-
In Darkest Alaska
- Travel and Empire Along the Inside Passage (Nature and Culture in America)
- Narrated by: Robert E Anderson
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Before Alaska became a mining bonanza, it was a scenic bonanza, a place larger in the American imagination than in its actual borders. Prior to the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, thousands of scenic adventurers journeyed along the Inside Passage, the nearly 1,000-mile sea lane that snakes up the Pacific Coast from Puget Sound to Icy Strait. Both the famous - including wilderness advocate John Muir, landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, and photographers Eadweard Muybridge and Edward Curtis - and the long forgotten - a gay ex-sailor, a former society reporter, an African explorer, and a neurasthenic Methodist minister - returned with fascinating accounts of their Alaskan journeys, becoming advance men and women for an expanding US.
In Darkest Alaska explores the popular images conjured by these travelers' tales, as well as their influence on the broader society. Drawing on lively firsthand accounts, archival photographs, maps, and other ephemera of the day, historian Robert Campbell chronicles how Gilded Age sightseers were inspired by Alaska's bounty of evolutionary treasures, tribal artifacts, geological riches, and novel thrills to produce a wealth of highly imaginative reportage about the territory. By portraying the territory as a "Last West" ripe for American conquest, tourists helped pave the way for settlement and exploitation.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Invention of Nature
- Alexander von Humboldt's New World
- By: Andrea Wulf
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infested Siberia. He came up with a radical vision of nature, that it was a complex and interconnected global force and did not exist for man's use alone. Ironically, his ideas have become so accepted and widespread that he has been nearly forgotten.
-
-
Poignant origin story
- By Jeremy Fairbanks on 03-03-16
By: Andrea Wulf
-
Brave Companions
- Portraits in History
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Truman and John Adams, David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, "the little woman who made the big war”....
-
-
I USUALLY LOVE THIS GUY
- By Randall on 01-28-19
By: David McCullough
-
The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
-
-
Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Map That Changed the World
- William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth - and a central plank of established Christian religion - on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany.
-
-
Who knew rocks could be so deceptive?
- By Jody R. Nathan on 11-09-04
By: Simon Winchester
-
Atlantic
- Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Spanning the ocean's story, from its geological origins to the age of exploration, from World War II battles to today's struggles with pollution and overfishing, Winchester's narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring.
-
-
Starts Better Than it Finishes
- By Ray on 12-18-10
By: Simon Winchester
-
Monsoon
- The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world maps common in America, the Western Hemisphere lies front and center, while the Indian Ocean region all but disappears. This convention reveals the geopolitical focus of the now-departed 20th century, but in the 21st century, that focus will fundamentally change. In this pivotal examination of the countries known as “Monsoon Asia”—which include India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Tanzania—best-selling author Robert D. Kaplan explains how crucial this dynamic area has become to American power.
-
-
A map is worth a thousand words ...
- By Loren on 06-03-12
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Invention of Nature
- Alexander von Humboldt's New World
- By: Andrea Wulf
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether climbing the highest volcanoes in the world or racing through anthrax-infested Siberia. He came up with a radical vision of nature, that it was a complex and interconnected global force and did not exist for man's use alone. Ironically, his ideas have become so accepted and widespread that he has been nearly forgotten.
-
-
Poignant origin story
- By Jeremy Fairbanks on 03-03-16
By: Andrea Wulf
-
Brave Companions
- Portraits in History
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Truman and John Adams, David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, "the little woman who made the big war”....
-
-
I USUALLY LOVE THIS GUY
- By Randall on 01-28-19
By: David McCullough
-
The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
-
-
Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Map That Changed the World
- William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth - and a central plank of established Christian religion - on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany.
-
-
Who knew rocks could be so deceptive?
- By Jody R. Nathan on 11-09-04
By: Simon Winchester
-
Atlantic
- Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Spanning the ocean's story, from its geological origins to the age of exploration, from World War II battles to today's struggles with pollution and overfishing, Winchester's narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring.
-
-
Starts Better Than it Finishes
- By Ray on 12-18-10
By: Simon Winchester
-
Monsoon
- The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world maps common in America, the Western Hemisphere lies front and center, while the Indian Ocean region all but disappears. This convention reveals the geopolitical focus of the now-departed 20th century, but in the 21st century, that focus will fundamentally change. In this pivotal examination of the countries known as “Monsoon Asia”—which include India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Tanzania—best-selling author Robert D. Kaplan explains how crucial this dynamic area has become to American power.
-
-
A map is worth a thousand words ...
- By Loren on 06-03-12
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics - contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. This book is not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world.
-
-
Eagerly Awaited Audiobook
- By Lulu on 09-01-16
By: Arthur Herman
-
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher
- The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, Egan's book tells the remarkable untold story behind Edward Curtis's iconic photographs, following him throughout Indian country from desert to rainforest as he struggled to document the stories and rituals of more than eighty tribes. Even with the backing of Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, it took tremendous perseverance. The undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate.
-
-
STUPENDOUS!
