Discover the Best Sellers Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: Fundamental Cases

Subtitle: The Twentieth-Century Courtroom Battles That Changed Our Nation - The Modern Scholar

Author: Alan M. Dershowitz

Narrator: Alan M. Dershowitz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-18-08

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 203 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

It was Alexis de Tocqueville who, when he visited the new republic for the first time, said that America was a unique country when it comes to law. Every great issue eventually comes before the courts.

With this in mind, esteemed professor and civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz looks at history through the prism of the trial, because a trial presents a snapshot of what's going on in a particular point in time of the nation's history.

What's a great trial? People will often say the trial of the moment. But those trials are often not enduring. The focus of this course is on landmark trials and the important, dramatic aspects of the history of the time in which they occurred.

Members Reviews:

I'd rather be able to rate each section.

This is a book that has 5 star segments and 1 star segments. A better title is "Dershowitz talks about cases he finds interesting," but that's not bad in and of itself. Any legal scholar does that to some extent. And when he stops to talk actually about law, he offers some really interesting points, what I think of as the best kind of ideas, the ones that give you new ways to think about things, or help you focus why you disagree. However, a considerable portion of the lecture is also dedicated to "Dershowitz retries cases," which is at best dull, and at worst a cheap act of dirty pool, specifically at the points where it's plain he's just trying to win a lost case by turning around public opinion. The historical parts are about average, where his analysis is solid if a bit unremarkable. So, listen, but feel free to skip parts.

Good lecture series.

Let me start off by saying im a republician and my views are right of center. I knew going into this book that the author was left of center without being etreme so I prepared myself for the inevidable differences of opinion. Alan Dershowitz certainly interjects his opinion throughout the lectures. Nowhere is this more evident then in the section about Bush v. Gore. Mr. Dershowitz deals exclusively with the 5 - 4 decision to halt the recount but doesnt go into the courts rationale for it. Additionally no mention is made of the 7 - 2 decision in the same opinion which clearly ruled that there was a violation of the equal protection clause.

Also, Mr. Dershowitz lists the retrial of Klaus von Bulow as one of the great trials ( Mr. Dershowitz was the appeals lawer for Bulow ) I would have thought the Jack Ruby trial or the Al Capone trial more significant.

Alan Dershowitz is one of the greatest lawyers / educators alive. His lecture series is highly entertaining as well as informative. Buy this audiobook

Skewed

The cases included in this series were not fundemental and most had no lasting impact on our court system. The cases reviewed were media sensational cases, although all very interesting. I think, however, that the cases were chosen for another reason. Each had some social implication he could champion. While I agreed with his conclusions on the facts of almost every case he chose to review, his opinions marred the presentation.

He defends judicial activism and then condemns conservative judges for doing so.

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Title: The Glory and the Dream

Subtitle: A Narrative History of America, 1932 - 1972

Author: William Manchester

Narrator: Jeff Riggenbach

Format: Unabridged

Length: 57 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-13-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 292 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The Glory and the Dream chronicles the progress of life in the United States, from the time William Manchester and his generation reached the beginning of awareness in the desperate summer of '32 to President Nixon's Second Inaugural Address and the opening scenes of Watergate. Masterfully compressing four crowded decades of our history, Manchester relives the epic, significant, or just memorable events that befell the generation of Americans whose lives pivoted between the America before and the America after the Second World War.

Members Reviews:

Fabulous book, good narration, bad recording

This is a huge, sprawling, masterpiece of a book which chronicles the history of the US from the depression era through the early 70's. The writing is tremendous, very human, finely detailed and yet broad in scope. Concentrates much on biographies, but also enables one to understand economics, politics, wartime strategies, and more, through explanations that are very accessible to "lay readers". Extremely engaging, even thrilling.

Frustratingly, the recording is of extremely bad quality, with many- and I mean MANY skips which I presume to be from the source discs. This makes several sections quite hard to understand.

I am trying my best to keep going despite the terribly distracting skips. I don't want to tell you unequivocally to stay away, because it's such a fine work, and the narration is quite good too. But beware of this issue.

awesome book, subpar recording

One of the best history books covering any period ever written in my opinion. It offers the reader the unique experience of living through this period through the eyes of the forgotten men and women who lived these times. It is truly a unique work by a uniquely gifted writer. Instead of a top to bottom history, focusing on events, dates, battles, meetings and leaders of the time, this is a bottom-up version of history with attention focused on what ordinary men and women felt, did, suffered through, and ultimately triumphed in taking the US from a 2nd rate power to the predominant super power in the world. When you listen to Rock Bottom, you feel like you are living and suffering through the depression, listening to Roosevelt, or been just told that Kennedy was shot. By the end, you feel like you just lived through this entire period of history.

