Try free for 30 days
-
The Infernal Machine
- A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective
- Narrated by: Steven Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pre-order for $28.53
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
Extra Life
- A Short History of Living Longer
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Steven Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1920, at the end of the last major pandemic, global life expectancy was just over 40 years. Today, in many parts of the world, human beings can expect to live more than 80 years. As a species, we have doubled our life expectancy in just one century. There are few measures of human progress more astonishing than this increased longevity.
-
-
Compelling and interesting
- By Cnielsen on 30-08-2022
-
The King of Diamonds
- The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief
- By: Rena Pederson
- Narrated by: Erin Dion
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a string of high-profile jewel thefts went unsolved during the Swinging Sixties, the press dubbed the elusive thief the King of Diamonds. Like Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, the King was so bold that he tip-toed into the homes of millionaires while they were home, hiding in their closets and daring to smoke while they were sleeping. Rena Pederson, then a young reporter with UPI, started following the elusive thief while she managed the night desk. With gymnastic skill, he climbed trees and crawled across rooftops to take jewels from heiresses, oil kings, corporate CEOs.
-
The Deerfield Massacre
- A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early America
- By: James L. Swanson
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of the New York Times bestseller Empire of the Summer Moon comes a spellbinding account of a forgotten chapter in American history: the deadly confrontation between Indians and colonists in Massachusetts in 1704 and the tragic saga that unfolded, written by acclaimed historian James Swanson.
-
-
Why use 10 words when 60 will do
- By Rowey555 on 08-04-2024
-
When the Clock Broke
- Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
- By: John Ganz
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.” Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today. In When the Clock Broke, the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents.
-
The Knowledge Machine
- How Irrationality Created Modern Science
- By: Michael Strevens
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A paradigm-shifting work that revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science.
-
-
Philosphy makes up with science
- By Tom Orren on 05-02-2023
-
All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)
- The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.”
-
-
Original and thoughtful
- By Anonymous User on 28-02-2024
-
Extra Life
- A Short History of Living Longer
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Steven Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1920, at the end of the last major pandemic, global life expectancy was just over 40 years. Today, in many parts of the world, human beings can expect to live more than 80 years. As a species, we have doubled our life expectancy in just one century. There are few measures of human progress more astonishing than this increased longevity.
-
-
Compelling and interesting
- By Cnielsen on 30-08-2022
-
The King of Diamonds
- The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief
- By: Rena Pederson
- Narrated by: Erin Dion
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a string of high-profile jewel thefts went unsolved during the Swinging Sixties, the press dubbed the elusive thief the King of Diamonds. Like Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, the King was so bold that he tip-toed into the homes of millionaires while they were home, hiding in their closets and daring to smoke while they were sleeping. Rena Pederson, then a young reporter with UPI, started following the elusive thief while she managed the night desk. With gymnastic skill, he climbed trees and crawled across rooftops to take jewels from heiresses, oil kings, corporate CEOs.
-
The Deerfield Massacre
- A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early America
- By: James L. Swanson
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of the New York Times bestseller Empire of the Summer Moon comes a spellbinding account of a forgotten chapter in American history: the deadly confrontation between Indians and colonists in Massachusetts in 1704 and the tragic saga that unfolded, written by acclaimed historian James Swanson.
-
-
Why use 10 words when 60 will do
- By Rowey555 on 08-04-2024
-
When the Clock Broke
- Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
- By: John Ganz
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.” Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today. In When the Clock Broke, the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents.
-
The Knowledge Machine
- How Irrationality Created Modern Science
- By: Michael Strevens
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A paradigm-shifting work that revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science.
-
-
Philosphy makes up with science
- By Tom Orren on 05-02-2023
-
All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)
- The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.”
-
-
Original and thoughtful
- By Anonymous User on 28-02-2024
Publisher's Summary
“A fast-burning fuse of a book, every page bursting with revelatory detail.”—ERIK LARSON
A sweeping account of the anarchists who terrorized the streets of New York and the detective duo who transformed policing to meet the threat—a tale of fanaticism, forensic science, and dynamite from the bestselling author of The Ghost Map
Steven Johnson’s engrossing account of the epic struggle between the anarchist movement and the emerging surveillance state stretches around the world and between two centuries—from Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite and the assassination of Czar Alexander II to New York City in the shadow of World War I.
April 1914. The NYPD is still largely the corrupt, low-tech organization of the Tammany Hall era. To the extent the police are stopping crime—as opposed to committing it—their role has been almost entirely defined by physical force: the brawn of the cop on the beat keeping criminals at bay with nightsticks and fists. The solving of crimes is largely outside their purview.
The new commissioner, Arthur Woods, is determined to change that, but he cannot anticipate the maelstrom of violence that will soon test his science-based approach to policing. Within weeks of his tenure, New York City is engulfed in the most concentrated terrorism campaign in the nation’s history: a five-year period of relentless bombings, many of them perpetrated by the anarchist movement led by legendary radicals Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman. Coming to Woods’s aide are Inspector Joseph Faurot, a science-first detective who works closely with him in reforming the police force, and Amadeo Polignani, the young Italian undercover detective who infiltrates the notorious Bresci Circle.
Johnson reveals a mostly forgotten period of political conviction, scientific discovery, assassination plots, bombings, undercover operations, and innovative sleuthing. The Infernal Machine is the complex pre-history of our current moment, when decentralized anarchist networks have once again taken to the streets to protest law enforcement abuses, right-wing militia groups have attacked government buildings, and surveillance is almost ubiquitous.
Critic Reviews
“Dynamite, cops, anarchists—what more could you ask for? With narrative élan, Johnson tells the story of how an ‘infernal’ invention forever disrupted our political world. It’s a fast-burning fuse of a book, every page bursting with revelatory detail.”—Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile
“Drawing parallels with contemporary acts of terrorism and governmental abuses of power in monitoring citizens, Johnson makes history part of an ongoing story we all need to consider. Smart, accessible, and highly readable.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Drawing parallels with contemporary acts of terrorism and governmental abuses of power in monitoring citizens, Johnson makes history part of an ongoing story we all need to consider. Smart, accessible, and highly readable.”—Kirkus Reviews