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Title: The Great Bridge

Subtitle: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge

Author: David McCullough

Narrator: Nelson Runger

Format: Unabridged

Length: 27 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-15-12

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1228 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.

So daring a concept as spanning the East River to join two great cities required vision and dedication of the kind that went into building Europe's great cathedrals. During 14 years of construction, the odds against success seemed overwhelming. Thousands of people were put to work. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, notorious political empires fell, and surges of public doubt constantly threatened the project. But the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is not just the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time, replete with heroes and rascals who helped either to construct or to exploit the great enterprise.

The Great Bridge is also the story of a remarkable family, the Roeblings, who conceived and executed the audacious engineering plan at great personal cost. Without John Roebling's vision, his son Washington's skill and courage, and Washington's wife Emily's dedication, the bridge we know and cherish would never have been built.

Like the engineering marvel it describes, The Great Bridge, republished on the 40th anniversary of its initial publication, has stood the test of time.

Please note: The Great Bridge (Unabridged) is available for just one credit until June 20, 2012, after which point it will be priced at two credits.

Critic Reviews:

The impact of the soaring structure upon the American imagination and American life has now been measured with sagacity and style by David McCullough....The Great Bridge is a book so compelling and complete as to be a literary monument, one of the best books I have read in years. McCullough has written that sort of work which brings us to the human center of the past. (Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times)

"The Great Bridge is a great book. . . . What David McCullough has written is a stupendous narrative about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, with a cast of thousands (give or take 100), whose major characters come alive on the page as authentically, as creatively, as would their fictional counterparts if one had the imagination to dream up such a yarn. Once again, truth is not only stranger than fiction but a hell of a lot more entertaining. Get your hands on The Great Bridge...This is the definitive book on the event. Do not wait for a better try: there won't be any. (Norman Rosten, Newsday)

David McCullough has taken a dramatic and colorful episode out of the American past and described it in such a way that he sheds fresh light on a whole era in American history. (Bruce Catton)

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Title: The Idea Factory

Subtitle: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation

Author: Jon Gertner

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-13-12

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 519 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In The Idea Factory, New York Times Magazine writer Jon Gertner reveals how Bell Labs served as an incubator for scientific innovation from the 1920s through the 1980s. In its heyday, Bell Labs boasted nearly 15,000 employees, 1200 of whom held PhDs and 13 of whom won Nobel Prizes. Thriving in a work environment that embraced new ideas, Bell Labs scientists introduced concepts that still propel many of todays most exciting technologies.

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Title: The Finest Hours

Subtitle: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guards Most Daring Sea Rescue

Author: Michael J. Tougias, Casey Sherman

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-03-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1238 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal noreaster in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril, setting the stage for one of the most heroic rescue stories ever lived.

On February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, thePendletonand theFort Mercer,were in the same horrifying predicament. Built with dirty steel, and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantics mercy.The Finest Hoursis the gripping, true story of the valiant attempt to rescue the souls huddling inside the broken halves of the two ships.

The spellbinding tale is overflowing with breathtaking scenes, as boats capsize, bows and sterns crash into one another, and men hurl themselves into the raging sea in a terrifying battle for survival.

Not all of the 84 men caught at sea in the midst of that brutal storm survived, but considering the odds, its a miracle - and a testament to their bravery - that any at all came home to tell their tales.

Critic Reviews:

The Finest Hoursrecounts the incredible heroism of the Coast Guard, who risked their lives to save others. A gripping read. (James Bradley,

New York Timesbest-selling author)

Look no further for the real-life adventure of the year.

The Finest Hoursis a rousing page-turner, a fascinating history, and an inspiring ode to the courage and professionalism of men who face bitter winds and black mountainous seasall to do a dangerous job. Put it on the shelf next to

The Perfect Storm. Thats where it belongs! (William Martin,

New York Timesbest-selling author)

Tougias and Sherman never sensationalize, never go beyond the facts, and yet capture all the pain, physical and emotional, of the survivors and their families. (

Providence Journal)

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Title: Band of Brothers

Subtitle: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

Author: Stephen E. Ambrose

Narrator: Tim Jerome

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-09-12

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2707 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory, Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company, which kept getting the tough assignments. Easy Company was responsible for everything from parachuting into France early D-Day morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden.

Band of Brothers is the account of the men of this remarkable unit who fought, went hungry, froze, and died, a company that took 150 percent casualities and considered the Purple Heart a badge of office. Drawing on hours of interviews with survivors as well as the soldiers' journals and letters, Stephen Ambrose tell the stories - often in the men's own words - of these American hereoes.

Critic Reviews:

"A first-class explanation of what crack infantry troops are like....Addicts of military history will relish its finely detailed account.....Stephen Ambrose's thorough research and clear organization have produced a highly readable account of the heroic service of this "band of brothers" he so unstintedly admires." (

San Francisco Chronicle)

"As a member of just such a unit...I am impressed by how well Mr. Ambrose has captured the true essence of a combat rifle company." (The

New York Times Book Review)

"A valuable and fascinating record....In these pages, the reader can vicariously walk with the men of E Company, suffer and laugh with them." (The

Times-Picayune)

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Title: Eisenhower in War and Peace

Author: Jean Edward Smith

Narrator: Paul Hecht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-21-12

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1139 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Author of the best-seller FDR, Jean Edward Smith is a master of the presidential biography. Setting his sights on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Smith delivers a rich account of Eisenhowers life using previously untapped primary sources. From the military service in WWII that launched his career to the shrewd political decisions that kept America out of wars with the Soviet Union and China, Smith reveals a man who never faltered in his dedication to serving America, whether in times of war or peace.

Critic Reviews:

Always engrossing . . . Smith describes a man who commanded the largest coalition army in history without grandiloquent posturing . . . leaving office more popular than any successor. . . . Smith portrays a genuinely admirable Eisenhower: smart, congenial, unpretentious, and no ideologue. Despite competing biographies from Ambrose, Perret, and DEste, this is the best. (

Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Dwight Eisenhower, who was more cunning than he allowed his adversaries to know, understood the advantage of being underestimated. Jean Edward Smith refutes this durable misunderstanding. Smith, Americas greatest living biographer, demonstrates why, now more than ever, Americans should like Ike. (George F. Will)

Jean Smith, indubitably Americas most distinguished biographer, has now produced the classic life of Dwight EisenhowerHere he comes alive on every pagethe beneficiary of the exhausting fresh research this handsomely written book is based upon. When the General died, Mamie, his lifelong wife, allowed that she never fully knew her famous husband. No reader of Smiths work will render the same complaint. (Henry F. Graff, Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University)

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Title: Killing Lincoln

Subtitle: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever

Author: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard

Narrator: Bill O'Reilly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-11

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7589 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

A riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the first work of history from mega best-selling author Bill O'Reilly.

The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American historyhow one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation, with the former Confederates allowed to reintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government, are not appeased.

In the midst of the patriotic celebrations in Washington, D.C., John Wilkes Boothcharismatic ladies' man and impenitent racistmurders Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. A furious manhunt ensues and Booth immediately becomes the country's most wanted fugitive. Lafayette C. Baker, a smart but shifty New York detective and former Union spy, unravels the string of clues leading to Booth, while federal forces track his accomplices. The thrilling chase ends in a fiery shootout and a series of court-ordered executionsincluding that of the first woman ever executed by the U.S. government, Mary Surratt.

Featuring some of history's most remarkable figures, vivid detail, and page-turning action, Killing Lincoln is history that reads like a thriller.

Critic Reviews:

"As a history major, I wish my required reading had been as well written as this truly vivid and emotionally engaging account of Lincoln's assassination. And as a former combat infantry officer, I found myself running for cover at the Civil War battle scenes. This is the story of an American tragedy that changed the course of history. If you think you know this story, you don't until youve read Killing Lincoln. Add historian to Bill OReillys already impressive résumé." (Nelson DeMille, author of The Lion and The Gold Coast)

"[Killing Lincoln] is nonfiction, albeit told in white-knuckled, John Grisham-like style." (New York Post)

"If Grisham wrote a novel about April 1865it might well read like Killing Lincoln." (Peter J. Boyer, Newsweek)

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Title: Destiny of the Republic

Subtitle: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

Author: Candice Millard

Narrator: Paul Michael

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-20-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3665 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

James A. Garfield may have been the most extraordinary man ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back.

