Download Popular Titles Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: JFK's Last Hundred Days

Subtitle: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

Author: Thurston Clarke

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-16-13

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 45 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFKs last100 days that asks what might have been...

Fifty years after his death, President John F. Kennedys legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke argues that the heart of that legend is what might have been. As we approach the anniversary of Kennedys assassination, JFKs Last Hundred Days reexamines the last months of the presidents life to show a man in the midst of great change, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.

Kennedys last 100 days began just after the death of two-day-old Patrick Kennedy, and during this time, the president made strides in the Cold War, civil rights, Vietnam, and his personal life. While Jackie was recuperating, the premature infant and his father were flown to Boston for Patricks treatment. Kennedy was holding his sons hand when Patrick died on August 9, 1963. The loss of his son convinced Kennedy to work harder as a husband and father, and there is ample evidence that he suspended his notorious philandering during these last months of his life.

Also in these months Kennedy finally came to view civil rights as a moral as well as a political issue, and after the March on Washington, he appreciated the power of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., for the first time.

Though he is often depicted as a devout cold warrior, Kennedy pushed through his proudest legislative achievement in this period, the Limited Test Ban Treaty. This success, combined with his warming relations with Nikita Khrushchev in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, led to a détente that British foreign secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home hailed as the "beginning of the end of the Cold War".

Throughout his presidency, Kennedy challenged demands from his advisers and the Pentagon to escalate Americas involvement in Vietnam. Kennedy began a reappraisal in the last 100 days that would have led to the withdrawal of all 16,000 U.S. military advisers by 1965.

JFKs Last Hundred Days is a gripping account that weaves together Kennedys public and private lives, explains why the grief following his assassination has endured so long, and solves the most tantalizing Kennedy mystery of all - not who killed him but who he was when he was killed, and where he would have led us.

Members Reviews:

One of the better JFK books out there

One of the better JFK books I have ever read. The use of first hand accounts and words of the actual men who lived the moments provide unmatched insight. This book makes the reader think about what JFK was striving for. Often we forget that history can remember a man far differently than the man he truly was. The evidence provided in this book does make you question how much blame JFK should really be given for the policy choices that he may never have intended. I recomend this to anyone and is well worth the one credit price AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Truly enjoyed this book

Any additional comments?

I truly enjoyed the book, a lot of new information about JFK, at least for me. Narration is great too.

JFK, what can you say

First time author, this book was recommended to me by several people. We all have moments in our lives where we remember exactly where we were when we heard some momentous news. JFK's death was one of those times for me. I was 12 years old in 6th grade and it was lunch time.

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Title: Topsy

Subtitle: The Startling Story of the Crooked Tailed Elephant, P. T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison

Author: Michael Daly

Narrator: Mark Peckham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-02-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In 1903 at the soon-to-open Luna Park on Coney Island, an elephant named Topsy was electrocuted, likely with advice from Thomas Edison,whose film crew recorded the horrible event. Over the past century, this bizarre, ghoulish execution has reverberated through popular culture with the ring of an urban legend. But it really happened, and today, Edisons footage can be found on YouTube, where it has been viewed nearly two million times.

Many historical forces conspired to bring Topsy, Edison, and those 6,600 volts of alternating current together at Coney Island that day. Journalist Michael Dalys Topsy is a fascinating popular history that traces them, from the rise of the circus in America and the lives of circus elephants, through Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the war of the currents, to the birth of Coney Island.

Members Reviews:

LOVED this book

LOVED this book! The story was told in much detail with a minute look at circus life , as well as the history of elephants in the circus. Sometimes, it was a little hared to read about the horrific acts of cruelty towards the elephants, but important to know. I will never go to a circus again that has an animal "act".

Topsy

A better title would have been something about how captive elephants have given their all to make the circus what it is, today. The book is not about Topsy, only, so the title was a little misleading for me. The circus, the competition between circus owners to acquire elephants, the general acquiring of elephants, and the story of Topsy make up the full book. The first chapter is a little wanting with page, after page, after page, after page after page . . of the phrase "would have" to describe how Topsy "would have" been born and captured. After Chapter 1, the book is interesting. I finished reading it, but felt the book could have been more aptly titled about circus elephants in general. The story of Topsy is the capper, but there were just as many other interesting stories in the book about other captive elephants. A good read and a book that should be on the list for anyone unaware of the treatment of captive elephants, and also, the chosen methods by circuses to put some of these elephants, not just Topsy, to death, those deemed to have become psychotic due to capture or dangerous amongst humans (becoming so due to the mistreatment of the elephants by their trainers, such as with Topsy). You'll learn more about circus elephants in this book, than you would from Wikipedia.

Fascinating

I Wonder how much more humane we have gotten as human being , towards animals? Interesting, full of detail, sorrowful

Circus of Horrors

Sad yet truly telling of the smarmy undersides of the circus business. I felt so sorry for Topsy and her fellow animals throughout the book. Mesmerizing and tawdry account of Edison and Barnum in financial cahoots with poor Topsy in the middle. Really hardhearted and callous.

Dumbo deserved better

Engaging account of the importation and exploitation of the circus elephant in the US, but alarming in its documentation of the extent to which they were subject to routine abuse to 'control' behavior.

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Title: 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War

Author: Charles Emerson

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-09-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 75 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features last summers in grand aristocratic residences or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans.

In this illuminating history, Charles Emmerson liberates the world of 1913 from this prelude to war narrative, and explores it as it was, in all its richness and complexity. Traveling from Europes capitals, then at the height of their global reach, to the emerging metropolises of Canada and the United States, the imperial cities of Asia and Africa, and the boomtowns of Australia and South America, he provides a panoramic view of a world crackling with possibilities, its future still undecided, its outlook still open.

The world in 1913 was more modern than we remember, more similar to our own times than we expect, more globalized than ever before. The Gold Standard underpinned global flows of goods and money, while mass migration reshaped the worlds human geography. Steamships and sub-sea cables encircled the earth, along with new technologies and new ideas. Fords first assembly line cranked to life in 1913 in Detroit. The Woolworth Building went up in New York. While Mexico was in the midst of bloody revolution, Winnipeg and Buenos Aires boomed. An era of petro-geopolitics opened in Iran. China appeared to be awaking from its imperial slumber. Paris celebrated itself as the city of light, Berlin as the city of electricity.

Full of fascinating characters, stories, and insights, 1913: In Search of the World before the Great War brings a lost world vividly back to life, with provocative implications for how we understand our past and how we think about our future.

Members Reviews:

Good book ruined by bad read

[{ "answer" : "This is a pretty good book that does what it says it will do: Sets out portraits of the worlds countries at the time as they represented themselves and as they actually behaved. But the audio presentation is ruined by a reader and/or producer who has no idea how to pronounce the terms used or the names of people or places.

For example, the French centime is pronounced SAHN-teem, not SENT-time; a \"row\", as in tussle, sounds like, \"Ow! You hit me\", not Row, like your boat gently down the stream; Camille Saint-Saens is san-SOHNS, not sant sigh-ENS.

Simple words were mispronounced, like saying \"pro-TESTS in the streets\", instead of, \"PRO-tests in the streets.\" Granted, the Qing Dynasty is not commonly known to be pronounced CHING Dynasty, but in the age of the internet wouldn't it behoove producers of audiobooks to check these things out? It's certainly not KWING Dynasty, as pronounced in this book; there's no \"u\".

My enjoyment of this book was ruined by cringing every few minutes at the continued, flagrant disregard for the listener's intelligence as regards simple knowledge of the proper pronunciations.

