Old Man River
The Mississippi River in North American History
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
Old Man River
Buy for $18.05
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alan Sklar
-
By:
-
Paul Schneider
About this listen
In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history - the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln's attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
In the 19th century, home-grown folk heroes such as Daniel Boone and the half-alligator, half-horse, Mike Fink, were creatures of the river. Mark Twain and Herman Melville led their characters down its stream in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Confidence-Man. A conduit of real-life American prowess, the Mississippi is also a river of stories and myth.
Schneider traces the history of the Mississippi from its origins in the deep geologic past to the present. Though the busiest waterway on the planet today, the Mississippi remains a paradox-a devastated product of American ingenuity, and a magnificent natural wonder.
©2013 Paul Schneider (P)2013 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Rising Tide
- The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Barry Grizzard
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 530
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 400
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 400
An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known, the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Where is the rest of the book?
- By Susie on 10-21-13
By: John M. Barry
-
Life on the Mississippi
- An Epic American Adventure
- By: Rinker Buck
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 156
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 136
Seven years ago, readers and listeners around the country fell in love with a singular American voice: Rinker Buck, whose infectious curiosity about history launched him across the West in a covered wagon pulled by mules and propelled his book about the trip, The Oregon Trail, to ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Buck returns to chronicle his latest incredible adventure: building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and journeying down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too Political and Divisive
- By Bill on 08-29-22
By: Rinker Buck
-
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere
- By: Paulette F. C. Steeves
- Narrated by: Kristin Aikin Salada
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 35
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere is a reclaimed history of the deep past of Indigenous people in North and South America during the Paleolithic. Paulette F. C. Steeves mines evidence from archaeology sites and Paleolithic environments, landscapes, and mammalian and human migrations to make the case that people have been in the Western Hemisphere not only just prior to Clovis sites (10,200 years ago) but for more than 60,000 years, and likely more than 100,000 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Impeccable, but poorly rated by racists.
- By Kate sierras on 07-07-23
-
Wicked River
- The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild
- By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
- Narrated by: Jeff McCarthy
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Acclaimed journalist and author Lee Sandlin delivers a riveting glimpse of a dangerous and colorful place in America’s historical landscape - the Mississippi River of the 19th century. Long before it was dredged into a shipping channel or romanticized into myth, the untamed Mississippi - the lifeblood of communities that rose and fell along its banks - spawned a motley array of pirates and dignitaries, visionaries, and thieves.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Worth a listen
- By Robert B. Golson on 12-09-10
By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
-
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry
- A People's History (America's Third Coast Series)
- By: Deanne Love Stephens
- Narrated by: Lauren Pedersen
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The seafood industry on the coast of Mississippi has attracted waves of immigrants and other workers, oftentimes folks who were either already acquainted with maritime livelihoods or those who quickly adapted to the resources of the region. For generations, the industry has provided employment and sustenance to Coast peoples.
-
The Undertow
- Scenes from a Slow Civil War
- By: Jeff Sharlet
- Narrated by: Jeff Sharlet
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 157
An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I'm just not feeling this one....
- By J. Richmond on 08-04-23
By: Jeff Sharlet
-
Rising Tide
- The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Barry Grizzard
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 530
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 400
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 400
An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known, the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Where is the rest of the book?
- By Susie on 10-21-13
By: John M. Barry
-
Life on the Mississippi
- An Epic American Adventure
- By: Rinker Buck
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 156
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 136
Seven years ago, readers and listeners around the country fell in love with a singular American voice: Rinker Buck, whose infectious curiosity about history launched him across the West in a covered wagon pulled by mules and propelled his book about the trip, The Oregon Trail, to ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Buck returns to chronicle his latest incredible adventure: building a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and journeying down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too Political and Divisive
- By Bill on 08-29-22
By: Rinker Buck
-
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere
- By: Paulette F. C. Steeves
- Narrated by: Kristin Aikin Salada
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 35
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere is a reclaimed history of the deep past of Indigenous people in North and South America during the Paleolithic. Paulette F. C. Steeves mines evidence from archaeology sites and Paleolithic environments, landscapes, and mammalian and human migrations to make the case that people have been in the Western Hemisphere not only just prior to Clovis sites (10,200 years ago) but for more than 60,000 years, and likely more than 100,000 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Impeccable, but poorly rated by racists.
- By Kate sierras on 07-07-23
-
Wicked River
- The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild
- By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
- Narrated by: Jeff McCarthy
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Acclaimed journalist and author Lee Sandlin delivers a riveting glimpse of a dangerous and colorful place in America’s historical landscape - the Mississippi River of the 19th century. Long before it was dredged into a shipping channel or romanticized into myth, the untamed Mississippi - the lifeblood of communities that rose and fell along its banks - spawned a motley array of pirates and dignitaries, visionaries, and thieves.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Worth a listen
- By Robert B. Golson on 12-09-10
By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
-
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry
- A People's History (America's Third Coast Series)
- By: Deanne Love Stephens
- Narrated by: Lauren Pedersen
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The seafood industry on the coast of Mississippi has attracted waves of immigrants and other workers, oftentimes folks who were either already acquainted with maritime livelihoods or those who quickly adapted to the resources of the region. For generations, the industry has provided employment and sustenance to Coast peoples.
-
The Undertow
- Scenes from a Slow Civil War
- By: Jeff Sharlet
- Narrated by: Jeff Sharlet
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 157
An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I'm just not feeling this one....
- By J. Richmond on 08-04-23
By: Jeff Sharlet
-
The Mississippi Territory and the Southwest Frontier, 1795-1817
- By: Robert V. Haynes PhD
- Narrated by: W. B. Ward
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
Originally inhabited by Native American tribes, territorial Mississippi has a complex history rife with fierce contention. Here, Robert V. Haynes does more than recount history; he explores the political and diplomatic situations that led to the formation and expansion of the Mississippi Territory. Extensively researched and exceptionally written, Haynes details critical events in Mississippi's rich history, such as ongoing border violence, the arrest of infamous traitor Aaron Burr, and the bloody Creek War.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must for History buffs
- By Joshua on 02-25-18
-
River Fever: Adventures on the Mississippi, 1969-1972
- By: Will Bagley
- Narrated by: Will Bagley
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4
Beginning in the spring of 1969, Huckleberry Finn inspired a question: Could you build a raft, float down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and on the way learn something about America and its peoples? Will Bagley, a vagrant longhair and future prize-winning western historian, and his friends could, and did. Now, a half century after the adventure, Bagley tells his story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved going on this Mississippi River adventure
- By The Green Girl on 08-14-20
By: Will Bagley
-
Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans
- The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny
- By: Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger
- Narrated by: Brian Kilmeade
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,855
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,647
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,641
When the British fought the young United States during the War of 1812, they knew that taking the mouth of the Mississippi River was the key to crippling their former colony. Capturing the city of New Orleans and stopping trade up the river sounded like a simple task - New Orleans was far away from Washington, out of sight and out of mind for the politicians. What the British didn't count on was the power of General Andrew Jackson.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This was new to me War 1812
- By Suz on 10-27-17
By: Brian Kilmeade, and others
-
Nature's Mutiny
- How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present
- By: Philipp Blom
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 80
Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the 16th century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and "frost fairs" were erected on a frozen Thames - with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this "Little Ice Age", acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had subtly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-17th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Starts On Track; End Becomes Ideological Rant
- By Danioton on 06-07-20
By: Philipp Blom
-
Undaunted Courage
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,935
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,714
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,700
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River, across the forbidding Rockies, and - by way of the Snake and the Columbia rivers - down to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, endured incredible hardships and witnessed astounding sights. With great perseverance, they worked their way into an unexplored West. When they returned two years later, they had long since been given up for dead.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Narration kills a great book
- By Kindle Customer on 02-10-08
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,510
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,322
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,317
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Indigenous Continent
- The Epic Contest for North America
- By: Pekka Hamalainen
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 94
In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
indigenous Continent
- By katherine on 07-09-23
By: Pekka Hamalainen
-
The Devil's Element
- Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance
- By: Dan Egan
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 30
Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal substances on earth: firebombs, rat poison, nerve gas. But it’s also the key component of one of the most vital: fertilizer, which has sustained life for billions of people.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Exceptionally well crafted
- By DJJ on 03-30-23
By: Dan Egan
-
The First Frontier
- The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America
- By: Scott Weidensaul
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 382
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 336
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 336
Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too PC
- By Eric on 07-24-13
By: Scott Weidensaul
-
Life on the Mississippi
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: John Howels
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 5
"Life on the Mississippi" (1883) is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Writer's ramblings ruined it
- By Kathy Coppens on 08-08-24
By: Mark Twain
-
Blood and Thunder
- An Epic of the American West
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,536
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,524
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Publisher's summary does not do it justice
- By Eric on 02-07-11
By: Hampton Sides
-
The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,235
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,319
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,331
A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
The First Frontier
- The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America
- By: Scott Weidensaul
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 382
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 336
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 336
Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too PC
- By Eric on 07-24-13
By: Scott Weidensaul
-
A Voyage Long and Strange
- Rediscovering the New World
- By: Tony Horwitz
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 185
On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz makes an unsettling discovery. A history buff since early childhood, expensively educated at university - a history major, no less! - he's reached middle age with a third-grader's grasp of early America. In fact, he's mislaid more than a century of American history, the period separating Columbus' landing in 1492 from the arrival of English colonists at Jamestown in 16-oh-something. Did nothing happen in between?
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Just Not For Me
- By Sara on 10-25-15
By: Tony Horwitz
-
Black Dragon River
- A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires
- By: Dominic Ziegler
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Black Dragon River is a personal journey down one of Asia's great rivers. The world's ninth largest river, the Amur serves as a large part of the border between Russia and China. As a crossroads for the great empires of Asia, this area offers journalist Dominic Ziegler a lens with which to examine the societies at Europe's only borderland with East Asia.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
INFORMATIVE
- By JK on 10-14-22
By: Dominic Ziegler
-
Astoria
- John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival
- By: Peter Stark
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,930
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,705
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,708
At a time when the edge of American settlement barely reached beyond the Appalachian Mountains, two visionaries, President Thomas Jefferson and millionaire John Jacob Astor, foresaw that one day the Pacific would dominate world trade as much as the Atlantic did in their day. Just two years after the Lewis and Clark expedition concluded in 1806, Jefferson and Astor turned their sights westward once again. Thus began one of history's dramatic but largely forgotten turning points in the conquest of the North American continent.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Where Lewis and Clark Left Off
- By Mel on 01-11-15
By: Peter Stark
-
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
-
Encounters at the Heart of the World
- A History of the Mandan People
- By: Elizabeth A. Fenn
- Narrated by: Christine Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were, for centuries, at the center of the North American universe. We know of them mostly because Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 with them, but why don't we know more? Who were they really? In this extraordinary book, Elizabeth A. Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well deserved Pulitzer Prize winner!
- By DaveF on 11-10-19
-
The First Frontier
- The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America
- By: Scott Weidensaul
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 382
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 336
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 336
Frontier: the word carries the inevitable scent of the West. But before Custer or Lewis and Clark, before the first Conestoga wagons rumbled across the Plains, it was the East that marked the frontier - the boundary between complex Native cultures and the first colonizing Europeans.Here is the older, wilder, darker history of a time when the land between the Atlantic and the Appalachians was contested ground - when radically different societies adopted and adapted the ways of the other, while struggling for control of what all considered to be their land.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too PC
- By Eric on 07-24-13
By: Scott Weidensaul
-
A Voyage Long and Strange
- Rediscovering the New World
- By: Tony Horwitz
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 185
On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz makes an unsettling discovery. A history buff since early childhood, expensively educated at university - a history major, no less! - he's reached middle age with a third-grader's grasp of early America. In fact, he's mislaid more than a century of American history, the period separating Columbus' landing in 1492 from the arrival of English colonists at Jamestown in 16-oh-something. Did nothing happen in between?
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Just Not For Me
- By Sara on 10-25-15
By: Tony Horwitz
-
Black Dragon River
- A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires
- By: Dominic Ziegler
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Black Dragon River is a personal journey down one of Asia's great rivers. The world's ninth largest river, the Amur serves as a large part of the border between Russia and China. As a crossroads for the great empires of Asia, this area offers journalist Dominic Ziegler a lens with which to examine the societies at Europe's only borderland with East Asia.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
INFORMATIVE
- By JK on 10-14-22
By: Dominic Ziegler
-
Astoria
- John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival
- By: Peter Stark
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,930
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,705
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,708
At a time when the edge of American settlement barely reached beyond the Appalachian Mountains, two visionaries, President Thomas Jefferson and millionaire John Jacob Astor, foresaw that one day the Pacific would dominate world trade as much as the Atlantic did in their day. Just two years after the Lewis and Clark expedition concluded in 1806, Jefferson and Astor turned their sights westward once again. Thus began one of history's dramatic but largely forgotten turning points in the conquest of the North American continent.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Where Lewis and Clark Left Off
- By Mel on 01-11-15
By: Peter Stark
-
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
-
Encounters at the Heart of the World
- A History of the Mandan People
- By: Elizabeth A. Fenn
- Narrated by: Christine Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were, for centuries, at the center of the North American universe. We know of them mostly because Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 with them, but why don't we know more? Who were they really? In this extraordinary book, Elizabeth A. Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well deserved Pulitzer Prize winner!
- By DaveF on 11-10-19
-
Mayflower
- A Story of Courage, Community, and War
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,902
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,090
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,082
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a 55-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating book about a little-understood time
- By John M on 02-04-07
-
The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 308
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
-
The Last Slave Ship
- The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning
- By: Ben Raines
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 210
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 185
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 185
Fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed, the Clotilda became the last ship in history to bring enslaved Africans to the United States. The ship was scuttled and burned on arrival to hide the wealthy perpetrators to escape prosecution. Despite numerous efforts to find the sunken wreck, Clotilda remained hidden for the next 160 years. But in 2019, journalist Ben Raines made international news when he successfully concluded his obsessive quest through the swamps of Alabama to uncover one of our nation’s most important historical artifacts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow. Just Wow.
- By Pinkhippiechick on 02-11-22
By: Ben Raines
-
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 21 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 235
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 205
Often hailed as the godfather of today's elite special forces, Robert Rogers trained and led an unorthodox unit of green provincials, raw woodsmen, farmers, and Indian scouts on "impossible" missions in colonial America that are still the stuff of soldiers' legend. The child of marginalized Scots-Irish immigrants, Rogers learned to survive in New England's dark and deadly forests, grasping, as did few others, that a new world required new forms of warfare. John F. Ross not only re-creates Rogers's life and his spectacular battles with breathtaking immediacy and meticulous accuracy...
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW!!!
- By Olaf the Black on 11-23-18
By: John F. Ross
-
The Good Rain
- Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
A fantastic book! Timothy Egan describes his journeys in the Pacific Northwest through visits to salmon fisheries, redwood forests and the manicured English gardens of Vancouver. Here is a blend of history, anthropology and politics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
White man bad, capitalism bad
- By Forget about it on 04-15-21
By: Timothy Egan
-
Wicked River
- The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild
- By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
- Narrated by: Jeff McCarthy
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Acclaimed journalist and author Lee Sandlin delivers a riveting glimpse of a dangerous and colorful place in America’s historical landscape - the Mississippi River of the 19th century. Long before it was dredged into a shipping channel or romanticized into myth, the untamed Mississippi - the lifeblood of communities that rose and fell along its banks - spawned a motley array of pirates and dignitaries, visionaries, and thieves.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Worth a listen
- By Robert B. Golson on 12-09-10
By: Lee Sandlin Jeff
-
Undaunted Courage
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,935
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,714
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,700
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River, across the forbidding Rockies, and - by way of the Snake and the Columbia rivers - down to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, endured incredible hardships and witnessed astounding sights. With great perseverance, they worked their way into an unexplored West. When they returned two years later, they had long since been given up for dead.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Narration kills a great book
- By Kindle Customer on 02-10-08
-
Disappointment River
- Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage
- By: Brian Castner
- Narrated by: Brian Castner
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
Disappointment River is a dual historical narrative and travel memoir that at once transports listeners back to the heroic age of North American exploration and places them in a still rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of profound alteration by the dual forces of energy extraction and climate change.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Jean on 05-06-18
By: Brian Castner
-
Exploration Fawcett
- Journey to the Lost City of Z
- By: Lt. Col. P. H. Fawcett
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
This is the true story of the real Colonel Fawcett, whose life was the inspiration for the best-selling book The Lost City of Z and an upcoming movie starring Brad Pitt. A thrilling account, it tells of Colonel Fawcett and his mysterious disappearance in the Amazon jungle, which is now considered one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
boring
- By Ramanda Brockett on 08-07-18
-
The Secret Token
- Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
- By: Andrew Lawler
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence XVII
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 141
In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish the first English settlement in the New World. But when the new colony's leader returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers had vanished, leaving behind only a single clue - a "secret token" etched into a tree. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archeologists, and amateur sleuths for 400 years. In The Secret Token, Andrew Lawler sets out on a quest to determine the fate of the settlers.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
trying to capitalize on race relations
- By Phil on 07-16-19
By: Andrew Lawler
-
Blood and Thunder
- An Epic of the American West
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,536
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,524
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Publisher's summary does not do it justice
- By Eric on 02-07-11
By: Hampton Sides
-
Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name
- By: David M. Buerge
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 128
This is the first thorough historical account of Chief Seattle and his times - the story of a half century of tremendous flux, turmoil, and violence, during which a native American war leader became an advocate for peace and strove to create a successful hybrid racial community.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Important
- By Scoticus on 03-15-21
By: David M. Buerge
What listeners say about Old Man River
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rodney Curlee
- 04-27-23
Amazing, inspiring and informative
This was a great book to hear. Being a river boat captain myself it is very inspirational to understand where my career lineage so to speak came about
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- JOgden
- 03-29-15
History, eloquence, and wit...
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This is a beautifully written and narrated history of the American continent told through the history of the Mississippi river basin. I am frequently overcome by Mr. Schneider's visual imagery, especially as narrated by Alan Sklar. I wanted to be in my own kayak, navigating the "Old Man River", viewing the history, both ancient and modern, as related and elaborated upon, by him. I could see the murky swirls in the river's eddys. I could feel the river mud seeping between my barefoot toes as I dragged them, Huck Finn style, along the banks. The fireflies of Natchez and the sweet smell of decaying plant life in the marshes.
Mr. Schneider's dry wit decorates this eloquent narrative throughout, frequently bringing half-smiles to my lips.
Any additional comments?
A truly enjoyable listen. I would recommend this for your next road trip, or lazy day.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Sam Walker
- 04-29-20
Disappointing
Have you come for keelboats and steamboat races? They are here, but its just a moment in a long book. Its 15 chapter before LaSalle - 15 chapters of arrowheads and mounds. Another 10 chapters before the river is in America. Good stuff here on slavery on the river, and Lincoln's legal battles for a railroad bridge, but far too little.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!