Audiobooks narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross

Guadalcanal's Forgotten Fight: The U.S. Army's Crucial Role

"When the name Guadalcanal is mentioned, most picture Marines desperately fighting in the dense jungles and the United States Navy in dramatic surface battles. That story, though true, tells only part of the campaign. Less well known is the role played by the United States Army. While the Marines landed and fought off several Japanese counterattacks it was the Army's soldiers who followed and bore a large share of the brutal ground fighting that stretched on for months. These fights were not 'mopping up' actions normally associated with the Army, but brutal battles against a determined enemy. Arriving under difficult conditions and often overshadowed by their naval brethren, the Army's contributions on Guadalcanal have too often been relegated to the footnotes of history. This account finally brings them out of the shadows, recounting their contribution through a blend of operational history with clear soldier perspectives. Drawing on official records, terrain analysis and firsthand testimonies, the book provides new accounts from multiple perspectives, including Japanese sources not previously published. Units such as the 25th Infantry Division, Americal Division and the 147th Infantry Regiment are covered in detail. Dave Holland, a former United States Marine and law enforcement investigator, spent three years on the ground, studying the battlefields through research, investigation, and documentation. Drawing on his military experience and investigative skills, Holland offers a detailed analysis of the campaign with attention to the role of terrain. Following on from his first work, Guadalcanal's Longest Fight, this book serves as a companion to tell the complete land campaign story."

Dave R. Holland (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Throne of the Heavens

"Flashes of a forgotten life are all Mattaniel remembers from before his freedom was stripped away. When a shocking revelation forces him into the service of a foreign king, he finds himself entangled in a world of political intrigue and captivated by a woman far beyond his reach. As the daughter of a king, Elissa knows her duty is to secure her father's ambitions with an advantageous marriage. Yet when her brilliant and enigmatic tutor uncovers a conspiracy that drags them both into a deadly game of treachery, her privileged world begins to crumble. As more fragments of Mattaniel's past are uncovered, enemies close in, loyalties fracture, and their forbidden bond will ignite a chain of events that could reshape the destiny of nations. The early years of King Saul's reign come to life in bestselling and award-winning author Connilyn Cossette's compelling, biblical-inspired tale."

Connilyn Cossette (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross, Leah Horowitz (Narrator)

Audiobook

Goodnight from Berlin

"A gripping tale of moral courage in the shadow of victory—where the end of war begins history’s most perilous reckoning. With Hitler's suicide marking the end of the Third Reich and chaos consuming a shattered Germany, Captain Edward Hume continues to lead his bomb disposal squad—The Kaboom Boys—through the deadly aftermath of victory. What began as a coal miner's son seeking adventure far from Pennsylvania has become a mission to save lives in a world still bristling with unexploded ordnance and Nazi 'werewolf' fighters who refuse to surrender. Their work grows deadlier each day—while other soldiers celebrate, Hume's men face booby traps and ticking bombs left behind by a crumbling Reich. Then comes the mission that will define them all: Hume is ordered to escort Dr. Ernst Alwin, an evil but brilliant Nazi scientist, now a prisoner, who spent the war designing weapons specifically to kill Allied bomb disposal experts, across war-torn Europe to America. Racing through a landscape of devastation with the very man who tried to kill soldiers like him, Hume confronts impossible choices. His best friend faces accusations of treason at Dachau. The Nuremberg Trials demand his testimony about the horrors he's witnessed. And somewhere in the chaos, an Army nurse from Normandy waits for his return—if he survives the gauntlet ahead. With the weight of history and the promise of peace hanging in the balance, Edward and his men discover that sometimes the most perilous battles come after the war is won."

Don Keith, Elaine Hume Peake (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Kill Me

"Throw out everything you think you know about twists, turns, and surprises. Get ready for the next big thing. Get ready to meet the Death Angels. We've all been there. A loved one or a dear friend becomes desperately ill or is tragically injured. Someone - maybe even you - says, 'If that ever happens to me, I wish someone would just . . . kill me.' What if you could choose when to die? But once you decide, you can't change your mind - ever. Welcome to the next step in the evolution of suspense fiction, an in-your-face/what-would-you-do topical thriller. Kill Me is a brilliantly conceived roller-coaster ride that zeros in on some of the most contentious issues of our time. Kill Me brings Alan Gregory face-to-face with the most challenging case of his career. As always, White's characters are indelible and the dialogue is dead-on, but Kill Me is fresh and thought-provoking in a way that's so uncommon in crime fiction. Kill Me delivers on all the promise of White's earlier work and then raises the bar in an unforgettably inventive tale of life and death. This is the book that you won't be able to stop listening to, but more to the point, this is the book that won't go away. Listeners will be asking each other: 'What would you do? If you could sign up - really - would you?'"

Stephen White (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross, Richard Poe (Narrator)

Audiobook

The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction 2nd Edition

"After seven decades of existence has the UN become obsolete? As Jussi Hanhimäki proves in the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, the answer is no. The UN remains an indispensable organization that continues to save lives and improve the world as its founders hoped. Since its original publication in 2008, this edition includes more recent examples of the UN Security Council in action and peacekeeping efforts while exploring its most recent successes and failures. After a brief history of the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, Hanhimäki examines the UN's successes and failures as a guardian of international peace and security, as a promoter of human rights, as a protector of international law, and as an engineer of socio-economic development. This updated edition highlights what continues to make the UN a complicated organization today, and the ongoing challenges between its ambitions and capabilities. Hanhimäki also provides a clear account of the UN and its various arms and organizations (such as UNESCO and UNICEF), and offers a critical overview of the UN Security Council's involvement in recent crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Libya, and Syria, and how likely it is to meet its overall goals in the future. Regardless of its obstacles, the UN is likely to survive for the foreseeable future. That alone makes trying to understand the UN in all its manifold—magnificent and frustrating—complexity a worthy task. With this much-needed updated introduction to the UN, Jussi Hanhimäki engages the current debate over the organization's effectiveness as he provides a clear understanding of how it was originally conceived, how it has come to its present form, and how it must confront new challenges in a rapidly changing world."

Jussi M. Hanhimäki (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tripwires: 15 Twenty-First-Century Events That Undermined American Democracy―and How to Reclaim It

"In a trenchant work of nonfiction, the #1 New York Times bestselling author identifies a series of self-inflicted wounds on our body politic that have led to the current moment, and shows us how we can undo the harm “A modern-day Tocqueville, Richard North Patterson marshals an immense amount of research to show, incisively and readably, why we are now in danger of losing our democracy—and how we can recover from our current malaise.”—Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend In a trenchant work of nonfiction, the New York Times bestselling author identifies a series of self-inflicted wounds and destabilizing societal trends that have led America to the precipice of autocracy, and lays out a program for reversing the harm. From politicized Supreme Court decisions to wrong-headed policy initiatives and toxic political maneuvers, Richard North Patterson—whose novel on presidential politics, Protect and Defend, was a #1 New York Times bestseller—combines fifteen fateful moments in the past quarter-century with an immersive narrative of the underlying economic, cultural, and political developments that made these tripwires so profoundly consequential. Starting with the Supreme Court intervention that awarded George W. Bush the presidency, Patterson examines the often under-appreciated turning points that helped undermine our polity, from the accidental accession of John Roberts as Chief Justice and the ruin wreaked by America’s subprime mortgages, to Donald Trump’s demand to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Marco Rubio’s sabotage of his own immigration reform bill, and Mitch McConnell’s refusal to convict Trump for his attempted coup—culminating in the ultimate betrayal of our constitutional democracy: the Roberts Court’s invitation to unbounded presidential power. Patterson’s near-encyclopedic knowledge of recent U.S. history along with his political acumen and training as a trial lawyer allow him to distill cause and effect in a deeply synthetic way, building to a comprehensive account of the perverse compound of ignorance, corruption, racism, religiosity, plutocracy, and authoritarianism wrought by Trump’s return to power. He concludes with a detailed program for establishing a truly equitable and democratic society, offering hope for America’s future."

Richard North Patterson (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

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Zionism: A Very Short Introduction

"Zionism is the nationalist movement affirming Jewish people's right to self-determination through the establishment of a Jewish national state in its ancient homeland. It is one of the most controversial ideologies in the world. Its supporters laud its success at liberating the Jewish people after millennia of persecution and at securing the creation of Israel. But to its opponents, Zionism relies on a racist ideology culminating in Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and is one of the last manifestations of colonial oppression in the world. Since the late 1990s, the centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the world news has sharpened this controversy, dramatically politicizing any attempt to understand Zionism and its significance as an intellectual and cultural movement. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Stanislawski presents an impartial and disinterested history of Zionist ideology from its origins to the present. Sharp and accessible, this book charts the crucial moments in the ideological development of Zionism, including the emergence of modern Jewish nationalism in early nineteenth century Europe, the founding of the Zionist movement by Theodor Herzl in 1897, the Balfour Declaration, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, the Six Day War in 1967, the rise of the 'Peace Now' movement, and the election of conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Stanislawski's balanced analysis of these controversial events illuminates why, despite the undeniable success in its goal of creating a Jewish state, profound questions remain today about the long-term viability of Zionist ideology in a rapidly destabilizing Middle East."

Michael Stanislawski (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Louisiana Purchase: The Grand Bargain and the Making of America

"A true pivotal moment in American history, the Louisiana Purchase redefined the boundaries of the United States and recharted the course of its history. The story behind it transcends borders. The United States bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleonic France in 1803. The young nation more than doubled its size, absorbing the greater part of an entire continent in a single real estate transaction. This overlooks a critical feature of the purchase, however: the agreement signed by Thomas Jefferson did not grant the American republic the land; it merely allowed it to assume the authority to negotiate the acquisition of the land, which was still owned by Native Americans. The Louisiana Purchase was a founding event of what ultimately became the U. S.–Indian Treaty System, one that produced over two hundred Native American cessions between 1804 and 1970 and cost the United States billions of dollars. This provocative and engrossing audiobook examines what lay behind what eventually became one of the costliest undertakings in American history—not only in dollars but in lives displaced and cultures erased. How did it go from being a burden to a prize? Understanding the full significance of the Louisiana Purchase means expanding the narrative. The country's destiny was determined by men who had never walked the streets of New Orleans or gazed upon the majestic panoramas of the Rockies but who instead managed the finances of the world's empires. Territorial ambition remains a persistent feature in American politics. This audiobook compels us to appreciate the larger story of the purchase and its place in both national and global history."

