Audiobooks narrated by Jim Walsh

The Fight for North America: The History of the European Rivalries and Conflicts Before the American

Jamestown is remembered today because the settlement did survive through the hardships and go on to serve as the capital of the English colony for much of the 17th century. Likewise, the English would forge a settlement in Massachusetts Bay that also maintained tenuous relations with nearby natives. But while conflicts between settlers and natives remain well known, some of the European conflicts in North America have been overlooked, including England’s competitions with Spain and the Netherlands. When the West India Company, which presided over Dutch trade in the Americas, was created in 1621, a little settlement at the tip of Manhattan began to both grow and falter. When Willem Kieft arrived as director in 1638, it was already a sort of den of iniquity, full of “mischief and perversity,” where residents were given over to smoking and drinking grog and beer. Under Kieft’s reign, more land was acquired mostly through bloody, all-but-exterminating wars with the Native American population, whose numbers also dwindled at the hands of European-borne diseases. On September 13, 1759, a battle was fought on the Plains of Abraham outside the old city of Quebec that was one of the turning point battles in world history. Thanks to the British victory and the events that followed, Canada went from being a colony of France (New France) to being a colony of Great Britain, which permanently changed Canadian history. In many ways, the outcome of the battle brought about several American attempts to seize Canada during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, and ultimately it ensured that when Canada became an independent country, it was part of the British Commonwealth with an Anglophone majority and a Francophone minority. Frictions over cultural and political issues between the English Canadians and the Québécois, dating back to the battle, continue to impact the state of affairs in Canada today.

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

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The Islamic Invasions of Europe: The History of the Ottoman and Moorish Campaigns across the Contine

The history of the Spanish Peninsula is closely bound to that of the Moors. The term “Spain” was not in wide use until the region was united by the monarchs of Aragon and Castile, and the Moors called the lands they ruled in the Iberian Peninsula Al-Andalus, traditionally thought to be an Arabic transliteration of Vandal, the Germanic tribe which briefly ruled the region in the early fifth century. The English name Andalusia derives from the Spanish Andalucia, which is still used by Spain to name its southern region. Not surprisingly, three religions attempting to coexist during medieval times resulted in nearly incessant conflicts, marked by high taxation, disparate societies, rigid cultural controls, and systemic violence. Despite the odds, these three religions managed to live in a state of quasi-acceptance and peace in most of the major cities in the Iberian Peninsula like Cordoba and Tolaydough, with sporadic warfare occurring on the borders between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms near the Pyrenees Mountains. Muslims, Christians, and Jews would attempt to reorganize their societies several times over the centuries through warfare, always with Jews on the lower rungs and Christians and Muslims fighting it out above them. The end of the Byzantine Empire had a profound effect not only on the Middle East but Europe as well. Constantinople had played a crucial part in the Crusades, and the fall of the Byzantines meant that the Ottomans now shared a border with Europe. The Islamic empire was viewed as a threat by the predominantly Christian continent to their west, and it took little time for different European nations to start clashing with the powerful Turks. In fact, the Ottomans would clash with Russians, Austrians, Venetians, Polish, and more before collapsing as a result of World War I, when they were part of the Central Powers.

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

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The Sioux Wars: The History of the Conflicts Between the Sioux and U.S. Army

From the “Trail of Tears” to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. The history of the Sioux is replete with constant reminders of the consequences of both their accommodation of and resistance to American incursions into their territory by pioneering white settlers pushing further westward during the 19th century. Some Sioux leaders and their bands resisted incoming whites, while others tried to accommodate them, but the choice often had little impact on the ultimate outcome. Crazy Horse, who was never defeated in battle by U.S. troops, surrendered to them in 1877, only to be bayoneted to death by soldiers attempting to imprison him. Black Kettle, who flew a large American flag from his lodge to indicate his friendship with the white man, was shot to death by soldiers under George Custer’s command in 1868. Throughout the 19th century, the U.S. government and its officials in the West adopted a policy of dividing the Sioux into two groups: “Treaty Indians” and “Non-treaty Indians.” Often they used these groups against each other or used one group to influence another, but the end was always the same. They were forced off the land where they resided, their populations were decimated by disease, and they were forced onto reservations. Despite being one of the most erstwhile foes the U.S. government faced during the Indian Wars, the Sioux and their most famous leaders were grudgingly admired and eventually immortalized by the very people they fought. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse remain household names due to their leadership of the Sioux at the fateful Battle of the Little Bighorn.

