Volume Three: Fascinating Tales from Obscure History
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Narrated by:
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James R. Olson
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By:
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James R. Olson
About this listen
Meet the heroes and villains who have become etched in the annuals of obscure history.
Did you know a woman signed the Declaration of Independence?
Have you heard about the explorer who tried to reach the North Pole via hot air balloon?
Did you know Eli Whitney had an invention even more important than the cotton gin—or did he?
Those are only three of the stories in this volume. Come with me to meet scientists and sailors, a hoax or two, champions and inventors—the spies, warriors, dogs, horses, artists, and criminals who have risen from the depths of obscure history to amuse and amaze us.
Take my hand to share a fascinating journey through obscure history’s dusty corridors. Lets have some fun!
©2021 James R. Olson (P)2022 James R. OlsonListeners also enjoyed...
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-
-
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-
-
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-
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Here Is Where
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Overall
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Performance
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The centerpiece of a major national campaign to indentify and preserve forgotten history, Here Is Where is acclaimed historian Andrew Carroll’s fascinating journey of discovery in which he travels to each of America’s 50 states and explores locations where remarkable individuals once lived or where the incredible or momentous occurred.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank, the second installment in his outrageously entertaining series, History's Unknown Chapters, Giles Milton shows his customary historical flair as he delves into the little-known stories from history, like when Stalin was actually assassinated with poison by one of his inner circle; the Russian scientist, dubbed the "Red Frankenstein", who attempted to produce a human-ape hybrid through ethically dubious means; and much more.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From best-selling author John U. Bacon, a gripping narrative history of the largest manmade detonation prior to Hiroshima. On Monday, December 3, 1917, the French freighter SS Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn carrying the largest cache of explosives ever loaded onto a ship, including 2,300 tons of picric acid, an unstable, poisonous chemical more powerful than TNT.
-
-
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By: John U. Bacon
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Did you know that there are actually 27 letters in the alphabet, or that the U.S. had a plan to invade Canada? And what actually happened to the flags left on the moon? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know. From uncovering what happens to lost luggage to New York City's plan to crack down on crime by banning pinball, this book will challenge your knowledge of the fascinating stories behind the world's greatest facts.
-
-
Scientifically inaccurate
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- Narrated by: James Yaegashi
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Overall
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Performance
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Less than three months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and inflamed the nation, President Roosevelt signed an executive order declaring parts of four western states to be a war zone operating under military rule. The US Army immediately began rounding up thousands of Japanese-Americans, sometimes giving them less than 24 hours to vacate their houses and farms. For the rest of the war, these victims of war hysteria were imprisoned in primitive camps.
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Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
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Witness to Nuremberg
- The Many Lives of the Man Who Translated at the Nazi War Trials
- By: W. Richard Sonnenfeldt
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping memoir by the chief American interpreter at the Nuremberg trials, Richard Sonnenfeldt recounts a remarkable life. By age 22 he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp, when he was appointed chief interpreter for the American prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.
During his service, he spent pretrial time with Hermann Göering as well as other top Nazi leaders.
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So much more than expected
- By Kathy on 03-23-12
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Spain in Our Hearts
- Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For three crucial years in the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War dominated headlines in America and around the world as volunteers flooded to Spain to help its democratic government fight off a fascist uprising led by Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Today we're accustomed to remembering the war through Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Robert Capa's photographs. But Adam Hochschild has discovered some less familiar yet far more compelling characters who reveal the full tragedy and importance of the war.
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Great book very well written and narrated
- By James750 on 05-12-16
By: Adam Hochschild
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The Storm on Our Shores
- One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II
- By: Mark Obmascik
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The heart-wrenching but ultimately redemptive story of two World War II soldiers - a Japanese surgeon and an American sergeant - during a brutal Alaskan battle in which the sergeant discovers the medic's revelatory and fascinating diary that changed our war-torn society’s perceptions of Japan.
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Finished in Two Days
- By Tim on 04-12-19
By: Mark Obmascik
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Flyboys
- A True Story of Courage
- By: James Bradley
- Narrated by: Author
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Flyboys is the true story of young American airmen who were shot down over Chichi Jima. Eight of these young men were captured by Japanese troops and taken prisoner. Another was rescued by an American submarine and went on to become president. The reality of what happened to the eight prisoners has remained a secret for almost 60 years.
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Not as advertised
- By M. Mccann on 07-10-17
By: James Bradley
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Dark Tide
- The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
- By: Stephen Puleo
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters were playing cards in Boston's North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like, "a roaring surf," one of them said later. Like, "a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence," said another. A third firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window - "Oh my God!" he shouted to the other men, "Run!" A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston's waterfront, disgorging its contents as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour.
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INTERESTING STORY - ABOUT 2x TOO LONG
- By The Louligan on 09-07-14
By: Stephen Puleo
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MacArthur's Spies
- The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II
- By: Peter Eisner
- Narrated by: Peter Eisner
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A thrilling story of espionage, daring, and deception set in the exotic landscape of occupied Manila during World War II. On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by US forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost, and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its plan to control all of Asia, including Australia.
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A Must For Travelers To Manila
- By Pete Andresen on 06-20-17
By: Peter Eisner
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Dutch Girl
- Audrey Hepburn and World War II
- By: Robert Matzen, Luca Dotti - foreword
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was."
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Good story, poor narration
- By sas on 07-09-19
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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The President and the Assassin
- McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1901, as America tallied its gains from a period of unprecedented imperial expansion, an assassin's bullet shattered the nation's confidence. The shocking murder of President William McKinley threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century.
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An Ideal History Book for the Audio Format
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-30-11
By: Scott Miller
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The Train to Crystal City
- FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America's Only Family Internment Camp During World War II
- By: Jan Jarboe Russell
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic and never-before-told story of a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II, where thousands of families - many US citizens - were incarcerated.
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I didn't know...
- By Graham Emslie on 02-27-17
What listeners say about Volume Three: Fascinating Tales from Obscure History
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rachel Yoke
- 04-13-24
Worth listening
An interesting mix of fun and serious facts that keep the listener engaged and glad they listened.
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