Download Popular Titles Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: Juno Beach

Subtitle: Canada's D-Day Victory: June 6, 1944

Author: Mark Zuehlke

Narrator: Steve Kehela

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-06-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On June 6, 1944, the greatest armada in history stood off Normandy and the largest amphibious invasion ever began as 107,000 men aboard 6,000 ships pressed toward the coast. Among them were 14,500 Canadians, who were to land on a five-mile-long stretch of rocky ledges fronted by a dangerously exposed beach.

Drawing on personal diaries as well as military records, Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory, June 6, 1944 dramatically depicts Canada's pivotal contribution to the critical Allied battle of World War II.

Editorial Reviews:

Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory, written by prolific military historian Mark Zuehlke, recreates June 6, 1944, from start to finish in impressive detail. The retelling of this iconic day in history is incredibly well-researched, informed by both historical records and comprehensive veteran accounts. World War II buffs will find the harrowing personal stories in Juno Beach particularly compelling. American actor and voice-artist Steve Kehela gives a dramatic performance. His strong and clear voice suits this audiobook's tone precisely. His skilled pacing makes this 14-hour military tome approachable for even the armchair historian.

Members Reviews:

Well done book, narration annoying

This is a Canadian telling of the Normandy landings. Overall, well done. The narrator has a problem distinguishing the plural form of abbreviations. So he talks about an LCA (Landing Craft Assault) and when he sees LCAs, he doesn't see that as the plural form of LCA. He reads it as L C A S. It was confusing as I had to catch on that he wasn't talking about someting different. (I had never heard of an LCIS, but I knew what an LCI was.) He also makes some other mistakes like referring to Drop Zone 5, when it's supposed to be the letter V, but he refers to V Corps instead of 5 Corps. If the narration hadn't had these ongoing annoyances this could have been a 5 star book.

Good book Terrible narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes for someone who is interested in Canadian history.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

How could the performance have been better?

Get a new narrator, one who has some idea about Canada and has some idea on French and German pronunciation.

Did Juno Beach inspire you to do anything?

Read more Canadian history.

History Little Known...

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I found the stories written from a first person's experience to be interesting. Although there were often mis pronunciations, the story was still compelling.

Canada is famous for being a steadfast ally but little is written about the important role played during D Day. I'm very glad the Canadian soldier's story and sacrifices has finally been told.

Disappointed

What disappointed you about Juno Beach?

The narration is mechanical, stilted, and rife with mispronunciations - especially with respect to German or French names or terms. I hope this is not the case, but it sounds to me like the narrator did not read the book in advance or do any preparation.

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Title: The Brenner Assignment

Subtitle: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II

Author: Patrick K. O'Donnell

Narrator: Dennis Boutsikaris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Like a scene from Where Eagles Dare, a small team of American spies parachutes into Italy behind enemy lines. Their orders: link up with local partisans and sabotage the well-guarded Brenner Pass - the Nazis' crucial supply route through the Alps - thereby bringing the German war effort in Italy to a grinding halt.

Critic Reviews:

"In a story so full of plot twists, intrigue, danger, and violent death as to top any bestseller list, O'Donnell recounts the true story of a U.S. mission to sabotage a critical Nazi supply route in the Italian Alps. Dennis Boutsikaris presents the journalistic account in the way it was writtenas a James Bond thriller." (AudioFile)

"O'Donnell clearly enjoys narrating wars gristle along with its meat; small successes and failures ground the story in the reality of sabotage, reconnaissance, capture and escape, torture and murder. Along the way, the participants motivations, allegiances, thoughts and actions come alive in vigorous, exciting prose. A taut real-life thriller." (Kirkus Reviews)

"With thorough research and new interviews, O'Donnell provides an insightful look into the internal struggles of the burgeoning OSS as well as a real-life espionage adventure of bravery, ingenuity and sacrifice." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Great story

overall was a good reading, but i felt a lack of rhythm. Sometimes i would like to get more involved with the characters and the story, but i couldnt. Sometimes it seemed more like a documentary than a story.

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Title: A Most Dangerous Method

Subtitle: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein

Author: John Kerr

Narrator: Peter Berkrot

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A movie starring Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, and Michael Fassbender! In 1907 Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung began what promised to be both a momentous collaboration and the deepest friendship of each man's life. Six years later they were bitter antagonists, locked in a savage struggle that was as much personal and emotional as it was theoretical and professional. In between them stood a young woman named Sabina Spielrein, who had been both patient and lover to Jung and colleague and confidante to Freud before going on to become an innovative psychoanalyst herself. Drawing on years of research (and a cache of recently discovered documents), this mesmerizing audiobook reconstructs the fatal triangle of Freud, Jung, and Spielrein. It encompasses clinical method and politics, hysteria and anti-Semitism, sexual duplicity and intellectual brilliance wielded as blackmail. Learned, humane, and impossible to put down, A Most Dangerous Method is intellectual history with the narrative power and emotional impact of great tragedy.

Members Reviews:

Tedious

What disappointed you about A Most Dangerous Method?

The endless recitation of psychological theories. The plot was constantly interrupted and I gave up in frustration.

Has A Most Dangerous Method turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

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

It made me want to learn more about this story. Hope there is a better book out there.

Any additional comments?

This is the kind of non-fiction writing that gives non-fiction a bad name.

Very Disappointed

Don't waste your credit!!! This story is impossiable to follow. I could not bring myself to finish.

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Title: Pearl Harbor Christmas

Subtitle: A World at War, December 1941

Author: Stanley Weintraub

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Christmas 1941 came little more than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The shock - in some cases overseas, elation - was worldwide. While Americans attempted to go about celebrating as usual, the reality of the just-declared war was on everybodys mind. United States troops on Wake Island were battling a Japanese landing force and, in the Philippines, losing the fight to save Luzon. In Japan, the Pearl Harbor strike force returned to Hiroshima Bay and toasted its sweeping success. Across the Atlantic, much of Europe was frozen under grim Nazi occupation.

Just three days before Christmas, Churchill surprised Roosevelt with an unprecedented trip to Washington, where they jointly lit the White House Christmas tree. As the two Allied leaders met to map out a winning wartime strategy, the most remarkable Christmas of the century played out across the globe.

Pearl Harbor Christmasis a deeply moving and inspiring story about what it was like to live through a holiday season few would ever forget.

Stanley Weintraub is a National Book Award finalist, professor emeritus of arts and humanities at Penn State University, and the author of numerous histories and biographies, including Silent Night, and 11 Days in December. Editor of a ten-volume edition on the works of George Bernard Shaw, he lives in Newark, Delaware.

Critic Reviews:

A minor genre, the day-by-day chronicle, receives a fine addition as veteran historian Weintraub devotes a chapter each to the last ten days of 1941 plus New Years DayReaders will enjoy his opinionated portraits of the allied leaders as they hammered out strategy, much of which was rendered irrelevant by subsequent events. (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

not quite as advertised

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

would not, unless they knew the real subject. This is NOT about Pearl Harbor, but the politics in late December in Washington. It also poorly connected the events described.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Book just trails off on a certain date

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narrator was just ok, could have made it more interesting.

Did Pearl Harbor Christmas inspire you to do anything?

not really. as a pacific war history buff, I just moved on.

Pearl Harbor Christmas

Not much has been written about this early period of the US entry into WWII. This fills in many of those blanks.

FDR WAS NO SAINT

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The slant towards making the racist socialist, FDR, appears to be a saint, and responsible for everything good that happened in America and overlooking all the evil and bad things he did, aside this was a good book.

What did you like best about this story?

brings to light the history of how hard things were in 1941.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner?

yes

Was Pearl Harbor Christmas worth the listening time?

yes

History that's actually interesting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This tells the story of what happened to various people in the month or so after Pearl Harbor. It reads like a naritive of news events but in an interesting and provocative format. It takes the reader to several theaters of war and deffinately gives the essence of what people who were living must have heard and felt.

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Title: Pakistan

Subtitle: A Personal History

Author: Imran Khan

Narrator: Amerjit Deu

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-23-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Born only five years after Pakistan was created in 1947, Imran Khan has lived his countrys history. Undermined by a ruling elite hungry for money and power, Pakistan now stands alone as the only Islamic country with a nuclear bomb, yet it is unable to protect its people from the carnage of regular bombings from terrorists and its own ally, America. Now with the revelation that Pakistan has been the hiding place of Osama bin Laden for several years, that relationship can only grow more strained. How did it reach this flashpoint of instability and injustice with such potentially catastrophic results for Pakistan?

Recounting his countrys history through the prism of his own memories, Imran Khan starts from its foundation, ripped out of the dying British Raj. He guides us through and comments on subsequent historical developments which shook the Muslim world the wars with India in 1965 and 1971, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Americas retribution 10 years later with the assassination of bin Laden to the current controversial and intractable war in Afghanistan. We see these events viewed not only through the eyes of Westerners, but through those of ordinary Pakistanis.

Drawing on the experiences of his own family and his wide travels within his homeland, Pakistan: A Personal History provides a unique insiders view of a country unfamiliar to a western audience. Woven into this history we see how Imran Khans personal life his happy childhood in Lahore, his Oxford education, his extraordinary cricketing career, his marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, his mothers influence and that of his Islamic faith inform both the historical narrative and his current philanthropic and political activities. It is at once absorbing and insightful, casting fresh light upon a country whose culture he believes is largely misunderstood by the West.

Members Reviews:

Imran Khan's life in Pakistan

This is not a history of Pakistan. Imran Khan takes you through his life and touches on various political issues. Exposes the CIA involvement in the leadership of Pakistan (which is hardly mentioned in the Western media)

A must-read!

A powerful analysis from a great man. This is a must-read for any interested in Pakistan and global security.

a splendid book a very bad production

This book is definitely a must read for any one who has any interest in situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Imran provides a very interesting insight into the current situation and what are the reasons for this situation.

The choice of narrator is very poor. He totally fails to pronounce any of the words used from the local languages. I would have imagined the choice of narrator to be some one who has some background in the politics of sub continent so that he can pronounce the names properly. He murdered the names of people and places and the way he recited the verse of Iqbal it was hilarious.

I would suggest to re produce this audio book with either Imran reading himself, or a Pakistani narrating this book some one like Zia Mohyeddin.

Thought-provoking but not well produced

Listening to this prompted me to review my impression of Pakistan and put events, the majority of which I have lived through (I am about the same age as Imran Khan) in a new perspective. You can love it or hate it - certainly the author could not be accused of over-modesty - but it should make you think.

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Title: An Empire of Ice

Subtitle: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science

Author: Edward J. Larson

Narrator: John Allen Nelson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 42 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Published to coincide with the centenary of the first expeditions to reach the South Pole, An Empire of Ice presents a fascinating new take on Antarctic exploration. Retold with added information, it's the first book to place the famed voyages of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, his British rivals Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, and others in a larger scientific, social, and geopolitical context. Efficient, well prepared, and focused solely on the goal of getting to his destination and back, Amundsen has earned his place in history as the first to reach the South Pole. Scott, meanwhile, has been reduced in the public mind to a dashing incompetent who stands for little more than relentless perseverance in the face of inevitable defeat.

An Empire of Ice offers a new perspective on the Antarctic expeditions of the early 20th century by looking at the British efforts for what they actually were: massive scientific enterprises in which reaching the South Pole was but a spectacular sideshow. By focusing on the larger purpose, Edward Larson deepens our appreciation of the explorers' achievements, shares little-known stories, and shows what the Heroic Age of Antarctic discovery was really about.

Critic Reviews:

"Larson succeeds in [his] approach to the popular subject of polar exploration by wrapping the science in plenty of dangerous drama to keep readers engaged." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Rubbish

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

No one. It is rubbish

What was most disappointing about Edward J. Larsons story?

It is poorly researched and full of inaccuracies. Dates, Places, Distance are massively wrong in so many places. These are not small mistakes but problems that change the scope of the story. Shackleton made it to 87 degrees on Nimrod, not 82. Scott only got to 82 degrees years earlier. The Fram expedition ended in Spitzbergen, it did not begin there etc and so it goes on.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narration was ok

What character would you cut from An Empire of Ice?

Do some research first, lots of research.

Any additional comments?

Do not waste your time or money on this.

Story good, narrator not so

Good factual information. Narrator was most irritating with a very fake British accent, really annoying. There are recordings of most Antarctic explorers from that era and accents can be easily checked.

Good, interesting story, but not always gripping

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. It has some very interesting and educational parts, but also some dull spots.

What three words best describe John Allen Nelsons voice?

Dull at times

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, because the strengths of this book are in the details that would be lost in a movie.

Interesting topic, good narration.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

What other book might you compare An Empire of Ice to and why?

Have you listened to any of John Allen Nelsons other performances before? How does this one compare?

N/A

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it takes time to digest.

Any additional comments?

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

Title: Turning the Tide

Subtitle: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-Boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic

Author: Ed Offley

Narrator: James Adams

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-26-11

Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 39 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The United States experienced its most harrowing military disaster of World War II not in 1941 at Pearl Harbor, but rather in the period from 1942 to 1943, in the frigid North Atlantic and American coastal waters from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. Nearly seven decades after the event, the Battle of the Atlantic still stands as the longest-running and most lethal clash of arms in naval history. During the entire duration of the conflict, more than 30,264 Allied merchant seamen and hundreds of navy personnel lost their lives.

The strategic stakes in the Battle of the Atlantic were immense. If the Axis won, Great Britain could have been starved into submission, the Allies would have been unable to marshal their forces to liberate the Continent, and the Germans likely would have at least engineered a stalemate with the Soviets on the Eastern Front that would have allowed the Nazi regime to remain in power.

In Turning the Tide, military reporter and author Ed Offley tells the story of how, during a 12-week period during the spring of 1943, a handful of battle-hardened British, Canadian and American sailors turned the tide in the Atlantic. Using extensive documents from archives in Germany, Great Britain and the United States, and interviews with key survivors on both sides, Offley puts the reader into the heart of the battle - from the navigation bridges of British and American escort warships, to the main decks and engine rooms of Allied merchant ships in convoy, to the claustrophobic control rooms and wave-swept bridges of the U-boats stalking their prey. He also portrays the vicious bureaucratic struggles that raged behind closed doors at the headquarters of both the Allied and German military services, and the above-Top Secret Allied intelligence campaign to crack the German Naval Enigma codes.

A thrilling tale of the decisive naval battle of World War II, Turning the Tide is also a harrowing story of how the Allies nearly lost - and ultimately regained - victory in both the Atlantic and in Europe itself.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: The Bay of Pigs

Subtitle: Oxford University Press - Pivotal Moments in US History

Author: Howard Jones

Narrator: Steve Sever

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-15-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 20 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In The Bay of Pigs, Howard Jones provides a concise, incisive, and dramatic account of the disastrous attempt to overthrow Castro in April 1961. Drawing on recently declassified CIA documents, Jones deftly examines the train of missteps and self-deceptions that led to the invasion of U.S.-trained exiles at the Bay of Pigs.

Ignoring warnings from the ambassador to Cuba, the Eisenhower administration put in motion an operation that proved nearly unstoppable, even after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. The CIA and Pentagon, meanwhile, both voiced confidence in the outcome of the invasion, especially after coordinating previous successful coups in Guatemala and Iran. And so the Kennedy administration launched the exile force toward its doom in Cochinos Bay on April 17, 1961.

Jones gives a riveting account of the battle - and the confusion in the White House - before moving on to explore its implications. The Bay of Pigs, he writes, set the course of Kennedy's foreign policy. It was a humiliation for the administration that fueled fears of Communist domination and pushed Kennedy toward a hardline "cold warrior" stance. But at the same time, the failed attack left him deeply skeptical of CIA and military advisers and influenced his later actions during the Cuban missile crisis.

The Pivotal Moments in American History series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. Each title has a strong narrative arc with drama, irony, suspense, and - most importantly - great characters who embody the human dimension of historical events. The general editors of Pivotal Moments are not just historians; they are popular writers themselves, and, in two cases, Pulitzer Prize winners: David Hackett Fischer, James M. McPherson, and David Greenberg. We hope you like your American History served up with verve, wit, and an eye for the telling detail!

Critic Reviews:

"Extensively researched and cogently reasoned, Jones's update of this Cold War turning point for the Pivotal Moments in American History series is a cautionary account of a disastrous foray into regime change." (Publishers Weekly)

"A taut account of a dismal passage of the Cold War... With remarkable efficiency, Jones... examines all aspects of the debacle... May become the preferred single-source reference to an episode whose foreign policy and military implications continue to reverberate." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Howard Jones has written a page-turner, beginning the moment he describes Fidel Castro's planes roaring out of Havana and heading toward the helpless Cuban exile brigade on Red Beach. He also shows conclusively how the invasion - poorly planned, driven by self-deception and inertia - solidified Castro's rule, destroyed U.S.-Cuban relations, and reinforced the American government's paranoia that any criticism of its foreign policy constituted a threat to nation security." (Stephen Schwab, retired CIA official)

Members Reviews:

Tragedy repetitively retold

This story is the story of a tragedy. The material is capable of being very interesting stuff and in this work some of it is truly interesting. What is truly awful is the endless repetition and the same stuff.

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Title: The Stock Market Crash of 1929

Subtitle: The End of Prosperity

Author: Brenda Lange

Narrator: John Pruden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-13-11

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is an informative introduction to one of the most turbulent events in our history. On October 29, 1929, more than 16 million stock shares were sold at the New York Stock Exchange, and by the end of November, investors had lost more than $100 billion in assets. With the crash, the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties came to a close, and a dark era of financial dispair dawned in the United States.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929: The End of Prosperity is a revealing look at the events that helped usher in one of the grimmest periods in American history. The book is published by Chelsea House Publishers, a leading publisher of educational material.

Members Reviews:

Mistitled & Misleading! Beware: NOT about Wall St.

Whew, where do I begin? I downloaded this thinking I'd get a first hand view of what it was like on wall street in 1929. Boy was I ripped off. This book is mainly about The Great Depression and NOT about the Stock Crash!? Oh, it glosses over the crash for a few pages here and there but that's it. Heck, if I wanted to read about the Great Depression there are better books out there. Skip this one!

A great work on the Depression

This well done piece covers not just what led to the Stock Market Crash, how that crash occurred and finally the many ways the Roosevelt administration tackled the many wrecked portions of America as it broke down the Depression.

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Title: Alistair Cooke's America

Author: Alistair Cooke

Narrator: Peter Marinker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-10

Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

For years legendary broadcaster Alistair Cooke brought America to the rest of the world with incomparable wit and wisdom. This is his classic personal history of America, guiding us through centuries of changing life in the USA.

Beginning with his own arrival in America as a graduate in the 1930s, Alistair Cooke discusses the explorers who put their new-found land on the map, the pioneers who tamed the Wild West, the soldiers who fought for independence and the tycoons who built fortunes. From the Mayflower to the gold rush, the jazz age to Pearl Harbour, with figures as varied as Buffalo Bill, John D. Rockefeller and Martin Luther King, here is the defining portrait of America.

Members Reviews:

Alastair Cook's America

love it. great narrator would like the story to continue 2 2016 and Beyond thanks

A beautifully crafted history of America

A total delight that despite its 30+ year vintage poses questions that are as relevant now as they were then. A recommended listen.

brilliant comprehensive personal histoty

gripping history from amazing storyteller. I have also listened to his letters from america. a legend.

Beautiful written and read

As an avid listener to Letter from America (broadcast in the sixties and seventies, I was eager to listen to this book and was not disappointed. It tells the fascinating story of the discovery and colonisation of the US, the formulation of its constitution and its rise to economic power. Beautifully written and read in Cooke's own lyrical tones. Lovely

Dragged on a bit

I really enjoyed the first half of this book looking at the early history and founding of America but by the time we reached the 20th Century it started to drag. This is curious because this is the period of history that Alistair Cooke actually lived through but I don't feel he brought that much to this section in personal experience. The epilogue, a curious rant against consumerism felt out of place. Narration was solid, but not the sort of voice I'd seek out for any other work.