Download Popular Titles Audiobooks in History, American

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Title: The Boys in the Bunkhouse

Subtitle: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland

Author: Dan Barry

Narrator: Fred Sanders

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-17-16

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 42 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

With this Dickensian tale from America's heartland, New York Times writer and columnist Dan Barry tells the harrowing yet uplifting story of the exploitation and abuse of a resilient group of men with intellectual disabilities and the heroic efforts of those who helped them to find justice and reclaim their lives.

In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, dozens of men, all with intellectual disabilities and all from Texas, lived in an old schoolhouse. Before dawn each morning, they were bussed to a nearby processing plant, where they eviscerated turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. They lived in near servitude for more than 30 years, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse - until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious labor lawyer helped these men achieve freedom.

Drawing on exhaustive interviews, Dan Barry dives deeply into the lives of the men, recording their memories of suffering, loneliness, and fleeting joy as well as the undying hope they maintained despite their traumatic circumstances. Barry explores how a small Iowa town remained oblivious to the plight of these men, analyzes the many causes for such profound and chronic negligence, and lays out the impact of the men's dramatic court case, which has spurred advocates - including President Obama - to push for just pay and improved working conditions for people living with disabilities.

A luminous work of social justice, told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is more than just inspired storytelling. It is a clarion call for a vigilance that ensures inclusion and dignity for all.

Members Reviews:

Our Brothers' Keepers?

"The Boys in the Bunkhouse" could be a cold story with shock value to jazz it up. Instead, it's an elegantly written story of flesh-and-blood men caught in a disgusting and deplorable situation. You get to know the men, their dreams and fears. Mostly, they dream of families, though phone numbers they have are long since disconnected; of retirement in a lovely home that their wages built in Texas; of ownership of tiny things most of us take for granted. And they fear their supervisors and people letting them down yet again.

While the book chronicles the hardcore nature of the jobs they do, the abusive environments they work and live in, their horrific physical ailments, it comes off as neither detached nor sensationalized. They're simply facts of year in, year out reality for the men.

The tragedy is that complaints started as early as 1974, and actions could have been taken time and time again. Yet somewhere along the way, people forgot that the "Henry Boys" were living, feeling human beings. And while there is wonderment that the people of Atalissa never spoke up... or noticed... that things were very wrong comes off as purely believable given the even-handed writing of Dan Barry. This is truly one of the most powerful books I've listened to in a long time.

At times, Sanders' delivery is dry, but at least he has the voice of a skilled documentarian. I never stopped feeling outrage, sadness, heartbreak, joy.

Very much worth the time, very much worth the credit.

Let's not be too judgmental.....

This book is valuable only if we think about the situation it describes thoroughly and circumspectly.

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Title: The First Congress

Subtitle: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government

Author: Fergus M. Bordewich

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-12-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 43 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The First Congress was the most important in US history, says prizewinning author and historian Fergus Bordewich, because it established how our government would actually function. Had it failed - as many at the time feared it would - it's possible that the United States as we know it would not exist today.

The Constitution was a broad set of principles. It was left to the members of the First Congress and President George Washington to create the machinery that would make the government work. Fortunately, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and others less well known today rose to the occasion. During two years of often fierce political struggle, they passed the first 10 amendments to the Constitution; they resolved bitter regional rivalries to choose the site of the new national capital; they set in place the procedure for admitting new states to the union; and much more. But the First Congress also confronted some issues that remain to this day: the conflict between states' rights and the powers of national government; the proper balance between legislative and executive power; the respective roles of the federal and state judiciaries; and funding the central government.

Critic Reviews:

"[T]he colorful machinations of our first Congress receive a delightful account that will keep even educated readers turning the pages." (

Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

A critical story, well-told

I've wanted to read more on the subject for years. In spite of the era being well covered, I've not before seen a focus on the first congress, which operated with no precedent on which to lean. I personal learned a lot. The writing is very good and the spoken version well done.

Often excellent, sometimes flawed

Many interesting facts. Excellent combination of legislative history and biography. Fascinating portrayals of many congressmen, including some who are not well-known today. Too simplistic and too many errors when attempting to contextualize the 1st Congress regarding later developments in constitutional law or US politics.

Intricate Analysis of Novel Challenges

Bordewich has written a thorough analysis of the challenges faced by the new government, for many of which there was no precedent. Many of the participants therefore looked to classical theory for guidance. One lesson from such theory was that a powerful government could be used against the people, and therefore many Americans feared a strong government. This lesson was countered by the experiences under both the Continental and Confederation Congresses, which convinced many that a strong government was needed to deal with other nations and to protect the nation from external pressures.

Much of the story of the First Congress involves reconciling the conflicts inherent in the two lessons, one looking internally and the other externally. The theoretical answer, contained in the Constitution, is the division of power. The monumental achievement of the First Congress was breathing life into our system of checks and balances.

Bordewich also makes emphasizes how much slavery was already a divisive issue--one with no apparent solution and already threatening to become the defining issue in the new nation. Because the politicians could not envision a solution, it became easier for them to ignore the issue than to address it.

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Title: Republic of Spin

Subtitle: An Inside History of the American Presidency

Author: David Greenberg

Narrator: Christopher Price

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-25-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 40 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The most powerful political tool of the modern presidency is control of the message and the image. In Republic of Spin - a vibrant history covering more than 100 years of politics - presidential historian David Greenberg recounts the rise of the White House spin machine, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping, startling narrative takes us behind the scenes to see how the tools and techniques of image making and message craft work. We meet Woodrow Wilson convening the first White House press conference, Franklin Roosevelt huddling with his private pollsters, Ronald Reagan's aides crafting his nightly news sound bites, and George W. Bush staging his "Mission Accomplished" photo-op.

We meet, too, the backstage visionaries who pioneered new ways of gauging public opinion and mastering the media - figures like George Cortelyou, TR's brilliantly efficient press manager; 1920s ad whiz Bruce Barton; Robert Montgomery, Dwight Eisenhower's canny TV coach; and of course the key spinmeisters of our own times, from Roger Ailes to David Axelrod. Greenberg also examines the profound debates Americans have waged over the effect of spin on our politics. Does spin help our leaders manipulate the citizenry? Or does it allow them to engage us more fully in the democratic project?

Exploring the ideas of the century's most incisive political critics, from Walter Lippmann and H. L. Mencken to Hannah Arendt and Stephen Colbert, Republic of Spin illuminates both the power of spin and its limitations - its capacity not only to mislead but also to lead.

Members Reviews:

Entertaining and Informative

I spent several months listening to this Audible title. I can't emphasize enough how surprised and delighted I have been with this book. The subject matter has the potential to make most people's eyes roll up in their heads as they fall into a coma. But the approach taken here was just so entertaining and enlightening. And also, I guess, history just has to float your boat (it surely floats mine). I particularly enjoyed Christopher Price's reading. I'm very picky about Audible voice actors. I thought his expression was perfect - not particularly theatrical and definitely not over-acted. Neither was it too plain or monotone. It was a great conversation. I perceived him as the writer, which to me is exactly what one wants. It's hard for me to separate that voice from the material. Aside from the performance, the author's means of describing events of history from the point of view of advertising, propaganda, public relations and the related behind-the-scenes characters of the time (especially from the first half of the 20th century) which most of us have never heard of was genius. The book takes you through evolving approaches and theories, the battles, campaigns (political and otherwise) and the country's changing perceptions, all the while feeding us wonderful nuggets of real history, humanizing the leaders and participants. It's kind of amazing how, even without the 24-hour news cycles of today, there were underlying groups of FOX and MSNBC-ish pundits feverishly trying to influence the masses and others just trying to cut through the discourse to ferret out the truth - if there really ever is just one truth. The book keeps you thinking.

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Title: Detroit Resurrected

Subtitle: To Bankruptcy and Back

Author: Nathan Bomey

Narrator: Jonathan Yen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-25-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

From thriving Motor City to the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history, Detroit has become the nation's cautionary tale. But what led to the fateful day of the filing, and how did the city survive this crisis?

