Download Best Sellers Audiobooks in History, American

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: Fort Dearborn

Subtitle: The History of the Controversial Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812 and the Settlement that Became Chicago

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Colin Fluxman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-15-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Tucked safely away in storage is an unnamed sculpture commissioned by George Pullman and sculpted by Carl Rohl-Smith depicting the "Fort Dearborn Massacre". It was originally installed near the mansion of the creator of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which manufactured railroad sleeping cars in the mid-19th century. Although placing such a sculpture at that location may initially sound weird, the Pullman mansion had been built on the site of a controversial battle that took place at an old, historic European fort along the Chicago River in Illinois in 1812. The ongoing fighting between white settlers, militias, Army units, and Native Americans not only bled into the War of 1812 but was one of the main causes of it. Many Americans chaffed at the fact that along the Northwestern frontier, the British in Canada were supporting Indian resistance to American settlement. So-called "war hawks" from that region in Congress pushed for a declaration of war, and many hoped that a war would not only stop Indian depredations but evict the British from Canada and lead to completion of some unfinished business from the American Revolution, namely Canada joining the US.

Members Reviews:

Who Knew in 1812 Fort Dearborn's Massacre Would Become a Keystone in American Midwest Future Development?

My Short Blurb for Readers in a Hurry to Find a Good Read

Most of the booklets by Charles River Editors are short, to the point, and interesting. Only a very few are laden with typos or inaccuracies. Fort Dearborn, though, is one of the very best they have published, among more than one thousand titles. It includes a number of sketches and engraving reproductions that help communicate the information provided. If you are still interested, but have time to chat, please pull up a chair while I fetch some coffee or tea. I will provide some more specifics about this booklet and even an excerpt for your reviewâ

Length: Print, 78 pages.

Target Audience/Genre: This is a nonfiction book of history during its earliest days as a nation.

Q - What was the Amazon Rank on the date this review was published?

A â 79,468.

Q - How was this book obtained?

A â Bought at Amazon.

Q - Is this a book that I can read without having to read others first?

A â Yes.

Q â If this is a recurring character or a series, does it have a cliffhanger ending?

A â This is a stand alone, brief history.

Q - Are there a lot of typos/misspellings, grammatical errors or other editing failures?

A â No.

Q - Is this a fast, easy read or is it more of a leisure read?

A â This is a quick read for commuting or for the lunch hour at work.

Q - What sort of language does this writer use to amplify the points made?

A â Plain English with no profanities; no sex, no graphic sexual violence, although the facts of the battle, or massacre, are not pleasant, they are not relayed in any specially graphic detail.

Q - My biggest pleasure or disappointment?

A â I found this an informative read and was especially interested to learn of Chicagoâs earliest days. With no Fort Dearborn, it can be argued there would never have been a Chicago.

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: Little Known Tales in San Francisco History

Author: Alton Pryor

Narrator: Neil Reeves

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-10-17

Publisher: Stagecoach Publishing

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

San Francisco grew from a tiny burg of 1,000 persons in 1848 to its present-day population of 825,863. The city was founded in 1776 when Spain built a fort at the site of Golden Gate Park. After World War II, San Francisco became a magnet for America's counter-culture. Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in 1960 and peaked out with the Summer of Love in 1967. San Francisco's China Town is the oldest and largest in North America. The city's famous cable cars carry riders up and down the steep inclines and to Fisherman's Wharf below. People watch as the fishermen bring in their daily catch each day at the piers of Fisherman's Wharf. There's little that can't be found in San Francisco. The city's ethnic makeup is diverse. It's made up of whites, Asians, Afro-Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics. San Francisco has developed an international character that began with its founding and continues today.

Members Reviews:

This book is a travesty.

Very little material presented as to stupid unwilling children. No depth. The narrator is also patronizing to an extreme degree. The performance is riddled with mispronounced words including even place names. Not even the fact that Mr. Pryor is 90 years old makes his ripoff excusable.

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: Abraham Lincoln and Mexico

Subtitle: A History of Courage, Intrigue, and Unlikely Friendships

Author: Michael Hogan

Narrator: Emil N Gallina

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-17

Publisher: Dr. Michael Hogan

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

This book by a noted PhD historian is one of the best books available about historical relations between the United States and Mexico. It shines new light on reasons for the US invasion of Mexico in 1846, opposition by Abraham Lincoln and other politicians to the unjustified and unconstitutional decision by President Polk to go to war, the importance of the ensuing war against Mexico, the resulting territorial seizures by the United States, the impact both nationally and internationally to both countries, the troubling legacy even today, and the result of silences that have been pervasive over the years regarding this conflict. It examines all aspects of this history based on actual documents in government, university, and private institutions in both the US and Mexico, including citations to these documents and the complete text for many of them in the Appendix.

