The Summer of 1876

Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West

By: Chris Wimmer

Narrated by: Chris Wimmer, Johnny Heller

This program features a preface and acknowledgments read by the author.

"The audiobook is a fun and easy listening experience."- AudioFile

From the creator of the "Legends of the Old West" podcast, an audiobook exploring the overlapping narratives of the biggest legends in frontier mythology.

The summer of 1876 was a key time period in the development of the mythology of the Old West. Many individuals who are considered legends by modern listeners were involved in events that began their notoriety or turned out to be the most famous—or infamous—moments of their lives. Those individuals were Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James.

The Summer of 1876 weaves together the timelines of the events that made these men legends to demonstrate the overlapping context of their stories and to illustrate the historical importance of that summer, all layered with highlights of significant milestones in 1876: the inaugural baseball season of the National League; the final year of President Ulysses S. Grant’s embattled administration; the debut of an invention called the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell; the release of Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer;” and many more.

Contextualizing these events against the backdrop of the massive 100th anniversary party thrown to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, The Summer of 1876 is the ultimate exploration and celebration of the summer that defined the West.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2022 Chris Wimmer (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"A fascinating, multiangled account of a consequential season in the history of America’s western frontier...[Chris Wimmer] is an amiable and well-informed tour guide of the Old West. All readers have to do is saddle up and enjoy the ride." —Publishers Weekly

"Narrative gold...a rousing read." —Booklist

Exciting Book!

An exciting tail of the old West! 1876 is greatly described as a year of immaculate events. It is the Centennial of America and with it came the world's fair, General Grant's presidency, Custer's 7th Cavalry's Battle with The Lakota Sioux tribes led by heroes Chief Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The development of baseball as a household known game and league and also the infamous James Gang who's infamous bank robberies are alone stories of legend and they'rerobbery of the First National Bank in 1876 was a headlining story! Also not to mention is the presidential election of 1876 that took 5 months to talley votes that would ultimately lead to Rutherford Hayes' election as the 19th president of the United States. All of these stories are excitingly described with just enough detail not to overwhelm the reader. Do yourself a favor and read or listen to this book and then follow up with "1876 The Year of the Gun".

Like the author indicated…

Not a deep dive. But as someone who has read much about the events outlined, a fast-paced, enormously interesting, encapsulation of an all together interesting and important Summer in our nations history. Highly recommended as a review to those who are familiar with the events as well as an overview for those who are not.

Great narrative trying so many subjects together

Great idea to put all of these together. Fascinating that they happened within weeks of each other.

narration... it's cavalry not Calvary

Great book. Just as good as the podcast

Great book. Just as good as the podcast. I’m definitely going to get the paper book too. This will be good for a few listens.

Great

Great story is good for more info and legends of the old west podcast I listen to it on spotify but I'm sure it's available other places

Narration Mistake

The material is great. The narrator is ok, however Chris Wimmer is known for his podcasts/ podcast voice. For his first book, he doesn't narrate. I feel this was a mistake. I wonder why that decision was made. I would avoid the audiobook and buy the book. The material is great.

Wish I could give more than 5 stars!

An interesting read that keeps your attention from cover to cover. I appreciate all the finer details of early western life peppered through out the book. The spine of this book is definitely gonna get a work out!

Fantastic

A huge fan of Chris Wimmer’s podcasts, I was excited for the release. Like how described in the epilogue/acknowledgments, I, too, knew a little bit about all of the events, characters, and history of 1876, but had not realized that all of it was happening at the same time. The first curveball thrown a few hundred miles, and a few months removed, from Little Bighorn!? Who knew! Amazing book. Great concept, even better writing.

Enjoyed the Podcast

If you've enjoyed the podcast, the book will be as enjoyable and the content familiar.

The Best of the Old West

I've been listening to Wimmer's Legends of the Old West podcast for years. He did an amazing job blending some of the most amazing stories from his podcast into a book about monumental events that all transpired in 1876. Anyone who loves the Old West needs to give this a listen!