Download Best Sellers Audiobooks in History, American

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Title: The Nixon-Kennedy Debates

Subtitle: The Complete and Authentic Recordings of the Historic Debates

Author: Peter Marcus, John F. Kennedy (contributor), Richard Nixon (contributor)

Narrator: Sander Vanocur

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-19-04

Publisher: The Publishing Mills

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 37 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The Nixon-Kennedy debates were the first presidential debates to be broadcast to a nationwide television and radio audience. Millions of Americans watched or listened to the historic confrontation.

To this day, controversy still surrounds these meetings. Did the visual aspect of television interfere with the integrity of the candidate's words? Did the medium become more important than the message?

This compilation contains the complete audio recordings of all four of the landmark debates complemented by narration by Sander Vanocur (one of the original panel of journalists during the first debate), enabling listeners to hear, word for word, history in the making and to draw his or her own conclusions about who won this face-off between two of America's most noted Presidents.

Critic Reviews:

"Gripping listening....This audio is a trip to the political world of 1960: a welcome return for some listeners; a welcome first visit for others. Very highly recommended for the general listener. Required purchase for fans of history and politics." (Library Journal)

"This complete recording of an historically important set of debates...is livelier, while at the same time more civil, than our current presidential debates. Even though the original Mutual Broadcast radio recordings are used, the audio is quite good. Vanocur provides helpful and interesting background information in his narration." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Historic Audio Memento

I enjoyed listening to the 4 debates. The commentary from one of the debate's panelists added to the quality and completeness of the production.

Good quality, interesting history

For the most part the draw for listening to this is definitely the educational aspect. It's not a story, and you can't complain about the narrators. Heck, you can't even really complain about the audio quality. But, for as short as it is I found it to be a really cool perspective on this period of American history. Max gives this a "Read with Confidence" deal of approval.

A trip back in tiem.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Nixon-Kennedy Debates to be better than the print version?

I would.

What did you like best about this story?

All four debates wree present.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Recordings of the actual debates.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I don't know what it would be.

Great Piece of American History

I've heard all four debates previously, but I thoroughly enjoyed this program. Vanocur's narration gives the listener the proper context of the issues in the debates, particularly on the foreign policy issues. For those who want to gain a better understanding of the 1960 election and why the debates were so crucial to the outcome of the election, this will be a great help.

very interesting

while you got alot of detail you might not ask for about events in the months of 1959/60, the caliber and range of debates was very interesting. really happy I heard this.

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Title: Don't Know Much About the Civil War

Author: Kenneth C. Davis

Narrator: Kenneth C. Davis

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-15-99

Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 70 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

If you can't answer most of these questions, you're not alone. Millions of Americans, bored by dull textbooks, are in the dark about the most significant event in American history. Too many others thought they learned it all from Gone with the Wind.

Best selling author Kenneth C. Davis sheds light on these and other questions about America's greatest conflict in this fascinating program, providing listeners with everything they "need to know" about the Civil War. With his deft wit and unconventional style, Davis sorts out the players, the politics, and the key events. Drawing on moving eyewitness accounts of the people who lived through the war, he brings listeners into the world of the ordinary men and women who made history - the side of the story that textbooks never tell.

Members Reviews:

Great Book for the Civil War Buff

I bought this book for my roommate who is a civil war buff. I mean he reads lots of book on the topic. He loved this audible book. He actually listened to it twice back to back. He said he learned alot of tidbits about what was actually going on during the time period that he really didn't get from other books. After this book I went out and bougth 3 other, You don't Know much about...books and none have been as good as this one.

Low-hassle overview of the basics of the war

I didn't want a blow by blow rehearsal of every battle. I wanted the background, contributing factors, results... and a little decoding of the civil war special words and ideas. I wanted to be conversant on the topic without wading through all of the minutia. This book did exactly that. There are little irritations in the technical elements of the production, but the content was right on target.

Every breath you take

I could hear every breath you take for gods sake ..Very annoying after every sentence the narrator took a deep breath into the mirco-phone after I noticed it I heard nothing else..Esp if wearing headphones..Other than that the information was given a way that Only Kenneth C. Davis can (Fun.)

Informative, but beware of bias

The audiobook is good for obtaining facts and contains some interesting trivia. It is well structured, dry, but informative. However, the author's bias is clear. He is dismissive of any interpretation other than the traditional text book account of the origins and causes of the war. His insinuations about the motives of indivual Southerners and the collective South are generalized, shallow and insulting. Since his books are aimed at people who "don't know much about" a particular subject, it seems that Mr. Davis uses his platform to indoctrinate the "great unwashed" novice audience. I have read other books by this author and found this to be the case in those books as well.

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Title: Last of the Blue and Gray

Subtitle: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War

Author: Richard A. Serrano

Narrator: Dan John Miller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-08-13

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117, blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending. Unknown to the public, centennial officials, and the White House too, one of these men was indeed a veteran of that horrible conflict and one, according to the best evidence, nothing but a fraud. One was a soldier. The other had been living a great, big lie.

Critic Reviews:

"Told with clarity and skillfully paced, Serrano's story of two old men and the mythology that grew up around them is intimate, expansive, and thoroughly entertaining." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Missing Editor

I greatly anticipated this book and was somewhat disappointed. President Taft's military aide at the first veteran reunion is reported to have gone down on the " USS Titanic ". Where was the editor? Gaffes don't get better than that. More importantly there is no original research. The book extensively quotes newspaper and magazine stories and never really nails its conclusion. To be fair, it does provide an interesting survey of post Civil War commemorations and for that reason probably belongs in every true Civil War buff's library.

Small mistakes but a worthwhile read.

This book deserves a place in any collection of books on the Civil War. I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Yes, there are small mistakes. I do not believe that the author is a serious Civil War buff and his readers will be. We are a tough audience, little slips by us, and any author dealing with the Civil War had best do their research well. Example: In recounting the 75th reunion at Gettysburg in 1937 he writes "tents came equipped with electric lights, wash basins, soap and towels, canes and walkers..." And in the next line states "...the men dressed in their old battle regalia..." Walkers jumped out at me and a quick online search confirmed that they were not invented until 1949 and not manufactured and in use until the 50's. Secondly, from all the old photos of reunions and veterans that I have seen, actual original uniforms were very rare at such events. An old hat here and there maybe, but the men are dressed in GAR or UCV uniforms. Small details for sure, but still bothersome, especially since this volume is published by Smithsonian Books.

Now the good news. This is a very interesting book that moves along well and keeps you engaged. At 192 pages of text it is a quick read. Mr. Serrano mixes, and skillfully weaves, brief histories of the GAR and UCV and some of their reunions, interesting short stories of people using fictional accounts of their service for their own glory or to scam society and the stories of the last surviving veterans. Not all is as it seems.

Forgiving any previous mistakes, the main focus of the book seems accurate, well done and worth every minute spent reading it. A fitting final chapter to any Civil War book collection.

This contains at least one spoiler, but not much of one.

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Title: The Earth Is Weeping

Subtitle: Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher Indian Wars Before the American Revolution

Author: World Watch Media

Narrator: Kimberly Hughey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-06-17

Publisher: World Watch Media

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Researchers do not know how many people lived in the Americas before the arrival of the European conquistadors. However, they continue their investigation in order to find out the exact number of the aboriginal people who inhabited the continents. So far, scholars who have been trying to determine how many Native Americans lived on the North American territory before the arrival of Columbus estimate the number to be between 1.2 million and 18 million people. According to the census from 2010, about 3 million individuals identified themselves as Native or Alaskan Americans, which represents less than 1 percent of the entire population of the United States. Many causes have contributed to the massive decline of the native population. One of the largest cause was the infectious diseases European explorers and traders brought with them on the newly discovered continent. Although the Europeans have developed some immunity to chronic infections, which were common on their continent, the results were devastating to America's natives. Many estimate that infections ravaged the continents, while smallpox alone killed over 80 percent of them. Additional causes include conflicts with Europeans in individual fights and wars, tribal wars, assimilation, migration to Mexico and Canada, and declining birth rates. In the 19th century, about 500,000 Native Americans lived on the United States soil.

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Title: The Fort Pillow Massacre

Subtitle: The History and Legacy of the Civil War's Most Notorious Battle

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Troy McElfresh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-24-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

At the end of 1863, Confederate cavalry leader Nathan Bedford Forrest began operations in west Tennessee with a small unit, but he managed to recruit several thousand volunteers, including a number of veteran soldiers, and he whipped them into shape so they were combat ready before their first confrontation. Upon hearing of Forrests growing aptitude for adaptive warfare, General Sherman wrote to Union commander in chief Henry Halleck that men like Forrest were "men that must all be killed or employed by us before we can hope for peace. They have no property or future, and therefore cannot be influenced by anything except personal considerations". Sherman repeatedly ordered his Memphis commanders to catch "that devil Forrest", essentially putting a bounty on his head.

As far as skirmishes go, Fort Pillow was a completely unremarkable fight. Before attacking, Forrest demanded the unconditional surrender of the Union garrison, a normal custom of his, and he warned the Union commanding officer that he would not be responsible for his soldiers' actions if the warning went unheeded. What made Fort Pillow markedly different was that a sizable amount of the Union garrison defending the Fort was comprised of black soldiers, which particularly enraged Confederate soldiers whenever they encountered those they viewed as former slaves in the field.