The book covers more than two decades of US history, from 1846 to the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. As such, this outstanding book is a welcome addition to continuing discussion about the roles of the United States and Mexico during two of the most controversial and complex periods in American history, and how decisions made then continue to permeate the daily lives of citizens and residents of both countries.

Members Reviews:

History buff or not, this is a great book

Would you listen to Abraham Lincoln and Mexico again? Why?

Yes, so that I could pick up on any details I may have missed the first time around.

Any additional comments?

I wish I could say I'm a seasoned history buff and, as such, can position this book amongst dozens others I have read. Truth is I'm a novice in the history genre ... but I love it and I loved this book! The storytelling was spot on which is especially good for those people (ahem) who often hit the 30 second rewind button. As a Mexican-American, it encouraged me to learn more about the history of these great countries and to dig deeper into my own genealogy.

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: Sonic Wind

Subtitle: The Story of John Paul Stapp and How a Renegade Doctor Became the Fastest Man on Earth

Author: Craig Ryan

Narrator: Christopher Grove

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-17

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Sixty years ago cars and airplanes were still death traps waiting to happen. Today both are safer than ever, thanks in part to one pioneering air force doctor's research on seatbelts and ejection seats. The exploits of John Paul Stapp (1910-1999) come to thrilling life in this biography of a Renaissance man who was once blasted - faster than a .45 caliber bullet - across the desert in his Sonic Wind rocket sled, only to be slammed to a stop in barely a second. The experiment put him on the cover of Time magazine and allowed his swashbuckling team to gather the data needed to revolutionize automobile and aircraft design. But Stapp didn't stop there. From the legendary high-altitude balloon tests that ensued to the ferocious battles for car safety legislation, Craig Ryan's book is as much a history of America's transition into the Jet Age as it is a biography of the man who got us there safely.

Members Reviews:

The book sets out an excellent account of his battles with Army/US Air Force bureacracy

This is a very well researched, well written and informative book about John Paul Stapp's important work on improving survivability in high speed impacts, primarily in military air crashes but also in automobile accidents. While broad details of Stapp's rocket-sled work are generally known to people (like me) interested in the early space race, his influence on mandating safety standards in the US automotive industry may come as a surprise.

The book is a very readable account of Stapp's life, interspersing a sufficient level of detail about his professional dedication to acceleration/deceleration and impact testing on human and primate test subjects (which is not too technical in detail), with an intersting account of his personal life right up to his death in the late 1990s. The source for much of the information about his inter-personal and family relationships clearly comes from his youngest brother, and this is a fascinating read because of the detail recounted.

The book sets out an excellent account of his battles with Army/US Air Force bureacracy; what is described in the book as the "Battle of Muroc" is a very good account of his ongoing struggle for acceptance of his research programs against those in hieracrchy who saw limited benefit in his work and constantly wanted to shut him down. Eventually he was promoted to Colonel and bumped up the chain into USAF administration. His conflicts with well known figures such as Flickinger, Col. Albert Boyd, and co-researcher Col. David Simons, and his professional friendship and respect for Joe Kittinger are well explained. The book is also a good account of life at Muroc betwen 1948 and 1954 when it became Edwards AFB after the death of Glen Edwards. Yeager and Pancho Barnes have cameo appearances in this part of the book as well.

As much as I read the book for the aerospace angle, I was truly fascinated by Stapp's influence on safety standards and the need for adequate seatbelt restraints in vehicles, first in the military to arrest unacceptable mortality rates of military personnel, but then in the civilian auto industry.

