The untold story of the talking book PDF
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Th e Untold Story of the Talking Book Matthew Rubery Th e Untold Story of the Talking Book Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts, and London, Eng land 2016 Copyright © 2016 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca First printing Frontispiece: A group listening to a recording of Reader’s Digest, ca. 1940. Photo © by the estate of Wendell S. MacRae. Reproduced by permission of the estate and the Witkin Gallery, New York, NY. Epigraph: Oscar Wilde, “Th e Critic as Artist,” in Criticism: Historical Criticism, Inventions, the Soul of Man, ed. Josephine M. Guy, Th e Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 4:138. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Rubery, Matthew, author. Title: Th e untold story of the talking book / Matthew Rubery. Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Harvard University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2016005605 | ISBN 9780674545441 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Audiobooks— History. | Lit er a ture and technology— History. | Talking books— History. Classifi cation: LCC Z286.A83 R83 2016 | DDC 002.09— dc23 LC rec ord available at http:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016005605 Yes: writing has done much to harm writers. We must return to the voice. — Oscar Wilde, “Th e Critic as Artist” Contents Introduction: What Is the History of Audiobooks? 1 Part I. Th e Phonographic Library 1 Canned Lit er a ture 29 Part II. Blindness, Disability, and Talking Book Rec ords 2 A Talking Book in Every Corner of Dark- Land 59 3 How to Read a Talking Book 86 4 A Free Press for the Blind 109 5 From Shell Shock to Shellac 129 6 Unrecordable 158 Part III. Audiobooks on and off the Road 7 Caedmon’s Th ird Dimension 185 8 Tapeworms 217 9 Audio Revolution 245 Afterword: Speed Listening 271 Notes 279 Credits 353 Acknowl edgments 357 Index 361 Th e Untold Story of the Talking Book
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