Want To Have One. (grin)
Dr. Phil
It’s curious to say the least. And their catalog is really screwy too, as there are tons of bestsellers and too few classics. I don’t know whether this model is based on market research or shooting in the dark. I think a lot of academics would be interested in a different selection (we’re not alone in the commuting biz, friends) but the catalog slant is decidedly toward the popular and away from the academic.
And the American history books I have found all appear to have an overt political agenda leaning heavily to the conservative/ libertarian/ patriot side.
So you mean an objective account of American history. ;)
If I want politics with my history I’ll go back to Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, thank you.
Psssh, pure propaganda!
On a more serious note as you pointed out, I don’t understand why it seems like you can only find either super conservative patriotic “America has never done anything wrong” takes on history or the leftist “America is the most evil Oppressive Nation in Existence” takes. Why can’t people write history dynamically and find a middle-ground? But you might have to find a more academic textbook style American history for that.
Well, after perusing the Audible catalog for a good portion of the morning and checking their 700+ titles, it seems like there are two or three series by serious conservatives and then an abridged version of the Zinn.
I think people can and do write good history without a political agenda, but Audible doesn’t stock them apparently.
I saw that Madison Public Library (through the WI Public Library Consortium) now has OverDrive. Not sure their catalog will suit your specific needs, but at least it’s free audiobooks, maybe after grad school you can take advantage. I’ve always hated Audible, it’s like iTunes for Mensa members and Rhodes Scholars only.
http://dbooks.wplc.info/
P
I’ve used overdrive before but the big catch is that you can only download as WAV files that won’t convert to be used on the iPod. This drives me absolutely nuts because how many people have portable devices that don’t play WAV files, and the audience for people looking for audio books has got to be minuscule so I don’t understand the necessity of a single format download.
But I did see that they have Erdrich’s book that I need, so I will be trying it once again.