Download the Popular Authors Audiobooks in History, American

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Title: Lincoln's Last Hours

Author: Charles Leale

Narrator: David Van Der Molen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-17

Publisher: Audio Sommelier

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Lincoln's Last Hours describe the assassination and last moments of President Lincoln's life. They were written by Dr. Charles Leale, the first doctor to attend to Lincoln after he was shot.

Members Reviews:

Living History

This short essay gives the account of the first physician to treat President Lincoln on the night of his assassination. It puts you in Lincoln 's box at the Ford Theater as Dr. Leale begins to treat the President, recognizing he can do no more than postpone the inevitable. Leale accompanies Lincoln to the Peterson house. As more senior military doctors arrive and take over treatment, Leale holds the President 's hand until the end. I consider this short,compelling work the best read I ever found for my Kindle.

Well Worth the Time

Pieces of this have been quoted so many times in different books and magazine accounts I've read that it was difficult to believe I was reading the original source. The fact that this was available for pennies from Amazon is really exciting and I thank them for that availability. Dr. Leale writes clearly and concisely with a doctor's and a soldier's eye, and what starts as a simple account of his worship for Lincoln and his desire to see him at Ford's Theater that fateful night becomes much more. In this day and age, with the president's staff of traveling medical care, it's also amazing to think that this became Leale's case because he was the first doctor on the scene of the tragedy and given Pres. Garfield's experience 15 years later, how fortunate Lincoln was that it was a man who early on recognized the finality of the president's injury and yet provided him the greatest care he could. What a way to become a footnote to history, and Leale leaves us with an account that's both modest and complete. This is well worth the time it takes to read it.

A Fitting Requiem for the Great Emancipator

Dr. Charles Leale's personal account of the last hours of Abraham Lincoln's life is moving, fascinating and quite thoughtfully written. It reads surprisingly well as a book, though it was originally written by the author as a speech in observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the slain president. Make no mistake, this is an intensely interesting and very personal piece of historical writing that is an invaluable first hand look at the night Lincoln was mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth.

As told by the doctor that was there

Great historical read by the doctor that treated Lincoln. It must of been a tough go for him to recall the details for us curious folk. Something all Lincoln historical people should read.

Clinical but moving

This is a very short first hand account of the passing of President Lincoln. Sadly, had this surgeon not taken the actions he had, Abraham Lincoln would have died from his mortal wounds hours before he did, if not minutes after he was shot. Sensibly, his actions gave time to the living for all that was needed for his family, his Government, and his country. He didn't pass quickly, but peacefully with all respect and honor that was his due. While his body was brought back countless times from the moment of death, his soul was already heaven bound. One can only hope his suffering didn't last as long as it took to let him go.

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Title: Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

Author: Second Continental Congress

Narrator: Larry G. Jones

Format: Unabridged

Length: 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-17

Publisher: Audio Sommelier

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms is an important document in the history of the United States. In it, the Second Continental Congress explained why the Colonies had taken up arms against Britain.

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Title: Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South

Subtitle: New Directions in Southern History

Author: T.R.C. Hutton

Narrator: Gary L Willprecht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-16-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The notorious conflict between the Hatfield and the McCoy families of West Virginia and Kentucky is often remembered as America's most famous feud, but it was relatively brief and subdued compared to the violence in Breathitt County, Kentucky.

From the Reconstruction period until the early 20th century, Breathitt's 500 square miles of rugged upcountry land was known as "the darkest and bloodiest of all the dark and bloody feud counties" due to its considerable number of homicides, which were not always related to the factional conflicts that swept the region.

In Bloody Breathitt, T. R. C. Hutton carefully investigates instances of individual and mass violence in the county from the Civil War through the Progressive era, exploring links between specific incidents and broader national and regional events. Hutton explains how their causes and implications often reflected distinctly political intentions.

By framing the incidents as "feuds," those in positions of authority disguised politically motivated murders by placing them in a fictive past, preventing outsiders from understanding the complex reality. Hutton's timely study reminds listeners that the nation's political stability has had a tremendous cost in terms of bloodshed.

Winner of the Weatherford Award for nonfiction. Winner of the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year for nonfiction. The book is published by The University Press of Kentucky.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Above and Beyond! Thank You

I've been looking for this book and so happy to find it on Amazon.

My husband and best friend are decadents of Jeremiah South. This book was bought as a gift for them to read about their hertiage.

Family History for me

Nicely written history of Breathitt County. I found information and history of my maternal 3x gr grandfather that I knew nothing about. He was a Confederate soldier, a county judge, sheriff and a wealthy man. Also, my paternal grandfather was interviewed by the author regarding the various feuds and violence before and during his lifetime. Growing up, I always heard my parents refer to their home as Bloody Breathitt. Now I know more about why they called it that.

This is history as it should be written. It ...

This is history as it should be written. It is one more much-needed step toward understanding the many influences operating upon our Eastern Kentucky ancestors in he late nineteenth century. This book joins Altina Wallers "Feud," and Rebecca Bailey's "Matewan Before the Massacre" as standards for writers of the history of this part of Appalachia. Well done, Professor Hutton.

A Dissertation, Not of General Interest

I would recommend this book to serious students of Kentucky history and particularly to those students of Breathett county. Students of violence as a cultural phenomenon might also find this study useful. A casual reader or someone interested in genealogy I suspect would be disappointed.

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Título: La frontera entre México y Estados Unidos [The Border Between Mexico and the United States]

Subtitular: La controvertida historia y el legado de la frontera entre los Estados Unidos y México

Autor: Charles River Editors, Gustavo Vazquez Lozano

Narrador: Nicolas Villanueva

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 1 hr and 40 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 11-09-17

Editor: Charles River Editors

Categorías: History, American

Resumen del editor:

La frontera entre México y Estados se extiende a lo largo de poco más de doscientos años de historia y dos mil millas de terreno, equivalentes a 3,180 kilómetros. Esta línea creada por el hombre, protagonista de una complicada historia, se ha fortalecido y solidificado con el paso de los años. Sus significados también han cambiado. En un principio era una idea, el fin aproximado e inhóspito de un vasto imperio español y el inicio de la tierra de nadie. Después fue un trazo en un papel, una raya porosa, sin barreras físicas, que en tiempos de paz se convirtió en sitio de intercambio y cooperación, y en épocas de conflicto en terreno de choque no sólo de dos pueblos distintos, sino del Norte y el Sur de la geopolítica internacional. Hace dos siglos la frontera de Estados Unidos y México estaba formada por vastos desiertos y regiones peligrosas donde nadie quería vivir, una línea vagamente definida y poco vigilada. Hoy, en la segunda década del siglo XXI, a pesar de estar situada en uno de los hábitats más inclementes, es la más transitada del mundo; un país en sí mismo considerando el volumen de operaciones económicas que se llevan a cabo en sus proximidades, sin mencionar que se trata de una de las regiones más vigiladas del planeta, incluso una zona de guerra de baja intensidad, como la han denominado algunos expertos. Habría que considerar, tan sólo para comparar, la frontera entre Bélgica y Holanda, donde el cruce puede realizarse simplemente yendo de un café a otro, sin que nadie se dé cuenta cuándo se ha cambiado de país. O la de Polonia y Ucrania, cuya frontera abierta está formada por hermosas planicies verdes decoradas con figuras labradas en la tierra.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

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Title: American Notes

Author: Charles Dickens

Narrator: Peter Joyce

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-17

Publisher: Assembled Stories

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In 1842, Charles Dickens visited America. His reception was somewhat colder than that which usually greeted him - already a successful author in both Britain and the United States. This lack of enthusiasm from the Americans was partly due to his criticism of the pirating of English books in that country and partly due to his outspoken distaste for the custom of slavery in the Southern states.

He wrote in the preface to American Notes, 'Prejudiced I am not, and never have been, otherwise than in favour of the United States. I have many friends in America. I feel a grateful interest in the country. I hope and believe it will successfully work out a problem of the highest importance in the whole human race. To represent me as viewing America with ill nature, coldness or animosity is merely to do a very foolish thing, which is always a very easy one!' Despite this placatory tone, one American reviewer spoke thus of American Notes: 'The most trashy...the most contemptible...the essence of balderdash, reduced to the last drop of silliness and inanity'.

Listen to the journals and judge for yourself.

Critic Reviews:

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." (The Independent)

Members Reviews:

Great Story of 19th Century Travel in America.

Dickens captures the essence of what traveling was like in 19th century America. Interestingly, we have conquered most of the problems he mentions (slavery, poor roads and infrastructure) but Washington continues to be the same. He points out that politicians are so derided and maligned that only the worst type of individual would want to be a politician in Washington. The more things change....

Loved This Book, Interesting And Funny

I thought I had read all of Dickens, so was very pleased to find this one. Liked it a lot. Reminded me of Pickwick Papers. Might be his last book, as he died soon after this. Well worth reading and fun.

Five Stars

Classic, very interesting

Kipling goes to America

Kipling's thoughts on his adventure on his travels from the American West to the East coast of America from British India. He has observations from his view as a Englishman born in India and educated in Britian. Not all is favorable, but interesting.

What the Dickens?

A good view from that time from a highly literate man but very challenging to read.

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Title: The Fetterman Massacre

Subtitle: The History and Legacy of the U.S. Army's Worst Defeat During Red Cloud's War

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Bill Hare

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-03-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In the summer of 1866, Colonel Henry B. Carrington set out from Fort Laramie to establish a series of forts along the Bozeman Trail with the goal of protecting migrants moving along the trail. The Bozeman Trail ran through the Powder River country, which included the traditional hunting grounds of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples. Carrington had about 1,000 people in his column, of which about 700 were soldiers and 300 were civilians, likely soldiers' families and migrants.

Members Reviews:

Okay with some questions

All in all this was not a bad rendition of the Fetterman fiasco. It is a good read for a person who has limited time of interest in the incident and time period. There are a few mistakes made by whomever put this together that showed either lack of knowledge of carelessness, ie: Virginia City at the end of the Bozeman trail is not in Northern Nevada it is the Montana Virginia City and it is chief Gall not Galt. Carelessness? But an interesting take of the West that might get a person to pick up any one of a number of excellent books on the time and conflicts.

Really great history

I am amazed at the consistently great books by Charles River Editors. They are interesting, accurate, and engaging written. I have read many of their books and I recommend this one to you.

Three Stars

Book looses contact with the title of the book.

Numerous arrows kill as well as pistols and rifles, the Native American wars versus the United States

Iâm not sure if Iâd ever heard of the Fetterman Massacre before reading this book. I suspect most people are more familiar with Custerâs last stand instead of this battle. The Fetterman Massacre was the first time that the Native Americans defeated and destroyed a large number of soldiers (81). The book starts out by describing the political background related to the desire of Americans wanting the land that the Native Americans had owned for centuries. Of course, treaties were made and broken. Next, the book describes the founding of Fort Kearny and its staffing. The book discusses the life of Red Cloud a major leader of the Sioux. The actual battle is shrouded in controversy because there were no survivors nevertheless several theories about what happened were described. The book also describes Col. Henry B. Carrington and his tactics or lack of tactics and relationship to fighting the Native Americans. The political consequences were described in detail. I think that anyone interested in the history of the wars with the Native Americans in the central plains would be interested in this book.

Good summary of what is known

The books from Charles River Editors are an excellent resource to orient yourself to their topics. They are generally accurate, impartial and do not engage in any grand schemes to reshape history. This opinion comes from reading a number of their works on topics which I am familiar with. This is one of those topics and it captures the known facts and clearly states the on going debates. As always, an excellent survey of the topic.

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Title: Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Mohawk

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Mark Norman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-02-17

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

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 that 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 Iroquois peoples are some of the most well documented Native Americans in history. Indigenous to the northeast region of what is now the United States and parts of Canada, they were among some of the earliest contacts Europeans had with the native tribes. And yet they have remained a constant source of mystery. At the same time, the Iroquois are a confederation of several different tribal nations that include the Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, Cayuga, and the Tuscarora.

Among these groups, the most famous is the Mohawk, who refer to themselves as Kanien'kehá:ka ("People of the Place of Flint"), but pop culture has a very different image in mind when it comes to the Mohawk (and the Iroquois as a whole). Those unfamiliar with the group associate them with the conspicuous Mohawk haircut, and images of a warlike people who scalp their enemies are still constantly evoked. The Mohawk were mentioned in James Fenimore Cooper's classic 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans, an entertaining novel that led to many misconceptions about the Mohawk and continues to do so.

That said, European settlers who came into contact with the Mohawks in the Northeast certainly learned to respect their combat skills, to the point that there were literally bounties on the Mohawks' heads, with scalps fetching money for colonists who succeeded in slaying them and carrying away the "battle prize". Both the British and Americans encountered some of their military leaders, who subsequently became well known as portraits were made of them and word of their actions traveled. The Mohawk leader known by the British and Americans as Joseph Brant fought in the Revolution for the British and met men like George Washington and King George III.

Native American Tribes: The History and Culture of the Mohawk comprehensively covers the culture and history of the famous group, profiling their origins, their history, and their lasting legacy. You will learn about the Mohawk like you never have before, in no time at all.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

excellent for kids. not too long and very clear.

Three Stars

Good read for the histiry of a great nation.

Very good book

This was a very good and enjoyable Mohawk History book - I really enjoyed reading it - it was very interesting

A Must Read For Anyone Intrested In Native Americans

Wow... super information. Once I started reading I found it hard to put down. This book really brought their culture and tribe to life.

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Title: The Golden Fleece

Subtitle: High-Risk Adventure at West Point

Author: Tom Carhart, Wesley K. Clark

Narrator: Tom Perkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In the fall of 1965, West Point cadet Tom Carhart and five of his classmates from the US Military Academy pulled off a feat of extraordinary ingenuity, precision, and raw guts: the theft of the billy goat mascot from their rival, the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, just before the biggest game of the year.

The US forces in Vietnam were then at 200,000 and growing, and the men in West Point's class of 1966 were well aware that they would serve, and quite possibly die, in that far-off war. But West Point's motto, "Duty, Honor, Country," affirms that its graduates will obey the decisions of our elected government, and the men of '66 were dutiful: of the 579 who graduated, 30 died in Vietnam, and roughly five times that number were wounded. Since this would be the men's last Army-Navy football game as cadets, they wanted to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

Carhart tells the incredible true story of how, in stealing that Navy goat, the cadets unknowingly reenacted the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from Greek mythology. The caper is interwoven with an insider's narrative about the private lives of six West Point cadets in the early 1960s, who, against all odds, hurled their last hurrah of triumph to America before flying off to fight the war in Vietnam.

Members Reviews:

Review of: The GOLDEN FLEECE, High â Risk Adventure at West Point.

Review of: The GOLDEN FLEECE, High â Risk Adventure at West Point.

By Tom Carhart West Point 1966

This book, well written by a â66 Grad who is an accomplished author, is about the purloinment â not an actual theft since the property would be returned after the escapade â of the mascot of The Midshipmen of The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis -- a goat named Billy XIV-- one week before the Army-Navy football game in 1965.

The book actually starts out that way, with the cadets who planned the project, including the author, reconnoitering the habitat of the animal at the most secure section of the Severna Park Naval Security Station (SPNSS) in Maryland.

The tale then swiftly changes to a very accurate and detailed rendition of cadet life at West Point â one of the very best that the reviewer has ever had the pleasure of reading â from the time a young man â no females were allowed until the 1970âs â entered on their first day, until graduation, 47 months later. It details just how difficult the operation would be to pull off, with the rules, regulations and lack of time facing West Point cadets.

Indeed the cadets did succeed in capturing the goat and housing him at a farm a few hours from West Point. Then they put out the word to other cadets that they had the Navy Goat, a fact later confirmed by radio and newspaper articles.

This information found its way to the academy Superintendent in record time. The man became almost apoplectic, ordering his chain of command to find the culprits. Pressure built, so the Goatnappers left after taps one night, brought their prize back to West Point and hid him in the Mule barn to get through the morning and present Goat to Corps at High Noon inside Washington Hall. But someone turned them in, and suddenly there were M.P.s everywhere.

The Navy Goat, having been found, was taken back to Annapolis in a convoy, so the six cadets decided to hold a rally, with Army/Navy weekend coming up.

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Title: Andersonvilles of the North

Subtitle: The Myths and Realities of Northern Treatment of Civil War Confederate Prisoners

Author: James M. Gillispie

Narrator: Randall R. Berner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-18-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Andersonvilles of the North, by James M. Gillispie, represents the first broad study to argue that the image of Union prison officials as negligent and cruel to Confederate prisoners is severely flawed. This study is not an attempt to "whitewash" Union prison policies or make light of Confederate prisoner mortality. But once the careful listener disregards unreliable postwar polemics, and focuses exclusively on the more reliable wartime records and documents from both Northern and Southern sources, then a much different, less negative, picture of Northern prison life emerges. While life in Northern prisons was difficult and potentially deadly, no evidence exists of a conspiracy to neglect or mistreat Southern captives. Confederate prisoners' suffering and death were due to a number of factors, but it would seem that Yankee apathy and malice were rarely among them. In fact, likely the most significant single factor in Confederate (and all) prisoner mortality during the Civil War was the halting of the prisoner exchange cartel in the late spring of 1863. Though Northern officials have long been condemned for coldly calculating that doing so aided their war effort, the evidence convincingly suggests that the South's staunch refusal to exchange black Union prisoners was actually the key sticking point in negotiations to resume exchanges from mid-1863 to 1865.

History/Military Book Club Selection. The book is published by University of North Texas Press.

Critic Reviews:

"Andersonvilles of the North is an outstanding work of Civil War history." (Steven E. Woodworth, author of Jefferson Davis and His Generals)

"Will become a major work in the field of Civil War prisons for years to come." (Journal of Illinois History)

"An important addition to our understanding of the prisoner-of-war issue." (North Carolina Historical Review)

Members Reviews:

Solid Addition to the Literature

A well researched scholarly work. Yet I couldn't quite get past the notion that he was cherry picking some of his facts. Some of that is a matter of scale. An overview of all the northern prisons can't go into the detail of books about specific prisons, such as Elmira, Camp Chase and Camp Douglas, all of which I have read. That there were numerous instances of mistreatment and cruelty is indisputable. That it was official US government policy is very much disputable. Dr. Gillispie does a solid job of shooting down that southern myth. Yet that nagging cherry picking gut feeling persists. Anyone who is aware of the repressive and often draconian Union policies in captured and disputed areas of the south, as well as with northern dissenters, will likely have a hard time digesting the postulate of a fair-minded Union policy towards captured Confederates. Nevertheless, this is an excellent well researched and documented book, a solid addition to the literature and a solid five stars.

Perhaps the worst event in all of American history

Actually 4.5 stars.....we hear about Confederate camps (such as Andersonville), but what of Union camps? I do not believe that Confederate prisoners of war were deliberately mistreated, but conditions were harsh due to logistical limitations. The American Civil War was a bloody, brutal and ugly affair.

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Title: Delaying the Dream

Subtitle: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938-1965

Author: Keith M. Finley

Narrator: Shawn Zuzek

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Few historical events lend themselves to such a sharp delineation between right and wrong as does the civil rights struggle.

In Delaying the Dream, Keith M. Finley, explores gradations in the opposition, by examining how the region's principal national spokesmen - its United States senators - addressed themselves to the civil rights question, and developed a concerted plan of action to thwart legislation: the use of strategic delay.

Prior to World War II, Finley explains, southern senators recognized the fall of segregation as inevitable, and consciously changed their tactics to delay, rather than prevent defeat, enabling them to frustrate civil rights advances for decades. As public support for civil rights grew, southern senators transformed their arguments to limit the use of overt racism and appeal to northerners. They granted minor concessions on bills only tangentially related to civil rights, while emasculating those with more substantive provisions. They garnered support by nationalizing their defense of sectional interests, and linked their defense of segregation with constitutional principles to curry favor with non-southern politicians. While the senators achieved success at the federal level, Finley shows, they failed to challenge local racial agitators in the South, allowing extremism to flourish.

Members Reviews:

Specters of prejudice passed

This is an excellent work about a subject that has been avoided too long. The narrative describes the campaigns against providing equal protection under the law to slaves freed at the end of the Civil War, through the expansion of the Ku Klux Klan into a nationwide organization by the 1920s, the national shame of lynchings year by year, the modern Civil Rights movement born in Montgomery in 1954, the massive and coordinated filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the cloture vote that finally overcame it. The details are at times startling and the flow of the story is riveting. This work is a "must have" addition to anyone researching the Civil Rights movement and an intriguing read to those who might simply desire to add a measure more of depth and detail to their own studies.

Another Side of the Civil Rights Issue

They say that when it comes to politics, the House is for offense, the Senate is for defense. That was true around the time of the Missouri Compromise, where the South feared a loss of parity in the Senate, to the Civil Rights era, where Southern senators stalled efforts to pass legislation friendly toward African Americans. In this insightful book, which recently won the coveted Hardeman Prize, Keith Finley explores the efforts by Dixie's senators to delay the passage of civil rights measures. His story begins in 1937, when senators sought to block an anti-lynching bill, to 1965, when the U.S. passed the Voting Rights Act. Finley shows that senators ultimately did not think they could defeat civil rights reform, but they were convinced they could delay it indefinitely. To bolster their efforts, they used arguments that claimed black and white people were naturally inclined toward a separation of the races, which suggested the inherent wisdom in the existing Jim Crow laws. Segregation eventually collapsed, but not for want of effort on the part of Southern senators.