- By Curious Artist Librarian on 10-29-12
By: Timothy Egan
-
The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
-
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
-
The Golden Spruce
- A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
- By: John Vaillant
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had plunged naked into a river in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, towing a chainsaw. When his night's work was done, a unique Sitka spruce, 165 feet tall and covered with luminous golden needles, teetered on its stump. Two days later it fell.
-
-
Interesting story but ??
- By robert on 01-11-14
By: John Vaillant
-
A Passion for Nature
- The Life of John Muir
- By: Donald Worster
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer," John Muir wrote. "Civilization and fever and all the morbidness that has been hooted at me has not dimmed my glacial eye, and I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness. My own special self is nothing". In Donald Worster's magisterial biography, John Muir's "special self" is fully explored as is his extraordinary ability, then and now, to get others to see the sacred beauty of the natural world.
-
-
A good biography for historical perspective
- By Harold W. Wood Jr. on 05-15-14
By: Donald Worster
-
American Holocaust
- The Conquest of the New World
- By: David E. Stannard
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 400 years - from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the US Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s - the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people.
-
-
Most important book I never heard of
- By Robert Bourque on 03-16-18
-
A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
-
-
7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Discovery of France
- A Historical Geography
- By: Graham Robb
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A narrative of exploration - full of strange landscapes and even stranger inhabitants - that explains the enduring fascination of France. While Gustave Eiffel was changing the skyline of Paris, large parts of France were still terra incognita. Even in the age of railways and newspapers, France was a land of ancient tribal divisions, prehistoric communication networks, and pre-Christian beliefs. French itself was a minority language.
-
-
Great history of the cultural formation of France
- By Scotty on 07-31-21
By: Graham Robb
-
The Island at the Center of the World
- The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.
-
-
Incomplete history, but fun. Performance is poor.
- By Matthew on 11-27-18
By: Russell Shorto
-
The Sun and the Moon
- Hoaxers, Showmen, and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th-Century New York
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
-
-
some very good some very bad
- By peter on 10-30-10
By: Matthew Goodman
-
The Strange Career of William Ellis
- The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire
- By: Karl Jacoby
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To his contemporaries in Gilded Age Manhattan, Guillermo Eliseo was a fantastically wealthy Mexican, the proud owner of a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, a busy Wall Street office, and scores of mines and haciendas in Mexico. But for all his obvious riches and his elegant appearance, Eliseo was also the possessor of a devastating secret: He was not, in fact, from Mexico at all. Rather, he had begun life as a slave named William Ellis, born on a cotton plantation in Texas during the waning years of King Cotton.
-
-
Fascinating Tale of Racial Passing
- By Steven Schuster on 06-10-16
By: Karl Jacoby
-
The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States
- By: Mark Fiege
- Narrated by: William Bahl
- Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light.
-
-
Will surely listen to it many times over.
- By Thomas Lopez on 01-24-20
By: Mark Fiege
Critic reviews
"A work of sweeping erudition and insight." (James C. Scott, Yale University)
"One of the most sophisticated and important studies of western American travel and tourism and one of the most significant histories of Alaska." (American Historical Review)
"Scholars of U.S. history will not want to miss this well-written and compelling book." (Louis S. Warren, author of Buffalo Bill's America)
Related to this topic
-
Earning the Rockies
- How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy, Robert D. Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father's evocative stories about traveling across America as a young man, travels in which he learned to understand the country from a ground-level perspective. In Earning the Rockies, Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an appreciation and understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age.
-
-
Magnificent book that found a great narrator!
- By BotakTree on 03-09-17
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Vermeer's Hat
- The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World
- By: Timothy Brook
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Vermeer painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. In another canvas, fruit spills from a blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Familiar images that captivate us with their beauty--but as Timothy Brook shows us, these intimate pictures actually give us a remarkable view of an expanding world.
-
-
A wonderful book
- By Acteon on 07-09-14
By: Timothy Brook
-
The Arawak: The History and Legacy of the Indigenous Natives in South America and the Caribbean
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Dan Gallagher
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Arawak: The History and Legacy of the Indigenous Natives in South America and the Caribbean examines the culture and history of the indigenous groups and what happened when they came into contact with the Europeans. You will learn about the Arawak like never before.
-
-
good content, terrible pronunciation by reader.
- By takajej on 11-04-19
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
California
- A History
- By: Kevin Starr
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed author, historian, and Guggenheim Fellow Kevin Starr is a professor at the University of Southern California. His extensive knowledge shines through this concise, yet comprehensive, depiction of the most fascinating aspects in California's history. From its colonial beginnings through Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, the Golden State has become a uniquely American phenomenon that has enchanted people with the possibility of a better life.
-
-
Interesting read, until it's not
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Kevin Starr
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Earning the Rockies
- How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy, Robert D. Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father's evocative stories about traveling across America as a young man, travels in which he learned to understand the country from a ground-level perspective. In Earning the Rockies, Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an appreciation and understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age.
-
-
Magnificent book that found a great narrator!
- By BotakTree on 03-09-17
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Vermeer's Hat
- The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World
- By: Timothy Brook
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Vermeer painting shows a military officer in a Dutch sitting room, talking to a laughing girl. In another canvas, fruit spills from a blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Familiar images that captivate us with their beauty--but as Timothy Brook shows us, these intimate pictures actually give us a remarkable view of an expanding world.
-
-
A wonderful book
- By Acteon on 07-09-14
By: Timothy Brook
-
The Arawak: The History and Legacy of the Indigenous Natives in South America and the Caribbean
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Dan Gallagher
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Arawak: The History and Legacy of the Indigenous Natives in South America and the Caribbean examines the culture and history of the indigenous groups and what happened when they came into contact with the Europeans. You will learn about the Arawak like never before.
-
-
good content, terrible pronunciation by reader.
- By takajej on 11-04-19
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
California
- A History
- By: Kevin Starr
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed author, historian, and Guggenheim Fellow Kevin Starr is a professor at the University of Southern California. His extensive knowledge shines through this concise, yet comprehensive, depiction of the most fascinating aspects in California's history. From its colonial beginnings through Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, the Golden State has become a uniquely American phenomenon that has enchanted people with the possibility of a better life.
-
-
Interesting read, until it's not
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Kevin Starr
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
The Suppressed History of America
- The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- By: Paul Schrag, Xaviant Haze
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meriwether Lewis discovered far more than the history books tell - ancient civilizations, strange monuments, "nearly white, blue-eyed" Indians, and evidence that the American continent was visited long before the first European settlers arrived. And he was murdered to keep it all secret. Examining the shadows and cracks between America's official version of history, Xaviant Haze and Paul Schrag propose that the America of old taught in schools is not the America that was discovered by Lewis and Clark and other early explorers.
-
-
Don't Bother
- By Georgia Deardoff on 03-31-17
By: Paul Schrag, and others
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
-
American History World History Our History
- By Bill on 06-13-22
By: Howard W. French
-
The Island at the Center of the World
- The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.
-
-
Incomplete history, but fun. Performance is poor.
- By Matthew on 11-27-18
By: Russell Shorto
-
Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
-
-
Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
-
Champlain's Dream
- By: David Hackett Fischer
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer brings to life the remarkable Samuel de Champlain - soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist, and Father of New France. We remember Champlain mainly as a great explorer. On foot and by ship and canoe, he traveled through what are now six Canadian provinces and five American states. Over more than 30 years he founded, colonized, and administered French settlements in North America.
-
-
Excellent Narration - Illuminating History
- By jmholmberg on 11-02-08
-
The Discoverers
- A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
- By: Daniel J. Boorstin
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why didn't the Chinese discover America? Why were people so slow to learn the earth goes around the sun? How and why did we begin to think of "species" of plants and animals? How, when, and why did people begin digging in the earth to learn about the past? How did the study of economics begin? These are but a few of the fascinating questions answered by Dr. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress Emeritus.
-
-
One of my Top 10 Fav. Books!
- By shannonnn on 05-09-05
-
Wanderlust
- A History of Walking
- By: Rebecca Solnit
- Narrated by: Liisa Ivary
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing together many histories - of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores - Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers.
-
-
Walking as politics
- By Jason V on 06-04-18
By: Rebecca Solnit
-
Tambora
- The Eruption That Changed the World
- By: Gillen D'Arcy Wood
- Narrated by: Tom Pile
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, it unleashed the most destructive wave of extreme weather the world has witnessed in thousands of years. The volcano's massive sulfate dust cloud enveloped the Earth, cooling temperatures and disrupting major weather systems for more than three years. Amid devastating storms, drought, and floods, communities worldwide endured famine, disease, and civil unrest on a catastrophic scale.
-
-
An unexpected pleasure
- By Anonymous User on 09-04-16
-
Jungle of Stone
- The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
- By: William Carlsen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world's most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West's understanding of human history.
-
-
Unsung Explorers at the Heart of History
- By thomas on 01-10-17
By: William Carlsen
-
The Secret Token
- Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
- By: Andrew Lawler
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence XVII
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish the first English settlement in the New World. But when the new colony's leader returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers had vanished, leaving behind only a single clue - a "secret token" etched into a tree. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archeologists, and amateur sleuths for 400 years. In The Secret Token, Andrew Lawler sets out on a quest to determine the fate of the settlers.
-
-
trying to capitalize on race relations
- By Phil on 07-16-19
By: Andrew Lawler
-
The Fourth Part of the World
- The Race to the Ends of the Earth
- By: Toby Lester
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brimming with enthralling details and personalities, Toby Lester's The Fourth Part of the World spotlights Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 world map and recounts the epic tale of the mariners and scholars who facilitated this watershed of Western history.
-
-
I enjoyed it
- By Todd on 07-19-10
By: Toby Lester
-
Away Off Shore
- Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first book of history, Away Off Shore, New York Times best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals the people and the stories behind what was once the whaling capital of the world. Beyond its charm, quaint local traditions, and whaling yarns, Philbrick explores the origins of Nantucket in this comprehensive history. From the English settlers who thought they were purchasing a "Native American ghost town" but actually found a fully realized society, the story of Nantucket is a truly unique chapter of American history.
-
-
There once were some (wo)men in Nantucket...
- By Darwin8u on 02-03-19