Audiobooks for Independence Day
Yeah yeah yeah. For Independence Day, everybody is honoring the Founding Fathers and such all, but here we’re honoring History and The American Dream.
We also think today is a fine time to remember that sometimes the cost of that dream is pretty high, so let’s all be grateful that we’re living in a country where ya can do stuff like listen to audiobooks safely.
The following are books we’ve gleaned from our Reviews which give just a taste of where we’ve been as a country, warts and all, and where we are now. To start, the first book reminds of a time, 9/11, where we aaaaaalmost were ALL Americans...
As always, feel free to suggest favorite audiobooks about ourselves as Americans, as people with histories, as people with futures here.
Click on any book image or the Read More → link below to read the full review for each book. Click the back arrow to return to this page.
Towers Falling
Written and Narrated By: Jewell Parker Rhodes
Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
Because shouldn’t we be a much bigger, more unified community? Let Deja tell the tale…
The Story of Arlington National Cemetery
Written and Narrated By: Robert M. Poole
Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
…Where those who’ve fought for us go to Rest In Peace…
By: Sarah Vowell / Narrated By: Sarah Vowell, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, John Hodgman, Catherine Keener, Edward Norton, Keanu Reeves, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, John Slattery
Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
“Caustic rhetoric”?!? Yesssss!!!
The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears)
By: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling / Narrated By: Kevin Stillwell
Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
HiLARious because I wanted it to be; woulda cried otherwise…
By: Sarah Vowell / Narrated By: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert
Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
No finer essayist on All Things American—The Good, The Bad, The Ugly… The Hilarious…!
And How To Heal
Written and Narrated By: Ben Sasse
Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
A Second Review after a Second Listen—was hoping I missed calls for Unity… uhm… there are none here, and don’t look to Sasse for actions following brave words…
Americans Reaching for Hope
By: Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn / Narrated By: Jennifer Garner, Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
Seriously—Can’t we get past the idea that focusing on human dignity and offering people hope is a leftist issue?!?
Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
By: Joshua Davis / Narrated By: Will Damron
Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
And the battle goes on and on. And on… So very WOW-ish!
Reflections on Patriotism
By: Dan Rather, Elliot Kirschner / Narrated By: Dan Rather
Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
After listening to “Them” it was time to check out the other side of the aisle’s take on how to unite this broken country
The Team That Changed a Game, a People, a Nation
By: Sally Jenkins / Narrated By: Don Leslie
Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
A mightily inspirational listen… that’s pretty god awfully depressing as well…
By: John Tirman / Narrated By: Jim Sartor
Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
Since when have human rights and dignity been left or right issues?
A True Story
Written and Narrated By: Luis Alberto Urrea
Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
Brutal yet humane account; exquisitely written, exquisitely narrated
Written and Narrated By: Luis Alberto Urrea
Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
Five stars! No, six! No, ten! Twenty stars for this BEAUTIFUL book!!!
Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland
By: Dan Barry / Narrated By: Fred Sanders
Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
Read one review of this audiobook that TOTALLY shows WHY this happened for so long and continues to happen today…
By: Sarah Vowell / Narrated By: Sarah Vowell, John Slattery, Nick Offerman, Fred Armisen, Bobby Cannavale, John Hodgman, Stephanie March, Alexis Denisof
Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
The world’s unlikeliest narration had me ultimately enjoying the hell outta this one!
Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Written and Narrated By: Joanne B. Freeman
Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
Holy cow! And I thought things were pretty bad now…!
1941-1942
By: Alistair Cooke / Narrated By: John Byrne Cooke
Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
Is it shameful that I really wish someone other than Alistair’s son narrated this?
By: John Steinbeck / Narrated By: Gary Sinise
Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
Wonderful Charley, wonderful stories. But the heartstopper is The South
A Story of Race and Inheritance
Written and Narrated By: Barack Obama
Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
The End Notes were the best part… >Heavy Sigh<
Written and Narrated By: Michelle Obama
Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
A long and heartfelt journey
Reflections at Ninety
Written and Narrated By: Jimmy Carter
Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
Changing times; unwavering values
The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family
By: Lisa See / Narrated By: Kate Reading
Length: 18 hours and 6 mins
An unconventional family, ESPECIALLY considering the times!
By: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston / Narrated By: Jennifer Ikeda
Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
A young girl’s account of Internment—very good, tho’ a trifle sad…
The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
By: Heather Andrea Williams / Narrated By: Robin Miles
Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
If you ever thought you knew about the evils of slavery? You have NO idea—here we go
A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High
By: Melba Pattillo Beals / Narrated By: Lisa Reneé Pitts
Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
Unbelievable! Filled with rage, violence. Filled with love, innocence.
The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
By: Margot Lee Shetterly / Narrated By: Robin Miles
Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
Worth it for the prologue and the epilogue
LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World
By: Mason Funk / Narrated By: Mason Funk, Robin Miles, Eileen Stevens, Kevin R. Free, Charles Constant, Rick Adamson
Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
A VERY important book tho’ 10 hours of snippets gets to sounding a tad repetitive
The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL
By: Jeff Pearlman / Narrated By: Joel Richards
Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
Crazy players, crazy owners, just a fun and crazy ride
A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island
By: Earl Swift / Narrated By: Tom Parks
Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
Jeepers! Almost 13 hrs of wanting to throttle people…!