What Hath God Wrought

The Transformation of America, 1815 - 1848

By: Daniel Walker Howe

Narrated by: Patrick Cullen

Length: 32 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, History, 2008

In this addition to the esteemed Oxford History of the United States series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the Battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era of revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated America's expansion and prompted the rise of mass political parties.

He examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party but contends that John Quincy Adams and other advocates of public education, economic integration, and the rights of blacks, women, and Indians were the true prophets of America's future.

Howe's panoramic narrative - weaving together social, economic, and cultural history with political and military events - culminates in the controversial but brilliantly executed war against Mexico that gained California and Texas for America.

Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. What Hath God Wrought is number V in The Oxford History of the United States.

Listen to more of the definitive Oxford History of the United States.

©2007 Oxford University Press, Inc. (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the most outstanding syntheses of U.S. history published this decade." ( Publishers Weekly)
"He is a genuine rarity: an English intellectual who not merely writes about the United States but actually understands it." ( Washington Post)
"A stunning synthesis....it is a rare thing to encounter a book so magisterial and judicious and also so compelling." ( Chicago Tribune)

a must listen for any history buff

fantastic narration
great story
constantly rewinding to re hear interesting parts
couldn't put it down

Good story, good reader, audio inconsistent

Where does What Hath God Wrought rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the fourth of the Oxford History of the United States books I've read or listened to. The content is very good history, but not quite as engaging or dramatic as "The Glorious Cause" or "Battle Cry of Freedom". While the Reader is passably good, what is very annoying is that, when the Reader had to go back and redo a sentence, I'm presuming at some other time, the audio recording quality or settings was not consistent with the original. Tone, balance and volume are all different, creating a patchwork quilt of sound settings in the final product. It takes significant effort to ignore the constantly changing audio and concentrate on the content.

How could the performance have been better?

Better audio engineering.

Great History, Poor Audio Editing

This is a really solid history of a sometimes overlooked of American history. However, as others have noted, the audio editing is very poor at times. The narrator is quite gifted, but the editing should have had more attention. Overall, I was able to tolerate that enough to enjoy the story

comprehensive and thorough

comprehensive and thorough. a great survey of this period...reform, slavery, the Mexican War, and more.

Astonishing!

Listen and learn so very much about our past under the influences of numerous issues that fractured our young country, priming our people for inevitable sectional conflict.

Excellent History, Impossible to Listen To

This is a wonderfully written history that deserves a better reading. I actually gave up and bought the paperback. The problem may not be the reader himself, but the editing -- his voice sounds speeded up, and the sound quality is choppy and uneven. It's too distracting to follow the story.

Fantastic

It was hard to put the ear budds down. A must for anyone wanting to explore the " how did we get here " angle of american history.

Neglected but Important Period of American History

When I came across this book I knew I had to read it because it covered a period in American History that I wasn't well versed in. However, I was kind of dreading it because I figured it would be pretty boring. I was totally wrong. Howe does a magnificent job of making a seemingly dry period of history interesting and entertaining. He covers all the major political happenings while also including things like culture, technology, race/gender relations, etc. Patrick Cullen isn't special but his voice and tone are perfect for this book. After a while the listener will feel as if Cullen's voice and the author's voice are one and the same. This is a very detailed, thorough, and enjoyable book.

solid history

solid history. the author is an amazing talent to weave such rich political, economic, religious, and social group histories into a full tapestry of America during this time.

comprehensive history

I am a casual history fan and I've always had trouble keeping track of the Taylor's and the Tyler's in the first half of the 19th century. This book is comprehensive, well-read and detailed, sometimes to the point where it can be hard to follow, especially if you listen while commuting. There are many themes, and he jumps back and forth between them. I found myself backing up several times to make sense of things, but it was not too much of a chore. As the author says in the conclusion, he is telling a story, not asserting a thesis--this type of history I think is the most fun to listen to. I never found it tiresome, and that is a lot to say about a book this long. The other reviewer is correct, there were a lot of changes in the recording, sometimes in the middle of a sentence. While this is unusual in audiobooks, I did not find it very distracting.