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The True American
- Murder and Mercy in Texas
- Narrated by: Anand Giridharadas
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Imagine that a terrorist tried to kill you. If you could face him again, on your terms, what would you do?
The True American tells the story of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladesh Air Force officer who dreams of immigrating to America and working in technology. But days after 9/11, an avowed "American terrorist" named Mark Stroman, seeking revenge, walks into the Dallas minimart where Bhuiyan has found temporary work and shoots him, maiming and nearly killing him. Two other victims, at other gas stations, aren't so lucky, dying at once.
The True American traces the making of these two men, Stroman and Bhuiyan, and of their fateful encounter. It follows them as they rebuild shattered lives - one striving on Death Row to become a better man, the other to heal and pull himself up from the lowest rung on the ladder of an unfamiliar country.
Ten years after the shooting, an Islamic pilgrimage seeds in Bhuiyan a strange idea: if he is ever to be whole, he must reenter Stroman's life. He longs to confront Stroman and speak to him about the attack that changed their lives. Bhuiyan publicly forgives Stroman, in the name of his religion and its notion of mercy. Then he wages a legal and PR campaign, against the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry, to have his attacker spared from the death penalty.
Ranging from Texas's juvenile justice system to the swirling crowd of pilgrims at the Hajj in Mecca; from a biker bar to an immigrant mosque in Dallas; from young military cadets in Bangladesh to elite paratroopers in Israel; from a wealthy household of chicken importers in Karachi, Pakistan; to the sober residences of Brownwood, Texas, The True American is a rich, colorful, profoundly moving exploration of the American dream in its many dimensions. Ultimately, it tells a story about our love-hate relationship with immigrants, about the encounter between Islam and the West, about how - or whether - we choose what we become.
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What listeners say about The True American
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John
- 09-03-15
moving sad story
very much worth a credit. racism and hate eventually give way to forgiveness and beauty.
7 people found this helpful
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- TM
- 12-11-14
Worthy Listen
Any additional comments?
A deep look at a troubling hate crime and a detailed account of the complicated aftermath.
I came away thinking that the victim was a brave and honorable man and that the protagonist was given far more attention than he deserved by both the author and some of the other folks he writes about.
I am in no way a supporter of the death penalty, and I can sympathize with those that campaign to end it. But there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of compassion and attention given to the confessed perpetrator of these crimes, beyond the ending of the death penalty itself. The people that commit that amount of time and energy to such a person surely could better direct that energy?
Well written and professionally read (by the author). An important story worth telling, but I had mixed feelings about the subject matter.
But that's probably the author's objective though, right?
Challenge your thinking.
7 people found this helpful
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- Ellen Shannon
- 09-12-17
Love this book!
Excellent book with an inspiring and timely work about immigration, overcoming adversity, and building a positive community of forgiveness.
6 people found this helpful
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- Socrates
- 03-09-16
What an inspiring story in a selfish country
in this country full of selfishness, it's rare to forgive to this extent. great lesson
6 people found this helpful
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- COJoebro
- 05-16-16
Don't Miss This Compelling, Redemptive Important Tale
"The True American: a Story of Mercy and Murder in Texas" is a must read (or listen). If you enjoy well written nonfiction with an unexpected, archetypal, epic quality, a truly remarkable protagonist, an antagonist who is deeply, tragically and fatally flawed. If you find cultural critique interesting and worth considering I urge you to add this book to your library. If you are taken aback by the evidence of nativist, populism regaining strength and currency in the US and Europe, don't miss this book. If the post 9/11 reality has left you fearful and unclear about Islam, or if a suggested ban on Muslim immigrants appeals to you or someone you know, even slightly this book is one worth reading. If you have survived a heinous crime and wondered if it is possible to want to be alive; If you have an opinion about Capital punishment either way; or if you have come to believe the American Dream is a cruel myth, read this book!
3 people found this helpful
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- Daryl
- 04-07-15
Imporetant moving read
What did you like best about this story?
I enjoyed the intertwining stories, what made these two men take the paths they did.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It actually made me uncomfortable. What brought these men to this place? What are their families like now? While I cannot say that I would have made the decisions Rais did, I understand the place he came from. My Christian faith also extols forgiveness.
Any additional comments?
This is an important read. It does ask more questions than it answers, but I loved it for its messiness and non-preachy look at some pretty intense topics - nature vs. nurture, religion, terrorism, patriotism...
Well worth your time and credit!
3 people found this helpful
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- Tristan
- 08-21-16
Loved the story! life changing!
i loved this story and the narrator was awesome! the book actually made me cry, but some of the back stories were irrelevant, although mind altering!
2 people found this helpful
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- Angel
- 08-12-16
Great story, lackluster but well spoken narrator
There was never emotion in the narrators voice. This was especially world breaking when it was clear the character was sobbing, but the narrator spoke as if normal conversation. I realize that isn't a theatrical reading, but it would have been nice for a bit more expression. Besides that the narrator was well spoken with very clear annunciation and attempted accents very lightly here and there.
2 people found this helpful
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- CHET YARBROUGH
- 07-21-15
US AND THEM
A deplorable habit of human nature is to classify humanity into us and them. “The True American” is a news reporter’s story of two Texas murders and one wounding of three presumed Middle Eastern people living and working in America after 9/11/01. In fact, the three victims were Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani with Asian rather than Middle Eastern origins. “The True American” is the story of an incident of murder and mayhem that tests Texas’s death penalty and exposes human nature’s habit of “us and them” categorization of human beings.
The Texas’ murders are a lesser-scale recapitulation of the delusions and horror of 9/11. Though only two human beings, rather than nearly 3,000, are murdered in this Texas incident–both horrific events are motivated by delusions of revenge and belief in “us and them” categories. Anand Giridharadas’ book is about “us and them” choices human beings make every day. The year 2015 shows three examples of “us and them” beliefs in America: 1) a presidential candidate’s categorization of illegal Mexican’ immigrants as murderers and rapists, 2) a white man’s slaughter of nine Americans because they are Black, and 3) a Muslims’ murder of five men because they are American’ soldiers.
The focus of Giridharadas’ book is the maiming of Raisuddin “Rais” Bhuiyan, an aspiring American emigre from Bangladesh, who is shot in the face by Mark Anthony Stroman. Stroman murders two and maims Rais Bhuiyan, because he sees himself as a part of “us” (Americans) and his victims a part of “them” (Arab terrorists). Like a presidential candidate’s slander of Mexicans, a white man’s slaughter of Blacks, and a Muslim’s murder of soldiers in 2015, Stroman believes anyone that looks like “them” is not worthy of “us”. Bhuiyan’s life is an enemy of “us” to Stroman because he is avenging destruction of the World Trade Center in New York. To Stroman, Bhuiyan and two un-related Asians are terrorists because of the color of their skin.
5 people found this helpful
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- Kristen W. Schneider
- 03-24-15
So well written
It was a delight to hear the author read his story aloud. I was struck by how much research the author must have done to write this book. It's a fascinating story. I highly recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
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- Suzy
- 09-30-18
Modern day life lessons
I have to admit, I found the book slow going at times, but then I was listening while decorating, so wasn't giving it 100% attention. And I think this book is one that needs concentration. It starts with a crime - a man with racist views kills, and in one case attempts to kill but the victim survives. The narrative then follows the lives of perpetrator and survivor, jumping back a lot to fill in the story of their lives before the crime. The story then changes a gear and we follow forward, through the legal system and themes of forgiveness and atonement, change and kindness. I found this section to be most interesting. Whilst it's just a portrait of a few lives on the surface, I think every reader can take life lessons from it. The narrator which is also the author, was fantastic. I just felt with a different structure in the early part and an hour or two less listening time, this would have given better focus. I do however recommend.
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Story
On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.
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Difficult subject matter; not a fan of the writing style nor narration
- By DS on 07-07-18
By: Nancy Rommelmann
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Prisoner
- My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison - Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out
- By: Jason Rezaian
- Narrated by: Jason Rezaian
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The dramatic memoir of the journalist who was held hostage in a high-security prison in Tehran for 18 months and whose release - which almost didn’t happen - became a part of the Iran nuclear deal.
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Very well done.
- By Gary on 02-06-19
By: Jason Rezaian
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Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given
- By: Duane 'Dog' Chapman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Considered by many to be the world's greatest bounty hunter, Duane "Dog" Chapman has become famous for capturing fugitives on Dog the Bounty Hunter, his number-one-rated show on A&E. But his job doesn't end when he cuffs his man - or woman. Having personally struggled against abuse, addiction, and a life of crime, Dog knows a thing or two about the path that these fugitives cuffed in the back of his car are on.
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Slow narration - I wish the author narrated more
- By HappyQuails on 02-22-11
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Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival
- By: Carmina Salcido, Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On April 14, 1989, for reasons still debated today, Mexican immigrant RamÓn Salcido went on a violent rampage in the idyllic Sonoma Valley wine country where he lived and worked. In the course of just two hours, he killed his wife, Angela, her two younger sisters, his mother-in-law, and the man with whom he suspected Angela was having an affair. He then slashed the throats of his three young daughters - four-year-old Sophia, three-year-old Carmina, and twenty-two-month-old Teresa - leaving them for dead.
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No words can describe this tragedy.
- By kris on 01-23-13
By: Carmina Salcido, and others
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The Meaning of Matthew
- My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
- By: Judy Shepard
- Narrated by: Judy Shepard
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The mother of Matthew Shepard shares her story about her son's death and the choice she made to become an international gay rights activist.
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Heart breaking story
- By sherry on 08-10-12
By: Judy Shepard
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While the City Slept
- A Love Lost to Violence and a Wake-Up Call for Mental Health Care in America
- By: Eli Sanders
- Narrated by: Rene Ruiz
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a summer night in 2009, three lives intersected in one American neighborhood. Two people newly in love - Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper, who spent many years trying to find themselves and who eventually found each other - and a young man on a dangerous psychological descent: Isaiah Kalebu, age 23, the son of a distant, authoritarian father and a mother with a family history of mental illness. All three paths forever altered by a violent crime, all three stories a wake-up call to the system that failed to see the signs.
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Tragedy and hope
- By Gotta Tellya on 03-07-16
By: Eli Sanders
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To the Bridge
- A True Story of Motherhood and Murder
- By: Nancy Rommelmann
- Narrated by: Nancy Rommelmann
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.
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Difficult subject matter; not a fan of the writing style nor narration
- By DS on 07-07-18
By: Nancy Rommelmann
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Prisoner
- My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison - Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out
- By: Jason Rezaian
- Narrated by: Jason Rezaian
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic memoir of the journalist who was held hostage in a high-security prison in Tehran for 18 months and whose release - which almost didn’t happen - became a part of the Iran nuclear deal.
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-
Very well done.
- By Gary on 02-06-19
By: Jason Rezaian
-
Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given
- By: Duane 'Dog' Chapman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Considered by many to be the world's greatest bounty hunter, Duane "Dog" Chapman has become famous for capturing fugitives on Dog the Bounty Hunter, his number-one-rated show on A&E. But his job doesn't end when he cuffs his man - or woman. Having personally struggled against abuse, addiction, and a life of crime, Dog knows a thing or two about the path that these fugitives cuffed in the back of his car are on.
-
-
Slow narration - I wish the author narrated more
- By HappyQuails on 02-22-11
-
Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival
- By: Carmina Salcido, Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On April 14, 1989, for reasons still debated today, Mexican immigrant RamÓn Salcido went on a violent rampage in the idyllic Sonoma Valley wine country where he lived and worked. In the course of just two hours, he killed his wife, Angela, her two younger sisters, his mother-in-law, and the man with whom he suspected Angela was having an affair. He then slashed the throats of his three young daughters - four-year-old Sophia, three-year-old Carmina, and twenty-two-month-old Teresa - leaving them for dead.
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No words can describe this tragedy.
- By kris on 01-23-13
By: Carmina Salcido, and others
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Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
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Compelling
- By Jean on 06-18-17
By: Susan Burton, and others
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Dirty John and Other True Stories of Outlaws and Outsiders
- By: Christopher Goffard
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Since its release in fall 2017, the Dirty John podcast - about a con man who terrorizes a Southern California family - has been downloaded more than 20 million times. The story, which also ran as a print series in the Los Angeles Times, wasn’t unfamiliar terrain to its writer, Christopher Goffard. Over two decades at newspapers from Florida to California, Goffard has reported probingly on the shadowy, unseen corners of society. This audiobook gathers together for the first time “Dirty John” and the rest of his very best work.
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Essentially bait and switch.
- By Ed Jones on 12-01-18
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The Master Plan
- My Journey From Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose
- By: Chris Wilson, Bret Witter, Wes Moore - foreword
- Narrated by: Chris Wilson, Wes Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Growing up in a tough Washington, D.C., neighborhood, Chris Wilson was so afraid for his life he wouldn't leave the house without a gun. One night, defending himself, he killed a man. At 18, he was sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole. But what should have been the end of his story became the beginning. Deciding to make something of his life, Chris embarked on a journey of self-improvement - reading, working out, learning languages, even starting a business. He wrote his Master Plan: a list of all he expected to accomplish or acquire.
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Bubble burster
- By FALON GRAY on 04-21-19
By: Chris Wilson, and others