Downside: This is a terrible recording. The narration is way too fast. I had to listen on slower speed on my ipod, or the pace would just be too fast to listen to. Second, there is static which makes certain sections hard to listen to (see on line sample). Most maddening is the “skips” in which words or sentence fragments are skipped in the second section of the book. It sounds like an old LP record where the needle skipped. It is maddening and incredibly distracting.

I would offer future listeners encouragement that once you make it through the 2nd downloadable segments, the worst is over and the rest is from an audio standpoint considerably better. I wish Audible would offer a better version

After listening to the whole work, I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in this period of history, but after struggling through the 1st and 2nd segments, I almost gave up and was extremely upset that this product would even be sold.

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Title: The Ten-Cent Plague

Subtitle: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America

Author: David Hajdu

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-18-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 573 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

David Hajdu reveals how comics, years before the rock-and-roll revolution, brought on a clash between postwar children and their prewar parents. Created by outsiders from the tenements, garish, shameless, and often shocking, comics became the targets of a raging generational culture divide. They were burned in public bonfires, outlawed in certain cities, and nearly destroyed by a series of televised Congressional hearings. Yet their creativity, irreverence, and suspicion of authority would have a lasting influence.

Critic Reviews:

"Every once in a while, moral panic, innuendo, and fear bubble up from the depths of our culture....David Hajdu's fascinating new book tracks one of the stranger and most significant of these episodes, now forgotten, with exactness, clarity, and serious wit." (Sean Wilentz, Professor of History, Princeton University)"This book tells an amazing story, with thrills and chills more extreme than the workings of a comic book's imagination." (

The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

Art can't hurt you

This well researched book clearly details how Comic Books were used as a quick easy target for the difficult problem of violence in society. One can't help but see the parallels to current events as we scapegoat video games as the cause of violence in young people, even though violent crime has gone down as the sale of video games has gone up over the last 5 years. It is precisely the same dynamic described in this book.

A fair criticism is that there are too many sources referenced. I would have liked less quantity and more in depth interviews. However, as a fan of old EC Comics, I enjoyed hearing from all of the people who created them; many who lived through the ban went on to create modern comics. And all of the first person dialog brings the tone of the times to life.

Now I understand why my grandmother, to my horror, threw away all of my comics when she discovered them in my room in 1962. She thought I was headed for a life of crime!

The narration was excellent.

Very frightening

Most people believe that we live in a country where freedom of the press is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. This book, which is very well written, shows a slice of our history in which this right was removed. What was done to the comic book industry was the equivalent of Salem witch hunts. I was horrified and nauseated at the descriptions of massive comic book burnings. I had no idea that this event occurred and reminds me that we have to be ever vigilant to attempts by people who attempt to dictate what my morals and tastes should be. This book was gripping and very informative.

As good as a novel!

What a terrific book. As a child in the fifties I vaguely remember my parents warning me about comic books. But this book tells all the background information I could have never understood.

And the birth of MAD magazine is a great bonus to the birth of all the comic creations.

How our country got so wrapped up in fearing comic books is absurd, but not surprising given the hubbub a few years back over the flash of a breast at the Super Bowl.

This book is worth every moment of time.

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Title: Henry Ford, 1863 -1947 (Dramatised)

Subtitle: Explorers and Pioneers, Volume Five

Author: Alastair Scott

Narrator: Stephen Thorne, Blain Fairman, Ed Bishop, Gary McDermott

Format: Abridged

Length: 1 hr and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-11-08

Publisher: Ivan and Inge Berg

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Ford's was the gospel of "small profits and quick returns", which meant that every car he produced represented a small individual profit. Yet he was able to produce them in such vast quantities that the many small profits represented very big business indeed. This fascinating audio biography follows his rise and the building of his global-wide industrial empire.

Editorial Reviews:

Henry Ford's genius and ambition come through as sharp as a knife through crisp performances from Stephen Thorne, Blain Fairman, Ed Bishop, and Gary McDermott in this dramatization of his life story. The narrators focus on presenting listeners with a fully drawn picture of Ford's determined, hardheaded nature, voicing his growth from young, restless tinkerer to gruff, experienced industrialist. Ford's impact on civilization cannot be underestimated with his development of the automobile and mass production, and the narrators capture the complexities of this man who genuinely cared about his workers' welfare and, at the same time, was an ardent anti-Semite. Listeners will find themselves happily sifting through a wealth of fascinating information with this audio biography.

