Browse History audiobooks, listen to samples and when you're ready head over to Audiobooks.com where you can get 3 FREE audiobooks on us
In 1942, a dashing young man who liked nothing so much as a heated game of poker, a good bottle of scotch, and the company of a pretty girl hopped a merchant ship to England. He was Robert Capa, the brilliant and daring photojournalist, and Collier's magazine had put him on assignment to photograph the war raging in Europe. In this book, Capa recounts his terrifying journey through the darkest battles of World War II and shares his memories of the men and women of the Allied forces who befriended, amused, and captivated him along the way. His photographs are masterpieces-John G. Morris, Magnum Photos' first executive editor, called Capa 'the century's greatest battlefield photographer'-and his writing is by turns riotously funny and deeply moving. From Sicily to London, Normandy to Algiers, Capa experienced some of the most trying conditions imaginable, yet his compassion and wit shine throughout this book. Charming and profound, Slightly Out of Focus is a marvelous memoir told by an extraordinary man.
Robert Capa (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator)
Audiobook
The Great Partnership: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the Fate of the Confederacy
The story of the unique relationship between Lee and Jackson, two leaders who chiseled a strategic path forward against the odds and almost triumphed. Why were Generals Lee and Jackson so successful in their partnership in trying to win the war for the South? What was it about their styles, friendship, even their faith, that cemented them together into a fighting machine that consistently won despite often overwhelming odds against them? The Great Partnership has the power to change how we think about Confederate strategic decision-making and the value of personal relationships among senior leaders responsible for organizational survival. Those relationships in the Confederate high command were particularly critical for victory, especially the one that existed between the two great Army of Northern Virginia generals. It has been over two decades since any author attempted a joint study of the two generals. At the very least, the book will inspire a very lively debate among the thousands of students of Civil War history. At best, it will significantly revise how we evaluate Confederate strategy during the height the war and our understanding of why, in the end, the South lost.
Christian B. Keller (Author), David De Vries (Narrator)
Audiobook
Beaufighter Boys: True Tales From Those Who Flew Bristol's Mighty Twin
Researched many years ago by the author for a project which did not come to fruition, Beaufighter air and ground crew gave freely of their stories which ranged from complete memoirs to brief anecdotes. Graham Pitchfork has built on these reminiscences to trace the roles of Beaufighter squadrons spread across all the theaters of World War Two operations. From home bases, through north-west Europe, North Africa, Malta, and the Mediterranean to the far Far East and south-west Pacific, the Beaufighter served far and wide as did the crews of the RAF, RAAF, SAAF, and New Zealand and Canadian squadrons. All are covered in this quite unique book to be savored by all those interested in the war in the air from 1939-1945.
Graham Pitchfork (Author), Shawn Compton (Narrator)
Audiobook
Explore the lives and achievements of more than 85 of the world's most inspirational and influential leaders with this innovative, biography-led audiobook, narrated by Tim Bruce. Comprehensive in its scope and depth, Leaders Who Changed History profiles leaders from all walks of life - kings, queens, and political leaders; military leaders; religious icons, revolutionaries, and business leaders. Covering political masterminds and military geniuses such as Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan, great kings, queens, and rulers like Elizabeth I or Cleopatra, icons of religion and rebellion from Muhammad to Mohandas Gandhi to Emmeline Pankhurst, and inspirational captains of industry, Leaders Who Changed History explores and explains the groundbreaking contributions made by these men and women and their legacies. © 2019 Dorling Kindersley Ltd © 2019 DK Audio
Dk (Author), Tim Bruce (Narrator)
Audiobook
A propulsive history chronicling the conception and creation of Disneyland, the masterpiece California theme park, as told like never before by popular historian Richard Snow. One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California, and imagined building a park where people "could live among Mickey Mouse and Snow White in a world still powered by steam and fire for a day or a week or (if the visitor is slightly mad) forever." Despite his wealth and fame, exactly no one wanted Disney to build such a park. Not his brother Roy, who ran the company's finances; not the bankers; and not his wife, Lillian. Amusement parks at that time, such as Coney Island, were a generally despised business, sagging and sordid remnants of bygone days. Disney was told that he would only be heading toward financial ruin. But Walt persevered, initially financing the park against his own life insurance policy and later with sponsorship from ABC and the sale of thousands and thousands of Davy Crockett coonskin caps. Disney assembled a talented team of engineers, architects, artists, animators, landscapers, and even a retired admiral to transform his ideas into a soaring yet soothing wonderland of a park. The catch was that they had only a year and a day in which to build it. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened its gates…and the first day was a disaster. Disney was nearly suicidal with grief that he had failed on a grand scale. But the curious masses kept coming, and the rest is entertainment history. Eight hundred million visitors have flocked to the park since then. In Disney's Land, Richard Snow brilliantly presents the entire spectacular story, a wild ride from vision to realization, and an epic of innovation and error that reflects the uniqueness of the man determined to build "the happiest place on earth" with a watchmaker's precision, an artist's conviction, and the desperate, high-hearted recklessness of a riverboat gambler.
Richard Snow (Author), Jacques Roy (Narrator)
Audiobook
A major exploration of venture financing, from its origins in the whaling industry to Silicon Valley, that shows how venture capital created an epicenter for the development of high-tech innovation. VC tells the riveting story of how the industry arose from the United States' long-running orientation toward entrepreneurship. Venture capital has been driven from the start by the pull of outsized returns through a skewed distribution of payoffs-a faith in low-probability but substantial financial rewards that rarely materialize. Whether the gamble is a whaling voyage setting sail from New Bedford or the newest startup in Silicon Valley, VC is not just a model of finance that has proven difficult to replicate in other countries. It is a state of mind exemplified by an appetite for risk-taking, a bold spirit of adventure, and an unbridled quest for improbable wealth through investment in innovation. Tom Nicholas's history of the venture capital industry offers listeners a ride on the roller coaster of setbacks and success in America's pursuit of financial gain.
Tom Nicholas (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)
Audiobook
What Should We Think About Israel?: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Middle East Conflict
You hear about Israel in the news regularly, but beyond the many opinions and preconceptions, do you really know what to make of the conflicts and controversies in the Middle East? What Should We Think About Israel? exposes the main current issues and provides well-researched objective facts to help you learn the truth about Israel's past, present, and future. This compilation from experts including Walter Kaiser, Jr., David Brickner, Mitch Glaser, Michael Brown, Arnold Fructenbaum, and Steven Ger, will help you answer the tough questions: - What is the history of the strife and suffering that continues in Israeli and Palestinian territories-and what are the potential solutions? - What are the significant and long-term implications of locating the US Embassy in Jerusalem? - Why is the Holocaust still such a big deal nearly seventy-five years after it happened? - What is the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement all about? - What is being done to restore relations between Jews and Arabs? Learn from respected scholars how to look past the heated debates and discern for yourself what is important to know about Israel, and how that affects you today.
J. Randall Price (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)
Audiobook
When Reagan Sent In the Marines: The Invasion of Lebanon
From a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who reported on the events as the happened, an action-packed account of Reagan's failures in the 1983 Marines barracks bombing in Beirut. On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb destroyed the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut. 241 Americans were killed in the worst terrorist attack our nation would suffer until 9/11. We're still feeling the repercussions today. When Reagan Sent In the Marines tells why the Marines were there, how their mission became confused and compromised, and how President Ronald Reagan used another misguided military venture to distract America from the attack and his many mistakes leading up to it. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Patrick J. Sloyan uses his own contemporaneous reporting, his close relationships with the Marines in Beirut, recently declassified documents, and interviews with key players, including Reagan's top advisers, to shine a new light on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Reagan's doomed ceasefire in Beirut. Sloyan draws on interviews with key players to explore the actions of Kissinger and Haig, while revealing the courage of Marine Colonel Timothy Geraghty, who foresaw the disaster in Beirut, but whom Reagan would later blame for it. More than thirty-five years later, America continues to wrestle with Lebanon, the Marines with the legacy of the Beirut bombing, and all of us with the threat of Mideast terror that the attack furthered. When Reagan Sent In The Marines is a about a historical moment, but one that remains all too present today.