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

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China and the 20th Century: The History of the Wars and Reforms that Reshaped Asia’s Biggest Country

In 1937, the fledgling Empire of Japan once more went to war with China, which by then had become a nation broken into petty warlord fiefdoms and wracked by civil war. The Japanese enacted a brutal campaign over the fragmented realms that made up China, committing atrocities just as horrendous as their Axis allies in Europe. Despite this, the sheer size of China, coupled with Japan’s overextension, allowed the larger, less developed nation to endure throughout World War II. At the same time, China was experiencing an equally brutal civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces, which became inextricably intertwined with the fighting raging across the globe. In fact, the sheer scale of the horrors of the civil war remain hard to believe today, even as action in that theater is often overlooked because of events in Europe. What most people remember about the civil war is that it was ultimately won by Mao Zedong and the Communists, ushering in a new era of Communism in China and exiling the Republic of China’s government to Taiwan. Political tensions between Taiwan and China remain precarious to this day. The Republic of China’s most famous leader and general was Chiang Kai-Shek, who rose from humble origins as the son of a local trader to become, as he liked to remind visitors, the ruler over more people than any other world leader. He certainly became one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, yet today, he is considerably less well-known than many other figures from that period, which was so rife of chaos and tumultuous change. Chiang had come to power at a time when China was rebuilding itself after a period of internal conflict and turmoil, attempting to unify the nation in the face of the Japanese and the man who would become his arch-rival: Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communists. These ideological - and military - conflicts would decide the fate of Asia's biggest country going forward.

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

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John Paul Jones and Oliver Hazard Perry: The Lives and Careers of America’s First Naval Heroes

Plenty of unusual characters came to the colonies to participate in the war, with many sporting dubious titles such as the Baron de Kalb, but perhaps none arrived in a more unique way than John Paul Jones, a Scottish sailor who had plenty of experience with British ships before a controversial row on one ship compelled him to flee to the colonies in 1775. As it turned out, he was arriving in Virginia just in time for more fighting, this time against the British. Despite his lofty sobriquet, Jones constantly found himself frustrated by people and events beyond his control during the Revolution, and it would take years before the aggressive commander could take the fight to the British. Through a murky system involving French ships, and an even murkier chain of events, Jones engaged the British in battle around the British Isles, and his aggression became the stuff of legend. While the British accused him of being a pirate, he was feted by the Americans and French during the war before joining the Russian navy after the war. Americans had few things to celebrate during the War of 1812, and fighting on the frontier against the British and their native allies didn’t go any better than the conflict did in other theaters, but one of the only major victories the Americans won came at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. That action made Oliver Hazard Perry, a veteran of the Barbary Wars and commander of the USS Lawrence, a legend whose name has endured for over 200 years. Perry was so instrumental in the victory that British historian C.S. Forester noted “it was as fortunate for the Americans that the Lawrence still possessed a boat that would float, as it was that Perry was not hit.' As one of the biggest naval battles of the war, the results meant that America maintained control of Lake Erie, and for his part, Perry would forever be remembered as the “Hero of Lake Erie.”

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

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Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir: The History of the Partnership that Established the Conservation Move

For a man who grew up to become the “Bull Moose”, Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child, suffering from asthma and other maladies. But his physical weakness actually drove him to be more active, which also fostered an interest in nature. It also helped that Teddy’s family was wealthy, allowing him privileges including home school and the ability to attend Harvard, where he was an athlete and took an interest in naval affairs. After finishing at Harvard, Teddy entered politics, but it didn’t stop him from writing The Naval War of 1812 in 1882, establishing himself as a professional writer and historian. By the time Roosevelt died in 1919, he was an American icon. Today, Teddy is remembered for being an explorer, hunter, author, soldier, president, and safari adventurer, all of which combine into one unique reputation. As with all legends, Roosevelt is often portrayed more as a quintessential man’s man, to the point that the legend obscures the actual man. John Muir is remembered as one of the earliest conservationists, naturalists and natural philosophers who is forever entwined with California - he is the man behind the creation of the Yosemite National Park and the namesake of the John Muir Trail in Sierra Nevada. Thus, it is somewhat amazing that Muir was 30 years old before he ever set foot in the state. In fact, Muir was a Scotsman, and despite the fact that he lived in the United States for almost his entire life, he never lost his accent, nor did he lose his fundamental identity with the wild East Lothian countryside and the rugged Scottish coast upon which he was born. Given its natural wonders, it should come as no surprise that the area attracted some of the 19th century’s most famous conservationists, including Muir and his good friend Theodore Roosevelt. Muir in particular was instrumental in having Yosemite declared a national park, and he would wax eloquently about the area and the fight to preserve it.

