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.
The Age of Radiance
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Rocket Men and the award-winning biographer of Thomas Paine comes the first complete history of the Atomic Age, a brilliant, magisterial account of the men and women who uncovered the secrets of the nucleus, brought its power to America, and ignited the 20th century. When Marie Curie, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller forged the science of radioactivity, they created a revolution that arced from the end of the 19th century, through the course of World War II and the Cold War of superpower brinksmanship, to our own 21st-century confrontation with the dangers of nuclear power and proliferation - a history of paradox, miracle, and nightmare. While nuclear science improves our everyday lives - from medicine to microwave technology - radiation’s invisible powers can trigger cancer and cellular mayhem. Writing with a biographer’s passion, Craig Nelson unlocks one of the great mysteries of the universe in a work that is tragic, triumphant, and above all, fascinating. From the discovery of X-rays in the 1890s, through the birth of nuclear power in an abandoned Chicago football stadium, to the bomb builders of Los Alamos and the apocalyptic Dr. Strangelove era, Nelson illuminates a pageant of fascinating historical figures: Marie and Pierre Curie, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Franklin Roosevelt, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Harry Truman, Curtis LeMay, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev, among others. He reveals how brilliant Jewish scientists fleeing Hitler transformed America from a nation that created lightbulbs and telephones into one that split atoms; how the most grotesque weapon ever invented could realize Alfred Nobel’s lifelong dream of global peace; and how, in our time, emergency workers and low-level utility employees fought to contain run-amok nuclear reactors while wondering if they would live or die. Radiance defies our common-sense views of nature, with its staggering amounts of energy flowing from seemingly inert rock and matter pulsing in half-lives that transforms into other states over the course of decades or in the blink of an eye. Radiation is as scary a word as cancer, but it’s the power that keeps our planet warm, as well as the force behind earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, and so organic to all life that even our own human bodies are radioactive. By tracing mankind’s complicated relationship with the dangerous energy it discovered and unleashed, Nelson reveals how atomic power and radiation are indivisible from our everyday lives. Brilliantly told and masterfully crafted, The Age of Radiance provides a new understanding of a misunderstood epoch in history and restores to prominence the forgotten heroes and heroines who have changed all of our lives for better and for worse. It confirms Craig Nelson’s position as one of the most lively and skillful popular historians writing today.
©2014 Craig Nelson (P)2014 Simon & Schuster
West Like Lightning
Summary
The thrilling narrative history of one of the most enduring icons of the American West, the Pony Express, from the number-one New York Times best-selling co-author of American Sniper - an exciting tale of daring young men pushing limits to the extremes across the vast, rugged, and unsettled American West. In the spring of 1860 on the eve of a civil war that threatened to tear the country apart, two Americans conceived of an audacious plan for linking the nation’s two coasts, thereby joining its present with its future. All that stood in the way was a 1,900 miles of uninhabited desert, ice-capped mountains, oceanic plains roamed by hostile Indian tribes, whitewater-choked rivers, and rugged, unsettled frontier wilderness where "civilized" men where outnumbered a million to one by grizzlies, mountain lions, wolves, bison, rattlesnakes, and more. Many deemed their revolutionary scheme impossible. Run by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, the Pony Express as it came to be known, would use a relay system of daring horseback riders to ferry mail and small packages halfway across a continent in just 10 days. The challenges they faced were enormous, yet the Pony Express succeeded, delivering tens of thousands of letters at record speed. The service would quickly become the most direct means of communication between the Eastern United States and its Western territories, helping to firmly connect them to the Union. West Like Lightning traces the development of the Pony Express and follows it from its start in St. Joseph, Missouri - the edge of the civilized world in the mid-19th century - 1,500 miles west to Sacramento. Jim DeFelice - who traveled the Express’s route in his research - plumbs the legends, myths, and true facts of the service, viewing it within the context of the American story and exploring its lasting relevance today. Though the Pony Express was eclipsed by the telegraph in less than two years, it remains today an enduring symbol of American values: rugged individualism, perseverance, and speed.