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Title: The Price of the Ticket

Subtitle: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics

Author: Fredrick Harris

Narrator: Mary Kane

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-06-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The historical significance of Barack Obama's triumph in the presidential election of 2008 scarcely requires comment. Yet it contains an irony: He won a victory as an African American only by denying that he was the candidate of African Americans. Obama's very success, writes Fredrick Harris, exacted a heavy cost on black politics.

In The Price of the Ticket, Harris puts Obama's career in the context of decades of black activism, showing how his election undermined the very movement that made it possible. The path to his presidency began just before passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when black leaders began to discuss strategies to make the most of their new access to the ballot. Some argued that black voters should organize into a cohesive, independent bloc; others urged a more race-neutral approach, working together with other racial minorities as well as like-minded whites. This has been the fundamental divide within black politics ever since. At first, the gap did not seem serious. But the post-civil-rights era has accelerated a shift towards race-neutral politics. Obama made a point of distancing himself from older, race-conscious black leaders, such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson - even though, as Harris shows, he owes much to Jackson's earlier campaigns for the White House. Unquestionably Obama's approach won support among whites, but Harris finds the results troublesome. The social problems targeted by an earlier generation of black politicians - racial disparities in income and education, stratospheric incarceration and unemployment rates, rampant HIV in black communities - all persist, yet Obama's election, ironically, marginalized them. Meanwhile, the civil-rights movement's militancy is fading from memory.

Written by one of America's leading scholars of race and politics, The Price of the Ticket will reshape our understanding of the rise of Barack Obama and the decline of a politics dedicated to challenging racial inequality head on.

Members Reviews:

What price silence as regards the symbol with no clothes?

I thought this book served an especially worthwhile purpose.

It serves, I think to awaken and or further remind those on the left why we should have been wary of Barack Obama.

Of all the Demographic groups, Black People have been the most loyal to this President.

Unfortunately, this loyalty has not been reciprocated.

Black people have been consistently either ignored, insulted or pandered to by this President.

Every other faction of the Democratic base has demanded and received a sympathetic ear for their grievances but Blacks.

Is Barack Obama in the White House the culmination of black protest and activism since Slavery?

Is it so important to have a symbol as your representative? Even if that symbol only acknowledges you and yours only when it is politically expedient for him to do so?

What becomes of the struggle for human rights and dignity after Obama has left the White House?

This is a Question particularly for those so-called Black Leaders like Al Sharpton and more broadly those on the Progressive Left who have been so awed by this man that until recently they would offer no critique of him or his policies. Even though he has only transformed or expanded the Bush-Era policies.

A detailed and intelligent analysis of how Mr

A detailed and intelligent analysis of how Mr.

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Title: In the Shadow of the General

Subtitle: Modern France and the Myth of De Gaulle

Author: Sudhir Hazareesingh

Narrator: Alain Patry

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-06-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Charles De Gaulle's leadership of the French while in exile during World War II cemented his place in history. In contemporary France, he is the stuff of legend, consistently acclaimed as the nation's pre-eminent historical figure. But paradoxes abound. For one thing, his personal popularity sits oddly with his social origins and professional background. Neither the Army nor the Catholic Church is particularly well-regarded in France today, as they are seen to represent antiquated traditions and values. So why, then, do the French nonetheless identify with, celebrate, and even revere this austere and devout Catholic, who remained closely wedded to military values throughout his life?

In The Shadow of the General resolves this mystery and explains how de Gaulle has come to occupy such a privileged position in the French imagination. Sudhir Hazareesingh's story of how an individual life was transformed into national myth also tells a great deal about the French collective self in the twenty-first century: its fractured memory, its aspirations to greatness, and its manifold anxieties. Indeed, alongside the tale of de Gaulle's legacy, the author unfolds a much broader narrative: The story of modern France.

Members Reviews:

Good content, questionable narration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed it and I learned a lot. It should be pointed out, however, that this is a book about the evolution of the de Gaulle myth rather than a historical account of de Gaulle's years in power. You end up getting a good, general overview of his life through the book, but that is not the main thrust by any means.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator seems to know French well enough, but he tends to overuse his French accent throughout the audiobook. What's more, his accent often sounds more like someone making fun of a French accent that an actual French accent (particularly when he reads direct quotes from de Gaulle).

