As soon as listeners hear Johnny Heller's easy Western drawl, they'll know they're in for a story about the Old West. This engrossing account begins in 1822 when bright, strapping, historically neglected Jedediah Smith joined 100 "Enterprising Young Men" to open trade routes and explore the vast Rocky Mountains in a race to expand a young nation's opportunities and boundaries. Heller's folksy intonation and optimistic tone accentuate Smith's many accomplishments as a trailblazer, cartographer, and mountain man. However, the word "bloody" is in the title, and it does seem that every time fur trappers, entrepreneurs, and early settlers following in Smith's footsteps met with any number of Indigenous Americans, violence ensued. Smith himself was killed by Comanches in 1831. Still Manifest Destiny marched on.
Pub Date: May 7, 2024
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781250349729
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A splendid narration of an engrossing story of the search for, and discovery of, a lost treasure.
Vikas Adam’s strong baritone is a good match for this well-told account of one man’s obsession with finding a lost Spanish galleon filled with treasure. In 1708, the San José sank in combat with the British off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia. Roger Dooley, whose own story is quite fascinating, sought the wreck of this ship over nearly four decades and then, in 2015, finally found it at a depth of nearly 2,000 feet. Lawsuits regarding who gets to keep the fortune are still ongoing. Adam narrates with great confidence and with excellent expression throughout. His pacing is perfect, and he ably reads Spanish.
A splendid narration of an engrossing story of the search for, and discovery of, a lost treasure.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217165810
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2026
As an audiobook author, historian Matthew Restall is spirited, witty, highly informed, and full of insights and revelations. As a narrator, he's more subdued, even a bit flat. But no matter. Restall's steady, evenhanded narration reenforces the balance and objectivity of his history of the "nine lives of Christopher Columbus." Over five centuries, Columbus has been hailed and reviled, a discoverer and a destroyer, one century symbolized as Columbia and paired with Washington on statuary, the next denounced for perpetuating the Spanish devastation of the New World. Restall's restraint keeps the focus on the historical processes at work, and on his richly layered portrait of Columbus. History is fluid, it seems, and malleable--something this well-researched, well-told history demonstrates.
Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
Duration: 11 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318519789
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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