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Title: The Ghost Mountain Boys

Subtitle: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea

Author: James Campbell

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-23-08

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 94 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The 32nd Division lacked more than training. They were without even the basics necessary for survival. They waded through brush and vines without the aid of machetes. They did not have insect repellent. Without waterproof containers, their matches were useless, and the quinine and vitamin pills they carried, as well as salt and chlorination tablets, crumbled in their pockets. Exhausted and pushed to the brink of human endurance, the Ghost Mountain Boys fell victim to malnutrition and disease. Forty-two days after they set out, they arrived two miles south of Buna, nearly shattered by the experience.

Arrival in Buna provided no respite. The 32nd Division was ordered to launch an immediate assault on the Japanese position. After two months of furious, sometimes hand-to-hand combat, the decimated division finally achieved victory.

Reminiscent of classics like Band of Brothers and The Things They Carried, this harrowing portrait of a largely overlooked campaign is part war diary, part extreme adventure tale, and, through letters, journals, and interviews, part biography of a group of men who fought to survive in an environment every bit as fierce as the enemy they faced.

Editorial Reviews:

Stephen Hoye gives a solid narration of Campbell's account of the battle for New Guinea during WWII. The campaign, largely eclipsed by the struggle over Guadalcanal, was a pivotal struggle that might even have been a turning point in the Pacific theater. In the long, grueling, dirty fight men were felled by disease as often as by bullets. Listeners follow individual soldiers, the 32nd Division's Ghost Mountain Boys, from their training through the campaign. Campbell often quotes from letters home. He also quotes from Japanese journals found later. This gives the audiobook real humanity. Hoye doesn't try to give each character a distinctive voice, but he varies pace and tone to show when individuals are speaking for themselves.

Critic Reviews:

"Riveting....The Ghost Mountain Boys offers a new, harrowing world to explore." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

"Superb....The Ghost Mountain Boys is carefully organized, researched and written with great sensitivity and understanding." (Chicago Sun-Times)

Members Reviews:

Hard Times

James Campbell has done a great service to all Americans by retelling the story of the Army's Infantry campaign in New Guinea. The breath taking experiences of US troups in that arena and their suffering is well told. He adds to this the Japanese experience in a similar fashion which makes the book a fitting tribute to all who participated. This is a well written and well read book that will keep the interest of everyone encountering it. It will inform and inspire those who are knowledgable and those who are novices to the topic as well. Those were hard times.

painful reading

I don't know how readers are paired with the books they read but this a miserable match. Everything about this reader's voice, in my opinion, is better suited to reading a Harlequin type novel. I couldn't get past the first two hours. Proceed at your own risk

I wanted to like this book

I love history

I am very personally motivated to learn about this

particular campaign

But this book is just dull. Idk if it is the reader, the writhing i.e. what.

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Title: No Simple Victory

Subtitle: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945

Author: Norman Davies

Narrator: Simon Vance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-28-07

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 463 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In detailing the clash of political philosophies that drove the war's savage engine, Davies also examines how factors as diverse as technology, economics, and morale played dynamic roles in shaping battles, along with the unsung yet vital help of Poland, Greece, and Ukraine (which suffered the highest number of casualties). And while the Allies resorted to bombing enemy civilians to sow terror, the most damning condemnation is saved for the Soviet Union, whose glossed-over war crimes against British soldiers and its own people prove that Communism and Nazism were two sides of the same brutal coin.

No Simple Victory is an unparalleled work that will fascinate not only history buffs but anyone who is interested in discovering the reality behind what Davies refers to as "the frozen perspective of the winners' history".

Critic Reviews:

"Enormously readable....This will explode all your ideas about the 'Good War.' " (Details)

"This is a self-consciously contrary book, cutting against the grain of much self-congratulatory Western writing since 1945." (London Sunday Telegraph)

"Davies' topical approach judiciously surveys the military, economic and political aspects of the war....His interpretations rest on solid scholarly work." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

The Best Account of WWII in Europe

Norman Davies previously wrote a textbook in use in entry level university courses about the history of Europe. His persistent theme is that western European history is overemphasized and eastern European history is ignored.

