George C. Scott has narrated 6 audiobooks on Listento.it by 4 authors. The most-rated is The Vietnam War, Part 2.
World War II
Summary
Historians have said that World War II was a continuation of World War I, but with greater violence and less regard for the values of civilization. The Treaty of Versailles, which had officially ended WWI, had caused the European balance of power to swing wildly. Germany had been stripped of her colonies, divided into pieces, and burdened with a staggering war debt. New nations were created; old hostilities were renewed. Some of these hostilities had found a voice in a new political philosophy: fascism. In the Pacific, Japan's ambitions would bring her into conflict with America. Both nations laid claim to the markets of Asia; in particular, to the fabled markets of China. Both were willing to use force to obtain them. In Germany, Hitler established a Third Reich, to last a thousand years. In Italy, Mussolini declared a new Roman Empire to reinstate the glory that had been Rome. In Japan, Emperor Hirohito presided over the Empire of the Rising Sun. Against these forces stood Britain, France, and the Netherlands, countries that wanted the map of the world to remain unchanged. The result was war. On the sidelines, America would watch and wait as the outlines of the war unfolded. On December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy, Japanese planes bombed the American naval installation at Pearl Harbor. The United States was now at war with Japan in the Pacific. The United States was also at war with the Axis powers in Europe. The Pacific and European War became formally linked. In 1941, prospects for the Allied powers were not bright. Then, Hitler made a fatal blunder: his German army invaded Russia. In Italy, Mussolini lost control of the people. In the Pacific, the Japanese war machine was on the defensive. As the war tilted in favor of the Allies, the three major Allied powers, America, Britain, and Soviet Russia, met at three major conferences during 1943-1945. At these meetings they would divide up the postwar world.
©1990 Knowledge Products, Inc. (P)1990 Knowledge Products, Inc.
World War I, Part 2
Summary
On April 25th, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. Less than seven months later, a victorious America claimed the former Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. To the American diplomat John Hay, the Spanish-American War was "a splendid little war". It had been popular, brief, and inexpensive, especially in terms of casualties. But the conflict marked a change in America's international role. No longer content within her own borders, the United States looked overseas. In Europe, power was poised in balance. Germany longed to become a weltmacht, a world power. Britain struggled to preserve her empire. Both France and Russia expanded, and the Balkan states agitated for independence from Austria. Treaties were signed; alliances were consummated. Now the actions of any one power would determine the foreign policy of the others. By early August 1914, the world was convulsed by the first world war, which engulfed Europe. On the western front, there was constant carnage, but little movement. Soldiers bled and died to win a stretch of dirt, which was quickly lost again. Europe seemed to be deadlocked in a bloodletting frenzy. As the nation-states battled, they awaited the response of the greatest of the neutral powers: the United States. Halfway across the world, an officially neutral American was being drawn into the conflict. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the British ship Lusitania, and 1,200 people died, including 128 Americans. Diplomatic relations between Germany and America slowly decayed until, finally, President Wilson ordered American merchant ships to be armed. Within days, U-boats opened fire on American streamers. On April 6, 1917, the U.S. declared war on Germany. And at the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918, the guns fell silent. Germany had surrendered.
©1989 by Knowledge Products, Inc. (P)1989 by Knowledge Products, Inc.
