North America Audiobooks | History

Searching for Franklin: New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery

Two of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin's expeditions were monumental failures. Yet many still see the Royal Navy man as a heroic figure who sacrificed himself to discover the Northwest Passage. This book interweaves two narratives. The first treats the Royal Navy's Arctic Overland Expedition of 1819, a harbinger-misadventure during which Franklin rejected the advice of Dene and Metis leaders and lost eleven of his twenty-one men. The second discovers a startling new answer to that greatest of Arctic mysteries: what was the root cause of the catastrophe that engulfed Franklin's last expedition? The well-preserved wrecks of Erebus and Terror promise to yield more clues about what cost the lives of the expedition members, some of whom were reduced to cannibalism. Contemporary researchers continue to seek conclusive evidence both underwater and on land. Drawing on his own research and Inuit oral accounts, McGoogan teases out many intriguing aspects of Franklin's expeditions, including the explorer's lethal hubris in ignoring the expert advice of the Dene leader Akaitcho. Franklin disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, yet people remain fascinated with his final doomed voyage: what happened?

Ken Mcgoogan (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

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We Shook Up the World: The Spiritual Rebellion of Muhammed Ali and George Harrison

George Harrison met Muhammad Ali in 1964, when both men were on the cusp of worldwide fame. We Shook Up the World is the story of these two larger-than-life figures at a momentous time. A unique blend of biography and cultural history, this book goes to the very heart of the zeitgeist that each man inhabited and reinvented in profound and enduring ways. In 1974, deep in the Pennsylvania woods, thirty-two-year-old Muhammad Ali was seeking renewal, training to regain his heavyweight boxing title in a fight with George Foreman, and exploring questions about his politics, his career, and his life. Meanwhile, George Harrison was thirty-one years old. With the Beatles disbanded, his marriage ending, and the loss of his mother still fresh, he traveled to India to revitalize his faith, energy, and musical spirit, seeking renewal at the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. In contemplating how these two complex figures managed to carry the cultural rebelliousness and spiritual yearning of the 1960s into a new era of cataclysmic political, economic, and social change, We Shook Up the World offers an intimate perspective on two outsize figures in the nation's and the world's cultural history, and a new understanding of their unique contributions to the consciousness of their time and ours.

Tracy Daugherty (Author), Gabriel Vaughan (Narrator)

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Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Nearly every person in the United States is affected by adoption. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women's reproductive rights places an even greater emphasis on adoption. Wellington's timely-and deeply researched-account amplifies previously marginalized voices and exposes the social and racial biases embedded in the United States' adoption industry. The history of adoption is rarely told from an adoptee's perspective. Wellington remedies this gap by framing the chronicle of adoption in America using her own life story. As she reckons with the pain and unanswered questions of her own experience, she explores broader issues surrounding adoption in the United States, including changing legal policies, sterilization and compulsory relinquishment programs, forced assimilation of babies of color and Indigenous babies adopted into white families, and other liabilities. According to Wellington, US adoption practices in America are shrouded in secrecy, for they frequently cast shame on unmarried women, women struggling with fertility, and 'illegitimate' babies and children. As the United States once again finds itself embroiled in heated disputes over women's bodily autonomy Wellington's book offers a unique and much-needed frame of reference.

Rebecca Wellington (Author), April Doty (Narrator)

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Becoming Story: A Journey Among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors

A gently powerful memoir about deepening your relationship with your homeland. For the first time in more than twenty-five years, Greg Sarris-whose novels are esteemed alongside those of Louise Erdrich and Stephen Graham Jones-presents a book about his own life. In Becoming Story he asks: What does it mean to be truly connected to the place you call home-to walk where innumerable generations of your ancestors have walked? And what does it mean when you dedicate your life to making that connection even deeper? Moving between his childhood and the present day, Sarris creates a kaleidoscopic narrative about the forces that shaped his early years and his eventual work as a tribal leader. He considers the deep past, historical traumas, and possible futures of his homeland. His acclaimed storytelling skills are in top form here, and he charts his journey in prose that is humorous, searching, and profound. Described as 'jewellike' by the San Francisco Chronicle, Becoming Story is also a gently powerful guide in the art of belonging to the place where you live.