In this book, the scope of the war is presented from the view of the real participants. Davies takes apart the notion that the Germans and Russians were the major participants and chronicles the war from the standpoint of Belarus, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries which were the battleground for most of the war. These countries were either brutalized by Stalin before the war or invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939 after the pact between Hitler and Stalin. The losses of these countries are put in a context of losses of other participants. The Soviet style of fighting is described where the KGB formed blocking battalions which shot anyone who retreated, regardless if the soldier was wounded or out of ammunition. After WWII, any repatriated Soviet POW was imprisoned in the Gulag. Stalin fought civil wars during WWII and the aftermath of these wars is now being played out in places like Chechnya.

Davies does not ignore other theatres of operation or other participants in the war. He assess the fighting ability of the various countries, for instance showing that Britain had an awesome navy but a deficient army.

The book is topical, eg, Davies uses headings like armaments, civilians, aftermath, collaborators, etc.

This is the best book I read in 2007. Do yourself a favor and read this book. It will change the way you view WWII.

Balanced and well-crafted

Comprehensive coverage of WW2 in Europe. In addition to the standard fare, the author does a nice job comparing and contrasting the Soviet and Nazi repression and atrocities.

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Title: The War

Subtitle: An Intimate History: 1941-1945

Author: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns

Narrator: Ken Burns, Tom Hanks, Josh Lucas, Rebecca Holtz

Format: Abridged

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-06-07

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 98 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The individuals featured in this audiobook are not historians or scholars. They are ordinary men and women who experienced - and helped to win - the most devastating war in history, in which between 50 and 60 million lives were lost.

Focusing on the citizens of four towns - Luverne, Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Mobile, Alabama - The War follows more than 40 people from 1941 to 1945. Woven largely from their memories, the compelling, unflinching narrative unfolds month by bloody month, with the outcome always in doubt. The iconic events are here, but we also move among prisoners of war, defense workers, and schoolchildren, and families who struggled simply to stay together.

An intimate, profoundly affecting chronicle of the war that shaped our world, The War captures the American experience of World War II through the words and deeds, thoughts and feelings of those who made history on the battlefields and on the home front.

Members Reviews:

Good book, poor audiobook

I looked forward to this book because 1) of the quality of Ken Burns' work on past topics of American History and 2) I feel WWII, more than any other conflict the United States was a part of, tells us how we came to be what we are as a nation and what we became afterwards. The narrative did not disappoint. It was well written and frank, breaking many of the myths that we learned in school about how we just rose up and saved the world after we were attacked by Imperial Japan in 1941. I listened to the book before I saw the PBS series and you can see the close relationship between the two.

So, why only three stars? Well, one star was removed simply because this is an abridged version and it doesn't appear that an unabridged version exists. Call me rigid, but NO abridged version can substitute for reading the authors' full intent. Abridgment means compromise.

The second star was removed because, frankly, although Ken Burns may produce extraordinary documentaries, he is a TERRIBLE reader. Rather than reading in phrases and pausing after a thought is complete, he pauses after every two or three words, whether it makes sense to do so or not: "The boy (pause) went to (pause) the store." The entire reading is riddled with this kind of phraseology and it becomes annoying after awhile because it often forces you to go back and repeat what he has said in order make sense of it. Ugh!

A must listen!

Without reservations, I recommend this book to all the citizens of this great nation. I sincerely believe that after completing this book you will have a new respect for the sacrifices our soldiers and their families made during the World War II.

A Must Listen

This is one very good companion piece to the PBS documentary. Ken Burns (the film's co-director and this audiobook's primary narrator) is not an actor, and neither were any of the people whose words and stories he tells here. His narration is direct and quietly impassioned, which makes it all the more forceful.

Burns and co-director/producer Lynn Novick let it be known from the beginning that this story would not be about "..the traditional top-down heroes we are usually presented with - the generals, the presidents and statesmen, the prime ministers and field marshals who tend to recede from our understanding just as they ascend to the pantheon of Great Men.

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Title: Mao

Author: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Narrator: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Format: Unabridged

Length: 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-21-03

Publisher: The Great Courses

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

After decades of civil war and struggle, Chinese Communists came to power in 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong. This lecture examines the society formed by the ideology of "Mao Thought," the "Little Red Book," the uniform dress of "Mao suits," and the cultural break with a rich past forced by the regime.

