*Winner of the 2023 Northern California Book Award*——
“That we suffer from a shortage of women’s histories is not new information. But Robinson’s obscurity feels particularly surprising when you consider both her popularity and the dramatic life behind her hard-won sagacity…. Scheeres and Gilbert attempt to resurrect Elsie, fill in her biography and place her in the pantheon of women we should know about. The result is an engaging tale that doesn’t gloss over the extreme adversity and restrictions Robinson faced as a woman of much ambition and few means.”—New York Times
"As pioneering women journalists finally begin to get the recognition they deserve, the name Elsie Robinson is rarely part of the conversation. Julia Scheeres and Allison Gilbert aim to change that with….the first biography of this forgotten California dynamo...The allure is apparent."—Washington Post
"Lively…Ms. Scheeres and Ms. Gilbert have made an important contribution to women’s history.”—Wall Street Journal
“Listen, World! tells the story of Robinson, a journalist largely lost to history, whose writing at the peak of her career reached over 20 million readers a day...The book’s prose is clear and engaging, with vivid descriptions.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Listen, World! is the rarest of things — a lively piece of unknown history, a marvelous story of a woman's triumph, and a tremendous read. Scheeres and Gilbert have managed the trifecta, and we readers are the better for it.” —Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book
“‘Credit to Julia Scheeres and Allison Gilbert for beavering away, travelling to [Elsie Robinson's] old haunts, rebuilding a remarkable story and setting it with punctilious care in the period she lived through. This is a book you want to lend to all women who write. If it wasn’t for fear you mightn’t get it back.” —Times Literary Supplement
“An engaging tale… One does not tire of spending time with Elsie Robinson, nor stop wondering how many other women, with equally compelling tales, have also been lost to history.” —New York Times
“A page-turning biography…This entertaining account delivers.”—Publishers Weekly
“Page-turning detail… This engaging and well-researched biography reads like a novel and should appeal to readers interested in journalism, women’s studies, and adventure tales alike.”—Library Journal
“A fascinating topic and solid biography that should please women's history fans.”—Booklist
“If you are a fan of spunky, spitfire heroines in the tradition of Hester Prynne, Elizabeth Bennett and Jo March, you will love the true story of Elsie Robinson. Robinson was a maverick who chased wild dreams of adventure and independence instead of surrendering to her wealthy but soul-crushing husband – and ended up as one of the highest-paid, most-read writers in America. Like Elsie herself, Listen, World! is broadminded, sharp-witted, fast-paced, and funny. It reads like a breezy novel that lingers long after you’ve read the last page. I loved every word of it.” —Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of Madam
“Open this well-crafted and entertaining biography and it will become abundantly clear why Elsie Robinson was once one of this nation’s most celebrated and beloved columnists. Julia Scheeres and Allison Gilbert’s teamwork resurrects the life and work of this dauntless twentieth-century newspaperwoman, from her days toiling deep down in a gold mine to the heights of stardom in the Hearst newspaper galaxy. For decades, readers by the millions turned to Robinson for a dash of hope and a dose of encouragement. Now thanks to Scheeres and Gilbert, millions of twenty-first century readers can too.” —James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer
"A riveting story about a woman who had nerve.” —Jill Abramson, former executive editor of the New York Times and author of Merchants of Truth
“The long-forgotten ‘most interesting woman in the world’ comes vividly to life in this captivating new biography. The multi-talented Elsie Robinson would have been a pioneering and estimable person had she lived today; that she became a revered journalistic and literary voice at a time when women were marginalized is testament to her force of nature. Listen, World! is an important read particularly as we work to bolster women's overlooked place in history.” —Lisa Napoli, author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie
“Read and enjoyed Listen, World! I am sure that Listen, World! will reach the many readers it deserves.”—Erica Jong
09/16/2022
When thinking of famous female newspaper columnists, Hedda Hopper, Erma Bombeck, and Ann Landers often come to mind. Yet, the contributions of other women in the field of journalism, as well as in other professions, sometimes get lost over time or hidden from history. In their biography of Elsie Robinson, Scheeres (Jesus Land: A Memoir) and Gilbert (Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11) bring to life one such story. They recount how the popular syndicated Hearst newspaper columnist broke free from the restrictive Victorian morés of her time, leaving her financially secure but loveless marriage to a wealthy New Englander. The authors describe in page-turning detail how she pursues a career in writing and illustrating back home in California, a place that offered her more freedom and a milder climate that she hoped would help her ailing asthmatic son. Robinson was a spirited and adventurous proto-feminist. She went on to create a wildly popular and inspirational column, "Listen, World!" among others, in the 1920s, and she wrote her memoir I Wanted Out! a decade later. VERDICT. This engaging and well-researched biography reads like a novel and should appeal to readers interested in journalism, women's studies, and adventure tales alike.—Donna Marie Smith
Elsie Robinson, a journalist whose early years were filled with adventure and hard times, became one of the highest paid female writers in the early twentieth century. In this audiobook we learn that 20 million people read her syndicated column, “Listen, World!’’ Her novels, poems, and memoir were also highly successful. While her personal life was tragic, she talked about it in a way that touched many of her readers. Narrator Bernadette Dunne’s voice sounds like that of a 1940s newscaster. Those interested in women's early struggles to break into the professional world will enjoy this biography. More broadly, listeners will enjoy hearing about Robinson’s fictional depictions of frontier life during the Gold Rush, as well as her writing on the beginnings of William Randolph Hearst's media empire. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