It is still unclear exactly how the fighting unfolded, but what is clear is that an unusually high percentage of Union soldiers were killed, and the Confederates were accused of massacring black soldiers after they had surrendered. Primary sources tell conflicting accounts of what happened at Battle of Fort Pillow, leaving scholars to piece together the battle and determine whether Confederate soldiers purposely shot Union soldiers after they had surrendered. The Fort Pillow Massacre: The History and Legacy of the Civil War's Most Notorious Battle chronicles the history of the Civil War's most infamous massacre.

Members Reviews:

A booklet not a book!

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone with a short attention span

Would you ever listen to anything by Charles River Editors again?

No

How could the performance have been better?

Longer!

You didnt love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The story was very powerful it was just far to short

Any additional comments?

This is not a Talking book but a talking pamphlet. There has been no new major work undertaken into any aspect of the Fort Pillow massacre. What we were given was a lightening tour and that was very disappointing

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Title: Emancipation Hell

Subtitle: The Tragedy Wrought by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

Author: Kirkpatrick Sale

Narrator: Kirkpatrick Sale

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-10-17

Publisher: Shotwell Publishing LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Emancipation - freeing the slaves - hell? The Emancipation Proclamation - one of the sacred icons of American history - a tragedy? How can this be?

That was the opinion of Frederick Douglass, the most important African American leader of the 19th century, who proclaimed, "I denounce the so-called Emancipation."

Douglass wrote: "I admit that the Negro...has made little progress from barbarism to civilization, and that he is in a deplorable condition since his emancipation. That he is worse off in many respects, than when he was a slave, I am compelled to admit..."

Indeed, social statistics of 1900 indicate that material quality of life was lower for most black Americans than under slavery.

Kirkpatrick Sale marshals much forgotten evidence to cast this glorious part of American history in a realistic and critical light. Emancipation, yes. But as a military measure during a cruel war of invasion?

Slavery once existed throughout the western hemisphere, but almost everywhere except the United States, it ended peacefully. Emancipation with no thought or plan for the unprecedented situation to be managed? With no real sympathy or interest in the people freed except their usefulness in controlling and exploiting the conquered South? (Some Northern leaders denounced the Proclamation as an atrocity and an estimated 200,000 Northerners deserted or evaded service in a war for African Americans rather than for the "Union.")

Perhaps never in history, Kirkpatrick Sale demonstrates, has a benevolent act been so tainted with impure motives and disdain of consequences.

Abraham Lincoln has a lot to answer for, says the author. His flawed proclamation doomed Americans to a century and a half of racial conflict and disparity that is still with us.

Members Reviews:

Excellent story and scholarship

Excellent story and scholarship. If word of this gets out, that'll make three the nut jobs will start demanding be blown off Mt. Rushmore. Teddy Roosevelt must certainly have done something in his lifetime which warrants him being taken down...guess time will tell.

Five Stars

Factual, informative, and very written. The key ingredients to a book that is well worth reading.

good but short

Although short it is well written and fair I think. Unfortunate that this view is so overlooked today. No wonder that we still have such race problems.

Very interesting take on the situation and I enjoyed it very much

Very interesting take on the situation and I enjoyed it very much. Well written and to the point, as all books on history should be.

Neglected history of emancipation

Good summary of forgotten and neglected history.

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Title: Thirty Years of Treason, Vol. 3

Subtitle: Excerpts From Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1953 - 1968

Author: Eric Bentley

Narrator: Gabrielle de Cuir, Nathan Dana Aldrich, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robertson Dean, Richard Gilliland, Stephen Hoye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-04-14

Publisher: Skyboat Media, Inc.

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

A chilling reenactment of the federal government's anti-Communist investigations.

The testimony that the author has gleaned for this audiobook from the 30-year record of the House Un-American Activities Committee focuses on HUAC's treatment of artists, intellectuals, and performers. This highly listenable and absorbing collection of significant excerpts from the hearings shows with painful clarity how HUAC grew from a panel that investigated possible subversive activities in a "dignified" manner to a huge, unrelenting accusatory finger from which almost no one was safe. Thirty Years of Treason serves as a warning for the future and creates living history from the documentary record.

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Title: The Republic of Rock

Subtitle: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture

Author: Michael J. Kramer

Narrator: Lance Axt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In his 1967 megahit "San Francisco," Scott McKenzie sang of "people in motion" coming from all across the country to San Francisco, the white-hot center of rock music and anti-war protests. At the same time, another large group of young Americans was also in motion, less eagerly, heading for the jungles of Vietnam. Now, in The Republic of Rock, Michael Kramer draws on new archival sources and interviews to explore sixties music and politics through the lens of these two generation-changing places - San Francisco and Vietnam. From the Acid Tests of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters to hippie disc jockeys on strike, the military's use of rock music to "boost morale" in Vietnam, and the forgotten tale of a South Vietnamese rock band, The Republic of Rock shows how the musical connections between the City of the Summer of Love and war-torn Southeast Asia were crucial to the making of the sixties counterculture.