©2003 The Great Courses (P)2003 The Great Courses

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Title: Armor and Blood

Subtitle: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II

Author: Dennis E. Showalter

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 08-27-13

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 344 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

While the Battle of Kursk has long captivated World War II aficionados, it has been unjustly overlooked by historians. Drawing on the masses of new information made available by the opening of the Russian military archives, Dennis E. Showalter at last corrects that error. This battle was the critical turning point on World War II's Eastern Front. In the aftermath of the Red Army's brutal repulse of the Germans at Stalingrad, the stakes could not have been higher. More than 3,000,000 men and 8,000 tanks met in the heart of the Soviet Union, some 400 miles south of Moscow, in an encounter that both sides knew would reshape the war.

The adversaries were at the peak of their respective powers. On both sides, the generals and the dictators they served were in agreement on where, why, and how to fight. The result was a furious death grapple between two of history's most formidable fighting forces - a battle that might possibly have been the greatest of all time. In Armor and Blood, Showalter recreates every aspect of this dramatic struggle. He offers expert perspective on strategy and tactics at the highest levels, from the halls of power in Moscow and Berlin to the battlefield command posts on both sides. But it is the author's exploration of the human dimension of armored combat that truly distinguishes this book.

In the classic tradition of John Keegan's The Face of Battle, Showalter's narrative crackles with insight into the unique dynamics of tank warfare - its effect on men's minds as well as their bodies. Scrupulously researched, exhaustively documented, and vividly illustrated, this book is a chilling testament to man's ability to build and to destroy. When the dust settled, the field at Kursk was nothing more than a wasteland of steel carcasses, dead soldiers, and smoking debris. The Soviet victory ended German hopes of restoring their position on the Eastern Front, and put the Red Army on the road to Berlin. Armor and Blood presents listeners with what will likely be the authoritative study of Kursk for decades to come.

Members Reviews:

Rich got ot right

Where does Armor and Blood rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Thanks to Rich for his "spot on" review. Also, his plea for more books like this instead of the drivel I scroll through every day as I look for new titles.

Big Ups to Prof. Showalter and Audible

If you could sum up Armor and Blood in three words, what would they be?

Leibstandarte uber alles!

What did you like best about this story?

Prof. Showalter's account of the Battle of Kursk is military history at its best. He presents a thorough narrative of the respective operational histories of the combatants during this early July, 1943 battle. Also, the author shows his deep understanding of the psyche and motivations of the opposing sides.

Try to imagine: It is dawn on July 8, 1943. You are a 20 year old SS panzergrenadier riding with your squad in the back of a halftrack on your way to try to gain a few more kilometers north towards Oboyan, towards Kursk. As you and your commrades scan the sky for apprtoaching Sturmoviks you get that dreaded feeling once more in your gut about what awaits you in a mere handful of minutes in that clearing up ahead.

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Title: Homeward Bound

Subtitle: American Families in the Cold War Era

Author: Elaine Tyler May

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-05-18

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A revised edition of the classic, myth-shattering exploration of American family life during the Cold War.

When Homeward Bound first appeared in 1988, it forever changed how we understand Cold War America. Elaine Tyler May demonstrated that the Atomic Age and the Cold War shaped American life not just in national politics but at every level of society, from the boardroom to the bedroom. Her notion of "domestic containment" is now the standard interpretation of the era, and Homeward Bound has become a classic. This new edition includes an updated introduction and a new epilogue examining the legacy of Cold War obsessions with personal and family security in the present day.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Critic Reviews:

"A provocative thesis that will stir debate." (Library Journal)

"This book helps the Baby Boom generation understand its genesis." (Booklist )

"A major addition to the literature on the history of the family [that] significantly enhances our understanding of American society in the 1950s." (The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

Excellent snapshots of American Life, esp from the 40's thru thre 70's

Original book written prior to 9/11 (2001). This is basically the same book with the addition of another chapter covering the 9/11 events and bringing the book more up yo date and is considered the 20th Anniversary issue. Book was well researched with Appendix as well as detailed NOTES section - I would highly recommend reading this bok for those who want a look behind the scenes of American Life, in detail, especially covering from WWII thru the 70's - eye opener. A lot a stats, lot of research, lot of analysis and well told (not boring!).

Five Stars

thank you

I feel like I already knew all this.

So, apparently if I have seen something, then I still have to cite it from this era. Weird, because I saw all of this on television and read it in the magazines. If you have lived through this era, or even born in this era (like me), don't waste your money if you don't have to. However, if you don't know anything about this era, then this is the book for you.

Five Stars

Excellent book about the "unwritten" law during Cold War years in the US.

Four Stars

good, quick read. Interesting theories