Journalist Nathan Bomey delivers the inside story of Detroit's decline and the people who fought to save it against impossible odds: Governor Rick Snyder, a self-proclaimed nerd; emergency manager Kevyn Orr, a lawyer with singular dedication; Judge Steven Rhodes, the city's conscience; and retirees who fought to ensure that Detroit kept its promises. In a tightly reported narrative, Bomey reveals the tricky path to the grand bargain that would determine the fate of pensioners, city services, and the world-class Detroit Institute of Arts, which faced the threat of liquidation. Detroit Resurrected offers a sweeping account of financial ruin, backroom intrigue, and political rebirth in the struggle to reinvent one of America's great cities.

Critic Reviews:

"An engaging reconstruction of Detroit's financial crisis and the broader implications of its comeback for other American cities." (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

Outsiders Perspective

I'm from Chicago and know all too well about the numbers of inner city crime in our city so that wasn't as appalling (although I am from the north side so I don't know it that we'll) but from an outsiders perspective, how the city got to the point of bankruptcy was spelling out thoroughly. Many people outside of Michigan don't know how Kwame kilpatrick is, but they don't know about how it was already struggling. The information about 40% of lights working and details about how people just stopped paying real estate taxes by the masses and no public transportation or city work was foreign to me. The idea of not being able to pay back pensions is relatable to Chicagos. I thought the great part of about it was it highlighted all the options the appointees investigated to resolve the issue. Again, I am not from Detroit so I don't know the accuracy or have a bias opinion, but as a story and overall structure of the issues and resolutions to the bankruptcy, it was very well laid out and written.

Rome wasn't rebuilt in a day

Though the details of this story we dizzying, to know the players and ploys used to initiate this historical turn around of such an iconic city, is intriguing.

State of the art nation (re)building, well told

I loved every minute of this. It's not for everyone. This is the most clear, cogent telling (neatly wrapped in a listenable story) of where big swaths of our national (and global) economies are finding themselves. The 20th century boom wave (with all its joyful narratives) is receding folks, but new shoots are coming up. Clear the ground. Some of my summer studies are focused on bankruptcy and various financial restructurings, and between the technical book readings, this is like wonderful beach reading for me.

Among many well-described characters, my two favorites are Kevyn Orr, Detroit emergency manager (many family members of mine are named Orr, so it is a thrill to see such an able and admirable man bearing the name) and a corporate character -- Syncora. Syncora, a financial firm, facilitated the funding of many of the city's earlier doings (including pensions, the payees of which were treated so much better than it was, or at least, relatively less bad).

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Title: American Pendulum

Subtitle: Recurring Debates in US Grand Strategy

Author: Christopher M. Hemmer

Narrator: Jim Woods

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-24-16

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In American Pendulum, Christopher Hemmer examines America's grand strategic choices between 1914 and 2014 using four recurring debates in American foreign policy as lenses. First, how should the United States balance the trade-offs between working alone versus working with other states and international organizations? Second, what is the proper place of American values in foreign policy? Third, where does the strategic perimeter of the United States lie? And fourth, is time on the side of the United States or of its enemies?

Hemmer asserts that heated debates, disagreements, and even confusions over US grand strategy are not only normal but also beneficial. He challenges the claim that uncertainties or inconsistences about the nation's role in the world or approach to security issues betray strategic confusion or the absence of a grand strategy. American foreign policy, he states, is most in danger not when debates are at their most pointed but when the weight of opinion crushes dissent. As the United States looks ahead to an increasingly multipolar world with increasing complicated security issues, Hemmer concludes, developing an effective grand strategy requires ongoing contestation and compromises between competing visions and policies.

Critic Reviews:

"This creative and perceptive work deserves the attention of both scholars and policymakers." (Christopher Preble, Cato Institute)

"An important contribution to the literature by contextualizing recurring debates about American grand strategy This book is required reading for students of U.S. grand strategy, and will be of interest to nonspecialist readers as well." (Christopher Layne, Texas A&M University)

"Christopher Hemmer provides a balanced and reliable survey of American grand strategy from the early twentieth century to the Obama era, pointing to recurring tensions and debates." (Colin Dueck, George Mason University)

Members Reviews:

Excellent overview of U.S. grand strategy.

