Audibly Speaking: Listening to History

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The shocking attacks against Asian Americans in 2021 are outgrowths of a long history of bigotry against these, our fellow citizens. Besides bringing shame to America’s claim of “liberty and justice for all,” these attacks flow from the ignorance of too many Americans in this history of bigotry, especially of the worst violation of civil liberties in all of American history, the relocation and int...

In this first Unit of a new online course that seeks to demystify the evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, we look at the first evidence, the evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald in the first eighty minutes following the assassination.

Carton reconnoiters the Defarge’s wine shop in this episode, and learns of Madame Defarge’s dark plans for the Evremonde family. Dr. Manette, out of the trauma of his son-in-law’s imminent execution (and its connection to his own testimony), returns to his shoemaking once again. Carton instructs Jarvis Lorry on what he should do the next day to save the Evremondes.

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This is where the plot finally comes together. Carton visits Darnay to change places in LaForce, with the aid of chloroform. Barsad takes Darnay to Lucy and all but Jerry and Miss Pross board the carriage and leave to flee Paris for England. Dickens is herein a master of suspense, which builds to a crescendo near the end of the chapter. Next Chapter: “The Knitting Done.”

Twitter Facebook I have finally crossed the finish line! My audio narration for Librivox is finally complete, with all forty-five chapters now in the can. I can now say “it’s a wrap.” And what a terrific chapter to end on. Dickens is at his most reflective. A novel of horror somehow has wended its way to a chapter that produces a happy ending for all, at least for all of the good...

Madame Defarge discovers that her prey, Lucy, Little Lucy and Dr. Manette, have fled her clutches and are on the country roads of France, fleeing for England, What she does not know is that her most important enemy, Charles Darnay, is with them, having exchanged places in Laforce prison with Sidney Carton. Standing between Madame DeFarge and death for the fleeing prey is Miss Pross. Who will win t...

Twitter Facebook In this chapter, Dr. Manette’s long-buried message, found in the Bastille by Ernest Defarge, is used to condemn Charles Darnay, son-in-law of the good doctor and husband of his fair daughter, to death at the Guillotine!  In vain does Dr. Manette protest that he no longer condemned the entire Evremonde family to the last of its line, now that the latest Marquis, dear Cha...

Twitter Facebook In this chapter of A Tale of Two Cities , Charles Darnay is sentenced to death on the accusations of the Dafarges and, incredibly, Dr. Manette, in the form of an old condemnation by the prisoner in the Bastille long before he knew Charles. Sydney Carton persuades Jarvis Lorry to rap up affairs in Paris and prepare to leave at once with Lucy, Little Lucy, Miss Pross and presumably...

Twitter Facebook “A Hand at Cards,” Book Three, Chapter Eight of A Tale of Two Cities.  Here many of the characters in the novel are on stage in one chapter.  Carton reappears and must “turn” the spy John Barsad to his purposes.  Pross and Cruncher are “over the top,” as usual, but Carton is another matter entirely. He must be played with great skill, conveying...

Twitter Facebook In this chapter, Charles Darnay is saved. Or is he?  The good Doctor Manette works his magic.  But the Defarges will not give up on their quest to send every member of the Evremonde family to the guillotine. Twitter Facebook

Twitter Facebook Dickens’s most atypical novel grows still darker, even for him, in this terrifying chapter from A Tale of Two Cities.   Lucy travels into the chaotic streets of revolutionary Paris to try to catch a glimpse of her beloved Charles in the Bastille.  She runs into a wood-sawyer, enraptured by La Guillotine and bent on revenge against aristocrats. Will Charles survive the night,...

Twitter Facebook Book Three, chapter Four of Dickens’s classic novel. Doctor Manette is off to La Force to try to save the life of Charles Darnay. Will he succeed?  Stay tuned, as they say, and “Listen to History” on audiblyspeaking.com. Twitter Facebook

Twitter Facebook Another entry in my evolving audio narration of Charles Dickens’s magisterial novel,  A Tale of Two Cities .  This chapter is called “The Grindstone.”  It is a difficult chapter to read because it involves characters of different sexes exchanging dialogue quickly and in states of duress.  Unlike other chapters where the characters are over the top in the writing,...

Twitter Facebook In this episode, the mansion of the Marquis St. Evremonde goes up in flames as the Revolutionary mob torches the ancestral home of Charles Darnay (secretly the new Marquis).  The old Marquis’s functionary, Gabelle, is, in consequence, about to be arrested.   This will draw Darnay from safety in England to mortal peril in France, as he will decide to journey to...

Twitter Facebook Another preview of my upcoming Librivox recording of A Tale of Two Cities , due out in April 2020. This is chapter 30, “Drawn to the Loadstone Rock.” If you enjoy this, won’t you leave a comment telling me so? Twitter Facebook

Twitter Facebook Book Two, Chapter 21, “Echoing Footsteps,” of A Tale of Two Cities, by the inimitable Charles Dickens. Twitter Facebook

Twitter Facebook Book Two, Chapter 25 of Dickens’s classic novel. Book Two, Chapter 19 of Dickens’s classic. Twitter Facebook

Twitter Facebook This chapter of “A Tale of Two Cities,” is called “The Gorgon’s Head,” and is one of the more difficult chapters in the novel to narrate, at least in my opinion.  It has more than its share of the long, meandering and prolix sentences for which Dickens was famous. Even when read with the eyes, it takes time to make sense of them. On top of that i...

Twitter Facebook Narrated by Dr. Rick Reiman In this classic short story in the Sherlock Holmes series, Holmes, with the help of Dr. Watson, matches wits with a woman, Irene Adler. Spoiler alert: The woman wins. It is one of the few Sherlock Holmes stories in which Holmes fails. And he never forgets it! The players: Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Rick Reiman Dr. Watson: Dr. Rick Reiman The King of Bohemia:...