World Audiobooks | History

Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, Part II - 1963-64

In Pillar of Fire, the second volume of his America in the King Years trilogy, Taylor Branch portrays the civil rights era at its zenith, picking up where the Pulitzer Prize-winning Parting the Waters left off. It is a monumental chronicle of a movement that stirred from Southern black churches to challenge the national conscience during the Eisenhower and Kennedy years. In this masterly continuation of the narrative, Branch recounts the climactic struggles as they commanded the national and international stage. This audio adaptation of Pillar of Fire covers the upheavals of the years 1963-1965 -- Dallas, Mississippi Freedom Summer, the far-reaching effects of civil rights legislation, the violent reaction to the end of legalized segregation, Vietnam, Selma. And it provides frank, revealing portraits of the major players: LBJ, Malcolm X, Bob Moses, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. Participants on all sides stretched themselves and their country to the breaking point over the meaning to simple words: dignity, equal votes, equal souls.

Taylor Branch (Author), CCH Pounder, Joe Morton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes 1963 1964

Taking Charge brings you into the room with an American political legend, still hated and revered a quarter century after his death. We hear Lyndon Johnson as he schemes and blusters, rewards and punishes, and reveals a bedrock core of unshakable political beliefs. The only President to record his private conversations from his first day in office, LBJ ordered these tapes locked in a vault until at least the year 2023. But now they have been unsealed, providing a close-up look at a President taking power such as we have never had before -- from John F. Kennedy's murder in November 1963 to Johnson's campaign for a landslide victory. Taking Charge is filled with revelations about the full-blooded Texan behind the public image. You will hear LBJ: * Revealing his self-doubts and personal anguish over the responsibilities of the presidency * Receiving the frank criticism of his wife, Lady Bird Johnson * Staking his presidency on a revolutionaly civil rights bill * Scuttling Robert Kennedy's drive to be his Vice President * Using the Tonkin Gulf attack to expand the American beachhead in Southeast Asia * Unveiling his private, tortured early doubts that we could ever win a war in Vietnam Taking Charge gives us an unprecedented look into a crucial presidency that continues to shape our lives today. In LBJ's own words, it is history "with the bark off."

Michael Beschloss, Michael R. Beschloss (Author), Michael Beschloss, Michael R. Beschloss (Narrator)

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Intuitive Thinking: Wisdom for the 21st Century

Leadership is a quality in short supply during a time in history when we need it the most. Cleveland has worked closely with four American presidents and offers intriguing insights and visions about the Information Age, explaining why it is so unique from ages past. His eight attitudes of leadership are both provocative and profound.

Harlan Cleveland (Author), Michael Toms (Narrator)

Audiobook

All but My Life

All but My Life tells the haunting story of Gerda Weissman Klein’s experience under the Nazi regime. Taken from her home in Bielitz, Poland, and sent to German labor camps, Gerda survived and was liberated by American troops. In her memoir, Klein takes audiences on an alarming journey from the comforts of life in Poland to the horrifying concentration camps, reminding readers of the horrific destruction and prejudice during the twentieth century, while also providing a sense of hope for future generations.

Gerda Weissman Klein (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)

Audiobook

The History of Classical Music

From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Polyphony, sonata form, serial music - many musical expressions are also explained - with the text illustrated by performances from some of the most highly praised recordings of recent years. From Gregorian chant to Stravinsky and Gorecki, 150 musical excerpts illustrate the narrative.

Richard Fawkes (Author), Robert Powell (Narrator)

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Cuba

This island was once a clearing house for importing slaves into the New World. It later became one of the world's few remaining bastions of Marxism, proclaiming socio-economic equality. In both forms, Cuba has played a unique and dramatic role in American affairs. This presentation focuses on Cuba's economic and social upheaval, with special attention to how this has affected the United States. The World's Political Hot Spots series explains the basis of conflicts in some of the world's most politically sensitive areas. Many of these regions are in today's headlines, and tensions recently have become violent in virtually all of them. Each presentation covers up to ten centuries of background, revealing how and why today's problems occur.

Joseph Stromberg (Author), Harry Reasoner (Narrator)

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A Bully Father: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children

Theodore Roosevelt was a colorful adventurer, statesman, and president. But he always felt that the most essential role he played was that of father to his six children. In A Bully Father, noted historical editor Joan Paterson Kerr brings together a collection of his letters, spanning the years between 1898 and 1919, which convey all the boundless affection he felt for his family. Although Roosevelt's responsibilities often took him far from home, he remained keenly interested in the daily lives of his four sons and two daughters. Even as he watched steam shovels dig the Panama Canal, he wrote letters filled with vivid, accessible anecdotes to his children. Countless questions about their adventures, friendships, and activities sprinkle the pages. Always a prolific reader and writer, Roosevelt composed an astonishing 150,000 letters by the time he died in 1919. Jean Paterson Kerr's perceptive biographical essay helps the listener see this lively, carefully selected part of the collection as an absorbing family chronicle.

Joan Paterson Kerr, Theodore Roosevelt (Author), John Mcdonough (Narrator)

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Return to Sodom and Gomorrah

Often called the real Indiana Jones, Charles Pellegrino'acclaimed author, scientist, and adventurer'takes the listener on an extraordinary tour of Old Testament archeological sites from the Nile to the Jordan and Tigris-Euphrates rivers. Delightfully candid and refreshingly free of religious dogma, this fascinating and revelatory tale brings together archaeologists, scientists, and theologians to view the same archeological evidence and oral histories.

Charles Pellegrino (Author), Richard Davidson, Richard M. Davidson (Narrator)

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Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson And The Opening Of The American West

Stephen E. Ambrose (Author), Barrett Whitener (Narrator)

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Great Speeches in History

From Socrates to Charles I, Danton to Lincoln - here are some of history's most significant figures with their most important speeches. Fighting for justice, for freedom of speech, and sometimes even for their own lives, these orators demonstrate the finest resources of language in the service of the most dramatic issues of their day.

Various Authors (Author), Elizabeth Bell, Norman Rodway, Peter Marinker, Samuel West (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Woman, a Man, and Two Kingdoms: The Story of Madame D'Épinay and the Abbé Galiani

The 18th century's Age of Enlightenment in pre-Revolutionary France continues to fascinate us today. Steegmuller brings his scholarly talents to this collection of the letters of Mme. Louise d'Epinay, best-known for the treatment she received in Rousseau's Confessions. Eavesdropping on the writings of this intelligent woman, the listener gains not only insights into her friendship with Italian priest-diplomat, Ferdinando Galiani, but also a glance into the life of France's elite.

Francis Steegmuller (Author), Davina Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Route 66 Audio Collection: America's Main Street

America's Main Street Author - Jimmy Gray Narrator - Dennis Stone Time - 61:43:00 For three generations of travelers, Route 66 was the highway that linked America together. It was The Mother Road and there was never another like it. Hear the stories of the tourists, the Okies, the wartime GI's, the people who ran the tourist courts and cafe's... the famous and infamous. Roadside Marvels Author - Jimmy Gray Narrator - Jon Sherberg Time - 78:59:00 There's history in the Land Of Lincoln, a cave in Missouri, Indian jewelry in New Mexico, a jackalope in Arizona and the Santa Monica Freeway at the end of the road. From Grant Park in Chicago to the Pacific Ocean, Route 66 wound its way through eight states. The old road has seen it all. Get More Kick Off 66 Author - Jimmy Gray Narrator - Don King Time - 61:53:00 In the first days of Route 66, when the road was being built in bits and pieces, there was little time for sight-seeing. As the road improved, so did cars. Now, people were willing to get off the main road and venture down mysterious little side roads leading into strange little villages. Travel off the beaten path, just a few miles from Route 66. Songs From The Mother Road Author - Woody Bomar Artist - The Road Crew Time - 43:23:00 1. We're going West 2. By The Side Of The Road 3. Chain Of Rocks Park 4. The Motherland, OK 5. Dust 6. Tucumcari Tonite 7. The Railroad Is Coming To Town 8. Running Down The Mother Road 9. The Sun On 66 10. The Old Way 11. That Ol' 66 12. Raining On The Road 13. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66

Jimmy Gray, Joe Loesch (Author), Dennis Stone, Don King, Joe Loesch, John Sherberg (Narrator)

Audiobook

World Audiobooks in History