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They Made America
- From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators
- Narrated by: Harold Evans
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
There has never been a history of America like Harold Evans's long-awaited They Made America. With the verve and cogency that made his American Century an acclaimed best seller, Evans tells the epic story of the men and women who made America over two centuries.
The workshop revolutionaries who made our world have never had the attention afforded the political revolutionaries who founded this nation. But it has been these innovators, in small-town attics and on the Mississippi, in Silicon Valley and the wheat fields of Kansas, in a Black woman's beauty parlor and a Dayton bicycle shop, who set America on a course to attain a standard of living unprecedented in the history of the world.
The flourishing of America is the story of an inventive people with a mystic faith in technology, from the early settlers who devised windmills as a way of getting water on the Great Plains to the electronic whiz kids of the Internet. Innovation, practical inventiveness, is the main force behind America's preeminence. But there is more to this extraordinary history. Harold Evans traces how the innovators have time and time again proved to be democratizers, driven not by greed but by an ambition to be remembered. They translated the nation's political ideals into economic reality.
Yet many of these heroic contributors have been lost to history. Who fought and fought to make banking available to the common people? Who opened the world of international air travel to the masses? Whose Internet triumph was based on egalitarian ideals? Who put cheap electricity into everyone's homes, and was pursued as a fugitive? Who gave everyman high-quality sound, and was driven to suicide?
They Made America is eminently practical; but more than anything, it is history to inspire.
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Story
In the mid- to late-19th century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a war was under way to be the first to light - and run - the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race - only a winner and a loser - and the prize was a nationwide monopoly in electric current.
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Very well written!
- By Amanda McCoy on 07-17-19
By: Mike Winchell
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Freedom's Forge
- How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Arthur Herman pens this fascinating look at how two businessmen turned the U.S. into a military powerhouse during World War II. In 1940, FDR asked General Motors CEO William Knudsen to oversee the production of guns, tanks, and planes needed for the war. Meanwhile, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser presided over the building of “Liberty ships” - vessels that came to symbolize America’s great wartime output.
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Enlightening. Amazing, Great Narration
- By G. Sanders on 08-26-12
By: Arthur Herman
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Hershey
- Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
- By: Michael D'Antonio
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day.
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The Benchmark for Chartiable, Rich Men
- By Boyd Tschaggeny on 01-30-19
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The Victorian Internet
- The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers
- By: Tom Standage
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Victorian Internet tells the colorful story of the telegraph's creation and remarkable impact and of the visionaries, oddballs, and eccentrics who pioneered it, from eighteenth-century French scientist Jean-Antoine Nollet to Samuel F. B. Morse and Thomas Edison. The electric telegraph nullified distance and shrank the world quicker and further than ever before or since, and its story mirrors and predicts that of the Internet in numerous ways.
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Very nice audiobook
- By David on 05-23-16
By: Tom Standage
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The Flight of the Century: Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of American Aviation
- Oxford University Press: Pivotal Moments in US History
- By: Thomas Kessner
- Narrated by: Bob McGraw
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In late May 1927 an inexperienced and unassuming 25-year-old Air Mail pilot from rural Minnesota stunned the world by making the first non-stop transatlantic flight. A spectacular feat of individual daring and collective technological accomplishment, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris ushered in America's age of commercial aviation.
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Flawed but Worthwhile
- By Ray Daniels on 11-11-22
By: Thomas Kessner
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Tuxedo Park
- A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: John Kroft
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
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Fantastic book, weak technical execution
- By Paul on 10-13-18
By: Jennet Conant
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Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
- By: Tim Harford
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy paints an epic picture of change in an intimate way by telling the stories of the tools, people, and ideas that had far-reaching consequences for all of us. From the plough to artificial intelligence, from Gillette's disposable razor to IKEA's Billy bookcase, best-selling author and Financial Times columnist Tim Harford recounts each invention's own curious, surprising, and memorable story.
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Thought provoking
- By Paul Norris on 09-10-17
By: Tim Harford
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Higher
- A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
- By: Neal Bascomb
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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This riveting, true account of the 1929 race to build New York City's tallest skyscraper evokes the glory of an exciting time long past.
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Outstanding Audio Book!!!
- By Tim on 11-16-05
By: Neal Bascomb
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Wilbur and Orville
- A Biography of the Wright Brothers
- By: Fred Howard
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 21 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The Wrights' longest flight in 1903 covered 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds. In 1905, Wilbur flew 24 miles in 38 minutes and the issue was no longer how to fly but how to cash in. Their effort to exploit their invention is a suspense story of the best kind; their voyage into flight and into American history is a gripping tale from takeoff to landing.
