Audio only
When All the Men Wore Hats
Susan Cheever on the Stories of John CheeverBy Susan CheeverRecorded TrackLength7h 33m
About this audiobook
A sympathetic and illuminating account of the stories of John Cheever, and the intersecting life and work of the legendary writer John Cheever, as told by his eldest daughter.
The Stories of John Cheever, published in 1978, brought together some of the finest short fiction ever written. The collection was honored with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and it would go on to sell millions of copies and to define the American short story and shape generations of writers. Cheever’s chronicles of modern life both emerged from a distinctly American culture and also created it—inspiring everything from Mad Men to a Raymond Carver story, from rock songs to a Seinfeld episode.
Growing up, Susan Cheever, John Cheever’s eldest child and only daughter, read what he read, heard what he heard, bantered and gossiped with him and her brothers and mother at the dinner table, and later watched her father type on the cheap yellow paper he favored. A daughter much like Susan appears in many of Cheever’s stories and a family much like theirs is at the center of his writing.
In When All the Men Wore Hats, Susan Cheever looks back on her father’s work and seeks to understand the connections between art and life. How did a bit of local gossip, a slice of Greek myth, and a new translation of Madame Bovary somehow become a brilliant gem like “The Country Husband” or “The Swimmer”? In her 1984 book Home Before Dark, published two years after her father’s death, Cheever wrote movingly about her father and the secrets he kept, but here, years later, she tells the story of the remarkable stories themselves.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.4 (120)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreBiography and Memoir, Literary Classics
Length7 hrs 33 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateDec 27, 2025
LanguageEnglish
More from Susan Cheever
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m4.7 (9.7K)$28 · $0.00
Defying JihadEsther Ahmad8h 50m4.7 (4.8K)$20
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m4.7 (2.2K)$17
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$0.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m4.8 (179)$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
Scandal Between the Sheets & Stranded with the Tempting StrangerBrenda Jackson9h 22m4.8 (141)$24 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (384)$20 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$0.99 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
The Complete Histories / History Plays of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare29h 42m4.6 (2.3K)$0.99 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Richard Wagamese SelectedRichard Wagamese3h 14m4.6 (594)$15
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Twelfth Night (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)William Shakespeare, Sidney Lee16h 38m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 40m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Pathways to LightPrakash Amte7h 6m4.6 (1.3K)$8
These Vital SignsSayed Tabatabai3h 20m4.7 (215)$18 · $0.00
H. P. LOVECRAFT Ultimate Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Poetry & Essays (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft12h 28m4.6 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 54m4.5 (10.6K)$2 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie3h 50m4.6 (1.4K)$4.70 · $0.00
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The Poetic EddaJackson Crawford6h 24m4.5 (19.8K)$17
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
You may also like
Take This ManBrando Skyhorse8h 49m3.9 (2.2K)$20 · $0.00
Fast GirlSuzy Favor Hamilton, Sarah Tomlinson8h 2m3.7 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Pull Me UnderKelly Luce9h 1m3.6 (3.1K)$20 · $0.00
Don't Look AwayDanielle Laidley9h 30m4.3 (460)$29 · $0.00
Liking Myself BackJacey Duprie7h 44m4.1 (853)$26 · $0.00
RacelessGeorgina Lawton8h 7m4.2 (1.7K)$26 · $0.00
Inside OutDemi Moore6h 32m4.1 (73.8K)$7 · $0.00
Absolute TruthsSusan Howatch20h 42m4.3 (2.8K)$32
Mirror to MirrorRajani LaRocca4h 1m4.2 (975)$20 · $0.00
Sister SisterBabygirl Daniels3h 26m4.5 (463)$15
This Has Been Absolutely LovelyJessica Dettmann10h 12m4.1 (4K)$29 · $0.00
The Longest JourneyE. M. Forster10h 33m3.8 (13.9K)$2.30
The Family InheritanceTricia Stringer12h 14m4.3 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Ghost WriterPhilip Roth4h 31m3.9 (15.5K)$17 · $0.00
Families and Other EnemiesChristina Dodd2h 15m4.2 (857)$16 · $0.00
Golden GirlReem Faruqi2h 38m4.2 (1.7K)$18 · $0.00
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored ManJames Weldon Johnson5h 2m4.1 (16.1K)$20
The Perfumist of ParisAlka Joshi11h 45m4.2 (52.2K)$28 · $0.00
Mika in Real LifeEmiko Jean10h 59m4.1 (43.7K)$6 · $0.00
Don't You EverMary Carter Bishop7h 11m4.0 (492)$24 · $0.00