The Scratch of a Pen
1763 and the Transformation of North America
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 $14.61
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Simon Vance
About this listen
In February, 1763, Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War. In this one document, more American territory changed hands than in any treaty before or since. As the great historian Francis Parkman wrote, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen."
As Colin Calloway reveals in this superb history, the Treaty set in motion a cascade of unexpected consequences. Indians and Europeans, settlers and frontiersmen, all struggled to adapt to new boundaries, new alignments, and new relationships. Britain now possessed a vast American empire stretching from Canada to the Florida Keys, yet the crushing costs of maintaining it would push its colonies toward rebellion. White settlers, free to pour into the West, clashed as never before with Indian tribes struggling to defend their way of life. In the Northwest, Pontiac's War brought racial conflict to its bitterest level so far. Whole ethnic groups migrated, sometimes across the continent: it was 1763 that saw many exiled settlers from Acadia in French Canada move again to Louisiana, where they would become Cajuns. Calloway unfurls this panoramic canvas with vibrant narrative skill, peopling his tale with memorable characters such as William Johnson, the Irish baronet who moved between Indian campfires and British barracks; Pontiac, the charismatic Ottawa chieftain whose warriors, for a time, chased the Europeans from Indian country; and James Murray, Britain's first governor in Quebec, who fought to protect the religious rights of his French Catholic subjects.Most Americans know the significance of the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation, but not the Treaty of Paris. Yet 1763 was a year that shaped our history just as decisively as 1776 or 1862. This captivating book shows why.
The “Pivotal Moments in American History” series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. Each title has a strong narrative arc with drama, irony, suspense, and – most importantly – great characters who embody the human dimension of historical events. The general editors of “Pivotal Moments” are not just historians; they are popular writers themselves, and, in two cases, Pulitzer Prize winners: David Hackett Fischer, James M. McPherson, and David Greenberg. We hope you like your American History served up with verve, wit, and an eye for the telling detail!
©2006 Colin G. Calloway (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Indian World of George Washington
- The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware; in the process, he returns them to their rightful place in the story of America's founding. The Indian World of George Washington spans decades of Native American leaders' interactions with Washington, from his early days as surveyor of Indian lands to his military career against both the French and the British to his presidency.
-
-
A Washington hate book
- By EJ morris on 02-08-19
-
The War That Made America
- A Short History of the French and Indian War
- By: Fred Anderson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Apart from The Last of the Mohicans, most Americans know little of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, and yet it remains one of the most fascinating periods in our history. In January 2006, PBS will air The War That Made America, a four-part documentary about this epic conflict. Fred Anderson, the award-winning and critically acclaimed historian, has written the official tie-in to this exciting television event.
-
-
A thorough and absorbing history
- By Michael on 03-15-10
By: Fred Anderson
-
The Chiefs Now in This City
- Indians and the Urban Frontier in Early America
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the years of the Early Republic, prominent Native leaders regularly traveled to American cities primarily on diplomatic or trade business, but also from curiosity. They were frequently referred to as "the Chiefs now in this city" during their visits. Colin Calloway has gathered together the accounts of these visits and created a new narrative of the country's formative years, redefining what has been understood as the "frontier." Calloway captures what Native peoples observed as they walked the streets, sat in pews, attended plays, drank in taverns, and slept in hotels.
-
American Colonies: The Settling of North America
- Penguin History of the United States, Book 1
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first volume in the Penguin History of the United States series, edited by Eric Foner, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from millennia past through the decades of Western colonization and conquest and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast.
-
-
Excellent ..
- By aintbuyinit on 09-03-18
By: Alan Taylor
-
The Victory with No Name
- The Native American Defeat of the First American Army
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1791, General Arthur St. Clair led the United States Army in a campaign to destroy a complex of Indian villages at the Miami River in northwestern Ohio. Almost within reach of their objective, St. Clair's 1,400 men were attacked by about 1,000 Indians. The U.S. force was decimated, suffering nearly a thousand casualties in killed and wounded, while Indian casualties numbered only a few dozen. As renowned Native American historian Colin Calloway demonstrates here, St. Clair's Defeat - as it came to be known - was hugely important for its time.
-
-
very good
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 08-02-17
-
The Cause
- The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.
-
-
Modest history primer, wished for more substance
- By Buretto on 10-21-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
-
The Indian World of George Washington
- The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware; in the process, he returns them to their rightful place in the story of America's founding. The Indian World of George Washington spans decades of Native American leaders' interactions with Washington, from his early days as surveyor of Indian lands to his military career against both the French and the British to his presidency.
-
-
A Washington hate book
- By EJ morris on 02-08-19
-
The War That Made America
- A Short History of the French and Indian War
- By: Fred Anderson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Apart from The Last of the Mohicans, most Americans know little of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, and yet it remains one of the most fascinating periods in our history. In January 2006, PBS will air The War That Made America, a four-part documentary about this epic conflict. Fred Anderson, the award-winning and critically acclaimed historian, has written the official tie-in to this exciting television event.
-
-
A thorough and absorbing history
- By Michael on 03-15-10
By: Fred Anderson
-
The Chiefs Now in This City
- Indians and the Urban Frontier in Early America
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the years of the Early Republic, prominent Native leaders regularly traveled to American cities primarily on diplomatic or trade business, but also from curiosity. They were frequently referred to as "the Chiefs now in this city" during their visits. Colin Calloway has gathered together the accounts of these visits and created a new narrative of the country's formative years, redefining what has been understood as the "frontier." Calloway captures what Native peoples observed as they walked the streets, sat in pews, attended plays, drank in taverns, and slept in hotels.
-
American Colonies: The Settling of North America
- Penguin History of the United States, Book 1
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first volume in the Penguin History of the United States series, edited by Eric Foner, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from millennia past through the decades of Western colonization and conquest and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast.
-
-
Excellent ..
- By aintbuyinit on 09-03-18
By: Alan Taylor
-
The Victory with No Name
- The Native American Defeat of the First American Army
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1791, General Arthur St. Clair led the United States Army in a campaign to destroy a complex of Indian villages at the Miami River in northwestern Ohio. Almost within reach of their objective, St. Clair's 1,400 men were attacked by about 1,000 Indians. The U.S. force was decimated, suffering nearly a thousand casualties in killed and wounded, while Indian casualties numbered only a few dozen. As renowned Native American historian Colin Calloway demonstrates here, St. Clair's Defeat - as it came to be known - was hugely important for its time.
-
-
very good
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 08-02-17
-
The Cause
- The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.
-
-
Modest history primer, wished for more substance
- By Buretto on 10-21-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
-
Liberty's Exiles
- American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
- By: Maya Jasanoff
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maya Jasanoff won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her groundbreaking work Liberty's Exiles. After the American Revolution, 60,000 British loyalists fled the U.S. for Canada, the Caribbean, India, and other points abroad. Jasanoff traces their harrowing journeys across the globe, shedding light on their ambitions, the post-revolutionary world they encountered, and their legacies.
-
-
Staggering in its Breadth
- By Anders P Morley on 02-21-21
By: Maya Jasanoff
-
Revolutionary Mothers
- Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
- By: Carol Berkin
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed, and danger into the life of every American, and Carol Berkin shows us that women played a vital role throughout the struggle. Berkin takes us into the ordinary moments of extraordinary lives. We see women boycotting British goods in the years before independence, writing propaganda that radicalized their neighbors, raising funds for the army, and helping finance the fledgling government. We see how they managed farms, plantations, and businesses while their men went into battle.
-
-
Required reading for American patriots.
- By Eric on 08-09-18
By: Carol Berkin
-
Washington's Crossing
- By: David Hackett Fischer
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Particularly Good Military History
- By William on 10-11-04
-
Frederick Douglass
- Prophet of Freedom
- By: David W. Blight
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 36 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence, he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
-
-
The sound of rollerskating in sand
- By Rico X Ludovici on 02-06-19
By: David W. Blight
-
The First Frontier
- The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America
- By: Scott Weidensaul
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.
-
-
Too PC
- By Eric on 07-24-13
By: Scott Weidensaul
-
Crucible of War
- The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766
- By: Fred Anderson
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 29 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years' War - long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution - takes on a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as it developed, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces brought into conflict helped both to create Britain's empire and to sow the seeds of its eventual dissolution. Beginning with a skirmish in the Pennsylvania backcountry involving an inexperienced George Washington, the Iroquois chief Tanaghrisson, and the ill-fated French emissary Jumonville, Anderson reveals a chain of events that would lead to world conflagration.