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: Sgt. Reckless

Subtitle: America's Favorite War Horse

Author: World Watch Media

Narrator: Millian Quinteros

Format: Unabridged

Length: 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-17

Publisher: World Watch Media

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Bought by the members of the United States Marine Corps in October 1952 when she was three or four years old from a young Korean stable boy named Kim Huk Moon, Sergeant Reckless was a chestnut colored horse with three white stockings and blaze. Ah Chim Hai was the horse's original name which means "Flame of the Morning" or "Morning Flame" in Korean. Nicked named "Flame" by its owner Moon, the horse was sold for $250 to Lieutenant Eric Pedersen in order to buy a prosthetic leg for his sister who had stepped on a land mine. At first glance the horse's breed was thought to be Mongolian because of the shape of its head which was the same as horses of the thoroughbred lineage. She weighed 400kg and stood at 56 inches or 142cm. Colonel Eustace P. Smoak gave Pedersen permission to buy the horse for his platoon in October 1952. Pedersen needed an animal that could carry nine of 24 pound heavy shells to supply recoilless rifles used by the Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the Fifth Marine Regiment who were based in mountainous terrain. On October 26th, 1952, just one day after getting permission, Corporal Phillip Carter, Sergeant Willard Berry and Pedersen drove to the Seoul racetrack in a jeep with a trailer. Pederson used his own money to buy the horse despite Moon being reluctant to sell at first.

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: Native American Tribes

Subtitle: The History and Culture of the Mohegans

Author: Charles River Editors, Jay Moore

Narrator: Colin Fluxman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-18-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

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 who 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.

Among all the Native American tribes, the Mohegan people are some of the most well documented Native Americans in history. Indigenous to the northeast region of what is now the United States, they were among some of the earliest contacts Europeans had with the native tribes. And yet they have remained a constant source of mystery.

When European settlers began to colonize areas like Plymouth and New Amsterdam, they quickly came into contact with various natives, including the southeast Connecticut based Mohegan, who were once part of a unified tribe with the Pequot but now considered that group a mortal enemy. In fact, the entangled nature of the tribes meant that European colonists who could barely distinguish between the groups often found themselves in makeshift alliances, and during the Pequot War in the 1630s, the Pequot were nearly wiped out.

Though the Mohegan helped the colonists during that war and benefited from it, the tribe itself would begin to languish as the United States expanded. By the 20th century, the Mohegan tribe was on the verge of having its last native speaker die, and suffering the extinction of their original language. Fortunately, anthropologists and some of the Mohegans remaining helped to keep their culture and language alive, and today there is a federally recognized Mohegan tribe that lives on a reservation near their original homeland in Connecticut.

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 Texas Revolution

Subtitle: The History and Legacy of the Lone Star State's War for Independence from Mexico

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Scott Clem

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-20-16

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

What part of the United States has been under the rule of six different countries? The answer, given the title of this book, is obvious, and perhaps that's why few places in America have citizens with such an inflamed pride for their homeland. As John Steinbeck famously wrote in Travels with Charley: In Search of America, "Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America." It's not uncommon for the average Texan to feel great pride for the mere fact of being a Texan, and even if also a proud American, he she can even play with the notion that the Lone Star State can (and perhaps should) be a nation itself. To say that something is "the size of Texas" expresses grandeur and impressiveness, and its inhabitants have certainly displayed enough industriousness to make this part of North America one of the states that contribute most to the country's gross domestic product.

When various revolutions mostly forced the Europeans out of the continent, Texas ceased to belong to Spain and France to become a part of the Mexican Empire; later it was an independent country, and currently one of the 50 states of the United States. During a short period, rebellious Texas again separated from the US to join the Confederate States of America with other secessionist states.

Of course, the most important war of all for Texas came in the early 19th century, and the common story heard in America is about rebellion against intolerance, oppression and Mexican cruelty. The Battle of the Alamo in particular, surrounded by legend and testimonies of heroism, is a textbook example of the fight for freedom, comparable to the Jewish defenders during the Roman siege at Masada. The words "martyrs" and "Mexican tyranny" are almost always present in the recounts, and "Remember the Alamo!" is both a slogan of self-glorification and martyrdom that remains one of the most famous phrases in America.

Naturally, this typical account is portrayed through rose-colored glasses. As in every story, everything depends on which side readers are positioned on and whose histories they're reading. The Texas Revolution certainly pursued freedom, but not for the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the homeless or the wretched refuse of alien shores; it was rather the freedom to suck in land from a weak country and to preserve slavery in the cotton fields, added to enthusiasm for cheap land and inexhaustible natural resources.

Texans did not live under a tyranny, and the settlers were not enslaved by anyone - on the contrary, they had been given cheap or free land and every assistance to settle. Nor was the Mexican army the evil force whose sole purpose was, in the words of the time, to enforce "barbarism and despotism (...) of the Hispanic-American hybrid race and the black race against civilization" (Pacheco, 1997). As Arnoldo de León noted, "The Texans never experienced oppression like that of the others who have risen in rebellion.

