The Spoilers: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Spoilers, credited to Rex Beach, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Spoilers, by Rex Beach. Read in English by Tom Weiss. Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan to a prominent family and pursued a career as a lawyer before being drawn to Alaska at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. After five years of unsuccessful prospecting, he turned to writing. His first novel, The Spoilers, was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which Beach witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska. The novel begins with the return of Dextry and Roy Glenister to Nome to reclaim their mine, The Midas. On their arrival, they find “The Law” has come to Nome. The problem is “The Law” is crooked, bent on stealing all the best gold mines in Alaska. Alec McNamara is the villain in this novel and rules with a heavy hand through the aging and corrupt Judge Stillman. Helen Chester is the naïve niece of Judge Stillman. She cannot believe her uncle is involved in such treachery. And of course, Roy Glenister is in love with her. After trying to work within the law, the miners eventually form a vigilante group called The Stranglers to right the wrongs, while Glenister continues to believe the law can correct the wrongs. A cast of other characters enter the book with various roles; Cherry Malotte, The Bronco Kid (who has a surprise in store for listeners), Slapjack Sims, Struve the crooked lawyer. The climax of the book is……….….but then I would be spoiling the ending, wouldn’t I? The Spoilers became one of the bestselling novels of 1906. The novel was made into movies five times, with leading men including Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott and John Wayne. For a brief pictorial history of the characters involved in the actual mine stealing, please see this page. (Summary from Wikipedia and modified by The Reader)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Spoilers
• Author credits: Rex Beach
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 22
• Listed recording duration: 8:31:32

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• beach
• adventure
• historical fiction

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter 1 - The Encounter — 18:27
2. 02 - Chapter 2 - The Stowaway — 14:33
3. 03 - Chapter 3 - In Which Glennister Errs — 19:15
4. 04 - Chapter 4 - The Killing — 23:05
5. 05 - Chapter 5 - Wherein A Man Appears — 17:48
6. 06 - Chapter 6 - And A Mine Is Jumped — 14:45
7. 07 - Chapter 7 - The 'Bronco Kid's' Eavesdropping — 20:00
8. 08 - Chapter 8 - Dextry Makes A Call — 21:50
9. 09 - Chapter 9 - Sluice Robbers — 20:37
10. 10 - Chapter 10 - The Wit of an Adventuress — 20:48
11. 11 - Chapter 11 - Wherein a Writ and a Riot Fail — 19:19
12. 12 - Chapter 12 - Counterplots — 27:19
13. 13 - Chapter 13 - In Which A Man Is Possessed of a Devil — 34:16
14. 14 - Chapter 14 - A Midnight Messenger — 23:05
15. 15 - Chapter 15 - Vigiliantes — 28:28
16. 16 - Chapter 16 - In Which The Truth Begins To Bare Itself — 27:28
17. 17 - Chapter 17 - A Drip In The Dark — 29:36
18. 18 - Chapter 18 - Wherein A Trap Is Baited — 21:36
19. 19 - Chapter 19 - Dynamite — 31:26
20. 20 - Chapter 20 - In Which Three Go To The Sign Of The Sled And But Two Return — 26:29
21. 21 - Chapter 21 - The Hammer-Lock — 26:03
22. 22 - Chapter 22 - The Promise of Dreams — 25:34

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.