Audiobooks by Charles River Editors

The Culper Ring: The History and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Spy Ring

"After the siege of Boston forced the British to evacuate that city in March 1776, Continental Army commander George Washington suspected that the British would move by sea to New York City, the next logical target in an attempt to end a colonial insurrection. He thus rushed his army south to defend the city. Washington guessed correctly, but it would be to no avail. Unlike Boston, New York City's terrain featured few defensible positions. The city lacked a high point from which to launch a siege, as the peninsula of Boston was fortunate to have. Moreover, Washington wasn't sure defending the city was necessary, hoping that an expedition launched toward Quebec like the one Benedict Arnold had led in late 1775 would keep the British away from New York anyway. However, Congress thought otherwise, and demanded that Washington defend New York. Washington thus did what he was told, and it nearly resulted in the army’s demise. In the summer of 1776, the British conducted the largest amphibious expedition in North America’s history at the time, landing over 20,000 troops on Long Island. British General William Howe, who had led the British at Bunker Hill and would later become commander in chief of the armies in North America, easily captured Staten Island, which Washington was incapable of defending without a proper navy. Washington’s army attempted to fight, but Washington was badly outmaneuvered, and his army was nearly cut off from escape. The withdrawal across New York City was enormously disorderly, with many of Washington's troops so scared that they deserted. Others were sick as a result of the dysentery and smallpox plaguing the Continental Army in New York. In what was arguably the worst defeat of the Revolution, Washington was ashamed, and he also felt betrayed, by both his troops and Congress. However, unbeknownst to nearly everyone, Washington had some men remain active in New York City: the now famous Culper Ring, one of the Revolution’s first major intelligence efforts. The ring consisted mostly of a group of civilians in and around New York City who spied on the British forces and Loyalist Americans and reported what they saw and overheard ultimately to Washington, who took a personal, hands-on approach to their management. After modern histories brought their story more fully to light, these spies have since become the subject (with the historical facts somewhat altered) of a recent hit television show, Turn: Washington’s Spies. Without question, the relatively little-known clandestine actions of these patriotic men and women contributed to the eventual victory of the long struggle for American independence, and several good books cover part or all of the history of the Culper Ring. However, the main sources consist of the correspondence, much of which has somehow survived, between the members of the ring and their military handlers. Like other spy tales, theirs is a story of courage fraught with constant suspense at being found out and facing a caught spy’s usual fate of imprisonment and execution. Indeed, around the time the ring was being organized, America’s most famous spy, Nathan Hale, had been caught with maps of British positions on Long Island in his possession and had been summarily hanged."

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre: The Creation and Destruction of America’s Wealthiest

"Overall, Tulsa in 1921 was considered a modern, vibrant city. What had fueled this remarkable growth was oil, specifically the discovery of the Glenn Pool oil field in 1905. Within five years, Tulsa had grown from a rural crossroads town in the former Indian Territory into a boomtown with more than 10,000 citizens, and as word spread of the fortunes that could be made in Tulsa, people of all races poured into the city. By 1920, the greater Tulsa area boasted a population of over 100,000. In turn, Tulsa’s residential neighborhoods were some of the most modern and stylish in the country, and the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce produced postcards and literature boasting of the virtues of life in their modern oil city. However, as a commission report about the Tulsa Riot later pointed out, “What the pamphlets and the picture postcards did not reveal was that, despite of its impressive new architecture and its increasingly urbane affectations, Tulsa was a deeply troubled town. As 1920 turned into 1921, the city would soon face a crossroads that, in the end, would change it forever...Tulsa was, in some ways, not one city but two.” When they came to Tulsa, many blacks settled in the Greenwood area and established a thriving commercial, cultural, and residential area. Of course, the segregation was forced on these residents, and while they had fled the worst conditions of the Jim Crow South in other areas, they were not able to escape it completely. But in one way, Tulsa was different for African Americans, as black citizens of the city shared in the city’s wealth, albeit not as equally as their white neighbors. The Greenwood district, a 36 square block section of northern Tulsa, was considered the wealthiest African American neighborhood in the country, called the “Black Wall Street” because of the large number of affluent and professional residents."

Charles River Editors (Author), Stephen Platt (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Chicago Outfit and the North Side Gang: The History and Legacy of Chicago’s Most Notorious Rival

"20th century Chicago was an ideal breeding ground for organized crime. A buzzing circuit board dotted with towering skyscrapers, brick buildings, worker's cottages, and an eclectic collection of greystone manors, the Windy City was further decked out with electric entertainment districts, the theaters, clubs, brothels, restaurants, and niteries that lined its streets. The city was illuminated by dazzling marquees and light-up signage, and enlivened by the muffled medley of midnight chatter and big band music seeping out of the nightspots. Those who ambled along the boardwalks flanking the Chicago River were greeted by moored commercial fishing boats bobbing in the water, as well as bustling stalls stocked with trout, salmon, and rainbow smelt. The rise of Chicago’s gangland can be attributed to a number of factors. First, there was the sudden explosion in its population, which saw an influx of immigrants – mainly from eastern and southern Europe, as well as Americans from neighboring and faraway states – teem into the city in search of promising job opportunities and a better life. The abrupt inundation of permanent citizens rendered the already suffering policeman to civilian ratio out of kilter, and the authorities' control of the city became further unzipped. Moreover, children and impressionable youths were regularly exposed to the overwhelming and unblushing presence of organized crime, meaning that the transitions of petty thieves and minor-league thugs to career crooks and full-time gangsters were only natural segues. The privileged pursued politics, medicine, law, and other respectable professions, but the poor folks, set several steps back by their limited resources, turned to crime. Plenty were desperate to feed their families and cheat the unjust system. In the midst of it all, the Chicago Outfit, one of the longest-running criminal organizations in the land of the free, was perhaps the most notorious of them all. The baleful brotherhood bore a terrifying brand defined by cutthroat competitiveness, sadistic torture tactics, and excessive bloodshed, among scores of other despicable acts. Worse yet, they seemed to be untouchable. Aside from Al Capone himself, there was the vindictive and eerily competent Louis “Little New York” Campagna, a vicious assassin suspected of unloading 59 bullets into a traitorous associate. Then there was Anthony “the Ant” Spilotro, the inspiration for Nicky Santoro, Joe Pesci's character in Martin Scorsese's Casino, who, despite his petite stature, was a barbaric, cruel man with an explosive temper and no capacity for remorse. On top of the infamous M&M Murders, a 25-year-old Spilotro was implicated in the murder of real-estate broker and loan shark Leo Foreman. As if the excruciating blows to the head, ribs, knees, and groin via hammer weren't enough, Foreman was stabbed another 20 times with an ice pick before he was finally relieved of his misery with a bullet to the head. When Foreman's body was eventually recovered in the trunk of a deserted car, it was discovered that “chunks of his body” had been sliced off while he was still breathing. On February 14, 1929, members of the North Side Gang arrived at a warehouse on North Clark Street in Chicago, only to be approached by several police officers. The officers then marched them outside up against a wall, pulled out submachine guns and shotguns, and gunned them all down on the spot. A famous legend is that one of the shot men, Frank Gusenberg, dying from 14 gunshot wounds, told police that nobody shot him. Though Gusenberg’s statement is probably apocryphal, nobody opened their mouths. Nobody was ever convicted for the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the most infamous gangland hit in American history, but it’s an open secret that it was the work of America’s most famous gangster, Al Capone."

Charles River Editors (Author), Scott Clem (Narrator)

Audiobook

The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company

"The British East India Company served as one of the key players in the formation of the British Empire. From its origins as a trading company struggling to keep up with its superior Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish competitors to its tenure as the ruling authority of the Indian subcontinent to its eventual hubristic downfall, the East India Company serves as a lens through which to explore the much larger economic and social forces that shaped the formation of a global British Empire. As a private company that became a non-state global power in its own right, the East India Company also serves as a cautionary tale all too relevant to the modern world’s current political and economic situation. On its most basic level, the East India Company played an essential part in the development of long-distance trade between Britain and Asia. The trade in textiles, ceramics, tea, and other goods brought a huge influx of capital into the British economy. This not only fueled the Industrial Revolution, but also created a demand for luxury items amongst the middle classes. The economic growth provided by the East India Company was one factor in Britain’s ascendancy from a middling regional power to the most powerful nation on the planet. The profits generated by the East India Company also created incentive for other European powers to follow its lead, which led to three centuries of competition for colonies around the world. This process went well beyond Asia to affect most of the planet, including Africa and the Middle East. Beyond its obvious influence in areas like trade and commerce, the East India Company also served as a point of cultural contact between Western Europeans, South Asians, and East Asians. Quintessentially British practices such as tea drinking were made possible by East India Company trade. The products and cultural practices traveling back and forth on East India Company ships from one continent to another also reconfigured the way societies around the globe viewed sexuality, gender, class, and labor. On a much darker level, the East India Company fueled white supremacy and European concepts of Orientalism (See Said, Orientalism). In the same vein, as a joint stock company, the East India Company left behind meticulous documentation of its economic exchanges and policies. Descriptions of military endeavors, encounters with indigenous peoples, and codes of conduct for employees also give contemporary researchers insight into the cultural perspectives of those who governed the company. Moreover, the East India Company’s policies and personnel were the subject of frequent commentaries in newspapers, parliamentary debates, and other publicly available sources. Historians have used these detailed records to reconstruct both the day-to-day operations and the larger historical arc of the company. In addition, the sources created by the East India Company provide insight into the far less well-documented histories of the people the East India Company encountered, traded with, and ultimately conquered. One of the major reasons that the East India Company remains the subject of intense interest is that the consequences of its influence remain visible in India, Britain, and other parts of the world to this day. While the British Crown eventually replaced the East India Company as the governing authority of India, the systems of production they had established remained intact. More than half a century after India declared independence from the British Empire, the economic and cultural effects of this colonial system of production remained apparent."

Charles River Editors (Author), William Crockett (Narrator)

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Vichy France: The History of Nazi Germany's Occupation of France during World War II

"Emerging from France's catastrophic 1940 defeat like a bedraggled and rather sinister phoenix, the French State – better known to history as “Vichy France” or the “Vichy Regime” after its spa-town capital – stands in history as a unique and bizarre creation of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler's European conquests. A patchwork of paradoxes and contradictions, the Vichy Regime maintained a quasi-independent French nation for some time after the Third Reich invasion until the Germans decided to include it in their occupation zone. Headed by a French war hero of World War I, Marshal Philippe Petain, and his later Prime Minister Pierre Laval, Vichy France displayed strong right-wing, conservative, and authoritarian tendencies. Nevertheless, it never lapsed fully into fascism until the Germans arrived to reduce its role to little more than a mask over their own dominion. Petain carried out several major initiatives in an effort to counteract the alleged “decadence” of modern life and to restore the strength and “virtues” of the French “race.” Accordingly, he received willing support from more conservative elements of society, even some factions within the Catholic Church. Following Case Anton – the takeover of the unoccupied area by the Germans – native French fascist elements also emerged. While the French later disowned the Vichy government with considerable vehemence, evidence such as fairly broad-based popular support prior to Case Anton suggests a somewhat different story. The Petain government expressed one facet of French culture and thought. Its conservative, imperialistic nature did not represent the widespread love of “liberty, fraternity, and equality” also deeply ingrained in French thinking, but neither did it constitute a complete divergence from a national history that produced such famous authoritarians as Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte. Vichy France: The History of Nazi Germany’s Occupation of France during World War II looks at France after its downfall and the occupation that lasted until late 1944."

Charles River Editors (Author), William Crockett (Narrator)

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The Iron Brigade: The History of the Famous Union Army Brigade During the Civil War

"The title of “Iron Brigade” has been given to a number of different U.S. Army brigades over the last century and a half, but it has become almost entirely synonymous with the Civil War soldiers who fought in the brigade for the Army of the Potomac. Also known as the “Iron Brigade of the West,” “Rufus King’s Brigade” and the “Black Hat Brigade,” the Iron Brigade was comprised of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiments, the 19th Indiana, Battery B of the 4th U.S. Light Artillery, and later, the 24th Michigan. Wisconsin governor Alexander William Randall had hoped to organize an all-Wisconsin brigade to contribute to the Union’s Civil War effort, but the U.S. Army dispersed Wisconsin regiments to different areas as needs arose. Nevertheless, Wisconsin regiments comprised a majority of the brigade, and it would distinguish itself as the only all-Western brigade in the Army of the Potomac. It would come to be recognized for its unique uniforms, strong discipline, and “iron” disposition, earning the name during the Maryland Campaign both for its tenacity and for the costs paid by fighting so hard. Naturally, historians have focused on the battles where the Iron Brigade earned its name and demonstrated its reputation. Renowned Civil War historian Alan T. Nolan wrote and published the most complete military history of the Iron Brigade in 1961, tracing the brigade’s activity in the Civil War from the first mustering of Wisconsin regiments to the battle of Gettysburg. Nolan’s The Iron Brigade: A Military History served as the authority on Iron Brigade history for decades and called Gettysburg the Iron Brigade’s “last stand,” arguing that the battle was where the brigade lost its Western character. Since the publication of Nolan’s book in 1961, however, new sources—including letters and journals of men in the brigade—have been discovered, providing new depth to the history of the Iron Brigade. Thus, scholars in more recent years have contributed to the history of the Iron Brigade by focusing on the character and contributions of different regiments within the Iron Brigade, or by picking up where Nolan left off at the Battle of Gettysburg. Historians like Lance J. Herdegen argue that there is much more to be learned about the Iron Brigade by examining its struggle in the years after Gettysburg. In The Iron Brigade in Civil War and Memory: The Black Hats from Bull Run to Appomattox and Thereafter (2012), Herdegen provides a deeper account not only of the remnants of the Iron Brigade in the last two years of the Civil War, but also of its individual soldiers during and after the war. Exploring the experiences of members of the Iron Brigade before, during and after the Civil War contributes to a better understanding of their rise to fame and glory, and the cost of their sacrifice. The Iron Brigade: The History of the Famous Union Army Brigade During the Civil War traces the development of the Iron Brigade in the early years of the Civil War, examining the battles that fostered its reputation as one of the best combat infantry brigades in the Union army. In addition, this book looks at what the later years of the war and thereafter meant to Black Hat veterans, and what made men from the western frontier want to fight in a war far from home."

Charles River Editors (Author), David Zarbock (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bugs Moran: The Notorious Life and Legacy of the Chicago Gangster Who Became Al Capone’s Biggest Riv

"Sprightly swing music spills across the dimly lit club. The grayish curtains of cigarette smoke part every once in a while to reveal a sparkling stage and tables upon tables of patrons, some incurably inebriated and others high on the fast-paced nightlife. Fabulous flappers in shimmery cocktail dresses and stylish feather headbands throw their hands up and stomp their feet to the addictive beat on the dance floor. Smartly dressed men, their hair neatly parted and slicked back, toss fistfuls of dice onto the plush green baize of the craps tables. Some hover over roulette wheels, staring intently at the spinning flashes of silver, while others finger their playing cards as they sip on tumblers of whiskey, eyeing both the river and the tower of tokens next to them. Frisky tunes, chic fashion, and American gambling are nostalgic, rose-tinted images most choose to project when visualizing the Roaring Twenties, but the other side of the coin brought an uninviting, much harsher reality that most would prefer to sweep under the rug. The first real estate bubble was on the brink of bursting, and progress was evident, but painfully slow, which gave way to yet another era of violent riots, lynchings, and other forms of oppression imposed on minorities. Then, of course, there were mobsters. Remove the silk three-piece suits, burnished Tommy guns, and obscene stacks of cash from the equation, and one would be left with limp, bullet-ridden bodies either slumped over their steering wheels or sprawled out like broken rag dolls on the floors of public establishments, the walls painted with blood spatters and shattered glass littered about. These, they say, are the lucky ones, for their corpses, though laid out as a public message, provide the deceased's loved ones with some form of closure. Over the decades, dozens involved in this deadly game disappeared altogether, never again to see the light of day. One of the most infamous of the gangsters during this era was George “Bugs” Moran, who bore all the qualities of a stereotypical 20th century mobster. They didn’t call him “Bugs” for nothing, as the man was a vindictive, ticking time bomb who unleashed hell upon anyone who dared cross him. One of the most prolific career criminals of his time, he was convicted and incarcerated at least three times before his 21st birthday. George was a seasoned gunman (so much so that he was eventually crowned the “father of drive-by shootings”), an expert rum-runner, and the fearsome head of one of the most prominent gangs in all of Chicago. It was these activities and his gang’s most prominent rivalry that have ensured Bugs Moran remains a household name today. On February 14, 1929, members of his North Side Gang arrived at a warehouse on North Clark Street in Chicago, only to be approached by several police officers. The officers then marched them outside up against a wall, pulled out submachine guns and shotguns, and gunned them all down on the spot. A famous legend is that one of the shot men, Frank Gusenberg, dying from 14 gunshot wounds, told police that nobody shot him. Though Gusenberg’s statement is probably apocryphal, nobody opened their mouths. Nobody was ever convicted for the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the most infamous gangland hit in American history, but it’s an open secret that it was the work of America’s most famous gangster, Al Capone. Indeed, “Scarface” has captured the nation’s popular imagination since Prohibition, managing to be the most notorious gangster in America while living a very visible and high-profile life in Chicago. Bugs and Scarface had hated each other for over a decade, and, though he narrowly avoided it, Bugs was supposed to be the main target."

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia: The History and Legacy of the Multiethnic Nations that Split Apart af

"On New Year’s Day 1993, Czechoslovakia broke into two separate countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Thus ended one of the creations brought about by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, and as a country that had existed for just under 75 years, Czechoslovakia spent most of its time under the tyranny of fascism or communism. Of course, the country’s origins go back far longer than the 1910s, and they were complex and convoluted. The very geography of central Europe meant this territory had been conquered and occupied many times over the course of history, and for much of the modern era, the area belonged to much larger empires, including the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Habsburg Empire, and finally the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nevertheless, two distinct ethnicities had come to make up the bulk of the territory’s inhabitants: the Czechs, predominantly in the areas of Bohemia and Moravia, and the Slovaks, in Slovakia. Both peoples had their own Slavic-based languages, but the languages were similar enough to be mutually intelligible. Despite any ethnic similarities, the country that formed in 1918 among the ashes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was by no means a “nation-state” as most people understand that term. In fact, much of the territory which bordered Germany was inhabited by ethnic German speakers, including one of Prague’s most famous sons, the writer Franz Kafka. One of the 20th century’s most celebrated authors spoke German as his first language. As such, the lands that became Czechoslovakia had usually existed in some kind of supranational system where identity was allowed to be relatively fluid. Czechoslovakia’s split was mostly peaceful, which stands in stark contrast to that of Yugoslavia, arguably one of the most unusual geopolitical creations of the 20th century. The Yugoslav state had never existed in any historical sense, and the ties that bound together its constituent peoples were tenuous at best. Although nominally all “Slavs,” the country was an amalgamation of languages, alphabets, cultures, religions and traditions, which ensured its short existence was littered with splits, conflicts, and shocking violence. In a sense, it’s somewhat surprising that it lasted as long as it did. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was particularly vulnerable to the forces that engulfed the rest of Europe at the end of the 1930s, including fascism and communism. When the Axis forces attacked in 1941, the country quickly capitulated and was dismembered by the Nazis and their allies. A separate Croatian state was formed, led by Ante Pavelić, who committed some of the worst crimes and human rights abuses of the war. The Balkan region was virtually emptied of its Jewish population, victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Internal issues plagued the country in its final years and Tito had tinkered with Yugoslavia’s constitution on several occasions. His final attempt, in 1974, saw the partial separation of Kosovo – crucial in the Serb national story – from the rest of Serbia. A number of reasons led to the rising Serb nationalist sentiment after Tito’s death, but Kosovo was a central aspect. Yugoslavia required far-sighted, magnanimous leaders to avoid internecine disputes, but none were available, or at least in positions of power in the 1980s. In Croatia, Franjo Tudjman – a long time Croat nationalist – emerged as the republic’s leader, and Slobodan Milošević rose to prominence in the middle of the decade and, despite apparently being a career communist, positioned himself as “defender of the Serbs.” He began ousting his rivals and installing sympathetic underlings into leadership positions in Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro, essentially giving him a majority bloc at the federal level. "

Charles River Editors (Author), C, Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Flat Earth: A History of Strange Tales, Bizarre Beliefs, and Conspiracy Theories about the Earth’s S

"The world is filled with mysteries, and even in the modern age, much of the planet remains unexplored. The depths of the oceans and the intricate and extensive cave systems that honeycomb some parts of the Earth are still largely unknown. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when it comes to this terra incognita, people have projected all sorts of ideas. Tales of sunken cities or lost civilizations are just some of the fanciful theories, and those could even be considered tame in comparison to the idea that Earth is flat. Despite this notion being rejected by the scientific community for millennia, and despite the fact that geology, volcanology, oceanography, and physics have all proven that the planet is not flat, the idea of a hollow Earth continues to intrigue people and gain eager and sincere adherents. This is made all the more remarkable by the fact that space programs are more than 60 years old, and people can fly around the world on planes in a matter of hours. Taken at face value, this idea is patently ridiculous, but it provokes strong emotions in some people, sincere people who have thought extensively about their beliefs. These people feel they are privy to a hidden truth, and that the rest of the world is wrong and ignorant, but this feeling of mental superiority isn’t the only appeal in clinging to radical notions. There is also the thrill of adventure, the feeling that one is part of a dangerous minority attempting to overthrow the dominant paradigm. It is far better, some would feel, to live in a world full of mystery and hope, than a decaying, “rational” world where everything can be explained but nothing solved. Flat Earth: A History of Strange Tales, Bizarre Beliefs, and Conspiracy Theories about the Earth’s Surface offers a sampling of the many strange stories and theories regarding the planet’s surface. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the theories like never before. "

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim Johnston (Narrator)

Audiobook

Russian Cyber Warfare: The History of Russia’s State-Sponsored Attacks across the World

"Russia has been depicted by the media as a cyberspace boogeyman, a nation of hackers that can and will exploit any and all vulnerabilities of private organizations, government entities, and social media platforms. Over the last 10 years, as hackers all over the world have been mobilized to carry out state agendas, this “nation of hackers” reputation has evolved into something much more serious. The vague notion of “Russian hackers” used to primarily worry CTOs of banks and credit card companies, while merely amusing or fascinating curious people, but today, Russian cyberwarfare keeps military officers, policymakers, and ordinary citizens around the world up at night. From alleged interference in foreign elections to coordinated power outages in Ukraine, numerous large-scale cyber attacks are thought to have been carried out by Russian state agencies and their proxies recently. Certain Western leaders have gone so far as to claim that Russian cyber warfare eclipses even terrorism in threatening global security- in the words of British Army General Sir Nick Carter, Russia “represents the most complex and capable state-based threat to our country since the end of the Cold War.” The roots of cyber warfare, cyber espionage, and information warfare in Russia from signals intelligence and industrial espionage date back to the time of the USSR, while modern day information warfare and cyber warfare relate to Russian military operations. This book also looks at World War II’s aftermath, signals intelligence and espionage during the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how the resulting chaos cultivated Russia’s homegrown hacker talent. Through it all, this book looks at how Russia has interacted with other countries in the cyber domain, especially its former Soviet neighbors and the United States. Whether Russia does indeed eclipse other Western adversaries as the top global security threat, it is undeniably the home to an immensely talented community of hackers, many of whom have expressed willingness to employ their skills to support Russian foreign policy objectives, typically for monetary compensation. And regardless of whether these hackers are directly sponsored by the Russian state, foreign governments, or the intermediaries operating on behalf of the them, the history of Russia’s cyber warfare is a fascinating one. Russian Cyber Warfare: The History of Russia’s State-Sponsored Attacks across the World details the Russian intelligence groups’ efforts to wage cyber warfare online. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Russia’s cyber activities like never before. "

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Rocky Mountain Harry Yount: The Life and Legacy of the Famous American Explorer and Mountain Man

"By the golden age of the mountain man in the mid-19th-century, there were perhaps only 3,000 living in the West. Their origins were disparate, although they included many Anglo-Americans. A good number hailed from wilderness regions of Kentucky and Virginia and throughout the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, which occupied the entire central section of the continent. French Canadians traveled from the north to work in the fur trade, while Creole-Europeans represented approximately 15% of the men known to be living the isolated mountain life. Others were of Métis, Spanish, American, Black, Indian, and mixed-blood origin, most often Iroquois or Delaware. Most came to the West in their late adolescent years, the oldest learning the trade in their 30s. Many roamed the west for as long as their constitutions would hold up under constant attacks on their health and personal safety. Some stayed too long and failed to survive the experience. Among the most famous, Jim Bridger arrived at the age of 16, while Edward Robinson was eventually killed in his 60s by what were known as “bad snakes,” a reference to the Snake tribe in Idaho country. Jim Beckwourth left the mountains at 68 and Old Bill Williams died at the age of 62 when a band of Utes “made him to come.' During the mid-19th century, the mountain man persona transformed into that of a more multifaceted individual. Frontiersmen who were once alone in the West were hired on as guides and scouts for the military, or for settlement caravans crossing the new trails to the Pacific Northwest and California. The development of the New Mexico Territory became a center for the silver trade, and Californian settlements virtually exploded thanks to the Gold Rush of 1849. Mountain men dabbled in the business world as well, including those enterprises connected to supplies, shipping, and hunting for expanding communities. Several became favorite figures back on the East Coast, where people wanted to hear of tales from the exotic West. A third generation of mountain men followed the Civil War as veterans headed west to test their survival skills learned in the military. The search for opportunities near the Pacific was not merely an option exercised by unemployed soldiers who could find no other use for themselves, as many had no home to which they could return. Meanwhile, the opportunities widened for prospectors, hunters, merchants, farmers, ranchers, and lawmen, occupations not yet in existence for the prior generation. In the case of Civil War veteran Harry S. Yount, a new niche opened with the federal government for the early maintenance of forests in the West, and for the protection of wildlife in the northern Rocky Mountains. Through his service as the first gamekeeper of what was to become Yellowstone National Park, Yount is to this day honored as a prototypical model in the establishment of the National Park Service. Due to his two annual reports to the Department of the Interior later, he is recognized as the first individual to recommend a specialized force with which to guarantee land and wildlife management in the first years of American environmentalism, and pursuant to his knowledge of the wild country of Montana and Wyoming, he was a crucial employee of one of the first major geological expeditions to the Rocky Mountains that charted the land from Montana to Arizona and provided the first thorough scientific study of the great mountain range. Despite some leg dysfunction from a wound received in the war, and with little experience as a mountaineer, Yount joined several geologists and cartographers in the first ascents of the major peaks of the Grand Teton Range. His era was the first in which some in the West began to seriously consider the preservation of once abundant wildlife species. "

Charles River Editors (Author), Scott Clem (Narrator)

Audiobook

South Africa and the British Empire: The History and Legacy of the Region Under Great Britain’s Cont

"“The Boers were hostile toward indigenous African peoples, with whom they fought frequent range wars, and toward the government of the Cape, which was attempting to control Boer movements and commerce. They overtly compared their way of life to that of the Israel patriarchs of the Bible, developing independent patriarchal communities based upon a mobile pastoralist economy. Staunch Calvinists, they saw themselves as the children of God in the wilderness, a Christian elect divinely ordained to rule the land and the backward natives therein. By the end of the 18th century the cultural links between the Boers and their urban counterparts were diminishing, although both groups continued to speak a type of Flemish.” – Encyclopaedia Britannica The Boer War was the defining conflict of South African history and one of the most important conflicts in the history of the British Empire. Naturally, complicated geopolitics underscored it, going back centuries. In fact, the European history of South Africa began with the 1652 arrival of a small Dutch flotilla in Table Bay, at the southern extremity of the African continent, which made landfall with a view to establishing a victualing station to service passing Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) ships. The Dutch at that point largely dominated the East Indian Trade, and it was their establishment of the settlement of Kaapstad, or Cape Town, that set in motion the lengthy and often turbulent history of South Africa. For over a century, the Cape remained a Dutch East India Company settlement, and in the interests of limiting expenses, strict parameters were established to avoid the development of a colony. As religious intolerance in Europe drove a steady trickle of outward emigration, however, Dutch settlers began to informally expand beyond the Cape, settling the sparsely inhabited hinterland to the north and east of Cape Town. In doing so, they fell increasingly outside the administrative scope of the Company, and they developed an individualistic worldview, characterized by self-dependence and self-reliance. They were also bonded as a society by a rigorous and literal interpretation of the Old Testament. In their wake, towards the end of the 17th century, followed a wave of French Huguenot immigrants, fleeing a renewal of anti-Protestantism in Europe. They were integrated over the succeeding generations, creating a hybridized language and culture that emerged in due course as the Cape Dutch, The Afrikaner or the Boer. The Napoleonic Wars radically altered the old, established European power dynamics, and in 1795, the British, now emerging as the globe’s naval superpower, assumed control of the Cape as part of the spoils of war. In doing so, they recognized the enormous strategic value of the Cape as global shipping routes were developing and expanding. Possession passed back and forth once or twice, but more or less from that point onwards, the British established their presence at the Cape, which they held until the unification of South Africa in 1910. However, it would only come after several rounds of conflicts, and South Africa would remain a dominion through history’s deadliest wars in the first half of the 20th century. South Africa and the British Empire: The History of the Region as a Colony and Dominion looks at the controversial British colonization, fighting, and results. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the British control of South Africa like never before."

Charles River Editors (Author), Colin Fluxman (Narrator)

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