Nelson Runger has narrated 40 audiobooks on Listento.it by 31 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 406 ratings. The most-rated is Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Summary
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity. His guiding principle was a "dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people". Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively. In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. He chronicles Franklin's tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris. He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the 21st century.
©2003 Walter Isaacson (P)2011 Simon & Schuster
I, Claudius
Summary
Here is one of the best historical novels ever written. Lame, stammering Claudius, once a major embarrassment to the imperial family and now emperor of Rome, writes an eyewitness account of the reign of the first four Caesars: the noble Augustus and his cunning wife, Livia; the reptilian Tiberius; the monstrous Caligula; and finally old Claudius himself and his wife, Messalina. Filled with poisonings, betrayal, and shocking excesses, I Claudius is history that rivals the most exciting contemporary fiction.
©1934, 1961 Robert Graves (P)1987 Recorded Books
John Adams
Summary
Pulitzer Prize, Biography/Autobiography, 2002In this powerful, epic biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution. Adams thought, wrote, and spoke out for the "Great Cause" come what might; he traveled far and wide in all seasons and often at extreme risk; he rose to become the second president of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; he was rightly celebrated for his integrity, and regarded by some as "out of his senses"; and his marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the most moving love stories in American history. Much about Adams' life will come as a surprise to many. His rocky relationship with friend and eventual archrival Thomas Jefferson, his courageous voyage on the frigate Boston in the winter of 1778, and his later trek over the Pyrenees are exploits few would have dared and that few listeners will ever forget. McCullough's John Adams has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. This is history on a grand scale, an audiobook about politics, war, and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, it is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.
©2001 David McCullough (P)2001 Recorded Books, All Rights Reserved
Truman
Summary
Pulitzer Prize, Biography/Autobiography, 1993 Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American. From Truman's small-town, turn-of-the-century boyhood and his transforming experience in the face of war in 1918, to his political beginnings in the powerful Pendergast machine and his rapid rise to prominence in the U.S. Senate, McCullough shows a man of uncommon vitality and strength of character. Here too is a telling account of Truman's momentous decision to use the atomic bomb and the weighty responsibilities that he was forced to confront on the dawning of a new age. Distinguished historian and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author David McCullough tells one of the greatest American stories in this stirring audio adaptation of Truman - a compelling, classic portrait of a life that shaped history.
©2011 Simon & Schuster (P)2003 David McCullough
The Path Between the Seas
Summary
Winner of the National Book Award for history, The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale. Like his masterful, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography John Adams, David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. This audiobook is a must-listen for anyone interested in American history, international intrigue, and human drama.
©2001 David McCullough (P)2011 Simon & Schuster
The Great Crash of 1929
Summary
With grace and wit, America's foremost economist examines the boom-and-bust that led to the stock market crash of 1929. Economic writings are rarely notable for their entertainment value, but this widely admired best-seller is the exception. Galbraith's light touch makes his expert analysis of America's greatest financial disaster a surprisingly engaging listen for anyone.
©1954 John Kenneth Galbraith (P)1992 Recorded Books, LLC
The Great Bridge
Summary
This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible. So daring a concept as spanning the East River to join two great cities required vision and dedication of the kind that went into building Europe's great cathedrals. During 14 years of construction, the odds against success seemed overwhelming. Thousands of people were put to work. Bodies were crushed and broken, lives lost, notorious political empires fell, and surges of public doubt constantly threatened the project. But the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is not just the saga of an engineering miracle; it is a sweeping narrative of the social climate of the time, replete with heroes and rascals who helped either to construct or to exploit the great enterprise. The Great Bridge is also the story of a remarkable family, the Roeblings, who conceived and executed the audacious engineering plan at great personal cost. Without John Roebling's vision, his son Washington's skill and courage, and Washington's wife Emily's dedication, the bridge we know and cherish would never have been built. Like the engineering marvel it describes, The Great Bridge, republished on the 40th anniversary of its initial publication, has stood the test of time. Please note: The Great Bridge (Unabridged) is available for just one credit until June 20, 2012, after which point it will be priced at two credits.
