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The Great "What Ifs" of the American Civil War
- Historians Tackle the Conflict’s Most Intriguing Possibilities
- Narrated by: Jon Vertullo
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
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The Great "What Ifs" of the American Civil War
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Publisher's summary
"What If . . . ?" Every Civil War armchair general asks the question. Possibilities unfold. Disappointments vanish. Imaginations soar. More questions arise. "What if . . ." can be more than an exercise in wistful fantasy. A serious inquiry sparks rigorous exploration, demands critical thinking, and unlocks important insights.
The Great "What Ifs" of the American Civil War: Historians Tackle the Conflict's Most Intriguing Possibilities is a collection of fourteen essays by the historians at Emerging Civil War, and includes a Foreword by acclaimed alternate history writer Peter G. Tsouras.
Each entry focuses on one of the most important events of the war and unpacks the options of the moment. To understand what happened, we must look with a clear and objective eye at what could have happened, with the full multitude of choices before us. "What if" is a tool for illumination. These essays also explode the assumptions people make when they ask "what if" and then jump to wishful conclusions.
This collection of thoughtful essays offers not alternate histories or counterfactual scenarios, but an invitation to ask, to learn, and to wonder, "What if . . . ?"
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- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price
- Length: 24 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 33
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Story5 out of 5 stars 32
It was 1778, and the recent American victory at Saratoga had netted the US a powerful ally in France. Many, including General George Washington, presumed France’s entrance into the war meant independence was just around the corner. Meanwhile, having lost an entire army at Saratoga, Great Britain pivoted to a 'southern strategy'. The army would henceforth seek to regain its southern colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, a highly profitable segment of its prewar American empire.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb
- By Aldy on 06-10-21
By: John Ferling
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The American Civil War
- A Military History
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 340
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 262
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 266
For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Novel Approach (As Opposed to Novelistic)
- By margot on 11-18-12
By: John Keegan
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The Myth of the Lost Cause
- Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won
- By: Edward H. Bonekemper III
- Narrated by: C.J. McAllister
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 633
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 573
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 574
The former Confederate states have continually mythologized the South's defeat to the North, depicting the Civil War as unnecessary, or as a fight over states' Constitutional rights, or as a David v. Goliath struggle in which the North waged "total war" over an underdog South. In The Myth of the Lost Cause, historian Edward Bonekemper deconstructs this multi-faceted myth, revealing the truth about the war that nearly tore the nation apart 150 years ago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Civil War was about Slavery. Period.
- By Reg on 02-07-17
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Crossroads of Freedom
- Antietam
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Through historical newspaper accounts and the personal letters of soldiers, the events leading up to the battle and the battle itself are stunningly recreated. You will enter the mind of Robert E. Lee as he makes the fateful decision to cross the Potomac River and take the offensive. You will feel the frustration of Abraham Lincoln as he struggles to convince George McClellan to fight. And you will stand side-by-side with foot soldiers as the peaceful Maryland countryside explodes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Far beyond the scope of the battle
- By A. McDonald on 01-26-04
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Sickles at Gettysburg
- The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg
- By: James A. Hessler
- Narrated by: Bob Neufeld
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Sickles at Gettysburg by licensed battlefield guide James Hessler, is the most deeply-researched, full-length biography to appear on this remarkable American icon. No individual who fought at Gettysburg was more controversial, both personally and professionally, than Major General Daniel E. Sickles. By 1863, Sickles was notorious as a disgraced former Congressman who murdered his wife’s lover on the streets of Washington and used America’s first temporary insanity defense to escape justice.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Backbiting
- By Anonymous User on 04-08-24
By: James A. Hessler
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Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 886
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 760
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Story5 out of 5 stars 759
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book
- By J. Weston on 12-11-20
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The Coming Fury
- The Centennial History of the Civil War, Volume 1
- By: Bruce Catton
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 777
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 682
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 677
> The New York Times hailed this trilogy as “one of the greatest historical accomplishments of our time”. With stunning detail and insights, America’s foremost Civil War historian recreates the war from its opening months to its final, bloody end. Each volume delivers a complete listening experience. The Coming Fury (Volume 1) covers the split Democratic Convention in the spring of 1860 to the first battle of Bull Run.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History As It Should Be
- By Bryan on 07-19-11
By: Bruce Catton
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The Cause
- The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 367
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 316
George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Modest history primer, wished for more substance
- By Buretto on 10-21-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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Armies of Deliverance
- A New History of the Civil War
- By: Elizabeth R. Varon
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Loyal Americans marched off to war in 1861 not to conquer the South but to liberate it. So argues Elizabeth R. Varon in Armies of Deliverance, a sweeping narrative of the Civil War and a bold new interpretation of Union and Confederate war aims. Northerners imagined the war as a crusade to deliver the Southern masses from slaveholder domination and to bring democracy, prosperity, and education to the region. As the war escalated, Lincoln and his allies built the case that emancipation would secure military victory and benefit the North and South alike.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A clear, comprehensive narrative unlike any other
- By Alice Conley on 04-10-23
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Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815
- From Elba to Ligny and Quatre Bras Volume I
- By: John Hussey
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 34 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
The first of two ground-breaking volumes on the Waterloo campaign, this audiobook is based upon a detailed analysis of sources old and new in four languages. It highlights the political stresses between the Allies, the problems of feeding and paying for the Allied forces assembling in Belgium during the undeclared war and how a strategy was thrashed out. It studies the neglected topic of how the Allies beyond the Rhine hampered the plans of Blücher and Wellington, thus allowing Napoleon to snatch the initiative from them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent: Where is Volume 2
- By History Reader on 12-11-20
By: John Hussey
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The 10 Biggest Civil War Blunders
- By: Edward H. Bonekemper III
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 243
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 217
What makes the Civil War so fascinating is that it presents an endless number of "what if" scenarios - moments when the outcome of the war (and therefore world history) hinged on a single small mistake or omission. In this audiobook, Civil War historian Edward Bonekemper highlights the 10 biggest Civil War blunders, focusing in on intimate moments of military indecision and inaction involving great generals like Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and William T. Sherman as well as less effective generals such as George B. McClellan and Benjamin Butler.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mistakes or Missed Opportunities a Better Title
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-21
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"Lee Is Trapped, and Must Be Taken"
- Eleven Fateful Days After Gettysburg: July 4 - 14, 1863
- By: Thomas J. Ryan, Richard R. Schaus
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
"Lee Is Trapped, and Must Be Taken": Eleven Fateful Days After Gettysburg: July 4 to July 14, 1863 focuses on the immediate aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg and addresses how Maj. Gen. George G. Meade organized and motivated his Army of the Potomac in response to President Abraham Lincoln's mandate to bring about the "literal or substantial destruction" of Gen. Robert E. Lee's retreating Army of Northern Virginia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Detailed and Well Written
- By Ezekiel Z. Conover on 04-22-21
By: Thomas J. Ryan, and others
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 125
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Story5 out of 5 stars 125
On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
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Hymns of the Republic
- The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 675
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 586
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Story5 out of 5 stars 584
The fourth and final year of the Civil War offers one of that era’s most compelling narratives, defining the nation and one of history’s great turning points. Now, S.C. Gwynne’s Hymns of the Republic addresses the time Ulysses S. Grant arrives to take command of all Union armies in March 1864 to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox a year later. He breathes new life into the epic battle between Lee and Grant; the advent of 180,000 black soldiers in the Union army; Sherman’s March to the Sea; the rise of Clara Barton; and much more.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Questionable
- By Stafford Lewis on 05-16-20
By: S. C. Gwynne
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1777
- The Year of the Hangman
- By: John S. Pancake
- Narrated by: Robert Thaler
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4 out of 5 stars 37
A revisionist view of the Revolution's most crucial year...it explodes many of the myths surrounding Burgoyne's Canadian expedition and Howe's Pennsylvania campaign. There is a wealth of fascinating detail in this book, including information on arms and supplies, rations for women camp followers, and even the numbers of carts (30-odd) carrying Burgoyne's luggage.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very Good
- By William on 08-22-16
By: John S. Pancake
What listeners say about The Great "What Ifs" of the American Civil War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian
- 10-04-23
very well done
really enjoyed how each chapter detailed the history and then dove into the what if. Great listen and I hope the make a 2nd book on what ifs
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