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Title: American Slavery: History in an Hour

Author: Kat Smutz

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-08-13

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 69 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. From the first slaves arriving in Jamestown in 1619, the cotton fields in the Southern States, and shipbuilding in New England, to the slaves who laid down their lives in war so that Americans could be free, American Slavery in an Hour covers the breadth of the subject without sacrificing important historical and cultural details. An important and dark time in Black - and American - history, the era of American slavery is explored in American Slavery in an Hour, which will explain the key facts and give you a clear overview of this much discussed period of history, as well as its legacy in modern America. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.

Critic Reviews:

"If the past is a foreign country, History in an Hour is like a high-class tour operator, offering delightfully enjoyable short breaks in the rich and diverse continent of our shared past." (Dominic Sandbrook)

"The practice of history is ever-evolving, and the History in an Hour idea brings it back up to date for the digital age." (Andrew Roberts, Bookseller)

"This is genius." (MacWorld.com)

Members Reviews:

American History 101

A good book to freshen up on points of slavery, American history. Or to give to a doubting friend.

Great Start!

This, like the rest of the books in this series, is a great intro to an important subject. I really like these books. They are great starting points and as audiobooks, they are quite soothing to listen to during my morning commute. Jonathan Keeble has quickly become one of my favorite narrators.

If you are looking for a substantial and short take on the history of American slavery, this is a great start.

Mandatory Reading

Unfortunately, we, as Americans are unable to learn from our mistakes. This is in great part to the fact that our mistakes are covered, dressed up and literally missing from the history books of our education system. It takes books such as this to help define the origins and background of the jumbled mess of today's racism. When these facts are included in US History textbooks, America can truly begin to heal, rather than continuing to put a band-aid on it.

Effective and Informative

Any additional comments?

the stories are informative and a good start if anyone want to have further study on the history of African American.

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Title: 1775

Subtitle: A Good Year for Revolution

Author: Kevin Phillips

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-27-12

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 39 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

What if the year we have long commemorated as Americas defining moment was in fact misleading? What if the real events that signaled the historic shift from colony to country took place earlier, and that the true story of our nations emergence reveals a more complicated - and divisive - birth process?

In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by puncturing the myth that 1776 was the struggles watershed year. Mythology and omission have elevated 1776, but the most important year, rarely recognized, was 1775: the critical launching point of the war and Britains imperial outrage and counterattack and the year during which Americas commitment to revolution took bloody and irreversible shape.

Phillips focuses on the great battlefields and events of 1775 - Congress warlike economic ultimatums to king and parliament, New Englands rage militaire, the panicked concentration of British troops in militant but untenable Boston, the stunning expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and many hundreds of local committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands. These onrushing events delivered a sweeping control of territory and local government to the Patriots, one that Britain was never able to overcome. Seventeen seventy-five was the year in which Patriots captured British forts and fought battles from the Canadian frontier to the Carolinas, obtained the needed gunpowder inmachinations that reached from the Baltic to West Africa and the Caribbean, and orchestrated the critical months of nation building in the backrooms of a secrecy-shrouded Congress. As Phillips writes, "The political realignment achieved amid revolution was unique - no other has come with simultaneous ballots and bullets."

Surveying the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the 18th century with the same skill and perception he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. He mines rich material as he surveys different regions and different colonies and probes how the varying agendas and expectations at the grassroots level had a huge effect on how the country shaped itself. He details often overlooked facts about the global munitions trade; about the roles of Indians, slaves, and mercenaries; and about the ideological and religious factors that played into the revolutionary fervor.

The result is a dramatic account brimming with original insights about the country we eventually became. Kevin Phillips 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of Americas origins.

Members Reviews:

An audio trip through history

What made the experience of listening to 1775 the most enjoyable?

The story held your attention and went way beyond the history I missed in school.

What did you like best about this story?

The reasearch and accuracy of the historical content was well researched and presented.

Good Material too Haphazard

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would have put things more in chronological order.

What could Kevin Phillips have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I believe he started with a wrong premise. Truly 1775 was important leading up to 1776, but so was 1774, and 1773, etc. He is trying to prove a point that isn't an issue.

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Title: The Story of America

Subtitle: Essays on Origins

Author: Jill Lepore

Narrator: Colleen Devine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-19-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

In The Story of America, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories - from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address - to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. Over the centuries, Americans have read and written their way into a political culture of ink and type.

Part civics primer, part cultural history, The Story of America excavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I.O.U. and the dictionary. Along the way it presents fresh readings of Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression.

From past to present, Lepore argues, Americans have wrestled with the idea of democracy by telling stories. In this thoughtful and provocative book, Lepore offers at once a history of origin stories and a meditation on storytelling itself.

Members Reviews:

A Fun Read on Historical Subjects

This thoroughly enjoyable book is a collection of essays previously published in New Yorker magazine. The text is a jumble of subjects Lepore seems to have bumped into while professing at Harvard, then turned into articles targeted for popular consumption paid for by a venerable magazine. Subjects vary widely: Edgar Allan Poe, the history of voting, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, debtors prisons, Kit Carson, presentation of the U.S. in school plays, and some others. Despite being popular history, Lepore did research on all of them and has her subjects in hand. She writes drolly with good, insightful metaphorsboth her own and others. For example: In the pantheon of American superhero Founding Fathers, she writes, Tom Paine is a lesser demigod only made use of occasionally, like Aquaman. Another example: she quotes farmer/ex-Revolutionary soldier William Manning in the 1790s: It [the Constitution] was made like a Fiddle, with but few Strings, but so that the ruling Majority could play any tune upon it they please. Surprisingly, her book is free of political bias, a seeming prerequisite for a person who 1) has a Ph.D. in American Studies, and 2) chairs the history department at Harvard. I scrutinize history books assiduously, just waiting for some injected political nonsense to appear and ruin them so I can grind my teeth. I had nary an objection to Lepores book. Want to read a well written, entertaining collection of informative historical essays, read well by a narrator? Here is one worth the price.

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Title: The Great Taos Bank Robbery

Subtitle: And Other True Stories of the Southwest

Author: Tony Hillerman

Narrator: Jack Garrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-08-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 64 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

This classic collection of nonfiction essays about life in New Mexico by the great Tony Hillerman remains a must listen for anyone looking to understand the state's unique charm. The engaging pieces in The Great Taos Bank Robbery unveil the life and magic one experiences in the Land of Enchantment.

Critic Reviews:

"This collection is the essence of Hillerman, which is always instructive fun." (New Mexican)

Members Reviews:

How Tony Hillerman Got His Start

Yes, its Tony Hillerman from his first youthful stories as a cub reporter. He was amazing from the very beginning, when no one knew his name other than the local readers. Immediately, you feel the same quick-witted, careful observation thats part of his novels; but also, his warmth, humility, humor, and love of New Mexico.

This edition of The Great Taos Bank Robbery has even more stories than the first release, and a foreword written by Hillerman's daughter, who is just as enchanting as her father.

An entertaining book for exploring the southwest

A few months ago I stumbled upon Dead Run, which led me to Tony Hillerman as I decided it was time to explore and relearn the desert southwest I played in twenty years ago. The Great Taos Bank Robbery is a collection of essays that run the gamut of local politics, local history and modern epidemiology. Somehow the stories connect well because of the land they're centered on, despite exploring many different topics over many centuries (and millennia) of human history.

The author does a great job of keeping things light, entertaining, but still informs and educates. Gotta love that blend.

By a NM Native

True to the bone. Smart, accurate and gentle. Reads like a sunset. loved it. PLACITAS, NM

Can't help it, Hillerman fan loves his voice!

Tony is departed, but we have his voice for posterity. This group of stories which he found fascinating is a real treat. I'll probably listen to this repeatedly, just to bring him back, if only in voice and remembrance. Can't get enough of Tony and his daughter-novelist Anne Hillerman.

A must read!

This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it for any Tony Hillerman fan!

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Title: Help Me to Find My People

Subtitle: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery

Author: Heather Andrea Williams

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-30-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

After the Civil War, African Americans placed poignant information wanted advertisements in newspapers, searching for missing family members. Inspired by the power of these ads, Heather Andrea Williams uses slave narratives, letters, interviews, public records, and diaries to guide listeners back to devastating moments of family separation during slavery when people were sold away from parents, siblings, spouses, and children. Williams explores these heartbreaking stories and the long, usually unsuccessful journeys toward reunification. Examining the interior lives of the enslaved and freed people as they tried to come to terms with great loss, Williams grounds their grief, fear, anger, longing, frustration, and hope in the history of American slavery and the domestic slave trade.

Williams follows those who were separated, chronicles their searches, and documents the rare experience of reunion. She also explores the empathy, sympathy, indifference, and hostility expressed by whites about sundered black families. Williams shows how searches for family members in the post - Civil War era continue to reverberate in African American culture in the ongoing search for family history and connection across generations.

About the author: Heather Andrea Williams is associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom.

