The Federalist Papers
James Madison
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Federalist Papers (correctly known as The Federalist) are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788 . A compilation of these and eight others, called The Federalist, was published in 1788 by J. and A. M’Lean. The Federalist Papers serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government.The authors of the Federalist Papers wanted to both influence the vote in favor of ratification and shape future interpretations of the Constitution. According to historian Richard Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer." (Summary by Wikipedia) (21 hr 11 min)
Chapters
Reviews
Interesting to hear the arguments of the time
NSA
There was another reviewer you said one of the readers was mocking, I found this to be a bit hyperbolic. Misty readers are good and the arguments are worth hearing in my opinion. I find my understanding of the structure and rationale for the American Constitution greatly increased.
very good
kevin
Yea. The reader for 11 and 12 is really hard to listen to, if you put him at double speed it's not that bad. But the rest is really good.
Great books, though the footnotes get a little in the way
Faiz
Seeing Both Sides
kc8nc
I would have to agree that it takes some gall to trash a project on account of the reading of 2 of 85 chapters of an otherwise terrific work. But I would also agree with Lisa L that those two chapters should be redone by someone else. No one can possibly know the readers motives but we can rate the experience. My rating for the reading of those two chapters is a 2 on a scale of 1 - 10 and I gave a lot of credit in that rating for proper pronunciation. Bottom line is that the project is still really well done and important for people to know. I have time to listen to much more than I have time to read so kudos to all the readers for taking the time to read for this project.
about "Choice of Voice"
msfry
I have listened to 11 and 12 in September 2020, and unless the sections were indeed redone (not Librivox policy) I found them to be perfectly understandable -- i.e., librivox's litmus test for acceptance of files. Librivox makes no pretense of having professional readers, although many of their readers sound quite professional, and some are professionals. These rude comments are utterly uncalled for and I apologize to Anadaxis_canejia for having to endure them (if he was indeed the original reader). On the other hand, I have had to skip a few chapters of some books because I could not understand the reader, in which case I have had to go to the online text and read that chapter the old fashioned way.
interesting historically but dull
Chad
a great insight of the time. Interesting arguements set forth for federation of States, but then repeated over and over. I was amused by the hyperbole of the text and the similarity of the devices used in politics today. I appreciate the original papers werent written for balance but I'd be very interested to hear the counter points. it was too repetitive to get through the whole thing and the footnotes that cropped up in the 4th or 5th piece made it unreadable. If you are from the States maybe you'll have greater connection to the topic to sustain you through the repititive parts and the frustrating reading.
The worst reader I've heard on Librivox!
Lisa L
While many of the readers of the Federalist Papers are quite good, the person reading Fed 11 and 12 is terrible. He reads with a mocking and creepy tone that is so off-putting I'll be skipping all the Federalist Papers (and anything else on Librivox) that he reads. He seems to be purposefully trying to ruin the listening experience. If possible, please get the other readers to redo his submissions and recommend another kind of volunteer work to him!
Of all the Insolence!
Donald R Miller
Can you imagine the gall it takes for someone to have 85 chapters read for them at no charge and then to trash the entire project because she didn't like the way someone read two chapters? I've listened to the chapters the previous reviewer was complaining about, and they're fine. He isn't trying to do anything other than to read the chapters with the voice and personality he has. Sometimes you just don't like someone's personality or attitude--know what I mean?