Kaipo Schwab narrates this sweeping history of North America, which is focused primarily on the territory that would become the United States. It is told from the vantage point of Indigenous peoples, who first arrived in around 10,000 BCE. Its emphasis is on the time period beginning with the first Europeans' "discovery" of the continent, and it continues through the latter half of the nineteenth century. Schwab has many pronunciation challenges. The names of the Indigenous nations, individuals, and places being spotlighted are many and varied. The European nations, primarily England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, sent traders and settlers and had their own names for most places. Schwab seems to handle each language easily, maintaining a steady pace throughout.
Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2022
Duration: 18 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781696609029
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This is a fine collection from one of our most underrepresented literary traditions.
The poetry in this collection is strong and often evocative, but Skeets’ reading of his work undercuts it. His pacing doesn’t match the lengths of his lines, and his flat tone betrays the sometimes very intense emotional content. Skeets is the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, and he does sing a few passages in the Navajo language that evoke more feeling. Alongside some love poems, the main subjects of this collection are the culture and terrain of the author's homeland and the changes that have resulted from contact with white settlers. The most extensive alteration, including an extended drought in already dry land, comes from changes in the climate.
This is a fine collection from one of our most underrepresented literary traditions.Pub Date: June 2, 2026
Duration: 1 hr, 44 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217422241
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2026
This informative and insightful audiobook history of the Mississippi River and its regions quickly and necessarily focuses on questions of protection and preservation. The Mississippi is the center of American prosperity but is difficult to control and at every point is vulnerable. Narrator Gabriel Vaughan is a steadfast guide through a tangled history of levy building and floodplain management. He is most effective when the narrative frame is the author's own history. The narrative advances southward toward the river's delta and egress, and there environmental issues are overlain with a history of racial injustice and exploitation. During sections of tough listening, what Vaughan sometimes lacks in polish he more than makes up in impact and empathy.
Pub Date: June 11, 2024
Duration: 10 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781696615440
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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