Critic Reviews:

Williams examines the historical fact of family separation and renders its emotional truth. She is the rare scholar who writes history with such tenderness that her words can bring a reader to tears[The book] has a propulsive narrative flow, and with each successive chapter the suppleness of Williams prose grows. (New York Times Book Review)

Inspired by information wanted advertisements that African Americans placed in newspapers to find loved ones after the Civil War, Williams examines the emotional and psychological effects of separation and reunion on both free and enslaved African AmericansAn important addition to African American history collections.(Library Journal)

Drawing on interviews with former slaves, journals, letters, and documents, including advertisements searching for information on long-lost relatives, Williams allows the enslaved and formerly enslaved to speak for themselves on loss and the physical and emotional tribulations of slaveryWilliams source materials and her own narrative evoke the longing, fear, grief, and hope that have endured as black families continue to search genealogies to reconnect to family members lost to the cruelty of slavery. (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Vulnerability and Grief

Beautifully written by Heather Andrea Williams, flawlessly narrated by Robin Miles, this audiobook should be required reading for all Americans. It is a part of our collective history, and I certainly do not remember it being presented in this way back when I was in school learning American History. Heartbreaking and utterly sad, it is the history of the African-American family during the slavery era and the attempts to reclaim long-lost family members after emancipation.

For me, it is just impossible to imagine what it must have been like to be separated from loved ones--children, spouses, parents--often for the rest of one's life . . . to be paraded around and sold at an auction like lowly cattle . . .

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Title: The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution

Author: Brion McClanahan

Narrator: David Cochran Heath

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-13-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 58 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

What does the Constitution really mean?

How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution?Are liberals right when they cite its elastic clauses to justify big government, or are conservatives right when they cite its explicit limits on federal power? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author ofThe Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the sourcethe Founders themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions.

InThe Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution, youll discover how the Constitution was designed to protect rather than undermine the rights of states; why Congress, not the executive branch, was meant to be dominant and why the Founders would have argued for impeaching many modern presidents for violating the Constitution; why an expansive central government was the Founders biggest fear, and how the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were designed to guard against it; why the founding generation would regard most of the current federal budget, including stimulus packages, unconstitutional; why the Founding Fathers would oppose attempts to reform the Electoral College; why they would be horrified at the enormous authority of the Supreme Court; and why they intended Congress, not the Court, to interpret federal law.

Authoritative, fascinating, and timely,The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitutionis the definitive laymans guide to Americas most importantand often most willfully misunderstoodhistorical document.

Critic Reviews:

For generations, left-wing judges, professors, and lawyers have told us that we can never know what the Constitution was supposed to mean, so judges are free to do what they want. Yet, inThe Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution, Brion McClanahan gives us a clear, clause-by-clause explanation of the original understanding of the Constitution. Constitutional government is possible, if only officials would be true to their oaths. (Kevin R. C. Gutzman, JD, PhD,New York Timesbest-selling author ofThe Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution)

Brion McClanahansThe Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution takes the guesswork out of what the Founders intended. Its all here, in their own words, which any layman can understandand just as important, use as the standard to assess the wayward judges, congressmen, and executives of our federal government. (Thomas E. Woods, Jr.,New York Timesbest-selling author ofThe Politically Incorrect Guide to American History)

The Constitution for the United States, like all human creations, has been changed by the inescapable ravages of time. Not only the passage of time, but ambition, rent-seeking, ignorance, deception, misunderstanding, ideology, and the lust for power have encrusted our basic instrument of government with layer upon layer of false assumptions and distorted postures that have blocked us from knowing its real meaning and intent. Dr. McClanahan, with insight, painstaking effort, and that rare thing, plain common sense, has presented here as good a picture as we will get of what the Constitution really meant to those who wrote and ratified it. This book is not only a notable feat of historianship but also an important exercise of citizenship that will enlighten those who yearn for truth. (Clyde N.

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Title: The Better Angels of Our Nature

Subtitle: Freemasonry in the American Civil War

Author: Michael A. Halleran

Narrator: Jack Chekijian

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-12

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 76 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The first in-depth study of the Freemasons during the Civil War

One of the enduring yet little-examined themes in Civil War lore is the widespread belief that on the field of battle and afterward, members of Masonic lodges would give aid and comfort to wounded or captured enemy Masons, often at great personal sacrifice and danger. This work is a deeply researched examination of the recorded, practical effects of Freemasonry among Civil War participants on both sides.

From first-person accounts culled from regimental histories, diaries, and letters, Michael A. Halleran has constructed an overview of 19th-century American freemasonry in general and Masonry in the armies of both North and South in particular, and provided telling examples of how Masonic brotherhood worked in practice. Halleran details the response of the fraternity to the crisis of secession and war, and examines acts of assistance to enemies on the battlefield and in POW camps.

The author examines carefully the major Masonic stories from the Civil War, in particular the myth that Confederate Lewis A. Armistead made the Masonic sign of distress as he lay dying at the high-water mark of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.

Critic Reviews:

"A valuable contribution to both Civil War history and the history of the Masonic lodge. Recommended." (CHOICE)

"[A] strong affirmation of the bond between warring Masonic brethren, in the war that brought more of them together on opposing sides than any in our history." (Christopher L. Hodapp, Editor, Journal of the Masonic Society)

"Michael Halleran has set a new, high standard for scholarship on Freemasonry in the Civil War. His stories are compelling, the research is impeccable, and his analysis gives fresh insights on the 'mystic tie' of the fraternity." (S. Brent Morris, Ph.D., Managing Editor, Scottish Rite Journal)

Members Reviews:

Perfect for current Freemasons and CSW folk

Well-researched and well-documented study of the influence and history of Freemasonry immediately prior and during the American Civil War with emphasis on the CSA. A scholarly offering of great import to both ACW aficionados and members of Masonic lodges, it is written in a reader-friendly manner and is not at all off-putting. There are no great secrets of Masonism revealed or any such nonsense.

JC is an audio performer who is able to present scholarly theses in a manner which is straightforward yet personalized. No dramatics present, but a clear rendition of the author's material.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no

cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast.com

Excellent Masonic and Civil War History

The introduction to this story begins with an attack on New Years Day in 1863 by Confederate General John B. Magruder on federal forces occupying Galveston, Texas. The USS Harriet Lane was commanded by Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II who was killed and the next day the masonic lodge in Galveston, Harmony Lodge No.6 buried him after learning from a few Union prisoners that Wainwright was a mason. The book states that this is a well-known story in many masonic circles.

The Better Angels of Our Nature is probably my favorite University Press audiobook. I love all things mason and grew up in a masonic family. I know many of the things in this book to be true.

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Title: The Earth Shall Weep

Subtitle: A History of Native America

Author: James Wilson

Narrator: Nelson Runger

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-16-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 45 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

This carefully researched exploration of Native American culture investigates the complex, often misunderstood histories of hundreds of indigenous peoples. Author James Wilson has drawn from ethnographic and archaeological studies, historical texts, and the rich written and oral traditions of Native Americans to complete this important work.

Members Reviews:

Well Researched

This was like the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich except about indigenous Americans and of course no real resolution like we had with National Socialism. My family is Native American and the real history of what happened is heartbreaking. I was already pretty well educated about the history from the termination acts onward but that is pretty modern and it's just another thing on a long line of injustice and prejudice. I highly recommend this if you're interested in learning the history of the Native American people.

Tremendous

This book is so well researched. I truly feel that the American Indians to this day are the neighbor whose suffering we are ignoring as American citizens. Reading the heartbreaking history of those who were here before us makes me realize why some people are so scared of illegal immigrants, it's because illegal immigrants came here and pushed out the natives. We must do better, we must somehow make things right. I strongly recommend this book to every citizen of the United States. It will change you, it will make you more compassionate and see American from the perspective of those who were here before the white man.

This section from the books sums up much of the problem of what the havoc the white man has brought to this land and its indigenous people.

"The white man adopted two basic approaches ... He systematically excluded blacks from all programmes, policies, social events, and economic schemes ... With the Indian the process was simply reversed ... Indians were ... subjected to the most intense pressure to become white. Laws passed by Congress had but one goal - the Anglo-Saxonization of the Indian... The white man forbade the black to enter his own social and economic system and at the same time force-fed the Indian what he was denying the black. Yet the white man demanded that the black conform to white standards and insisted that the Indian don feathers and beads periodically to perform for him."

Please re-record this well written book

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

I had to return "The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America." The narrator is the worst kind of 1960s-educational-film White Man, it's unlistenable. I'm so sad about this, too, because it's an extremely well written book. But the narrator mangles the content with unfeeling, forced, broad-castery tonal "highs and lows." I thought I could over come it, but I couldn't get past the first chapter. To effectively narrate this book, all that's required is to FEEL the material - it's a very intense and emotional subject.

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Title: How the Hippies Saved Physics

Subtitle: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

Author: David Kaiser

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-27-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 59 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to conventionand changed the face of modern physics.

