
Henry Clay
America's Greatest Statesman
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John Lescault
About this listen
A compelling new biography of America's most powerful speaker of the House, who held the divided nation together for three decades and who was Lincoln's guiding light.
In a little-known chapter of early American history, a fearless Kentucky lawyer rids Congress of corruption and violence in an era when congressmen debated with bullets as well as ballots. Harlow Giles Unger reveals how Henry Clay, the youngest congressman ever elected speaker of the House, rewrote congressional rules and established the speaker as the most powerful elected official after the president.
During five decades of public service - as congressman, senator, secretary of state, and four-time presidential candidate - Clay produced historic compromises that postponed civil war for 50 years. Lincoln called Clay "the man for whom I fought all my life".
An action-packed narrative history, Henry Clay is the story of one of the most courageous congressmen in American history.
©2015 Harlow Giles Unger (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
-
-
Excellent
- By Jean on 12-04-18
By: H. W. Brands
-
Untold Power
- The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson
- By: Rebecca Boggs Roberts
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president—and though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history.
-
-
Readers voice lacked Edith’s strength
- By Heidi on 08-01-24
-
'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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
A political genius
- By Michael on 03-28-17
-
John Quincy Adams
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years.
-
-
Informative and well written.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
-
The Last Founding Father
- James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lively and compelling biography, Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751 - 1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability.
-
-
Readable, but more hero worship than history
- By Elaine Martin on 12-22-10
-
Calhoun
- American Heretic
- By: Robert Elder
- Narrated by: Rick Perez
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John C. Calhoun is among the most notorious and enigmatic figures in American political history. First elected to Congress in 1810, Calhoun went on to serve as secretary of war and vice president. But he is perhaps most known for arguing in favor of slavery as a "positive good" and for his famous doctrine of "state interposition", which laid the groundwork for the South to secede from the Union - and arguably set the nation on course for civil war. The strain of radical politics he developed has found expression once again in the tactics and extremism of the modern Far Right.
-
-
Don’t bother if you are looking for history
- By Charles on 06-20-22
By: Robert Elder
-
Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
-
-
Excellent
- By Jean on 12-04-18
By: H. W. Brands
-
Untold Power
- The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson
- By: Rebecca Boggs Roberts
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president—and though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history.
-
-
Readers voice lacked Edith’s strength
- By Heidi on 08-01-24
-
'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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
A political genius
- By Michael on 03-28-17
-
John Quincy Adams
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years.
-
-
Informative and well written.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
-
The Last Founding Father
- James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lively and compelling biography, Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751 - 1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability.
-
-
Readable, but more hero worship than history
- By Elaine Martin on 12-22-10
-
Calhoun
- American Heretic
- By: Robert Elder
- Narrated by: Rick Perez
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John C. Calhoun is among the most notorious and enigmatic figures in American political history. First elected to Congress in 1810, Calhoun went on to serve as secretary of war and vice president. But he is perhaps most known for arguing in favor of slavery as a "positive good" and for his famous doctrine of "state interposition", which laid the groundwork for the South to secede from the Union - and arguably set the nation on course for civil war. The strain of radical politics he developed has found expression once again in the tactics and extremism of the modern Far Right.
-
-
Don’t bother if you are looking for history
- By Charles on 06-20-22
By: Robert Elder
-
John Marshall
- The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A soul-stirring biography of John Marshall, the young Republic's great chief justice who led the Supreme Court to power and brought law and order to the nation. In the political turmoil that convulsed America after George Washington's death, the surviving Founding Fathers went mad - literally pummeling each other in Congress and challenging one another to deadly duels in their quest for power. Out of the political intrigue, one man emerged to restore calm and dignity to the government: John Marshall.
-
-
the life and times of John Marshall
- By Michael Z. on 03-17-15
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Decent Book on an Amazing Character
- By David I. Williams on 05-13-13
-
Lafayette
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping biography, acclaimed author Harlow Giles Unger paints an intimate portrait of the heroic young French soldier who, at 19, renounced a life of luxury in Paris and Versailles to fight and bleed for liberty - at Brandywine, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. A major general in the Continental army, he quickly earned the love of his troops, his fellow commanders, and his commander in chief, George Washington, who called him his "adopted son".
