29 Best United States, History Books
United States, History is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top United States, History audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 29 United States, History audiobooks below.
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The Chosen Few
- By: Gregg Zoroya
- Narrator: Gregg Zoroya
- Length: 12 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: May 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.47(307 ratings)
4.47(307 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDThe never-before-told story of one of the most decorated units in the war in Afghanistan and its fifteen-month ordeal that culminated in the 2008 Battle of Wanat, the war’s deadliest A single company of US paratroopers–callingThe never-before-told story of one of the most decorated units in the war in Afghanistan and its fifteen-month ordeal that culminated in the 2008 Battle of Wanat, the war’s deadliest
A single company of US paratroopers–calling themselves the “Chosen Few”–arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government’s reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.
Month after month, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, and machine-gun fire poured down on the isolated and exposed paratroopers as America’s focus and military resources shifted to Iraq. Just weeks before the paratroopers were to go home, they faced their last–and toughest–fight. Near the village of Wanat in Nuristan province, an estimated three hundred enemy fighters surrounded about fifty of the Chosen Few and others defending a partially finished combat base. Nine died and more than two dozen were wounded that day in July 2008, making it arguably the bloodiest battle of the war in Afghanistan.
The Chosen Few would return home tempered by war. Two among them would receive the Medal of Honor. All of them would be forever changed.
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Vicksburg
- By: Donald L. Miller
- Narrator: Rick Adamson
- Length: 21 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.41(502 ratings)
4.41(502 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDWinner of the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing AwardWinner of the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award
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Winner of the Austin Civil War Round Table’s Daniel M. & Marilyn W. Laney Book Prize
Winner of an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award
“A superb account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war.
Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the last stronghold of the Confederacy on the Mississippi River. It prevented the Union from using the river for shipping between the Union-controlled Midwest and New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The Union navy tried to take Vicksburg, which sat on a high bluff overlooking the river, but couldn’t do it. It took Grant’s army and Admiral David Porter’s navy to successfully invade Mississippi and lay siege to Vicksburg, forcing the city to surrender.
In this “elegant…enlightening…well-researched and well-told” (Publishers Weekly) work, Donald L. Miller tells the full story of this year-long campaign to win the city “with probing intelligence and irresistible passion” (Booklist). He brings to life all the drama, characters, and significance of Vicksburg, a historic moment that rivals any war story in history. In the course of the campaign, tens of thousands of slaves fled to the Union lines, where more than twenty thousand became soldiers, while others seized the plantations they had been forced to work on, destroying the economy of a large part of Mississippi and creating a social revolution. With Vicksburg “Miller has produced a model work that ties together military and social history” (Civil War Times).
Vicksburg solidified Grant’s reputation as the Union’s most capable general. Today no general would ever be permitted to fail as often as Grant did, but ultimately he succeeded in what he himself called the most important battle of the war–the one that all but sealed the fate of the Confederacy. -
Top Dog
- By: Maria Goodavage
- Narrator: Maria Goodavage
- Length: 7 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: October 23, 2014
- Language: English
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4.41(789 ratings)
4.41(789 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDThe New York Times bestselling author of Soldier Dogs returns with the incredible, moving story of K-9 Marine hero Lucca, and the handlers who fought alongside her through two bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Top Dog, Maria Goodavage takesThe New York Times bestselling author of Soldier Dogs returns with the incredible, moving story of K-9 Marine hero Lucca, and the handlers who fought alongside her through two bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Top Dog, Maria Goodavage takes readers into the life of Lucca K458, a decorated and highly skilled military working dog. An extraordinary bond developed between Lucca and Marine Corps handler Chris Willingham, launching what became a legendary 400-mission career. A Specialized Search Dog, Lucca belongs to an elite group trained to work off-leash at long distances from her handler. She served alongside both Special Forces and regular infantry. She and Willingham became so sought-after that units scheduled missions around their availability. The book describes in gritty detail the team’s adventures on and off the battlefields, including tense, lifesaving explosives finds and firefights as well as the bravery of fellow handlers and dogs they served with. Ultimately we see how the bond between Lucca and Willingham overcame the endless brutalities of war and the traumas this violence ignites. Here is a portrait of modern warfare with a heart-warming and inspiring conclusion that will touch dog lovers and the toughest military readers.
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Band of Brothers
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrator: Cotter Smith
- Length: 4 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 1998
- Language: English
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4.41(106162 ratings)
4.41(106162 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0015.95 USDStephen E. Ambrose‚Äôs classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II‚Äôs most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war’s mostStephen E. Ambrose‚Äôs classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II‚Äôs most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war’s most critical moments. Featuring a foreword from Tom Hanks.
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They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak—in Holland and the Ardennes—Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.
From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.
They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler’s Bavarian outpost, his Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden.
They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.
This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office. -
Band of Brothers
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrator: Tim Jerome
- Length: 12 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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4.41(106162 ratings)
4.41(106162 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USDStephen E. Ambrose’s classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II’s most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war’s mostStephen E. Ambrose’s classic New York Times bestseller and inspiration for the acclaimed HBO series about Easy Company, the ordinary men who became the World War II’s most extraordinary soldiers at the frontlines of the war’s most critical moments. Featuring a foreword from Tom Hanks.
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They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak–in Holland and the Ardennes–Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.
From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.
They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler’s Bavarian outpost, his Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden.
They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.
This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal–it was a badge of office. -
Defend Us in Battle
- By: George Monsoor
- Length: 4 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Harper Horizon
- Publish date: November 08, 2022
- Language: English
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4.39(28 ratings)
4.39(28 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0018.99 USDOn September 29, 2006, Michael Monsoor and three SEAL snipers watched vigilantly for enemy activity from their rooftop post in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. When a grenade thrown from insurgents bounced off Michael’s chest, he could have escaped. Instead,On September 29, 2006, Michael Monsoor and three SEAL snipers watched vigilantly for enemy activity from their rooftop post in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. When a grenade thrown from insurgents bounced off Michael’s chest, he could have escaped. Instead, he threw himself onto the live grenade, shielding his fellow soldiers from the immediate explosion. Michael died thirty minutes later, having made the ultimate sacrifice.
As George Monsoor (Michael’s father) and Rose Rea show us in¬†Defend Us in Battle,¬†Michael had prepared for this selfless act all his life–a life that inspires us to have a similar generosity of heart. This fast-paced, compelling biography
- tells the true story of a quiet boy from California who achieved his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL and saved numerous lives throughout his deployment
- recounts how Michael’s childhood of asthma and being bullied made him a staunch defender of justice and passionate about never quitting
- draws on interviews, military documents, and eyewitness accounts to detail Michael’s remarkable military career and devotion to God and others
- is perfect for readers of military biographies such as Unbroken, as well as for anyone eager to remember that this world still has heroes
 
In addition to the Medal of Honor, Michael received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart for his years serving his country. But his greatest legacy is in the hearts of those he inspired to live, and even die, for the sake of brotherly love.
Photos and award images are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.
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The Warriors of Anbar
- By: Ed Darack
- Narrator: James Edward Thomas
- Length: 7 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: November 05, 2019
- Language: English
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4.38(50 ratings)
4.38(50 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDA riveting, edge-of-your seat account of how a battalion of Marines faced off against the most brutal of Al Qaeda at its most desperate and vicious moment–and how the Marines decisively crushed the terroristsWhen the 2nd Battalion of the 3rdA riveting, edge-of-your seat account of how a battalion of Marines faced off against the most brutal of Al Qaeda at its most desperate and vicious moment–and how the Marines decisively crushed the terroristsWhen the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment (“2/3”) arrived in the little-known “Haditha Triad” region of western Iraq’s Al Anbar Province in September of 2006, the region exploded in a storm of terrorist violence. The most battle-hardened of Al Qaeda had fled to the Triad, and, taking their last, desperate gasps for survival after years of bloody war, lashed out at the battalion with everything they could muster. The Marines sent into this firestorm of violence immediately lunged into a complex, double-edged mission: crush Al Qaeda and help the locals rebuild their terrorist-smashed lives and homes. After months of grueling, fearsome battle–and the loss of twenty-three of their ranks–the warriors of 2/3 stood tall in victory. This is their incredible story.Warriors of Anbar is one of the greatest untold stories of modern war, one of grit, incredible courage, and utmost sacrifice. It is a story that illustrates the U.S. Marine Corps at its very finest.... Read more -
Kangaroo Squadron
- By: Bruce Gamble
- Narrator: Mark Boyett
- Length: 14 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: November 20, 2018
- Language: English
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4.36(52 ratings)
4.36(52 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDIn early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single U.S. Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America’s new enemy. Based inIn early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single U.S. Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America’s new enemy.
Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron’s pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful, conducting long-range bombing raids, carrying out armed reconnaissance missions, and rescuing General MacArthur and his staff from the Philippines.
Before now, the story of their courage and determination in the face of overwhelming odds has largely been untold. Using eyewitness accounts from diaries, letters, interviews, and memoirs, as well as Japanese sources, historian Bruce Gamble brings to vivid life this dramatic true account.
But the Kangaroo Squadron’s story doesn’t end in World War II. One of the squadron’s B-17 bombers, which crash-landed on its first mission, was recovered from New Guinea after almost seventy years in a jungle swamp. The intertwined stories of the Kangaroo Squadron and the “Swamp Ghost” are filled with thrilling accounts of aerial combat, an epic survival story, and the powerful mystique of an invaluable war relic.
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No Buddy Left Behind
- By: Terri Crisp
- Narrator: Nicole Vilencia
- Length: 8 hours 19 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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4.34(341 ratings)
4.34(341 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDIncludes bonus photographs! The love of a dog or cat helps heal soldiers’ emotional trauma. One very special woman and program reunites them after the war. “I have sacrificed a lot to serve my country. All that I ask is to be allowed toIncludes bonus photographs!
The love of a dog or cat helps heal soldiers’ emotional trauma. One very special woman and program reunites them after the war.
“I have sacrificed a lot to serve my country. All that I ask is to be allowed to bring home the incredible dog that wandered into my life here in Iraq and prevented me from becoming terribly calloused towards life.”—a soldier requesting help from Operation Baghdad Pups
No Buddy Left Behind is an animal book with a difference. It is not only about rescued dogs and cats but also about US soldiers trying to survive the horrors of war and readjust to life back home. It unveils the life-altering relationships American troops serving in the Middle East share with the stray dogs and cats they rescue from the brutalities of war. Overcoming monumental obstacles, Terri Crisp makes it her mission to save these wartime “buddies,” get them out of danger, and bring them home to the soldiers who love them.
So, how does someone get animals out of a country at war when normal resources are lacking and every step of a plan to transport animals could get you arrested, kidnapped, or blown apart? As Crisp soon learns, each rescue mission from first to last is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants experience, and no animal is truly safe until its paws touch American soil. Terri and her team have saved the lives of 223 dogs and 42 cats befriended by military personnel since February 2008—and No Buddy Left Behind finally tells this story.
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A Fierce Glory
- By: Justin Martin
- Narrator: James Edward Thomas
- Length: 10 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: September 11, 2018
- Language: English
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4.34(101 ratings)
4.34(101 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDOn September 17, 1862, the “United States” was on the brink, facing a permanent split into two separate nations. America’s very future hung on the outcome of a single battle–and the result reverberates to this day. Given theOn September 17, 1862, the “United States” was on the brink, facing a permanent split into two separate nations. America’s very future hung on the outcome of a single battle–and the result reverberates to this day. Given the deep divisions that still rive the nation, given what unites the country, too, Antietam is more relevant now than ever.
The epic battle, fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, was a Civil War turning point. The South had just launched its first invasion of the North; victory for Robert E. Lee would almost certainly have ended the war on Confederate terms. If the Union prevailed, Lincoln stood ready to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. He knew that freeing the slaves would lend renewed energy and lofty purpose to the North’s war effort. Lincoln needed a victory to save the divided country, but victory would come at a price. Detailed here is the cannon din and desperation, the horrors and heroes of this monumental battle, one that killed 3,650 soldiers, still the highest single-day toll in American history.
Justin Martin, an acclaimed writer of narrative nonfiction, renders this landmark event in a revealing new way. More than in previous accounts, Lincoln is laced deeply into the story. Antietam represents Lincoln at his finest, as the grief-racked president–struggling with the recent death of his son, Willie–summoned the guile necessary to manage his reluctant general, George McClellan. The Emancipation Proclamation would be the greatest gambit of the nation’s most inspired leader. And, in fact, the battle’s impact extended far beyond the field; brilliant and lasting innovations in medicine, photography, and communications were given crucial real-world tests. No mere gunfight, Antietam rippled through politics and society, transforming history.
A Fierce Glory is a fresh and vibrant account of an event that had enduring consequences that still resonate today.
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The Mission, the Men, and Me
- By: Pete Blaber
- Narrator: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.33(3753 ratings)
4.33(3753 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDAs a commander of Delta Force–the most elite counterterrorist organization in the world–Pete Blaber took part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. Now he takes hisAs a commander of Delta Force–the most elite counterterrorist organization in the world–Pete Blaber took part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. Now he takes his intimate knowledge of warfare–and the heart, mind, and spirit it takes to win–and moves his focus from the combat zone to civilian life.
As the smoke clears from exciting stories about never-before-revealed top-secret missions that were executed all over the globe, readers will emerge wiser, more capable, and more ready for life’s personal victories than they ever thought possible.
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The Longest Day
- By: Cornelius Ryan
- Narrator: Clive Chafer
- Length: 8 hours 46 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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4.32(21253 ratings)
4.32(21253 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe classic account of the Allied invasion of Normandy The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory andThe classic account of the Allied invasion of Normandy
The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory and tragedy, Ryan painstakingly re-creates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany.
This book, first published in 1959, is a must for anyone who loves history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth.
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Team America
- By: Robert L. O’Connell
- Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 21 hours 58 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 17, 2022
- Language: English
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4.3(46 ratings)
4.3(46 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0044.99 USDFrom national bestselling author and acclaimed military historian Robert L. O’Connell, a dynamic history of four military leaders whose extraordinary leadership and strategy led the United States to success during World War I and beyond. ByFrom national bestselling author and acclaimed military historian Robert L. O’Connell, a dynamic history of four military leaders whose extraordinary leadership and strategy led the United States to success during World War I and beyond.
By the first half of the twentieth century, technology had transformed warfare into a series of intense bloodbaths in which the line between soldiers and civilians was obliterated, resulting in the deaths of one hundred million people. During this period, four men exhibited unparalleled military leadership that led the United States victoriously through two World Wars: Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, George Marshall, and Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower; or, as bestselling author Robert O’Connell calls them, Team America.
O’Connell captures these men’s unique charisma as he chronicles the path each forged–from their upbringings to their educational experiences to their storied military careers–experiences that shaped them into majestic leaders who would play major roles in saving the free world and preserving the security of the United States in times of unparalleled danger. O’Connell shows how the lives of these men–all born within the span of a decade–twisted around each other like a giant braid in time. Throughout their careers, they would use each other brilliantly in a series of symbiotic relationships that would hold increasingly greater consequences.
At the end of their star-studded careers (twenty-four out of a possible twenty-five), O’Connell concludes that what set Team America apart was not their ability to wield the proverbial sword, but rather their ability to plot strategy, give orders, and inspire others. The key ingredients to their success was mental agility, a gravitas that masked their intensity, and an almost intuitive understanding of how armies in the millions actually functioned and fought. Without the leadership of these men, O’Connell makes clear, the world we know would be vastly different.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
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Operation Homecoming
- By: Andrew Carroll
- Narrator: a full cast
- Length: 17 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.3(175 ratings)
4.3(175 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.95 USDIn the summer of 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts organized a series of writing workshops led by prominent authors to encourage US troops and their families to record their experiences and reflections on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.In the summer of 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts organized a series of writing workshops led by prominent authors to encourage US troops and their families to record their experiences and reflections on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The result is this extraordinary volume of first-hand letters, poems, journals, memoirs, and e-mails from the men and women directly involved in battle and their families back home.
This uniquely personal addition to the long tradition of war literature covers the entire arc of a soldier’s journey, from those first experiences of combat, encounters with Iraqis and Afghans, and the humor and boredom of the daily grind, to the physical and emotional toll of battle, the struggle of loved ones back home to carry on, and finally the return and integration back into American life.
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House to House
- By: David Bellavia
- Narrator: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hours 21 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.3(4901 ratings)
4.3(4901 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis is the personal side of battle, where emotion, courage, and strength are stretched to the limits. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story—itThis is the personal side of battle, where emotion, courage, and strength are stretched to the limits.
Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story—it is one of the most compelling combat narratives ever written. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with America’s most implacable enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, and the resiliency of the human spirit.
Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, army infantry platoon leader, gives a teeth-rattling, first-hand account of eleven straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hand-to-hand combat, earned Bellavia the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and New York state’s highest military honor, the Conspicuous Service Cross. He has been nominated for the Medal of Honor and for the army’s second highest combat medal, the Distinguished Service Cross.
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The Nightingale’s Song
- By: Robert Timberg
- Narrator: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 22 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.26(568 ratings)
4.26(568 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.95 USDRobert Timberg weaves together the lives of Annapolis graduates John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter to reveal how the Vietnam War continues to haunt America. Casting all five men as metaphors for a legion ofRobert Timberg weaves together the lives of Annapolis graduates John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter to reveal how the Vietnam War continues to haunt America. Casting all five men as metaphors for a legion of well-meaning if ill-starred warriors, Timberg probes the fault line between those who fought the war and those who used money, wit, and connections to avoid battle. A riveting tale that illuminates the flip side of the fabled Vietnam generation: those who went.
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Roberts Ridge
- By: Malcolm MacPherson
- Narrator: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hours 26 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.23(2689 ratings)
4.23(2689 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDFor the US Navy’s elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: take control of a towering, 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar, a key post in their plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan. But the enemyFor the US Navy’s elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: take control of a towering, 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar, a key post in their plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan. But the enemy was waiting, and when the Special Forces chopper was shredded by enemy fire, a red-haired SEAL named Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft. Roberts’ fellow SEALs were determined to bring him out—no matter what the cost. This harrowing true account captures in dramatic detail their seventeen-hour battle, fought against near-impossible odds, to save one of their own.
This is a gripping you-are-there account based on stunning eyewitness testimony and painstaking research by journalist Malcolm MacPherson.
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The Bedford Boys
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrator: William Dufris
- Length: 8 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.21(3052 ratings)
4.21(3052 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.95 USDThe Bedford Boys is the astonishing true story of twenty-one young men who were killed during the first horrifying minutes of D-Day and the friends and families they left behind in the small town of Bedford. Twenty-one sons killed–no otherThe Bedford Boys is the astonishing true story of twenty-one young men who were killed during the first horrifying minutes of D-Day and the friends and families they left behind in the small town of Bedford. Twenty-one sons killed–no other town in America suffered a greater loss in one day. It is an unforgettable story of triumph, courage, and tragedy based on extensive interviews with survivors and relatives as well as diaries and letters. Alex Kershaw’s remarkable book brings to vivid, heartbreaking life the hitherto untold story of one small American town, their sons, and the brutal, bloody war that deprived them of their futures.
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Crucible of Hell
- By: Saul David
- Narrator: Saul David
- Length: 15 hours 46 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: May 05, 2020
- Language: English
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4.21(154 ratings)
4.21(154 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDFrom the award-winning historian, Saul David, the riveting narrative of the heroic US troops, bonded by the brotherhood and sacrifice of war, who overcame enormous casualties to pull off the toughest invasion of WWII’s Pacific Theater —From the award-winning historian, Saul David, the riveting narrative of the heroic US troops, bonded by the brotherhood and sacrifice of war, who overcame enormous casualties to pull off the toughest invasion of WWII’s Pacific Theater — and the Japanese forces who fought with tragic desperation to stop them.
With Allied forces sweeping across Europe and into Germany in the spring of 1945, one enormous challenge threatened to derail America’s audacious drive to win the world back from the Nazis: Japan, the empire that had extended its reach southward across the Pacific and was renowned for the fanaticism and brutality of its fighters, who refused to surrender, even when faced with insurmountable odds. Taking down Japan would require an unrelenting attack to break its national spirit, and launching such an attack on the island empire meant building an operations base just off its shores on the island of Okinawa.
The amphibious operation to capture Okinawa was the largest of the Pacific War and the greatest air-land-sea battle in history, mobilizing 183,000 troops from Seattle, Leyte in the Philippines, and ports around the world. The campaign lasted for 83 blood-soaked days, as the fighting plumbed depths of savagery. One veteran, struggling to make sense of what he had witnessed, referred to the fighting as the “crucible of Hell.” Okinawan civilians died in the tens of thousands: some were mistaken for soldiers by American troops; but as the US Marines spearheading the invasion drove further onto the island and Japanese defeat seemed inevitable, many more civilians took their own lives, some even murdering their own families. In just under three months, the world had changed irrevocably: President Franklin D. Roosevelt died; the war in Europe ended; America’s appetite for an invasion of Japan had waned, spurring President Truman to use other means — ultimately atomic bombs — to end the war; and more than 250,000 servicemen and civilians on or near the island of Okinawa had lost their lives.
Drawing on archival research in the US, Japan, and the UK, and the original accounts of those who survived, Crucible of Hell tells the vivid, heart-rending story of the battle that changed not just the course of WWII, but the course of war, forever.
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Goodbye, Darkness
- By: William Manchester
- Narrator: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 15 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.19(5241 ratings)
4.19(5241 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThe nightmares began for William Manchester twenty-three years after World War II. In his dreams he lived with the recurring image of himself as a battle-weary youth “angrily demanding to know what had happened to the three decades since heThe nightmares began for William Manchester twenty-three years after World War II. In his dreams he lived with the recurring image of himself as a battle-weary youth “angrily demanding to know what had happened to the three decades since he had laid down his arms.” To find out, Manchester visited those places in the Pacific where as a young Marine he fought the Japanese.
In this intensely powerful memoir, America’s preeminent biographer-historian, who has written so brilliantly about World War II in his acclaimed lives of General Douglas MacArthur (American Caesar) and Winston Churchill (The Last Lion), looks back at his own early life. He offers an unrivaled firsthand account of World War II in the Pacific: of what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences.
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Battleground Iraq
- By: Todd S. Brown
- Narrator: Donald Corren
- Length: 11 hours 12 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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4.19(21 ratings)
4.19(21 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0020.95 USDThis gripping journal of a company commander from 2003 to early 2004, written in some of the most dangerous areas of post-Hussein Iraq, discusses tactics, techniques, and procedures as they evolved in the struggle to maintain order and rebuild theThis gripping journal of a company commander from 2003 to early 2004, written in some of the most dangerous areas of post-Hussein Iraq, discusses tactics, techniques, and procedures as they evolved in the struggle to maintain order and rebuild the country. The journal tells of the dichotomy of combat operations versus nation building. It vividly captures the stresses of combat and corresponding emotions as they accumulate over time in a combat outfit. It reinforces the ideal of camaraderie among soldiers and deals with the emotional impact of losing friends in battle. Understanding these could prove invaluable to those who courageously serve our nation and will continue to endure them in this and future conflicts.
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Hell before Their Very Eyes
- By: John C. McManus
- Narrator: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.18(106 ratings)
4.18(106 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDOn April 4, 1945, United States Army units from the Eighty-Ninth Infantry Division and the Fourth Armored Division seized Ohrdruf, the first of many Nazi concentration camps to be liberated in Germany. In the weeks that followed, as more camps wereOn April 4, 1945, United States Army units from the Eighty-Ninth Infantry Division and the Fourth Armored Division seized Ohrdruf, the first of many Nazi concentration camps to be liberated in Germany. In the weeks that followed, as more camps were discovered, thousands of soldiers came face-to-face with the monstrous reality of Hitler’s Germany.
These men discovered the very depths of human-imposed cruelty and depravity: railroad cars stacked with emaciated, lifeless bodies; ovens full of incinerated human remains; warehouses filled with stolen shoes, clothes, luggage, and even eyeglasses; prison yards littered with implements of torture and dead bodies; and–perhaps most disturbing of all–the half-dead survivors of the camps. For the American soldiers of all ranks who witnessed such powerful evidence of Nazi crimes, the experience was life altering. Almost all were haunted for the rest of their lives by what they had seen, horrified that humans from ostensibly civilized societies were capable of such crimes.
Military historian John C. McManus sheds new light on this often-overlooked aspect of the Holocaust. Drawing on a rich blend of archival sources and thousands of firsthand accounts–including unit journals, interviews, oral histories, memoirs, diaries, letters, and published recollections–Hell before Their Very Eyes focuses on the experiences of the soldiers who liberated Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau and their determination to bear witness to this horrific history.
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American Heroes
- By: Oliver North
- Narrator: Peyton Tochterman
- Length: 5 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.18(167 ratings)
4.18(167 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Heroes Proved, a moving collection of “straightforward, honest testimonials to the courage American troops display on and off the battlefield” (Kirkus Reviews).For more than a dozen years,From the New York Times bestselling author of Heroes Proved, a moving collection of “straightforward, honest testimonials to the courage American troops display on and off the battlefield” (Kirkus Reviews).
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For more than a dozen years, combat-decorated Marine Oliver North and his award-winning documentary team from FOX News Channel’s War Stories traveled to the frontlines of the War on Terror to profile the dedicated men and women who serve our nation. This time, he follows them from the battlefield to the homefront and finds extraordinary inspiration in their triumph over life-altering adversity.
In this new volume of his New York Times bestselling American Heroes series, North describes the courage, commitment, and strength of those who serve–and those who love them. The term “selfless devotion” may be a cliche to many–but not to the men and women on the pages of this book. Their stories resound with bravery, a warrior ethos, and spiritual strength that will encourage us all.
Heroes are people who knowingly place themselves at risk for the benefit of others. Since the terror attack of September 11, 2001, more than two million young Americans have volunteered to serve in difficult and dangerous places. No military force in history has been asked to do more than those who have served and sacrificed in this long fight. They are American heroes. So too are their loved ones here at home. These are their stories. -
In the Hands of Providence
- By: Alice Rains Trulock
- Narrator: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2005
- Language: English
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4.17(965 ratings)
4.17(965 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDJoshua Chamberlain of Maine forged an incredible career during the Civil War. An academic and theologian by training, this modest young professor left Bowdoin College to accept a commission as lieutenant colonel of the Twentieth Maine. He fought atJoshua Chamberlain of Maine forged an incredible career during the Civil War. An academic and theologian by training, this modest young professor left Bowdoin College to accept a commission as lieutenant colonel of the Twentieth Maine. He fought at Antietam and Fredericksburg, then led his regiment to glory at Gettysburg, where he ordered the brilliant charge that saved Little Round Top. Promoted to brigade command, Chamberlain won a battlefield promotion to brigadier general from Ulysses S. Grant for his distinguished conduct in the assaults against Petersburg. He was held in such high esteem by his superior officers that Grant accorded him the honor of receiving the formal Confederate surrender at Appomattox. There Chamberlain endeared himself to succeeding generations with his unforgettable salute to Robert E. Lee’s defeated army.
After the war, he went on to serve four terms as governor of his home state and later became president of Bowdoin College. He wrote prolifically about the war, including The Passing of the Armies, a classic account of the final campaign of the Army of the Potomac. This remarkable biography traces his life and times.
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Bloody Okinawa
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrator: George Newbern
- Length: 13 hours 44 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: March 03, 2020
- Language: English
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4.17(107 ratings)
4.17(107 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.98 USDA stirring narrative of World War II’s final major battle–the Pacific war’s largest, bloodiest, most savagely fought campaign–the last of its kind. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing onA stirring narrative of World War II’s final major battle–the Pacific war’s largest, bloodiest, most savagely fought campaign–the last of its kind.
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On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan’s invasion in the fall of 1945.
Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. Waves of Japanese kamikaze and conventional warplanes sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others, and killed nearly 5,000 US seamen.
When the slugfest ended after 82 days, more than 125,000 enemy soldiers lay dead–along with 7,500 US ground troops. Tragically, more than 100,000 Okinawa civilians perished while trapped between the armies. The brutal campaign persuaded US leaders to drop the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan.
Utilizing accounts by US combatants and Japanese sources, author Joseph Wheelan endows this riveting story of the war’s last great battle with a compelling human dimension. -
A Time for Trumpets
- By: Charles B. MacDonald
- Narrator: Traber Burns
- Length: 28 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
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4.15(1087 ratings)
4.15(1087 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDOn December 16, 1944, the vanguard of three German armies, totaling half a million men, attacked US forces in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg, achieving what had been considered impossible–total surprise. In the most abysmalOn December 16, 1944, the vanguard of three German armies, totaling half a million men, attacked US forces in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg, achieving what had been considered impossible–total surprise. In the most abysmal failure of battlefield intelligence in the history of the US Army, 600,000 American soldiers found themselves facing Hitler’s last desperate effort of the war.
The brutal confrontation that ensued became known as the Battle of the Bulge, the greatest battle ever fought by the US Army–a triumph of American ingenuity and dedication over an egregious failure in strategic intelligence. A Time for Trumpets is the definitive account of this dramatic victory, told by one of America’s most respected military historians, who was also an eyewitness: MacDonald commanded a rifle company in the Battle of the Bulge. His account of this unique battle is exhaustively researched, honestly recounted, and movingly authentic in its depiction of hand-to-hand combat.
Mingling firsthand experience with the insights of a distinguished historian, MacDonald places this profound human drama unforgettably on the landscape of history.
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A Terrible Glory
- By: James Donovan
- Narrator: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 16 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: April 30, 2019
- Language: English
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4.14(1721 ratings)
4.14(1721 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.98 USDA rousing and meticulously researched account of the notorious Battle of Little Big Horn and its unforgettable cast of characters from Sitting Bull to Custer himself. In June of 1876, on a desolate hill above a winding river called “theA rousing and meticulously researched account of the notorious Battle of Little Big Horn and its unforgettable cast of characters from Sitting Bull to Custer himself.... Read moreIn June of 1876, on a desolate hill above a winding river called “the Little Bighorn,” George Armstrong Custer and all 210 men under his direct command were annihilated by almost 2,000 Sioux and Cheyenne. The news of this devastating loss caused a public uproar, and those in positions of power promptly began to point fingers in order to avoid responsibility. Custer, who was conveniently dead, took the brunt of the blame.
The truth, however, was far more complex. A Terrible Glory is the first book to relate the entire story of this endlessly fascinating battle, and the first to call upon all the significant research and findings of the past twenty-five years — which have changed significantly how this controversial event is perceived. Furthermore, it is the first book to bring to light the details of the U.S. Army cover-up — and unravel one of the greatest mysteries in U.S. military history.
Scrupulously researched, A Teribble Glory will stand as a landmark work. Brimming with authentic detail and an unforgettable cast of characters — from Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse to Ulysses Grant and Custer himself — this is history with the sweep of a great novel.
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Undaunted
- By: Tanya Biank
- Narrator: Pam Ward
- Length: 11 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.13(341 ratings)
4.13(341 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDAs she did so provocatively with military spouses in Army Wives, Tanya Biank gives us the inside story of women in today’s military–their professional and personal challenges from the combat zone to the home front. Since 9/11, more thanAs she did so provocatively with military spouses in Army Wives, Tanya Biank gives us the inside story of women in today’s military–their professional and personal challenges from the combat zone to the home front.
Since 9/11, more than 240,000 women have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan–more than 140 have died there, and they currently make up 14 percent of the total active-duty forces. Despite advances, today’s servicewomen are constantly pressed to prove themselves, to overcome challenges men never face, and to put the military mission ahead of all other aspects of their lives, particularly marriage and motherhood. In this groundbreaking insider’s look at the women defending our nation, Tanya Biank brings to light the real issues–femininity, belonging to an old boys’ club, veiled discrimination, dating, marriage problems, separation from children, questions about life goals, career trajectories, and self-worth–that servicewomen are facing by focusing on four individual stories.
Brigadier General Angela Salinas, the Marine Corps’ first Hispanic female general, faces the challenge of commanding an all-male institution. Second Lieutenant Bergan Flannigan finds herself on the front lines in Afghanistan, serving in the same military police company as her husband. As a marine drill instructor, Sergeant Amy Stokley demands the very best from the recruits at Parris Island. And Major Candice O’Brien deals with deployment to Afghanistan, with two young children and a strained marriage back home.
Undaunted is the story of these courageous trailblazers–their struggles, sacrifices, and triumphs in the name of serving the country they love.
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General Lee’s Army
- By: Joseph T. Glatthaar
- Narrator: Robertson Dean
- Length: 25 hours 16 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.13(207 ratings)
4.13(207 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0034.95 USDThis sweeping history of the Civil War and the Confederacy is told through the lens of its most crucial army, the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert E. Lee. General Lee’s Army takes listeners across the Rebel landscape, fromThis sweeping history of the Civil War and the Confederacy is told through the lens of its most crucial army, the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert E. Lee.
General Lee’s Army takes listeners across the Rebel landscape, from campfires to battlefields to their homes, as it portrays a world of life, death, healing, and hardship. Detailing the feelings and conduct of officers and enlisted men throughout the course of the war, it demonstrates how effectively Lee’s men served their country and just how close the South came to winning the great war between the states—and why it ultimately lost. Glatthaar investigates the South’s commitment to the war and its gradual erosion, and he analyzes Lee’s army in triumph and defeat. Fourteen years in the making, this scholarly tour de force upends much of the conventional wisdom about the Civil War.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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