America Legend

Las leyendas son relatos que explican algún fenómeno de la naturaleza, pero no lo hacen de manera “científica”. El color de una fl or, el origen de los relámpagos o del trueno, tenían forma de cuento entre los pueblos originarios. Esa historia era relatada amorosamente de padres a hijos, para que los misterios del mundo tuvieran una explicación. Se transmitían en forma oral, de generación en generación.

In his first work of narrative nonfiction, Matthew Pearl, bestselling author of acclaimed novel The Dante Club, explores the little-known true story of the kidnapping of legendary pioneer Daniel Boone’s daughter and the dramatic aftermath that rippled across the nation. On a quiet midsummer...

A deep investigation into historical documents that prove the notorious outlaw Jesse James faked his own death Presents the legend of Jesse James and counters it with the real story, based on family records Provides photographic evidence, a journal of Jesse James’s, and historical...

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act eliminated the Missouri Compromise line of 1820, which the Compromise of 1850 had maintained. Settlers could now vote whether they wanted their state to be slave-free. The primary result was that thousands of zealous pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates moved to Kansas to influence the vote, creating a dangerous and ultimately deadly mix. The most famous and infamous of them all was John Brown, one of the most controversial men in American history.

The name "Geronimo" evokes a number of different emotions. Those who believed in 19th century America's "Manifest Destiny" viewed Geronimo and all Native Americans as impediments to God's will for the nation. Descendants of people killed by "hostile" Natives certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values.

Today, the Salem Witch Trials are often remembered as being a relic of a superstitious past. Salem has transformed itself into a tourist haven and Halloween destination by capitalizing off the Salem Witch trials. But it was deadly serious in 1692, when 19 men and women found themselves taken to "Gallows Hill" and hanged for being witches.

The Founding Fathers have been revered by Americans for over 200 years, celebrated for creating a new nation founded upon the loftiest ideals of democracy and meritocracy. But if the American Dream has come to represent the ability to climb the social ladder with skill and hard work, no Founding Father represented the new America more than Alexander Hamilton.

It is the most fabled and storied journey in American history. From 1804-1806, the first expedition across the North American continent was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, who had recently bought a vast swath of territory from France. Jefferson wasn't entirely sure of what he had bought, so he asked a team led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to traverse the continent until they reached the Pacific, studying everything from the ecology to geography along the way to get an understanding of the country's new region.

When he died in 1904, most Americans who knew his people's story considered Chief Joseph a military genius and an "Indian Napoleon". This assessment of the Native American leader was based on a 1,500-mile odyssey during which he and his people left their reservation in the hopes of escaping to Canada, where the Nez Percé intended to join Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa Sioux band. The real Chief Joseph was a gifted speaker and more diplomat than war leader.

There was little about the childhood of Phoebe Ann Mosey that indicated that she would grow up to become Annie Oakley, one of the best sharpshooters the world has ever seen, and an icon of the West. Her parents, Jacob and Susan, were Quakers who migrated from Pennsylvania to Darke County, Ohio. Their daughter, who would become a national celebrity during her own life for "The Little Sure Shot of the West", learned her gun skills out of necessity, using them to hunt for food around the Cincinnati area, thousands of miles away from the Wild West.

The life of Pocahontas fulfills a specific role in American culture and history. Her short life came to symbolize the first encounters between English settlers and the local native tribes. The meaning of her name, "little plaything" or "little wanton", suggests that she was destined to be bandied about by the powers in her life. The men of the time simply assumed a young Native American girl did not deserve or even want respect.

The Wild West has made legends out of many men through the embellishment of their stories, such as crediting Billy the Kid and Wild Bill Hickok for killing far more people than they actually did. But it has also made icons out of outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid based on the mystery and uncertainty surrounding their crimes and deaths, allowing speculation and legend to fill in the gaps.

American Legends: The Life of Abraham Lincoln humanizes the leader who rose from humble roots to the highest office in the land, discussing lesser-known facts about Lincoln while tracking his rise, his monumental presidency, and his legacy. You will learn about Lincoln like you never have before, in no time at all.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Every American is taught a pristine narrative of the life and legacy of George Washington and can easily recite the highlights of the "Father of Our Country". The remarkable Virginian led an under-resourced, rag-tag army to ultimate victory in the American Revolution before becoming the nation's first president, setting it on its path toward superpower status.

In all the annals of American history, it is hard if not impossible to find a figure with a more controversial legacy than Aaron Burr, one of the most reviled yet mysterious characters of the last 200 years. Today Burr is remembered almost solely for participating in the nation's most famous duel on July 11, 1804, which resulted in the death of instrumental Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, but it is often forgotten that Burr killed Hamilton while he was Thomas Jefferson's sitting vice president.

From the beginning, Americans debated how their national government should govern, balancing powers between the federal government and the states. Nobody spent more time in the thick of these debates than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the aforementioned debates, authoring the Declaration of Independence, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency.

Americans have loved traveling circuses for generations, and none represents the country's love of entertainment quite like the most famous of them all, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Circus promoters have long been viewed as somewhat shady hucksters, but none could top Phineas Taylor Barnum, who used a blend of traditional circus entertainment, freak show exhibits, and outright hoaxes to create "The Greatest Show on Earth".

No single figure in 20th-century American history inspires such opposing opinions as J. Edgar Hoover, the iconic first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In his time he was arguably the most powerful nonelected figure in the US government. Serving under eight presidents (and outliving two of them), he remains the longest-serving head of a major government office. To many Americans in the '30s, '40s, and '50s, J. Edgar Hoover was a real American hero.