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Patriotic Fire
- Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
This audio program has all the ingredients of a high-flying adventure story. Unbeknownst to the combatants, the War of 1812 has ended. But Andrew Jackson, a brave, charismatic American general, sick with dysentery and commanding a beleaguered garrison, leads a desperate struggle to hold on to New Orleans and thwart the army that defeated Napoleon. Helping him is a devilish French pirate, Jean Laffite, who rebuffs a substantial bribe from the British and, together with his erstwhile enemy, saves the city from invasion...much to the grateful chagrin of New Orleanians, shocked to find themselves on the same side as the brazen buccaneer.
Winston Groom brings his considerable storytelling gifts to the re-creation of this remarkable battle and to the portrayal of its main players. Against the richly evocative backdrop of French New Orleans, he illuminates Jackson's brilliant strategy and tactics, as well as the antics and cutthroat fighting prowess of Laffite and his men. Patriotic Fire brings this extraordinary military achievement vividly to life.
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When we look back on our nation's history, the American Revolution can feel almost like a foregone conclusion. In reality, the first weeks of the war were much more tenuous, and a fractured and ragtag group of colonial militias had to coalesce to have even the slimmest chance of toppling the mighty British Army. American Spring follows a fledgling nation from Paul Revere's little-known ride of December 1774 and the first shots fired on Lexington Green through the catastrophic Battle of Bunker Hill.
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Terrific book, marginal delivery
- By Brian McCreath on 08-18-14
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Igniting the American Revolution
- 1773-1775
- By: Derek W. Beck
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Few Americans know that the Revolutionary War did not begin with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, but over a year earlier, in April 1775. Now historian Derek Beck draws on previously unpublished documents to tell the full story of the war before American independence - from both sides. Spanning the years 1773 to 1776, this audiobook sweeps listeners from the Boston Tea Party to the halls of Parliament - where Ben Franklin was almost run out of England for pleading on behalf of the colonies.
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Learned so much!
- By tracey68 on 10-15-17
By: Derek W. Beck
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Killing Jesus
- A History
- By: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of people have thrilled to best-selling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, works of nonfiction that have changed the way we view history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly 2,000 years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God.
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The Jesus story in context
- By Kimberly on 10-01-13
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War
- By: Tim Rowland
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War is an entertaining look at the Civil War stories that don’t get told, and the misadventures you haven’t read about in history books. Share in all the humorous and strange events that took place behind the scenes of some of the most famous Civil War moments.
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INTERESTING & FUNNY
- By The Louligan on 08-01-14
By: Tim Rowland
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Washington's Crossing
- By: David Hackett Fischer
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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This New York Times best seller is a thrilling account of one of the most pivotal moments in United States history. Six months after the Declaration of Independence, America was nearly defeated. Then on Christmas night, George Washington led his men across the Delaware River to destroy the Hessians at Trenton. A week later Americans held off a counterattack, and in a brilliant tactical move, Washington crept behind the British army to win another victory. The momentum had reversed.
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Particularly Good Military History
- By William on 10-11-04
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Tories
- Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War
- By: Thomas B. Allen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The American Revolution was not simply a battle between independence-minded colonists and the oppressive British. As Thomas B. Allen reminds us, it was also a savage and often deeply personal civil war, in which conflicting visions of America pitted neighbor against neighbor and Patriot against Tory on the battlefield, the village green, and even in church.
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Mediocre Story, Poor Narrator
- By James on 12-30-10
By: Thomas B. Allen
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The Swamp Fox
- How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution
- By: John Oller
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In the darkest days of the American Revolution, Francis Marion and his band of militia freedom fighters kept hope alive for the patriot cause during the critical British southern campaign. Like the Robin Hood of legend, Marion and his men attacked from secret hideaways before melting back into the forest or swamp. Employing insurgent tactics that became commonplace in later centuries, Marion and his brigade inflicted losses on the enemy that were individually small but cumulatively a large drain on British resources and morale.
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The Swamp Fox - Francis Marion
- By Stephen on 06-07-17
By: John Oller
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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 Blood of Heroes
- The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo - and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation
- By: James Donovan
- Narrated by: James Donovan
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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On February 23, 1836, a Mexican army thousands of soldiers strong attacked a group of roughly 200 Americans holed up in an abandoned mission just east of San Antonio, Texas. For nearly two weeks, the massive force lay siege to the makeshift fort, spraying its occupants with unremitting waves of musket and cannon fire. Then, on March 6th, at 5:30 A.M., the Mexican troops unleashed a final devastating assault: divided into four columns, they rushed into the Alamo and commenced a deadly hand-to-hand fight.
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Blood and History Runs Off Every Page
- By Lynn on 08-25-12
By: James Donovan
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Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom
- Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys and the American Revolution
- By: Christopher S. Wren
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom, Christopher S. Wren overturns the myth of Ethan Allen as a legendary hero of the American Revolution and a patriotic son of Vermont and offers a different portrait of Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. Based on original archival research, this is a groundbreaking account of an important and little-known front of the Revolutionary War, of George Washington (and his good sense), and of a major American myth.
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Ethan Allen's story is pretty complicated
- By DWD on 03-28-19
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Good premise, but scatterbrained in narration
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Best-selling author Winston Groom tells the complex story of how Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin - the three iconic and vastly different Allied leaders - aligned to win World War II and created a new world order.
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Pronunciation please!
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Kearny's March
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In June 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny rode out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with two thousand soldiers, bound for California. At the time, the nation was hell-bent on expansion: James K. Polk had lately won the presidency by threatening England over the borders in Oregon, while Congress had just voted to annex Texas. After Mexico declared war on the United States, Kearny’s Army of the West was sent out, carrying orders to occupy Mexican territory. Winston Groom recounts the amazing adventure and danger that Kearny and his troops encountered on the trail.
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Question research
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The Generals
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Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall - from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest achievement: leading the allies to victory in World War II.
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The Patriots
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Good premise, but scatterbrained in narration
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Pronunciation please!
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Question research
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Nothing new here
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SHILOH, 1862 - The Battle of Shiloh, fought in the wilderness of southern Tennessee in April 1862, marked a violent crossroads in the Civil War. What began as a surprise attack by Confederate troops on a Union stronghold to gain control of the Mississippi River Valley became a bloody two-day conflict that would eerily foretell the brutal reality of the next three years.
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Absorbing story of the hell of Shiloh
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War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier
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Union 1812
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This dramatic account of the War of 1812 fills a surprising gap in the popular literature of the nation's formative years. It is this war, followed closely on the War of Independence, that established the young nation as a permanent power and proved its claim to Manifest Destiny.
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Fantastic narrative history
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The Compleat Victory
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In the late summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive fighting on both sides, the outcome of the American War of Independence hung in the balance. Having successfully expelled the Americans from Canada in 1776, the British were determined to end the rebellion the following year and devised what they believed a war-winning strategy, sending General John Burgoyne south to rout the Americans and take Albany.
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A reasonable summary of the revolutionary War of the Northern Army
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Lincoln's Lieutenants
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The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the fires of war under seven commanding generals in three years, until Grant came east in 1864. The men in charge all too frequently appeared to be fighting against the administration in Washington instead of for it, increasingly cast as political pawns facing down a vindictive congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War.
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Delia Jamison is a gorgeous woman of a certain age and at the pinnacle of her career as anchor of a network news show in Los Angeles. But she is being blackmailed by someone she is certain is one of her former lovers. Terrified to go to the police for fear the story will leak and cause a scandal, Delia's at her wit's end when she accidentally runs into none other than one of those former lovers, Johnny Lightfoot, whom she hasn't seen in nearly twenty years. Johnny is now an award-winning screenwriter living in New York and L.A. who feels the old emotional attraction for Delia rising again.
