Audiobooks narrated by Bill Hare

NASA Programs in the 1970s: The History and Legacy of the Space Agency’s Missions to Mars and Beyond

Space exploration was always an expensive business, and throughout NASA’s history, the agency has had to justify to Congress its need for every dollar it intended to spend. This problem has helped NASA to be more careful and more creative with the money they did receive, and scientists had to justify the equipment they wanted to include on each space probe. They had to justify the size and the power demand, too. If they wanted too much, the entire mission might be scrubbed, and all their work would have been for naught. This made planning and designs leaner and more efficient, as scientists and engineers were more careful with their recommendations. In fact, the Pioneer program was the most diversified sequence of any of NASA’s programs, and though they’re now remembered for being among the first probes in history to reach the Outer Solar System, the elaborate planning changed goals several times over several years before resulting in historic successes. NASA had wanted to do a Grand Tour of the Solar System toward the end of the 1970s to take advantage of the scheduled alignment of planets, which meant the Pioneer missions were meant to be test runs prior to the main events (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2), and a great many things discovered by Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 were essential to the successful planning of the Voyager probes. Voyager 1 and 2 have done far more than accomplish their original missions. In fact, they are now exploring interstellar space, far beyond the outer planets in the cold wasteland between the stars. Each spacecraft carries a copy of a golden record which contains an introduction to Earth, should some alien civilization happen to encounter either Voyager 1 or Voyager 2. In the first Star Trek movie, writers imagined just that, creating a story of a Voyager spacecraft being captured and adapted for its own uses.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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The Most Influential Mesoamerican Gods: The History and Legacy of Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and

Gilgamesh, Hercules, Aeneas, and Lancelot are instantly recognized as mythological heroes in the West, evoking visions of Persian monsters, ghastly labors, and the founding and glorification of cities, but the names of Mesoamerican gods remain as mysterious as their spelling. Even those who have come across their names when learning about the history of Mesoamerica – particularly the Aztec and various gods’ roles in the Spanish conquest of their empire – are often unaware that the Mesoamerican deities have tales that equal any of those in the repertoire of the mythological figures mentioned above. As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to gods all across Mesoamerica, from the Olmec and Toltec to the Aztec and Maya. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the ruins of Mesoamerican cities. From the Aztec to the Maya, Quetzalcoatl - the Feathered Serpent - rears his beautiful head from magnificent relief carvings in temples no less grandiose than the largest pyramid in the region, that of Cholula in Mexico. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the great Mayan city of Chichén Itzá during the spring and autumn equinoxes to watch the shadow of the Feathered Serpent slither its way down the temple known as El Castillo. To the Aztec, Huitzilopochtli wore a blue-green hummingbird helmet and was draped in pure white heron feathers. He carried a smoking mirror, an obsidian mirror, a shield, darts, and the serpent Xiuhcoatl that carried with it the fury and might of the sun. Everything about him - from his clothes to his weapons - emanated and defined royalty. His name meant Hummingbird of the South or Hummingbird of the Left (meaning the “Southern Part of the World”) in the native language of the Aztec, Nahuatl. In his kingly role he was not only irrevocably intertwined with war and conquest but also with trade, the things most important to the great Aztec Empire.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Bass Reeves: The Life and Legacy of the Wild West’s First Black Deputy Marshal

Exploration of the early American West, beginning with Lewis and Clark’s transcontinental trek at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson, was not accomplished by standing armies, the era’s new steam train technology, or by way of land grabs. These came later, but not until pathways known only to a few of the land’s indigenous people were discovered, carved out, and charted in an area stretching from the eastern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and the present-day borders of Mexico and Canada. Even the great survey parties, such as Colonel William Powell’s exploration of the Colorado River, came decades later. The first views of the West’s enormity by white Americans were seen by individuals of an entirely different personality, in an era that could only exist apart from its home civilization. In parallel with these individuals came a number of black frontiersmen who participated in the exploration of the Western terrain, said to have numbered in the dozens. Seldom heard but notable names of black figures in the West include trick rodeo rider Jesse Stahl, stunt rider and castle rustler Ned Huddleston, and Bass Reeves, the first black deputy U.S. Marshal. Isom Dart and Willie Bill Pickett also garnered some fame in the era. Furthermore, given the segregated nature of society, it was all the more shocking that Reeves reached such a position in law enforcement. The region was known for infamous outlaws and gangs, but numerous icons in the form of tin-star bearing, gun-toting lawmen emerged, sworn to round up these anarchic and violent desperadoes and bring them to justice, dead or alive. Some of them are still well known today, such as Wyatt Earp and Sheriff Pat Garrett, a former cowboy, bartender, and customs agent best known for his slaying of Billy the Kid.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare, Ray Howard (Narrator)