Alexander Mikaberidze (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction

"How have the Jews survived? For millennia, they have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. Many have attempted to explain this singular success as a result of divine intervention. In this engaging book, David N. Myers charts the long journey of the Jews through history. At the same time, it points to two unlikely factors to explain the survival of the Jews: antisemitism and assimilation. Usually regarded as grave dangers, these two factors have continually interacted with one other to enable the persistence of the Jews. At every turn in their history, not just in the modern age, Jews have adapted to new environments, cultures, languages, and social norms. These bountiful encounters with host societies have exercised the cultural muscle of the Jews, preventing the atrophy that would have occurred if they had not interacted so extensively with the non-Jewish world. It is through these encounters—indeed, through a process of assimilation—that Jews came to develop distinct local customs, speak many different languages, and cultivate diverse musical, culinary, and intellectual traditions. Left unchecked, the Jews' well-honed ability to absorb from surrounding cultures might have led to their disappearance. And yet, the route toward full and unbridled assimilation was checked by the nearly constant presence of hatred toward the Jew. Anti-Jewish expression and actions have regularly accompanied Jews throughout history. Part of the ironic success of antisemitism is its malleability, its talent in assuming new forms and portraying the Jew in diverse and often contradictory images. Antisemitism not only served to blunt further assimilation, but, in a paradoxical twist, affirmed the Jews' sense of difference from the host society. And thus together assimilation and antisemitism (at least up to a certain limit) contribute to the survival of the Jews as a highly adaptable and yet distinct group."

David N. Myers (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Hottest Seat on Campus: A Roadmap for Mastering Leadership in College Admission

"An essential aid for training sitting and aspiring admissions officers in the skills required to succeed in higher education today The college admission deanship―often called 'the hottest seat on campus'―requires navigating institutional politics, legal hurdles, revenue allocation, and more, all while overseeing enrollment that meets demographic and financial objectives. A seat with high turnover, its opportunities for professional growth, in terms of extending networks, burnishing leadership credentials, and gaining invaluable institutional insight, are nevertheless unmatched. In The Hottest Seat on Campus, veteran counselor Angel B. Pérez helps newly appointed and rising admission deans get a handle on the role's core expectations and nuances for success. As CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Pérez knows firsthand how underprepared deans can be for the 'business' side of their job. Drawing on his own experience, as well as from interviews with current and former admission leaders who represent a range of perspectives and institutions, Pérez demystifies the deanship and shares strategies for building teams, leading through crisis, navigating shared governance, leveraging the power of storytelling, and self-management. Pérez points to the deeper characteristics and qualities that make for enduring success as a chief enrollment officer and admissions counselor, such as self-awareness, reflection, and the ability to ask the right questions before offering solutions. Grounded in Pérez's clear sense of the diverse skills practitioners need, the book offers an action plan professionals can quickly adapt to their own contexts."

Angel B. Pérez (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Honor

"Told from dual perspectives, this remarkable true story for YA readers recounts the tale of two individuals—a Ukrainian teen in the early 2010s and a Jewish boy in hiding during WWII—whose lives are entwined through a box of letters. Nataliia, a teenager in Ukraine, is at home when she makes a puzzling discovery: a box of letters written from a Jewish boy, Eliezer, about his experience during the Holocaust. At first, Nataliia doesn't understand why her family possesses Eliezer's letters. But as she reads through them, she is able to piece together a fascinating connection—her ancestors were the ones who sheltered Eliezer during the war. Decades later, Nataliia and Eliezer’s family find each other in the same orbit again—as the world faces conflicts anew. This is the incredible true story of two families brought together through war and a girl’s discovery of her family’s past—and what it means for the future."

Leon Buchwald, Nataliia Mariichyn, Susan McClelland (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross, Natalia Payne (Narrator)

Audiobook

Propaganda Wars of the American Revolution: From the Boston Patriots to George Washington

"A revelatory account of how words and actions combined to destroy Britain's colonial rule and secure Washington's American victory The American Revolution was not only fought on bloody battlefields, it was waged with the ink of pen and print. George Goodwin shows how the leaders of the American Revolution brilliantly weaponized information and propaganda through correspondence and newspapers, shaping public perception, mobilizing support, and swaying the colonies toward open rebellion. Once the war began, George Washington's tireless ability to deploy the pen and press as a weapon of war helped to unite and sustain very different colonies and colonists during the eight long years before victory. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary accounts, letters, and publications, Goodwin demonstrates how liberty and authority were contested through ideas, images, and rhetoric at the time of America's birth―and how, 250 years on, the Revolution can be seen as America's first great media war."

George Goodwin (Author), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross

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