-
-
A Detailed History
- By Daniel on 07-15-18
By: Fred Anderson
-
The Middle Ground
- Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815
- By: Richard White
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An acclaimed book and widely acknowledged classic, The Middle Ground steps outside the simple stories of Indian-white relations—stories of conquest and assimilation and stories of cultural persistence. It is, instead, about a search for accommodation and common meaning. It tells how Europeans and Indians met, regarding each other as alien, as other, as virtually nonhuman, and how between 1650 and 1815 they constructed a common mutually comprehensible world in the region around the Great Lakes that the French called pays d'en haut.
-
-
A great book, not for beginners
- By ssejhog on 06-18-23
By: Richard White
-
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Often hailed as the godfather of today's elite special forces, Robert Rogers trained and led an unorthodox unit of green provincials, raw woodsmen, farmers, and Indian scouts on "impossible" missions in colonial America that are still the stuff of soldiers' legend. The child of marginalized Scots-Irish immigrants, Rogers learned to survive in New England's dark and deadly forests, grasping, as did few others, that a new world required new forms of warfare. John F. Ross not only re-creates Rogers's life and his spectacular battles with breathtaking immediacy and meticulous accuracy...
-
-
WOW!!!
- By Olaf the Black on 11-23-18
By: John F. Ross
-
American Nations
- A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the 11 distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory. In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent....
-
-
One of a Kind Masterpiece
- By Theo Horesh on 02-28-13
By: Colin Woodard
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
El Norte
- The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today.
-
-
Chicken Noodle History
- By Jose on 10-30-19
By: Carrie Gibson
-
The British Empire
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 30 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.
-
-
Great presentation of a broad historical narrative
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Stephen W. Sears
Critic reviews
"Spellbinding....First-rate cultural history." (Publishers Weekly)
"Imbued with cultural erudition and diplomatic insight." (Booklist)
Related to this topic
-
The Indian World of George Washington
- The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware; in the process, he returns them to their rightful place in the story of America's founding. The Indian World of George Washington spans decades of Native American leaders' interactions with Washington, from his early days as surveyor of Indian lands to his military career against both the French and the British to his presidency.
-
-
A Washington hate book
- By EJ morris on 02-08-19
-
Liberty's Exiles
- American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
- By: Maya Jasanoff
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maya Jasanoff won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her groundbreaking work Liberty's Exiles. After the American Revolution, 60,000 British loyalists fled the U.S. for Canada, the Caribbean, India, and other points abroad. Jasanoff traces their harrowing journeys across the globe, shedding light on their ambitions, the post-revolutionary world they encountered, and their legacies.
-
-
Staggering in its Breadth
- By Anders P Morley on 02-21-21
By: Maya Jasanoff
-
El Norte
- The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today.
-
-
Chicken Noodle History
- By Jose on 10-30-19
By: Carrie Gibson
-
The British Empire
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 30 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.
-
-
Great presentation of a broad historical narrative
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Stephen W. Sears
-
The Trail of Tears
- The Forced Removal of the Five Civilized Tribes
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Dave Wright
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The "Five Civilized Tribes" are among the best known Native American groups in American history, and they were even celebrated by contemporary Americans for their abilities to adapt to white culture. But tragically, they are also well known tribes due to the trials and tribulations they suffered by being forcibly moved west along the "Trail of Tears".
-
-
Not complete
- By Melissa on 06-14-15
-
The Barbarous Years
- The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675
- By: Bernard Bailyn
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 26 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bernard Bailyn gives us a compelling account of the first great transit of people from Britain, Europe, and Africa to British North America, their involvements with each other, and their struggles with the indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard.
-
-
A feast for genealogy/history buffs
- By judithh on 07-21-16
By: Bernard Bailyn
-
The Indian World of George Washington
- The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 23 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami, Creek, Delaware; in the process, he returns them to their rightful place in the story of America's founding. The Indian World of George Washington spans decades of Native American leaders' interactions with Washington, from his early days as surveyor of Indian lands to his military career against both the French and the British to his presidency.
-
-
A Washington hate book
- By EJ morris on 02-08-19
-
Liberty's Exiles
- American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
- By: Maya Jasanoff
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maya Jasanoff won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her groundbreaking work Liberty's Exiles. After the American Revolution, 60,000 British loyalists fled the U.S. for Canada, the Caribbean, India, and other points abroad. Jasanoff traces their harrowing journeys across the globe, shedding light on their ambitions, the post-revolutionary world they encountered, and their legacies.
-
-
Staggering in its Breadth
- By Anders P Morley on 02-21-21
By: Maya Jasanoff
-
El Norte
- The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today.