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Interesting but not hard to put down...
- By James on 03-17-12
By: Fred Howard
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The Last Lone Inventor
- A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television
- By: Evan I. Schwartz
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In a story that is both of its time and timeless, Evan I. Schwartz tells a tale of genius versus greed, innocence versus deceit, and independent brilliance versus corporate arrogance. Many men have laid claim to the title "father of television," but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time. Driven by his obsession to demonstrate his idea, by the age of 20 Farnsworth was operating his own laboratory above a garage in San Francisco and filing for patents. The resulting publicity caught the attention of RCA tycoon David Sarnoff, who became determined to control television in the same way he monopolized radio.
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Thank you, Philo.
- By JPALJ on 03-29-20
By: Evan I. Schwartz
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Car Wars
- The Rise, the Fall, and the Resurgence of the Electric Car
- By: John Fialka
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The resurgence of the electric car in modern life is a tale of adventurers, men and women who bucked the complete dominance of the fossil-fueled car to seek something cleaner, simpler and cheaper. Award-winning former Wall Street Journal reporter John Fialka documents the early days of the electric car, from the MIT/Caltech race between prototypes in the summer of 1968 to the 1987 victory of the Sunraycer in the world's first race featuring solar-powered cars.
By: John Fialka
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The New New Thing
- A Silicon Valley Story
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the weird glow of the dying millennium, Michael Lewis sets out on a safari through Silicon Valley to find the world's most important technology entrepreneur, the man who embodies the spirit of the coming age. He finds him in Jim Clark, who is about to create his third, separate, billion-dollar company: first Silicon Graphics, then Netscape - which launched the Information Age - and now Healtheon, a startup that may turn the $1 trillion healthcare industry on its head.
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A fun book about Jim Clark
- By Horace on 07-07-10
By: Michael Lewis
What listeners say about They Made America
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- J. Walsh
- 02-08-05
Liked it, even abridged
As an entrepreneur, I appreciate stories of those who have gone before me to create new markets despite adversity. The author presents an interesting perspective on American entrepreneurs and narrates a compelling set of stories.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Scott
- 12-31-04
Great Stories Well Told
This is the best book yet if you enjoy being inspired by stories of innovation and invention. An amazing walk through history, Evan's writing offers great insight into the genius and 'can do' smarts of these American icons. I especially enjoy the personal details that reveal the type of character that could take these inventions beyond tinkering to have a lasting effect on all of us. Just the right amount of information too. Hearing it in the author's voice makes it all the better, as he gets the emphasis right and his style is to move swiftly through the details and punctuate the brilliance of each story. It's great listening. I think my iPod toting teenagers will enjoy it too.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Julia L. Scott
- 02-10-06
Fascinating
Fascinating--who knew? This should be a class room standard.
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Overall
- Paul
- 01-10-05
Well Narrated, a lite and quick read
I enjoyed this book, and was very happy with the narrator. Obviously if you want great, in-depth detail on the various innovators you are going to need to do considerably more reading than this book can provide. But as quick overview with a nicely diverse group of people presented, it worked. My Compliments.
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- John Ray
- 04-19-24
Too Abridged
Need more content. Like the airlines, aviation and automotive industries. It did say abridged but this is really an incomplete summary. If the original and complete version is available, I would like to trade.
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Overall
- Arthur
- 01-03-05
Good historical commentary
This book is very well done. Its covers the broader details of many great Americans. To have an in-depth study of so many people would require 70+ hours of audio. It piqued my interest in a number of people I had never known anything about before this.
A very good short study of some great accomplishments.
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- Robert Lewis
- 12-03-20
very interesting history of innovators
This is well researched history of those inventers who changed the how the future would unfold.
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- Andrew
- 09-19-20
Essential American mental heroes
A well performed study of American invention. Enjoyed every minute. Will replay a few times for sure.
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Overall
- CHRIS
- 03-03-11
I was duped
If you are looking for a book that does not dilute your belief in the almost-limitless potential of human beings; if you are looking for a book that admires all that our species has accomplished in the past 200 years; if your primary motive for reading this book is to reaffirm your trust in your own possibilities, then this is not the book for you.
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Overall
- Jim
- 01-02-05
Wait for the Unabridged audiobook.
Wait for the Unabridged version because most of the really good stuff was left out when this book was abridged. Unbelievably the Wrighte Brothers, google, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs were left out, and Barbie was left in.. This is a great book! I have the hardback version and I have been enjoying it immensly. I have low vision and even with the screen reader reading is sloww going. I like to use the audio book to keep me going but this abridged version was so badly cut up it was frustrating.
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19 people found this helpful