 Listening Library presents 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, read for you by James Frane. Introduction. The Ardent Blasphemers by Ray Bradbury. Consider America, first of all, the new breed of nations. Consider America, a nation because of its newness ardent in its blasphemy. As in motion by the centrifuge of the great wheel of the industrial revolution, this people flung themselves across sea prairies to stand on New England rim-rock and fling themselves yet on across land prairies. Shocking other ages, they blasphemed down the meadows and over hills as ancient as the memory of Jerusalem. Consider America.