But the shot didnt kill Garfield. The drama of what happened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in turmoil. The unhinged assassins half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for powerover his administration, over the nations future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his condition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history.

From the Hardcover edition.

Critic Reviews:

"[Millard demonstrates] the power of expert storytelling to wonderfully animate even the simplest facts....make[s] for compulsive reading. Superb American history." (Kirkus)

"Splendidly insightful....stands securely at the crossroads of popular and professional history" (Booklist)

Sparklingly alive[Millard] brings to life a moment in the nations history when access to the president was easy, politics bitter, and medical knowledge slight. Under Millards pen, its hard to imagine its being better told. (Publishers Weekly)

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Title: The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Author: Jane Jacobs, Jason Epstein (introduction)

Narrator: Donna Rawlins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 263 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....[It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments."

Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early 60s, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable.

The author has written a new foreword for this Modern Library edition.

Critic Reviews:

"The most refreshing, provacative, stimulating and exciting study of this [great problem] which I have seen. It fairly crackles with bright honesty and common sense." (Harrison Salisbury, The New York Times)

"One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city... a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious - it is the eye and the heart - but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city." (William H. Whyte, author of The Organization Man)

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Title: Triangle

Subtitle: The Fire That Changed America

Author: David Von Drehle

Narrator: Barrett Whitener

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-21-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 110 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

On March 25, 1911, as workers were getting ready to leave for the day, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village. Within minutes it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders simply weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. The final toll was 146 people - 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in New York City history.

This harrowing yet compulsively readable book is both a chronicle of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and a vibrant portrait of an entire age. It follows the waves of Jewish and Italian immigration that inundated New York in the early years of the century, filling its slums and supplying its garment factories with cheap, mostly female labor. It portrays the Dickensian work conditions that led to a massive waist-workers strike in which an unlikely coalition of socialists, socialites, and suffragettes took on bosses, police, and magistrates. Von Drehle shows how popular revulsion at the Triangle catastrophe led to an unprecedented alliance between idealistic labor reformers and the supremely pragmatic politicians of the Tammany machine.

David Von Drehle orchestrates these events into a drama rich in suspense and filled with memorable characters: the tight-fisted Shirtwaist kings Max Blanck and Isaac Harris; Charles F. Murphy, the shrewd kingmaker of Tammany Hall; blue-blooded activists like Anne Morgan, daughter of J.P. Morgan; reformers Frances W. Perkins and Al Smith. Most powerfully, he puts a human face on the men and women who died on March 25th. Triangle is a vibrant and immensely moving account of the hardships of New York City life in the early part of the 20th century, and how this event transformed politics and gave rise to urban liberalism.

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Title: Don't Know Much About History, Anniversary Edition

Subtitle: Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned

Author: Kenneth C. Davis

Narrator: Arthur Morey, Kenneth C. Davis, Zach McLarty, Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-21-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 167 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Here, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut as a New York Times best seller, is the revised, updated, and expanded edition of the classic anti-textbook that changed the way we look at history. First published two decades ago, when the closing of the American mind was in the headlines, Dont Know Much About History proved Americans dont hate historyjust the dull version that was dished out in school.

Now Davis has brought his groundbreaking work up to the present, including the history of an Era of Broken Trust, from the end of the Clinton administration through the recent Great Recession. This additional material covers the horrific events of 9/11 and the rise of conspiracy theorists, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and the failure of the New Orleans levees, the global financial meltdown, the election of Barack Obama, and the national controversy of same-sex marriage.

Critic Reviews:

Fun, engrossing, and significant.... History in Daviss hands is loud, coarse, painful, funny, irreverentand memorable. (San Francisco Chronicle)

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