Christopher Ragland

Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age. Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was...

A classic book now available on audioWith narration by Christopher Ragland, who presents a bracingly provocative critique of one of our most cherished ideas and institutionsMost people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They...

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the...

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the...

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24th September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota into an upper-middle class family. Whilst his mother was pregnant with him, his two young sisters tragically died. Fitzgerald once said this was when his destiny as...

As a child being read to was one of the greatest joys imaginable. A loved one would start a tale whilst you were all cosy warm in bed with the lights nodding off. Anything could happen but sleep would come and dreams would start and all was good with...

Poetry. A form of words that seems so elegantly simple in one verse and so cleverly complex in another. Each poet has a particular style, an individual and unique way with words and yet each of us seems to recognise the path and destination of where...

Edward Payson Roe was born on 17th March 1838 in the village of Moodna, now part of New Windsor, in New York State.He received his education at Williams College and thence entered Auburn Theological Seminary.In 1862 he was appointed as chaplain to the...

Christmas may come but once a year but human emotions, the driving force of our characters are with us every day.Yet, somehow these same emotions when they happen at Christmas, seem amplified, we seem more tender to their touch, their words.Whether...

This audiobook narrated by Christopher Ragland reveals the strengths and failures of the American college, and explains why liberal education still mattersAs the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are...

The fascinating untold story of digital cash and its creators—from experiments in the 1970s to the mania over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrenciesBitcoin may appear to be a revolutionary form of digital cash without precedent or prehistory. In fact, it...

This audiobook narrated by Christopher Ragland reveals how life itself shapes Earth using the elemental constituents we all shareIt is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of...

From two distinguished experts on election law, an alarming look at how the American presidency could be stolen—by entirely legal meansEven in the fast and loose world of the Trump White House, the idea that a couple thousand disorganized protestors...

Robert Duncan Milne was born on 7th June 1844 in Cupar in Fife, Scotland.Little is known of the life of this extraordinary author who created some of the most appealing science fiction stories ever written.As an adult he lived in San Francisco and...

What is the key to Jeff Bezos's success? This biography takes a deep-dive into his career and the decisions he made to become the world's most successful business magnate.Entrepreneur and e-commerce pioneer Jeff Bezos is a success story of the...

Francis Marion Crawford, an only child, was born on 2nd August 1854 at Bagni di Lucca, Italy. He was a nephew to Julia Ward Howe, the American poet and writer of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’.Crawford was educated at St Paul's School, Concord, New...

Humanity depends on Nature for everything. Without her resources and bounty, we would not exist. Despite our on-going depletion of her wares, she simply gets on with her work. Her seasons turn, life continues.But it seems Nature has a darker, more...

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4th July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, a town synonymous with the earlier Salem Witch Trials. It was instrumental in Hawthorne’s later use of American Gothic and dark romanticism in his writing.He was a mere four years...

William Sydney Porter was born on 11th September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At age 3 his mother died from tuberculosis. From an early age it was clear Porter had a large appetite for reading as he absorbed the world around him.He first...

O Henry perhaps the master of the American short story across his 600 works. Slices of life, vignettes of narrative are told with verve and poise and words that simply flow as he wanders through society revealing characters and stories of instant...

Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age. Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was...

William Austin was born on 2nd March 1778 in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.After being educated at Harvard College, Austin served as the Unitarian chaplain onboard the USS Constitution from 1799 but resigned a year later after they captured a French ship...

Robert Duncan Milne was born on 7th June 1844 in Cupar in Fife, Scotland.Little is known of the life of this extraordinary author who created some of the most appealing science fiction stories ever written.As an adult he lived in San Francisco and...

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4th July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, a town synonymous with the earlier Salem Witch Trials. It was instrumental in Hawthorne’s later use of American Gothic and dark romanticism in his writing.At only four years old,...