THE HEATHEN SCHOOL A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic

Tom Weiner brings professional polish, expressiveness, and intelligence to his narration of this history of an early-nineteenth- century school set up to train “heathens” (such as Hawaiians and Cherokee) to be missionaries. His voice is strong and likable, and he matches his tone to the sense of the text well. However, his manner is rather formal, as if he were providing the narration to a technical film, which is less engaging than reading as storytelling, one person to another. His relative stiffness becomes awkward and a bit unconvincing when Demos describes his own research and writing in present-tense interludes. Still, it’s an admirably clear reading overall and will ably serve anyone interested in this odd, and often sad, corner of history. W.M. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2015]