Kristopher D. White has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators. The most-rated is That Furious Struggle.
Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862
Summary
They melted like snow on the ground, one officer said - wave after wave of Federal soldiers charging uphill across an open muddy plain. Confederates, fortified behind a stone wall along a sunken road, poured a hail of lead into them as they charged...and faltered...and died. “I had never before seen fighting like that, nothing approaching it in terrible uproar and destruction,” said one eyewitness to the slaughter. “It is only murder now.” The battle of Fredericksburg is usually remembered as the most lopsided Union defeat of the Civil War. It is sometimes called “Burnside’s folly”, after Union Commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside who led the Army of the Potomac to ruin along the banks of the Rappahannock River. But the battle remains one of the most misunderstood and misremembered engagements of the war. Burnside started with a well-conceived plan and had every reason to expect victory. How did it go so terribly wrong? Authors Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White have worked for years along Fredericksburg’s Sunken Road and Stone Wall, and they’ve escorted thousands of visitors across the battlefield. Simply Murder not only recounts Fredericksburg’s tragic story of slaughter, but includes invaluable information about the battlefield itself and the insights they’ve learned from years of walking the ground. Simply Murder can be enjoyed in the comfort of one’s living room or as a guide on the battlefield itself. It is also the first release in the new Emerging Civil War series, which offers compelling and easy-to-listen-to overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important battles and issues. About the authors: Chris Mackowski is a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York, and also works with the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which includes the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania battlefields. Kristopher D. White is a historian for the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board and a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served for five years as a staff military historian at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park and is a former licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg. Longtime friends, Mackowski and White have coauthored several books and numerous articles for various Civil War magazines. They also cofounded the blog Emerging Civil War.
©2012, 2013 Savas Beatie (P)2019 Savas Beatie
A Season of Slaughter
Summary
A gripping narrative of one of the Civil War’s most consequential engagements. In the spring of 1864, the newly installed Union commander Ulysses S. Grant did something none of his predecessors had done before: He threw his army against the wily, audacious Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia over and over again. At Spotsylvania Court House, the two armies shifted from stalemate in the Wilderness to slugfest in the mud. Most commonly known for the horrific 22-hour hand-to-hand combat in the pouring rain at the Bloody Angle, the battle of Spotsylvania Court House actually stretched from May 8 to 21, 1864 - 14 long days of battle and maneuver. Grant, the irresistible force, hammering with his overwhelming numbers and unprecedented power, versus Lee, the immovable object, hunkered down behind the most formidable defensive works yet seen on the continent. Spotsylvania Court House represents a chess match of immeasurable stakes between two master opponents. This clash is detailed in A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8 - 21, 1864. A Season of Slaughter is part of the new Emerging Civil War Series offering compelling, easy-to-listen overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important stories. The masterful storytelling is richly enhanced with hundreds of photos, illustrations, and maps.
©2013 Savas Beatie (P)2019 Savas Beatie
Don't Give an Inch
Summary
George Gordon Meade could hardly believe it: only three days earlier, he had been thrust unexpectedly into command of the Army of the Potomac, which was cautiously stalking its long-time foe, the Army of Northern Virginia, as it launched a bold invasion northward. Meade had hardly wrapped his head around the situation before everything exploded. Outside the small college town of Gettysburg, Confederates had inexplicably turned on the lead elements of Meade’s army and attacked. The first day of battle had ended poorly for Federals, but by nightfall, they had found a lodgment on high ground south of town. There, they fortified - and waited. “Don’t give an inch, boys!” one Federal commander told his men. The next day, July 2, 1863, would be one of the Civil War’s bloodiest. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee would launch his army at the Federal position in a series of assaults that would test the mettle of men on both sides in a way few had ever before been tested - and the Pennsylvania landscape would run red as a result. With names that have become legendary - Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, the Peach Orchard, the Wheatfield, Culp’s Hill - the second day at Gettysburg encompasses some of the best-known engagements of the Civil War. Yet those same stories have also become shrouded in mythology and misunderstanding. In Don’t Give an Inch: The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, historians Chris Mackowski and Daniel T. Davis peel back the layers to share both the real and often-overlooked stories of that fateful summer day. In the same engaging style that has invited thousands into the Civil War’s most important stories, Mackowski and Davis share their intimate knowledge of the battlefield they both grew up on.
©2016 Savas Beatie (P)2020 Savas Beatie
Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863
Summary
“Do not bring on a general engagement”, Confederate General Robert E. Lee warned his commanders. The Army of Northern Virginia, slicing its way through south-central Pennsylvania, was too spread out, too vulnerable, for a full-scale engagement with its old nemesis, the Army of the Potomac. Too much was riding on this latest Confederate invasion of the North. Too much was at stake. As Confederate forces groped their way through the mountain passes, a chance encounter with Federal cavalry on the outskirts of a small Pennsylvania crossroads town triggered a series of events that quickly escalated beyond Lee’s - or anyone’s - control. Waves of soldiers materialized on both sides in a constantly shifting jigsaw of combat. “You will have to fight like the devil...” one Union cavalryman predicted. The costliest battle in the history of the North American continent had begun. July 1, 1863 remains the most overlooked phase of the battle of Gettysburg, yet it set the stage for all the fateful events that followed. Bringing decades of familiarity to the discussion, historians Chris Mackowski, Kristopher D. White, and Daniel T. Davis, in their engaging style, recount the action of that first day of battle and explore the profound implications in Fight Like the Devil. About the Authors: Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White are cofounders of Emerging Civil War and Daniel T. Davis is chief historian. Between them, they have authored more than a dozen books and have penned articles for Civil War Times, America’s Civil War, Hallowed Ground, and Blue & Gray. Chris is a writing professor at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield. Daniel is a graduate of Longwood University with a B.A. in public history and has worked as a historian at Appomattox Court House National Historic Site. Kris is a historian for the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board and a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County near Pittsburgh; he is also a former Licensed Battlefield Guide. All have worked as historians at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Read their blog at www.emergingcivilwar.com.
©2015 Savas Beatie LLC (P)2019 Savas Beatie LLC
That Furious Struggle
Summary
It has been called Robert E. Lee's supreme moment: riding into the Chancellorsville clearing...the mansion itself aflame in the background...his gunpowder-smeared soldiers crowding around him, hats off, cheering wildly. After one of the most audacious gambits of the war, Lee and his men had defeated a foe more than two and half times their size. The Federal commander, "Fighting Joe" Hooker, had boasted days earlier that his plans were perfect - yet his army had crumbled, and Hooker himself had literally been knocked senseless. History would remember the battle of Chancellorsville as "Lee's Greatest Victory." But Confederate fortunes had reached their high tide. Never again would fortune favor Lee the way it did at Chancellorsville - even though the war continued another two years. That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy recounts the story of the Army of Northern Virginia's last offensive battlefield victory - a tale of triumph and tragedy that includes that second-bloodiest day of the Civil War; the mortal wounding of one of Confederacy's greatest icons, Stonewall Jackson; and the bold leadership of the man known as "audacity itself." Told in the highly readable style that has become the hallmark of the Emerging Civil War Series, That Furious Struggle contains more than 150 modern and historical photos, outstanding maps, and an insider's perspective of the battlefield as told by historians who intimately know the ground and the battle.
©2014 Savas Beatie (P)2019 savas beatie