Once you put that aside, Mr. Patry often mispronounces basic English words by placing the emphasis on the wrong syllable. (For example, he says "Mi-li-TA-ry" instead of "MI-li-ta-ry") After a while, I got use to his odd cadence, but if you are one who can't stand that kind of thing, I do not recommend this audiobook.

An uphill struggle - and a horrible narrator!

There are not that many books on De Gualle on audible, so I ended up with this one - finishing it seemed like an uphill struggle, though. I would have preferred a conventional biography, which this book most definitely is not. It is about the way De Gaulle and his "myth" have been perceived by the French and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world over time. It presupposes a great deal of knowledge about the history of France, especially post WW II, and of De Gaulle's biography, which I did not have. But it did provide a motivation to research things, I have to admit.

What was really awful about this reading was the narrator. I would be really curious to know what the man's mother language is. It doesn't seem to be English since, although his reading was, overall, pleasant enough, his accent was neither typically British nor American nor, indeed, any other of the native accents of English I am familiar with.

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Title: On the Edge of the Cold War

Subtitle: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Prague

Author: Igor Lukes

Narrator: David Kaplan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-06-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In 1945, both the U.S. State Department and U.S. Intelligence saw Czechoslovakia as the master key to the balance of power in Europe and as a chessboard for the power-game between East and West. Washington believed that the political scene in Prague was the best available indicator of whether the United States would be able to coexist with Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.

In this book, Igor Lukes illuminates the end of World War II and the early stages of the Cold War in Prague, showing why the United States failed to prevent Czechoslovakia from being absorbed into the Soviet bloc. He draws on documents from archives in the United States and the Czech Republic, on the testimonies of high ranking officers who served in the U.S. Embassy from 1945 to 1948, and on unpublished manuscripts, diaries, and memoirs.

Exploiting this wealth of evidence, Lukes paints a critical portrait of Ambassador Laurence Steinhardt. He shows that Steinhardt's groundless optimism caused Washington to ignore clear signs that democracy in Czechoslovakia was in trouble. Although U.S. Intelligence officials who served in Prague were committed to the mission of gathering information and protecting democracy, they were defeated by the Czech and Soviet clandestine services that proved to be more shrewd, innovative, and eager to win. Indeed, Lukes reveals that a key American officer may have been turned by the Russians. For all these reasons, when the Communists moved to impose their dictatorship, the U.S. Embassy and its CIA section were unprepared and powerless.

The fall of Czechoslovakia in 1948 helped deepen Cold War tensions for decades to come. Vividly written and filled with colorful portraits of the key participants, On the Edge of the Cold War offers an authoritative account of this key foreign policy debacle.

Members Reviews:

excellent book, deplorable performance

brilliant book but unbearable to listen to. Read with a most mechanical voice and not a single czech name or word is pronounced correctly. sad when it's a book about czech history.

Terrible editing and narration!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I have no issue with the content; it is a historical text and frankly not much more than a narrated and detailed thesis (dry dry dry!) The real issue is the narrator. It is voiced by an American (no problem here naturally), however they could have chosen one who is familiar with foreign pronunciation. Instead whenever he regularly cocks-up a tricky word, the track is edited and very obviously over-dubbed with the correct pronunciation. Furthermore, mid-book I found myself re-listening to several passages to which I had just listened due to poor editing. Sadly the narration and editing really doesn't do the book justice but I am loath to be overly critical because it is a niche book whose generated income probably wouldn't justify the cost of re-recording. Thus I am at pains to highlight that if you are using this text as part of your research then stick with it, because it is a useful tome!

What didnt you like about David Kaplans performance?

He really needs to familiarise himself with the pronunciation of foreign words.

