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The Snakehead
- An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
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The Snakehead
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Rogues
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great voice and interesting stories
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Say Nothing
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 446
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 380
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Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best book I’ve read in years
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Empire of Pain
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5 out of 5 stars
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It hurts to read this book.
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Chatter
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In Chatter, Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the international eavesdropping alliance known as Echelon, sorting facts from conspiracy theories to determine just how much privacy Americans unknowingly sacrifice in the name of greater security.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
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Story5 out of 5 stars 24
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Road to Jonestown
- Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
- Written by: Jeff Guinn
- Narrated by: George Newbern
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
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In the 1950s a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the Gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. Eventually Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to Northern California. He became involved in electoral politics and soon was a prominent Bay Area leader.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredibly thorough and informative.
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Rogues
- True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great voice and interesting stories
- By Lana Hergott on 2023-03-31
Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
-
Say Nothing
- A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Matthew Blaney
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 446
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 383
Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best book I’ve read in years
- By MadameX on 2019-10-26
Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 601
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 530
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 529
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It hurts to read this book.
- By Rosemarie Boll on 2021-05-10
Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
-
Chatter
- Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In Chatter, Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the international eavesdropping alliance known as Echelon, sorting facts from conspiracy theories to determine just how much privacy Americans unknowingly sacrifice in the name of greater security.
Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
-
Dead in the Water
- A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
- Written by: Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Crazy interesting
- By patrick on 2023-11-29
Written by: Matthew Campbell, and others
-
Road to Jonestown
- Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
- Written by: Jeff Guinn
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
In the 1950s a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the Gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. Eventually Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to Northern California. He became involved in electoral politics and soon was a prominent Bay Area leader.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredibly thorough and informative.
- By Shawn Hartigan on 2021-05-04
Written by: Jeff Guinn
Publisher's Summary
The figure who came to dominate this Chinese underworld was a middle-aged grandmother known as Sister Ping. Her path to the American dream began with an unusual business run out of a tiny noodle store on Hester Street. From her perch above the shop, Sister Ping ran a full-service underground bank for illegal Chinese immigrants. But her real business - a business that earned an estimated $40 million - was smuggling people.
As a "snakehead", she built a complex and often vicious global conglomerate, relying heavily on familial ties, and employing one of Chinatown's most violent gangs to protect her power and profits. Like an underworld CEO, Sister Ping created an intricate smuggling network that stretched from Fujian Province to Hong Kong to Burma to Thailand to Kenya to Guatemala to Mexico. Her ingenuity and drive were awe-inspiring both to the Chinatown community, where she was revered as a homegrown Don Corleone, and to the law enforcement officials who could never quite catch her.
Indeed, Sister Ping's empire only came to light in 1993 when the Golden Venture, a ship loaded with 300 undocumented immigrants, ran aground off a Queens beach. It took New York's fabled "Jade Squad" and the FBI nearly 10 years to untangle the criminal network and home in on its unusual mastermind.
The Snakehead is a panoramic tale of international intrigue and a dramatic portrait of the underground economy in which America's 12 million illegal immigrants live.
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What listeners say about The Snakehead
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Hoskins
- 2022-05-07
Inlightening
A very involved makeup of the yellow slavery and how it worked in out society.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-01-02
Phenomenal Story
A story about the organized human smuggling ring that I was naive about. Loved the narrative.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Roy
- 2009-08-23
But Is It a Crime?
Patrick Keefe has written a wonderfully informative book about illegal immigration of Chinese into the U.S. This work balances the stereotypical view of illegal immagration as a "Mexican" thing alone. The ramifications for immigration policy, Homeland Security, and providing healthcare to the undocumented are never far from the reader's mind.
This is the story of one "Sister Ping" and her trafficing of Fujianese into the U.S. If you are looking for elegant language, you may not find it here. If you are looking to understand the immigration issue in a broader context, this is the book for you. If you are just a concerned voter and want to understand the immigration issue, don't miss this book.
For those interested in true crime, this is an interesting read as well. Those interested in reading further about international crime might also try "The Accountant's Story" by Roberto Escobar and "Gomarrah" by Roberto Saviano. All three books are informative, well read and available from Audible.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Manuel
- 2009-12-03
Highly Recommended!!
This book is a phenomenal account of human smuggling in modern day New York. The book is incredibly well written and well read. The story takes you through the lives of the smugglers and the smuggled, the law enforcement decisions and the immigration consequences. It is a truly moving work that will forever change the way you look at Chinatown NYC.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jessica
- 2021-05-13
pretty good
This is an interesting book. Even a true story has characters, I listened to both the book about the IRA and the book about the Sackler family before this one and the latter two give you a better sense of the people involved. Better character development. Also, this one is worlds better than Chatter. Not that Chatter is bad. it isn't. I just wanted to be able to recommend it to a paranoid friend of mine as an introduction to how to find good information, but it reads like a love letter to a thesaurus and it will put anyone who isnt in love with language for its own sake off. The author is getting better at organizing the story and giving the reader some points of view to follow, That's where this one is lacking, the point of view.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Harry Bartle
- 2023-07-13
Gripping start to finish
First rate non-fiction storytelling and excellent performance/narration. Unforgettable characters. Keefe profoundly demystifies a world anyone who’s ever visited NYC’s Chinatown has surely wondered about.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ann
- 2023-05-22
Deep Dive on Immigration
Such a difficult topic for citizens to understand! An excellent read that will open your eyes to both the history and hopefully an understanding of how deep the solutions to illegal immigration and human smuggling run. Without some understanding, we cannot begin to address the problems we face.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Patrick J.
- 2022-12-07
Another well told story by Mr. Patrick Radden Keefe!
Another well told story by Mr. Patrick Radden Keefe! Great perspective from both sides of our ongoing immigration issues.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Henry Andresen
- 2021-10-31
Great Story
Fascinating investigative work of the colossal issue of illegal immigration and the closed Chinese society.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Ryers
- 2021-06-19
Excellent
I will read anything written by Mr Keene. He is a wonderful writer. Amazing research and a wonderful look at the migration problem.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JimFinStateCollege
- 2019-06-29
Fascinating book on immigration, migration .
Fascinating book on immigration, migration, and the Underworld. Author did a great job. Great balance of history, politics exit right in the human story
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- despinne
- 2011-12-17
Little Old Ladies Are Criminals Too
Would you consider the audio edition of The Snakehead to be better than the print version?
I vaguely remember the news about the leading incident in the book, wherein a ship wrecks and discharges its payload of would-be immigrants on a riverbank in NYC, as close to its destination as possible. The story about the search for the ultimate head of the business, who turns out to be a Chinese grandmother businesswoman who sees herself as helping her neighbors (at $30,000 a pop) is enlightening, particularly now when most of the news stories are about immigrants smuggled over the US-Mexican border. Not only Mexicans are being smuggled via that route, and it's been said Kazakh nuclear weapons could be brought in. Just yesterday, in Russia, an Iranian was caught trying to smuggle nuclear material out of the country by airplane--he was released, but his material stayed in the country. For how long? The US government hires minimum wage flunkeys to
What other book might you compare The Snakehead to and why?
I've never seen any similar book.
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1 person found this helpful