The Civil War
Summary
This volume is a two-part history of the Civil War. Part I From 1861 to 1865 America was caught in the convulsions of war—the Civil War. No historical event, short of the American Revolution itself, has so deeply affected the United States. The Civil War is often called the War between the States by Southern historians, aptly illustrating the political question underpinning the war: Was the United States one nation, or were the United States a group of sovereign entities that could choose to disassociate? Both sides honored the same constitution, spoke the same language, and worshipped the same God. But the two could not agree on whether America was a union or a compact of states. Part II With the advent of war, the Confederate States of America faced serious problems. The Confederate population was 9.1 million compared to the Union’s 19.1 million. The South controlled only one quarter of America’s wealth. Its railroad mileage was only half that of the Union, and its navy was badly outnumbered. But the South was fighting a defensive war on its own soil, and military theorists agree that such a war requires a three-to-one superiority for an aggressor to win. Many believed the South could prevail. Nevertheless, on April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered what remained of his army. But what had the North won? The United States of America was now one nation under God. But that nation was crippled by the economic costs of the war—wholesale destruction, inflation, poverty. The political costs were no less. Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated; Southern leaders were in jail; the federal government had swollen in size and power. Northern politicians then began to “reconstruct” the South, building state governments that would be loyal to the union. But the conquered South simmered with resentments that could not be legislated out of existence. Jeffrey Rogers Hummel is the author of Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War. He teaches economics and history at San José State University. Before joining the SJSU economics faculty, he lectured as an adjunct at Golden Gate University and Santa Clara University. Hummel served as a tank platoon leader in the US Army during the early seventies; was publications director for the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, in the late eighties; and was a National Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution for the 2001/02 academic year.
©1989 Carmichael & Carmichael / Knowledge Products (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The War of 1812
Summary
The United States emerged from the American Revolution still engaged in Old World politics. In particular, America faced all the trade restrictions of the British Navigation Acts. As a result, The United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812 and proceeded to invade Canada, one of Britain's possessions, an invasion which failed. At a cost of $80 million in national debt and of a single party assuming almost unchallenged power, the War of 1812 has been called "America's most unpopular war". America, born from a commitment to liberty and equality, seemed to betray its heritage for the sake of control. The United States at War is a collection of audio presentations that review the political, economic, and social forces that have erupted in military conflict, and examine how that conflict resolved, or failed to resolve, the forces that caused it.
(P)1989 Carmichael and Carmichael, Inc. / Knowledge Products
The Mexican-American War
Summary
On May 13, 1846, the United States Congress declared war on Mexico. Although the Mexican-American War lasted only 18 months, its consequences were profound. Mexico lost nearly half of its territory to the United States: Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. Some historians have described this conflict as America's first step toward empire. More ominously, this war first raised the issue of whether slavery should be permitted in the newly acquired territories, an issue that would help speed America toward the Civil War.
©1989 Carmichael and Carmichael, Inc. and Knowledge Products (P)1989 Carmichael and Carmichael, Inc. and Knowledge Products
The Vietnam War, Part 2
Summary
After WWII, Korea was divided in half at the 38th parallel. To the north were the Communists; to the south were the United Nations peacekeeping forces. In June 1950, North Korean soldiers backed by Soviet-built tanks poured across the parallel. The Korean conflict became one of the first expressions of the Cold War between Russia and America. It was an attempt to balance the power that had been thrown so badly out of alignment by WWII. But Korea would bring victory to neither side. It would merely reaffirm the deadlock. In 1954, the country of Vietnam was also divided in half at the 17th parallel. To the north was the Communist regime of Ho Chi Minh; to the south was the America-backed regime of Ngo Dinh Diem. Elections to unify the country were scheduled for 1956, but they were never held. Instead, each side used military means to accomplish political goals. To America, Vietnam symbolized her ability to contain communism in Asia. To the Communists, Vietnam symbolized their ability to defeat America in warfare. It became a struggle to the death between East and West, not only between military forces but also between opposing ideologies. Meanwhile, the fabric of Vietnamese society had been torn apart. By 1961, the Cold War was escalating, with John F. Kennedy in the White House and Nikita Khrushchev in the Kremlin. Both Sides held nuclear weapons, and they tested each other for weakness. But by 1964, Kennedy had been assassinated and the Soviets were at odds with communist China. The new American president, Lyndon B. Johnson, found himself trapped in a war without end. His solution was to escalate America's military commitment in Vietnam. Between November 1963 and July 1965, Johnson transformed America's limited engagement in Vietnam into an open-ended commitment.
©1990 Knowledge Products, Inc. (P)1990 Knowledge Products, Inc.