Madison's Militia
The Hidden History of the Second Amendment
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alan Peterson
-
By:
-
Carl T. Bogus
About this listen
In Madison’s Militia, Carl T. Bogus illuminates why James Madison and the First Congress included the right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights. Linking together dramatic accounts of slave uprisings and electric debates over whether the Constitution should be ratified, Bogus shows that—contrary to conventional wisdom—the fitting symbol of the Second Amendment is not the musket in the hands of the minuteman on Lexington Green but the musket wielded by a slave patrol member in the South.
Bogus begins with a dramatic rendering of the showdown in Virginia between James Madison and his Federalist allies, who were arguing for ratification of the new Constitution, and Patrick Henry and the Antifederalists, who opposed it. Henry accused Madison of supporting a constitution that empowered Congress to disarm the militia, on which the South relied for slave control. The narrative then proceeds to the First Congress, where Madison had to make good on a congressional campaign promise to write a Bill of Rights—and seizing that opportunity to solve the problem Henry had raised.
Three other collections of stories—on slave insurrections, Revolutionary War battles, and the English Declaration of Rights—are skillfully woven into the narrative and show how arming ragtag militias was never the primary goal of the amendment. And as the puzzle pieces come together, even initially skeptical listeners will be surprised by the completed picture: one that forcefully demonstrates that the Second Amendment was intended in the first instance to protect slaveholders from the people they owned.
©2023 Carl T. Bogus (P)2023 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Year That Broke Politics
- Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968
- By: Luke A. Nichter
- Narrated by: Kent Klineman
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1968 presidential race was a contentious battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and former Alabama governor George Wallace. The United States was reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy and was bitterly divided on the Vietnam War and domestic issues, including civil rights and rising crime. Drawing on previously unexamined archives and numerous interviews, Luke A. Nichter upends the conventional understanding of the campaign.
-
-
Stilted and sibilant
- By K. W. on 08-05-24
By: Luke A. Nichter
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
American Gun
- The True Story of the AR-15 Rifle
- By: Cameron McWhirter, Zusha Elinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, an obsessive firearms designer named Eugene Stoner invented the AR-15 rifle in a California garage. High-minded and patriotic, Stoner sought to devise a lightweight, easy-to-use weapon that could replace the M1s touted by soldiers in World War II. What he did create was a lethal handheld icon of the American century.
-
-
Don't Look Away
- By Mike on 10-31-23
By: Cameron McWhirter, and others
-
Klan War
- Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction
- By: Fergus M. Bordewich
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. And their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrifying means imaginable.
-
-
a great but depressing book
- By D. Littman on 12-12-23
-
Homegrown
- Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
- By: Jeffrey Toobin
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Toobin
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets: killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.” But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001.
-
-
Not a great book I’m sorry to say
- By H. Winslow on 05-10-23
By: Jeffrey Toobin
-
Poverty, by America
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?
-
-
A testimonial based on facts and witness
- By Alonzo Nightjar on 03-27-23
By: Matthew Desmond
-
The Year That Broke Politics
- Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968
- By: Luke A. Nichter
- Narrated by: Kent Klineman
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1968 presidential race was a contentious battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Republican Richard Nixon, and former Alabama governor George Wallace. The United States was reeling from the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy and was bitterly divided on the Vietnam War and domestic issues, including civil rights and rising crime. Drawing on previously unexamined archives and numerous interviews, Luke A. Nichter upends the conventional understanding of the campaign.
-
-
Stilted and sibilant
- By K. W. on 08-05-24
By: Luke A. Nichter
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
American Gun
- The True Story of the AR-15 Rifle
- By: Cameron McWhirter, Zusha Elinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, an obsessive firearms designer named Eugene Stoner invented the AR-15 rifle in a California garage. High-minded and patriotic, Stoner sought to devise a lightweight, easy-to-use weapon that could replace the M1s touted by soldiers in World War II. What he did create was a lethal handheld icon of the American century.
-
-
Don't Look Away
- By Mike on 10-31-23
By: Cameron McWhirter, and others
-
Klan War
- Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction
- By: Fergus M. Bordewich
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. And their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrifying means imaginable.
-
-
a great but depressing book
- By D. Littman on 12-12-23
-
Homegrown
- Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism
- By: Jeffrey Toobin
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Toobin
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement. Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets: killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.” But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001.
-
-
Not a great book I’m sorry to say
- By H. Winslow on 05-10-23
By: Jeffrey Toobin
-
Poverty, by America
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?
-
-
A testimonial based on facts and witness
- By Alonzo Nightjar on 03-27-23
By: Matthew Desmond
-
Blowback
- A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump
- By: Miles Taylor
- Narrated by: Miles Taylor
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Donald Trump will be president again, whether he is on the ballot or not. That is because Trumpism is overtaking the Republican Party and will mount a vigorous comeback, potentially in the hands of a savvier successor. This prophecy will come true, according to Miles Taylor, if we do not learn the lessons of the recent past. With the 2024 election approaching, the formerly “Anonymous” official is back with bombshell revelations and a sobering national forecast. Taylor predicts what could happen inside “Trump 2.0,” the White House of a more competent and more formidable copycat.
-
-
We will only have ourselves to blame if we sink into autocracy
- By MS on 07-23-23
By: Miles Taylor
-
The Three Lives of James Madison
- Genius, Partisan, President
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 34 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician, he cofounded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
-
-
Cogently organized, meticulously balanced
- By Diana Black Kennedy on 06-15-18
By: Noah Feldman
-
South to America
- A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: Imani Perry
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In South to America, Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole.
-
-
An incredible achievement
- By Tom on 02-16-22
By: Imani Perry
-
The Russo-Ukrainian War
- The Return of History
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war—and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated. Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences.
-
-
Plokhy delivers as always!
- By Kristinka on 05-20-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
-
To Rescue the Constitution
- George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment
- By: Bret Baier
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative ranging from the unsettled early American frontier and the battlefields of the Revolution to the history-making clashes within Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Bret Baier’s To Rescue the Constitution dramatically illuminates the life of George Washington, the Founder who did more than perhaps any other individual to secure the future of the United States.
-
-
Never disappointed in the historical accounts of our countries accounts.
- By Terri Anderson on 10-13-23
By: Bret Baier
-
A Fever in the Heartland
- The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Timothy Egan
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roaring Twenties—the Jazz Age—has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.
-
-
This is a must read!
- By V. Richmond on 04-14-23
By: Timothy Egan
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
TMI But Not Enough Human Perspective
- By Lynn on 01-07-24
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Second Founding
- How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
- By: Eric Foner
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar, a timely history of the constitutional changes that built equality into the nation's foundation and how those guarantees have been shaken over time.
-
-
Excellent book - problematic narrator
- By Jennifer on 10-01-19
By: Eric Foner
-
Angela Davis
- An Autobiography
- By: Angela Davis
- Narrated by: Angela Davis
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison-abolitionist movements for more than 50 years. Angela Davis: An Autobiography, first published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, is a powerful and commanding account of her early years in these struggles. Read by Angela Davis herself, this autobiography, told with warmth, brilliance, humor, and conviction, is a classic account of a life in struggle, with echoes in our own time.
-
-
Good story of an interesting person
- By Antuane Brown on 03-17-22
By: Angela Davis
-
The Shadow Docket
- How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic
- By: Stephen Vladeck
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. But since 2017, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes “shadow docket,” regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, through cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers—and citizens—scrambling. But Americans of all political stripes should be worried about what the shadow docket portends for the rule of law, argues Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck.
-
-
Where was Vladeck?
- By SorenKMiller on 05-25-23
By: Stephen Vladeck
-
Franklin & Washington
- The Founding Partnership
- By: Edward J. Larson
- Narrated by: Andrew Tell
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today the United States is the world’s great superpower, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago - the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college - as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.
-
-
Two together, written about at same time
- By fair & balanced on 03-28-21
By: Edward J. Larson
-
American Whitelash
- A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress
- By: Wesley Lowery
- Narrated by: Wesley Lowery
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In American Whitelash, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and best-selling author Wesley Lowery charts the return of this blood-stained trend, showing how the forces of white power retaliated against Obama’s victory—and both profited from, and helped to propel, the rise of Donald Trump. Interweaving deep historical analysis with gripping firsthand reporting on both victims and perpetrators of violence, Lowery uncovers how this vicious cycle is carrying us into ever more perilous territory, how the federal government has failed to intervene, and how we still might find a route of escape.
-
-
I hate that our country is this way
- By Cullen on 07-22-23
By: Wesley Lowery
Related to this topic
-
Franklin & Washington
- The Founding Partnership
- By: Edward J. Larson
- Narrated by: Andrew Tell
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today the United States is the world’s great superpower, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago - the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college - as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.
-
-
Two together, written about at same time
- By fair & balanced on 03-28-21
By: Edward J. Larson
-
Congress at War
- How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America
- By: Fergus M. Bordewich
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Building a riveting narrative around four influential members of Congress - Thaddeus Stevens, Pitt Fessenden, Ben Wade, and the pro-slavery Clement Vallandigham - Fergus Bordewich shows us how a newly empowered Republican party shaped one of the most dynamic and consequential periods in American history.
-
-
Fascinating read!
- By Lisa Balestrini on 09-12-20
-
Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By J. Weston on 12-11-20
-
It Wasn’t About Slavery
- Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War
- By: Samuel W. Mitcham
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Was the Civil War really about slavery? Or was it a war fought over money? Civil War historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., (Vicksburg, Bust Hell Wide Open) opens his fascinating new book, It Wasn't About Slavery, with Dr. Grady McWhiney's claim that "what passes as standard American history is really Yankee history written by New Englanders or their puppets to glorify Yankee heroes and ideals".
-
-
Abbeville Condensed
- By AC Gleason on 07-16-20
-
The War That Forged a Nation
- Why the Civil War Still Matters
- By: James McPherson
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson considers why the Civil War remains so deeply embedded in our national psyche and identity. The drama and tragedy of the war help explain why the Civil War remains a topic of interest. But the legacy of the war extends far beyond historical interest or scholarly attention.
-
-
A Different Kind of History from McPherson
- By Carole T. on 08-11-16
By: James McPherson
-
Fateful Lightning
- A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 26 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Fateful Lightning, two-time Lincoln Prize-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the Civil War and its era, covering not only the major figures and epic battles, but also politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. He examines the strategy, the tactics, and the logistics of the Civil War and brings the most recent historical thinking to bear on emancipation, the presidency and the war powers, the blockade and international law, and the role of intellectuals, North and South.
-
-
The worst part of this book is it's title
- By Rodney on 11-19-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
Franklin & Washington
- The Founding Partnership
- By: Edward J. Larson
- Narrated by: Andrew Tell
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today the United States is the world’s great superpower, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago - the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college - as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.
-
-
Two together, written about at same time
- By fair & balanced on 03-28-21
By: Edward J. Larson
-
Congress at War
- How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America
- By: Fergus M. Bordewich
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Building a riveting narrative around four influential members of Congress - Thaddeus Stevens, Pitt Fessenden, Ben Wade, and the pro-slavery Clement Vallandigham - Fergus Bordewich shows us how a newly empowered Republican party shaped one of the most dynamic and consequential periods in American history.
-
-
Fascinating read!
- By Lisa Balestrini on 09-12-20
-
Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By J. Weston on 12-11-20
-
It Wasn’t About Slavery
- Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War
- By: Samuel W. Mitcham
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Was the Civil War really about slavery? Or was it a war fought over money? Civil War historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., (Vicksburg, Bust Hell Wide Open) opens his fascinating new book, It Wasn't About Slavery, with Dr. Grady McWhiney's claim that "what passes as standard American history is really Yankee history written by New Englanders or their puppets to glorify Yankee heroes and ideals".
-
-
Abbeville Condensed
- By AC Gleason on 07-16-20
-
The War That Forged a Nation
- Why the Civil War Still Matters
- By: James McPherson
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson considers why the Civil War remains so deeply embedded in our national psyche and identity. The drama and tragedy of the war help explain why the Civil War remains a topic of interest. But the legacy of the war extends far beyond historical interest or scholarly attention.
-
-
A Different Kind of History from McPherson
- By Carole T. on 08-11-16
By: James McPherson
-
Fateful Lightning
- A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction
- By: Allen C. Guelzo
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 26 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Fateful Lightning, two-time Lincoln Prize-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the Civil War and its era, covering not only the major figures and epic battles, but also politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. He examines the strategy, the tactics, and the logistics of the Civil War and brings the most recent historical thinking to bear on emancipation, the presidency and the war powers, the blockade and international law, and the role of intellectuals, North and South.
-
-
The worst part of this book is it's title
- By Rodney on 11-19-13
By: Allen C. Guelzo
-
Founding Fathers
- A Captivating Guide to Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and James Monroe
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Desmond Manny, Jason R. Gray, David Patton, and others
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Explore the captivating lives of the Founding Fathers. Eight captivating manuscripts in one audiobook. So if you want to learn more about the life of Founding Fathers, get this audiobook now!
-
-
filled with inaccuracies
- By Eben on 04-13-22
-
Confederate Reckoning
- Power and Politics in the Civil War South
- By: Stephanie McCurry
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the Confederate States of America, the proslavery, antidemocratic nation created by white Southern slaveholders to protect their property, has been told many times in heroic and martial narratives. Now, however, Stephanie McCurry tells a very different tale of the Confederate experience. Confederate Reckoning is the startling story of this epic political battle in which women and slaves helped to decide the fate of the Confederacy and the outcome of the Civil War.
-
-
Good view of the confederate inner workings.
- By Amazonian on 08-10-22
-
Freedom National
- The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865
- By: James Oakes
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The consensus view of the Civil War - that it was first and foremost a war to restore the Union, and an antislavery war only later when it became necessary for Union victory - dies here. James Oakes’s groundbreaking history shows how deftly Lincoln and congressional Republicans pursued antislavery throughout the war, pragmatic in policy but steadfast on principle. In the disloyal South the federal government quickly began freeing slaves, immediately and without slaveholder compensation, as they fled to Union lines.
-
-
An Excellent Book on an Important and little understood subject
- By Dee M on 12-22-22
By: James Oakes
-
The Cause
- The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.
-
-
Modest history primer, wished for more substance
- By Buretto on 10-21-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
-
The Virginia Dynasty
- Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation
- By: Lynne Cheney
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe - from the best-selling historian and author of James Madison.
-
-
Captivating
- By Jean on 11-19-20
By: Lynne Cheney
-
This Mighty Scourge
- Perspectives on the Civil War
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and many other award-winning books, James M. McPherson is America's preeminent Civil War historian. Now, in this collection of provocative and illuminating essays, McPherson offers fresh insight into many of the most enduring questions about one of the defining moments in our nation's history.
-
-
An Introduction to McPherson
- By Roy on 05-03-09
-
Liberty Is Sweet
- The Hidden History of the American Revolution
- By: Woody Holton
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Using more than a thousand eyewitness records, Liberty Is Sweet is a “spirited account” (Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution) that explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. “It is all one story,” prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes.
-
-
The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
- By M. H. Raful on 11-03-21
By: Woody Holton
-
The Fall of the House of Dixie
- The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South
- By: Bruce Levine
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The J. G. Randall Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Illinois and associate editor of North and South magazine, Bruce Levine presents a gripping chronicle of the cultural and economic upheaval the South experienced during and after the Civil War. Drawing upon a treasure trove of diaries, letters, newspaper articles, and government documents, Levine offers a unique perspective on the old South's demise through the voices of those who lived through the conflict.
-
-
Merely ok. . .
- By Steve E. on 03-19-13
By: Bruce Levine
-
President Lincoln
- The Duty of a Statesman
- By: William Lee Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American president has come to be the most powerful figure in the world. And back in the 19th century, a great man held that office. William Lee Miller's new book closely examines that great man in that hugely important office: Abraham Lincoln as president.
-
-
An analysis of Lincoln's life, not a history
- By D. Rairigh on 05-24-09
-
Break It Up
- Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union
- By: Richard Kreitner
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its name - and never will. The disunionist impulse may have found its greatest expression in the Civil War, but as Break It Up shows, the seduction of secession wasn't limited to the South or the 19th century. With a scholar's command and a journalist's curiosity, Kreitner takes readers on a revolutionary journey through American history, revealing the power and persistence of disunion movements in every era and region.
-
-
Completely Partisan
- By Patrick Tobin on 11-06-22
By: Richard Kreitner
-
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers
- By: Brion McClanahan Ph. D.
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here to rescue the reputations of our Founding Fathers from the plague of modern political correctness is The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers. Author and Professor Brion McClanahan shows how patriots like Franklin, Madison, and Hamilton laid the foundations of American civil liberty and had a better understanding of the problems facing us today than our current Congress.
-
-
Highly Recommended
- By Colleen H. on 08-13-09
-
John Jay
- A Captivating Guide to an American Statesman, Patriot, Diplomat, Governor of New York, the First Chief Justice, and One of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jamie Peters
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Mack Zonee on 10-04-19
What listeners say about Madison's Militia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-20-23
Amicus Curiae Brief for Overturning DC vs. Heller
This is an incredibly detailed and comprehensive analysis of the history of militia, and militia clauses starting with their use in 17th Century England and through the ratification of the Bill of Rights. If Roe v. Wade can be overturned, Heller should be easy the next time we have a balanced court. Thank you Carl Bogus!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TheDude
- 05-06-23
Brilliant analysis of the history behind 2A
The book delves deep into the constitutional convention debates, the major players behind it, their motives (Patrick Henry being the biggest slave holder in VA, A.K.A. the "give me liberty" guy, with VA being the largest state and being the ninth state to barely ratify the Constitution), slave revolts in the Caribbean and the South (and how much that terrified the slave owners) as well as history prior to and after the convention. ---
It is apparent that slave states were more concerned with preventing and suppressing slave insurrections (which happened more frequently than reported because the South insisted on continuibg to propagate the "happy slave" myth) than affording an individual right to bear arms or even defending the country against foreign invasions. ---
Hence the amendment is comprised of a single sentence which mentions "security" (which is a passive word) of a "free state" - not the defense of the country as a whole; and "a well regulated militia", which was organized into slave patrols to seek runaway slaves. ---
Indeed, during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the British repeatedly overcome militia which frequently fled the battle (except for Lexington, Concord and possibly Bunker Hill). ---
There's no mention of an individual right to bear arms. Also, during the Revolutionary war, very few people owned guns. And before the Civil War, guns were made with iron and not steel, which made them useless after a dozen or so shots, unlike the guns today. ---
It simply makes no sense for a newly formed government, which barely held itself together by a handful of states that did not always get along, to enable its own populace to easily topple it. ---
In fact, today 48/50 states outlaws the forming of private militias without the supervision of the state. ---
All the militia was originally "good" for was maintaining the peculiar institution. That's what the second amendment was all about.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!