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Maccabean Revolt, The: The History and Legacy of the Jewish Uprising against the Seleucid Empire tha

For nearly two centuries, the Jews and Greeks of the region were able to live in relative peace. The Seleucid rulers allowed the Jews to practice their religion unmolested, and many of the Jews adopted aspects of Hellenism in order to ingratiate themselves with the rulers. Eventually, though, a number of factors led to a Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule that started in 167 BCE and came to be known as the Maccabean Revolt. The uprising came about as the result of a growing sense of Jewish identity and a sort of proto-nationalism that viewed the Seleucids as enemy occupiers of the Holy Land. On the other side, the Seleucid King Antiochus IV (r. 175-164 BCE) viewed the Jews with suspicion due to their often insular nature and unwillingness to accept Hellenism. These attitudes collided, leading to the Maccabean Revolt. The Maccabean Revolt never clearly ended, so historians continue to debate the timeline, but as it dragged on for some time, it evolved from an independence movement into a war of Jewish conquest. Judea’s sovereignty and temple worship were restored in Jerusalem, but as their luck would have it, the Jewish nation wouldn’t last long due to the rise of Rome. Nevertheless, the revolt had permanent effects on Jewish culture and identity, the Bible, the celebration of Hanukkah, and the geopolitical situation in the ancient Near East.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Studebaker Brothers, The: The Lives and Legacy of the Family Behind the Famous Automobile Company

“The automobile has come to stay. But when a man has no business, it is a rather expensive luxury, and I would advise no man, be he farmer or merchant, to buy one until he has sufficient income to keep it up. A horse and buggy will afford a great deal of enjoyment…” – John M. Studebaker For a couple of generations of Americans, along with Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors, there was Studebaker, and though it is no longer in existence, the Studebaker Automobile Company is still part of the popular culture. When a 1950s family is depicted on television today, the likelihood is that the family car is a Studebaker. The symbolic power of the Studebaker name was recently exemplified when South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Kris Maher, writing in The Wall Street Journal, noted “For decades, the biggest symbol of this Midwestern city’s decline was the vacant Studebaker plant at one end of the city with its broken windows. Kevin Smith, a business owner in South Bend who bought the property to renovate it, said the empty relic was holding the city back. ‘It looms over the town,’ he said. ‘Everyone had the feeling that we could no longer compete. These days, some 40 organizations, including tech companies and a school that teaches coding to children, rent space on the 1.2 million-square-foot campus, including one building with an open floor plan and interior glass walls. Now called the Renaissance District, it is a symbol of the rebound in the state’s fourth-largest city.’” Today, people have likely heard of the name Studebaker without realizing that before Detroit was dominated by the Big Three automakers, there was a fourth major automobile company. The story of the Studebaker company and the Studebaker family exemplifies both the American dream and the difficulty in sustaining that dream.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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French Senegal: The History of the French Colony and Senegal’s Transition to Independence

When they entered the negotiations in Berlin in 1884, the French were established in their flagship African territory of Senegal, situated at the westernmost point of continental Africa, which tended to give them an option over the vast reaches of the western continent so far unclaimed by any territory. The history of French engagement in Senegal can be traced back to 1677, with the French acquisition of a slave port on the island of Gorée, today a cantonment of the Senegalese capital of Dakar. From there, the French were apt to gaze across the vast expanse of unclaimed territory to their minor enclave of French Somaliland, founded between 1883 and 1887, and which would, in the post-independence era, become the state of Djibouti. The French imperial vision, therefore, became the establishment of French sovereignty over everything in between these two points, including, if possible, Egypt. That vision ultimately clashed with British objectives, but somewhat ironically, conflicts against other enemies would ultimately determine how France’s overseas empire was ultimately decolonized. In conjunction with those geopolitical events, certain influential individuals at home would be ready to fill in the European power vacuum while leading various independence movements, and one of these individuals was a poet and politician named Léopold Senghor.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Tom Horn: The Controversial Life and Legacy of One of the Wild West’s Most Famous Gunslingers

