Powder Keg: 1840-1880
The Donnellys, Volume 1
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Powder Keg: 1840-1880
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Narrated by:
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Gareth Richards
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Written by:
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John Little
About this listen
A violent family living in violent times.
In the 1840s, the Donnelly family immigrates from Ireland to the British province of Canada. Almost immediately problems develop as the patriarch of the family is sent to the Kingston Penitentiary for manslaughter, leaving his wife to raise their eight children on her own.
The children are raised in an incredibly violent community and cultivate a devoted loyalty to their mother and siblings, which often leads to problems with the law and those outside of the family.
The tensions between the family and their community escalate as the family's enemies begin to multiply. The brothers go into business running a stagecoach line and repay all acts of violence perpetrated against them, which only worsens the situation.
Refusing to take a backward step, the Donnellys stand alone against a growing power base that includes wealthy business interests in the town of Lucan, the local diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, law authorities, and a number of their neighbors.
Contains mature themes.
©2021 John Little (P)2021 TantorWhat listeners say about Powder Keg: 1840-1880
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- sparX
- 2024-09-03
Overall - Good Stuff
'Twas good overall. I was trying to find the book I read in my youth , The Black Donnellys , but not available .. yet .
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- DollakLaw
- 2022-02-10
Woefully poor narration by Garett Richards
My guess is that at some point while narrating the book, someone told him that the state of Michigan is not pronounced “Mitch” igan because after mispronouncing it several times, he eventually gets it right towards the end of the book.
Unfortunately, he does not go back to re-record his previous botched mispronunciations.
Nor does he about numerous other mispronunciations of place and person names as they abound, and gratingly so.
Any lawyers out there? How about applying for a writ of heinous corpus? You may find it useful after being arrested on an “indiKtment”.
Or, for those who like to brush the hair on their teepee, buying oneself a “comb-a-tent”?
I feel badly for the author; his book deserved a more conscientious narrator. Garett Richards was awful, truly awful.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Greg Zink
- 2023-07-21
Amazing Book, Average Presentation
This is an incredibly rich, balanced, detailed, and nuanced look at the widely misunderstood and much maligned Donnelly Family.
Author Little did amazing research on this book and really went out of his way to present each member of the clan as their own person with a unique story and motivations.
He includes all the gory details, as well as the explanations, for all the troubles the Donnelly’s faced throughout their lives (and their relatives thereafter the Massacre)
Sadly the editing on this reading is notably different from time to time (Indicating material added after the initial recording).
It’s listenable but not ideal. Thankfully Little’s prose and storytelling ability distract from some of the audio problems.
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1 person found this helpful