The audiobook also illustrates how and why the legacy of rock music in the sixties continues to matter to the meaning of citizenship in a global society today. Going beyond cliched narratives about sixties music, Kramer argues that rock became a way for participants in the counterculture to think about what it meant to be an American citizen, a world citizen, a citizen-consumer, or a citizen-soldier. The music became a resource for grappling with the nature of democracy in larger systems of American power both domestically and globally. For anyone interested in the 1960s, popular music, and American culture and counterculture, The Republic of Rock offers new insight into the many ways rock music has shaped our ideas of individual freedom and collective belonging.

Members Reviews:

Skip it.

The book's well written and researched but he missed 80% of the people and events that defined rock and counter culture.

A New Contribution To 60s Rock History

There are a lot of books analyzing 60s rock history, but they generally suffer from one of two flaws: either they are a trainspotter's guide, busily parsing the difference between Gram Parsons outtakes and the 13th Floor Elevators' last single, or they are excessively theoretical tomes by academic who turn out not to be very knowledgeable about rock music beyond repeated listenings to a few Beatles albums. Both approaches generally hide the fact that the author doesn't really have much to add. Michael Kramer's new book is a refreshing change. Kramer is knowledgeable and analytical, well grounded in both music history and cultural history, but he stands out by having a new way to consider the way in which rock music influenced and gripped the experience of the 1960s.

The first half of The Republic Of Rock focuses on the rise of KMPX-fm in San Francisco, the first true "underground" rock radio station, as well as the ultimately canceled Wild West Festival. KMPX folded in the wake of a contentious strike by its hippie staff in 1968, supported by the local rock establishment, but the strike unfolded in a variety of ways that set the event apart from typical labor struggles. The broad facts of the KMPX strike are generally known, if somewhat foggily recalled, but Kramer does an excellent job unraveling the confusing threads.

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Title: April 19, 1775: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and the Battles of Lexington & Concord

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Michael Piotrasch

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

"Out started six officers, seized my bridle, put their pistols to my breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did. One of them, who appeared to have the command there, and much of a gentleman, asked me where I came from; I told him. He asked what time I left . I told him, he seemed surprised, said 'Sir, may I crave your name?' I answered 'My name is Revere.'" (Paul Revere)

April 19, 1775, was one of the most momentous days in American history. Over the course of nearly 18 hours, a morning that began with midnight riders spreading an alarm about a British raid headed for Concord would lead to the British column fleeing for their lives. By the time the sun went down, 10 years of strife between the 13 colonies and Great Britain finally boiled over into revolution.

In the wake of the revolution, the importance of April 19, 1775, became clear to everyone, and the legends and mystique surrounding that day have grown ever since. That day made an icon out of Paul Revere, who would have been greatly surprised at the end of his life if he had known he would become famous for his midnight ride. As a fervent and well-connected patriot who was part of Boston's intelligence network, Revere was sent on the ride toward Lexington along with William Dawes, with the intention of warning the countryside that British troops were heading that way.

Members Reviews:

Simply awful

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This sounds exactly like a computerized voice reading Wikipedia entries. There are much better options for this material.

What was most disappointing about Charles River Editorss story?

Stultifying content that turned an exciting story into a ponderous slog.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I do not believe the narrator was a human.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration.

Any additional comments?

Don't bother.

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Title: World War I, Part 2

Author: Ralph Raico

Narrator: George C. Scott

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-09-06

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In Europe, power was poised in balance. Germany longed to become a weltmacht, a world power. Britain struggled to preserve her empire. Both France and Russia expanded, and the Balkan states agitated for independence from Austria. Treaties were signed; alliances were consummated. Now the actions of any one power would determine the foreign policy of the others.

By early August 1914, the world was convulsed by the first world war, which engulfed Europe. On the western front, there was constant carnage, but little movement. Soldiers bled and died to win a stretch of dirt, which was quickly lost again. Europe seemed to be deadlocked in a bloodletting frenzy. As the nation-states battled, they awaited the response of the greatest of the neutral powers: the United States.

Halfway across the world, an officially neutral American was being drawn into the conflict. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the British ship Lusitania, and 1,200 people died, including 128 Americans. Diplomatic relations between Germany and America slowly decayed until, finally, President Wilson ordered American merchant ships to be armed. Within days, U-boats opened fire on American streamers. On April 6, 1917, the U.S. declared war on Germany. And at the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918, the guns fell silent. Germany had surrendered.

Members Reviews:

worthwhile

A great follow up to its predecessor. Do listen to the first installment beforehand as this is a direct continuation. As before, the narration is sound and the additional voices provide a better indication of the mood of the times than the narrative alone. i walked away more informed and appreciative of this pivotal period in world history.