
The Dawn's Early Light
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
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Norman Dietz
-
By:
-
Walter Lord
About this listen
It took more than a revolution to win true independence: The story of the War of 1812, the United State's second war on England, by a New York Times best-selling historian.
At the dawn of the 19th century, the great powers of Western Europe treated the United States like a disobedient child. Great Britain blocked American trade, seized its vessels, and impressed its sailors to serve in the Royal Navy. America's complaints were ignored, and the humiliation continued until James Madison, the country's fourth president, declared a second war on Great Britain.
British forces would descend on the young United States, shattering its armies and burning its capital, but America rallied, and survived the conflict with its sovereignty intact. With stunning detail on land and naval battles, the role Native Americans played in the hostilities, and the larger backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, this is the story of the turning points of this strange conflict, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" and led to the Era of Good Feelings that all but erased partisan politics in America for almost a decade. It was in 1812 that America found its identity and first assumed its place on the world stage.
©1972 Walter Lord (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
A Time to Stand
- The Epic of the Alamo
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of March 6, 1836, in an old abandoned mission called the Alamo, a small Texas garrison, fought to the death rather than yield to an overwhelming army of Mexicans. Through the years, the garrison's heroic stand has become so clothed in folklore and romance that the truth has nearly been lost. In A Time to Stand, Walter Lord rediscovers and recreates the whole fascinating story.
-
-
Okay book. Atrocious narration.
- By Jack on 01-22-20
By: Walter Lord
-
Incredible Victory
- The Battle of Midway
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of June 4, 1942, doom sailed on Midway. Hoping to put itself within striking distance of Hawaii and California, the Japanese navy planned an ambush that would obliterate the remnants of the American Pacific fleet. On paper, the Americans had no chance of winning. They had fewer ships, slower fighters, and almost no battle experience. But because their codebreakers knew what was coming, the American navy was able to prepare an ambush of its own.
-
-
Very informative
- By Jim Walters on 08-27-18
By: Walter Lord
-
Lonely Vigil
- Coastwatchers of the Solomons
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Day of Infamy: In the bloodiest island combat of WWII, one group of men kept watch from behind Japanese lines. The Solomon Islands was where the Allied war machine finally broke the Japanese empire. As pilots, marines, and sailors fought for supremacy in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Slot, a lonely group of radio operators occupied the Solomon Islands' highest points. Sometimes encamped in comfort, sometimes exposed to the elements, these coastwatchers kept lookout for squadrons of Japanese bombers headed for Allied positions.
-
-
Interesting Subject
- By Martin See on 06-21-21
By: Walter Lord
-
Leyte Gulf
- A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle
- By: Mark E. Stille
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the key aspects of battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, with new and insightful analysis and dismantles the myths surrounding the respective actions and overall performances of the two most important commanders in the battle, and the “lost victory” of the Japanese advance into Leyte Gulf that never happened.
-
-
Perhaps a little scholarly
- By Michael Kiehn on 11-14-24
By: Mark E. Stille
-
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
-
The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
-
A Time to Stand
- The Epic of the Alamo
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of March 6, 1836, in an old abandoned mission called the Alamo, a small Texas garrison, fought to the death rather than yield to an overwhelming army of Mexicans. Through the years, the garrison's heroic stand has become so clothed in folklore and romance that the truth has nearly been lost. In A Time to Stand, Walter Lord rediscovers and recreates the whole fascinating story.
-
-
Okay book. Atrocious narration.
- By Jack on 01-22-20
By: Walter Lord
-
Incredible Victory
- The Battle of Midway
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of June 4, 1942, doom sailed on Midway. Hoping to put itself within striking distance of Hawaii and California, the Japanese navy planned an ambush that would obliterate the remnants of the American Pacific fleet. On paper, the Americans had no chance of winning. They had fewer ships, slower fighters, and almost no battle experience. But because their codebreakers knew what was coming, the American navy was able to prepare an ambush of its own.
-
-
Very informative
- By Jim Walters on 08-27-18
By: Walter Lord
-
Lonely Vigil
- Coastwatchers of the Solomons
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Day of Infamy: In the bloodiest island combat of WWII, one group of men kept watch from behind Japanese lines. The Solomon Islands was where the Allied war machine finally broke the Japanese empire. As pilots, marines, and sailors fought for supremacy in Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Slot, a lonely group of radio operators occupied the Solomon Islands' highest points. Sometimes encamped in comfort, sometimes exposed to the elements, these coastwatchers kept lookout for squadrons of Japanese bombers headed for Allied positions.
-
-
Interesting Subject
- By Martin See on 06-21-21
By: Walter Lord
-
Leyte Gulf
- A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle
- By: Mark E. Stille
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the key aspects of battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, with new and insightful analysis and dismantles the myths surrounding the respective actions and overall performances of the two most important commanders in the battle, and the “lost victory” of the Japanese advance into Leyte Gulf that never happened.
-
-
Perhaps a little scholarly
- By Michael Kiehn on 11-14-24
By: Mark E. Stille
-
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
-
The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
-
President Garfield
- From Radical to Unifier
- By: CW Goodyear
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In “the most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated.
