-
Encounters in Avalanche Country
- A History of Survival in the Mountain West, 1820-1920 (Emil and Kathleen Sick Book Series in Western History and Biography)
- Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Encounters in Avalanche Country
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Dead Mountain
- The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
- By: Donnie Eichar
- Narrated by: Donnie Eichar
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,647
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,185
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,182
In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Mystery & Intrigue In The Ural Mountains
- By Sara on 06-30-15
By: Donnie Eichar
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,080
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 768
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 768
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
Desperate Passage
- The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West
- By: Ethan Rarick
- Narrated by: Christopher Prince
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 818
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 679
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 679
In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I REALLY enjoyed this book
- By Roger on 02-09-10
By: Ethan Rarick
-
Classic Krakauer
- 'Mark Foo's Last Ride,' 'After the Fall,' and Other Essays from the Vault
- By: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 343
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 294
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 292
Spanning an extraordinary range of subjects and locations, these ten gripping essays show why Jon Krakauer is considered a standard-bearer of modern journalism.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Narration doesn't match the content
- By Paddy Audible on 12-15-18
By: Jon Krakauer
-
The Golden Spruce
- A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
- By: John Vaillant
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 457
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 404
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 404
When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had plunged naked into a river in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, towing a chainsaw. When his night's work was done, a unique Sitka spruce, 165 feet tall and covered with luminous golden needles, teetered on its stump. Two days later it fell.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting story but ??
- By robert on 01-11-14
By: John Vaillant
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 264
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
Dead Mountain
- The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
- By: Donnie Eichar
- Narrated by: Donnie Eichar
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,647
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,185
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,182
In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Mystery & Intrigue In The Ural Mountains
- By Sara on 06-30-15
By: Donnie Eichar
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,080
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 768
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 768
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03
-
Desperate Passage
- The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West
- By: Ethan Rarick
- Narrated by: Christopher Prince
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 818
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 679
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 679
In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I REALLY enjoyed this book
- By Roger on 02-09-10
By: Ethan Rarick
-
Classic Krakauer
- 'Mark Foo's Last Ride,' 'After the Fall,' and Other Essays from the Vault
- By: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 343
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 294
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 292
Spanning an extraordinary range of subjects and locations, these ten gripping essays show why Jon Krakauer is considered a standard-bearer of modern journalism.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Narration doesn't match the content
- By Paddy Audible on 12-15-18
By: Jon Krakauer
-
The Golden Spruce
- A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
- By: John Vaillant
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 457
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 404
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 404
When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had plunged naked into a river in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, towing a chainsaw. When his night's work was done, a unique Sitka spruce, 165 feet tall and covered with luminous golden needles, teetered on its stump. Two days later it fell.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting story but ??
- By robert on 01-11-14
By: John Vaillant
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 264
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
Leading at the Edge
- Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition
- By: Dennis N. T. Perkins, Margaret P. Holtman - contributor, Jillian B. Murphy - contributor
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
In December of 1914, the British Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, sailed from the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean. Its goal: the first overland crossing of Antarctica. Soon trapped in a prison of solid pack ice, the crew became engaged in a legendary fight against brutal cold, impenetrable ice, dwindling food, and complete isolation.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Masterful !
- By JANICE on 02-04-23
By: Dennis N. T. Perkins, and others
-
Dreams of El Dorado
- A History of the American West
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 399
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 342
In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame - and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Dreadful narration
- By Fredmo on 12-09-19
By: H. W. Brands
-
The Company
- The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire
- By: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76
The Hudson’s Bay Company started out small in 1670, trading practical manufactured goods for furs with the indigenous inhabitants of inland subarctic Canada. Controlled by a handful of English aristocrats, it expanded into a powerful political force that ruled the lives of many thousands of people - from the lowlands south and west of Hudson Bay, to the tundra, the great plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific Northwest.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deserves higher rating.
- By Pat Newell on 05-22-21
By: Stephen R. Bown
-
A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 584
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
-
Night Comes to the Cumberlands
- By: Harry M. Caudill
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
After its publication in 1962, Harry M. Caudill’s acclaimed portrait of the southern Appalachian Mountains became a rallying cry for action against the poverty plaguing the region. Here Caudill explores the area’s history, from its first settlement to the Civil War, and from the rise of coal barons to the economic despair of the 1950s and 1960s.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Review
- By Sam on 04-12-19
By: Harry M. Caudill
-
The Bonanza King
- By: Gregory Crouch
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 23 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Born in 1831, John W. Mackay was a penniless Irish immigrant who came of age in New York City, went to California during the Gold Rush, and mined without much luck for eight years. When he heard of riches found on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1859, Mackay abandoned his claim and walked a hundred miles to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Over the course of the next dozen years, Mackay worked his way up from nothing, thwarting the pernicious “Bank Ring” monopoly to seize control of the most concentrated cache of precious metals ever found on earth, the legendary “Big Bonanza”.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Stellar narration, biography exemplar!
- By LEE on 06-25-18
By: Gregory Crouch
-
Eruption
- The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens
- By: Steve Olson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 196
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 170
For months in early 1980, scientists, journalists, and ordinary people listened anxiously to rumblings in the long quiescent volcano Mount St. Helens. Still, when a massive explosion took the top off the mountain, no one was prepared. Fifty-seven people died, including newlywed logger John Killian (for years afterward, his father searched for him in the ash), scientist Dave Johnston, and celebrated local curmudgeon Harry Truman. The lives of many others were forever changed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Nope
- By Prairie Girl on 05-04-18
By: Steve Olson
-
Death in Glacier National Park
- Stories of Accidents and Foolhardiness in the Crown of the Continent
- By: Randi Minetor
- Narrated by: Stephanie Dillard
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
Adventures in the wilderness can be dramatic and deadly. Glacier National Park's death records date back to January 1913, when a man froze to death while snowshoeing between Cut Bank and St. Mary. All told, 260 people have died or are presumed to have died in the park during the first hundred years of its existence.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Accidents in National Parks
- By Rebecca Hill on 02-07-23
By: Randi Minetor
-
The Last Viking
- The Life of Roald Amundsen
- By: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 403
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 401
The Last Viking unravels the life of the man who stands head and shoulders above all those who raced to map the last corners of the world. In 1900, the four great geographical mysteries - the Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage, the South Pole, and the North Pole - remained blank spots on the globe. Within twenty years Roald Amundsen would claim all four prizes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding.
- By Leon Miller on 12-01-15
By: Stephen R. Bown
-
The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 297
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 302
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
-
Bold Spirit
- Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America
- By: Linda Lawrence Hunt
- Narrated by: Pat Stien
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children named Helga Estby was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America. Hoping to win the wager and save her family's farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara's curling iron, set out on foot from Eastern Washington.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Norwegian boldness!
- By MAF/BPF on 04-03-18
-
Engineering Eden
- The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature
- By: Jordan Fisher Smith
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
When 25-year-old Harry Walker was killed by a bear in Yellowstone Park in 1972, the civil trial prompted by his death became a proxy for bigger questions about American wilderness management that had been boiling for a century. At immediate issue was whether the Park Service should have done more to keep bears away from humans, but what was revealed as the trial unfolded was just how fruitless our efforts to regulate nature in the parks had always been.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Riveting true story, well performed
- By Kerry Cox on 04-07-20
Publisher's summary
Every winter, settlers of the US and Canadian Mountain West could expect to lose dozens of lives to deadly avalanches. This constant threat to trappers, miners, railway workers and their families forced individuals and communities to develop knowledge, share strategies, and band together as they tried to survive the extreme conditions of "avalanche country". The result of this convergence, author Diana Di Stefano argues, was a complex network of formal and informal cooperation that used disaster preparedness to engage legal action and instill a sense of regional identity among the many lives affected by these natural disasters.
Encounters in Avalanche Country tells the story of mountain communities' responses to disaster over a century of social change and rapid industrialization. As mining and railway companies triggered new kinds of disasters, ideas about environmental risk and responsibility were increasingly negotiated by mountain laborers, at the elite levels among corporations, and in socially charged civil suits.
Written in a lively and engaging narrative style, Encounters in Avalanche Country uncovers authentic stories of survival struggles, frightening avalanches, and how local knowledge challenged legal traditions that defined avalanches as acts of God. Combining disaster, mining, railroad, and ski histories with the theme of severe winter weather, it provides a new and fascinating perspective on the settlement of the Mountain West.
The book is published by University of Washington Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
Critic reviews
"Provides new windows into understanding human encounters with violent natures." (H-Net)
"Is a well-written and fascinating peek into a unique part of western life." (The Historian)
"This riveting tale is part history, part outdoor narrative, and part legal thriller." (Wilderness & Environmental Medicine)
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
The White Cascade
- The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped - but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A detailed, yet very readable account.
- By Rindt on 02-20-18
By: Gary Krist
-
Ghosts of Gold Mountain
- The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Gordon H. Chang
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
From across the sea, they came by the thousands, escaping war and poverty in southern China to seek their fortunes in America. Converging on the enormous western worksite of the Transcontinental Railroad, the migrants spent years dynamiting tunnels through the snow-packed cliffs of the Sierra Nevada and laying tracks across the burning Utah desert. Their sweat and blood fueled the ascent of an interlinked, industrial United States. But those of them who survived this perilous effort would be pushed to the margins of American life and then to the fringes of public memory.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very inspiring, educational, and enlightening!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-19
By: Gordon H. Chang
-
Floodpath
- The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles
- By: Jon Wilkman
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 51
Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind LA noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible story
- By C. Jackson on 04-07-21
By: Jon Wilkman
-
Colossus
- Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Political Biography of the Dam
- By Roy on 02-20-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
West Like Lightning
- The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express
- By: Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
The thrilling narrative history of one of the most enduring icons of the American West, the Pony Express, from the number-one New York Times bestselling co-author of American Sniper - an exciting tale of daring young men pushing limits to the extremes across the vast, rugged, and unsettled American West.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Picture of Wild West Life and the Pony
- By Pierre C. on 08-07-18
By: Jim DeFelice
-
Water to the Angels
- William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles
- By: Les Standiford
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created - William Mulholland's Los Angeles aqueduct - a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man whose vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Water challenges never end
- By John Matel on 04-10-15
By: Les Standiford
-
The White Cascade
- The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche
- By: Gary Krist
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped - but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A detailed, yet very readable account.
- By Rindt on 02-20-18
By: Gary Krist
-
Ghosts of Gold Mountain
- The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
- By: Gordon H. Chang
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
From across the sea, they came by the thousands, escaping war and poverty in southern China to seek their fortunes in America. Converging on the enormous western worksite of the Transcontinental Railroad, the migrants spent years dynamiting tunnels through the snow-packed cliffs of the Sierra Nevada and laying tracks across the burning Utah desert. Their sweat and blood fueled the ascent of an interlinked, industrial United States. But those of them who survived this perilous effort would be pushed to the margins of American life and then to the fringes of public memory.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very inspiring, educational, and enlightening!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-19
By: Gordon H. Chang
-
Floodpath
- The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles
- By: Jon Wilkman
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 51
Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind LA noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible story
- By C. Jackson on 04-07-21
By: Jon Wilkman
-
Colossus
- Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America's greatest achievements. The story of its conception, design, and construction is the story of the United States at a unique moment in history: when facing both a global economic crisis and the implacable elements of nature, we prevailed.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Political Biography of the Dam
- By Roy on 02-20-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
-
West Like Lightning
- The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express
- By: Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
The thrilling narrative history of one of the most enduring icons of the American West, the Pony Express, from the number-one New York Times bestselling co-author of American Sniper - an exciting tale of daring young men pushing limits to the extremes across the vast, rugged, and unsettled American West.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Picture of Wild West Life and the Pony
- By Pierre C. on 08-07-18
By: Jim DeFelice
-
Water to the Angels
- William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles
- By: Les Standiford
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the story of the largest public water project ever created - William Mulholland's Los Angeles aqueduct - a story of Gilded Age ambition, hubris, greed, and one determined man whose vision shaped the future and continues to impact us today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Water challenges never end
- By John Matel on 04-10-15
By: Les Standiford
-
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian
- John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
- By: Wallace Stegner
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 264
Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner recounts the remarkable career of Major John Wesley Powell, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist who explored the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the homeland of the Southwest Indian tribes. This classic work is a penetrating and insightful study of the Powell’s career, from the beginning of the Powell Survey, in which Powell and his men famously became the first to descend the Colorado River, to his eventual expulsion from the Geological Survey.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
History repeats itself.
- By Roy on 09-12-11
By: Wallace Stegner
-
The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 297
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 302
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
-
Fire and Brimstone
- The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917
- By: Michael Punke
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 353
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 302
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 304
The worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history began a half hour before midnight on June 8, 1917, when fire broke out in the North Butte Mining Company's Granite Mountain shaft. Sparked more than 2,000 feet below ground, the fire spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Within an hour more than 400 men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days 164 of them would be dead.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fairly Solid Book With Good History
- By Matthew on 08-18-16
By: Michael Punke
-
The Cruelest Miles
- The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
- By: Gay Salisbury, Laney Salisbury
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 433
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 302
The year is 1925. It is sixty degrees below zero. The wind sweeps tons of snow over the deep-frozen Alaskan landscape. The nearest railhead is seven hundred miles away. Airplanes cannot fly. The way to Nome is blocked by a treacherous frozen sound, an icebound port, and mountains to the west. But there is a diphtheria epidemic in Nome. The children need serum from the outside world if they are to survive. Their only hope is a few chosen Eskimo drivers and their teams of dogs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The Cruelest Miles Makes Exciting Reading
- By Susan Carter on 01-07-04
By: Gay Salisbury, and others
-
Panama Fever
- By: Matthew Parker
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, William Dufris
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
The building of the Panama Canal was one of the greatest engineering feats in human history. A tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicine, Panama Fever charts the challenges that marked the long, labyrinthine road to the building of the canal. Drawing on a wealth of new materials and sources, Matthew Parker brings to life the men who recognized the impact a canal would have on global politics and economics.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book, marginal narrator
- By CmH - HB, CA on 06-02-08
By: Matthew Parker
-
Empire of Shadows
- The Epic Story of Yellowstone
- By: George Black
- Narrated by: Jack de Golia
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
Empire of Shadows is the epic story of the conquest of Yellowstone, a landscape uninhabited, inaccessible, and shrouded in myth in the aftermath of the Civil War. In a radical reinterpretation of the 19th century West, George Black casts Yellowstone's creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Paints a big picture
- By Gail Thomalla on 07-13-21
By: George Black
-
Bold Spirit
- Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America
- By: Linda Lawrence Hunt
- Narrated by: Pat Stien
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children named Helga Estby was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America. Hoping to win the wager and save her family's farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara's curling iron, set out on foot from Eastern Washington.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Norwegian boldness!
- By MAF/BPF on 04-03-18
-
Rangers, Trappers, and Trailblazers
- Early Adventures in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park
- By: John Fraley
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
The North, Middle, and South Forks of the Flathead River drain some of the wildest country in Montana, including Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. In Rangers, Trappers, and Trailblazers, John Fraley recounts the true adventures of people who earned their living among the mountains and along the cold, clear rivers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Awesome
- By Edward A. Shuty Sr. on 04-12-24
By: John Fraley
-
Desperate Passage
- The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West
- By: Ethan Rarick
- Narrated by: Christopher Prince
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 818
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 679
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 679
In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I REALLY enjoyed this book
- By Roger on 02-09-10
By: Ethan Rarick
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 584
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
-
Nothing Like It in the World
- The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,080
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 768
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 768
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A tragic waste
- By Joshua Tretakoff on 04-11-03