MY AUDIOBOOK LIBRARY

Red River to Appomattox

In the third and final volume of this magnificent history, Shelby Foote brings to a close the story of four years of turmoil and strife that altered American life forever. Following the events of the war from 1862–1864, Foote discusses the strategies of both the North and the South and assesses the performance of the Union generals. The volume opens with the beginning of the two final, major confrontations of the war: Grant against Lee in Virginia, and Sherman pressing Johnston in North Georgia. In vivid narrative as seen from both sides, he tells of the climactic struggles, great and small, on and off the field of battle, that finally decided the fate of this nation.

This third volume in Shelby Foote’s comprehensive history is a must-listen for anyone interested in one of the bloodiest wars in America’s history.

Fredericksburg to Meridian

This second volume in Shelby Foote’s masterfully written history of the Civil War is dominated by the almost continual confrontation of great armies. The Army of the Potomac under Burnside attempts once again to take Richmond, resulting in the bloodbath at Fredericksburg.

Then Joe Hooker tries again, only to be repulsed at Chancellorsville as Stonewall Jackson turns his flank--a bitter victory for the South, paid for by the death of Lee’s foremost lieutenant. In the west, Grant’s seven relentless efforts against Vicksburg show Lincoln that he has at last found the killer-general, the man who can “face the arithmetic.” With Vicksburg finally under siege, Lee again invades the North. The three-day conflict at Gettysburg receives book-length attention in a masterly treatment of a key great battle, not as legend has it but as it really was, before it became distorted by controversy and overblown by remembered glory.

This second volume in Shelby Foote’s comprehensive history is a must-listen for anyone interested in one of the bloodiest wars in America’s history.

Fort Sumter to Perryville

Here begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball’s Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.

The word “narrative” is the key to this extraordinary book’s incandescence and its truth. The story is told entirely from the point of view of the people involved in it. One learns not only what was happening on all fronts but also how the author discovered it during his years of exhaustive research.

This first volume in Shelby Foote’s comprehensive history is a must-listen for anyone interested in one of the bloodiest wars in America’s history.

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For over sixty years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America’s confidence. Legacy of Ashes is based on more than fifty thousand documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA. Everything is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations. With shocking revelations that will make headlines, Tim Weiner gets at the truth and tells how the CIA’s failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.

The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a fire support base called Matterhorn, located in the mountains of the remote north-western corner of Quang-Tri Province. The protagonist, a young and ambitious Marine lieutenant, wants to command a company to further his civilian political ambitions. Two people stand in his way. The first is a well-loved, combat-weary lieutenant of his own age, who desperately wants out of the bush, but who does not want to leave his Marines with an inexperienced and overly ambitious officer. The second is an angry young leader of the company s radical blacks, who has all the political skill, savvy, and ambition of the protagonist. As the protagonist experiences the costs of combat, he sees the terrible results of his ambition and starts to change, learning that compassion and heart are more important than ambition and skill. A bonus PDF is included, with maps, a Chain of Command hierarchy, a glossary, and other interesting facts and information. To access the PDF follow this link: http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/docs/5751.pdf

Stephen Dando-Collins paints a vivid and definitive portrait of daily life in the Tenth Legion, following Caesar and his men along the blood-soaked fringes of the Empire. This unprecedented regimental history reveals countless previously unknown details about Roman military practices, Caesar’s conduct as a commander and his relationships with officers and legionnaires, and the daily routine and discipline of the Legion. From penetrating insights into the mind of history’s greatest general to a grunt’s-eye view of the gruesome realities of war in the Classical Age, this riveting true account sets a new standard of excellence and detail to which all authors of ancient military history will now aspire.

Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler's German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the twentieth century's blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. Shirer’s unforgettable account of the pivotal characters and events of that critical era benefits from his many years as a reporter and his own personal recollections, as well as from the mass of historical documents retrieved from the German Foreign Office. The result is a brutally objective account of how Hitler wrested political control of Germany and managed to take the country with him on his mad six-year quest for world domination, only to see it go down in flames in the end.

Meet our ninth US president before his famous victory over the native chief Tecumseh in the Battle of Tippecanoe. Young readers will thrill to “Billy” Harrison’s dramatic rescue of his sister, Sally, as she struggles to stay afloat after falling into a river, and admire his courage when he captures a British soldier at the age of eight. Find out more about these and the rest of Billy’s boyhood adventures. Praised by parents, teachers, and historians, the Young Patriots Series is an ideal way to sweep today’s young readers into history. The everyday details of family life, the time period in which they lived, what they wore, and the challenges they faced in school create a window through which children can access history. The evidence of character, ability, responsibility, and courage are showcased in situations to which every child can relate.

Following its initial appearance in serial form, Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage was published as a complete work in 1895 and quickly became the benchmark for modern antiwar literature. In Henry Flemming, Stephen Crane creates a great and realistic study of the mind of an inexperienced soldier trapped in the fury and turmoil of war. Flemming dashes into battle, at first tormented by fear, then bolstered with courage in time for the final confrontation. Although the exact battle is never identified, Crane based this story of a soldier’s experiences during the American Civil War on the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. Many veterans, both Union and Confederate, praised the book’s accurate representation of war, and critics consider its stylistic strength the mark of a literary classic.

George Rogers Clark was a famous general in the Revolutionary War, and his explorations served as the inspiration for his younger brother William, the leader of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. Now you can read about the boyhood of Roger and share in the first adventures of this lifelong hero.

Delta Force--the US Army’s most elite top-secret strike force. They dominate the modern battlefield, but you won’t hear about their heroics on CNN. No headlines can reveal their top-secret missions, and no book has ever taken readers inside--until now. Here, a founding member of Delta Force takes us behind the veil of secrecy and into the action to reveal the never-before-told story of First Special Forces Operational Detachment-D (Delta Force). He is a master of espionage, trained to take on hijackers, terrorists, and enemy armies. He can deploy by parachute or arrive by commercial aircraft, survive alone in hostile cities, speak foreign languages fluently, strike at enemy targets with stunning swiftness and extraordinary teamwork. He is the ultimate modern warrior: the Delta Force operator. In this dramatic chronicle, Eric Haney, one of the founding members of Delta Force, takes us inside this legendary counterterrorist unit. Here, for the first time, are details of the grueling selection process--designed to break the strongest of men--that singles out the best of the best. With heart-stopping immediacy, Haney tells what it’s really like to enter a hostage-held airplane. From his days in Beirut, he tells a remarkable tale of bodyguards and bombs, of a day-to-day life of madness and beauty, and of how he and a teammate are called on to kill two gunmen targeting US Marines at an airport. As part of the team sent to rescue American hostages in Tehran, Haney offers a first-person description of that failed mission that is a chilling, compelling account of a bold maneuver undone by chance--and a few fatal mistakes. From fighting guerrilla warfare in Honduras to rescuing missionaries in Sudan and leading the way onto the island of Grenada, Haney captures the daring and discipline that distinguish the men of Delta Force. Inside Delta Force brings honor to these singular men while it puts us in the middle of around-the-world action that is sudden, frightening, and nonstop.

Charlie Wilson’s War is the untold story of the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the Agency’s history. In the early 1980s, after a Houston socialite turned Wilson’s attention to the ragged Afghan freedom fighters who continued to fight the Soviet invaders despite overwhelming odds, the congressman became passionate about their cause and procured hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mujahideen. The arms were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrokotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly among the Ivy League world of American spies. Avrakotos handpicked a staff of CIA outcasts to run his operation and, with their help, continually stretched the Agency’s rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of the Capitol, to secret chambers at Langley, to arms-dealers conventions, to the Khyber Pass, Charlie Wilson’s War is a detailed and brilliantly reported account of the inside workings of the CIA.

It's time to answer the call. The United States of America was founded by ordinary citizens who willingly sacrificed their lives and fortunes in order to hand down the precious legacy of freedom we enjoy today. In American Patriots, Rick Santorum shares the true-life accounts of 25 unsung heroic men and women from the Revolutionary War era. These citizen patriots fought valiantly and made significant sacrifices to secure our God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- not only for themselves, but also for countless future generations. Their stories provide stirring reminders of the extraordinary faith, courage, and determination that set this country on the path to greatness centuries ago, as well as continued inspiration for generations of American patriots to come.

How did American military leaders in the brutal POW camps of North Vietnam inspire their followers for six, seven, and even eight years to remain committed to the mission, resist a cruel enemy, and return home with honor? What leadership principles engendered such extreme devotion, perseverance, and teamwork? In this powerful and practical audio book, Lee Ellis, a former Air Force pilot, candidly talks about his five and a half years of captivity and the fourteen key leadership principles behind this amazing story. As a successful executive coach and corporate consultant, he helps leaders of Fortune 500 companies, healthcare executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs utilize these same pressure-tested principles to increase their personal and organizational success. In Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton, you will learn: • Courageous lessons from POW leaders facing torture in the crucible of captivity. • How successful teams are applying these same lessons and principles. • How to implement these lessons using the Coaching sessions provided in each chapter.

Rather than celebrating warfare, 50 Battles That Changed The World looks at the clashes the author believes have had the most profound impact on world history. Listed in order of their relevance to the modern world, they range from the ancient past to the present day and span the globe many times over. This book is not so much about military strategy as the implications of the battles that were vital in shaping civilization as we know it. Some of the battles in this book are familiar to us all-Bunker Hill, which prevented the American Revolution from being stillborn, and Marathon, which kept the world's first democracy alive. Others may be less familiar-the naval battle at Diu (on the Indian Coast), which led to the ascendancy of Western Civilization and the discovery of America, and Yarmuk, which made possible the spread of Islam from Morocco to the Philippines. About the Author: William Weir, a former Army combat correspondent and photographer in the Korean War, has written eight previous books, including 50 Weapons that Changed Warfare and 50 Battles that Changed the World. In addition to his Army service, Weir has been a newspaper reporter and a public relations specialist. He is now retired and lives in Guilford, Connecticut with his wife, Anne. About the Narrator: An actor and voice talent, Rick has narrated a wide variety of commercial and corporate work, including a series of webcasts and audiobooks. He lives in Seattle.

Amy Waters Yarsinske, a former intelligence officer and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, breaks the incredible true story of Lt. Comdr. Michael Scott Speicher, the first American pilot shot down during the Gulf War, found alive in Iraqi custody eleven years after the US government left him for dead. On January 16, 1991, Speicher participated in the initial air strike of the Persian Gulf War. Moments after an attack by an Iraqi MIG-25, Speicher's plane vanished over the Baghdad desert. The next day, Secretary of State Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell told the American public that Speicher was the first casualty of the Gulf War. He was listed as KIA/BNR. Tracking this explosive story for the past eight years, Yarsinske interviewed top government and military officials, diplomats, pilots, informers, and Iraqi defectors to write a stunning true account of the denials and cover-ups that obscured an essential fact: Speicher actually survived. About the Author: Amy Waters Yarsinske is the author of two dozen books and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism for her six-part series in The Virginian-Pilot on Scott Speicher titled, "Dead or Alive?" written with Lon Wagner. A former intelligence officer in the navel reserves, she lives with her husband - a reserve naval aviator and Desert Storm veteran - in Norfolk, Virginia. About the Narrator: Terence Aselford has narrated over 150 audiobooks. His acting career has included regional theatre roles ranging from Shakespeare to Neil Simon, on camera work in NBC’s “Unsolved Mysteries”, national television commercials, industrial videos and voice-overs.

No one knew it was going to be that bad. World War II killed some 60 million people—20 million of them soldiers—and inflicted wounds, bereavement, poverty and suffering on countless others. But such destruction was an impossible to imagine in advance as it was for young pilots-in-training to imagine their coming fiery deaths; or for Jews to foresee their last moments in the gas chambers; or for parents to imagine their children killed by the mortars and bullets and other munitions that factories churned out in such enormous quantities. As impossible, perhaps, as it is for us to imagine a disaster of similar scale in our future.The War presents an unforgettable mosaic of memoirs from soldiers, citizens and historians, detailing the immense tragedy that stretched from the Western Front to the Pacific Theater. About the Author: Clint Willis, Adrenaline Series editor, has been a climber and an armchair mountaineer since he was ten years old. His writing about technology, finance and the outdoors has appeared in more than 100 publications, including Men's Journal, Outside, Rock & Ice and The New York Times, and he is a contributing editor of Forbes ASAP and Worth magazines. He lives with his wife and two sons in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. About the Narrator: Grover Gardner, a Washington, D.C.-based actor, director and audiobook narrator, has been a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, as well as Resident Director at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Recently, he has been active in educational theater, directing student productions for local universities, and teaching graduate-level courses in acting and voice-over work. He was named one of Audiofile Magazine’s Golden Voices of 1999 and has received 5 Helen Hayes Award nominations of his work. He has recorded over 450 audiobooks and was named by AudioFile Magazine as one of "Best Voices of the Century."

The Civil War, the most dramatic moment in this nation's history, also produced some of our greatest literature. From tragic charges to prison escapes to the desolation wrought on those who stayed behind, Blood is an extraordinary collection of reminiscences, fiction, and excerpts from diaries and letters by an array of soldiers, writers and observers that includes Abraham Lincoln, General George Pickett, Walt Whitman, Ulysses S. Grant and Stephen Crane. About the Author: Clint Willis, Adrenaline Series editor, has been a climber and an armchair mountaineer since he was ten years old. His writing about technology, finance and the outdoors has appeared in more than 100 publications, including Men's Journal, Outside, Rock & Ice and The New York Times, and he is a contributing editor of Forbes ASAP and Worth magazines. He lives with his wife and two sons in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. About the Narrator: Christopher Graybill has performed numerous audio books ranging from classic westerns to science fiction, as well as hundreds of commercials and corporate audio narrations. He has also written two short plays, "Eye to Eye" and "Go Look," published by Samuel French. Barrett Whitener has been featured in a variety of instructional and entertainment programs. His recordings have received numerous awards, and he was cited as a "Voice of the Century" in Audiofile Magazine. He lives in Washington, D.C. Colleen Delany has narrated numerous bestselling audiobooks. An accomplished stage and television actress, she has appeared in "Homicide: Life On The Streets," as well as on the highly successful CD Rom game "Wheel of Time." Delores King Williams is an actress and vocalist from the Washington, D.C. area. She has read several audiobooks and has provided narration and musical accompaniment for programs on the Discovery Channel. Grover Gardner has recorded over 500 audiobooks, and was named one of Audiofile Magazine's Golden Voices. He is a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, Resident Director at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore and has received 5 Helen Hayes Award nominations for his work.

By the first decade of the twentieth century, Germany was the Mecca of science and technology in the world. However, by the beginning of the First World War, Germany began to display some of the features that would blight the conduct of ideal science through the rest of the century. After Hitler came into power in 1933, science and technology were quickly pressed into service by racist, xenophobic idealologies. From 1939 to the war's end, scientists working under military control began research on nuclear chain reaction with the prospect of arming Hitler with an atomic bomb. By 1943, few areas of German science, technology, and industry had not been experimentation and mass killing. How German scientists behaved in the era spanning the beginning of the First War and the end of the Second raises many questions, disturbing and relevant to this day, about how scientist act under pressure of social and political circumstances and events. In pondering the moral and political predicament of the unregulated pursuit of scientific progress, Hitler's Scientist today prompts uncomfortable parallels with the past. About the Author: John Cornwell is in the department of history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. He is also an award winning journalist and director of the Science and Human Dimension Project at Cambridge University. He is a regular feature writer at the Sunday Times (London) and the author and editor of four books on science, including Power to Harm, on the Louisville Prozae trial. He lives in Cambridge, England. About the Narrator: Simon Prebble is considered one of the premier voices in the audiobook industry, having narrated nearly 150 titles. In addition, the UK native has extensive voice-over experience in industrial, public service, radio, television advertising campaigns, and has been an on-camera spokesman for corporate presentations and a veteran of television soap operas, "As The World Turns" and "Loving". "Hitler's Scientists" is his first Audie Award nomination.

When the U.S. Air Force decided to create an elite “special tactics” team in the late 1970s to work with special-operations forces, John T. Carney was the man they turned to. Since then Carney and the U.S. Air Force Special Tactics units have circled the world on clandestine missions. They have combated terrorists and overthrown dangerous dictators. They have suffered eighteen times the casualty rate of America’s conventional forces. But they have gotten the job done. Now, for the first time, Colonel Carney lifts the veil of secrecy and reveals what really goes on inside the special-operations forces that are at the forefront of contemporary warfare. About the Author: Colonel John T. Carney Jr., the founding father of Air Force Special Tactics, was the first commanding officer of any such unit. Originally a six-man team known as Brand X, this elite unit now comprises a group of seven squadrons deployed worldwide. In 1996 he received the US Special Operations Command Medal and, a year later, was inducted into the Air Commando Hall of Fame. Benjamin F. Schemmer, a West Point graduate, Ranger and paratrooper, is uniquely qualified to write on military matters from several vantage points. His military service included three years in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where became director if land-force weapons systems. From 1968 to 1992, he edited the privately owned Armed Forces Journal International and later Strategic Review, published by the United States Strategic Institute. About the Narrator: Patrick Girard Lawlor, a classically trained stage actor, has performed on-stage throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared in several feature films, as well as on the television series, “L.A. Heat.” His extensive work as an audiobook narrator has garnered numerous awards, including the Audie Award nomination.