This Strange Wilderness
The Life and Art of John James Audubon
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This Strange Wilderness
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Narrated by:
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Kristie Berger
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By:
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Nancy Plain
About this listen
Birds were “[T]he objects of my greatest delight”, wrote John James Audubon (1785–1851), founder of modern ornithology and one of the world’s greatest bird painters. His masterpiece, The Birds of America, depicts almost 500 North American bird species, each image - lifelike and life-size - rendered in vibrant color. Audubon was also an explorer, a woodsman, a hunter, an entertaining and prolific writer, and an energetic self-promoter. Through talent and dogged determination, he rose from backwoods obscurity to international fame.
In This Strange Wilderness, award-winning author Nancy Plain brings attention to the amazing story of this American icon’s career. Before Audubon, no one had seen, drawn, or written so much about the animals of this largely uncharted young country. Aware the wilderness and its wildlife were changing even as he watched, Audubon remained committed almost to the end of his life “[T]o search out the things which have been hidden since the creation of this wondrous world”.
This Strange Wilderness details his art and writing, transporting the listener back to the frontiers of early 19th-century America.
The audiobook is published by University of Nebraska Press.
©2015 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2018 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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"Like Audubon's paintings, this volume 'glows with life.' A superb introduction to the life and times of a great American artist and naturalist." (Kirkus Magazine)
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 37
Henry David Thoreau has long been an intellectual icon and folk hero. In this strikingly original profile, Michael Sims reveals how the bookish, quirky young man evolved into the patron saint of environmentalism and nonviolent activism. Working from 19th-century letters and diaries, Sims charts Henry’s course from his time at Harvard through the years he spent living in a cabin beside Walden Pond. Sims uncovers a previously hidden Thoreau - the rowdy boy reminiscent of Tom Sawyer, the sarcastic college iconoclast, the devoted son who kept imitating his beloved older brother’s choices in life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Pleasant surprise
- By Norman Wendth on 10-21-14
By: Michael Sims
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The Bald Eagle
- The Improbable Journey of America's Bird
- By: Jack E. Davis
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you’re not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as “majestic” and “noble,” yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious predator of livestock and, falsely, a snatcher of babies.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I thought the book would be about the bald eagle
- By An Amazon Buyer on 10-25-22
By: Jack E. Davis
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Liberty for All?
- A History of US, Book 5
- By: Joy Hakim
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
Early nineteenth-century America could just about be summed up by Henry David Thoreau's words when he said, "Eastward I go only by force, but westward I go free." It was an exuberant time for the diverse citizens of the United States, who included a range of folk, from mountain men and railroad builders to whalers and farmers, as they pushed forward into the open frontier. And all their hopes and fears are captured in Liberty for All?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great survey of pre-Civil War US history
- By EmilyK on 01-05-15
By: Joy Hakim
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American Hunter
- By: Willie Robertson, William Doyle – contributor
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson, Willie Robertson – introduction
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 222
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 197
Chronicling the great hunters of America - beginning with the Plains Indians and moving through legendary hunters like Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, Lyndon Johnson, and more - American Hunter honors the heroes and traditions that have built America.
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1 out of 5 stars
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terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-13-20
By: Willie Robertson, and others
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Old Man River
- The Mississippi River in North American History
- By: Paul Schneider
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 36
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing, inspiring and informative
- By Rodney Curlee on 04-27-23
By: Paul Schneider
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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
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,236
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,320
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Story4 out of 5 stars 3,332
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.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
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The Rush
- America's Fevered Quest for Fortune, 1848-1853
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
In the spring of 1848, rumors began to spread that gold had been discovered in a remote spot in the Sacramento Valley. A year later, newspaper headlines declared "Gold Fever!" as hundreds of thousands of men and women borrowed money, quit their jobs, and allowed themselves - for the first time ever - to imagine a future of ease and splendor.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it. Want to hear more of Clarks work.
- By Carlos on 01-11-16
By: Edward Dolnick
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Essays of E. B. White
- By: E. B. White
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 235
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 209
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
Legendary author and essayist E. B. White writes, "The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest." Covering a large number of subjects, this classic collection features 31 of White's most memorable essays.
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5 out of 5 stars
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E.B. White writes honestly, fearlessly and clearly
- By Bonny on 09-03-17
By: E. B. White
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The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman
- Women in the West, Book 1
- By: Margot Mifflin
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 728
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 647
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Story4 out of 5 stars 648
In 1851, Olive Oatman was a 13-year-old pioneer traveling west toward Zion, with her Mormon family. Within a decade, she was a white Indian with a chin tattoo, caught between cultures. The Blue Tattoo tells the harrowing story of this forgotten heroine of frontier America. Orphaned when her family was brutally killed by Yavapai Indians, Oatman lived as a slave to her captors for a year before being traded to the Mohave, who tattooed her face and raised her as their own.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Mispronunciations
- By R. Brown on 06-07-18
By: Margot Mifflin
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The American Fisherman
- How Our Nation's Anglers Founded, Fed, Financed, and Forever Shaped the U.S.A.
- By: Willie Robertson, William Doyle
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
American Fisherman traces the impact fishing has had in shaping America's history, and reveals the influential role it has played in defining our lives. Willie Robertson persuasively argues that America became what it is today in no small part because of the anglers that call it home. From harvesting New England cod to fly fishing for Yellowstone trout to raising Pacific Northwest salmon, the fishing industry has long played an essential role in the establishment of many of the nation's earliest ports.
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5 out of 5 stars
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it was a great escalating book
- By Melanie on 12-30-22
By: Willie Robertson, and others
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David Crockett: The Lion of the West
- By: Michael Wallis
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 192
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 168
His name was David Crockett. He never signed his name any other way, but popular culture transformed his memory into "Davy Crockett", and Hollywood gave him a raccoon hat he hardly ever wore. Best-selling historian Michael Wallis casts a fresh look at the frontiersman, storyteller, and politician behind these legendary stories.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Author is very bias.
- By Michael on 05-31-12
By: Michael Wallis
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The Quiet World
- Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960
- By: Douglas Brinkley
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
A riveting history of America's most beautiful natural resources, The Quiet World documents the heroic fight waged by the U.S. federal government from 1879 to 1960 to save wild Alaska - ;Mount McKinley, the Tongass and Chugach national forests, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Lake Clark, and the Coastal Plain of the Beaufort Sea, among other treasured landscapes - from the extraction industries.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Where are Native Alaskans?
- By Peggy on 11-13-14
By: Douglas Brinkley
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Between Man and Beast
- An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure that Took the Victorian World By Storm
- By: Monte Reel
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 77
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Story4 out of 5 stars 77
In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary book! Masterpiece.
- By BVerité on 04-23-13
By: Monte Reel
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The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,041
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,354
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Story4 out of 5 stars 4,326
The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
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Into Africa
- The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,317
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,743
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,735
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" So goes the signature introduction of New York Herald star journalist Henry Morton Stanley to renowned explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing for six years in the wilds of Africa. Into Africa ushers us into the meeting of these remarkable men. In 1866, when Livingstone journeyed into the heart of the African continent in search of the Nile's source, the land was rough, unknown to Europeans, and inhabited by man-eating tribes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Riveting
- By Gene on 04-01-04
By: Martin Dugard
What listeners say about This Strange Wilderness
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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
- R'Nita Valentia Rabelais
- 03-25-19
Great story for a road trip
Driving through kentucky, indiana, and illinois to St. Louis via I-64, this book was a perfect choice. Listening about birding during the turn of the 18th century inspired quick detour to see today's Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton MO.
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