In the span of scarcely more than a half century, the West developed from a handful of scattered fur trapping enterprises predominantly inhabited by males to a region full of burgeoning rustic communities, and before the government’s official “closure” of the frontier as a lawless expanse, Western societies were essentially living apart from traditional American rule of law. What judicial structures were at work across the West were erratic, often willing to exercise extremes without evidential justification, and manipulated by major corporate interests of the day, most notably cattle. The latter 19th century brought about both the heyday and decline of that industry, but the modernized and increasingly technology-oriented societies began to bloom while many of the legendary frontier figures were still alive. In some cases, the old and new worlds were able to coexist as the lone wolves and lawmen of the frontier became obsolete as an archetype, but still a part of folklore. Wyatt Earp was the subject of several early motion pictures and lived long enough to consult on their productions and meet actors. Iconic rodeo stars, lawmen, and notorious outlaws who made themselves famous on horseback witnessed the beginnings of the age of flight. However, the transition from a mostly lawless region to an ordered society that more closely mirrored the East Coast could be rough for some, and perhaps nobody struggled to adapt to societal progress more than the infamous Tom Horn. At the close of the 19th century, Horn undertook virtually every form of employment available on the frontier before ending his career as a paid assassin for the cattle industry, anonymously ambushing cattle rustlers. According to an ongoing debate, he was either the perpetrator or scapegoat for the murder of a young boy in Iron Mountain, Wyoming, an ambush execution that occurred in the context of a raging feud between the cattle and sheep industries.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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D.W. Griffith: The Life and Legacy of the Hollywood Director Who Made The Birth of a Nation

He was a pioneering film director who had 518 films to his credit. His work spanned the silent and sound eras. Most of his films were completed in a span of 15 years. But today he is known only for one of his films, one considered by historians to be a landmark in cinema as well as the most controversial ever made. He could not escape the controversy of this one film before he died in relative obscurity, his contributions to the motion picture industry forever marred. The story of D.W. Griffith is one of triumph and tragedy, of a man who almost singlehandedly created the American motion picture industry, but whose prejudices and ego have permanently colored how he is perceived. In 1958, James Agee wrote of Griffith and his time, “This was the only time in movie history that a man of great ability worked freely, in an unspoiled medium, for an unspoiled audience, on a majestic theme which involved all that was, and brought to it, besides his abilities as an inventor and artist, absolute passion, pity, courage, and honesty. He achieved what no other known man has ever achieved. To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel, the emergence coordination, and first eloquence of language, the birth of an art, and to realize that this is all the work of one man.” It would be an overstatement to say that D.W. Griffith created Hollywood; but Hollywood would have been quite different without his complicated genius. As historian Richard Griffith put it, “the origins of older arts are lost in prehistory, their creators unknown or barely guessed at,” but for the movies, “we have an almost complete record of the ‘birth of an art.’ The creator of film art was David Wark Griffith.”

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Leo Frank Case, The: The Controversial History of the Arrest and Trial of a Jewish Man Wrongly Convi

In 1913, Mary Phagan, a young Georgia factory girl and the daughter of tenant farmers, was raped and killed, and suspicion fell upon Leo Frank, the Jewish-American factory manager, who was subsequently arrested, tried, and convicted of her murder based on the thinnest of circumstantial evidence. The entire case against Frank rested on the testimony of the factory janitor, Jim Conley, despite the fact Conley had been arrested almost immediately after Frank when he was spotted washing what appeared to be blood off his clothes. Subsequent investigations determined that Conley had written notes found by Phagan’s body, and Conley’s testimony explained this extremely incriminating evidence away by claiming Frank had dictated the notes to him to write down before they moved the body to the location it was discovered. Modern historians now believe Conley committed the murder himself, but based on his testimony, Conley only received a sentence of one year for being an accomplice after the fact. The conviction was controversial enough in its day that Georgia Governor John M. Slaton commuted Frank’s death sentence, which stirred up such a frenzy that a mob driven by their prejudices took what they saw as justice into their own hands. The result was a stark reminder of the roles that race, class, and religion played in the South during the beginning of the 20th century. The Leo Frank Case: The Controversial History of the Arrest and Trial of a Jewish Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder in the Early 20th Century examines the events that led up to the trial, how it was conducted, and the horrible aftermath.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Dodo, The: The History and Legacy of the Extinct Flightless Bird

“The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for.” – Willy Cuppy, 19th century American humorist and literary critic At one point or another, just about everyone has heard of the dodo bird, which is almost universally described as a cuddly, whimsical creature renowned for its alleged stupidity. This prehistoric avian had been known for hundreds of years before it was made popular around the world in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The character, the Dodo, satirized the author himself - according to pop culture lore, Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, regarded the dodo as his spirit animal due to his alleged stutter, which led to him often presenting himself as “Do-do-dodgson.” Carroll was also a frequent patron of the Oxford Museum of Natural History, which served as a fount of inspiration for his memorable anthropomorphic characters. The 1951 Disney animation, Alice in Wonderland, breathed new life into Carroll's Dodo, portrayed as a plump, peach-faced creature with a bulbous pink beak, clad in a purple waistcoat, a powdered wig, and a pipe dangling out of his beak. Like its real-life counterparts, the Dodo was depicted as a flightless bird who crossed paths with Alice, bobbing along inside of a bottle upon the open sea. Owing to its inability to fly, the Dodo uses an upside-down toucan as his boat, and the Dodo is being maneuvered by a green hawk furiously flapping its wings, serving as the boat's propeller. The dimwitted, carefree dodo also made various appearances in film and TV shows over the years, such as Yoyo Dodo in the 1938 black-and-white animation Porky in Wackyland, the short-lived stop-motion animated series Rocky and the Dodos, and the 2002 animated film Ice Age, which depicts the dodos as a silly, clumsy troop of birds who fail to guard three small watermelons.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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The Great Siege of Malta: The History of the Battle for the Mediterranean Island Between the Ottoman

After being forced out of Rhodes by the Ottomans in the early 16th century, the Knights Hospitaller spent seven years residing in Sicily without an official home or garrison, but around 1530, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decided to gift the order the islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as the port city of Tripoli in North Africa, as a fiefdom. The emperor’s motivations varied, but most historians believe he granted the knights the territory partially out of religious devotion and mainly to protect those regions from the looming Ottoman threat. Both Malta and Gozo were between Sicily and the North African coast and were prime locations for the Ottoman Empire to try to make their next move to gain inroads into Europe. In 1565, the Knights Hospitaller were attacked by Suleiman, who sent 40,000 soldiers to attempt to wrest control of Malta from them. This would become known as the Great Siege of Malta, lasting from May 18-September 11. The first two months of the siege were devastating for the Hospitallers, who lost most of their cities and half of their 8,000 knights. On August 23, the Ottomans launched their last assault upon Malta. The fighting was intense, and even wounded knights participated. The Ottoman army was unable to break through the Order’s fortifications, as the garrison had repaired the worst of the damages and any breakages to avoid giving the Ottomans an advantage. After the Great Siege of Malta, the Knights Hospitaller would have no more decisive victories against their enemies, which should come as no surprise given that by the time the Ottomans left, the order only had 600 men capable of fighting.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Emperor Hirohito: The Life and Legacy of Japan's Ruler during World War II

The man known to most of the world as Emperor Hirohito ruled during some of the most tumultuous years in Japanese history. When he came to the throne in 1926, he inherited control of a country which had only recently emerged as a major industrial and world power, and through the aggressive expansion and wars of the 1930s, Hirohito was at the head of one of the world’s foremost powers. Throughout the maelstrom of World War II, he remained in power, a distant and, to most outsiders, inscrutable factor in the rise of the Japanese Empire. Before and during the war, many people in America and elsewhere believed that Emperor Hirohito was at least partly responsible for both the confrontational Japanese approach to foreign affairs, and for the often brutal conduct of the Japanese armed forces during the wars which followed. As such, when the war ended, there were plenty of calls for the emperor to be indicted for war crimes along with other senior figures in Japan. However, a new feeling emerged at that time, suggesting that in reality Hirohito had been little more than a figurehead taken along by a tide of militarism, helpless to intervene or influence the course of events. This book looks at the role of the enigmatic leader in the rise, fall and rebirth of modern Japan. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Emperor Hirohito like never before.

Charles River Editors (Author), Bill Hare (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Bill Hare