Give Me Liberty
A History of America's Exceptional Idea
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Give Me Liberty
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Narrated by:
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Tony Messano
About this listen
An award-winning historian recounts the history of American liberty through the stories of 13 essential documents
Nationalism is inevitable: It supplies feelings of belonging, identity, and recognition. It binds us to our neighbors and tells us who we are. But increasingly - from the United States to India, from Russia to Burma - nationalism is being invoked for unworthy ends: to disdain minorities or to support despots. As a result, nationalism has become to many a dirty word.
In Give Me Liberty, award-winning historian and biographer Richard Brookhiser offers up a truer and more inspiring story of American nationalism as it has evolved over 400 years. He examines America's history through 13 documents that made the United States a new country in a new world: a free country. We are what we are because of them; we stay true to what we are by staying true to them.
Americans have always sought liberty, asked for it, fought for it; every victory has been the fulfillment of old hopes and promises. This is our nationalism, and we should be proud of it.
©2019 Richard Brookhiser (P)2019 Basic BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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2 out of 5 stars
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story5 out of 5 stars 43
A deeply private man, shut off even to those who worked closely with him, Abraham Lincoln often captured “his best thoughts", as he called them, in short notes to himself. He would work out his personal stances on the biggest issues of the day, never expecting anyone to see these pieces of writing, which he’d then keep close at hand, in desk drawers and even in his top hat. The profound importance of these notes has been overlooked, because the originals are scattered across several different archives and have never before been brought together and examined as a coherent whole.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Good One--Highly Recommend
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,325
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,124
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The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
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John Jay
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- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
John Jay was a master statesman and strategic diplomat who associated with all the great men of his day in the mid-18th century. However, his contemporaries said that he was modest and humble. They indicated that they could be at a party or gathering and guests had to coax him into discussing his role during the American Revolution or as the first Supreme Court Justice of the new nation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable
- By Mack Zonee on 10-04-19
Critic reviews
"In our deeply divided America, Richard Brookhiser goes back in search of our roots, and finds them in that many-headed idea called 'liberty'. In his signature style, he wastes no words, defies the conventional political categories, and invites us to join him in recovering a series of inspirational moments when we all felt the same future in our hearts and minds. (Joseph J. Ellis, author of American Dialogue: The Founders and Us)
"Brookhiser grounds his spirited argument for American exceptionalism in the idea of liberty.... An engaging history of admirable episodes from America's past." (Kirkus)
"With his characteristic combination of elegance and shrewdness, Richard Brookhiser gives us another insightful account of what makes us the nation we are. Give Me Liberty is intellectual history at its riveting best." (H.W. Brands, author of Heirs of the Founders and Dreams of El Dorado)
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I listen when walking the pasture, tending animals, doing laundry and other household chores. I savored it -- for the stories and speeches about our history and ideals, for the hooks it dropped into my education in history (I'm a physicist and lawyer, not a historian) from many years gone by. I highly recommend this book -- whether in print or via audio edition -- as a very useful reacquainting with an interesting range of American events, persons, ideals, and history.
Thumbs up to the narrator -- the pace, the intonation, the familiarity with the subject that permitted correct phrasing, pauses and the like, well, just perfect.
Thank you.
Extraordinary!
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