©2018 Jim DeFelice (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Mayflower
Summary
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a 55-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound. The Mayflower's religious refugees arrived in Plymouth Harbor during a period of crisis for Native Americans as disease spread by European fishermen devastated their populations. Initially the two groups, the Wampanoags, under the charismatic and calculating chief Massasoit, and the Pilgrims, whose pugnacious military officer Miles Standish was barely five feet tall, maintained a fragile working relationship. But within decades, New England would erupt into King Philip's War, a savagely bloody conflict that nearly wiped out English colonists and natives alike and forever altered the face of the fledgling colonies and the country that would grow from them. With towering figures like William Bradford and the distinctly American hero Benjamin Church at the center of his narrative, Philbrick has fashioned a fresh and compelling portrait of the dawn of American history, a history dominated right from the start by issues of race, violence, and religion.
©2006 Nathaniel Philbrick (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Recorded Books, LLC. All rights reserved.
Hidden Agendas
Summary
Saving lives is his mission. In Hidden Agendas by Lora Leigh, tough-as-nails Navy SEAL Kell Kreiger is the best there is at searching, rescuing, and taking no prisoners…yet even the rush of ever-more dangerous missions isn’t enough to satisfy him. Haunted by a tortured past, Kell seeks distraction in a secret world of dark intimacies. But when Emily Stanton, the one ray of light in Kell’s shadowy existence, is pursued by a ruthless drug lord, the rules of the game suddenly change - and Kell will have to go deeper undercover than he ever imagined.... Saving her is his passion. Emily has loved Kell ever since her father, a prominent politician, rescued him from a brutal life on the streets. They were kids then, too young to act on what was growing between them…but now that Emily is ready, the handsome, headstrong SEAL has decided he’s no good for her. Ever since he rescued her from Diego Fuentes’ compound, Kell’s only duty has been to keep Emily safe. But Fuentes isn’t finished with Emily - or Kell. And to protect Emily, Kell has no choice but to lay himself - body, soul, and secrets - bare…and fight against evil with all his heart.
©2997 Lora Leigh (P)2014 Macmillan Audio
Independence in Latin America: Contrasts and Comparisons
Summary
In the course of 15 momentous years, the Spanish- and the Portuguese-American empires that had endured for three centuries came to an end in the mid-1820s. How did this come about? Not all Latin Americans desired such a change, and the independence wars were civil wars, often cruel and always violent. What social and economic groups lined up on one side or the other? Were there variations from place to place, region to region? Did men and women differ in their experiences of war? How did Indians and blacks participate, and how did they fare as a result? In the end, who won and who lost? Independence in Latin America is about the reciprocal effect of war and social dislocation. It also demonstrates that the war itself led to national identity and so to the creation of new states. These governments generally acknowledged the novel principle of constitutionalism and popular sovereignty, even when sometimes carving out exceptions to such rules. The notion that society consisted of individuals and was not a body made up of castes, guilds, and other corporate orders had become commonplace by the ends of these wars. So international politics and military confrontations are only part of the intriguing story recounted here. The book is published by University of Texas Press.
©2013 University of Texas Press (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks
Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story
Summary
As the United States and the Soviet Union went from exploring space to living in it, a space station was conceived as the logical successor to the Apollo moon program. But between conception and execution stood the vastness of space itself, to say nothing of the monumental technological challenges. Homesteading Space, by two of Skylab’s own astronauts and a NASA journalist, tells the dramatic story of America’s first space station from beginning to fiery end. Homesteading Space is much more than a story of technological and scientific success; it is also an absorbing, sometimes humorous, often inspiring account of the determined, hardworking individuals who shepherded the program through a near-disastrous launch, a heroic rescue, an exhausting study of Comet Kohoutek, and the lab's ultimate descent into the Indian Ocean. Featuring the unpublished in-flight diary of astronaut Alan Bean, the book is replete with the personal recollections and experiences of the Skylab crew and those who worked with them in training, during the mission, and in bringing them safely home. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks. "Offers valuable personal recollections from those who were there." (Air & Space) “A well-told saga of Skylab from start to fiery fall.” (Coalition for Space Exploration) "A great read." (Ed Gibson, Skylab III science pilot and author)
©2008 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks
Murder in Dealey Plaza
Summary
This volume contains startling information about the Kennedy assassination, emphasizing photographic evidence and the handling of the event by the media. The contributors, all experts within the research community, reveal the many inconsistencies and unsupported conclusions in the Warren Commission report on the assassination of JFK. From the unbelievable "coincidences," such as the assassination occurring at the part of the motorcade route changed at the last minute, to discrepancies in medical reports and the mysterious dismantling and rebuilding of the presidential limousine, the essays bring new information to light. The contributors also look at the event in a broader context, analyzing government "fact-finding" and propaganda as well as the media's reluctance to report new findings.
©2000 James H. Fetzer, Ph.D. (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
At the Strangers' Gate
Summary
From New York Times best-selling author of Paris to the Moon and beloved New Yorker writer, a memoir that captures the romance of New York City in the 1980s. When Adam Gopnik and his soon-to-be-wife, Martha, left the comforts of home in Montreal for New York, the city then, much like today, was a pilgrimage site for the young, the arty, and the ambitious. But it was also becoming a city of greed, where both life's consolations and its necessities were increasingly going to the highest bidder. At the Strangers' Gate builds a portrait of this particular moment in New York through the story of this couple's journey - from their excited arrival as aspiring artists to their eventual growth into a New York family. Gopnik transports us to his tiny basement room on the Upper East Side, and later to SoHo, where he captures a unicorn: an affordable New York loft. He takes us through his professional meanderings, from graduate student-cum-library-clerk to the corridors of Condé Nast and the galleries of MoMA. Between tender and humorous reminiscences, including affectionate portraits of Richard Avedon, Robert Hughes, and Jeff Koons, among many others, Gopnik discusses the ethics of ambition, the economy of creative capital, and the peculiar anthropology of art and aspiration in New York, then and now.
©2017 Adam Gopnik (P)2017 Random House Audio
The Great Upheaval
Summary
It is an era that redefined history. As the 1790s began, a fragile America teetered on the brink of oblivion, Russia towered as a vast imperial power, and France plunged into monumental revolution. But none of these remarkable events occurred in isolation. In The Great Upheaval, acclaimed historian Jay Winik masterfully illuminates how their fates combined in one extraordinary moment to change the course of civilization. Winik brings his vast, meticulous research and narrative genius to the cold, dark battlefields and deadly clashes of ideologies that defined this age. Here is a savage world war, the toppling of a great dynasty, and an America struggling to survive at home and abroad. Here, too, is the first modern Holy War between Islam and a resurgent Christian empire. And here is the richest cast of characters ever to walk upon the world stage: Washington and Jefferson, Louis XVI and Robespierre, Catherine the Great, Adams, Napoleon, and Selim III. Exquisitely written and utterly compelling, The Great Upheaval vividly depicts an arc of revolutionary fervor stretching from Philadelphia and Paris to St. Petersburg and Cairo, with fateful results. A landmark in historical literature, Winik's gripping, epic portrait of this tumultuous decade will forever transform the way we see America's beginnings and our world.
©2007 Jay Winik (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Zapotec Civilization
Summary
Explore the captivating history of the Zapotec civilization. The Zapotecs lived and thrived and became a civilization of interest to the Conquistadors. As one of the largest Mesoamerican civilizations at the time, they helped to shape and form the world the Conquistadors encountered upon their arrival. Rivaling the size and complexity of their Mayan neighbors, the Zapotec were innovators and intellectuals who created a society that was markedly similar to the kingdoms and social structures. The Zapotecs were a fascinating people, and this audiobook aims to give a fresh look and understanding to a civilization that was just as complex, structured, and regal as any of their Mesoamerican, South American, or European counterparts. Some of the topics covered in this audiobook include: The Cloud People and their domain The Oaxaca valley Understanding the Zapotecs and founding of Monte Albán in phases Early agrarian roots and the building of a civilization Religion, myths, sacrifices, rituals, and power The royal family and class The religious order A day in the life of the Zapotecs The arts, athletics, and technology The war against the Aztecs The Conquistadors’ arrival The fall of an empire And a great deal more you don't want to miss out on! Get the audiobook now and learn more about the Zapotec civilization!
©2018 Captivating History (P)2018 Captivating History
Chesapeake Requiem
Summary
A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a 200-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction from rising sea levels - part natural history of an extraordinary ecosystem, starring the beloved blue crab; part paean to a vanishing way of life; and part meditation on man’s relationship with the environment - from the acclaimed author, who reported this story for more than two years. Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nation’s largest estuary, and a 12-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water - the same water that for generations has made Tangier’s fleet of small fishing boats a chief source for the rightly prized Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and has lent the island its claim to fame as the softshell crab capital of the world. Yet for all of its long history, and despite its tenacity, Tangier is disappearing. The very water that has long sustained it is erasing the island day by day, wave by wave. It has lost two-thirds of its land since 1850, and still its shoreline retreats by 15 feet a year - meaning this storied place will likely succumb first among US towns to the effects of climate change. Experts reckon that, barring heroic intervention by the federal government, islanders could be forced to abandon their home within 25 years. Meanwhile, the graves of their forebears are being sprung open by encroaching tides, and the conservative and deeply religious Tangiermen ponder the end times. Chesapeake Requiem is an intimate look at the island’s past, present, and tenuous future, by an acclaimed journalist who spent much of the past two years living among Tangier’s people, crabbing and oystering with its watermen, and observing its long traditions and odd ways. What emerges is the poignant tale of a world that has, quite nearly, gone by - and a leading-edge report on the coming fate of countless coastal communities.
©2018 Earl Swift (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Women's Cause Is One and Universal
Summary
Anna Julia Cooper’s speech on the progress of African American women since the abolition of slavery was delivered at the World's Congress of Representative Women in Chicago on May 18, 1893. It rejects the injustices arising from "special favoritisms" like gender, race, or condition. It is also an eloquent plea for the triumph of right over might and for the recognition of the oneness of life so that the forces of reason, justice, and love may be established in every government of every nation.
Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks
Not in Your Lifetime: The Assassination of JFK
Summary
'It might not be in your lifetime,' said the Chief Justice of the United States when asked whether the files on the assassination of President Kennedy would be made public. If the President was killed by a lone gunman, as the first official enquiry claimed, why can we still not see all relevant records? Fifty years on and the murder of the century remains unsolved. Drawing on 30 years of investigation, Anthony Summers examines the case in compelling, forensic detail. He analyses the evidence for Oswald's guilt, the Mafia connection, and the links to Cuba and reveals, for the first time, a plausible admission of involvement.
©2013 Anthony Summers (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
What Time of Night It Is
Summary
The abolitionist and women's rights advocate Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) was freed from slavery in 1827 by the New York Gradual Abolition Act. This speech of hers was delivered in 1853 at a Woman's Rights Convention at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York. She rebuked the men who did not support their mothers' and wives' struggles, while encouraging women to persist in the fight for rights.
Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks
America's Deadliest Twister
Summary
Disaster relief as we know it did not exist when the deadliest tornado in U.S. history gouged a path from southeast Missouri through southern Illinois and into southwestern Indiana. The tri-state tornado of 1925 hugged the ground for 219 miles, generated wind speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour, and killed 695 people. Drawing on survivor interviews, public records, and newspaper archives, America's Deadliest Twister offers a detailed account of the storm, but more important, it describes life in the region at that time as well as the tornado's lasting cultural impact, especially on southern Illinois. Author Geoff Partlow follows the storm from town to town, introducing us to the people most affected by the tornado, including the African American population of southern Illinois. Their narratives, along with the stories of the heroes who led recovery efforts in the years following, add a hometown perspective to the account of the storm itself. In the discussion of the aftermath of the tornado, Partlow examines the lasting social and economic scars in the area, but he also looks at some of the technological firsts associated with this devastating tragedy. Partlow shows how relief efforts in the region began to change the way people throughout the nation thought about disaster relief, which led to the unified responses we are familiar with today.
