Brilliant Beacons
A History of the American Lighthouse
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Brilliant Beacons
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Narrated by:
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Tom Perkins
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By:
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Eric Jay Dolin
About this listen
In a work rich in maritime lore and brimming with original historical detail, Eric Jay Dolin, the best-selling author of Leviathan, presents the most comprehensive history of American lighthouses ever written, telling the story of America through the prism of its beloved coastal sentinels.
Set against the backdrop of an expanding nation, Brilliant Beacons traces the evolution of America's lighthouse system, highlighting the political, military, and technological battles fought to illuminate the nation's hardscrabble coastlines. In rollicking detail, Dolin treats listeners to a memorable cast of characters, including the penny-pinching Treasury official Stephen Pleasonton, who hamstrung the country's efforts to adopt the revolutionary "Fresnel Lens", and presents tales both humorous and harrowing of soldiers, saboteurs, ruthless egg collectors, and, most importantly, the light-keepers themselves.
©2016 Eric Jay Dolin (P)2016 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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The paths of the great American robber barons were paved with riches, and though ordinary citizens paid for them, they also profited. Les Standiford, author of the John Deal thrillers, tells how the man who turned Florida's swamps into the playgrounds of the rich performed the almost superhuman feat of building a railroad from the mainland to Key West at the turn of the century.
-
4 out of 5 stars
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A Pleasant Surprise
- By Roy on 04-05-09
By: Les Standiford
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Leviathan
- The History of Whaling in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 245
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
Here is the epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. This absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
NOT JUST BLUBBER
- By Jesse on 08-06-07
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 813
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 733
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 726
Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
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Atlantic
- Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 756
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 567
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 566
Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Spanning the ocean's story, from its geological origins to the age of exploration, from World War II battles to today's struggles with pollution and overfishing, Winchester's narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Starts Better Than it Finishes
- By Ray on 12-18-10
By: Simon Winchester
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The Storm of the Century
- Tragedy, Heroism, Survival, and the Epic True Story of America's Deadliest Natural Disaster: The Great Gulf Hurricane of 1900
- By: Al Roker, William Hogeland
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 164
On the afternoon of September 8, 1900, 200-mile-per-hour winds and 15-foot waves slammed into Galveston, the prosperous and growing port city on Texas' Gulf Coast. By dawn the next day, when the storm had passed, the city that had existed just hours before was gone. Shattered, grief-stricken survivors emerged to witness a level of destruction never before seen: 8,000 corpses littered the streets and were buried under the massive wreckage.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Review of "The Storm of the Century "
- By S. Noe on 09-04-15
By: Al Roker, and others
-
Sea of Glory
- America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 626
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 467
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 471
America's first frontier was not the West; it was the sea, and no one writes more eloquently about that watery wilderness than Nathaniel Philbrick. In his best-selling In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick probed the nightmarish dangers of the vast Pacific. Now, in an epic sea adventure, he writes about one of the most ambitious voyages of discovery the Western world has ever seen - the US Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A good solid voyage of discovery
- By Ken Sundermeyer on 06-18-05
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Erebus
- One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time
- By: Michael Palin
- Narrated by: Michael Palin
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 95
Michael Palin brings the fascinating story of the Erebus and its occupants to life, from its construction as a bomb vessel in 1826 through the flagship years of James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition and finally to Sir John Franklin’s quest for the holy grail of navigation - a route through the Northwest Passage, where the ship disappeared into the depths of the sea for more than 150 years. It was rediscovered under the arctic waters in 2014.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Engrossing story
- By Anonymous User on 10-01-24
By: Michael Palin
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The Mathews Men
- Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler's U-boats
- By: William Geroux
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 280
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 255
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 252
From the author of The Ghost Ships of Archangel, one of the last unheralded heroic stories of World War II: The U-boat assault off the American coast against the men of the US Merchant Marine who were supplying the European war, and one community’s monumental contribution to that effort. Mathews County, Virginia, is a remote outpost on the Chesapeake Bay with little to offer except unspoiled scenery - but it sent an unusually large concentration of sea captains to fight in World War II.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging Read Not About Brothers, but Men
- By Gillian on 04-22-16
By: William Geroux
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The Great Halifax Explosion
- A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
- By: John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 358
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 320
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 319
From best-selling author John U. Bacon, a gripping narrative history of the largest manmade detonation prior to Hiroshima. On Monday, December 3, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn carrying the largest cache of explosives ever loaded onto a ship, including 2,300 tons of picric acid, an unstable, poisonous chemical more powerful than TNT.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Too much hostility towards Americans
- By bigdaddyKT on 12-14-19
By: John U. Bacon
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Iron Dawn
- The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History
- By: Richard Snow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 446
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 389
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 389
No single sea battle has had more far-reaching consequences than the one fought in the harbor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in March 1862. The Confederacy, with no fleet of its own, built an iron fort containing 10 heavy guns on the hull of a captured Union frigate named the Merrimack. The North got word of the project when it was already well along, and, in desperation, commissioned an eccentric inventor named John Ericsson to build the Monitor, an entirely revolutionary iron warship.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good book about an underreported area of the civil war
- By Brian on 11-09-16
By: Richard Snow
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The Galveston Hurricane of 1900
- The Deadliest Natural Disaster in American History
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Steve Rausch
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Prior to advanced communications, few people knew about impending hurricanes except those closest to the site. In the days before television or even radio, catastrophic descriptions were merely recorded on paper, limiting our understanding of the immediate impact. Thus it was inevitable that the category 4 hurricane would cause almost inconceivable destruction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Hurricane
- By scott massey on 06-14-24
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Graveyard of the Lakes
- Great Lakes Books Series
- By: Mark L. Thompson
- Narrated by: Scott MacDonald
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In Graveyard of the Lakes, Thompson suggests that most of the accidents and deaths on the lakes have been the result of human error, ranging from simple mistakes to gross incompetence. In addition to his compelling analysis of the causes of shipwrecks, Thompson includes factual accounts of more than 100 wrecks. Graveyard of the Lakes will forever change the listener's perspective on shipwrecks.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Graveyard of the Lakes
- By Bernard Slicker on 02-11-18
By: Mark L. Thompson
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Away Off Shore
- Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
In his first book of history, Away Off Shore, New York Times best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals the people and the stories behind what was once the whaling capital of the world. Beyond its charm, quaint local traditions, and whaling yarns, Philbrick explores the origins of Nantucket in this comprehensive history. From the English settlers who thought they were purchasing a "Native American ghost town" but actually found a fully realized society, the story of Nantucket is a truly unique chapter of American history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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There once were some (wo)men in Nantucket...
- By Darwin8u on 02-03-19
-
Raising the Hunley
- The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine
- By: Brian Hicks, Schuyler Kropf
- Narrated by: Harry Chase
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
"Forget the Titanic; this sub wreck is hot," says the Wall Street Journal. Award-winning journalists Hicks and Kropf offer new insights into the dramatic history and mysterious disappearance of the Hunley, the first submersible to sink another ship. The Hunley represented one of the major technological breakthroughs of the Civil War, and it has fascinated many to the point of obsession ever since its disappearance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Civil War history
- By Randall E. on 11-10-03
By: Brian Hicks, and others
-
Farther Than Any Man
- The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 391
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 339
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 338
In the annals of seafaring and exploration, there is one name that immediately evokes visions of the open ocean, billowing sails, visiting strange, exotic lands previously uncharted, and civilizations never before encountered - Captain James Cook. Full of realistic action, lush descriptions of places and events, and fascinating historical characters such as King George III and the soon-to-be-notorious Master William Bligh, Dugard's gripping account of the life and death of Captain James Cook is a thrilling story of a discoverer hell-bent on going farther than any man.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Sloppy History
- By Kyle P. Dalton on 04-06-18
By: Martin Dugard
-
Barons of the Sea
- By: Steven Ujifusa
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
When the United States was young, importing luxury goods from China was a secretive, glamorous, often brutal business - one where teas and silks and porcelain were purchased with profits from the opium trade. But the journey by sea to New York from Canton could take six agonizing months, and so the most pressing technological challenge of the day became ensuring one’s goods arrived first to market. Barons of the Sea tells the story of a handful of cutthroat competitors who raced to build the fastest, finest, most profitable clipper ships to carry their precious cargo to American shores.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Lost at sea
- By Steve on 07-24-18
By: Steven Ujifusa
-
The Great Quake
- How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet
- By: Henry Fountain
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 249
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 217
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 216
A riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in North American recorded history - the 1964 Alaska earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and swept away the island village of Chenega - and the geologist who hunted for clues to explain how and why it took place.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating to hear the full story
- By Debby A Davis on 08-18-17
By: Henry Fountain
-
Island of the Blue Foxes
- Disaster and Triumph on the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition
- By: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
The story of the world's largest, longest, and best-financed scientific expedition of all time, triumphantly successful, gruesomely tragic, and never before fully told. The immense 18th-century scientific journey, variously known as the Second Kamchatka Expedition or the Great Northern Expedition, from St. Petersburg across Siberia to the coast of North America, involved over 3,000 people and cost Peter the Great over one-sixth of his empire's annual revenue.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Vivid History of Russia's First Contact In Alaska
- By Neil Ring on 09-01-18
By: Stephen R. Bown
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Leviathan
- The History of Whaling in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 245
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
Here is the epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. This absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs.
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4 out of 5 stars
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NOT JUST BLUBBER
- By Jesse on 08-06-07
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Fur, Fortune, and Empire
- The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 524
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 425
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 425
From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes this sweeping narrative of one of America’s most historically rich industries. Beginning his epic history in the early 1600s, Eric Jay Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur trade industry, from the first Dutch encounters with the Indians to the rise of the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century.
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2 out of 5 stars
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a compilation of trivia
- By D. Littman on 07-18-10
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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A Furious Sky
- The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
With A Furious Sky, Eric Jay Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Good start but went political at the end.
- By thebreeze on 03-24-21
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Rebels at Sea
- Privateering in the American Revolution
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character. In Rebels at Sea, Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
If you can get over the narrator...
- By Toby Everett on 09-20-22
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Black Flags, Blue Waters
- The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,258
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,101
Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy's "Golden Age" when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of these seafaring outlaws.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Solid read, BUT...
- By K ODell on 07-17-19
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Leviathan
- The History of Whaling in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: James Boles
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 245
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
Here is the epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. This absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
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NOT JUST BLUBBER
- By Jesse on 08-06-07
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Fur, Fortune, and Empire
- The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 524
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 425
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 425
From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes this sweeping narrative of one of America’s most historically rich industries. Beginning his epic history in the early 1600s, Eric Jay Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur trade industry, from the first Dutch encounters with the Indians to the rise of the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
a compilation of trivia
- By D. Littman on 07-18-10
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
A Furious Sky
- The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
With A Furious Sky, Eric Jay Dolin has created a vivid, sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes and puts us in the middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000 people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American history.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good start but went political at the end.
- By thebreeze on 03-24-21
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Rebels at Sea
- Privateering in the American Revolution
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character. In Rebels at Sea, Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
If you can get over the narrator...
- By Toby Everett on 09-20-22
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Black Flags, Blue Waters
- The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,258
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,101
Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy's "Golden Age" when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of these seafaring outlaws.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Solid read, BUT...
- By K ODell on 07-17-19
By: Eric Jay Dolin
What listeners say about Brilliant Beacons
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- M Mulligan
- 04-30-16
Must Listen
If you enjoy lighthouse and/or maritime history...this is a must. I enjoyed every minute. Will revisit this in the future.
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1 person found this 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
- Anastasia
- 04-25-21
Great book about Lighthouses
This book is a must-have for all lighthouse enthusiasts. It is both informative and enjoyable to read or listen to.
Very well narrated.
Tells you how the lighthouses are build, maintained, cared for, as well as about their role in the American history.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Denise D.
- 09-08-24
I love lighthouses
I love lighthouses, and Dolin is one of my favorite historians! I didn’t even know this book existed, and it came up as a suggestion on Audible. It may have even been a free listen for me. What a great surprise. I learned so very much from this book about all those beacons that helped our nation.
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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
- Joshua
- 09-16-18
Another great book by Dolin
A fascinating and super detailed history of lighthouses on par with all of Dolin’s other books. At times somewhat slow but a good light hearted vacation book.
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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
- Amber Y.
- 06-05-24
Best audiobook on American lighthouses
This is the most comprehensive book on the history of American lighthouses that I am aware of on Audible. Highly recommend!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- C.Joy S.
- 05-06-17
Boring
Based upon review and a interest in lighthouses I looked forward to listening to this book. Instead In the listening of it a fell asleep a time or two. 😴
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