Ever wonder why different administrations seem to careen back and forth between different world engagement policies? Chris lays it out very well in this book. Succinct, entertaining, and informative. Great book!

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Title: The Girls Who Went Away

Subtitle: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade

Author: Ann Fessler

Narrator: Coleen Marlo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than 100 women as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.

Critic Reviews:

"Fessler recounts her own journey to find and reunite with her birth mother in this heartrending look at the untold story of American women compelled to surrender their children." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Sad but True ... and Helpful

What did you love best about The Girls Who Went Away?

The stories were heartwrenching. Each of them different but all connected in the heartache. I have my own story, and it's different and yet the same. It was healing for me and I recommend, HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who has given up and I use 'given up' purposefully, their baby for adoption.

What did you like best about this story?

The honesty. The chance for a happy ending.

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

This was my first audio book so it's hard for me to answer, but I enjoyed the listening.

Whats the most interesting tidbit youve picked up from this book?

There are a lot of secrets out there. A lot of young girls being shamed and traumatized by the way society views teen pregnancy and it's so unfair. These girls were just the ones who got found out, all the girls, or most of them anyway were having sex.

Any additional comments?

I read this book as recommended by my social worker as I was working on finding my son. It was like I had a friend and I highly recommend it. P.S. I found my son and life is good. Next week for the first time in 40 years I get to wish him a happy birthday. Can not wait!!

wow....I am an adoptee and a birthmom

it was an intense emotional book. it put words to some of the struggles I had in my heart that I didn't have words for before. it opened my heart to the women who suffer in silence. it gave me a new perspective on my birthmom and my brothers birthmom.

Great Book

These true stories were difficult to hear at times. But everybody should know what these women went through. I am an adoptee and I am so glad I read this book.

Great book

Great book. It is detailed in the accounts and life style of the era of the time. It gave me a better understanding of why children were given up

Healing - cathartic

I highly recommend this book to adoptees, birthmothers and anyone who knows someone in the adoption triangle. Without any exaggeration As a birthmother myself it has changed if not saved my life.

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Title: When Women Win

Subtitle: EMILY's List and the Rise of Women in American Politics

Author: Ellen Malcolm, Craig Unger

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-16

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The dramatic inside story of the rise of women in elected office over the past quarter-century, from the pioneering founder of three-million-member EMILY's List - one of the most influential players in today's political landscape

In 1985, aware of the near-total absence of women in Congress, Ellen R. Malcolm launched EMILY's List, a powerhouse political organization that seeks to ignite change by getting women elected to office. The rest is riveting history: Between 1986 - when there were only 12 Democratic women in the House and none in the Senate - and now, EMILY's List has helped elect 19 women Senators, 11 governors, and 110 Democratic women to the House.

Incorporating exclusive interviews with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Tammy Baldwin, and others, When Women Win delivers stories of some of the toughest political contests of the past three decades, including the historic victory of Barbara Mikulski as the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right; the defeat of Todd Akin ("legitimate rape") by Claire McCaskill; and Elizabeth Warren's dramatic win over incumbent Massachusetts senator Scott Brown.

When Women Win includes Malcolm's own story - the high drama of Anita Hill's sexual harassment testimony against Clarence Thomas and its explosive effects on women's engagement in electoral politics; the long nights spent watching the polls after months of dogged campaigning; the heartbreaking losses and unprecedented victories - but it's also a pause-resisting political saga that may well lead up to the election of the first woman president of the United States.

Members Reviews:

Outstanding

This book was enjoyable and enlightening. To really realize how much work went into the election of females in the U.S. legislature, and how recently it all occurred, really made me grateful and inspired. I would recommend this to all those who are interested in politics and progress. Loved the narration as well.

Brilliant historical account of modern politics!

The ONLY thing I did not care for was the "sing-song" voice of the narrator. Exceeded expectations in every other way!

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Title: The Fight to Vote

Author: Michael Waldman

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-23-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In The Second Amendment, Michael Waldman traces the ongoing argument on gun rights from the Bill of Rights to the current day. Now, in The Fight to Vote, Waldman takes a succinct and comprehensive look at an even more crucial struggle: the past and present effort to define and defend government based on "the consent of the governed". From the writing of the Constitution, and at every step along the way, as Americans sought the right, others have fought to stop them. The Fight to Vote, meticulously researched and thoroughly compelling, recounts the entire story, from the Founders' debates to gerrymandering and voter ID laws.

Critic Reviews:

"A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue." (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

I am still in the process of reading the book ...

I am still in the process of reading the book. I find it very educational but disturbing. Our Founders and those that followed were in many ways despicable.

Even today voting rights are being affected adversely.

The Fight to Vote

Every citizen should read this book!

A great lesson in our shared history and ideas for the future of our great democracy.

Five Stars

A must read for all American History students.

A great read, important for all citizens.

A well written history of the fight for voting rights. The author pulls together several historical instances of the difficulty of obtaining voting rights for everyone, some most will recall and some few of us remember. Great review of the history voting rights legislation and judicial decisions, both those that restrict and those that grant voting rights. A book which all American patriots should read.

The Fight to Vote

The Fight to Vote by Michael Waldman is a very informative book. Far too often, we take our precious right to vote, for granted. For many, it has been, and still is, a struggle. I highly recommend this book.

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Title: The Wilmington Ten

Subtitle: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s

Author: Kenneth Robert Janken

Narrator: Ron Butler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-16

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In February 1971, racial tension surrounding school desegregation in Wilmington, North Carolina, culminated in four days of violence and skirmishes between white vigilantes and black residents. The turmoil resulted in two deaths, six injuries, more than $500,000 in damage, and the firebombing of a white-owned store before the National Guard restored uneasy peace. Despite glaring irregularities in the subsequent trial, 10 young persons were convicted of arson and conspiracy and then sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison. They became known internationally as the Wilmington Ten.

A powerful movement arose within North Carolina and beyond to demand their freedom, and after several witnesses admitted to perjury, a federal appeals court, also citing prosecutorial misconduct, overturned the convictions in 1980.

Kenneth Janken narrates the dramatic story of the Ten, connecting their story to a larger arc of Black Power and the transformation of post-civil rights-era political organizing. Grounded in extensive interviews, newly declassified government documents, and archival research, this book thoroughly examines the events of 1971 and the subsequent movement for justice that strongly influenced the wider African American freedom struggle.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Vital history

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Title: Conspiracy Fact: Human Experimentation in the United States

Subtitle: Conspiracy Facts Declassified, Book 1

Author: Kate Marcello

Narrator: Valerie Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-16

Publisher: ProWebWriter.com

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Did you know that American history is peppered with cases of human experimentation?

Could you in your wildest dreams imagine that it was happening through the mid-1970s? That is in most of our lifetimes!

I wish I could tell you that it's a load of crap, but the fact is...it's true. Supported by dozens of declassified documents and publications, horrible human testing can be corroborated throughout our history. Conspiracy Fact: Human Experimentation in the United States introduces you to a number of appalling cases involving the most vulnerable members of society.

The book documents a handful of cases taking place between the 1840s and 1970s. That's right, for over a century, these atrocities were regularly happening. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

You will discover the names of doctors who performed tests on United States citizens without their knowledge or consent. You will hear about cases of the poor, minorities, pregnant women, and infants - even military personnel were not safe from their probes and needles. That's not all; there's an addendum and a wealth of sources where the information was found.

This is the first book in a series called Conspiracy Facts Declassified that will take an in-depth look at our world and attempt to decode fact from fiction.

Members Reviews:

Too much speculation

It would have been better if it stuck with the historical facts and didnt try to use them to try (and fail) to support current conspiracy theory. The facts are interesting. The rest is annoying.