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Title: If Chaos Reigns

Subtitle: The Near-Disaster and Ultimate Triumph of the Allied Airborne Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944

Author: Flint Whitlock

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

"Gentlemen, do not be daunted if chaos reigns; it undoubtedly will."

So said Brigadier S. James Hill, commanding officer of the British 3rd Parachute Brigade, in an address to his troops shortly before the launching of Operation Overlord - the D-Day invasion of Normandy. No more prophetic words were ever spoken, for chaos indeed reigned on that day, and many more that followed.

Much has been written about the Allied invasion of France, but award-winning military historian Flint Whitlock has put together a unique package - the first history of the assault that concentrates exclusively on the activities of the American, British, and Canadian airborne forces that descended upon Normandy in the dark, pre-dawn hours of 6 June 1944. Landing into the midst of the unknown, the airborne troops found themselves fighting for their lives on every side in the very jaws of the German defenses, while striving to seize their own key objectives in advance of their seaborne comrades to come.

Whitlock details the formation, recruitment, training, and deployment of the Allies' parachute and glider troops. First-person accounts by the veterans who were there - from paratroopers to glidermen to the pilots who flew them into the battle, as well as the commanders (Eisenhower, Taylor, Ridgway, Gavin, and more) - make for compelling, "you-are-there" listening. If Chaos Reigns is a fitting tribute to the men who rode the wind into battle and managed to pull victory out of confusion, chaos, and almost certain defeat.

Author/military historian Flint Whitlock graduated from the Army's Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA, in 1965 and spent five years on active duty, including a combat tour in Vietnam. He is the author of nine books, six of which are about World War II, and is currently the editor of WWII Quarterly. He has appeared in documentaries on The History Channel and on the Fox Channel's War Stories with Oliver North, and now lives in Denver, CO.

Members Reviews:

Good Book but Difficult to follow

There is a lot of detail in this book about the individual actions of the various airborne units, of Britain, the U.S. And Canada on D-Day and beyond. There is also a lot of jumping back and forth between those small unit actions which tends to make the narrative itself chaotic and hard to follow. There is also a detailed history of airborne warfare and its development by both Germany and the allies. One must love military history to really enjoy this book otherwise it can be a rather sorrowful slog. What the author does do well is give us a new respect and admiration for those amazingly brave soldiers who jumped or glided into the harrowing night that preceded the D-Day landings, who fought courageously thereafter and in many cases died.

The common soldier did the job

Very well done description and analysis of the Airborne aspect of the Normandy Invasion. The planning had many flaws, grossest among them was failing to assess the terrain correctly. Hedgerows, swamps and flooded fields turned into deathtraps. Did anyone think to ask the local French Resistance.

Execution was even worse than the planning. Vastly overloaded with equipment and supplies, most of which left their possession, on or before landing and scattered miles from their drop zones, how did these men succeed?

Success was at the small unit level.

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Title: The Dirtiest Race in History

Subtitle: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100M Final

Author: Richard Moore

Narrator: Traber Burns

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-23-13

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 37 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of athletics, and more indelibly etched into the consciousness of the sport, the Olympics, and a global audience of millions, than any other athletics event before or since.

Ben Johnson's world-record time of 9.79 seconds - as thrilling as it was - was the beginning rather than the end of the story. Following the race, Johnson tested positive, news that generated as many - if not more - shockwaves as his fastest ever run. He was stripped of the title, with Lewis awarded the gold medal, Linford Christie the silver and Calvin Smith the bronze.

More than two decades on, the story still hadn't ended. In 1999 Lewis was named Sportsman of the Century by the IOC, and Olympian of the Century by Sports Illustrated. Yet his reputation was damaged by revelations that he too used performance-enhancing drugs, and tested positive prior to the Seoul Olympics. Christie also tested positive in Seoul but his explanation, that the banned substance had been in ginseng tea, was accepted. Smith, now a lecturer in English literature at a Florida university, was the only athlete in the top five whose reputation remains unblemished - the others all tested positive at some stage in their careers.