Patrick J. Sloyan (Author), Richard Poe (Narrator)
Audiobook
The Everything American Government Book: From the Constitution to Present-Day Elections, All You Nee
If the confusion following the last presidential election is any indication, the average citizen knows precious little about the democratic system and the laws that affect their daily lives. The Everything American Government Book unravels the complexities of our democracy and provides readers with the knowledge necessary to make the right decisions and take an active role in the management of their country. From the roots of American government and the challenges that have helped shape it over the years to its current structure and systems, this thoroughly researched work is ideal for anyone brushing up on civics, as well as students of all ages. Readers learn about:The personalities and events that gave rise to our current systemThe real significance of the Bill of Rights and the ConstitutionThe functions of each branch of government and how they work togetherPrivate sector’s influence on public policy and decision-makingWays to get involved and make a difference Specially designed to inform and empower the average citizen during this critical election year, The Everything American Government Book provides the keys to understanding the ins and outs of the most powerful democracy in the world.
Nick Ragone (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)
Audiobook
Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of War
The year 146 BC marked the brutal end to the Roman Republic's 118-year struggle for the western Mediterranean. Breaching the walls of their great enemy, Carthage, Roman troops slaughtered countless citizens, enslaved those who survived, and leveled the 700-year-old city. That same year in the east, Rome destroyed Corinth and subdued Greece. Over little more than a century, Rome's triumphant armies of citizen-soldiers had shocked the world by conquering all of its neighbors. How did armies made up of citizen-soldiers manage to pull off such a major triumph? And what made the republic so powerful? In Killing for the Republic, Steele Brand explains how Rome transformed average farmers into ambitious killers capable of conquering the entire Mediterranean. Rome instilled something violent and vicious in its soldiers, making them more effective than other empire builders. Unlike the Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians, it fought with part-timers. Examining the relationship between the republican spirit and the citizen-soldier, Brand argues that Roman republican values and institutions prepared common men for the rigors and horrors of war.
Steele Brand (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)
Audiobook
The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas
Between 1910 and 1920, vigilantes and law enforcement-including the renowned Texas Rangers-killed Mexican residents with impunity. The full extent of the violence was known only to the relatives of the victims. Operating in remote rural areas enabled the perpetrators to do their worst: hanging, shooting, burning, and beating victims to death without scrutiny. Families scoured the brush to retrieve the bodies of loved ones. Survivors suffered segregation and fierce intimidation, and yet fought back. They confronted assailants in court, worked with Mexican diplomats to investigate the crimes, pressured local police to arrest the perpetrators, spoke to journalists, and petitioned politicians for change. Martinez reconstructs this history from institutional and private archives and oral histories, to show how the horror of anti-Mexican violence lingered within communities for generations, compounding injustice by inflicting further pain and loss. Yet its memorialization provided victims with an important means of redress, undermining official narratives that sought to whitewash these atrocities. The Injustice Never Leaves You offers an invaluable account of why these incidents happened, what they meant at the time, and how a determined community ensured that the victims were not forgotten.
Monica Muñoz Martinez (Author), Kyla García (Narrator)
Audiobook
The Nuclear Spies: America's Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin
Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong? Houghton's delightful retelling of this fascinating case of American spy ineffectiveness in the then new field of scientific intelligence provides us with a new look at the early years of the Cold War. During that time, scientific intelligence quickly grew to become a significant portion of the CIA budget as it struggled to contend with the incredible advance in weapons and other scientific discoveries immediately after World War II. As Houghton shows, the abilities of the Soviet Union's scientists, its research facilities and laboratories, and its educational system became a key consideration for the CIA in assessing the threat level of its most potent foe. Sadly, for the CIA, scientific intelligence was extremely difficult to do well. For when the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, no one in the American intelligence services saw it coming.
Vince Houghton (Author), John Lescault (Narrator)
Audiobook
©PTC International Ltd T/A LoveReading is registered in England. Company number: 10193437. VAT number: 270 4538 09. Registered address: 157 Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3HP.
Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer