Progress and Poverty by Henry George, Volume Two – Unabridged: Why Poverty Accompanies Economic and Technological Progress

This is volume two—what Henry George called “the Solution to the Problem”.

(The previous volume is his description and analysis of “The Problem”.)

This landmark treatise by the great economist Henry George was first published in 1879. George’s work became the seminal analysis of the political economy which inspired most, if not all, the prominent thinkers of the Progressive Movement and many others of great influence: Upton Sinclair, John Dewey, George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Hayek, H. G. Wells, Clarence Darrow, and Leo Tolstoy, to name but a few. His analyses and proposals are referred to as “Georgism”.

This is the first commercially available audiobook version of this landmark work.

Albert Einstein wrote: “Men like Henry George are rare, unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form, and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation.”

Soon after its publication, over three million copies of Progress and Poverty were bought, exceeding all other books written in the English language except the Bible during the 1890s. By 1936, it had been translated into thirteen languages and at least six million copies had been sold.

George saw how technological and social advances (including education and public services) increased the value of land and, thus, the amount of wealth that can be demanded by the owners of the land. In other words: the better the public services, the higher the rent. Speculators increasing the price of land faster than wealth can be produced has the result of lowering the amount of wealth left over for labor to claim in wages, which finally leads to the collapse of enterprises at the margin; a ripple effect becomes a serious business depression entailing widespread unemployment, foreclosures, etc.

The narrator of this audiobook is Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award (R) winner Peter Lerman. Mr. Lerman has narrated over 100 titles currently offered for sale by major audiobook retailers. Among these are books by Upton Sinclair (six of them!), Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene V. Debs, and a biography of Progressive Era presidential nominee Al Smith.

Peter Lerman is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association. 

Thank you for making your choice for a Real Human Voice.

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Upton Sinclair, the greatest of the muckraking journalists, author of “The Jungle” and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, decided to run for Governor of California in 1934. It was the depths of the Great Depression in America and around the world. He changed his party registration to Democratic, ran for, and won the nomination. His candidacy garnered over 900,00 votes in the general election—38% of all votes cast.

In this book, Sinclair lays out step by step what he proposes to do to lift the working men and women of California out of the poverty and unemployment which had gripped the state, the nation, and the world. He saw that there was great wealth in California, particularly in natural resources, un-worked farmland, and empty factories. There were millions of workers desperate for the opportunity to put in a good day’s work for a good day’s pay. Here is his plan for putting these things together for a fair and equitable system for generating wealth.

This short book was Sinclair’s main piece of campaign material which he used to try to reach all voters in California; to give them hope and give them a direction in which they could move to climb out of their current, persistent rut.

The book is narrated by Peter Lerman. Peter has narrated over 100 books to date and was awarded a prestigious Earphones award by Audiofile Magazine in 2021. He has previously recorded six other titles—fiction and nonfiction—by Upton Sinclair.

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Progress and Poverty by Henry George, Volume One – Unabridged

Why poverty accompanies economic and technological progress

This landmark treatise by the great economist Henry George was first published in 1879. George’s work became the seminal analysis of the political economy which inspired most, if not all, the prominent thinkers of the Progressive Movement and many others of great influence: Upton Sinclair, John Dewey, George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Hayek, H. G. Wells, Clarence Darrow, and Leo Tolstoy, to name but a few. His analyses and proposals are referred to as “Georgism”.

This is the first commercially available audiobook version of this landmark work.

Albert Einstein wrote: “Men like Henry George are rare, unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form, and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation.”

Soon after its publication, over three million copies of Progress and Poverty were bought, exceeding all other books written in the English language except the Bible during the 1890s. By 1936, it had been translated into thirteen languages and at least six million copies had been sold.

George saw how technological and social advances (including education and public services) increased the value of land and, thus, the amount of wealth that can be demanded by the owners of the land. In other words: the better the public services, the higher the rent. Speculators increasing the price of land faster than wealth can be produced has the result of lowering the amount of wealth left over for labor to claim in wages, which finally leads to the collapse of enterprises at the margin; a ripple effect becomes a serious business depression entailing widespread unemployment, foreclosures, etc.

The narrator of this audiobook is Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award(R) winner Peter Lerman. Mr. Lerman has narrated over 100 titles currently offered for sale by major audiobook retailers. Among these are books by Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene V. Debs, and a biography of Progressive Era presidential nominee Al Smith.

Peter Lerman is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association.

Thank you for making your choice for a Real Human Voice.

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

As of the date of publication (March 2022), this is by far the largest collection of Eugene V. Debs’ writings available in audio. Published in 1916, it is a compilation of his writings – magazine articles and campaign material – and his speeches to conventions and other large gatherings, from the years of his greatest popularity and influence.

What were once widely known and popular ideas (nearly a million votes for Debs for President in the election of 1912) became somewhat lost to us. The history we are taught in the US was stripped of these ideas in order to draw a line more clearly between the US and the several nations of the world in which these ideas succeeded in becoming the dominant political force; our Cold War adversaries.