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: Antebellum America

Subtitle: Cultural Connections Through History 1820-1860

Author: Dr. James M. Volo

Narrator: Gloria Mason Martin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-16

Publisher: James M. Volo

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Amid all the printer's ink and historical speculation, the antebellum period (approx. 1820-1860) has largely been ignored until recently. The antebellum period often gets lost between the better-documented Federalist and Victorian eras. Well-educated adults are often unsure of the meaning of the term antebellum or relegate the entire pre-Civil War era to Margaret Mitchell's images of Clayton County, Georgia in Gone with the Wind with its magnolia-scented plantations, hoop skirts, and flirtatious Southern Belles.

While Mitchell's view of the Old South was not too far removed from the truth, and deserves its venerated place as a work of fiction and cinematography, it is far from giving a full historical view of all of antebellum America. Americans were acutely aware of the business climate and political activities taking place across the globe and not only those of local importance. While the speed of modern communications would be incomprehensible to them, antebellum Americans did not live in a box sealed off from the rest of the world. As will be seen, there is ample evidence that Americans affected and were affected by occurrences that took place oceans away. They were expansionists, not isolationists. Moreover, antebellum Americans were seaman, merchants, and traders; students, visitors and expatriates; Northerners, Southerners, and emigrants; who fully participated in an empire of goods coming from sources in every corner of the world. Here in this pretty world gallantry took its last bow.

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: Rum Punch & Revolution

Subtitle: Taverngoing & Public Life in Eighteenth Century Philadelphia

Author: Peter Thompson

Narrator: Gary Roelofs

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-15-16

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

There were, Peter Thompson notes, some 150 synonyms for inebriation in common use in colonial Philadelphia and, on the eve of the Revolution, just as many licensed drinking establishments. Clearly, 18th-century Philadelphians were drawn to the tavern. In addition to the obvious lure of the liquor, taverns offered overnight accommodations, meals, and stabling for visitors. They also served as places to gossip, gamble, find work, make trades, and gather news.

In Rum Punch and Revolution, Thompson shows how the public houses provided a setting in which Philadelphians from all walks of life revealed their characters and ideas as nowhere else. He takes the listener into the cramped confines of the colonial bar room, describing the friendships, misunderstandings and conflicts which were generated among the city's drinkers and investigates the profitability of running a tavern in a city which, until independence, set maximum prices on the cost of drinks and services in its public houses.

Taverngoing, Thompson writes, fostered a sense of citizenship that influenced political debate in colonial Philadelphia and became an issue in the city's revolution. Opinionated and profoundly undeferential, taverngoers did more than drink; they forced their political leaders to consider whether and how public opinion could be represented in the counsels of a newly independent nation.

Critic Reviews:

"A gold mine.... The author creates a fascinating story, rich in tidbits and anecdotes." (Choice)

"A marvelous book about an important, interesting, and diverting subject." (American Historical Review)

Members Reviews:

I might be a bit prejudiced....

What made the experience of listening to Rum Punch & Revolution the most enjoyable?

...because I'm the narrator; but this book was a pleasure to have produced--informative, insightful, and current in the sense that the oligarchy we are currently seeing in our national government (not to mention states and local) has a long tradition and cannot be "corrected" merely by wishing and hoping. The correction needs to come thru another "revolution" where the power is actually invested in the people.

What about Gary Roelofss performance did you like?

Wow! I was great--clear, articulate, and matching the ideas with intonation and emphasis perfectly! (All kidding aside, I enjoyed narrating this book.) And I hope that hundreds of listeners enjoy it too!

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 City in Texas

Subtitle: A History

Author: David G. McComb

Narrator: R.T. McKnight

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-02-16

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The rise of Texas cities is a fascinating story that has not been previously told. Yet it is essential for understanding both the state's history and its contemporary character.

In The City in Texas, acclaimed historian David G. McComb chronicles the evolution of urban Texas from the Spanish conquest to the present. Writing in lively, sometimes humorous and provocative prose, he describes how commerce and politics were the early engines of city growth, followed by post-Civil War cattle shipping, oil discovery, lumbering, and military needs. McComb emphasizes that the most transformative agent in city development was the railroad. This technology - accompanied by telegraphs that accelerated the spread of information and mechanical clocks that altered concepts of time - revolutionized transportation, enforced corporate organization, dictated town location, organized space and architecture, and influenced thought. McComb also thoroughly explores the post-World War II growth of San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston as incubators for businesses, educational and cultural institutions, and health care centers.

Critic Reviews:

"This book is a treasure trove of information, representing a lifetime of research, and it will be indispensable... for years to come." (David R. Johnson, University of Texas at San Antonio)