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King Philip's War
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At once an in-depth history of this pivotal war and a guide to the historical sites where the ambushes, raids, and battles took place, King Philip's War expands our understanding of American history and provides insight into the nature of colonial and ethnic wars in general. Through a careful reconstruction of events, including first-person accounts, and by providing information on the exact locations of more than 50 battles, King Philip's War is useful as well as informative.
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Indian Good; White Man Bad
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In August 1776, a little over a month after the Continental Congress had formally declared independence from Britain, the revolution was on the verge of a sudden and disastrous end. General George Washington found his troops outmanned and outmaneuvered at the Battle of Brooklyn, and it looked like there was no escape. But thanks to a series of desperate rear-guard attacks by a single heroic regiment, famously known as the Immortal 400, Washington was able to evacuate his men, and the nascent Continental Army lived to fight another day.
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American Republics
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In this beautifully written history of America’s formative period, a preeminent historian upends the traditional story of a young nation confidently marching to its continent-spanning destiny.
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Helps the dots of history to today.
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Memoirs of General William T. Sherman
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First published in 1875, General William T. Sherman's memoir was one of the first from the Civil War and was offered to the public because, as Sherman wrote in his dedication, "no satisfactory history" of the war was yet available. Although Memoirs has been revised and corrected many times over the years, Sherman famously never changed the original text of his recollections.
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Not for a beginner.
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Trail of Tears
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A sixth-generation North Carolinian, highly-acclaimed author John Ehle grew up on former Cherokee hunting grounds. His experience as an accomplished novelist, combined with his extensive, meticulous research, culminates in this moving tragedy rich with historical detail.
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Hard to imagine
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What listeners say about Patriotic Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Russell
- 08-10-16
Exciting history
This book is thoroughly researched, well written and very well performed! Jackson's generalship is superior. He was able to turn a very likely defeat into victory! Anyone interested in US history should read this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Leon Miller
- 07-03-15
Charming
A light, conversational, sometimes thrilling, and always charming history of the Battle of New Orleans. The narrator is absolutely excellent, warm, wry, avuncular. Perfect if you enjoy military histories or are looking for a refresher on the War of 1812.
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2 people found this helpful
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- David I. Williams
- 05-12-13
A Great Book About A Fascinating Battle
The Battle of New Orleans is a strange battle to discuss. It was the last battle in the War of 1812. It was fought after the war had actually ended. Since transportation was so slow the news of the war’s end did not arrive in time to prevent the battle. One one side were the invaders. General Packinham led an army of battle hardened British soldiers. Many of them had campaigned against the French armies in Portugal, Spain, and France with the Duke of Wellington. They were not an army used to defeat. Against that force was General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. Jackson had assembled a motley crew of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky volunteers, US Army regulars, Baratarian pirates, and Choctaw warriors. When on January 8, 1815 the 11,000 man British force attacked it was repulsed with heavy losses by the Americans.
Winston Groom, best known as author of Forrest Gump takes the reader on a fascinating ride through the story of this war. Groom introduces the conflict by discussing an ancestor of his who fought at the battle. Then he gives a long background on the history of Jean Laffite and his Baratarians. He discusses the city of New Orleans, the background of the war, Andrew Jackson, and a host of other things. Groom is a brilliant author and his prose really shines forth in this book. He doesn’t pretend to be a professional historian. Where the records are confusing or contradictory, which is often, he gives several possibilities and then shares which one he like best. This is a great book about a fascinating battle. Do yourself a favor and read this.
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10 people found this helpful
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- M.Garman
- 05-09-12
The real skinny on the Battle of New Orleans.
Wow ! !
I never realized what a near run thing the war of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans was.
I always thought the battle of New Orleans was anti-climactic because peace had already been signed.What Groom points out is that IF the British had marched onto New Orleans like everyone thought they would, not only would they have stayed for a long long time, but controlled the Mississippi.
New Orleans AND the Mississippi could have become another Gibralter or Hong Kong.
Napolean sold Louisianna to America.
England would have taken the position that Napolean was never the legitimate ruler of France so he never had the right to sell it.
It is no accident that Americans referred to the war of 1812 as the second war of independence,I mean the British had just burned Washington D.C. to the ground.
Andrew Jackson may have been flawed in many ways but not when it came to fighting.
At the time,the war was going badly,the country was demoralized and beginning to doubt itself.Andrew Jackson may have been the only American General at the time that could have pulled it off.
Pure and simple ,Groom tells a very good story chock full of facts you never knew..
I actually liked the narrator.His matter of fact nasal twang gave the story an authentic feel like Jackson or one of his contemporaries was telling it.
If you like historical books you will love Patriotic Fire.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Joseph Carlton
- 06-24-21
very well done
today's society very little is known for discussed about the War of 1812 and therefore very little is known about the Battle of New Orleans play 1814 and 1815. I was skeptical at the beginning of this book as the author spent a good bit of time addressing a personal connection to the battle. yet as the story moves along I became much more enthralled. in the end I found it to be a very well done well-researched historical account of the Battle of New Orleans which tells the story of some very colorful characters, reflections our country.
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- Ryan "SanpeteMitch" Mitchell
- 11-22-22
Great book.
I often wonder why this is touched on more in schools. I wonder why a lot of things happen in our schools.
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- G. Owen Wears
- 01-31-24
Excellent
Well written, well performed, concise, insightful, witty, and most of all...interesting. This is history just the way I like it.
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Overall
- Patrick
- 01-12-11
1815 comes alive
This book tells the story of the British invasion of New Orleans in the winter of 1814-1815. The story reads almost like a novel, with complex, lively characters from both sides of the war, often with interesting background stories on the main characters. Andrew Jackson, especially, got into some ridiculous, funny, and sometimes horrible scrapes before the war.
The battle itself is described in a very coherent and understandable way, switching seamlessly between British and American perspectives in a sensible chronological order. The battlefield by the Mississippi river, and the surrounding maze of swamps and lakes, are nicely visualized. One thing I especially liked was that the book explained just how difficult and complicated it was for the British to get anywhere near New Orleans in the first place, and likewise how dangerous and tedious their retreat turned out to be.
This book did a fine job setting the context for the battle, explaining what happened in the larger national and world context before and after the battle and what was at stake for both the British and Americans, and especially the locals, in the battle.
It is a good listen, well narrated, not too long, not too short, and makes history feel alive and important 200 years later.
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- Ranney
- 10-18-07
Good account of battle
The author does an excellent job of identifying and describing some very interesting historical figures that are crucial to the Battle of New Orleans. This is basically military history with a broader background because neither side has the capabilities that are taken for granted in modern warfare.
The account of the physical layout of the terrain, the strategies of both sides and the element of fortune and skill that determined the outcome are well explained in this work.
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- Tara
- 02-14-12
Good overview of forgotten battle
I decided to buy this audiobook since I was going to drive 12 hours to New Orleans and was woefully ignorant about the War of 1812. I sure did learn a lot! It's amazing to think that the army that had just defeated Napoleon at Waterloo was bested by pirates and backwoods folk. This is one of those amazing stories of American triumph in the face of adversity that you don't hear about much nor learn in school. Upon arriving in New Orleans, I had a better understanding of the city's cultural roots and traditions. I cannot imagine how scared the residents must have been as they sheltered in their buildings from British cannon. It is amazing that some of the places mentioned in the book can still be found in the city today.
Unlike the other reviewers, I absolutely could not stand Grover Gardner's narrarration. I'm not quite sure what it is; he sounds like he is trying to fake some sort of "upper class" accent. You know how in old Hitchcock movies the women would all talk with this weird almost British accent for some reason, even though they were American? It's like that, only far more annoying to me. The story was good enough to keep me listening, however.
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