Most of these nations have long since abandoned these ideas. In truth, the implementations were deeply flawed and the nations on that list were cruelly oppressive dictatorships. This version of socialism did not work as it was promised it would; the economies operating under these structures were not “fair”; they were not “the worker’s paradise”. They failed completely. Debs was wrong.

However, nations that adopted parts of these ideas of which Debs writes and speaks have enjoyed economies that treat their citizens more humanely than most others: stronger social safety nets, universal healthcare, better public education, free college education, lower incarceration rates, and more. 

The “pure” Marxist ideology led to disastrous outcomes in countries which adopted it. But nations that recognized the right of their working-class citizens to a larger share of a nation’s wealth have happier and healthier citizens than nations that did not – without sacrificing fundamental freedoms. Of course, there are many sides to this argument and many great thinkers and writers on all sides. Listen to as many of them as you can. 

This collection is presented to you for your consideration, for you to learn who this man was and what his movement advocated. His core principles and ideals are included herein. Should you find it interesting and engaging, there is much more material about this era of American history – the Labor Movement, the Progressive Movement, the Women’s Rights movement, etc. – and all of Debs’ contemporary allies and opponents, available in hundreds of audiobooks which offer a critical analysis of the thinking, and retell the stories.

“I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could because if I led you in, someone else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.” – Eugene V. Debs

“We demand the complete enfranchisement of women and the equal rights of all the people regardless of race, color, creed, or nationality. We demand that child labor shall cease once and forever and that all children born into the world shall have equal opportunity to grow up, to be educated, to have healthy bodies and trained minds, and to develop and freely express the best there is in them in mental, moral and physical achievement.” – Eugene V. Debs, 1912

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In 1925, the greatest muckraking journalist and advocate for the working man, Upton Sinclair, believed that the cause in which he believed needed to be clearly and concisely explained – in plain English – for the benefit of the American worker.

Sinclair believed that there were many specific ways that the capitalist system in America had been hijacked by extremely wealthy trusts, monopolies, and banks. This was described as the Gilded Age – the Great Gatsby era – where the ultrarich controlled all the levers of power. The inequality of the distribution of wealth culminated in the crash of 1929 and years of economic depression.

He contended that the elected government was run by the financial supporters of the political parties; that big business, with the support of the courts and legislatures and media at all levels, was exploiting and mistreating workers, and focusing their efforts every day to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

One hundred years later, we see that some of his analysis was right on target, and the inequality persists now as it did in the Gilded Age. Some of his analysis was just plain wrong or overly idealistic.

The call for radical change is well-reasoned and clearly explained. The listener can explore and examine these ideas and judge their worth for themselves.

This audiobook is narrated by Peter Lerman, an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who specializes in nonfiction. He has over 100 books currently listed on Audible.

Thank you for making your choice for a Real Human Voice.

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Published in 1962 and never before available in audio!

Upton Sinclair was first and foremost the most eminent and impactful muckraking journalist of the early 20th century (The Jungle – 1906: precipitated meaningful and permanent improvements in the safety and purity of the food we eat). 

He wrote books exposing the unsavory workings of many other industries and institutions:  Oil! (the petroleum industry), The Profits of Religion (religious institutions), The Brass Check (newspapers and magazines), and many more.

He also was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Dragon’s Teeth – 1942).  Sinclair wrote nonfiction, novels, short stories, satire, plays, movie screenplays, and magazine articles. For a time he was a publisher of a monthly magazine. And, he ran for Governor of California in 1934.

His autobiography is as much personal as political. He speaks of meetings in the White House with Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt; lunches and dinners and afternoons spent with Albert Einstein;  long conversations and camaraderie with King Gillette (the ‘Razor King’), William Fox (movie mogul of Fox Studios), Henry Ford (The Flivver King) Sergei Eisenstein (the great film director), Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, George Bernard Shaw, Walter Lippman, Bertrand Russell, Eugene O’Neil, Charlie Chaplin, H. L. Mencken, and many more. 

He lived long enough to meet with Lyndon Johnson at the White House (Ralph Nader was there, too).  He spent time with many of the great thinkers of the first half of the 20th Century.  He tells all these stories giving first-person accounts of who they were and what they meant to him.

Still, he was naive about the pernicious Anti-Semitism of popular public figures such as Father Coughlin and Henry Ford. He exhibits racist and paternalistic attitudes towards non-white Americans while campaigning for “freedom and prosperity for all.” He was a believer in and wrote about ESP, Psychokinesis, and other “fringe” ideas since proven to be without merit. Though mostly Libertarian in his beliefs, he supported Prohibition. He supported the US Entry into both World Wars despite fervent opposition from fellow Socialists. A life-long Democratic Socialist he strongly opposed the Communists, with whom he frequently battled.

Sinclair wrote this autobiography in 1961 at age 81, having already published over 100 books in all.

Narrator Peter Lerman has previously recorded four other books by Upton Sinclair. He has narrated over 100 audiobooks to date and is a recipient of a Golden Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine.

Thank you for making your choice for a Real Human Voice!

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Published in 1908 and available as an audiobook for the very first time.

In The Metropolis, the muck-raking author of The Jungle and the tireless social justice warrior Upton Sinclair uses a fictional tale to expose the excesses and decadence of Gilded Age Society in New York City in the early 20th Century. 

The audiobook is produced and narrated by Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award-winning narrator Peter Lerman.  He has also narrated three other books by Sinclair.

Our protagonist comes to New York as a lawyer seeking to make his name and build a career. His younger brother has come before him and has already been successful in working his way into the inner circles of the High Society. The younger brother introduces him to the moguls with their extraordinary fortunes, amassed by owners of the Trusts, the Monopolies, the Banks, and the Financiers. With all the money in the world has come all the power. And, with all the money and the power has come the grotesque excess and the decadence and the moral rot.

The working people who are building the palaces, making the fine clothing, cooking, and serving the banquets, are relegated to slums and tenements. The impoverished coal miners, lumberjacks, railroad workers, factory workers, etc., are the collateral damage created by the accumulation of this vast wealth in the hands of the few…who never even see their faces. Who barely know they exist.

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Wall Street is corrupt and has been corrupt for generations. There are to be found the Great Men shuffling millions (and now billions) from one bank, one trust, one syndicate, and one scheme to the next. Wealth brings power and with the power comes more wealth.

Upton Sinclair tells us this tale through the eyes of a Wall Street lawyer in 1906. A man who is “in Society” but not truly “of Society”. A man named Montague begins to bit by bit to see the true rape and pillage of the economy which is going on day by day.

The Moneychangers is Upton Sinclair’s barely fictionalized account of the financial crisis, and in the novel, a character based on J.P. Morgan is lauded for rescuing everyone from a crisis that he created.

The narration is by AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award-winning narrator Peter Lerman.

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Upton Sinclair, the muckraking giant of 20th-century journalism and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Jungle, turns his critical eye upon the world of religion. Mind you, he is not critical of God nor of the teachings of Christ, but of the organized religions throughout history and of our times.

The narration is by Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award-Winning narrator Peter Lerman, who has also narrated The Brass Check by the same author.

This book is of the Dead Hand series, which includes investigations and critiques of corrupt and exploitative industries: The Jungle (meatpacking), King Coal, Oil!, The Brass Check (journalism), and others.

Here, Sinclair rails against the corruption of religion throughout history and in his day. He tells of their bloody pasts and their oppressive present; their collusion with corrupt and tyrannical governments and trusts. Sometimes he simply tells tales of the ridiculous sects and “prophets” which have sprung up so frequently and continue to do so.

His harsh analysis of religion foreshadows the contemporary writings of authors and thinkers such as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Richard Dawkins.

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From the author of the landmark book of investigative “muckraking” journalism, The Jungle comes only the second book by Sinclair to be produced as an audiobook for commercial distribution: The Brass Check.

“Using the staccato energy and emphasis of a 1940s radio broadcaster, Peter Lerman deftly narrates Sinclair’s detailed and often bitter broadside against the mainstream press of the early twentieth
century.” – AudioFile Magazine, December 2021

Upton Sinclair turns his critical eye and his sharp pen on the corruption and lies of the media that ruled the day 100 years ago – the newspapers, the magazines, and the wire services. He lays bare their pervasive collusion with
big industrial, financial, and political interests. Sinclair called The Brass Check “the most important and most dangerous book I have ever written”. He encouraged these corrupt institutions to sue him for libel if any part of his case was untrue. No such suit was ever filed.

The recording is by AudioFile Earphones Award-winning Narrator Peter Lerman. His reading conveys the contempt and disdain Sinclair felt for the journalists whom he meticulously dissects in this “take-no-prisoners”, full-frontal attack.

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A collection of 10 of the greatest and most popular short stories by the master himself. The stories are creepy, scary and frightening. Filled with murder and terror, they will keep you hanging on until the end.

These are the ten stories – herewith included – which define Edgar Allen Poe:

1. “The Cask of Amontillado”
2. “The Fall of the House of Usher”
3. “The Black Cat”
4. “The Masque of the Red Death”
5. “The Tell-Tale Heart”
6. “The Pit and the Pendulum”
7. “William Wilson”
8. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”
9. “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”
10. “The Gold Bug”

The stories are well told by the talented narrator who can bring you right into the suspense and action.

Turn off the lights, lights a candle, press ‘play’, and settle in for a suspenseful thrill!

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Mr. Wrenn is part Walter Mitty and part Forrest Gump – decades before either came to be. A most well-meaning but completely unsophisticated 36-year-old clerk in a novelty and souvenir company, he dreams of great travels, adventure, and romance. He lives in a boarding house in New York City and travels by cattle boat to Europe when an unexpected windfall puts one thousand dollars in his hands. His good-hearted misunderstandings of the world around him amuse and entertain. He does realize his dreams.

Laugh with Mr. Wrenn at the craziness and peculiarities of early 20th-century America.

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