-
-
Chicken Noodle History
- By Jose on 10-30-19
By: Carrie Gibson
-
The British Empire
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 30 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of how the English acquired their vast domain; how they ruled, maintained, and exploited it; and how, within decades, they presided over its dissolution. Here are Britain's triumphs and also her stinging defeats, her heroes and her scoundrels. It is a full and fascinating chronicle of the growth of the British Empire and its people and of the impact that empire had on the rest of the world.
-
-
Great presentation of a broad historical narrative
- By MiamiMe on 03-27-18
By: Stephen W. Sears
-
The Trail of Tears
- The Forced Removal of the Five Civilized Tribes
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Dave Wright
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The "Five Civilized Tribes" are among the best known Native American groups in American history, and they were even celebrated by contemporary Americans for their abilities to adapt to white culture. But tragically, they are also well known tribes due to the trials and tribulations they suffered by being forcibly moved west along the "Trail of Tears".
-
-
Not complete
- By Melissa on 06-14-15
-
The Barbarous Years
- The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675
- By: Bernard Bailyn
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 26 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bernard Bailyn gives us a compelling account of the first great transit of people from Britain, Europe, and Africa to British North America, their involvements with each other, and their struggles with the indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard.
-
-
A feast for genealogy/history buffs
- By judithh on 07-21-16
By: Bernard Bailyn
-
The Iroquois and Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier
- By: Timothy J. Shannon
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Distinguished history professor and author Timothy J. Shannon is a recognized expert on the Indians of colonial America. In this concise study of Iroquois diplomacy, Shannon paints a vivid picture of the American frontier's most successful Indian confederacy. This enlightening narrative explores the shrewd, sometimes treacherous, tactics the Iroquois used to withstand the juggernaut of colonization.
-
-
Pleasant surprise
- By Robert B. Golson on 12-23-08
-
God, War, and Providence
- The Epic Struggle of Roger Williams and the Narragansett Indians against the Puritans of New England
- By: James A. Warren
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A devout Puritan minister in 17th-century New England, Roger Williams was also a social critic, diplomat, theologian, and politician who fervently believed in tolerance. Banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and laid the foundations for the colony of Rhode Island as a place where Indian and English cultures could flourish side by side, in peace. James A. Warren tells the remarkable and little-known story of the alliance between Roger Williams's Rhode Island and the Narragansett Indians, and how they joined forces to retain their autonomy and their distinctive ways of life against Puritan encroachment.
-
-
Best Written Book on the Subject
- By Jeffropicc on 01-02-21
By: James A. Warren
-
Empire's Crossroads
- A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since Christopher Columbus stepped off the Santa Maria onto what is today San Salvador, in the Bahamas, and announced that he had arrived in the Orient, the Caribbean has been a stage for projected fantasies and competition between world powers. In Empire’s Crossroads, British American historian Carrie Gibson traces the story of this coveted area from the northern rim of South America up to Cuba, and from discovery through colonialism to today, offering a vivid, panoramic view of this complex region and its rich, important history.
-
-
Careless production mars storytelling
- By Brenda Thomas on 03-31-16
By: Carrie Gibson
-
The Other Slavery
- The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America
- By: Andrés Reséndez
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andrés Reséndez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, then forced to descend into the "mouth of hell" of 18th-century silver mines or, later, made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos.
-
-
overall a good book
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 01-23-17
By: Andrés Reséndez
-
The Fortunes of Africa
- A 5000-Year History of Wealth, Greed, and Endeavor
- By: Martin Meredith
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 26 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping history of the fortune seekers, adventurers, despots, and thieves who have ruthlessly endeavored to extract gold, diamonds, and other treasures from Africa and its people.
-
-
VAST & WELL RESEARCHED
- By Odomite on 02-03-21
By: Martin Meredith
-
Toussaint Louverture
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Philippe Girard
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philippe Girard shows how Toussaint Louverture transformed himself from lowly freedman into revolutionary hero as the mastermind of the bloody slave revolt of 1791. By 1801, Louverture was governor of the colony where he had once been a slave. But his lifelong quest to be accepted as a member of the colonial elite ended in despair: he spent the last year of his life in a French prison cell. His example nevertheless inspired anticolonial and Black nationalist movements well into the 20th century.