-
-
WE GET IT! HE'S A "KNIGHT"
- By Anonymous User on 01-13-22
-
And There Was Light
- Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Jon Meacham
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end.
-
-
A Winner
- By Diane Moore on 10-31-22
By: Jon Meacham
-
Henry Clay
- The Essential American
- By: David S. Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 30 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He was the Great Compromiser, a canny and colorful legislator whose life mirrors the story of America from its founding until the eve of the Civil War. Speaker of the House, senator, secretary of state, five-time presidential candidate, and idol to the young Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay is captured in full at last in this rich and sweeping biography.
-
-
"probably" "possibly" "maybe" "could have"
- By Thor Finn on 08-10-18
By: David S. Heidler, and others
-
Grover Cleveland
- By: Henry F. Graff
- Narrated by: Ira Claffey
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Though often overlooked, Grover Cleveland was a significant figure in American presidential history. Having run for President three times and gaining the popular vote majority each time, Cleveland was unique in the line of nineteenth-century Chief Executives. Presidential historian Henry F. Graff revives Cleveland's fame, explaining how he fought to restore stature to the office in the wake of several weak administrations.
-
-
Unexceptional Book about unexceptional President
- By jake_gibbs on 07-06-22
By: Henry F. Graff
-
Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
-
Alexander Hamilton
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
-
-
An Outstanding & Riveting Book!
- By Kevin on 03-04-05
By: Ron Chernow
-
Grant
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow reveals in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
-
-
Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-17
By: Ron Chernow
-
The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89
- Fourth Edition
- By: Edmund S. Morgan, Joseph J. Ellis - foreword, Rosemarie Zagarri - contributor
- Narrated by: Lyle Blaker
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89, Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathers' political philosophy was not grounded in theory, but rather grew out of their own immediate needs, Morgan paints a vivid portrait of how the founders' own experiences shaped their passionate convictions, and these in turn were incorporated into the Constitution and other governmental documents.
By: Edmund S. Morgan, and others
-
Washington
- A Life
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 41 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
-
-
A sad day when my book was done!
- By ButterLegume on 12-13-10
By: Ron Chernow
-
American Ulysses
- A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- By: Ronald C. White
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the New York Times bestseller A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on seven years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.
-
-
A New Campaign to Reasses Grant
- By Mark on 11-02-16
By: Ronald C. White
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Henry Clay
- The Man Who Would Be President
- By: James C. Klotter
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charismatic, charming, and one of the best orators of his era, Henry Clay seemed to have it all. He offered a comprehensive plan of change for America, and he directed national affairs as Speaker of the House, as Secretary of State to John Quincy Adams - the man he put in office - and as acknowledged leader of the Whig party. As the broker of the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay fought to keep a young nation united when westward expansion and slavery threatened to tear it apart. Yet, despite his talent and achievements, Henry Clay never became president.
-
-
Wonderful book by a talented writer and historian
- By Timothy on 08-24-18
By: James C. Klotter
-
John Quincy Adams
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years.
-
-
Informative and well written.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
-
John Marshall
- The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A soul-stirring biography of John Marshall, the young Republic's great chief justice who led the Supreme Court to power and brought law and order to the nation. In the political turmoil that convulsed America after George Washington's death, the surviving Founding Fathers went mad - literally pummeling each other in Congress and challenging one another to deadly duels in their quest for power. Out of the political intrigue, one man emerged to restore calm and dignity to the government: John Marshall.
-
-
the life and times of John Marshall
- By Michael Z. on 03-17-15
-
Improbable Patriot
- The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the French Playwright Who Saved the American Revolution
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was an 18th-century French inventor, famed playwright, and upstart near-aristocrat in the court of King Louis XVI. In 1776, he conceived an audacious plan to send aid to the American rebels. What's more, he convinced the king to bankroll the project, and singlehandedly carried it out. By war's end, he had supplied Washington's army with most of its weapons and powder, though he was never paid or acknowledged by the United States. To some, he was a dashing hero - a towering intellect who saved the American Revolution. To others, he was pure rogue.
