A History of the American People

By: Paul Johnson

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 48 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Johnson's monumental history of the United States, from the first settlers to the Clinton administration, covers every aspect of American culture: politics, business, art, literature, science, society and customs, complex traditions, and religious beliefs. The story is told in terms of the men and women who shaped and led the nation and the ordinary people who collectively created its unique character.

Anne Hutchinson, Cotton Mather, Ben Franklin, Tom Paine, George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, among others, are all presented in a fresh perspective. Wherever possible, letters, diaries, and recorded conversations are used to ensure a sense of actuality.

This is an in-depth portrait of a great people, from their fragile origins and struggles for independence, to their heroic efforts and sacrifices to deal with the "organic sin" of slavery and the preservation of the Union, to their explosive economic growth and emergence as the world's greatest superpower.

©1997 Paul Johnson (P)1998 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Johnson is a lively writer (more so than nearly all other historians), and May's reading is sensitive to Johnson's wit and sharp comments....Her reading is lively, crisp, and sharp throughout." (AudioFile)

"A magnificent achievement...brilliantly combines broad sweep with extraordinary detail." (Wall Street Journal)

A better understanding

There are so many times in history books or news articles where what happened was spun to serve someone purpose. This is the kind of book which will dig deeper and shed some light on these subjects and they suddenly seem less "black and white". Overall an amazing book with loads of information, although hard to stay focused on at times because of its thoroughness.

Excellent

I loved the overall history especially the reading by Nadia May. I thought the outlook was a bit biased towards the right of the political spectrum. However, that doesn’t take away from my general opinion of Paul Johnson or his history. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves their big history books.

a good book for long travels

This book is well written. History is told in a perspective not told in any school I ever attended and was refreshing. I listened to every hour of it and might even listen to it again in a year or so. The narrator has an english accent which made for easy listening.

I am indebted to Paul Johnson

I cannot think of when I would ever say that I’m “indebted” to an author. Certainly I appreciate the many of the authors of books I’ve read and have been impressed by their talents and the works they have created. However, the emotional reaction that I have after reading Paul Johnson’s A History of the American People is one of gratitude and indebtedness. With the continued assault on our history with pop culture and political correctness it is refreshing to hear a well researched history that has not been tainted or biased as so much of what is promoted as history today. Johnson does not tell a one sided story, rather he tells a balanced version with a great deal of background perspective that both strengthens the credibility of the material as well as gives the reader a great deal of insight that most history books miss. I have already recommended this book to many of my friends and recommend it to anyone who wants to hear a fascinating story of the American people. I am indebted to Paul Johnson.

Excellent Information for all Americans

At almost 80, I learned a great deal that I had never known before about the United States and also corrections about all the miss information I have been given throughout the years. I listened at .75 to a good deal: the result was the reading gave me time to mull over the facts. It is great for insomnia as you set a timer and a great companion on a walk. V

Thorough and interesting

There were a couple if glitches in the audio, but overall clear. Also, at least one factual error. Ford was seriously challenged by Reagan in 1976.
Nonetheless, illuminating book.

Must read!

This is a must read for those wanting to understand how Americans came to be.

A good history of US until

This was an excellent book until reaching FDR. The bias against FDR is so absurd, and so glaring in light of the even handiness exhibited to that point, that I decided I couldn’t continue with the book. Subsequent investigation on my part revealed that this bias would remain for the remainder of the alternate history of the United States as depicted by Johnson.
I am glad that I listened as long I did and stopped when I did

Superb history.

I am a longtime fan of American History and Paul Johnson's "A History of the American People" is the most insightful and as well researched as any I have encountered. I can recommend this book as an excellent source for the novice and advanced connoisseur. In addition the book is very entertaining and engaging.

Not de Tocqueville

One can almost hear George III thinking out loud about the loss of all the vast open spaces of America. There is a total lack of any sense of awe of America in this Englishman's very long book. He strives to show how American Exceptionalism was merely the result of happy and brutal coincidence. Reading between the lines we see a typical European Liberal (in the modern vile sense of the word) green with envy that they lost their colonies.

I am about 15 hours into this long thing. Perhaps if he traveled the country like de Tocqueville he might have gotten a real sense of the American people. Instead we can imagine him up to his elbows in obscure research sources at Cambridge or at Cambridge West (Harvard).

So, to read this, you must endure continual subtle and overt leftist bias and his criticism of what is thinks is the American tendency to over react to imaginary threats (i.e. the silly red scar of the 1950s - which we have known since the fall of the USSR was real indeed).

I suppose this tendency to graft one's political biases onto past events is what makes many history books highly suspect.

But if you can hold your nose and get past the liberal bias, the book is interesting and has some original in-sights.

Too bad it was read by some lady with a stuffy British accent. This is another substantial negative.