White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret Free Audiobook Download by A. J. Baime

Walt White is a mild-mannered chemistry teacher with a dark side. At home he's an angry, drunk, homely man who beats his wife and chases his children out of the house with a belt. In the community he's an upstanding pillar of virtue whose family has been in business for over fifty years. Everyone knows Walter F. White is not who they think he is except for him.

White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret is a true story about an American man who is struggling to survive in the middle of the 20th century. This is a difficult time for America as the country grapples with many changes and difficulties including racism, segregation, and economic inequality. Walter White's life takes a turn when he gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and decides to use his last days to embark on an illegal journey of bringing together the African American community in his town.

In the late 1890s, a group of businessmen in Chicago banded together to form what would become one of the most notorious corporations in American history: The American Tobacco Company. They were not just any tobacco company but instead operated out of the shadows, selling an addictive and dangerous product that ushered in decades of misery and death for millions of Americans. The history of how cigarettes became a staple in American life is told by A. J. Baime through Walter F. White's account as a science teacher and small-time poultry farmer who gradually becomes addicted to nicotine despite his hard work, providing insight into how early cigarette advertising worked to persuade society that bad habits could be easily reversed with the right product.

The "outstanding" book is based on a true story. White was an author who wanted to write the story of his life and chose the pseudonym "Walt Whitman". But White's real self came out when he succumbed to cancer and went on a meth-fueled rampage that would result in his family going broke.

The book is narrated by Wayne Carr, and he does an excellent job of reading. The first third of the book was a bit slow to me, but once this part ended, I found myself drawn in and unable to put it down.

The story of Walter White, a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer in the 1967 TV series, "Breaking Bad" is one that has captivated audiences worldwide, as well as sparking heated debates about the personal ethics and cultural values of its protagonist. Breaking Bad's popularity has also led to an increasing amount of commentary on the moral ambiguity of Walter White himself, who, despite his outwardly decent public persona, eventually opts to do drugs and live a criminal life to secure his family's financial future.