©2007 David McCullough (P)2012 Simon & Schuster
Claudius the God
Summary
Robert Graves continues Claudius' story with the epic adulteries of Messalina, King Herod Agrippa's betrayal of his old friend, and the final arrival of that bloodthirsty teenager, Nero.
©1962 Robert Graves (P)1987 Recorded Books
The Holy Bible
Summary
A compilation of the Old and New Testament from the Unabridged Contemporary English Version Translation of the Holy Bible. This compilation also includes the Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha in between the Old and New Testaments. The complete list of narrators includes: George Guidall, Suzanne Toren, Jonathan Davis, Peter Jay Fernandez, Pete Bradbury, Jeff Woodman, John McDonough, Nelson Runger, Norman Dietz, Richard Poe, Jack Garrett, Peter Fancis James, George Wilson, Robert O'Keefe, Christina Moore, Ed Sala, and Paul Hecht.
©1995, 1999 American Bible Society (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC
Mornings on Horseback
Summary
From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of John Adams Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it is the story of a remarkable little boy - seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma - and his struggle to manhood. His father - the first Theodore Roosevelt, "Greatheart" - is a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. His mother - Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt - is a Southerner and celebrated beauty. Mornings on Horseback spans 17 years, from 1869, when little "Teedie" is 10, to 1886, when he returns from the West a "real life cowboy" to pick up the pieces of a shattered life and begin anew, a grown man, whole in body and spirit. This is a tale about family love and family loyalty... about courtship, childbirth and death, fathers and sons... about gutter politics and the tumultuous Republican Convention of 1884... about grizzly bears, grief and courage, and "blessed" mornings on horseback at Oyster Bay or beneath the limitless skies of the Badlands.
©2007 David McCullough (P)2011 Simon & Schuster
Coming into the Country
Summary
Those who have traveled into America’s only remaining frontier rarely come back out the same. Only in Alaska can we come close to understanding what our forefathers must have felt upon their arrival in the New World. McPhee brings to this narrative the qualities that have distinguished him in the field of travel literature—tolerance, brisk, and entertaining prose, and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice.
©1977 John McPhee (P)1990 Recorded Books, LLC
Morgan: American Financier
Summary
Noted biographer Jean Strouse has won the Bancroft Prize and received fellowships from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowments for the Humanities and Arts. Her work has appeared in major magazines, including The New Yorker and Newsweek. In Morgan, she creates the first complete portrait of a man who defined American commerce and banking. Contemporaries described J. Pierpoint Morgan as “the financial Moses of the New World”. He was also called “a beefy, red-faced, thick-necked financial bully, drunk with wealth and power….”
To separate the legend from the man, Jean Strouse uses a wealth of uncataloged biographical documents from the Pierpoint Morgan Library. She shows J.Pierpoint Morgan in the full context of his childhood and health, travels and tastes, personal affairs and business relationships. Through Nelson Runger’s thoughtful narration, this accessible biography becomes a fascinating audio production. Morgan sheds light on the life of a remarkable man, but it also helps us to better understand today’s international finance.
©1999 Jean Strouse (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC
![Cover art for Inventing Japan [Modern Library Chronicles]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51efoHgX5HL._SL500_.jpg)
Inventing Japan [Modern Library Chronicles]
Summary
LA Times Book Award winner and expert on the past and present Japan, Ian Buruma examines the transformation of a country. Following Japan's history from its opening to the West in 1853 to its hosting of the 1964 Olympics, Buruma focuses on how figures such as Commodore Matthew Perry, Douglas MacArthur, and Emperor Mitsushito helped shape this complex country.
©2002 Ian Buruma (P)2002 Recorded Books
Her Little Majesty
Summary
Her Little Majesty is a fresh and fascinating portrait of the diminutive monarch who ruled the vast British empire for over 60 years. Award-winning biographer and historian, Carolly Erickson, transports you behind the walls of Buckingham Palace to introduce you to the quirky, loveable Queen Victoria—revealed only to her closest associates. Emotionally deprived, inadequately educated, and socially isolated for much of her life, young Victoria felt ill-prepared to ascend the throne. But the 19-year-old queen met her coronation day with outward dignity and confidence—then went home to bathe her pet dog. Even though her frequent temper tantrums and neurotic obsessions would have critics repeatedly fearing for her sanity, she became a powerful ruler, relentlessly leading her country through devastating wars and sweeping political reform. Carolly Erickson draws on diaries, letters, and historical documents to pen this dramatic account of England’s popular matriarch and the turbulent era that carries her name. Narrator Nelson Runger will hold you enthralled as the glory and the adversities of the Victorian age unfold.
©1997 Carolly Erickson (P)1997 Recorded Books, LLC
His Excellency
Summary
Acclaimed author Joseph J. Ellis penned the National Book Award-winning American Sphinx and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers, a fixture on The New York Times best seller list for an entire year, and one of the most popular history books of all time. Now this master historian turns his attention to the most exalted American hero, Founding Father and first President George Washington. Washington has always been a larger-than-life enigmatic figure. On the day he was given command of the continental army, he recorded only the temperature and where he ate dinner in his journal. But recently, his papers were catalogued at the University of Virginia. Ellis had primary access to the 90-volume papers, allowing him to paint a thorough and fascinating portrait. From the French and Indian War to Mount Vernon, from the American Revolution to the presidency, Ellis delivers what will stand the test of time as the definitive biography of the greatest American icon.
©2004 Joseph J. Ellis (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC
Assembling California
Summary
Thirty years ago, the theory that continents are comprised of drifting plates—plate tectonics—evoked more scorn than serious research. Today, this revolutionary theory continues to dazzle and challenge geologists and laymen alike. Assembling California explores an area uniquely demonstrative of the plate tectonic theory: California, which according to “tectonicists,” is breaking apart at its seams.
©1993 John McPhee (P)1993 Recorded Books, LLC
American Brutus
Summary
In American Brutus, popular historian Michael W. Kauffman delivers a history that reads more like a best-selling novel. This definitive masterwork dispels commonly held myths and reveals the truth about John Wilkes Booth. Luring Southern sympathizers into a “noble” presidential kidnapping, Booth stunned his puzzled pawns by murdering Lincoln. From Booth’s early life and acting career to his escape and death, this meticulously researched book re-examines it all using a wealth of primary sources.
©2004 Michael W. Kauffman (P)2005 Recorded Books
Terrible Swift Sword
Summary
Terrible Swift Sword (Vol. 2): The dismissal of George McClellan and the rise of Ulysses S. Grant.
©1963 Bruce Catton (P)1989 Recorded Books, LLC
The Earth Shall Weep
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.
©1998 JamesWilson (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC
![Cover art for Las tinieblas y el alba [The Evening and the Morning]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61wd4u0ldgL._SL500_.jpg)
Las tinieblas y el alba [The Evening and the Morning]
Summary
La Precuela Del Éxito Mundial Los Pilares De La Tierra En Las tinieblas y el alba, Ken Follett embarca al oyente en un épico viaje que termina donde Los pilares de la Tierra comienza. Año 997, finales de la Edad Oscura. Inglaterra se enfrenta a los ataques de los galeses por el oeste y de los vikingos por el este. La vida es difícil y aquellos que ostentan algo de poder lo ejercen con puño de hierro y, a menudo, en conflicto con el propio rey. En estos tiempos turbulentos, tres vidas se entrecruzan: el joven constructor de barcos Edgar, a punto de fugarse con la mujer a la que ama, comprende que su futuro será muy diferente a lo que había imaginado cuando su hogar es arrasado por los vikingos; Ragna, la rebelde hija de un noble normando, acompaña a su marido a una nueva tierra al otro lado del mar solo para descubrir que las costumbres allí son peligrosamente distintas; y Aldred, un monje idealista, sueña con transformar su humilde abadía en un centro de saber admirado en toda Europa. Los tres se verán abocados a un enfrentamiento con el despiadado obispo Wynstan, decidido a aumentar su poder a cualquier precio. El gran maestro de la narrativa de acción y suspense nos transporta al ocaso de una época violenta y brutal y el comienzo de un nuevo tiempo en un monumental y emocionante relato de ambición y rivalidad, nacimiento y muerte, amor y odio. Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.
©2020 Ken Follett (P)2020 Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S.A.U.