New Reviews: History

Mark Bramhall gives a solid narration of the disagreement between President Franklin Roosevelt and aviator Charles Lindbergh regarding the global role of the U.S. in the period leading up to WWII. Roosevelt was not above breaking American laws of neutrality to get U.S. support to Britain. Lindbergh, the renowned aviator, continued the non-interventionist hopes of his father, a... Read More

This very personal work chronicles patterns of Chinese history through the lives of the author and his father. Edward Wong, a NEW YORK TIMES correspondent, provides an adequate narration of his prologue and epilogue. Narrating the body of the work, Will Dao provides superb pronunciation and enunciation as he presents the moral dilemmas of the Mao and Xi eras. Dao tends not to... Read More

Oxford professor Adam Smyth narrates his book with considerable brio and, of course, a deep understanding of the subject. Ranging from Wynkyn de Worde (assistant and successor to William Caxton, Britain's first printer) to contemporary zine publishers, he tells the history of the book in English through the lives of 18 people who represent different aspects of publishing.... Read More

Jay Myers narrates this fascinating audiobook about American bookstores with enthusiasm for its subject, neutrality toward its facts, and admiration for its stories. The wealth of topics discussed is astounding: early bookstores, past and present bibliophiles, particular bookstores' scents, and more. Myers's pacing is leisurely, and he highlights meaningful quotes, such as the... Read More

In this riveting audiobook listeners learn about a 1929 settlement on a deserted Galapagos island. This true-life account of couples seeking a new Eden illustrates why utopian dreams turn into nightmares. As one islander put it while describing their fruitful, lush, island, "It could be so beautiful on earth if humans weren't animals." Golden Voice narrator Cassandra Campbell... Read More

Expect to do a certain amount of relistening to this packed audiobook history of the momentous Greek victory over Persia at Marathon in 490 BCE. Ancient history has its vast deserts and dense forests, its unbridgeable gaps and conflicting versions of events. All of those complicate this epic narrative, which devotes only its closing chapters to describing the famous battle.... Read More

Michael Taylor traces the history of the conflicts between the Bible and theories of evolution, particularly those considering dinosaur fossils. He considers thinkers--including Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley--as he traces the evolving views and the many fossil discoveries that fueled those shifts. Michael Langan's British-accented narration poses the questions of the past... Read More

The Scopes Monkey Trial was settled almost a hundred years ago, but if you think the issues it raised regarding what can be taught in public schools were settled, you're wrong. Brenda Wineapple's history of the trial, its antecedents, and its aftereffects--ably narrated by Gabra Zackman--ties the trial into continuing themes in American culture and politics. Science and... Read More

L.J. Ganser gives a superb performance of this true account of how five shipwrecked sailors, three British and two American, survived on the Falkland Islands for 18 months during the War of 1812. Dolin's work is amazingly detailed with all things Falkland--history, flora, fauna, oceanography, meteorology--and he makes all of it interesting and engaging. He gives spellbinding... Read More

The illuminating story of the Women's Liberation movement in the pivotal period of 1963-1973 is powerfully told by multiple narrators who give voice to nearly 150 women activists and nearly 20 men. This inclusive work creates a representative account of Second Wave Feminism by centering contributions from women of color and queer women. Kamali Minter, Janina Edwards, Natalie... Read More

Julian Elfer narrates this in-depth exploration of life in Paris from the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871. As Napoleon's monarchy fell, Parisians starved and struggled to survive the bloody street battles of the Paris Commune. Elfer is riveting as he delivers art critic Smee's well-researched account of this chaotic period. Artists Manet, Morisot, and Degas remained in... Read More

Historian Tevi Troy offers listeners an engaging treatise on executive power, in particular, highlighting the use of that power with corporate chief executives over the course of American history. Narrator Timothy Andres Pabon does an outstanding job with a measured yet incisive performance. At times, there were epic historic clashes; at other times, smooth sailing. The CEOs... Read More

Heni Zoutomou performs this audiobook on the politics of food in a clear tone, convincing style, and purposeful cadence. Her narration focuses on its powerful message that the U.S. government in its various guises has allowed the suffering of Indigenous, Black, and Latino people through harmful food programs. The feeding of enslaved people was horrific, as was the food at... Read More

Bob Souer narrates this horrific account of the two failed expeditions in Arctic Canada led by Captain Sir John Franklin. Listeners hear excerpts from journals, letters, and scientific notes, along with the oral history of Indigenous peoples. The author, who has written extensively on Canada's arctic wilderness, incorporates the latest theories on why Franklin failed so... Read More

If Ben Macintyre ever tires of writing true espionage stories and crazy capers, he can become a professional narrator instead. In 1980, shortly after Margaret Thatcher's election, at the same time that the U.S. was watching its own hostage crisis in Iran, six gunmen captured the Iranian embassy in London, taking more than two dozen hostages. Macintyre's precise British accent... Read More

Theater historians will applaud Jeffery Kennedy's exhaustive research and Daniel Henning's winning performance as the legacy of the founders and artists of the Provincetown Players is explored. Starting in 1915, the Provincetown Players encouraged innovative practices that became part of the American theater scene. Young playwrights were urged to experiment with new ideas and... Read More

British historian Giles Milton regularly narrates his own books, all devoted to aspects of WWII, and this illuminating account of the wartime dealings among Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin has a flavor no professional narrator could convey. Milton's voice is not schooled or melodious; it has the bark and urgency of a wartime announcer. Pitched but not strident, unvarnished but... Read More

Narrator Sarah Welborn informs listeners about synchronized swimming. Part history lesson, part commentary on the evolution of sports, this well-researched audiobook begins with vaudeville aquatic performances and travels the sport's growth over the last 40 years. Welborn pulls listeners in and keeps them engaged with stories about people listeners may be familiar with--like... Read More

Samuel Roukin, who has narrated the previous two titles in Dugard's Taking series [TAKING PARIS and TAKING BERLIN] is once again quite splendid in narrating this account of the beginning of WWII, which focuses on The Battle of Britain. Dugard goes into the politics of the situation, portraying the relationships between Churchill, FDR, and Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, in... Read More

As soon as listeners hear Johnny Heller's easy Western drawl, they'll know they're in for a story about the Old West. This engrossing account begins in 1822 when bright, strapping, historically neglected Jedediah Smith joined 100 "Enterprising Young Men" to open trade routes and explore the vast Rocky Mountains in a race to expand a young nation's opportunities and boundaries.... Read More