First Day at Gettysburg
Crisis at the Crossroads
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Narrated by:
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Gregg A. Rizzo
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The Seven Days Campaign was a series of battles fought near Richmond at the end of June 1862. General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had routed General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. Depriving McClellan of a military decision meant the war would continue for two more years. The Seven Days depicts a critical turning point in the Civil War that would ingrain Robert E. Lee in history as one of the finest generals of all time.
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The Seven Days:A different Title would work
- By Margaret Harley on 09-10-21
By: Clifford Dowdey
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Chancellorsville
- By: Stephen Sears
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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A former editor of American Heritage, Stephen W. Sears has collected a wealth of new sources for this definitive portrait of one of the most dramatic battles of the Civil War. Using scores of letters and diaries written by soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies, Sears’ narrative history seeks to strip away the gloss of later commentary and restore the battle of Chancellorsville to its original voices.
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It's a Wonderful Tool
- By Drake M. Davis on 08-23-14
By: Stephen Sears
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Shiloh
- In Hell before Night
- By: James Lee Mcdonough
- Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Colorful, dramatic, blundering, and tragic - these are some of the adjectives that have been applied to the two-day engagement at Shiloh. This battle, which bears the biblical name meaning “place of peace,” was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War. The Union colonel, whose words give the present book its title, foretold the losses when he told his men: “Fill your canteens Boys! Some of you will be in hell before night….” Fought in the early spring of 1862 on the west bank of the Mississippi state line, Shiloh was, up to that time, the biggest battle of American history.
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Great book poorly read
- By M. O'Steen on 06-08-24
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Bloody Spring
- Forty Days That Sealed the Confederacy's Fate
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4th, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg. The campaign cost 90,000 men - the largest loss the war had seen.
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Skip this! Get Catton's Stillness at Appomattox
- By BVerité on 10-19-14
By: Joseph Wheelan
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Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle
- By: Kenneth W. Noe
- Narrated by: Tom Sleeker
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in Northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders' confusion, was the worst battle of the war, losing the last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy.
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Pitiful narration
- By Charles on 10-22-17
By: Kenneth W. Noe
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Long, Obstinate, and Bloody
- By: Lawrence Babits, Joshua Howard
- Narrated by: Rene Ruiz
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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On 15 March 1781, the armies of Nathanael Greene and Lord Charles Cornwallis fought one of the bloodiest and most intense engagements of the American Revolution at the Guilford Courthouse in piedmont North Carolina. Although victorious, Cornwallis declared the conquest of the Carolinas impossible. He made the fateful decision to march into Virginia, eventually leading his army to the Yorktown surrender and clearing the way for American independence.
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Long, Confusing, and Boring
- By Stephen on 02-06-13
By: Lawrence Babits, and others
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The Cornfield
- Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
- By: David A. Welker
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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For generations of Americans, the word Antietam - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future.
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Micro history at its finest
- By Amanda Tyler on 04-07-24
By: David A. Welker
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Lee and His Men at Gettysburg
- The Death of a Nation
- By: Clifford Dowdey
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweeping account Clifford Dowdey recreates one of the most important battles in U.S. history. With vivid and breathtaking detail, Lee and His Men at Gettysburg is both a historical work and an honorary ode to the almost 50,000 soldiers who died at the fields of Pennsylvania. Written with an emphasis on the Confederate forces, the book captures the brilliance and frustration of a general forced to contend with overwhelming odds and in-competent subordinates.
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Solid book
- By Scooter Reviews on 12-08-17
By: Clifford Dowdey
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Gettysburg
- An Alternate History
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone with an interest in America's greatest battle comes up against its controversies. What if J. E. B. Stuart had arrived on the battlefield before the second day? What if Ewell had pressed hard on the heels of the Union rout on the first day? What if Pickett's charge had been stronger and better led? What if the Army of the Potomac had been commanded by a more aggressive counter attacker than Meade?
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Wonderful But Confusing
- By Bart on 05-30-20
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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Born to Battle
- Grant and Forrest: Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga: The Campaigns that Doomed the Confederacy
- By: Jack Hurst
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Born to Battle examines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures: Ulysses S. Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga - battles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of this bloody and protracted conflict.
By: Jack Hurst
What listeners say about First Day at Gettysburg
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael T. Carney
- 03-29-19
Great detail
Had no idea Doubleday was that crucial on field. When visiting one does not realize what happened at the seminary being all monuments are on McPherson’s ridge. Next time I will spend time there taking it in.
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- Michael
- 08-07-13
Disappointing Narration
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Not as an audiobook. I know from research that this is a great book on Gettysburg and the reviews on Audible support that view. However these are really Amazon reviews - not Audible reviews. That is, (I assume) reviews of the written book not of it's spoken counterpart. Having just listened to Allen C. Guelzo's 'Gettysburg' with wonderful narration by Robertson Dean I was very disappointed to move on to this work and find the narration so poor by comparison.
What didn’t you like about Gregg A. Rizzo’s performance?
For a start, it is so rushed! It is like he had been taking speed or that the narration was accidently on 'fast forward'! The slower, deliberate pace of Robertson Dean in Guelzo's work is much more appropriate to both the nature of the subject and the era that it is depicting.
In Rizzo's reading, swathes of facts or observations just keep rushing past you with much annoyance. In fact the very complexity of the unfolding of the battle, the topography, positioning of the elements of the two armies etc. almost demands a slower reading so that it can be better absorbed.
Equally irritating (in tandem with the rapid narration style), was the endless rising and falling pitch to emphasize the drama of certain aspects. This was just unnecessary and distracting. By contrast, Dean's more even pitch (and pace) showed how well the drama of certain points of time and decisions in the battle could be well highlighted without becoming almost shrill.
As Audible listener's know, the narration is as important as the book itself. In future, I will make a point of ensuring I am looking at audiobook reviews and not those of Amazon members who are referring to their experience of the written work (which might be in stark contrast to the listening experience).
Any additional comments?
Some time ago I had listened to Grover Gardner's narration of Shelby Foote's amazing volumes on the Civil War. While Gardner did a great job with narrating William L. Shirer’s 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich', his voice and tone, I thought, was less suited to the Civil War era. Robertson Dean narrating Foote's work would have been an amazing blend!
I guess what I am trying to say is that in historical works that are set in an era very different to our own, the choice of narrator takes on a greater importance. While I am sure Gregg Rizzo has narrated other books very well, I felt he was the wrong choice for this work.
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 05-27-22
Its alright
informitive, paints a picture. I added this book to my libary after my trip to Gettysburg and walking portions of Mc pherson's ridge, oak hill and many other stop along my time there
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- W. Hedge
- 07-13-21
Good book! Poor Narration.
As written by others the narrator struggles with pronunciation of common names of participants.
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- Timothy M.
- 06-26-23
waste of my money
difficult to follow. hundreds of names but no clear story on the hourly steps if day one battle. wasted my money.
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