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El Norte
- The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
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Publisher's summary
Because of our shared English language, as well as the celebrated origin tales of the Mayflower and the rebellion of the British colonies, the United States has prized its Anglo heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains with great depth and clarity in El Norte, the nation has much older Spanish roots - ones that have long been unacknowledged or marginalized. The Hispanic past of the United States predates the arrival of the Pilgrims by a century, and has been every bit as important in shaping the nation as it exists today.
El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present - from Ponce de Leon’s initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico. Interwoven in this stirring narrative of events and people are cultural issues that have been there from the start but which are unresolved to this day: language, belonging, community, race, and nationality. Seeing them play out over centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is urgently needed.
In 1883, Walt Whitman meditated on his country’s Spanish past: “We Americans have yet to really learn our own antecedents, and sort them, to unify them”, predicting that “to that composite American identity of the future, Spanish character will supply some of the most needed parts.” That future is here, and El Norte, a stirring and eventful history in its own right, will make a powerful impact on our national understanding.
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What listeners say about El Norte
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jose
- 10-30-19
This is Garbage!
This is a book written by a white person trying to imagine what another group thinks by watching MSNBC all day.
Literally everything she says is a crazy, oddly obsessive. does not have basis in general facts and is basically a whiny ideological harangue about people she hates (white people) and her obsession (Hispanic people). To Gibson, Hispanic people are like mascots, victims and innocent pawns for ideological interpretations of her world. Not heroic protagonists that shape their own lives. Sad for Carrie Gibson, we are way to cool to be victims. We are having too much fun in Life and that's why we thrive. We don't live in Carrie Gibson's world or have low self esteem, we live in our world and look forward to the future.
I am Hispanic and have had no troubles in 40 years living in America, due to being Hispanic.. I speak Spanish and have always done so. No teacher or authority has ever told me not to. People even ask if my kids are bilingual. I live where I want and I watch programming in a myriad of languages. I even have a job that was partially offered because I can speak multiple languages. I'm actually very brown, not a European Spanish looking guy, don't have blue eyes, or red hair. I look like the figure on the old Washington football helmet.
I did not grow up in NYC or LA. I grew up in the American South and have lived everywhere else professionally. This book is mythical and Spooky. If America were so bad, why would so many Hispanics move here? Why not to communist Cuba or Communist Venezuela? Why go to a bad place voluntarily?
My name is Jose. Not Carrie Gibson. This book is bad and not worth a penny.
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59 people found this helpful
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- Jim
- 07-13-19
Racist Politically Correct Garbage
Author is racist against white people and had a PC political agenda to push.
This book is not history; it is propaganda.
I returned it.
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34 people found this helpful
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- dragoness' utterances
- 05-06-19
Encyclopedic to say the least
Cannot imagine an incident that was not included. Particularly interesting was the clarification of how Puerto Rico becomes the failed state. Mexico is a long history marvelously woven in. I appreciate that the author clearly defines his position although far left of mine the honesty is welcome
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18 people found this helpful
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- lionel velez
- 02-16-20
Exceptionally well written and well narrated!!!
I have glanced at some of the reviews and I will concur with the majority of the opinions expressed here. Regardless of whether the readers view that pendulum might swings too far to the left or too far to the right, the book takes the reader to a true historical journey by changing topics and location in a seamless matter where the reader can connect without losing perspective nor insight. of the subject under discussion. I am Puertorican born and educated in both Puerto Rico and in the US. I am also an avid reader on the subjects discussed were I have read from different writers with an array of points of view and opinions who highlight the historical, political, social and racial issues that have had impacted Hispanic Americans throughout the centuries under the Spanish Rule, National Rules after independence from Spain and US Rules. I have read "José's" comments with whom I can't understand his anger, lack of understanding and even a real lack of knowledge and denial of what a well-informed person and researcher would agree to be a very well researched and written book. I enjoyed the book's narrator's voice and the pace of his lecture.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Paul Hernandez
- 05-13-19
El norte.
Breath taking and casting an awareness of a history of Spanish colonialism in the americas. I recommend this book to anyone especially in states that border the southwest. It's historical contributions can help further help in understanding what it mea s to be Hispanic. Excellent read for anyone who loves history both modern and past.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Ronnie J. Swartz
- 08-18-19
Title was off.
As a Native New Mexican, I thought this book was going to be about Mexico's Northern Territories which was a vast amount stolen by the USA from Mexico.
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15 people found this helpful
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- Roy
- 08-12-19
A Holistic Perspective
The academic approach Gibson has taken in El Norte is broad. It is no secret that most US history is Anglocentric. Gibson's research and perspective help to diffuse that past centrism. I liked it!
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12 people found this helpful
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- Maria Herrera
- 08-29-19
A thoughtful contribution to the literature
I have always been struck by the Michael Myers-like persistence of the Black Legend. Had I not had a father who was well read and told me to ignore that rubbish I might have built so many assumptions on that narrative interpretation so this book was a welcome refutation and upadte. Much more than that though it is a careful nuanced exploration of history through historical documents, personal anecdotes and studies by governmental and private sources that paints an informative picture of the “always there” story of Spanish speakers (as opposed to incidental to a selected few chapters) in the history of the US. Happily this book avoids painting generalizations like that of the wealthy hacendado and the downtrodden peasant and instead places such historical agents in a context that allows the reader to better appreciate their circumstances and political and cultural reactions to events as they unfolded around them. This book also explores the confection of whiteness and how this is invariably used to create political cleavages to the advantage of the US while eclipsing the cleavages in Hispanic America which relied more on a self devised and certainly more fluid lines of identification. You get the impression as you read that the old saying that the victor gets to write history is indeed true. Thankfully if truth is the sun than luckily we can not eclipse it with a finger. I will be presenting this book in my bookclub in the Netherlands.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Malcolm Brian Peters
- 12-25-19
Don't miss/overlook this book!
I can't say enough good things about this book. Capta mucha emocion por mi. We are one.
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5 people found this helpful
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- David R Munoz
- 10-17-19
Exceptional treatise it gives an excellent tapestr
This history provides an excellent juxtaposition of the distinct cultures comprising the Hispanic nation and what lies in store for them as they become the predominant minority.
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- book
- 05-12-21
Unbearably boring
Unfortunately this book makes such a fascinating topic almost unbearable as it’s just so boring in its presentation. Nothing but dates, weights and distances. No cultural analysis or social commentary or anything to paint a picture of the places or people, just endless dates and names. The native populations are basically props for the Spanish story and nothing is done to interrogate what was basically a sustained genocide. Really dull book unfortunately
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1 person found this helpful
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Story
At the conclusion of the American Revolution, half the modern United States was part of the vast Spanish Empire. The year after Columbus' great voyage of discovery, in 1492, he claimed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for Spain. For the next 300 years, thousands of proud Spanish conquistadors and their largely forgotten Mexican allies went in search of glory and riches from Florida to California. Many died; few triumphed. Some were cruel; some were curious; some were kind. Missionaries and priests yearned to harvest Indian souls for God through baptism and Christian teaching.
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A Narration That is Difficult to Follow
- By Amazon Customer on 05-24-19
By: Robert Goodwin
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Empire's Crossroads
- A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ever since Christopher Columbus stepped off the Santa Maria onto what is today San Salvador, in the Bahamas, and announced that he had arrived in the Orient, the Caribbean has been a stage for projected fantasies and competition between world powers. In Empire’s Crossroads, British American historian Carrie Gibson traces the story of this coveted area from the northern rim of South America up to Cuba, and from discovery through colonialism to today, offering a vivid, panoramic view of this complex region and its rich, important history.
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Careless production mars storytelling
- By Brenda Thomas on 03-31-16
By: Carrie Gibson
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Mexican History: A Captivating Guide to the History of Mexico and the Mexican Revolution
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of Mexico, then pay attention...Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: History of Mexico and The Mexican Revolution. So if you want to learn more about the history of Mexico and the Mexican Revolution, buy this audiobook now!
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An Absolutely Captivating Work
- By Elisa Cox on 11-21-20
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Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
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A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
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The Pueblo Revolt
- The Secret Rebellion That Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The dramatic and tragic story of the only successful Native American uprising against the Spanish, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
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Telling a story that doesn’t want to be told
- By Keegan on 12-28-20
By: David Roberts
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Conquistador
- Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
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A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
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América
- The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898
- By: Robert Goodwin
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
At the conclusion of the American Revolution, half the modern United States was part of the vast Spanish Empire. The year after Columbus' great voyage of discovery, in 1492, he claimed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for Spain. For the next 300 years, thousands of proud Spanish conquistadors and their largely forgotten Mexican allies went in search of glory and riches from Florida to California. Many died; few triumphed. Some were cruel; some were curious; some were kind. Missionaries and priests yearned to harvest Indian souls for God through baptism and Christian teaching.
-
-
A Narration That is Difficult to Follow
- By Amazon Customer on 05-24-19
By: Robert Goodwin
-
Empire's Crossroads
- A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since Christopher Columbus stepped off the Santa Maria onto what is today San Salvador, in the Bahamas, and announced that he had arrived in the Orient, the Caribbean has been a stage for projected fantasies and competition between world powers. In Empire’s Crossroads, British American historian Carrie Gibson traces the story of this coveted area from the northern rim of South America up to Cuba, and from discovery through colonialism to today, offering a vivid, panoramic view of this complex region and its rich, important history.
-
-
Careless production mars storytelling
- By Brenda Thomas on 03-31-16
By: Carrie Gibson
-
Mexican History: A Captivating Guide to the History of Mexico and the Mexican Revolution
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of Mexico, then pay attention...Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: History of Mexico and The Mexican Revolution. So if you want to learn more about the history of Mexico and the Mexican Revolution, buy this audiobook now!
-
-
An Absolutely Captivating Work
- By Elisa Cox on 11-21-20
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
-
The Pueblo Revolt
- The Secret Rebellion That Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic and tragic story of the only successful Native American uprising against the Spanish, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
-
-
Telling a story that doesn’t want to be told
- By Keegan on 12-28-20
By: David Roberts
-
Conquistador
- Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
-
-
A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
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A Land So Strange
- The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
- By: Andres Resendez
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the 300 men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived - three Spaniards and an African slave.
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A worthwhile listen
- By Blake on 07-10-13
By: Andres Resendez
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Central America's Forgotten History
- Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
- By: Aviva Chomsky
- Narrated by: Aida Reluzco
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence in search of refuge in the United States. In Central America’s Forgotten History, Aviva Chomsky answers the urgent question “How did we get here?” Centering the centuries-long intertwined histories of US expansion and indigenous and Central American struggles against inequality and oppression, Chomsky highlights the pernicious cycle of colonial and neocolonial development policies.
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Outline of a rigged game
- By Buretto on 02-07-22
By: Aviva Chomsky
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Bad Mexicans
- Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands
- By: Kelly Lytle Hernández
- Narrated by: Joana Garcia
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bad Mexicans tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. Led by a brilliant but ill-tempered radical named Ricardo Flores Magon, the magonistas were a motley band of journalists, miners, migrant workers, and more, who organized thousands of Mexican workers—and American dissidents—to their cause. Determined to oust Mexico's dictator, Porfirio Diaz, the rebels had to outrun and outsmart the swarm of US authorities vested in protecting the Diaz regime.
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Great book, but why is the narrator so bad?
- By bean on 10-14-22
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Born in Blood and Fire: Fourth Edition
- A Concise History of Latin America
- By: John Charles Chasteen
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The most highly regarded and affordable history of Latin America for our times. Born in Blood and Fire, Fourth Edition has been extensively revised to heighten emphasis on current cultural analyses of Latin American society and facilitate meaningful connections between the Encounter and the present.
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Excellent synopsis of a very broad history.
- By Carina Rahn on 01-11-21