-
-
Excellent
- By Krmartin on 08-19-23
By: CW Goodyear
-
The War of 1812
- A Forgotten Conflict, Bicentennial Edition
- By: Donald R Hickey
- Narrated by: Douglas R. Pratt
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This comprehensive and authoritative history of the War of 1812, thoroughly revised for the 200th anniversary of the historic conflict, is a myth-shattering study that will inform and entertain students, historians, and general listeners alike. Donald R. Hickey explores the military, diplomatic, and domestic history of our second war with Great Britain, bringing the study up to date with recent scholarship on all aspects of the war, from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.
-
-
The War of 1812 fascinating listening
- By Ira S. Saposnik on 05-28-17
By: Donald R Hickey
-
The Longest Day
- June 6, 1944
- By: Cornelius Ryan
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
> The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory and tragedy, Ryan painstakingly re-creates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism.
-
-
Horrendous narration makes it impossible to listen
- By Mary on 03-18-12
By: Cornelius Ryan
-
The Swamp Fox
- How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution
- By: John Oller
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Swamp Fox - Francis Marion
- By Stephen on 06-07-17
By: John Oller
-
Into the Bright Sunshine
- Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights (Pivotal Moments in American History Series)
- By: Samuel G. Freedman
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president—the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate—but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium.
-
-
Narrator bungles pronunciations
- By ARV on 09-23-23
-
Mr. Lincoln's Army
- By: Bruce Catton
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A magnificent history of the opening years of the Civil War by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bruce Catton. The first book in Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize-winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps under the command of the controversial general George McClellan.
-
-
Very poor reader with great material
- By L Day on 07-28-16
By: Bruce Catton
-
The Apache Wars
- The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History
- By: Paul Andrew Hutton
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They called him Mickey Free. His kidnapping started the longest war in American history, and both sides - the Apaches and the white invaders - blamed him for it. A mixed-blood warrior who moved uneasily between the worlds of the Apaches and the American soldiers, he was never trusted by either but desperately needed by both. He was the only man Geronimo ever feared. He played a pivotal role in this long war for the desert Southwest from its beginning in 1861 until its end in 1890 with his pursuit of the renegade scout Apache Kid.
-
-
Ruined by the Narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 02-22-17
-
1776
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
-
-
Front Seat on History
- By Mark on 10-22-05
By: David McCullough
-
Through the Perilous Fight
- Six Weeks That Saved the Nation
- By: Steve Vogel
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1814, the United States of America teetered on the brink of disaster. The war it had declared against Great Britain two years earlier appeared headed toward inglorious American defeat. In a fast-paced, character-driven narrative, Steve Vogel tells the story of this titanic struggle from the perspective of both sides. Like an epic novel, Through the Perilous Fight abounds with heroes, villains, and astounding feats of derring-do.
-
-
History at its finest!
- By Anonymous User on 04-04-24
By: Steve Vogel
-
The Last Emperor of Mexico
- The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World
- By: Edward Shawcross
- Narrated by: Gustavo Rex
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1860s, Napoleon III, intent on curbing the rise of American imperialism, persuaded a young Austrian archduke and a Belgian princess to leave Europe and become the emperor and empress of Mexico. They and their entourage arrived in a Mexico ruled by terror, where revolutionary fervor was barely suppressed by French troops. When the United States, now clear of its own Civil War, aided the rebels in pushing back Maximilian’s imperial soldiers, the French army withdrew, abandoning the young couple. The regime fell apart.
-
-
Excellent
- By Kyle P. Dalton on 03-24-22
By: Edward Shawcross
-
Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
-
-
You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
Critic reviews
"[Lord uses] a kind of literary pointillism, the arrangement of contrasting bits of fact and emotion in such a fashion that a vividly real impression of an event is conveyed to the reader." (New York Herald Tribune)
What listeners say about The Dawn's Early Light
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- HeroHale
- 05-13-22
Essential material
Every American should know these stories. The bravery, the mistakes, the stratagems and the total luck, the chaos and the poetry. Appreciating the complexity of what transpired through Walter Lord’s “you were there” signature style brings an essential understanding of the potential variabilities in outcome and impact. Thank you for a great presentation of this material!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dave
- 09-20-22
Fantastic Read
The narration is tensions at regular speed, but I put it up to 1.3 and it sounds wonderful at that rate. Excellent story, very well written, with a perfect balance of event detail and time progression.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt
- 09-10-22
Now I know the history of the war of 1812
This was an interesting book, I never knew much about the war of 1812 but this seems to have enlightened me on this subject. It is slightly comical how the combatants are described as being so gentlemanly to one another, those days are gone!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CalvinS
- 10-01-19
Fascinating reading
Lord's narrative of the late stages of the War of 1812 shines a light on both British and American motives and actions as th conflict reached its climax. It paints a picture of conflicting ambitions that ultimately led to a new chapter in North American history as the US emerged as the undisputed master of the East, and soon the West central continent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David B Scott
- 01-21-23
Performance
The person reading it was so dull. I tried but could not handle it. I have listened to over 300 books bit this tied for the worst performance next to all of Scott Bricks.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Arizona Wildcat
- 12-29-22
Just OK
I really wanted to love this but it just didn’t happen. There was a lot of scholarly detail told in a non-riveting way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful