
American Oasis
Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Eiden
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By:
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Kyle Paoletta
About this listen
An expansive and revelatory historical exploration of the multicultural, water-seeking, land-destroying settlers of the most arid corner of North America, arguing that in order to know where the United States is going in the era of mass migration and climate crisis we must understand where the Southwest has already been.
Albuquerque. Phoenix. Tucson. El Paso. Las Vegas. Iconic American cities surrounded by desert and rust. Teeming metropolises that seem to exist independently of the seemingly inhospitable and arid landscape that surrounds them, belying the rich insight they offer into American stories of migration, industry, bloodshed, and rebirth.
Charting a geographic path through America's largest and hottest deserts, acclaimed journalist Kyle Paoletta maps the past and future of these cities, and the many other settlements from rural town to urban sprawl that make up the region that has come to be called “the American Southwest.” Weaving together the stories of immigrants and indigenous populations, American Oasis pulls back the layers of settlement, sediment, habit, and effect that successive empires have left on the region, from the Athapascan, Diné, Tewa, Apache, and Comanche, to the Spanish, Mexican, and, finally, American.
As Paoletta’s journey into the Southwest’s history becomes inextricably linked to an exploration of its dependency on water, he begins to ask: where, ultimately, will cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix find themselves once the Colorado River and its branches dry up? Richly reported and sweeping in its history, American Oasis is the story of what one iconic region’s past can tell us about our shared environmental and cultural future.
©2025 Kyle Paoletta (P)2025 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A phenomenal book. American Oasis is much more than a sweeping and brilliant account of the Southwest. It’s essential reading about our past, present, and—if we have one—future.”—Andy Borowitz, author of Profiles in Ignorance
"Paoletta, a discerning son of the Southwest, takes us back to the future—that is, to the hotter, drier, crispier future the whole nation can expect if current trends continue. This richly reported work of history and contemporary travelogue tells the epic, fantastical story of five sun-scorched metropolises that, having risen mirage-like from the desert, give us insights into how our urban civilization might survive—even thrive."—Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea
“These are the hats of Kyle Paoletta: traveler, historian, naturalist, reporter, memoirist, diagnostician, advocate. All come together in this powerful treatment of the great Southwestern deserts, viewed through their cities and suburbs, a veritable flock of canaries in the coalmine that is climate change. American Oasis tells a complex human story of wisdom and stupidity—but also of possibility and perhaps even hope.”—Philip J. Deloria, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History, Harvard University
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- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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For millennia, land has been a symbol of wealth and privilege. But the true power of land ownership is even greater than we might think. In Land Power, political scientist Michael Albertus shows that who owns the land determines whether a society will be equal or unequal, whether it will develop or decline, and whether it will safeguard or sacrifice its environment.
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Great stories of what countries are doing that we never hear about. This is led by working with the people. Excellent…..
- By Hal on 02-24-25
By: Michael Albertus
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Dark Laboratory
- On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis
- By: Tao Leigh Goffe
- Narrated by: Tao Leigh Goffe
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic scene that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In Dark Laboratory, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the islands’ bounty for the benefit of European powers.
By: Tao Leigh Goffe
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The Forgotten Sense
- The New Science of Smell—and the Extraordinary Power of the Nose
- By: Jonas Olofsson
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Our sense of smell guides our lives far more than our screen-heavy, sight-privileged era would suggest. It animates our experience of food and drink, helps us access memories, and strengthens our intimacy with each other. But, long considered our most “beastly” sense, the inner workings of smell have stumped scientists for centuries. Now, cognitive scientist and leading smell researcher Jonas Olofsson uncovers the sophisticated biological processes that animate our olfactory system, with profound implications for how we perceive the world around us.
By: Jonas Olofsson
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A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins
- By: Gareth Harney
- Narrated by: Piers Hampton
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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When Gareth Harney was first handed a Roman coin by his father as a child, he became entranced by its beauty, and its unique ability to connect us with the distant past. He soon learned that the Romans saw coins as far more than just currency—these were metal canvases on which they immortalized their sacred gods, mighty emperors, towering monuments, and brutal battles of conquest. Revealed in those intricate designs struck in gold, silver, and bronze was the epic story of the Roman Empire.
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Outstanding!
- By Laura L. Steuk-Mastropaolo on 02-28-25
By: Gareth Harney
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Bad Naturalist
- One Woman's Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop
- By: Paula Whyman
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When empty nester Paula Whyman climbs to a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, her plans for a backyard ecology project quickly morph into a massive endeavor. In Bad Naturalist, Whyman struggles with conflicting advice from experts, an influx of invasive species, delayed plans, and the occasional rattlesnake—but none of it dampens her irrepressible passion for protecting the land.
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beautifully written self discovery within a description of a wonderful property.
- By anthony adamovich on 02-25-25
By: Paula Whyman
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Dark Brilliance
- The Age of Reason: From Descartes to Peter the Great
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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During the 1600s—between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment—Europe lived through an era known as The Age of Reason. By exploring all the key events and bringing to life some of the most influential characters of the era—including Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Louis XIV, and Charles I—acclaimed historian Paul Strathern tells the vivid story of this paradoxical age, while also exploring the painful cost of creating the progress and modernity upon which the Western world was built.
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Short biographies of some of the most profound and influential people that lived and molded the Age of Reason
- By joseph on 02-03-25
By: Paul Strathern
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The Containment
- Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
- By: Michelle Adams
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1974, the Supreme Court issued a momentous decision: In the case of Milliken v. Bradley, the justices brought a halt to school desegregation across the North, and to the civil rights movement’s struggle for a truly equal education for all. How did this come about, and why? In The Containment, the esteemed legal scholar Michelle Adams tells the epic story of the struggle to integrate Detroit schools—and what happened when it collided with Nixon-appointed justices committed to a judicial counterrevolution.