In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throw off the constraints of academia and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the Fundamental Fysiks Group, they pursued a freewheeling, speculative approach to physics. Some dabbled with LSD while conducting experiments. They studied quantum theory alongside Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading, discussing the latest developments while lounging in hot tubs. Unlikely as it may seem, this quirky band of misfits altered the course of modern physics, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. Their work on Bells theorem and quantum entanglement helped pave the way for todays advances in quantum information science.

A lively and entertaining Cinderella story, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

Critic Reviews:

How the Hippies Saved Physics takes readers on a mind-bending trip to the far horizons of sciencea place where the countercultures search for a New Age of consciousness opened the door to a new era in physics. Who knew that the discipline that brought us the atom bomb had also glimpsed Utopia? Amazing. (Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture)

Members Reviews:

Finally, I understand entanglement

Tells a great story about entanglement or as Einstein would say "spooky action at a distance". The people involved in proving Bells theorem and its significance are discussed at length. "The Dance of the Photon" tells a better story about the science of entanglement while this book tells a better story about the people involved and the significance of the science.

All physicists should take LSD & cut to the chase.

An interesting enough story about brilliant minds, some of which were opened to inner dimensions by psychedelics, others of which were influenced by their proximity, and some which were simply a product of their time and space. Like the similarly themed "A Quantum Story", it traces the intellectual path from linear (and arbitrarily constructed) Newtonian physics and its pompous 19th century presumption to know and explain everything to the 20th century realization we don't know much about anything and probably never will. (How big is infinity anyway?) It also reveals the practical application of sciences both in its references to Cold War weapons development and, more interestingly to me, the discovery of quantum encryption which makes it possible for us to buy things and bank online reasonably safely. My only gripe is that I'm not a physicist and, as with "A Quantum Story", I could have done without the tedious blackboard formula reading. This much shorter version of the story is a better choice for the layman, and even then you had better be really interested.

A 40-minute introduction

I think my title says it all. How many ways can you say the same thing, the same thing, the same thing? (Might be a good physics problem.) I asked for my money back.

Why did I buy this?

What would have made How the Hippies Saved Physics better?

This book could not have been worse.

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Title: The Original Argument

Subtitle: The Federalists' Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century

Author: Glenn Beck, Pat Gray

Narrator: Adam Grupper

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-14-11

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 290 votes

Genres: History, American

Publisher's Summary:

Glenn Beck revisited Thomas Paines famous pre-Revolutionary War call to action in his #1 New York Times bestseller Glenn Becks Common Sense. Now he brings his historical acumen and political savvy to this fresh, new interpretation of The Federalist Papers, the 18th-century collection of political essays that defined and shaped our Constitution and laid bare the original argument between states rights and big federal government - a debate as relevant and urgent today as it was at the birth of our nation.

Adapting a selection of these essential essays - pseudonymously authored by the now well-documented triumvirate of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay - for a contemporary audience, Glenn Beck has had them reworked into modern English so as to be thoroughly accessible to anyone seeking a better understanding of the Founding Fathers intent and meaning when laying the groundwork of our government. Beck provides his own illuminating commentary and annotations and, for a number of the essays, has brought together the viewpoints of both liberal and conservative historians and scholars, making this a fair and insightful perspective on the historical works that remain the primary source for interpreting Constitutional law and the rights of American citizens.

Members Reviews:

Publius made simple

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

I tried years ago to read "The Federalist Papers" and was discouraged because they wrote "above my pay grade". I recommend this listen to to anyone at my pay geade or below.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Original Argument?

Sorry, this is not a thriller story. I listened to the arguments and duly noted them. It did, however make clear the original intent of the constitution.

Which scene was your favorite?

none

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

No. It takes more than one listen to absorb all the information

Any additional comments?

Odd preview questions for a nonfiction classic like the Federalist.

Informative but BORING!!

What did you like best about The Original Argument? What did you like least?

As a history buff, I loved hearing the stories behind the writing of the Federalist Papers. These papers are something everyone one should read at least once in their lives, but there has to be a better way to go about it. The book was just plain boring most of the time.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Very monotone. The parts read by Beck were good, but the other narrator was just plain boring.

Still a Bit Too Dry

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I thought it was still too technical and dry.

Also, there were parts that delved deeply into issues that don't have any relevance today.

What was most disappointing about Glenn Beck and Pat Gray s story?

Could have used more context, background and development of the truly crucial Papers, and could have done without several others.

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

Good to have given some time to such important documents.

Any additional comments?

Worth a listen, but it might be a labor for you to stick with it and not lose focus.

Hard to listen to

I like Glenn Beck's ideas, but his way of expressing those ideas is redundant. He writes the way he talks.