-
-
very powerful story
- By jim on 01-06-17
By: Philippe Girard
-
America's Hidden History
- Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation
- By: Kenneth C. C. Davis
- Narrated by: Sam Freed, Kenneth C. Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kenneth C. Davis presents a collection of extraordinary stories, each detailing an overlooked episode that shaped the nation's destiny and character. Davis' dramatic narratives set the record straight, busting myths and bringing to light little-known but fascinating facts from a time when the nation's fate hung in the balance.
-
-
Boring, boring, boring
- By Yeshe on 10-14-10
-
The Victory with No Name
- The Native American Defeat of the First American Army
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1791, General Arthur St. Clair led the United States Army in a campaign to destroy a complex of Indian villages at the Miami River in northwestern Ohio. Almost within reach of their objective, St. Clair's 1,400 men were attacked by about 1,000 Indians. The U.S. force was decimated, suffering nearly a thousand casualties in killed and wounded, while Indian casualties numbered only a few dozen. As renowned Native American historian Colin Calloway demonstrates here, St. Clair's Defeat - as it came to be known - was hugely important for its time.
-
-
very good
- By Paola V. Hidalgo on 08-02-17
-
Dawn of Detroit
- A Chronicle of Bondage and Freedom in the City of the Straits
- By: Tiya Miles
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest's iconic city: Detroit. In this richly researched and eye-opening book, Miles has pieced together the experience of the unfree - both native and African American - in the frontier outpost of Detroit.
-
-
Great!
- By Melissa Eisner on 05-30-18
By: Tiya Miles
-
Lone Star
- A History of Texas and the Texans
- By: T. R. Fehrenbach
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 39 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is a must-listen history of the Lone Star State, together with an insider's look at the people, politics, and events that have shaped Texas from the beginning right up to our days. Never before has the story been told with more vitality and immediacy. Fehrenbach re-creates the Texas saga from prehistory to the Spanish and French invasions to the heyday of the cotton and cattle empires. He dramatically describes the emergence of Texas as a republic, the vote for secession before the Civil War, and the state's readmission to the Union after the War.
-
-
Top -10
- By JNW on 03-29-18
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
-
The Tuscarora War
- Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies
- By: David La Vere
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At dawn on September 22, 1711, more than five hundred Tuscarora, Core, Neuse, Pamlico, Weetock, Machapunga, and Bear River Indian warriors swept down on the unsuspecting European settlers living along the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers of North Carolina. During the following days, they destroyed hundreds of farms, killed at least 140 men, women, and children, and took about 40 captives. So began the Tuscarora War, North Carolina's bloodiest colonial war and surely one of its most brutal.
-
-
neither a racist author nor a tale of genocide
- By wylie smith on 03-02-22
By: David La Vere
-
Crucible of War
- The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766
- By: Fred Anderson
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 29 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years' War - long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution - takes on a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as it developed, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces brought into conflict helped both to create Britain's empire and to sow the seeds of its eventual dissolution. Beginning with a skirmish in the Pennsylvania backcountry involving an inexperienced George Washington, the Iroquois chief Tanaghrisson, and the ill-fated French emissary Jumonville, Anderson reveals a chain of events that would lead to world conflagration.
-
-
A Detailed History
- By Daniel on 07-15-18
By: Fred Anderson
What listeners say about The Scratch of a Pen
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- wylie smith
- 07-24-24
excellent snapshot of 1763
This is a relatively short book, but it keeps delivering insight after insight. I have read quite a few books about the years 1754 to 1783, but this short book offered facts of which I was unaware. Calloway makes connections that I have not seen in print before.I do have a small quibble with his dealing with Fort Pitt, smallpox, and Amherst. No doubt Amherst wanted to remove the Indian menace in a any way possible, but Calloway correctly points out the distribution of smallpox blankets happened before ASmherst's suggestion of spreading smallpox. Trader William Trent (I believe Trenton was named after his father) charged the British army for the blankets he, Trent, distributed (Calloway is one of the few to actually Trent's name). My quibble is that he mentions that smallpox was fairly widespread in western Pennsylvania that spring and summer. In other words, smallpox was already present in the local tribes (in the spring, before the blankets were distributed), and smallpox was widesrpread throughout the colonies. Including along the Susquehanna which was raided by other tribes who stopped with Fort Pitt's lcal Delawares coming and going. Amherst is guilty of intent, but smallpox was prevalent in the colonies at that time.