Greg Sarris (Author), Lyle Blaker (Narrator)

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The King of Diamonds: The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief

As a string of high-profile jewel thefts went unsolved during the Swinging Sixties, the press dubbed the elusive thief the King of Diamonds. Like Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief, the King was so bold that he tip-toed into the homes of millionaires while they were home, hiding in their closets and daring to smoke while they were sleeping. Rena Pederson, then a young reporter with UPI, started following the elusive thief while she managed the night desk. With gymnastic skill, he climbed trees and crawled across rooftops to take jewels from heiresses, oil kings, corporate CEOs—some of the richest people of their time. Scotland Yard and Interpol were on the look-out, but the thief was never caught nor the jewels recovered. To follow the tracks of the thief, Rena has interviewed more than two hundred people, from cops to strippers. She went to pawn shops, Las Vegas casinos, and a Mafia hangout—and discovered that beneath the glittering façade of Dallas debutante parties was a world of sex trafficking, illegal gambling, and political graft. When one of the leading suspects was found dead in highly unusual circumstances, the story darkened. High society crashed head-first into Mickey Spillane. The odd psychological aspects of the The King of Diamonds give us a different kind of crime story. Detectives were stumped: Why did the thief break into houses when his targets were inside, increasing the risk of being captured? As one socialite put it, “It was a very peculiar business.”

Rena Pederson (Author), Erin Dion, TBD (Narrator)

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Contested Boundaries: A New Pacific Northwest History

Contested Boundaries: A New Pacific Northwest History is an engaging, contemporary look at the themes, events, and people that have shaped the history of the Pacific Northwest over the last two centuries. - An engaging look at the themes, events, and people that shaped the Pacific Northwest-Washington, Oregon, and Idaho-from when only Native Peoples inhabited the land through the twentieth century. - Twelve theme-driven essays covering the human and environmental impact of exploration, trade, settlement, and industrialization in the nineteenth century, followed by economic calamity, world war, and globalization in the twentieth. - Written by two professors with over twenty years of teaching experience, this work introduces the history of the Pacific Northwest in a style that is accessible, relevant, and meaningful for anyone wishing to learn more about the region's recent history.

David J. Jepsen, David J. Norberg (Author), Will Tulin (Narrator)

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River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River

First explored by naturalist William Bartram in the 1760s, the St. Johns River stretches 310 miles along Florida's east coast, making it the longest river in the state. The first 'highway' through the once wild interior of Florida, the St. Johns may appear ordinary, but within its banks are some of the most fascinating natural phenomena and historic mysteries in the state. The river, no longer the commercial resource it once was, is now largely ignored by Florida's residents and visitors alike. In the first contemporary book about this American Heritage River, Bill Belleville describes his journey down the length of the St. Johns, kayaking, boating, hiking its riverbanks, diving its springs, and exploring its underwater caves. He rediscovers the natural Florida and establishes his connection with a place once loved for its untamed beauty. Belleville involves scientists, environmentalists, fishermen, cave divers, and folk historians in his journey, soliciting their companionship and their expertise. River of Lakes weaves together the biological, cultural, anthropological, archaeological, and ecological aspects of the St. Johns, capturing the essence of its remarkable history and intrinsic value as a natural wonder.

Bill Belleville (Author), Chris Abernathy (Narrator)

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The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders anxiously debated how to preserve and produce what they considered authentic Jewish culture, fearful that growing affluence and suburbanization threatened the future of Jewish life. Many communal educators and rabbis contended that without educational interventions, Judaism as they understood it would disappear altogether. They pinned their hopes on residential summer camps for Jewish youth: institutions that sprang up across the United States in the postwar decades as places for children and teenagers to socialize, recreate, and experience Jewish culture. Adults' fears, hopes, and dreams about the Jewish future inflected every element of camp life, from the languages they taught to what was encouraged romantically and permitted sexually. But adult plans did not constitute everything that occurred at camp: children and teenagers also shaped these sleepaway camps to mirror their own desires and interests and decided whether to accept or resist the ideas and ideologies their camp leaders promoted. Focusing on the lived experience of campers and camp counselors, The Jews of Summer demonstrates how a cultural crisis birthed a rite of passage that remains a significant influence in American Jewish life.

