Primary History

Using primary source materials to enhance the text, this audiobook tells the provocative story of the Connecticut colony and its first inhabitants. Included are the first constitution and the Fundamental Orders of 1639, which helped to create a representative self-government.

The earliest settlers in this region were confronted by food shortages, conflicts with native tribes, and the difficulties of settling a new land with little support. Through the use of primary source materials, this audiobook provides the compelling story of the Delaware colony and the conflicts faced by its various leaders, up to and including the early moments of the American Revolutionary period.

Established on a culture of entrepreneurship as well as religious and political freedom, South Carolina's foundations might be seen as a microcosm of the founding of America. This compelling audiobook provides the background and history of this colony which would become a major factor in the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and later the Civil War.

Maryland: This exciting book recounts the history of the colony from its founding to the challenges of the colony's early years, the religious and political upheavals, death, disease, and hard labor endured by the colonists, through the wealthy years of the Maryland tobacco plantations, discontent with England, and finally to Maryland's vote for independence in 1776.

Though troubled by violent border disputes with Massachusetts and bloody wars with Native American tribes, New Hampshire was settled by knowledgeable merchants and disgraced ministers. They quickly infused the colony with a spirit of rugged industriousness and defiant individualism that persists to this day. This engaging audiobook details the rise of that spirit as New Hampshire grew.

Renowned scholar Patrick Collinson is Regius Professor of Modern History, Emeritus, Cambridge. He states, "The Reformation (and Counter Reformation) was the blast furnace in which the modern state was forged." This engaging work offers a concise overview of the ecumenical revolution of the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Narrator John McDonough's presentation of the spiritual and the secular elements that led to religious reform will captivate listeners.

New Jersey has a fascinating history. The story of New Jersey spans its time as home to a variety of Native American tribes to an area coveted by the Dutch, Swedes, and English, and finally to its modern-day status as the Garden State.

Georgia: Using primary source documents, this fascinating book traces the history of the colony from its founding to becoming the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

Between February 24, 1912, when TR came out of political retirement to challenge William Howard Taft for the Republican Party's nomination for president, and June 23 of that year, Roosevelt and his supporters created and benefited from 13 new presidential primaries, the first in the nation's history. Stressing the importance of primaries, TR's campaign theme became "the right of the people to rule".

As a conductor for the Underground Railroad - the covert resistance network created to aid and protect slaves seeking freedom - William Still helped as many as 800 people escape enslavement. He also meticulously collected the letters, biographical sketches, arrival memos, and ransom notes of the escapees. The Underground Railroad Records is an archive of primary documents that trace the narrative arc of the greatest, most successful campaign of civil disobedience in American history.

In this classic 1948 memoir, now in its fourth edition, Caroline Pratt recounts, in a wry authorial voice much closer to Will Rogers than John Dewey, how she founded what is now the dynamic City and Country School in New York City; invented the maple "unit blocks” that have become a staple in classrooms and children’s homes around the globe; and came to play an important role in reimagining preschool and primary-school education in ways that resound in the tumultuously creative age before us.

North Carolina attracted settlers from Europe as well as from other American colonies. In this volume, learn about the resulting troubled relations with the Native Americans in that area, Bluebeard's piracy, and the colonist's rebellion against England.

In this fascinating work, winner of the Wolfson Prize for History Mark Mazower uncovers the history of the Balkans with detail and clarity. He explores the reasons for current conflicts and examines the Balkans as a religious, cultural, and economic melting pot for Europe and Asia. Through Robert O'Keefe's articulate narration, listeners will be absorbed by this rich world.

If burying a child has a special poignancy, the tragedy at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago more than 50 years ago was an extraordinary moment of grief. One of the deadliest fires in American history, it took the lives of 92 children and three nuns at Our Lady of the Angels School, left many families physically and psychologically scarred for life, and destroyed a close-knit working-class neighborhood.

The Massachusetts colony would be the first to organize and unite with other colonies, and one of the first to take a stand when troubles developed with England, thereby leading the cause for independence. It was John Hancock of Massachusetts who would propose the Bill of Rights that still protects and guarantees the basic freedoms of Americans.

In 1681, King Charles II granted William Penn, a Quaker, sole proprietorship of more than 450,000 acres of land. The colony of Pennsylvania soon offered thousands of European settlers the civil liberties, representative government, and affordable land they wanted.

From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.

After Sir Walter Raleigh failed in his attempt to found a settlement at Roanoke, a colony on the Chesapeake Bay was successfully established. Primary source materials enhance lively text to give students an in-depth look at what led to the formation and success of the colony of Virginia. No other colony - except Massachusetts - was more influential in the formation of America as a nation.

This audiobook traces the history of Rhode Island from Roger Williams' exodus from the Massachusetts colony, thus creating a settlement - the colony of Rhode Island - where people could live in harmony and worship as they pleased. Using primary source documents to enhance a lively and accessible text, it is a vivid account of the story behind the foundation of this colony - and the independent spirit of those who settled there.

Lawrence M. Friedman is Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of 23 books about law and legal history. Hailed as American law's greatest living historian, Friedman traces the evolution of America's legal system from the colonial period to the present. A Modern Library Chronicle, this book is concise, insightful, and graced with wit.