But Calloway does go into into the politically correct game of blame. As in his book on Washington and his relations with Indians, Calloway points out the circumstances and lets the readers reach their own conclusions. Alas, almost all the political leaders are following their own agendas, and those are partially determined by the values, or some might sat lack of values, of the time.This reader can't help noticing, once again that the 'free space' in the English colonies created a land hunger in most individuals that is not seen in New France nor New Spain. The peace treaty of 1763 changed the lives of those on the American continent as much as the War had. Calloway keeps giving examples of how the peace changed the relations between people(s) once the French threat was gone.
Once again I am amzed at how good a narrator Simon Vance is. I can't imagine a better, more satisfying reading of this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-15-20
Wish it was longer.
The author does an excellent job recounting the events triggered by the 1763 treaty, however there's one area I wish he had covered better. In the prologue he discussed the purely negative portrayal of Anglo-American settlers that has predominated modern coverage of the era. He says that this book will take a long-biased look at those settlers, but he doesn't really deliver. The book glances over the migration of these peoples into contested land with barely a nod rather than a look at the social forces moving them. The policy makers and land speculators are well covered, but not the settlers themselves. Speaking as someone tired of the black/white coverage of the events of the era, I can't help but feel this was a missed opportunity.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 02-03-13
Spectacular Look into 1763
This is a wonderfully written and thoroughly researched short history book. The best way to describe it is a cross-section of what it was like to live in North America in 1763. Despite this book being short, the detail is amazing -- how the mail worked, how suits were ordered, how tobacco was sold . . . . You get a very vivid sense of daily 1763 life among various groups including: southern planters, British soldiers, French-Canadian furriers, freed slaves, whites who chose to live among Indians, etc. etc. etc. Of particular note, this probably does as good a job of any popular history I have ever read with respect to giving a textured and nuanced description of many various Indian groups and their relations to white settles, the British, the French, and each other. In short, I learned a lot and really enjoyed it.
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
- Paola V. Hidalgo
- 07-29-17
short and to the point
I really enjoyed this book as it was straight to the point. It's always good to learn things from different points of view. great work
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frank Conaway
- 07-17-16
A truly excellent scholarly account.
Any additional comments?
An excellent scholarly treatment of the multifarious outfalls of the Treaty of Paris of 1763, with particular reference to the influence of the cession to Britain of French-claimed lands between the Appalachians and the Great Lakes and Mississippi. All players are comprehensively discussed: the French colonists more or less abandoned by their home country; the American colonists hungry for western land and the benefits of Indian trade; policy-makers in London and Paris, and their militaries in interior North America; the Spanish, despoiled of Florida, and almost embarrassed by acquiring trans-Mississippi Louisiana; and above all the Indians beset by pressures on every side and no longer able to play British, French, and Spaniards against one another to try to maintain their independence of action, to secure their lands, and to maintain the trade essential to their survival.Many readers will be familiar with the general outline of this account, and with many of the names and places referenced, but few, probably, will have ever read a comprehensive treatment of all the moving parts in this story so pregnant for the immediate future of eastern North America in 1763. Note: this is decidedly not a history of the French and Indian war, which is dispatched in a matter of a few paragraphs preliminary to the main subject of the book.It is regrettable and remarkable that neither the director nor narrator knows how to pronounce "hegemony."
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
- cartwright02
- 06-02-24
Quick & Neutral Overview of North America after the French & Indian War
This is a good, balanced, and neutral overview of North America after the French & Indian War, aka the Seven Years' War.
It is a bit sporadic and scattered in how it presents information, but still worth the read for a high level overview of this period in history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Brian
- 07-18-06
Poor account - there are better
If you want to read about the French and Indian War and the aftermath, skip this poor book and instead get "The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War (Unabridged)", also on audible and with the same narrator. This book is very poorly written and constructed, and treats the Indians as a bunch of cartoon "noble savages" rather than examining the different tribes as different people (who often fought each other). The first 45 minutes is just telling you (twice!) what the next 5.5 hours will hold (and then it doesn't deliver). No narritive structure, no compelling story, nothing worth listening to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Phillip Goodson
- 10-07-08
Disappointing
This was a painful book, very disorganized and pointless. Excuse my candor :-)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- carolyn
- 11-17-07
Lacked sparkle
I was disppointed in the author's style, rather than in the facts -- even understanding that it's a political history. Rather dry. I feel the author's work didn't live up to the scope of his project, and it failed to convey the depth of the impact of the treaty, although it includes many anncedotes and details. Read a bit like an undergraduate's thesis. But because of the details, I would recommend it for listeners who aren't also looking for style.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful