New Reviews: History

With a stentorian delivery and an English accent, Alex Wyndham narrates this account of an overlooked aspect of the D-Day invasion. Beginning with the fiasco of the Dieppe Raid in 1942, Wyndham tells the story of how J.B.S. Haldane and Dr. Helen Spurway led a group of scientists to develop an underwater breathing apparatus and a miniature submarine for underwater reconnaissance... Read More

Bob Souer is a strong, energetic narrator who brings character and clarity to this excellent history of America's most colorful and dynamic state. Equally important, Souer maintains the author's reportorial balance and unmistakable enthusiasm for his subject. Arranged chronologically with each chapter devoted to a different era or feature of California's history, this is the... Read More

Expertly narrated by Justin Avoth, and just under 10 hours, this history of the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565 is a good summary and analysis of one of the crucial struggles in Western history. Working with a narrative in which dramatic action is outweighed by critical analysis, Avoth maintains a solid pace and a steady tone, establishing a degree of focus and immediacy lacking... Read More

With his friendly, reedy English accent, content creator and social media stalwart Adrian Bliss takes the listener on a wonderful and often laugh-out-loud tour of the back pages of history, told from the perspective of some very odd characters. There's the ferret (or is it an ermine) that posed for one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings. A giant oak tree that helped... Read More

Brian Nishii, who was born and raised in Tokyo, is the perfect voice to narrate these eyewitness accounts of the bombing of Hiroshima. This volume is the first of a two-volume series on the atomic bombings of August 1945. Drawing on extensive interviews with those who survived, called "hibakusha" in Japanese, author Sheftall gives great detail on the day-to-day lives of the... Read More

Deep-voiced Piers Hampton fluidly recounts the history of Rome from its earliest days to its collapse through beautiful handcrafted coins of the realm. This lengthy history unfolds with a detailed description of each coin and the period during which it was inscribed and stamped. Hampton's voice lovingly caresses the coins and coils around age-old stories that range from Aeneas... Read More

When you think of horses, do you just think of the animal--or do you also consider the impact they've had on the entire world? Narrator Sean Patrick Hopkins delivers a detailed history of horses themselves and their usefulness to humans, particularly how they're sometimes viewed as machines of progress. After an informative introduction, Hopkins dives into the challenges horses... Read More

The author, who is from Ukraine, is open about the fact that he's not presenting an unbiased history. Narrator Phillipe Bosher delivers Finkel's impassioned and erudite examination of the nation and its relations with Russia from the time of Kievan Rus' to the present day, including the present war. Bosher's intonation is perfect; his pronunciation is clear and quite... Read More

Narrator Daniel Henning takes on this detailed account of the shooting by National Guardsmen of students who were protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in 1970. Presented as a timeline with context but few digressions, it recounts the events from all sides: the National Guard's, politicians', Kent State administrators', students', parents', and local residents'.... Read More

Tanya Talaga, a Canadian journalist of Anishinaabe descent, weaves her own family's history into this heartrending account of her country's shameful treatment of Indigenous peoples. Given the personal nature of this work, it's natural for the author to take on the role of narrator, but it's largely unsuccessful. The writing is frequently passionate and powerful, but its impact... Read More

David Thorpe, who has narrated many works of fiction, does a very good job with this history of Budapest from the end of WWI. At that time, the city was home to various political movements, besides being a splendid center of culture. In the spring of 1944, Hungary was invaded by the Germans, and the large Jewish population was then at the mercy of the Axis powers. When Budapest... Read More

Listening to this history of the 1850s competition to decipher ancient Mesopotamian inscriptions is like listening to a Jules Verne or Conan Doyle adventure yarn. Narrator Matthew Lloyd Davies is a familiar voice in mystery and suspense fiction, and he clearly relishes what is not a musty story of scholarly reflection, but a cliff-hanger full of surprises and unexpected twists.... Read More

The subject here may seem too vast and esoteric for one audiobook: the influence of classical Greek culture on the last three centuries of Western civilization. But the narrative proves so rich and enriching, and the voice of narrator Justin Avoth so fluent and adept, that this unique history soon takes hold of the listener. Arranged chronologically, with each chapter focused... Read More

Kudos to the author, publisher, and narrator of this audiobook. Author Ewing delivers her introduction, which sets up the arguments. She then turns the body of the text over to Golden Voice narrator Robin Miles. Miles is a gifted performer whose tone, tempo, and cadence enhance the dark truths of this provocative work on the failure of our educational system. Ewing, who is a... Read More

Samara Naeymi delivers the untold story of four courageous women who played a vital part in winning WWII. Although they came from diverse backgrounds--Hawaii, Czechoslovakia, Tokyo, and Germany-- these women were all members of the OSS, the U.S. intelligence agency that was the forerunner of the CIA. They were responsible for producing varied pieces of propaganda designed to... Read More

Kevin R. Free narrates this fact-filled, occasionally opinionated, history of the post-WWII period when the U.S. targeted communists, trade unionists, homosexuals, progressives, and Soviet sympathizers for removal from civic life. Prodded by influential men like FBI head J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy, the government conducted intense surveillance. The House... Read More

Many new audiobook histories debunk legend and traditional narratives, but this brief account of Paul Revere's storied ride argues that his warning of approaching British troops on the night of April 18, 1775, was history changing. Narrator Johnny Heller, an engaging voice for wise-guy detective fiction, unwisely pushes the action toward melodrama, thereby sacrificing the tone... Read More

Russell Shorto is an author who can narrate his audiobooks as effectively as any professional. In voice, Shorto is personable, assured, and exact--much like his narratives. This history of the English acquisition of Dutch New Amsterdam follows Shorto's bestselling ISLAND AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, which covered the Dutch settlement of Manhattan. Once again, Shorto emphasizes... Read More

Most histories of the Tudor era focus on royals and their male underlings, but this absorbing audiobook takes a fresh look at the women who served Henry VIII's queens. Ladies-in-waiting fade into the background of most accounts, but in this introduction author Nicola Clark takes a firm feminist stand, reopening the narratives of their varied and complicated roles during the... Read More