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Lincoln's Autocrat
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Stanton
- Lincoln's War Secretary
- By: Walter Stahr
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4 out of 5 stars 23
Of the crucial men close to President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was the most powerful and controversial. Stanton raised, armed, and supervised the army of a million men who won the Civil War. He organized the war effort. He directed military movements from his telegraph office, where Lincoln literally hung out with him. He arrested and imprisoned thousands for "war crimes" such as resisting the draft or calling for an armistice. Stanton was so controversial that some accused him at that time of complicity in Lincoln's assassination.
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2 out of 5 stars
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A bad narrator can ruin a good book
- By cathy on 11-01-17
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Seward
- Lincoln's Indispensable Man
- By: Walter Stahr
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
From one of our most acclaimed new biographers - the first full life of the leader of Lincoln’s "team of rivals" to appear in more than 40 years. William Henry Seward was one of the most important Americans of the 19th century. Progressive governor of New York and outspoken U.S. senator, he was the odds-on favorite to win the 1860 Republican nomination for president. As secretary of state and Lincoln’s closest adviser during the Civil War, Seward not only managed foreign affairs but had a substantial role in military, political, and personnel matters.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I Wish Doris Kearns Goodwin Had Written This
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Grant
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 6,802
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Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow reveals in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????
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The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
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- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
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Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon. Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth. It's the scenario used in 1950s cartoons and horror movies about traveling to outer space. Houbolt had another idea: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. LOR would link two spacecraft in orbit while the crafts were travelling at 3,600 miles an hour around the moon. His plan was ridiculed and considered unthinkable.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Caveat Emptor: Bone to Pick
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The Templars
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- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,288
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In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unexpected
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A Country of Vast Designs
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- Length: 18 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 371
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When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History Repeats
- By Todd Gangl Usnik on 06-12-12
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Stanton
- Lincoln's War Secretary
- By: Walter Stahr
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 23
Of the crucial men close to President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was the most powerful and controversial. Stanton raised, armed, and supervised the army of a million men who won the Civil War. He organized the war effort. He directed military movements from his telegraph office, where Lincoln literally hung out with him. He arrested and imprisoned thousands for "war crimes" such as resisting the draft or calling for an armistice. Stanton was so controversial that some accused him at that time of complicity in Lincoln's assassination.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
A bad narrator can ruin a good book
- By cathy on 11-01-17
-
Seward
- Lincoln's Indispensable Man
- By: Walter Stahr
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
From one of our most acclaimed new biographers - the first full life of the leader of Lincoln’s "team of rivals" to appear in more than 40 years. William Henry Seward was one of the most important Americans of the 19th century. Progressive governor of New York and outspoken U.S. senator, he was the odds-on favorite to win the 1860 Republican nomination for president. As secretary of state and Lincoln’s closest adviser during the Civil War, Seward not only managed foreign affairs but had a substantial role in military, political, and personnel matters.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
I Wish Doris Kearns Goodwin Had Written This
- By AR on 06-21-15
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Grant
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 6,802
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 6,238
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 6,205
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow reveals in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-17
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The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
- By: Todd Zwillich
- Narrated by: Todd Zwillich, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,564
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,629
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,596
Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon. Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth. It's the scenario used in 1950s cartoons and horror movies about traveling to outer space. Houbolt had another idea: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. LOR would link two spacecraft in orbit while the crafts were travelling at 3,600 miles an hour around the moon. His plan was ridiculed and considered unthinkable.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Caveat Emptor: Bone to Pick
- By Judah Family on 07-05-19
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The Templars
- The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,288
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,161
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,153
In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Unexpected
- By Protogere on 10-30-17
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A Country of Vast Designs
- James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 18 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 371
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 300
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History Repeats
- By Todd Gangl Usnik on 06-12-12
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The Fall of Carthage
- The Punic Wars 265-146BC
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 486
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 436
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 437
The struggle between Rome and Carthage in the Punic Wars was arguably the greatest and most desperate conflict of antiquity. The forces involved and the casualties suffered by both sides were far greater than in any wars fought before the modern era, while the eventual outcome had far-reaching consequences for the history of the Western World, namely the ascendancy of Rome. An epic of war and battle, this is also the story of famous generals and leaders: Hannibal, Fabius Maximus, Scipio Africanus, and his grandson Scipio Aemilianus, who would finally bring down the walls of Carthage.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Captivating
- By Jean on 03-25-19
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The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,856
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,683
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,669
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story - the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Impressive
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Frederick Douglass
- Prophet of Freedom
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- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 36 hrs and 57 mins
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As a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence, he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Biography
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The British Are Coming
- The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (The Revolution Trilogy, Book 1)
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Rick Atkinson - introduction
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 416
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Rick Atkinson recounts the first 21 months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force. Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of our country’s creation drama.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great book, terrible narrator.
- By Thomas Reinhart on 07-25-19
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A. Lincoln
- A Biography
- By: Ronald C. White Jr.
- Narrated by: Bill Weideman
- Length: 27 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 653
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 468
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 468
In this important new biography, Ronald C. White, Jr. offers a fresh and fascinating definition of Lincoln as a man of integrity - what today's commentators are calling "authenticity" - whose internal moral compass is the key to understanding his life. Through meticulous research, utilizing recently discovered Lincoln letters, legal papers, and photographs, White depicts Lincoln as a person of intellectual curiosity, comfortable with ambiguity, and capable of changing his mind.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Insight into Lincoln
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Memoirs of General William T. Sherman
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- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 34 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
First published in 1875, General William T. Sherman's memoir was one of the first from the Civil War and was offered to the public because, as Sherman wrote in his dedication, "no satisfactory history" of the war was yet available. Although Memoirs has been revised and corrected many times over the years, Sherman famously never changed the original text of his recollections.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not for a beginner.
- By Black Knight on 05-20-17
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The Triumph of Christianity
- How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
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- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 632
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 573
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 569
Christianity didn't have to become the dominant religion in the West. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were 20 or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some 30 million people in just four centuries.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another Piece of the Jesus Puzzle
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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 566
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 510
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 510
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Reexamining the Causes of WWI
- By Christoph L. on 07-13-15
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Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,189
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,408
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Story5 out of 5 stars 6,431
On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lincoln Comes Alive Through His Realtionships
- By Wolfpacker on 06-22-15
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The First Conspiracy
- The Secret Plot Against George Washington
- By: Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,995
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,852
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,847
Taking place during the most critical period of our nation’s birth, The First Conspiracy tells a remarkable and previously untold piece of American history that not only reveals George Washington’s character, but also illuminates the origins of America’s counterintelligence movement that led to the modern day CIA. In 1776, an elite group of soldiers were handpicked to serve as George Washington’s bodyguards. Washington trusted them; relied on them. But unbeknownst to Washington, some of them were part of a treasonous plan.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliantly written and narrated!
- By Wayne on 01-09-19
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Alexander Hamilton
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 16,433
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14,360
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Story5 out of 5 stars 14,282
Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Outstanding & Riveting Book!
- By Kevin on 03-04-05
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Empire of the Summer Moon
- Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,630
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,489
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,483
Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son, Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Historically Significant
- By Rick on 10-07-16
Publisher's Summary
Edwin M. Stanton (1814-1869), one of the 19th century's most impressive legal and political minds, wielded enormous influence and power as Lincoln's secretary of war during most of the Civil War and under Johnson during the early years of Reconstruction. In the first full biography of Stanton in more than 50 years, William Marvel offers a detailed reexamination of Stanton's life, career, and legacy. Marvel argues that while Stanton was a formidable advocate and politician, his character was hardly benign. Climbing from a difficult youth to the pinnacle of power, Stanton used his authority - and the public coffers - to pursue political vendettas. He also exercised sweeping wartime powers with a cavalier disregard for civil liberties.
Though Lincoln's ability to harness a cabinet with sharp divisions and strong personalities is widely celebrated, Marvel suggests that Stanton's tenure raises important questions about Lincoln's actual control over the executive branch. This insightful biography also reveals why men like Ulysses S. Grant considered Stanton - who was unashamed to use political power for partisan enforcement and personal preservation - a coward and a bully.
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- Mark Mears
- 09-20-15
Now I have to find another Stanton biography
Any additional comments?
I'm sure that Mr. Marvel knows more about Edwin Stanton than I do, however I am left needing information from another source. The view of Stanton in this book is much different than that I found in other books (Lincoln's Rivals, other books on Lincoln.) With so many uses of "likely", and other assumptive words, and so many pejorative adjectives to describe Stanton and his actions, one should not use this book as a sole source of information. Mr. Stanton may well be the despicable character described, but I perceive so much bias that I'll have to do my own research elsewhere to gain a more informed viewpoint.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful
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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
- Amazon Customer
- 06-02-19
Interesting book
I would say the reader has a voice that’s fitting for this book. The author gives you an insight intoStanton’s world and his comings and going‘s.