Desperate Sons
Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Bands of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War
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Narrated by:
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Robert Fass
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By:
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Les Standiford
About this listen
A groundbreaking narrative - a historical political thriller - that explores the role of the Sons of Liberty in the American Revolution.
More than 200 years ago, a group of British colonists in America decided that the conditions under which they were governed had become intolerable. Angry and frustrated that King George III and the British Parliament had ignored their lawful complaints and petitions, they decided to take action.
Knowing that their deeds - often directed at individuals and property - were illegal, and punishable by imprisonment and even death, these agitators plotted and conducted their missions in secret to protect their identities as well as the identities of those who supported them. Calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, they gathered together in a radical society committed to imposing forcible change. Those determined men - including second cousins Samuel and John Adams, Paul Revere, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock - saw themselves as patriots. Yet to the Crown, and to many of the Sons' fellow colonists, the revolutionaries were terrorists who deserved death for their treason.
In this gripping narrative, Les Standiford reveals how this group of intelligent, committed men, motivated by economics and political belief, began a careful campaign of interlocking events that would channel feelings of vague injustice into an armed rebellion of common cause, which would defeat an empire and give birth to a radical political experiment - a new nation known as the United States.
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On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this audiobook tells the story of those revolutions and shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were.
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Excellent presentation
- By Hal on 08-20-12
By: James R. Gaines
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Lion of Liberty
- Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Known to generations of Americans for his stirring call to arms, “Give me liberty or give me death,” Patrick Henry is all but forgotten today as the first of the Founding Fathers to call for independence, the first to call for revolution, and the first to call for a bill of rights. If Washington was the “Sword of the Revolution” and Jefferson, “the Pen,” Patrick Henry more than earned his epithet as “the Trumpet” of the Revolution for rousing Americans to arms in the Revolutionary War.
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A Decent Book on an Amazing Character
- By David I. Williams on 05-13-13
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Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.
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Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
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Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Patriots
- By: Bill O'Reilly, David Fisher
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historical docudrama Legends and Lies: The Patriots, an exciting and eye-opening look at the Revolutionary War through the lives of its leaders. The American Revolution was neither inevitable nor a unanimous cause. It pitted neighbors against each other as loyalists and colonial rebels faced off for their lives and futures. These were the times that tried men's souls: No one was on stable ground, and few could be trusted.
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Couldn't stop listening!
- By Erin on 08-05-16
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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The First Congress
- How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government
- By: Fergus M. Bordewich
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The First Congress was the most important in US history, says prizewinning author and historian Fergus Bordewich, because it established how our government would actually function. Had it failed - as many at the time feared it would - it's possible that the United States as we know it would not exist today.
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Compelling
- By Jean on 03-05-18
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The Modern Scholar
- The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
- By: Professor H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: H.W. Brands
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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This course examines the life of Benjamin Franklin and his influence on both American and world history. He remains the model of the American thinker - a man who was interested in nearly everything, and who pursued those interests with an admirable and contagious passion. To study Franklin's life is to learn not only the history of a single man, but to understand some of the most monumental changes in all of human history.
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Love it
- By Holly on 02-20-16
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James Madison
- A Life Reconsidered
- By: Lynne Cheney
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A major new biography of the fourth US president, from New York Times best-selling author Lynne Cheney. James Madison was a true genius of the early republic, the leader who did more than any other to create the nation we know today. This majestic new biography tells his story. Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution. His visionary political philosophy was a crucial factor behind the Constitution’s ratification, and his political savvy was of major importance in getting the new government underway.
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Great man, great ideas, muddling book
- By NDFletch on 06-13-15
By: Lynne Cheney
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Patrick Henry
- Champion of Liberty
- By: Jon Kukla
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in 1736, Patrick Henry was an attorney and a planter and an outstanding orator in the movement for independence. A contemporary of Washington, Henry stood with John and Samuel Adams among the leaders of the colonial resistance to Great Britain that ultimately created the United States. The first governor of Virginia after independence, he was reelected several times. After declining to attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Henry opposed the Constitution, arguing that it granted too much power to the central government.
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Long awaited biography of Patrick Henry
- By GallowsJudge on 11-18-17
By: Jon Kukla
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Lexington and Concord
- The Battle Heard Round the World
- By: George C. Daughan
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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George C. Daughan's magnificently detailed account of the battle of Lexington and Concord will challenge the prevailing narrative of the American War of Independence. It was, Daughan argues, based as much on economics as on politics.
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The long lead-up to the American Revolution
- By Matthew on 12-19-18
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Apostles of Revolution
- Jefferson, Paine, Monroe, and the Struggle Against the Old Order in America and Europe
- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and James Monroe were in the vanguard of revolutionary ideas in the 18th century. As founding fathers, they risked their lives for American independence, but they also wanted more. Each wished for profound changes in the political and social fabric of pre-1776 America and hoped that the American Revolution would spark republican and egalitarian revolutions throughout Europe, sweeping away the old aristocratic order. Ultimately, each rejoiced at the opportunity to be a part of the French Revolution, a cause that became increasingly untenable as idealism gave way to the bloody terror.
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A bit of a challenging listen but well worth it
- By J. Parks on 09-20-21
By: John Ferling
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'Mr. President'
- George Washington and the Making of the Nation's Highest Office
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Although the framers gave the president little authority, Washington knew whatever he did would set precedents for generations of his successors. To ensure their ability to defend the nation, he simply ignored the Constitution when he thought it necessary and reshaped the presidency into what James Madison called a "monarchical presidency." Modern scholars call it the "imperial presidency."
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A political genius
- By Michael on 03-28-17
What listeners say about Desperate Sons
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J, T, D, P, & B
- 03-18-21
Accurate and ... well, ACCURATE
Without question, the top (of the 7) books I have read on the origins of the American Revolution. This book offers both British and Colonial perspectives of the origins. Cites multiple sources without delivering a lop-sided judgment.
Well done.
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- Jean
- 02-21-13
Sons of Liberty
This story is well known by most school children so what else can be said about? Les Standiford read reports by current historians as well as those of prior generation and put a bit of a different twist to the events. He covered Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock and John Otis in detail and followed their role leading up to open rebellion. The author also provided the British view point of events. Standiford tried to be neutral in presenting the story. He covered the Townsend act in great detail and its effects in the colonies including the Boston Tea Party. His underlying premise was that it was economic motivation that was the primary factor pushing these men and they used the feelings of injustice to propel their goals. The author spent more time discussing Samuel Adams than any one else but apparently he was a key factor with his writings about Boston the united everyone. Over all the book is interesting and it is good to review our beginnings. Robert Fass did a good job narrating the book. The book also contains a few pearls of information that are most interesting.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-28-15
Great story
I liked the way the authoress able to give modern examples to give the reader an idea of what it was like during that time.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Royster
- 08-21-13
Breathless!
The narrator takes deep, audble breaths every few sentences, and I found the cumulative effect very distracting -- to the point that I couldn't concentrate on the material, and ended up returning the book after just about an hour or so (this is the first book I have returned in over 50 Audible selections). I don't know exactly what the problem was with this recording, since I have listened to several other books narrated by Robert Fass with no similar issue.. And I was really looking forward to the content of this book, so that's not a factor, either. I encourage you to listen carefully to the preview of this book, with the volume at your normal level in your normal listening environment (something I, unfortunately, did not do before purchasing). If you don't hear what I'm complaining about, or it doesn't bother you -- well, then it won't be a problem. (A word about the low "overall" and "story" ratings I have assigned: I didn't listen to enough of the book to form a true basis for judgment in those areas, but Audible requires a rating before it will let you move on.)
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3 people found this helpful
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- Daniel J. Elmore
- 10-04-17
Dude, breathe through your nose!
This recording is unbelievably bad. The story is pretty good, but the actual reading is the worst I have ever heard because, Royster in LA is correct, Robert Fass keeps taking sharp breaths that make it sound like he's gasping for air.
All in all, I'd bet it's not his fault, because if it was, Audible would have been all over him to redo such a crappy job. So it just about has to be something that happened downstream from him. At least, that's what I hope.
Other than that, the book is fascinating history, really connecting the dots between individual happenings while also laying out some information that is entirely new. The lone exception is his potshot at the Tea Party movement in the end. Yes, one should always strive to make a good first impression, but making a good last impression isn't a bad idea either. Too bad he didn't do so.
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1 person found this helpful