-
-
It's not Unger's fault
- By Sharon on 07-27-19
-
Henry Clay
- The Essential American
- By: David S. Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 30 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He was the Great Compromiser, a canny and colorful legislator whose life mirrors the story of America from its founding until the eve of the Civil War. Speaker of the House, senator, secretary of state, five-time presidential candidate, and idol to the young Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay is captured in full at last in this rich and sweeping biography.
-
-
"probably" "possibly" "maybe" "could have"
- By Thor Finn on 08-10-18
By: David S. Heidler, and others
-
The Last Founding Father
- James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lively and compelling biography, Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751 - 1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability.
-
-
Readable, but more hero worship than history
- By Elaine Martin on 12-22-10
-
Henry Clay
- The Man Who Would Be President
- By: James C. Klotter
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charismatic, charming, and one of the best orators of his era, Henry Clay seemed to have it all. He offered a comprehensive plan of change for America, and he directed national affairs as Speaker of the House, as Secretary of State to John Quincy Adams - the man he put in office - and as acknowledged leader of the Whig party. As the broker of the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay fought to keep a young nation united when westward expansion and slavery threatened to tear it apart. Yet, despite his talent and achievements, Henry Clay never became president.
-
-
Wonderful book by a talented writer and historian
- By Timothy on 08-24-18
By: James C. Klotter
-
John Quincy Adams
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years.
-
-
Informative and well written.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
-
John Marshall
- The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A soul-stirring biography of John Marshall, the young Republic's great chief justice who led the Supreme Court to power and brought law and order to the nation. In the political turmoil that convulsed America after George Washington's death, the surviving Founding Fathers went mad - literally pummeling each other in Congress and challenging one another to deadly duels in their quest for power. Out of the political intrigue, one man emerged to restore calm and dignity to the government: John Marshall.
-
-
the life and times of John Marshall
- By Michael Z. on 03-17-15
-
Improbable Patriot
- The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the French Playwright Who Saved the American Revolution
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was an 18th-century French inventor, famed playwright, and upstart near-aristocrat in the court of King Louis XVI. In 1776, he conceived an audacious plan to send aid to the American rebels. What's more, he convinced the king to bankroll the project, and singlehandedly carried it out. By war's end, he had supplied Washington's army with most of its weapons and powder, though he was never paid or acknowledged by the United States. To some, he was a dashing hero - a towering intellect who saved the American Revolution. To others, he was pure rogue.
-
-
It's not Unger's fault
- By Sharon on 07-27-19
-
Henry Clay
- The Essential American
- By: David S. Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 30 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He was the Great Compromiser, a canny and colorful legislator whose life mirrors the story of America from its founding until the eve of the Civil War. Speaker of the House, senator, secretary of state, five-time presidential candidate, and idol to the young Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay is captured in full at last in this rich and sweeping biography.
-
-
"probably" "possibly" "maybe" "could have"
- By Thor Finn on 08-10-18
By: David S. Heidler, and others
-
The Last Founding Father
- James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lively and compelling biography, Harlow Giles Unger reveals the dominant political figure of a generation. A fierce fighter in four critical Revolutionary War battles and a courageous survivor of Valley Forge and a near-fatal wound at the Battle of Trenton, James Monroe (1751 - 1831) went on to become America's first full-time politician, dedicating his life to securing America's national and international durability.
-
-
Readable, but more hero worship than history
- By Elaine Martin on 12-22-10
-
Lafayette
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping biography, acclaimed author Harlow Giles Unger paints an intimate portrait of the heroic young French soldier who, at 19, renounced a life of luxury in Paris and Versailles to fight and bleed for liberty - at Brandywine, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. A major general in the Continental army, he quickly earned the love of his troops, his fellow commanders, and his commander in chief, George Washington, who called him his "adopted son".
-
-
WE GET IT! HE'S A "KNIGHT"
- By Anonymous User on 01-13-22
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Decent Book on an Amazing Character
- By David I. Williams on 05-13-13
-
Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From New York Times best-selling author and Founding Fathers' biographer Harlow Giles Unger comes the astonishing biography of the man whose pen set America ablaze, inspiring its revolution, and whose ideas about reason and religion continue to try men's souls.