Containing remarkable new revelations, this book uses witness interviews - with Johnson, Lewis and Smith among others - to reconstruct the build-up to the race, the race itself, and the fallout when news of Johnson's positive test broke and he was forced into hiding. It also examines the rivalry of the two favourites going into it, and puts the race in a historical context, examining its continuing relevance on the sport today, where every new record elicits scepticism.

Members Reviews:

amazing

if you're interested in doping in sports you'll enjoy this book. A lot of details.

Sad sad story

An in depth look back at the events leading up to and surrounding the race that changed the way we look at athletics.

Insightful

This is probably the best sports book I've listened to or read. I remember the furore that the drugs scandal caused at the time and vaguely recall references to " the mystery man". Well worth a listen

Excellent..

....This is an excellent account of the day we all remember the 100 m final ..

Great book

Brings back a lot of memories from a dramatic time in sports history. There aren't a lot of heroes in this story but it's well worth listening to.

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Title: The Great Swim

Author: Gavin Mortimer

Narrator: Randye Kaye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The dramatic story of the four courageous female swimmers who captivated the world in the summer of 1926.

Despite the tensions of a world still recovering from World War I, during the summer of 1926, the story that enthralled the public revolved around four young American swimmers - Gertrude Ederle, Mille Gade, Lillian Cannon, and Clarabelle Barrett - who battled the weather, each other, and considerable odds to become the first woman to conquer the brutal waters of the English Channel.

The popular East Coast tabloids from New York to Boston engaged in rivalries nearly as competitive as the swimmers themselves; each backed a favorite and made certain their girl - in bathing attire - was plastered across their daily editions. Just as Seabiscuit, the little horse with the big heart, would bring the nation to a near standstill when he battled his rival War Admiral in 1938, this quartet of women held the attention of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic for an entire summer.

Gavin Mortimer uses primary sources, diaries, interviews with relatives, and contemporary reports to paint an unforgettable portrait of a competition that changed the way the world looked at women, both in sport and society. More than an underdog story, The Great Swim is a tale of perseverance, strength, and sheer force of will. A portrait of an era that is as evocative as Cinderella Man, this is a memorable story of America and Americans in the 1920s.

Members Reviews:

terrific, slice of history book

Would you consider the audio edition of The Great Swim to be better than the print version?

The audio edition is very entertaining & moves well. Excellent narrator. This is not the kind of book that has to be read in the traditional way, no crying need for referring to maps or photographs to follow along.

What did you like best about this story?

The author focuses on several women who were trying the be the first to swim the channel that summer, not just Gertrude Ederle, who was the one who did it first.

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Title: Chasing Icarus

Subtitle: The Seventeen Days in 1910 That Forever Changed American Aviation

Author: Gavin Mortimer

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In October of 1910, only four years before the outbreak of World War I, nobody knew whether planes, dirigibles, or balloons would prevail. Within a period of 17 days, this question was on prime display, as the dirigible America tried to cross the Atlantic; huge crowds gathered at horse-racing tracks to watch airplanes race around overhead; and ballooning teams from around the world took off from St. Louis in pursuit of the Bennett International Balloon Cup, given to the balloon that traveled the farthest. The dramatic denouement would stun the country and lay the foundation for the air force. In Chasing Icarus, Gavin Mortimer has plumbed original and primary sources to paint a vivid picture of the launching point of flight, and an indelible portrait of the late-Edwardian world about to explode into war.

Members Reviews:

Not bad but terrible reader

What would have made Chasing Icarus better?

Having someone read it that might have been excited about his job?

What was one of the most memorable moments of Chasing Icarus?

We're not in high school.

How could the performance have been better?

Having someone read it that expresses even a hint of excitement. This book was interesting in story but the person reading it made it the most depressing book I've ever listened to.

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

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

If you are going to charge me to listen to books you should actually get people good at reading and not people that have names. I could care less what the persons name is that reads your books, only that they do a good job.