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

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Sam Houston and Santa Anna: The Controversial History of the Texas Revolution’s Leaders

More than most men in history, Sam Houston was a contradictory individual. He was born in the United States while George Washington was in office, and in an era when the native people who were gradually being subjugated were considered savages, he called them friends and even lived among them. He was abandoned by his first wife and, after suffering the sting of divorce, married again in the manner of his native family, only to abandon his Indian bride to return to life among his own people. In the interim, he fought for their rights in the halls of government, defending them even as he obtained favor in the eyes of one of their worst enemies. He seemed to have the right mix of charm and grit to make a successful life with him and their large family. Though he was born and raised elsewhere, Houston is considered one of Texas’ truest sons, and during his life he fought for its independence from Mexico and then for its submission to the United States. He owned slaves himself but spent his entire political career fighting against the spread of “the American cancer” to the West. Then, when his beloved state seceded from the Union, he not only opposed secession but sacrificed his own position to protest it, only to turn around and support the Confederacy during the last years of his life. The butcher of the Alamo and Goliad. The traitor who sold half of Mexico. The Napoleon of the West. Mr. Fifteen Nails. The Mother Country’s seducer. Almost 150 years after his death, a lot of name-calling is still being directed towards Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico 11 times in the 19th century, and today, the vast majority of his compatriots consider him the greatest traitor in history. It was not like that in his day; actually, there had never been a more popular man in Mexico, or anyone more eulogized and essential than General Santa Anna. In life he was the most famous - and infamous - Mexican general and politician.

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

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Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Menu: The History of the Vietnam War’s Most Controversial Bo

Before the Vietnam War, most Americans would have been hard pressed to locate Vietnam on a map. South Vietnamese President Diem’s regime was extremely unpopular, and war broke out between Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam around the end of the 1950s. Kennedy’s administration tried to prop up the South Vietnamese with training and assistance, but the South Vietnamese military was feeble. A month before his death, Kennedy signed a presidential directive withdrawing 1,000 American personnel, and shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, new President Lyndon B. Johnson reversed course, instead opting to expand American assistance to South Vietnam. Over the next few years, the American military commitment to South Vietnam grew dramatically, and the war effort became both deeper and more complex. The strategy included parallel efforts to strengthen the economic and political foundations of the South Vietnamese regime, to root out the Viet Cong guerrilla insurgency in the south, combat the more conventional North Vietnamese Army (NVA) near the Demilitarized Zone between north and south, and bomb military and industrial targets in North Vietnam itself. The United States, attempting to maintain its status as leader and defender of the non-communist world, gradually offered more and more support to South Vietnam’s leaders in Saigon, and direct military intervention became inevitable after the famous Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which also greatly influenced Operation Rolling Thunder. The actual incident consisted of a skirmish between three North Vietnamese torpedo boats, which managed to put exactly one machine-gun bullet hole in an American vessel, and a follow-up in which spooked American gunners fired at phantasmal radar image on a night of severe storm. These false images, caused by meteorological conditions, later received the sobriquet “Gulf of Tonkin ghosts.”

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

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The Sandinistas and the Shining Path: The History of Latin America’s Notorious Communist Revolutiona

For much of the 20th century, Latin American governments in large part lived under a system of military junta governments. The mixture of indigenous peoples, foreign settlers and European colonial superpowers produced cultural and social imbalances into which military forces intervened as a stabilizing influence. The proactive personalities of military heads and the rigid structures of such a hierarchy guaranteed the “strong man” commanding officer an abiding presence in the form of executive dictator. Such leaders often bore the more collaborative title of “President,” but the reality was, in most cases, identical. Likewise, the gap between rich and poor was often vast, and a disappearance of the middle class fed a frequent urge for revolution, reenergizing the military’s intent to stop it. With no stabilizing center, the ideologies most prevalent in such conflicts alternated between a federal model of industrial and social nationalization and an equally conservative structure under privatized ownership and autocratic rule drawn from the head of a junta government. Whichever belief system was in play for the major industrial nations of Central and South America, a constant bombardment of foreign influence pushed the people of states such as Nicaragua, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and others toward overthrow, in one direction or the other. To the left came Stalinist influences from the Soviet Union and Castro’s Cuba, while the German World War II model and an anti-communist mindset from the United States worked behind the scenes to upset any movement toward extreme liberalism. The tacit acceptance of these right-wing dictators across South America was part of an overarching effort known as Operation Condor, consisting mostly of CIA operations that are as infamous and controversial as ever, with a lasting legacy that affects current events such as reactions to the ongoing unrest in Venezuela.

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

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Mao Zedong and Chang Kai-Shek: The History of the Rivals Who Fought the Chinese Civil War

In 1937, the fledgling Empire of Japan once more went to war with China, which by then had become a nation broken into petty warlord fiefdoms and wracked by civil war. The Japanese enacted a brutal campaign over the fragmented realms that made up China, committing atrocities just as horrendous as their Axis allies in Europe. Despite this, the sheer size of China, coupled with Japan’s overextension, allowed the larger, less developed nation to endure throughout World War II. At the same time, China was experiencing an equally brutal civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces, which became inextricably intertwined with the fighting raging across the globe. In fact, the sheer scale of the horrors of the civil war remain hard to believe today, even as action in that theater is often overlooked because of events in Europe. What most people remember about the civil war is that it was ultimately won by Mao Zedong and the Communists, ushering in a new era of Communism in China and exiling the Republic of China’s government to Taiwan. Political tensions between Taiwan and China remain precarious to this day. The Republic of China’s most famous leader and general was Chang Kai-Shek, who rose from humble origins as the son of a local trader to become, as he liked to remind visitors, the ruler over more people than any other world leader. He certainly became one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, yet today, he is considerably less well-known than many other figures from that period, which was so rife of chaos and tumultuous change. Chang had come to power at a time when China was rebuilding itself after a period of internal conflict and turmoil, attempting to unify the nation in the face of the Japanese and the man who would become his arch-rival: Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communists.

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

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The Whigs and the Know Nothings: The History of the Influential Political Parties that Collapsed Bef

It was in the wake of the election of Andrew Jackson that the Whigs emerged as opponents to the Jacksonian Democrats during a period of American history known as the Second Party System (1828-1854). Initially, the conflict was rooted not only in different visions for the United States – the Whigs believed in a strong central bank and federally funded infrastructure projects (known as “internal improvements”) – but also in opposition to one man: Andrew Jackson. When it first formed, the Democratic Party coalesced around Jackson, and his beliefs and actions became Democratic Party dogma, which left the diverse group of people who opposed Jackson to become the Whigs. The problem with this arrangement is that while the Whigs scored some notable successes as an opposition party, they found governing more difficult. The two Whigs elected president, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, died in office, raising to the presidency their respective vice-presidents, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore. Neither man succeeded in uniting the Whig Party behind him (a gargantuan task, to be sure), and neither was ever elected president in his own right. The increasing rancor over slavery is what finally killed the Whig Party. In the wake of contemporary debates over immigration, the “Know-Nothings” have been regularly cited as an example of how dangerous nativist attitudes can become and, indeed, have proven to be in America’s history. Several columnists, for instance, have striven to make comparisons between the Know-Nothings of antebellum America and the country’s recent immigration policies, helping in part to generate modern interest in a political party that many Americans have heard of but tend to know little about. The Know-Nothing movement can actually be tied to a number of violent episodes and ethnically charged riots that occurred during the late 1850s.

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

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Confederate Bushwhackers: The History and Legacy of the Civil War’s Most Notorious Guerrillas

The Civil War is best remembered for the big battles and the legendary generals who fought on both sides, like Robert E. Lee facing off against Ulysses S. Grant in 1864. In kind, the Eastern Theater has always drawn more interest and attention than the West. However, while massive armies marched around the country fighting each other, there were other small guerrilla groups that engaged in irregular warfare on the margins, and perhaps the most famous of them was led by Colonel John Mosby. Mosby, the “Gray Ghost” of the Confederate lore that celebrates the Lost Cause, has an image that has proven nearly impossible to corrupt or change, and time has done little good against it. Unlike the vanished 19th century code of honor that he represented, Mosby has retained the image and all its connotations. Quantrill’s Raiders operated along the border between Missouri and Kansas, which had been the scene of partisan fighting over a decade earlier during the debate over whether Kansas and Nebraska would enter the Union as free states or slave states. In “Bloody Kansas”, zealous pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces fought each other, most notably John Brown, and the region became a breeding ground for individuals like Quantrill who shifted right back into similar fighting once the Civil War started. Rather than target military infrastructure or enemy soldiers, the bushwhackers rode in smaller numbers and targeted civilians on the other side of the conflict, making men like Bloody Bill Anderson and John Mosby notorious. However, none are remembered like Quantrill and his men, not only because of their deeds during the Civil War but because of the actions of some of the former Raiders after it. Quantrill is best known for raiding Lawrence, Kansas in August 1863 and slaughtering nearly 200 boys and men between the ages of 14 and 90 under the pretext that they were capable of holding a gun and thus helping the Union cause.

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

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Audiobooks Narrated by Jim Walsh