Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Civil War on the Mississippi

Subtitle: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River

Author: Barbara Brooks Tomblin

Narrator: Aaron Killian

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

During the Civil War, both sides believed that whoever controlled the Mississippi River would ultimately be victorious. Cotton exports generated much-needed revenue for the Confederacy, and the Mississippi was also the main conduit for the delivery of materials and food. Similarly, the Union sought to maintain safe passage from St. Louis, Missouri, to Cairo, Illinois, but also worked to bisect the South by seizing the river as part of the Anaconda Plan.

Drawing heavily on the diaries and letters of officers and common sailors, Barbara Brooks Tomblin explores the years during which the Union navy fought to win control of the Mississippi. Her approach provides fresh insight into major battles such as Memphis and Vicksburg, but also offers fascinating perspectives on lesser-known aspects of the conflict from ordinary sailors engaged in brown-water warfare. These men speak of going ashore in foraging parties, assisting the surgeon in the amputation of a fellow crewman's arm, and liberating supplies of whiskey from captured enemy vessels. The Civil War on the Mississippi not only provides listeners with a comprehensive and vivid account of the action on the western rivers; it also offers an incredible synthesis of first-person accounts from the front lines.

Critic Reviews:

"A fascinating and detailed look at everyday life aboard the ships of the Union navy charged with securing control of the Mississippi River." (Spencer C. Tucker, author of

Blue and Gray Navies: The Civil War Afloat)

"This well-written, fast-paced narrative belongs on your bookshelf, even if you think you have read the last word about this innovative naval force." (

Civil War News)

"Goes beyond anything in the existing literature on the river navy." (James M. McPherson, author of

The War that Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters)

Members Reviews:

The brown-water Navy on the Mississippi through the Vicksburg campaign.

This is an excellent book--but be aware that it is not a military history or an account of naval actions. The title includes sailors and gunboat captains, and that's much of the book. It's based on diaries, letters and memoirs of just that, officers and sailors, and uses these to paint a vivid picture of the Mississippi squadron (originally under Army command, it became part of the Navy in 1862).

The book covers actions up to the Vicksburg campaign when the river was finally opened for Union navigation all the way to the Gulf. It gives a vivid sense of dueling with Confederate batteries, which were formidable. There's also an undercurrent of "contrabands," that is escaping slaves who often escaped to naval vessels. The book doesn't explore this systematically but does give a sense of the importance of African Americans--labor and a good deal of help on ship.

There's one useful map, but more maps would make this a better book. The illustrations are helpful. What would also have been helpful would be a chapter early on giving more detail about what life was like on board--surely those details could be patched together from the same sources used in the book. Were the watches the same as on the oceanic navy? How big was a gun crew and how did they lift some of that very heavy ammunition for the big guns.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Coney Island

Subtitle: The History of New York City's Most Famous Amusement Park Resort

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Jim D. Johnston

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-08-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

There are few places on Earth that have as much hustle and bustle as New York City, so it's no surprise that people nearby flock to some sort of escape. For many, that escape comes in the form of Brooklyn's Coney Island, which has been one of the area's most popular seaside resorts and amusement park areas since the late 19th century. People may come for different things, such as the festivities held there on July 4th (most notably the hot dog eating contest), the newest rollercoaster, or a minor league baseball game, but just about everyone is sure to have a good time.

Like so much of New York's development, the manner in which Coney Island has become what it is over the past 130 years is full of surprise and controversy. For most of its history, Coney Island was virtually uninhabited, even when the native Lenape lived in the region before European explorers arrived, yet that very aspect made the place attractive for vacationers looking to escape city life during the summer. In fact, New York City's leaders tried to prevent development on the island in hopes of establishing it as a giant natural park, only for wealthy resorts to ultimately pop up along beachfront property. Far from it, Coney Island spent the last few decades of the 19th century operating like Las Vegas, with every kind of vice helping keep things running.

In time, Coney Island became America's biggest and most visited amusement park resort, with Dreamland, Steeplechase Park, and Luna Park all becoming some of the nation's most famous and historic parks. Although Coney Island's heyday has long since passed and those three parks have all closed, Coney Island remains best known for amusement parks today. The first rides were built on Coney Island in the 1870s, and there are now multiple parks on Coney Island, which has actually since become a peninsula thanks to the addition of landfill over the course of its development.

Members Reviews:

Great account of the historical start of the American amusement industry.

Being a fan of roller coasters and amusement parks, I found this to be a great quick read. I have been to Coney Island, ridden the Cyclone, ate a Nathan's hotdog and walked among the ghosts of the ancient carnival folk and sometimes yearn to have been there when it was in its heyday. But, at least when I read about, it becomes easy to imagine what it must have been like.

Three Stars

Nice book about the history of Coney Island; a little pricey for the content.

Very enjoyable

Nice overview of the history of Coney Island. Easy read, very interesting and amazing pictures.

Interesting history.

Interesting book about Coney Island. Had no idea of the history and found this quick read a great benefit before visiting there this summer.

Fascinating history

Excellent details and fascinating information

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Cowtown Wichita and the Wild, Wicked West

Author: Stan Hoig

Narrator: Vernon Kuehn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-06-16

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Before she was Wichita, Kansas, she was a collection of grass huts, home to the ancestors of the Wichita Indians. Then came the Spanish conquistadors, seeking gold but finding instead vast herds of buffalo.

After the Civil War, Wichita played host to a cavalcade of Western men: frontier soldiers, Indian warriors, buffalo hunters, border ruffians, hell-for-leather Texas cattle drovers, ready-to-die gunslingers, and steel-eyed lawmen. Peerless Princess of the Plains, they called her.

Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Bat Masterson were here, but so were Jesse Chisholm, Jack Ledford, Rowdy Joe and Rowdy Kate, Buffalo Bill Mathewson, Marshall Mike Meagher, Indian trader James Mead, Oklahoma Harry Hill, city founder Dutch Bill Greiffenstein, and a host of colorful characters like you've never known before.

Stan Hoig depicts a once-rambunctious cowtown on the Chisholm Cattle Trail, neighbor to the lawless Indian Territory, roaring and bucking through its Wild West days toward becoming a major American city.

Cowtown Wichita and the Wild, Wicked West provides tribute to those sometimes valiant, sometimes wicked, sometimes hilarious, and often audacious characters who played a role in shaping Wichita's past.

The book is published by University of New Mexico Press.

Critic Reviews:

Stan Hoig has given us another excellent work focusing on the West and the people who made it.... (The Oklahoman)

With its lively pace and readability, [this] book will be a welcome treat to the general reader who loves early Wichita's 'Wild West' reputation. (Kansas History)

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

again another outstanding portrayal on the history of the plains part of this usa.

History of Wichita

I"m only to chapter 3 and all ready know more about my city then in all the years I have lived here.

Wild Wicked West Indeed!

This is not your typical dime store western novelty book....although you'll find some very interesting stories held within. It's really a collection of excerpts from various journals and letters, brilliantly strung together by the author. If you're looking for fictional characterization of frontier Kansas...there are definitely better writers out there. This book is all about the history of Wichita and the importance of the city in the development of the West. I would challenge every history, or social studies teacher in Wichita to include this book in their curriculum....it's really that good! I found it a breeze to read and finished it in under a day of casual reading. The historical pictures and quotes from period letters and newspapers were of particular interest. If you live in Wichita....you must read this book!

I didn't want the stories to end.

I am a student of early Wichita history. I am very grateful that this book was recommended to me. It's an accurate telling of the early days of Wichita and the story telling was so entertaining that I didn't want to get to the end of the book. Yes, the pre-Anglo era of Spanish and french exploration is perhaps better told in another book, but if you hadn't already been exposed to that early, early, history it's good information to go through. Lastly, another author with similar entertaining history telling is David Dary.

Kentucky Lawman

A very boring, boring book. I read anything I can get my hands on about the Kansas Cowtowns and their history.

Listen to this audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Go to http://hotaudiobook.com/free

Title: Brothers at Arms

Subtitle: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It

Author: Larrie D. Ferreiro

Narrator: David Colacci

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-16

Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In this groundbreaking, revisionist history, Larrie D. Ferreiro shows that at the time the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord the colonists had little chance, if any, of militarily defeating the British. The nascent American nation had no navy, little in the way of artillery, and a militia bereft even of gunpowder. In his detailed accounts, Ferreiro shows that without the extensive military and financial support of the French and Spanish, the American cause would never have succeeded. France and Spain provided close to the equivalent of $30 billion and 90 percent of all guns used by the Americans, and they sent soldiers and sailors by the thousands to fight and die alongside the Americans, as well as around the world.

Ferreiro adds to the historical records the names of French and Spanish diplomats, merchants, soldiers, and sailors whose contribution is at last given recognition. Instead of viewing the American Revolution in isolation, Brothers at Arms reveals the birth of the American nation as the centerpiece of an international coalition fighting against a common enemy.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Washington and Hamilton

Subtitle: The Alliance That Forged America

Author: Stephen F. Knott, Tony Williams

Narrator: Ron Butler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-16

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In the wake of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers faced a daunting task: overcome their competing visions to build a new nation, the likes of which the world had never seen. Washington and Hamilton chronicles the unlikely collaboration between two conflicting characters working together to protect their hard-won freedoms.

Yet while Washington and Hamilton's different personalities often led to fruitful collaboration, their conflicting ideals also tested the boundaries of their relationship - and threatened the future of the new republic. From the rumblings of the American Revolution through the fractious Constitutional Convention and America's turbulent first years, this captivating history reveals the stunning impact of this unlikely duo that set the United States on the path to becoming a superpower.

Members Reviews:

Enjoyable story of two founders

I enjoyed this story. Two of our Founding Father worked together and their story need to be shared.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Long Road to Hard Truth

Subtitle: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Author: Robert Leon Wilkins

Narrator: Michael Canaan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-14-16

Publisher: Proud Legacy Publishing

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In Long Road to Hard Truth: The 100 Year Mission to Create the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Robert L. Wilkins tells the story of how his curiosity about why there wasn't a national museum dedicated to African American history and culture became an obsession - eventually leading him to quit his job as an attorney when his wife was seven months pregnant with their second child, and make it his mission to help the museum become a reality.

Long Road to Hard Truth chronicles the early history, when staunch advocates sought to create a monument for black soldiers 50 years after the end of the Civil War and in response to the pervasive indignities of the time, including lynching, Jim Crow segregation, and the slander of the racist film Birth of a Nation. The movement soon evolved to envision creating a national museum, and Wilkins follows the endless obstacles through the decades, culminating in his honor of becoming a member of the Presidential Commission that wrote the plan for creating the museum and how, with support of both black and white Democrats and Republicans, Congress finally authorized the museum.

In September 2016, exactly 100 years after the movement to create it began, the Smithsonian will open the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The book's title is inspired in part by James Baldwin, who testified in Congress in 1968 that "My history...contains the truth about America. It is going to be hard to teach it." Long Road to Hard Truth concludes that this journey took 100 years because many in America are unwilling to confront the history of America's legacy of slavery and discrimination, and that the only reason this museum finally became a reality is that an unlikely, bipartisan coalition of political leaders had the courage and wisdom to declare that America could not, and should not, continue to evade the hard truth.

Members Reviews:

Historical Figures Brought to Life!

What did you love best about Long Road to Hard Truth?

I really enjoyed the narrator's impressions of the historical figures mentioned in the book. This really helped the story to come to life for me and it made the book extremely intriguing from a historical perspective. I enjoyed learning the history of the museum!

What did you like best about this story?

The attention to detail and the way the author put everything together. It was very easy to follow and his passion for the museum was apparent.

Have you listened to any of Michael Canaans other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I believe this is the third book I've listened to by Mr. Canaan. I like the smoothness of his voice and the way the words resonate. I've listened to books from other narrators in the past where it sounds like they are merely being read. When Mr. Canaan reads a book, it truly sounds like he believes in the work and he enjoys what he is reading, so it never sounds like he is sitting there reading to you. It sounds like he is telling a story. I believe this is a sign of an excellent narrator/voice artist.

Any additional comments?

I thought the narration was spot on, I couldn't ask for better. The quality is top of the line, I hope to hear more from Mr. Canaan very soon!

I thought the writing was excellent as well.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Winchester Warriors

Subtitle: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1901

Author: Bob Alexander

Narrator: Theo Holland

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-16

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The Texas Rangers were institutionally birthed in 1874 with the formation of the Frontier Battalion. They were tasked with interdicting Indian incursions into the frontier settlements and dealing with the lawlessness running rampant throughout Texas. In an effort to put a human face on the Rangers, Bob Alexander tells the story of one of the six companies of the Frontier Battalion, Company D. Beginning with their start as Indian fighters against the Comanches and Kiowas, Alexander explores the history of Company D as they rounded up numerous Texas outlaws and cattle thieves, engaged in border skirmishes along the Rio Grande, and participated in notable episodes such as the fence cutter wars. Winchester Warriors is an evenhanded and impartial assessment of Company D and its colorful cadre of Texas Rangers. Their laudable deeds are explored in detail, but by the same token their shameful misadventures are not whitewashed. These Texas Rangers were simply people, good and bad - and sometimes indifferent. This new study, extensively researched in both primary and secondary sources, will appeal to scholars and aficionados of the Texas Rangers and western history.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Brave Men Dark Waters

Author: Orr Kelly

Narrator: John Pruden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-16

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The legend was forged in the fires of World War II, when special units of elite navy frogmen were entrusted with dangerous covert missions. These Underwater Demolition Teams, as they were then called, soon became known for their toughness, fearlessness, and their remarkable ability to get the job - any job - done. Years later, the renamed US Navy SEALs (for Sea, Air, and Land) continued to be a wartime force to be reckoned with throughout the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st. They served as rangers and scouts in the jungles of Vietnam, answered the call to duty in Panama, Granada, and in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, while developing into the very best of the best, the cream of America's Special Forces crop.

Members Reviews:

Worth reading!

Opened my eyes to a lot of the workings and purposes of the Seals. Riveting at times, informative at others. Great descriptions of important events, operations and transitions in their history. Great book!

A good read.

A good basic history of Navy SEALS.

Five Stars

awesome

Great read - so very informative on the history of the navy seals.

Totally comprehensive from WW1 to Desert Storm. Allows complete understanding of all the Seals and their predecessors (UDT Teams) did to advance the success of the US military in every single war we were involved.

The birth and development of the SEALS.

A fascinating overview of the development of the underwater demolition forces as they evolved into the present day SEALS with much greater "reach" and capabilities. A worthy description of these tough, hardy warriors as they evolved with the technology available.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Dueling Letters

Subtitle: The Account of Events Leading to the Duel Between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

Author: Ben Smith, Jason Goff

Narrator: Ben Smith, Jason Goff

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-16

Publisher: ElectionCollege.com

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had a famously contentious political relationship. In June of 1804, then-Vice President Burr was made aware that Hamilton had made disparaging remarks about him. Dr. Charles Cooper had overheard these remarks and published a letter indicating such. Burr soon after read Dr. Cooper's remarks and took offense.

The following are pieces of correspondence between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, followed by letters from Alexander Hamilton to his friend and second in the duel Nathaniel Pendleton, as well as his wife Elizabeth.

Listen to this audiobook free with a 30-day trial. Go to http://hotaudiobook.com/free

Title: The Baseball Whisperer

Subtitle: A Small-Town Coach Who Shaped Big League Dreams

Author: Michael Tackett

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-05-16

Publisher: Highbridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 26 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,000, sits two hours from anything. There, between the cornfields and hog yards, is a ball field with a bronze bust of a man named Merl Eberly, a baseball whisperer who specialized in second chances and lost causes. The statue was a gift from one of Merl's original long-shot projects, a skinny kid from the ghetto in Los Angeles who would one day become a beloved Hall of Fame shortstop: Ozzie Smith.

The Baseball Whisperer traces the remarkable story of Merl Eberly and his Clarinda A's baseball team, which he tended over the course of five decades, transforming them from a town team to a collegiate summer league powerhouse. Along with Ozzie Smith, future manager Bud Black, and star player Von Hayes, Merl developed scores of major league players (six of who are currently playing). In the process Merl taught them to be men, insisting on hard work, integrity, and responsibility.

More than a book about ballplayers who landed in the nation's agricultural heartland, The Baseball Whisperer is the story of a coach who puts character and dedication first and reminds us of the best, purest form of baseball excellence.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]