-
-
well written and researched
- By K D on 09-29-19
-
American Tempest
- How the Boston Tea Party Sparked a Revolution
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Thursday, December 16, 1773, an estimated seven dozen men, many amateurishly disguised as Indians—then a symbol of freedom—dumped about £10,000 worth of tea in the harbor. Whatever their motives at the time, they unleashed a social, political, and economic firestorm that would culminate in the Declaration of Independence two and a half years later.
-
-
American Tempest
- By Margaret on 04-03-11
-
John Hancock
- Merchant King and American Patriot
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Hancock's overnight transformation from British loyalist to fiery rebel and first governor of the independent state of Massachusetts is one of the least known stories of the American Revolution. Acclaimed author Harlow Giles Unger introduces us to the Founding Father whose name is as recognizable as George Washington's, but whose thrilling life story is all but untold. Applying his historical expertise and storytelling gift, Unger details the fascinating life of one of our most extraordinary business and political leaders—the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.
-
-
An easy read
- By Jean on 05-31-23
-
John Tyler, the Accidental President
- By: Edward P. Crapol
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first vice president to become president on the death of the incumbent, John Tyler (1790-1862) was derided by critics as "His Accidency." In this biography of the 10th president, Edward P. Crapol challenges depictions of Tyler as a die-hard advocate of states' rights, limited government, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Instead, he argues, Tyler manipulated the Constitution to increase the executive power of the presidency. Crapol also highlights Tyler's faith in America's national destiny and his belief in boundless territorial expansion.
-
-
Terrible book :( Incredibly TEDIOUS.
- By Mike on 10-02-19
By: Edward P. Crapol
-
Polk
- The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
- By: Walter R. Borneman
- Narrated by: Alan Nebelthau
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a major political biography of a great American president - who won a war, transformed the government, and doubled the size of the United States...in four years. When Polk was sworn in as the 11th president, what followed was one of the most consequential presidencies in history.
-
-
Polk: One of our most important Preidents
- By Rik GNV on 10-12-08
-
Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
-
-
Excellent
- By Jean on 12-04-18
By: H. W. Brands
-
American Lion
- Andrew Jackson in the White House
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson's election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad.
-
-
Unlikable Old Hickory
- By John M on 01-05-09
By: Jon Meacham
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
-
Good book, not crazy about the narrator
- By Cathi on 07-20-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Martin Van Buren
- America's First Politician
- By: James M. Bradley
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 26 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This new biography of Van Buren—the first full-scale portrait in four decades—charts his ascent from a tavern in the Hudson Valley to the presidency, concluding with his late-career involvement in an antislavery movement. Offering vivid profiles of the day's leading figures (Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, DeWitt Clinton, James K. Polk), James Bradley's book depicts the struggle for power in the tumultuous decades leading up to the Civil War.
-
-
Woke
- By sriaknal on 06-06-25
By: James M. Bradley
-
Oathbreakers
- The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe
- By: Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
- Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the early ninth century, the Carolingian empire was at the height of its power. The Franks, led by Charlemagne, had built the largest European domain since Rome in its heyday. Though they jockeyed for power, prestige, and profit, the Frankish elites enjoyed political and cultural consensus. But just two generations later, their world was in shambles. Civil war, once an unthinkable threat, had erupted after Louis the Pious’s sons tried to overthrow him—and then placed their knives at the other’s neck. Families who had once charged into battle together now drew each other’s blood.
-
-
History made amusing
- By Avox on 12-18-24
By: Matthew Gabriele, and others
Americans: Learn your country's history. Talk shows will not teach it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you Audible and Mr.Unger.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would recommend. Definitely leads right into Lincoln.
Good Information!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent history of a patriot long forgotten
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Performance: Very good. No issues.
Henry Clay - Better to Right than President
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The quality of the reading is superb. Direct quotes are done as a monotone mumble, but this is my only quibble. Even when the reader mispronounces words, he does so with confidence and panache. All in all, a very enjoyable listen.
Lively and accessible bio
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great narration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Insightful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Informative biography of a statesman
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Henry Clay lived a fascinating life that included more than one duel. After reading this book you can clearly see how and why Abraham Lincoln viewed Henry Clay as his hero.
You will appreciate this book.
Henry Clay – this is someone every American should know about
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.