©2014 Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks
Native American History
Summary
Until surprisingly recently, most history books noted that America was discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The truth was that by the time that Columbus arrived in America, people had been living there for more than 12,000 years. During this time, the indigenous people of North America lived without contact with other continents. Different groups developed separate and distinct ways of life, cultures, and societies but all shared one common characteristic: They relied on the land to provide them with food, and they developed a series of religions that, while separate, shared a respect for nature and imbued many animals and natural features with spiritual characteristics. These beliefs, combined with the fact that most of these societies were relatively primitive compared to those emerging in other parts of the world, meant that the Native Americans were able to live in harmony with the natural world. These people had sophisticated and complex belief systems, but they built no cities, no wheeled vehicles, and developed nothing beyond the most basic written language. Although many millions of people lived in North America, their impact on the landscape and the natural systems was minimal. Then, abruptly, white settlers arrived, bringing with them new technologies and weapons, new religions, and an indifference towards nature. They also brought with them diseases to which the Native Americans had never before been exposed. Within 200 years, the Native American population dwindled to a fraction of what it had been; the survivors were herded onto reservations on which they could not follow their traditional ways of life and where they were denied the most basic human rights. Inside you will hear about... The emergence of Native American peoples and cultures Life before the white men European settlers arrive Early wars in America American expansion Ghost dancing and the Wounded Knee Massacre And much more! Only in the 20th century did the population of Native American people begin to recover, and only then did the general population of America begin to regard these cultured and sophisticated people as anything but savages. This is the story of the gradual rise, sudden destruction, and slow recovery of the native people of North America.
©2019 Hourly History (P)2019 Hourly History
Lewis and Clark
Summary
With Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory, the U.S. President was one step closer to realizing his dream of a nation spanning the oceans. The next step was exploration of this new geographical possession. Thus began the unbelievable four-year odyssey chronicled in Lewis and Clark: The Great American Expedition. When Meriwether Lewis joined William Clark to jointly head the Corps of Discovery, their quest would lead to an enduring record of happenstance, heartbreak, and hope. Featuring unforgettable exploits and indelible characters such as Sacagawea, the young Shoshone mother who led the Corps upriver in 1805, this is an audio treasury of courage and adventure.
©2003 TOPICS Entertainment
Lone Star
Summary
Here is a must-listen history of the Lone Star State, together with an insider's look at the people, politics, and events that have shaped Texas from the beginning right up to our days. Never before has the story been told with more vitality and immediacy. Fehrenbach re-creates the Texas saga from prehistory to the Spanish and French invasions to the heyday of the cotton and cattle empires. He dramatically describes the emergence of Texas as a republic, the vote for secession before the Civil War, and the state's readmission to the Union after the War. In the 20th century oil would emerge as an important economic resource and social change would come. But Texas would remain unmistakably Texas, because Texans "have been made different by the crucible of history; they think and act in different ways, according to the history that shaped their hearts and minds."
©2000 T. R. Fehrenbach (P)2018 Tantor
American Heritage History of the Indian Wars
Summary
Acclaimed historians Robert M. Utley and Wilcomb E. Washburn examine both small battles and major wars - from the Native rebellion of 1492 to Crazy Horse and the Sioux War to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
©2015 American Heritage (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Escaping Alcatraz
Summary
Under the cover of night on June 11, 1962, using only crude homemade tools, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin tunneled their way out of Alcatraz, America's most secure maximum security prison. Enacting a complex escape plan, the trio broke free from the cellblock, made it undetected past patrolling guards, inflated homemade life vests and a raft, and set sail into a foggy history. Made famous by the classic film Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood and multiple Hollywood documentaries, this legendary mystery is still debated over a half century later. Considered America's Devil Island, Alcatraz opened in August 1934 with the intent to turn the spectacularly colorful dispositions of America's worst criminals into a world of black and white. Cramped cells, stern discipline, strict rules, and an unrelenting routine shaped almost every aspect of daily life on the Rock. The island was a natural fortress, separated from the mainland by a narrow strait of frigid water and deadly currents. It was believed that no one could escape alive. With its damp cold and austere isolation, Alcatraz was the toughest of all federal penitentiaries - as tough as the criminals housed there - and it successfully contained some of America's most notorious outlaws. In Escaping Alcatraz: The Untold Story of the Greatest Prison Break in American History, Alcatraz historian Michael Esslinger and David Widner, nephew of the Anglin brothers, both featured in the History Channel documentary Alcatraz: Search for the Truth, have compiled FBI and Bureau of Prisons investigative notes, original source documents from the Anglin family library, inmate case file records, interviews with key convicts and officers, and first-person accounts of officials who investigated the escape to produce one of the most detailed narratives of the famed prison break.
©2017 Michael Esslinger and David Widner (P)2018 Michael Esslinger and David Widner