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Title: Battle of Antietam: A History from Beginning to End

Author: Hourly History

Narrator: Bridger Conklin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-02-18

Publisher: Hourly History

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The Battle of Antietam was a turning point in the Civil War. In the span of several hours, there would be more loss of American life than in any other battle before or since, leaving one in four of the soldiers who took part either dead or wounded by the end of the day.

Inside you will hear about....

What led to such a disastrous conclusion? And could something positive come from such an appalling massacre? The focus of the war was about to change. So, too, was how the American people viewed war as a whole.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Great for getting a complete history but with fewer words

antietam

short & concise.

You Are There

Thorough and concise explanation of a hellish day. I feel I may go to the battlefield now and have an idea of what to look for.

Four Stars

Very clear, concise presentation.

Five Stars

Well written depiction of the battle of Antietam.

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Title: King Philips War and Pontiacs War: The History and Legacy of the American Colonies Most Famous Native American Uprisings

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Colin Fluxman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

What was the bloodiest war in American history? Most people with at least a little knowledge of history would quickly say that it was the Civil War (1861-65), and they would certainly be correct overall. In recently-updated numbers, it is thought that over 750,000 Americans died in the Civil War from battle wounds, diseases and other causes. In a single day at the battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, almost 27,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, and missing.

However, when historians go farther back in time and include colonial wars and look at casualties per capita, the correct answer would be the much-lesser known conflict known as "King Philip's War" (1675-76). While a significant two-point-five percent of the US population perished in the Civil War, five percent of New England's white settler population died during King Philip's War, during which 13 towns were destroyed and 600 dwellings were burned by the natives. A larger, indeterminate number of the native population also died in the war. A hundred thousand pounds, an enormous sum of money in those days, was expended by the colonies in defeating the Indians.

Throughout history, there have been men of war and men of peace, but few have actually had a war named after them. One of them was Pontiac, also known as Obwandiyag, an Odawa chief who left his mark on history by continuing the battle against the British after their official triumph during the French and Indian War. While modern historians question how important Pontiac's role was in shaping America's destiny, his leadership during Pontiac's War was seen at that time as important enough to warrant significant articles and even a few 18th century books.

Members Reviews:

King Philip's War and Pontiacs War

Very interesting book lots of interesting facts about two important and influential Native Americans I learned a good bit from this book.

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Title: The Secret Life of Bacon Tait, a White Slave Trader Married to a Free Woman of Color

Author: Hank Trent

Narrator: Michael Bonaventura

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-23-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Historians have long discussed the interracial families of prominent slave dealers in Richmond, Virginia, and elsewhere, yet, until now, the story of slave trader Bacon Tait remained untold. Among the most prominent and wealthy citizens of Richmond, Bacon Tait embarked upon a striking and unexpected double life: that of a white slave trader married to a free black woman.

In The Secret Life of Bacon Tait, Hank Trent tells Tait's complete story for the first time, reconstructing the hidden aspects of his strange and often paradoxical life through meticulous research in lawsuits, newspapers, deeds, and other original records.

Active and ambitious in a career notorious even among slave owners for its viciousness, Bacon Tait nevertheless claimed to be married to a free woman of color, Courtney Fountain, whose extended family were involved in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. As Trent reveals, Bacon Tait maintained his domestic sphere as a loving husband and father in a mixed-race family in the North while running a successful and ruthless slave-trading business in the South. Though he possessed legal control over thousands of other black women at different times, Trent argues that Tait remained loyal to his wife, avoiding the predatory sexual practices of many slave traders. No less remarkably, Courtney Tait and their four children received the benefits of Tait's wealth while remaining close to her family of origin, many of whom spoke out against the practice of slavery and even fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union.

The book is published by Louisiana State University Press.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

great

So long Hank. Thank you.

For those who knew him, Hank Trent was born and lived in the wrong century. A consummate historian of antebellum society and material culture, Hank's work here on a very complex issue, is thought provoking and down right challenging. If you are the least bit interested in 19th century life, here is a book for you. We miss you Hank.

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Title: How Not to Get Rich

Subtitle: The Financial Misadventures of Mark Twain

Author: Alan Pell Crawford

Narrator: Peter Berkrot

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-17-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Mark Twain's lifetime spans America's era of greatest economic growth. And Twain was an active, even giddy, participant in all the great booms and busts of his time, launching himself into one harebrained get-rich-quick scheme after another. But far from striking it rich, the man who coined the term "Gilded Age" failed with comical regularity to join the ranks of plutocrats who made this period in America notorious for its wealth and excess.

Instead, Twain's mining firm failed, despite striking real silver. He ended up somehow owing money over his 30,000 acres of inherited land. And his plan to market the mysteriously energizing coca leaves from the Amazon fizzled when no ships would sail to South America.

Undaunted, Twain poured his money into the latest newfangled inventions of his time, all of which failed miserably. In Crawford's hilarious telling, the familiar image of Twain takes on a new and surprising dimension. Twain's story of financial optimism and perseverance is a kind of cracked-mirror history of American business itself - in its grandest cockeyed manifestations, its most comical lows, and its determined refusal to ever give up.

Critic Reviews:

"Alan Pell Crawford captures the energy, humor, and wide-eyed hope of America's first 'angel investor' with wit and verve, in a book that is worthy of Twain himself." (Dan Lyons, New York Times best-selling author)

Members Reviews:

The Mark Twain you never knew

It feels like sacrilege reading this book! This is not the Mark Twain you know from history books and English reading assignments -- the literary genius who brought us Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The Mark Twain in Alan Pell Crawford's book is an idiot! He chases one get-rich-quick scheme after another, losing fortunes in the process, and plunging himself and his family into penury. You think he's going to grow up and learn his lesson, but he never does.

Some may find Twain's financial adventures hilarious, but I found them disheartening. I know the personality type all too well. I had relatives who had the same "get rich quick" mindset. They threw thousands of dollars down the drain, falling for one scam after another. Although they had their own business in their working years, in retirement they had nothing. They were dependent on their children, who also had nothing, because they had inherited the same mindset. It's a family pattern that held true in Twain's family. Twain's father had taught the get-rich-quick mindset through example. "We were always going to be rich -- next year," Twain recalls.

It depressed me to learn how little regard Twain had for the craft of writing -- the one thing he excelled at! It seems he resorted to it only when absolutely necessary to shore up his finances. If only he had devoted himself to it solely. To me, the squandered talent is more heartbreaking than the squandered finances.

All in all, I think I want to forget Mr. Crawford's Mark Twain. But the book is a quick and easy read, and the author has a good sense of humor and an eye for the ironic. That might carry you through to the end.

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Title: Emigrants

Subtitle: Why the English Sailed to the New World

Author: James Evans

Narrator: David Shaw Parker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-17

Publisher: Orion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

During the course of the 17th century, nearly 400,000 people left Britain for the Americas, most of them from England. Crossing the Atlantic was a major undertaking, the voyage long and treacherous. There was little hope of returning to see the friends and family who stayed behind. Why did so many go?

A significant number went for religious reasons, either on the Mayflower or as part of the mass migration to New England; some sought their fortunes in gold, fish or fur; some went to farm tobacco in Virginia, a booming trade which would enmesh Europe in a new addiction.

Some went because they were loyal to the deposed Stuart king while others yearned for an entirely new ambition - the freedom to think as they chose. Then there were the desperate: starving and impoverished people who went because things had not worked out in the Old World and there was little to lose from trying again in the New.

Emigrants casts light on this unprecedented population shift - a phenomenon that underpins the rise of modern America. Using contemporary sources including diaries, court hearings and letters, James Evans brings to light the extraordinary personal stories of the men and women who made the journey of a lifetime.

Members Reviews:

Excellent book

Really enjoyed this book, illuminating and insightful and well narrated. Will look for more by same author

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Title: History in 30: The Life of Thomas Jefferson

Author: Percy Bennington

Narrator: Scott Clem

Format: Unabridged

Length: 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-19-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The story of the United States of America is one of a nation founded upon the loftiest ideals of representative government, attempting to fulfill its goals while encountering competing domestic and global forces. From the beginning, Americans debated how their national government should govern, balancing powers between the federal government and the states, which led to the establishment of the first political parties. At the same time, the nation has struggled to reconcile its guarantee of universal rights and individual liberties with several stark realities, including the presence of millions of slaves at the time of the Declaration of Independence.

Nobody spent more time in the thick of these debates than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the aforementioned debates, authoring the Declaration of Independence, laying out the ideological groundwork of the notion of states' rights, leading one of the first political parties, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency. But for all of his accomplishments, Jefferson's reputation and legacy are still inextricably intertwined with the divisive issues of his own day. As the slaveholder who wrote that all men are created equal, and who had a relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings, Jefferson's life and career are still sometimes fiercely debated today.

History in 30: The Life of Thomas Jefferson provides a quick but comprehensive look at the life of the famous Founding Father.

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Title: The Cajuns: Americanization of a People

Author: Shane K. Bernard

Narrator: Chaz Allen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-15-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The past 60 years have shaped and reshaped the group of French-speaking Louisiana people known as the Cajuns. During this period they have become much like other Americans and yet have remained strikingly distinct. The Cajuns: Americanization of a People explores these six decades and analyzes the forces that had an impact on Louisiana's Acadiana.

In the 1940s, when America entered World War II, so too did the isolated Cajuns. Cajun soldiers fought alongside troops from Brooklyn and Berkeley and absorbed aspects of new cultures. In the 1950s as rock 'n' roll and television crackled across Louisiana airwaves, Cajun music makers responded with their own distinct versions. In the 1960s, empowerment and liberation movements turned the South upside down. During the 1980s, as things Cajun became an absorbing national fad, "Cajun" became a kind of brand identity used for selling everything from swamp tours to boxed rice dinners.

By linking seemingly local events in the Cajuns' once isolated south Louisiana homeland to national and even global events, Shane K. Bernard demonstrates that by the middle of the twentieth century the Cajuns for the first time in their ethnic story were engulfed in the currents of mainstream American life and yet continued to make outstandingly distinct contributions.

The book is published by University Press of Mississippi.

Members Reviews:

Great social commentary for the misplaced cajun generations!

First off, a qualifier, I am not through the book yet.

Second, kudos for it being offered via Kindle.

Third, everyone who is cajun and born after 1940 should read this.

Fourth, I HOPE...Mr Bernard, that you continue to write about your ethnic background. And hello from a fellow Aggie. I am going to dig up your research because I hope it is as good as this book.

Having been born and raised in Pt. Arthur/Grand Chenier region, this book describes wonderfully what I experienced growing up as a child, teen, and adult. I had elders in my family who spoke broken english and just smiled at me when I spoke to them. These people were parents of the generation that this book is centered around-the 'WW2 family starting generation'. I have great memories of my family and this book helps me better understand who they were and the generations that defined them.

I don't find the book as 'critical' as some others have mentioned, I find it to be very honest about certain topics than most 'educated' historians would have no clue about.

Personally, I have ran into ethnic stereotypes about cajuns throughout my life (most recently while doing my master's in NY) (the most funny being a girl I dated family labeling me in a negative manner as a 'creole boy'). This book helped me understand why this occurs, and in some way accept the ignorance of those who do this to us.

Aside from me thinking "Yes, I experienced that" / "I remember that when I was younger" / "I grew up in that family" while I was reading this book, it is a great summary on a very important time period overlooked by the acadian / cajun historians.

Understanding Other Cultures: Bliss vs. Ignorance

A succinct, yet information-packed accounting of the Cajun culture in southern Louisiana during a period of incredible change, cultural pressure and "growing pains" of a country.

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Title: Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Choctaw by Charles River Editors (2013-09-22)

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Jim D Johnston

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-11-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

From the Trail of Tears to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. In Charles River Editors' Native American Tribes series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the history and culture of North America's most famous native tribes in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Though not as well known as the Cherokee, one of the Five Civilized Tribes was the Choctaw. With roots that tie them to the Ancient Moundbuilders, the Choctaw were one of the most established groups in the Southeastern United States, and they were among the first natives encountered by Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto's historic expedition in the mid-16th century.

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Title: Bison and People on the North American Great Plains

Subtitle: A Deep Environmental History

Author: Bill Waiser, Geoff Cunfer

Narrator: Chuck Buell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-14-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The near disappearance of the American bison in the 19th century, is commonly understood to be the result of over-hunting, capitalist greed, and all but genocidal military policy. This interpretation remains seductive because of its simplicity; there are villains and victims in this familiar cautionary tale of the American frontier. But as this volume of groundbreaking scholarship shows, the story of the bison's demise is actually quite nuanced.

Bison and People on the North American Great Plains, brings together voices from several disciplines, to offer new insights on the relationship between humans and animals that approached extinction. Contributors include historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and Native American perspectives.

This audiobook explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the 19th century, bison reached a "tipping point" as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains, is a major contribution to environmental history, western history, and the growing field of transnational history.

The audiobook is published by Texas A&M University Press.

"Full of wonderful insights, thoughtful ideas, and fresh concepts." (Paul H. Carlson, author of Deep Time and the Texas High Plains and The Plains Indians).

"The fascinating essays reveal new and reinterpreted evidence, to help readers unravel America's greatest mystery." (Rosalyn LaPier, Author of Invisible Reality).

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Title: The Greatest Civil War Battles: The Battle of Chancellorsville

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Dan Gallagher

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Of all the Civil War battles fought, and of all the victories achieved by Robert E. Lee at the command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville is considered the most tactically complex and ultimately the most brilliant Confederate victory of the war.

In early May 1863, the Army of the Potomac was at the height of its power as it bore down on Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia near Fredericksburg, where the Confederates had defeated them the previous December. The Union behemoth had spent most of the winter season being reorganized and drilled by "Fighting Joe" Hooker, an aggressive commander who had fought hard at places like Antietam. With an army nearing 130,000 men, Hooker's Army of the Potomac was twice the size of the Army of Northern Virginia.

With that advantage, Hooker proposed a daring and aggressive two pronged attack that aimed to keep Lee's army occupied in front of Fredericksburg, while marching around its left. Meanwhile, a cavalry raid well in the rear was intended to cut Lee's lines of supplies and possible retreat. Hooker's plan initially worked perfectly, with the division of his army surprising Lee. At the end of May 1, Lee was outnumbered two-to-one and now had to worry about threats on two fronts.

Members Reviews:

Well done and strong read.

A very strong straightforward description of the battle. Gives a very clear understanding of the battle. Going forward I will read more of their books on other battles to supplement other writers books of each battle I read. Blending straight historical with some dramatic flare like Bernard Cornwell and Sharra's series.

Of course using Longstreets memoir for added depth from the field.

Well written

Well written, giving the reader a glance into the thoughts and emotions of the generals involved in this important battle. It was fascinating to read the first hand accounts of the participants. Lee's gambles and Hookers lack of confidence led to Lee's decisive victory. This would give him confidence to kindle invade the north months later. The results of this battle would not be forgotten in Gettysburg.

Good short read

This is a nice short overview of the battle, giving one some useful information about the leaders on both sides who were involved in the battle. One realizes just how bold and dangerous Gen. Lee's gamble was.

Good history

Great maps of the battle with troop movements made for clearer understanding. Would have liked more about the locations of both armies after the battle.