Sandra Fox (Author), Sharon Freedman (Narrator)

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Creating a Culture of Repair: Taking Action on the Road to Reparations

Many people are aware of the injustices Black Americans have suffered over the centuries but feel powerless when it comes to repairing the harm done. The inequality remains even after laws and policies have been corrected. Calculating and implementing financial reparations will require large-scale government action, which can feel out of reach or overwhelming for the average person. Robert Turner provides an accessible guide for individuals and groups wanting to influence significant institutional action while also acting on their own to repair the effects of racial injustice in our communities, churches, and spheres of influence. Dividing into categories of individual, social, institutional, and spiritual repair, Turner offers the longest list of reparations currently published, with more than one hundred actions listeners can begin practicing and advocating for to help balance economic injustice, undo hurtful decisions from decades past, and rally public support for bold and principled legislation.

Robert Turner (Author), Robert Turner (Narrator)

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Peace in the US Republic of Letters, 1840-1900

Peace in the US Republic of Letters, 1840-1900 explores the early peace movement as it captured the imagination of leading writers. The book charts the rise of the peace cause from its sources in the works of William Penn and John Woolman, through the founding of the first peace societies in 1815 and the mid-century peace congresses, to the postbellum movement's consequential emphasis on arbitration. The Civil War is the central axis for the book, with three chapters organized around readings of novels by James Fenimore Cooper, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne spanning the period from 1840 to 1865. The volume also explores fiction engaged with problems that arose in the aftermath of that war, including novels by Henry Adams and John Hay on political corruption and class conflict; works on the failures of Reconstruction by Albion Tourgee and Charles Chesnutt; and the varied treatments of Indigenous experience in Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona and Simon Pokagon's Queen of the Woods. All of these writers focused on issues related to the cause of peace, expanding its thematic reach and anticipating key insights of twentieth-century peace scholars.

Sandra M. Gustafson (Author), Lauren Pedersen (Narrator)

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Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope: New Essays on the Work of Cornel West

Thirty years have passed since Cornel West's book Race Matters rose to the top of the bestseller lists in 1993. Yet his book remains as relevant as ever to American culture-even more so, if one considers its influence on contemporary racial justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, prison justice, and the fight for police reform. Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope looks back to the original 1993 text and forward into the future of racial understanding and healing in our current century. Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope offers new points of entry into the thorny issues that the 1993 text addressed: the challenge of leadership in a culture marked by the legacy of white supremacy; the limited value of liberal affirmative action programs in promoting the affirmation of Black humanity; the dangerous seductions of African American conservatism and the question of Black self-regard; the necessity and difficulty of cross-race solidarity and cross-religious affinity; the need to channel legitimate Black rage over untenable conditions of existence into productive opportunities and viewpoints. With essays that span the topics of history, politics, philosophy, religion, cultural studies, music, and aesthetics, Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope is as wide-ranging as the thinker whose ideas it engages, interrogates, and celebrates.

Barbara Will (Author), Deanna Anthony (Narrator)

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Victor!: The Final Battle of Ulysses S. Grant

In some ways, everything in our world seems out of control, but turmoil has been a part of the evolution of our nation since its founding. America has endured extremely dark periods in its history-the Revolution, World War II, and perhaps the darkest of all, the Civil War. But in darkness, leaders emerge to shine a light of hope to guide people. During the American Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant emerged to guide the nation to victory, then to the beginnings of reconciliation. As Lieutenant General, he defeated the rebellion. As Chief of the Army, he provided a stabilizing presence during the Andrew Johnson impeachment. As Presidential candidate, he spoke for every American. But there is one story of Grant's heroism that is rarely told. Perhaps the most dramatic season in Grant's life came in his final two years. After leaving the White House he lost all his money. Then a few months later he received the devastating news that he was dying of throat cancer. Dr. Craig von Buseck uncovers the inspiring and intimate side of this historical legend while providing an in-depth look at the last two years of Grant's life. Victor! offers a unique narrative approach to hear the voice of a dying General Grant as he writes his memoirs and takes listeners back in time to key turning points in the War Between the States.

Dr. Craig Von Buseck (Author), Craig Von Buseck (Narrator)

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North America Audiobooks in History