Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks - Patrick Radden Keefe

Written by Patrick Radden Keefe
Read by Patrick Radden Keefe
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: June 28, 2022
Duration: 15:28:51

Patrick Radden Keefe has garnered prizes ranging from the National Magazine Award to the Orwell Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award for his meticulously-reported, hypnotically-engaging work on the many ways people behave badly. Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from The New Yorker. As Keefe says in his preface “They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.”

Keefe brilliantly explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines, examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist, spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain, chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant, and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the “worst of the worst,” among other bravura works of literary journalism.

The appearance of his byline in The New Yorker is always an event, and collected here for the first time readers can see his work forms an always enthralling but deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up against them.

“More than most authors, NEW YORKER investigative reporter Patrick Radden Keefe matches the skills of a professional narrator, and it would be difficult to imagine one better for this audiobook collection of a dozen of his most memorable articles. Keefe’s subjects include some of the world’s worst criminals–arms brokers, drug traffickers, airline bombers, and one celebrity–the late television personality Anthony Bourdain. Keefe’s portraits are indelible, his narration distinctive and very listenable. He also proves to be highly expressive in shaping his sentences and shading his tone. Most importantly, Keefe trusts his words to carry their intended weight without dramatizing. Here is today’s highest level of journalism, presented with confidence, ease, and full impact. “—AudioFile