-
Spectacle
- The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Spectacle
Buy for $21.70
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Black Theology and Black Power
- By: James H. Cone, Cornel West - introduction
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
First published in 1969, Black Theology and Black Power is the first systematic presentation of black theology that also introduced the voice of a young theologian who would shake the foundations of American theology. Relating the militant struggle for liberation with the gospel message of salvation, James Cone laid the foundations for an interpretation of Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed that retains its urgency and challenge today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
powerful
- By The Hart Family on 09-09-22
By: James H. Cone, and others
-
Harriet Tubman
- The Road to Freedom
- By: Catherine Clinton
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 547
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 467
Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of 19th-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Returning this book
- By KMS on 07-11-18
-
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 4,550
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,106
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
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16,452
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14,522
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14,479
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An outstanding story, highly recommended
- By S. Blakely on 06-22-17
By: David Grann
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12,695
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,234
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11,178
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,812
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,524
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,525
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
-
Black Theology and Black Power
- By: James H. Cone, Cornel West - introduction
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
First published in 1969, Black Theology and Black Power is the first systematic presentation of black theology that also introduced the voice of a young theologian who would shake the foundations of American theology. Relating the militant struggle for liberation with the gospel message of salvation, James Cone laid the foundations for an interpretation of Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed that retains its urgency and challenge today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
powerful
- By The Hart Family on 09-09-22
By: James H. Cone, and others
-
Harriet Tubman
- The Road to Freedom
- By: Catherine Clinton
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 547
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 467
Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of 19th-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Returning this book
- By KMS on 07-11-18
-
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 4,550
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,106
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
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16,452
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14,522
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14,479
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An outstanding story, highly recommended
- By S. Blakely on 06-22-17
By: David Grann
-
The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12,695
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,234
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11,178
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
By: Isabel Wilkerson
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,812
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,524
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,525
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
-
How the Word Is Passed
- A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
- By: Clint Smith
- Narrated by: Clint Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,226
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,900
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,886
Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the listener on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sincerely grateful read
- By Kelvin Dixon on 06-08-21
By: Clint Smith
-
On Juneteenth
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 492
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 444
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A short but compelling combination of history and
- By BK on 05-18-21
-
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
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,839
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,185
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,157
The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
-
Unfamiliar Fishes
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, John Hodgman, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,301
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,789
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,783
In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as crucial to our nation's identity, a year when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba and then the Philippines, becoming a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower practically overnight. Of all the countries the United States invaded or colonized in 1898, Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sarah Vowell does it again!
- By Kat on 03-23-11
By: Sarah Vowell
-
P.T. Barnum: A Captivating Guide to the American Showman Who Founded What Became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 15
He wasn’t always the Great Showman. In fact, Phineas Taylor Barnum grew up in relative poverty with only his wits to help him along. When his father died, the 15-year-old boy entered the working world as a shopkeeper’s assistant. In leaps and bounds, he worked his way from assistant to shop owner, lottery office owner, and, eventually, entertainment promoter. The bulk of his career was focused on his beloved American Museum, where thousands of ticket holders flocked every day to look at the human oddities, stuffed animals, live whale, and American memorabilia.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
greatest. show
- By Amazon Customer nutbutter on 09-23-18
-
The True History of the Elephant Man
- The Definitive Account of the Tragic and Extraordinary Life of Joseph Carey Merrick
- By: Michael Howell, Peter Ford
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Due to horrible physical deformities, he spent much of his life as a fairground freak. He was hounded, persecuted, and starving, until his fortune changed and he was rescued, housed, and fed by the distinguished surgeon, Frederick Treves. The subject of several books, a Broadway hit, and a film, Joseph Merrick has become part of popular mythology. Here, in this fully revised edition containing much fresh information, are the true and un-romanticized facts of his life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing man!
- By Carolyn on 02-05-15
By: Michael Howell, and others
-
Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
-
The Original Black Elite
- Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
- By: Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
This cultural biography tells the enthralling story of the high-achieving Black elites who thrived in the nation's capital during Reconstruction. Daniel Murray (1851-1925), an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress, was a prominent member of this glorious class. Murray's life was reflective of those who were well-off at the time. This social circle included African American educators, ministers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, US senators and representatives, and other government officials.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
awesome
- By Melissa on 09-27-19
-
The Sun and the Moon
- Hoaxers, Showmen, and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th-Century New York
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
some very good some very bad
- By peter on 10-30-10
By: Matthew Goodman
-
The Reading List
- A Novel
- By: Sara Nisha Adams
- Narrated by: Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, Paul Panting
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,939
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,932
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Ealing after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper. It's a list of novels that she's never heard of before. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fabulous narrators!
- By Barbara S on 10-29-21
By: Sara Nisha Adams
-
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Rogers' work. Relying on the latest scholarship, Gates leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African American history in question-and-answer format. Among the 100 questions: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great book
- By Anthony Costello on 06-14-18
-
Gandhi Before India
- By: Ramachandra Guha
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Ramachandra Guha takes us from Gandhi's birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London, and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi's contemporaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political, and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: "Great Soul".
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A magisterial work
- By Urval Goradia on 01-21-23
By: Ramachandra Guha
Publisher's Summary
In 1904 Ota Benga, a young Congolese "pygmy" - a person of petite stature - arrived from central Africa and was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later the New York Zoological Gardens displayed him in its Monkey House, caging the slight 103-pound, 4-foot 11-inch tall man with an orangutan. The attraction became an international sensation, drawing thousands of New Yorkers and commanding headlines across the nation and in Europe.
Spectacle explores the circumstances of Ota Benga's captivity, the international controversy it inspired, and his efforts to adjust to American life. It also reveals why, decades later, the man most responsible for his exploitation would be hailed as his friend and savior while those who truly fought for Ota have been banished to the shadows of history.
More from the same
What listeners say about Spectacle
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- savvy shopper
- 02-26-19
hard pass
the story, the truth, is very interesting... and absolutely disgusting, but the narrator is grating and the story is barely about benga. and you can tell the author is a professor because the book reads like a textbook and not a novel.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- AKB
- 08-28-18
A fascinating story but...
This is a comprehensive social, "scientific", political, psychological account that illuminates the minds of thinkers and divines in the late 19th century. Well researched and well written, it is worth the time. However, the voice of the narrator (pitch, timbre) nearly made me send the book back. She is not easy to listen to. I am glad I did not return it because the experience was both educational and intriguing, but the voice nearly did me in.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kenneth Denman
- 04-22-21
Dark History uncovered
We again experience sadness from true facts exposed. Thanks for your research well done book.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- vyioprah
- 08-09-20
sign-up. view
this was more on the people around him, and what little info you could find on him very sad, life exam to dig-up.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- 1car69
- 08-05-20
It's Bengal :: One of the good ones...
This is one of the good ones. Read it! What a shameful history that still part of our present. Pamela Newkirk has done a phenomenal job in documenting and bringing to life... Ota Benga a young man that should be remembered.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Essam Rajab
- 12-10-19
Spectacle
A very touching story. Well researched and written. It definitively paves the way for similar books to be written to more highlight the tragic life of Ota Benga.
Related to this topic
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,812
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,524
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,525
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
-
Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
-
The Original Black Elite
- Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
- By: Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
This cultural biography tells the enthralling story of the high-achieving Black elites who thrived in the nation's capital during Reconstruction. Daniel Murray (1851-1925), an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress, was a prominent member of this glorious class. Murray's life was reflective of those who were well-off at the time. This social circle included African American educators, ministers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, US senators and representatives, and other government officials.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
awesome
- By Melissa on 09-27-19
-
The Sun and the Moon
- Hoaxers, Showmen, and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th-Century New York
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
some very good some very bad
- By peter on 10-30-10
By: Matthew Goodman
-
Passing Strange
- A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
- By: Martha A. Sandweiss
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War, Clarence King was named by John Hay "the best and brightest of his generation". But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for 13 years he lived a double life - as the celebrated White explorer, geologist, and writer Clarence King and as a Black Pullman porter and steelworker named James Todd.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Race and Identity
- By Roy on 03-22-10
-
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Rogers' work. Relying on the latest scholarship, Gates leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African American history in question-and-answer format. Among the 100 questions: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great book
- By Anthony Costello on 06-14-18
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,812
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,524
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,525
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
-
Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
-
The Original Black Elite
- Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
- By: Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
This cultural biography tells the enthralling story of the high-achieving Black elites who thrived in the nation's capital during Reconstruction. Daniel Murray (1851-1925), an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress, was a prominent member of this glorious class. Murray's life was reflective of those who were well-off at the time. This social circle included African American educators, ministers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, US senators and representatives, and other government officials.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
awesome
- By Melissa on 09-27-19
-
The Sun and the Moon
- Hoaxers, Showmen, and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th-Century New York
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
The Sun and the Moon tells the delightful and surprisingly true story of how a series of articles in the Sun newspaper in 1835 convinced the citizens of New York that the moon was inhabited. Purporting to reveal discoveries of a famous British astronomer, the series described such moon life as unicorns, beavers that walked upright, and four-foot-tall flying man-bats. It quickly became the most widely circulated newspaper story of the era.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
some very good some very bad
- By peter on 10-30-10
By: Matthew Goodman
-
Passing Strange
- A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
- By: Martha A. Sandweiss
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War, Clarence King was named by John Hay "the best and brightest of his generation". But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for 13 years he lived a double life - as the celebrated White explorer, geologist, and writer Clarence King and as a Black Pullman porter and steelworker named James Todd.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Race and Identity
- By Roy on 03-22-10
-
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Rogers' work. Relying on the latest scholarship, Gates leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African American history in question-and-answer format. Among the 100 questions: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
great book
- By Anthony Costello on 06-14-18
-
Gandhi Before India
- By: Ramachandra Guha
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Ramachandra Guha takes us from Gandhi's birth in 1869 through his upbringing in Gujarat, his two years as a student in London, and his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa. Guha has uncovered myriad previously untapped documents, including private papers of Gandhi's contemporaries. Using this wealth of material in an exuberant, brilliantly nuanced and detailed narrative, Guha describes the social, political, and personal worlds inside of which Gandhi began the journey that would earn him the honorific Mahatma: "Great Soul".
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A magisterial work
- By Urval Goradia on 01-21-23
By: Ramachandra Guha
-
Denmark Vesey's Garden
- Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy
- By: Ethan J. Kytle, Blain Roberts
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
A book that strikes at the heart of the recent flare-ups over Confederate symbols in Charlottesville, New Orleans, and elsewhere, Denmark Vesey's Garden reveals the deep roots of these controversies and traces them to the heart of slavery in the United States: Charleston, South Carolina, where almost half of the US slave population stepped onto our shores, where the first shot at Fort Sumter began the Civil War, and where Dylann Roof shot nine people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church, the congregation of Denmark Vesey, a black revolutionary who plotted a massive slave insurrection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Timely, well-written and enlightening.
- By DG on 06-05-18
By: Ethan J. Kytle, and others
-
Frontier Grit
- The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women
- By: Marianne Monson
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 532
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 489
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Discover the stories of 12 women who heard the call to settle the West and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journeys. As a slave Clara watched helplessly as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter as a free woman six decades later. As a young girl, Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver who ever lived. As a Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
only ok
- By Jane Orr on 06-14-21
By: Marianne Monson
-
Harriet Tubman
- The Road to Freedom
- By: Catherine Clinton
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 547
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 467
Celebrated for her courageous exploits as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman has entered history as one of 19th-century America's most enduring and important figures. But just who was this remarkable woman?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Returning this book
- By KMS on 07-11-18
-
The Road to Dawn: Josiah Henson and the Story That Sparked the Civil War
- By: Jared A. Brock
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 67
This sweeping biography about the man who was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is an epic tale of courage and bravery in the face of unimaginable trials. The Road to Dawn tells the improbable story of Josiah Henson - a dynamic, driven man with exceptional intelligence and unyielding principles, who overcame incredible odds to escape from slavery and improve the lives of hundreds of freedmen throughout his long life. He was immortalized by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great book and very informative
- By plcd22 on 07-04-18
By: Jared A. Brock
-
The Imperial Cruise
- A Secret History of Empire and War
- By: James Bradley
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 246
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous 21 year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Over the Top - Why did I waste my time?
- By Kent on 01-25-10
By: James Bradley
-
Bound for the Promised Land
- Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero
- By: Kate Clifford Larson
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 254
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 228
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 230
Harriet Tubman is one of the giants of American history - a fearless visionary who led scores of her fellow slaves to freedom and battled courageously behind enemy lines during the Civil War. And yet in the century since her death, next to nothing has been written about this extraordinary woman aside from juvenile biographies. The truth about Harriet Tubman has become lost inside a legend woven of racial and gender stereotypes.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Narration is problematic
- By Amazon Customer on 08-15-18
-
Genius of Place
- The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted
- By: Justin Martin
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 18 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 202
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 203
Frederick Law Olmsted is arguably the most important historical figure that the average American knows the least about. Best remembered for his landscape architecture, from New York's Central Park to Boston's Emerald Necklace to Stanford University's campus, Olmsted was also an influential journalist, early voice for the environment, and abolitionist credited with helping dissuade England from joining the South in the Civil War. This momentous career was shadowed by a tragic personal life, also fully portrayed here.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Ponderous yet incomplete
- By John F. Caffrey on 01-23-19
By: Justin Martin
-
City of Dreams
- The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York
- By: Tyler Anbinder
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
Tyler Anbinder's story is one of innovators and artists, revolutionaries and rioters, staggering deprivation and soaring triumphs, all playing out against the powerful backdrop of New York City, at once ever changing and profoundly, permanently itself. City of Dreams provides a vivid sense of what New York looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and felt like over the centuries of its development and maturation into the city we know today.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Even as a history, not engaging
- By Patrick Kelly on 12-03-16
By: Tyler Anbinder
-
Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name
- By: David M. Buerge
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall