The Americas category has 777 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 2,631 ratings. The most-rated is Endurance.
Spying on the South
Summary
The New York Times best-selling final book by the beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Tony Horwitz. With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on the trail of America's greatest landscape architect. In the 1850s, the young Frederick Law Olmsted was adrift, a restless farmer and dreamer in search of a mission. He found it during an extraordinary journey, as an undercover correspondent in the South for the up-and-coming New York Times. For the Connecticut Yankee, pen name "Yeoman", the South was alien, often hostile territory. Yet Olmsted traveled for 14 months, by horseback, steamboat, and stagecoach, seeking dialogue and common ground. His vivid dispatches about the lives and beliefs of Southerners were revelatory for readers of his day, and Yeoman's remarkable trek also reshaped the American landscape, as Olmsted sought to reform his own society by creating democratic spaces for the uplift of all. The result: Central Park and Olmsted's career as America's first and foremost landscape architect. Tony Horwitz rediscovers Yeoman Olmsted amidst the discord and polarization of our own time. Is America still one country? In search of answers, and his own adventures, Horwitz follows Olmsted's tracks and often his mode of transport (including muleback): through Appalachia, down the Mississippi River, into bayou Louisiana, and across Texas to the contested Mexican borderland. Venturing far off beaten paths, Horwitz uncovers bracing vestiges and strange new mutations of the Cotton Kingdom. Horwitz's intrepid and often hilarious journey through an outsized American landscape is a masterpiece in the tradition of Great Plains, Bad Land, and the author's own classic, Confederates in the Attic. “A tour is only as good as its guide, and Horwitz is a seasoned one - inquisitive, open-minded, and opting for observation over judgment, whether at a dive bar, monster truck rally, the Creation Museum, or a historical plantation. The book will appeal to fans of travelogue, Civil War-era history, and current events by way of Southern sensibilities.” (Booklist) “With the keen eye and deft pen that he's long brought to telling the odd and wonderful and fascinating story of America, Tony Horwitz has returned to familiar territory - the South - to give us a unique piece of reportage from a region that tells us a whole lot more about the country than the country sometimes wants to admit. Like his classic Confederates in the Attic, this book will be read, remembered, and treasured.” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian and author of The Soul of America)
©2019 Tony Horwitz (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Earthquake Storms
Summary
The lives of millions will be changed after it breaks, and yet so few people understand it, or even realize it runs through their backyard. Dvorak reveals the San Andreas Fault's fascinating history - and its volatile future. It is a prominent geological feature that is almost impossible to see unless you know where to look. Hundreds of thousands of people drive across it every day. The San Andreas Fault is everywhere - and primed for a colossal quake. For decades scientists have warned that such a sudden shifting of the Earth's crust is inevitable. In fact, it is a geologicn ecessity. The San Andreas Fault runs almost the entire length of California, from the redwood forest to the east edge of the Salton Sea. Along the way, it passes through two of the largest urban areas of the country - San Francisco and Los Angeles. Dozens of major highways and interstates cross it. Scores of housing developments have been planted over it. The words San Andreas are so familiar today that they have become synonymous with earthquake. Yet few people understand the San Andreas or the network of subsidiary faults it has spawned. Some run through Hollywood, others through Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. The Hayward Fault slices the football stadium at the University of California in half. Even among scientists, few appreciate that the San Andreas Fault is a transient, evolving system that, as seen today, is younger than the Grand Canyon and key to our understanding of earthquakes worldwide.
©2014 John Dvorak (P)2014 Blackstone Audio
What Is Agenda 21?
Summary
Agenda 21 - a conspiracy, or reality? With all the skepticism of the government acting without people's permission has been growing exponentially. Conspiracy theorists from both mainstream and alternative media have, at one time or another, mentioned Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is a reality, and after reading this book you will be able to finally understand the purpose of it.
©2015 Trevor Clinger (P)2015 Trevor Clinger
Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers
Summary
The New York Times best seller, now with a new epilogue In March 1836, the Mexican army led by General Santa Anna massacred more than 200 Texians who had been trapped in the Alamo. After 13 days of fighting, American legends Jim Bowie and Davey Crockett died there, along with other Americans who had moved to Texas looking for a fresh start. It was a crushing blow to Texas' fight for freedom. But the story doesn’t end there. The defeat galvanized the Texian settlers, and under General Sam Houston’s leadership, they rallied. Six weeks after the Alamo, Houston and his band of settlers defeated Santa Anna’s army in a shocking victory, winning the independence for which so many had died. Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers recaptures this pivotal war that changed America forever and sheds light on the tightrope all war heroes walk between courage and calculation. Thanks to Kilmeade’s storytelling, a new generation of listeners will remember the Alamo - and recognize the lesser-known heroes who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
©2019 Brian Kilmeade (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Lies My Teacher Told Me (Young Readers' Edition)
Summary
Now adapted for young readers ages 12 through 18, the national best seller that makes real American history come alive in all of its conflict, drama, and complexity Lies My Teacher Told Me is one of the most important - and successful - history books of our time. Having sold nearly two million copies, the book won an American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship. Now Rebecca Stefoff, the acclaimed nonfiction children's writer who adapted Howard Zinn's bestseller A People's History of the United States for young readers, makes Loewen's beloved work available to younger students. Essential listening in our age of fake news and slippery, sloppy history, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers' Edition cuts through the mindless optimism and outright lies found in most textbooks that are often not even really written by their "authors." Loewen is, as historian Carol Kammen has said, the history teacher we all should have had. Beginning with pre-Columbian history and then covering characters and events as diverse as the first Thanksgiving, Helen Keller, the My Lai massacre, 9/11, and the Iraq War, Loewen's lively, provocative telling of American history is a "counter-textbook that retells the story of the American past" (The Nation). This streamlined young readers' edition is rich in vivid details and quotations from primary sources that poke holes in the textbook versions of history and help students develop a deeper understanding of our world. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers' Edition brings this classic text to a new generation (and their parents and teachers) who will welcome and value its honesty, its humor, and its integrity.
©2019 James W. Loewen (P)2019 Recorded Books
Coronado's Children
Summary
Written in 1930, Coronado's Children was one of J. Frank Dobie's first books, and the one that helped gain him national prominence as a folklorist. In it, he recounts the tales and legends of those hardy souls who searched for buried treasure in the Southwest following in the footsteps of that earlier gold seeker, the Spaniard Coronado. "These people," Dobie writes in his introduction, "no matter what language they speak, are truly Coronado's inheritors.... l have called them Coronado's children. They follow Spanish trails, buffalo trails, cow trails, they dig where there are no trails; but oftener than they dig or prospect they just sit and tell stories of lost mines, of buried bullion by the jack load...." This is the tale-spinning Dobie at his best, dealing with subjects as irresistible as ghost stories and haunted houses.
©1930 The Southwest Press; copyright 1958 by J. Frank Dobie;copyright 1978 by the University of Texas Press (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Alexander Hamilton
Summary
What did Alexander Hamilton ever do besides get shot in a duel by Aaron Burr? When it comes to the American government, the answer is practically everything. Born in the West Indies, Hamilton was the illegitimate child of a Scottish nobleman who lost a fortune in sugar plantations. Orphaned as a teenager, he came to America in search of an education, a home, and the war that would at last bring him fame and honor. As George Washington's most trusted aide, Hamilton helped to win the American Revolution - but after the war, his enemies lost no time accusing him of trying to sell his country back to the British. He was the most powerful member of Washington's presidential cabinet - so why did Adams and Jefferson hate him so much? In this book, you will learn how the author of the Federalist Papers and the first Secretary of the Treasury nearly ruined his career by fighting duels, seducing women, and getting involved in America's first sex scandal. The duel that killed Alexander Hamilton is the most famous duel in American history, but you'll have to come up with your own answer to its greatest mystery: who shot first, Hamilton or Burr?
©2016 Michael W. Simmons (P)2016 Michael W. Simmons
The Unredeemed Captive
Summary
The setting for this haunting and encyclopedically researched work of history is colonial Massachusetts, where English Puritans first endeavored to "civilize" a "savage" native populace. There, in February 1704, a French and Indian war party descended on the village of Deerfield, abducting a Puritan minister and his children. Although John Williams was eventually released, his daughter horrified the family by staying with her captors and marrying a Mohawk husband. Out of this incident, Bancroft Prize-winning historian John Devos has constructed a gripping narrative that opens a window into a North America where English, French, and Native Americans faced one another across gulfs of culture and belief - and sometimes crossed over.
©2011 John Demos (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Riding the Rails
Summary
At the height of the Great Depression, 250,000 teenagers were roaming America. Some left home because they felt they were a burden to their families; some fled homes shattered by the shame of unemployment and poverty; some left because it seemed a great adventure. Whether with the blessings of parents or as runaways, they hit the road and went in search of a better life. By summer 1932, the "roving boy" had become a fixture on the American landscape. The occasional girl was sighted, too, most passing unrecognized in male garb. Girls especially did not make the decision to hit the road lightly, for they were stepping into a world filled with danger. It was the same for young African-Americans, for whom the beckoning rails could be doubly perilous. One of the vital, neglected sagas of America in the 1930s, the story of the boxcar boys and girls has seldom been told. Riding the Rails draws primarily on letters and oral histories of 3,000 men and women who hopped freight trains, their incredible journeys an unforgettable and moving story. We see the decade of the Great Depression entirely through the eyes of young people surviving a landscape of ruin, growing up fast in speeding boxcars, living in hobo jungles, begging on the streets and running from the police and club-wielding railroad guards. Riding the rails was a rite of passage for a generation of young Americans which profoundly shaped their lives. Self-reliance, compassion, frugality, and a love of freedom and country are at the heart of the lessons these they learned. Their memories are a mixture of nostalgia and pain; their later musings still tinged with the fear of going broke again. At journey's end, the resiliency of these survivors is a testament to the indomitable strength of the human spirit. It is also an inspiration to all who share a nostalgia for the road and the freedoms sought there.
©1999 Errol Lincoln Uys (P)2017 T. E. Winter & Sons
Home Grown
Summary
Historian Isaac Campos combines wide-ranging archival research with the latest scholarship on the social and cultural dimensions of drug-related behavior in this telling of marijuana's remarkable history in Mexico. Introduced in the sixteenth century by the Spanish, cannabis came to Mexico as an industrial fiber and symbol of European empire. But, Campos demonstrates, as it gradually spread to indigenous pharmacopoeias, then prisons and soldiers' barracks, it took on both a Mexican name--marijuana - and identity as a quintessentially "Mexican" drug. A century ago, Mexicans believed that marijuana could instantly trigger madness and violence in its users, and the drug was outlawed nationwide in 1920. Home Grown thus traces the deep roots of the antidrug ideology and prohibitionist policies that anchor the drug-war violence that engulfs Mexico today. Campos also counters the standard narrative of modern drug wars, which casts global drug prohibition as a sort of informal American cultural colonization. Instead, he argues, Mexican ideas were the foundation for notions of "reefer madness" in the United States. This book is an indispensible guide for anyone who hopes to understand the deep and complex origins of marijuana's controversial place in North American history.
©2012 Isaac Campos (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Interesting Facts About US Presidents
Summary
Did you know? Obama is the only president born outside of the continental United States - born and educated in Hawaii. Packed with lots of interesting facts of our presidents from the first to the current president Trump, this book is guaranteed to entertain you and your family. Written in mind for younger listeners, this book is an easy listen for most ages! This is also the perfect gift for students and kids.
©2019 Bluesource And Friends (P)2019 Bluesource And Friends
Oak Flat
Summary
A powerful work of visual nonfiction about three generations of an Apache family struggling to protect sacred land from a multinational mining corporation, by MacArthur "Genius" and National Book Award finalist Lauren Redniss, the acclaimed author of Thunder & Lightning. Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the Southeastern Arizona desert, 15 miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby. A decade later, a law was passed transferring the area to a private company, whose planned copper mine will wipe Oak Flat off the map - sending its natural springs, petroglyph-covered rocks, and old-growth trees tumbling into a void. Redniss' deep reporting anchors this mesmerizing human narrative. Oak Flat tells the story of a race-against-time struggle for a swath of American land, which pits one of the poorest communities in the United States against the federal government and two of the world's largest mining conglomerates. The book follows the fortunes of two families with profound connections to the contested site: the Nosies, an Apache family whose teenage daughter is an activist and leader in the Oak Flat fight, and the Gorhams, a mining family whose patriarch was a sheriff in the lawless early days of Arizona statehood. The still-unresolved Oak Flat conflict is ripped from today’s headlines, but its story resonates with foundational American themes: the saga of westward expansion, the resistance and resilience of Native peoples, and the efforts of profiteers to control the land and unearth treasure beneath it while the lives of individuals hang in the balance. This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF that contains a selection of original illustrations by the author, which appear in the print book. Read by: Lauren Redniss, Darrell Dennis, Kimberly Farr, Kyla Garcia, Kimberly Guerrero, Hillary Huber, Ami Korn, A. Martinez, Ann Marie Lee, Elizabeth Liang, Crystle Lightning, Jon Lindstrom, John H. Mayer, Arthur Morey, and Tanis Parenteau PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Lauren Redniss (P)2020 Random House Audio
The Empire State Building: The History of New York City's Most Iconic Landmark
Summary
"I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York's skyline. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man-made visible.... Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel. When I see the city from my window - no, I don't feel how small I am - but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would like to throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body." - Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead Of all the great cities in the world, few personify their country like New York City. As America's largest city and best known immigration gateway into the country, the Big Apple represents the beauty, diversity, and sheer strength of the United States, a global financial center that has enticed people chasing the "American Dream" for centuries. Given that history, it's fitting that the Empire State Building is the city's most famous building, a soaring skyscraper that has been one of the tallest buildings in the world for nearly a century and the most recognizable landmark in New York. The Empire State Building was constructed using the art deco style, which was trendy during the era. It had been used for other skyscrapers like the Chrysler Building, but that's where the comparisons end. At the time, the Empire State Building was unprecedented in almost every aspect of its creation. With a race for dizzying heights underway, ground was broken on the Empire State Building on St. Patrick's Day 1930. The ceremony marking its completion would come just a little more than a year later.
©2012 Charles River Editors (P)2015 Charles River Editors
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself
Summary
The great abolitionist speaker and author Harriet Ann Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813 in North Carolina. When her mother died, Harriet’s mistress, Margaret Horniblow, cared for her and taught her to read, write, and sew, but when Horniblow died, she suffered the misery of cruel masters. This autobiography was published in 1861.
Public Domain (P)2018 Museum Audiobooks
The Great Book of New York: The Crazy History of New York with Amazing Random Facts & Trivia
Summary
Want to learn more about New York? Sure, you've heard about the Statue of Liberty, but how much do you really know about the Empire State? Do you know why it's even called the Empire State? There's so much about New York that even state natives don't know. In this trivia audiobook, you'll learn more about New York's history, pop culture, folklore, sports, and so much more! In The Great Book of New York, you'll learn the answers to the following questions: Why is New York City called the Big Apple? What genre of music started out in New York City? Which late actress's life is celebrated at a festival held in her hometown every year? Which monster might be living in a lake in New York? Was there really a Staten Island bogeyman? Which movie is loosely based on New York in the 1800s? Which cult favorite cake recipe got its start in New York? Why do the New York Yankees have pinstripe uniforms? It doesn't matter if you consider yourself a New York state expert or if you know nothing about the Empire State. You're bound to learn something new as you journey through each chapter. You'll be able to impress your friends on your next trivia night! So, what are you waiting for? Dive in now so you can learn all there is to know about New York!
©2018 LAK Publishing (P)2018 LAK Publishing
Underground Railroad
Summary
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman, then pay attention.... Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Underground Railroad: A Captivating Guide to the Network of Routes, Places, and People in the United States That Helped Free African Americans during the Nineteenth Century Harriet Tubman: A Captivating Guide to an American Abolitionist Who Became the Most Famous Conductor of the Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad wasn’t underground. Nor was it a railroad. It was, however, an awe-inspiring piece of history, and one that speaks of hope even today. Two hundred years ago, slavery had the Southern United States firmly in its evil grip. Around four million African Americans languished in the most appalling of living conditions, their lives controlled by people who saw them as objects. They were starved, whipped, and put to work despite being pregnant, sick, or so young that they could barely walk. Here are just some of the topics covered in Part 1 of this audiobook: Slavery through the Ages Abolition around the World Abolition in the United States The Father of the Underground Railroad The Moses of Her People More Heroes of the Underground Railroad And much, much more! Here are just some of the topics covered in Part 2 of this audiobook: Harriet Makes a Break for Freedom First Forays on the Underground Railroad General Tubman Takes Charge Harriet on the Front Lines With the Help of Her Family and Friends Preparing a Place for Harriet Tubman And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman, scroll up and click the "buy" button!
©2021 Captivating History (P)2021 Captivating History
Martin Van Buren: A Life from Beginning to End
Summary
Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, was the first president who was born an American and not a British citizen, a change in demographic which reflects his modern influence upon the office he held. His rise to political power began in the humble setting of Kinderhook, New York, where he was born to Dutch parents who ran a tavern frequented by the Empire State’s political elite, including Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Inside you will hear about.... An American is born The little magician Van Buren enters the national stage President Jackson’s right-hand man Van Buren’s turn In and out of the White House The legacy of the little magician And much more! From his earliest involvement in government, Van Buren was committed to the nurturing of political parties as a way to deliver the most effective leadership to the American people. He was a loyal supporter of President Andrew Jackson, but when Van Buren took office, he inherited the financial crisis that Jackson’s policies had helped to create. The Panic of 1837 brought the economic prosperity of the country to a screeching halt, and ultimately, Van Buren, who was not re-elected for a second term, paid the price. Whatever his failings as a president, he was a pre-eminent politician, and when the story of America is told, Van Buren’s contribution to the political process must be highly ranked.
©2017 Hourly History (P)2017 Hourly History
America's First Dynasty
Summary
In America's First Dynasty, Richard Brookhiser tells the story of America's longest and still-greatest dynasty, the Adamses, the only family in our history to play a leading role in American affairs for nearly two centuries. John Adams was only the first of the Adamses to occupy the highest office in the land; his son, John Quincy Adams, ascended to the presidency as an equal champion of liberty. Following in this great legacy were writers Charles Francis Adams and Henry Adams, the latter of whom proved as able to write on art history as on affairs of state and government; Henry Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Brookhiser has written a great history of a great family, balancing praise with due consideration of the family's darker side.
©2002 Richard Brookhiser (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.
Rangers and Pioneers of Texas
Summary
This audiobook of true-life tales was first published in 1883. The accounts are related by a Ranger who experienced most of the history first-hand. It deals with, among others, the War of Independence from Mexico including the Alamo, and scouting expeditions into the Wichita Mountains.
Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks
The Gunmen of the American Wild West Collection
Summary
The Life of John Wesley Hardin, Jesse James: The Life Times and Treacherous Death of the Most Infamous Outlaw of All Time, A Cowboy Detective: A True Story of Twenty-Two Years with a World Famous Detective Agency, A Texas Ranger, Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as "Deadwood Dick", and Six Years with the Texas Rangers The Gunmen of the American Wild West Collection brings to life the history of the frontier west of the Mississippi in the latter parts of the 19th century. The gunmen ranged from lawmen to cowboys, ranchers, and outlaws. Most of the outlaws in the Old West preyed on banks, trains, and stagecoaches. Although spread thin, the law was present, usually on the level of deputy US marshal, county sheriff, and the town marshal or constable. Book one: The Life of John Wesley Hardin. Hardin was an average man - except for his above-average gunfighting. A Texan sympathizer to slavery writes about his deeds, some of which were commendable while others were downright deplorable. These memoirs of the outlaw and controversial folk icon was published the year after his death in 1896. Book two: Jesse James: The Life Times and Treacherous Death of the Most Infamous Outlaw of All Time. Jesse James was a guerrilla during the Civil War and afterward pursued a criminal career that lasted more than a decade. Frank Triplett’s biography discusses every one of the robberies and acts of violence that the legendary outlaw and his gang perpetrated. The book is riveting and provides comprehensive coverage of the James Gang’s infamous crime spree. Book three: A Texas Ranger. Napoleon Augustus Jennings was a prominent member of the Texas Rangers responsible for border patrol under the command of L.H. McNelly, when Southern Texas was being overrun by outlaws. Jennings' account includes many incidents of clashes with Mexican guerrillas and confrontations with John Wesley Hardin and others. Book four: A Cowboy Detective: A True Story of Twenty-Two Years with a World Famous Detective Agency by Charlie Siringo. Siringo was a Texas detective who posed as a cowboy, miner, man-on-the-run, hobo, or whatever identity was needed to get to the bottom of criminal enterprises. He infiltrated unions, criminal gangs, and businesses to expose criminal activity. Book five: Six Years with the Texas Rangers. James Gillett joined the rangers in 1875 and for the next six years he would be challenging criminals, fighting in the Mason County War, capturing vigilantes, and maintaining law and order in the towns. Gillett describes the kinds of action that established the Rangers' enduring reputation.
©Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks