Showing results by narrator "James McSorley" in All Categories

The war for the Pacific rages on. The US has set their sights on the Tarawa atoll - a small yet vital island which, if captured, would give the Allies a powerful stepping stone into the heart of Japanese waters and the rest of the Gilbert Islands. Through a coordinated assault of carefully planned beach landings, the Marines made their attack on November 20, 1943...and encountered a resistance so fierce and violent it shook the Allies to the core.

The USS Maine is one of the most famous ships in American history but for all the wrong reasons. A symbol of naval strength in the late 19th century, the Maine's tragic fate is taught to students across the nation not just because it was a disaster but because it is associated with the most notorious examples of yellow journalism in the country's history and ultimately brought about a war, despite the fact it's still unclear what caused the ship's explosion.

Although it was only in operation for about 18 months, the Pony Express remains the most famous and romanticized mailing system in American history. Starting shortly before the Civil War erupted across the United States, the Pony Express connected the east and west by having riders deliver mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California - a route set up by previous explorations and a system of relay stations and waypoints.

By mid-1942 the Allies were losing the Mediterranean war: Malta was isolated and its civilian population faced starvation. In June 1942 the British Royal Navy made a stupendous effort to break the Axis stranglehold. The British dispatched armed convoys from Gibraltar and Egypt toward Malta. In a complex battle lasting more than a week, Italian and German forces defeated Operation Vigorous, the larger eastern effort, and ravaged the western convoy, Operation Harpoon, in a series of air, submarine, and surface attacks culminating in the Battle of Pantelleria.

Aaron Sullivan explores the British occupation of Philadelphia, chronicling the experiences of a group of people who were pursued, pressured, and at times persecuted, not because they chose the wrong side of the Revolution but because they tried not to choose a side at all. For these people, the war was neither a glorious cause to be won nor an unnatural rebellion to be suppressed, but a dangerous and costly calamity to be navigated with care. Both the Patriots and the British referred to this group as "the disaffected".

In March of 1827 the nation's first black newspaper appeared in New York City - to counter attacks on blacks by the city's other papers. From this signal event, The African American Newspaper traces the evolution of the black newspaper - and its ultimate decline - for more than 160 years until the end of the 20th century.

Technically speaking, slavery was not legal in the English-speaking world before the mid-17th century. But long before race-based slavery was entrenched in law and practice, English men and women were well aware of the various forms of human bondage practiced in other nations and, in less systematic ways, their own country. In wide-ranging detail, Slaves and Englishmen demonstrates how slavery shaped the ways the English interacted with people and places throughout the Atlantic world. As this revealing history shows, the implications of slavery were closely connected to the question of what it meant to be English.

Although many Americans consider the establishment of the colonies as the birth of this country, in fact early America existed long before the arrival of the Europeans. From coast to coast, Native Americans had created enduring cultures, and the subsequent European invasion remade much of the land and society. In New Worlds for All, Colin G. Calloway explores the unique and vibrant new cultures that Indians and Europeans forged together in early America.

It is late in the evening of 18th June, 1815. The scene is a coaching inn on the road between Charleroi and Brussels in what is now Belgium. For 100 yards either side of the road men are strewn, dead or dying. These are Napoleon's elite Imperial Guard, three battalions of which had retreated towards the inn at the end of the battle. With the rest of the Armee du Nord streaming past him, Napoleon had taken personal command. Yet before long even these grizzled veterans had joined the rout. Now he too has left the field, fated to head for Paris, captivity, exile and an early death.

This book is the last in this amazing series on these 40 days of an intimate and personal relationship with God. New and fresh insight into the scriptures and their practical application into our daily lives. It will cause you to reflect on where you are in your own spiritual walk. It will cause you to think seriously about the life to come after death, and whether you really want to take the chance and leave this world without knowing Jesus as Lord.

Americans frequently criticize US foreign policy for being overly costly and excessively militaristic. With its rising defense budgets and open-ended "forever wars," US foreign policy often appears disconnected from public opinion, reflecting the views of elites and special interests rather than the attitudes of ordinary citizens. The Commander-in-Chief Test argues that this conventional wisdom underestimates the role public opinion plays in shaping foreign policy.

In this holistic history, Will Mari traces American journalism from the 1920s through the 1960s, a time of great change and controversy in the field; one in which journalism was produced in “news factories”, by workers with dozens of different roles, using the latest technology, and setting the stage for the emergence of the information economy. Told from an empathetic, omnivorous, ground-up point of view, The American Newsroom uses memoirs, trade journals, textbooks, and archival material to show how the newsroom expanded our ideas of what journalism could and should be.

This audiobook is about those days, specifically about Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the war at home; about the thousands upon thousands of everyday Americans who joined hands as strangers in a near classless society and secretly pulled off the greatest scientific experiment in history - the making of the atomic bomb. We, the Oak Ridge High Class of 1952, were their children and we, too, joined hands as strangers. We have never let go.

In The Rise and Fall of Protestant Brooklyn, Stuart M. Blumin and Glenn C. Altschuler tell the story of 19th-century Brooklyn's domination by upper- and middle-class Protestants with roots in Puritan New England. This lively history describes the unraveling of the control they wielded as more ethnically diverse groups moved into the "City of Churches" during the 20th century.

Beginning in 1786, Captain John Meares of Great Britain bravely explored the North Pacific, but his attempt to dominate the fur trade between the Northwest Coast and Asia was frustrated when the Spanish navy seized his ships off Vancouver Island. Meares missed the opportunity to explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca or discover the Columbia River. Hence, he was almost a hero.

Being the most powerful country in the world will not necessarily protect you from a goddess who has decided its time for you to be treated as prey just as you have treated others. Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The President's Meow, and experience the compelling world of fantasy fiction.

This is a mystery/thriller set on the coast of Maine. The principal character/narrator is a man entering his middle years. An army officer in Vietnam, upon returning from his first tour he learned his wife had died unexpectedly. His response was to go back to Vietnam where he tried to get dead for the next two years. Finally, he was sent home by a commanding officer who felt he had more worth alive than dying a mourning death.

We are all familiar with the classic tale of Casey at the Bat but that story was written a long time ago. I felt it was time for a new story about about the best sport there is, baseball. Baseball is unlike any other game, it requires great individual skill, as well as practiced team co-ordination. In terms of life lessons, baseball has a lot to offer children. The Ninth Inning is a humorous take on the game with a nifty rhyme. I hope you like it.

A collection of short stories that have a space opera feel to it. This short but sweet audiobook offers listeners a glimpse of storytelling, there are several timelines in this book because of the short stories, and because there were multiple writers working on this project. The best way to set up this book is to think of it as a dream, and how sometimes dreams just jump from one thing to the next. That is how this book works. The book starts off on board the spaceship Maya in the year 2392 where there is lift off of space shuttle starship Maya.

Old man Jack is in a bit of a bind when his wife finds some long-lost love letters he had written to a previous girlfriend. She is hurt and gives him the cold shoulder and he does everything he can to try and win her back while trying to coach his shy grandson the finer points of wooing women.