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Revealing an important part of US History
- By espressi on 02-05-25
By: Michelle Adams
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The Best of All Possible Worlds
- A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days
- By: Michael Kempe, Marshall Yarbrough - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a "universal genius" who ranged across many fields and made breakthroughs in most of them. Leibniz invented calculus (independently from Isaac Newton), conceptualized the modern computer, and developed the famous thesis that the existing world is the best that God could have created.
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Great bio of Leibniz
- By JJ on 01-22-25
By: Michael Kempe, and others
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The Crossing
- El Paso, the Southwest, and America’s Forgotten Origin Story
- By: Richard Parker
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning El Paso-native journalist Richard Parker offers a radical work of history that re-centers the American story around El Paso, Texas, gateway between north and south, center of indigenous power and resistance, locus of European colonization of North America, centuries-long hub of immigration, and underappreciated modern blueprint for a changing United States.
By: Richard Parker
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Save Our Souls
- The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
- By: Matthew Pearl
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—the ship’s captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog—along with the ship’s crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea. When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans.
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Awful
- By aleris on 02-11-25
By: Matthew Pearl
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New Prize for These Eyes
- The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
- By: Juan Williams
- Narrated by: Juan Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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More than a century of civil rights activism reached a mountaintop with the arrival of a Black man in the Oval Office. But hopes for a unified, post-racial America were deflated when Barack Obama’s presidency met with furious opposition. A white right-wing backlash was brewing, and a volcanic new movement—a second civil rights movement—began to erupt. In New Prize for These Eyes, award-winning author Juan Williams shines a light on this historic, new movement. Who are its heroes? Where is it headed? What fires, furies, and frustrations distinguish it from its predecessor?
By: Juan Williams
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The CIA
- An Imperial History
- By: Hugh Wilford
- Narrated by: Hugh Wilford
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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As World War II ended, the United States stood as the dominant power on the world stage. In 1947, to support its new global status, it created the CIA to analyze foreign intelligence. But within a few years, the Agency was engaged in other operations: bolstering pro-American governments, overthrowing nationalist leaders, and surveilling anti-imperial dissenters at home. The Cold War was an obvious reason for this transformation—but not the only one.
By: Hugh Wilford
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The Crazies
- The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West
- By: Amy Gamerman
- Narrated by: Anna Sale
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Most locals in Big Timber, Montana learn to live with the wind. Rick Jarrett sought his fortune in it. Like his pioneer ancestors who staked their claims in the Treasure State, he believed in his right to make a living off the land—and its newest precious resource, million-dollar wind. Trouble was, Jarrett’s neighbors were some of the wealthiest and most influential men in America, trophy ranchers who’d come West to enjoy magnificent mountain views, not stare at 500-foot wind turbines.
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Brilliantly researched!
- By SHH on 03-26-25
By: Amy Gamerman
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Somewhere Toward Freedom
- By: Bennett Parten
- Narrated by: Jonathan Beville
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Historian Bennett Parten provides a groundbreaking account of Sherman’s March to the Sea—the critical Civil War campaign that destroyed the Confederacy—told for the first time from the perspective of the tens of thousands of enslaved people who fled to the Union lines and transformed Sherman’s march into the biggest liberation event in American history.
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Compelling history, well told!
- By Nina Lovel on 02-26-25
By: Bennett Parten
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Blood and the Badge
- The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
- By: Michael Cannell
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in the Scorsese world of 1980s Brooklyn. For more than ten years, Eppolito and Caracappa moonlighted as the mob's early warning alert system, leaking names of mobsters secretly cooperating with the government and crippling investigations by sharing details of surveillance, phone taps, and impending arrests. The Lucchese boss called the two detectives his crystal ball: Whatever detectives knew, the mafia soon learned.
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Interesting
- By Geo on 02-25-25
By: Michael Cannell
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The Denisovans: A Captivating Guide to the Extinct Cousins of Neanderthals Who Lived Across Asia during the Paleolithic Period
- Exploring the Past
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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This audiobook takes you on an exciting journey into the past to uncover the story of the Denisovans. Hidden deep in the Denisova Cave in Siberia, their remains went unnoticed for centuries. But when scientists discovered them, it changed what we knew about human history.
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Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell
- A Straightforward Summary of the 21st Century's only Plausible Metaphysics
- By: Bernardo Kastrup
- Narrated by: Christian Leatherman
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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As the failures of physicalism begin to shake the confidence of even the most biased of its supporters, a new view on the nature of reality is establishing itself as the only tenable alternative: Analytic Idealism. According to it, there is a world out there independent of our individual minds, but such world is—just like ourselves—also mental or experiential. While being a realist, naturalist, rationalist, and even reductionist view, Analytic Idealism flips our culture-bound intuitions on their head.
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Underrated Insight
- By Lissa on 03-20-25
By: Bernardo Kastrup
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The Control of Nature
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with nature. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those attempting to wrest control from her—stubborn, sometimes foolhardy, more often ingenious, and always arresting characters.
By: John McPhee
What listeners say about American Oasis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jesse P
- 02-07-25
Historical context for SW sprawl
Well written. I enjoyed this audiobook. Lots of information about SW cities I had never heard before. I think I misunderstood the subtitle. I was originally drawn to this book thinking it was about how the southwest metropolis cities can sustain themselves in the future when they’ve already outpaced the resources of the landscapes they are situated on. There is some discussion of that towards the end but the book is mostly historical context for how the cities came to be. Every chapter was interesting.
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