-
American Revolution: The War for Independence and the Birth of the United States
- Narrated by: Robert M.S. McDonald
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $13.97
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Thomas Jefferson: American Revolutionary
- By: Robert M.S. McDonald
- Narrated by: Robert M.S. McDonald
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Explore the captivating contradictions of one of US history’s most divisive figures with the celebrated West Point professor and author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson’s Image in His Own Time.
-
-
Fascinating insights delivered well
- By Michael Bloom on 08-03-20
-
The American Civil War
- By: Gary W. Gallagher, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary W. Gallagher
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.
-
-
Excellent Series
- By Rodney on 07-09-13
By: Gary W. Gallagher, and others
-
1776
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
-
-
Front Seat on History
- By Mark on 10-22-05
By: David McCullough
-
The Story of World War II
- By: Donald L. Miller, Henry Steele Commager
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on previously unpublished eyewitness accounts, prizewinning historian Donald L. Miller has written what critics are calling one of the most powerful accounts of warfare ever published. Here are the horror and heroism of World War II in the words of the men who fought it, the journalists who covered it, and the civilians who were caught in its fury. Miller gives us an up-close, deeply personal view of a war that was more savagely fought - and whose outcome was in greater doubt - than one might imagine. This is the war that Americans on the home front would have read about had they had access to previously censored testimony.
-
-
Best written, best narrator
- By geffrey on 05-02-13
By: Donald L. Miller, and others
-
Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War
- By: David Fisher
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the birth of the Republican Party to the Confederacy's first convention, the Underground Railroad to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War reveals the amazing and often little-known stories behind the battle lines of America's bloodiest war and debunks the myths that surround its greatest figures.
-
-
Exceptional
- By JoeNañabusiness on 07-17-17
By: David Fisher
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 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.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
Thomas Jefferson: American Revolutionary
- By: Robert M.S. McDonald
- Narrated by: Robert M.S. McDonald
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Explore the captivating contradictions of one of US history’s most divisive figures with the celebrated West Point professor and author of Confounding Father: Thomas Jefferson’s Image in His Own Time.
-
-
Fascinating insights delivered well
- By Michael Bloom on 08-03-20
-
The American Civil War
- By: Gary W. Gallagher, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary W. Gallagher
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.
-
-
Excellent Series
- By Rodney on 07-09-13
By: Gary W. Gallagher, and others
-
1776
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
-
-
Front Seat on History
- By Mark on 10-22-05
By: David McCullough
-
The Story of World War II
- By: Donald L. Miller, Henry Steele Commager
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on previously unpublished eyewitness accounts, prizewinning historian Donald L. Miller has written what critics are calling one of the most powerful accounts of warfare ever published. Here are the horror and heroism of World War II in the words of the men who fought it, the journalists who covered it, and the civilians who were caught in its fury. Miller gives us an up-close, deeply personal view of a war that was more savagely fought - and whose outcome was in greater doubt - than one might imagine. This is the war that Americans on the home front would have read about had they had access to previously censored testimony.
-
-
Best written, best narrator
- By geffrey on 05-02-13
By: Donald L. Miller, and others
-
Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War
- By: David Fisher
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the birth of the Republican Party to the Confederacy's first convention, the Underground Railroad to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War reveals the amazing and often little-known stories behind the battle lines of America's bloodiest war and debunks the myths that surround its greatest figures.
-
-
Exceptional
- By JoeNañabusiness on 07-17-17
By: David Fisher
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 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.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Last King of America
- The Misunderstood Reign of George III
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Phillipe Stevens
- Length: 36 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon - a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities. The best-known modern interpretation of him is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting, and pompous take in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway masterpiece. But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of 18th-century revolutionaries. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth.
-
-
Amazing Biography
- By Chris on 11-24-21
By: Andrew Roberts
-
1774
- The Long Year of Revolution
- By: Mary Beth Norton
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of our most acclaimed and original colonial historians, a groundbreaking book - the first to look at the critical "long year" of 1774 and the revolutionary change that took place from December 1773 to mid-April 1775, from the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress to the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
-
-
The US revolutionary war was baked in by 1775
- By Randall Parker on 04-18-20
By: Mary Beth Norton
-
Our First Civil War
- Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution.
-
-
Not a fresh take on the Revolution
- By James on 01-05-22
By: H. W. Brands
-
America's Revolutionary Mind
- A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It
- By: C. Bradley Thompson
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The purpose of this book is twofold: first, to elucidate the logic, principles, and significance of the Declaration of Independence as the embodiment of the American mind; and, second, to shed light on what John Adams once called the "real American Revolution"; that is, the moral revolution that occurred in the minds of the people in the 15 years before 1776.
-
-
Excellent study of Revolutionary Thinking
- By Amazon Customer on 03-24-21
-
Alexander the Great
- His Life and His Mysterious Death
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Alexander the Great, Anthony Everitt judges Alexander’s life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. We meet the Macedonian prince who was naturally inquisitive and fascinated by science and exploration, as well as the man who enjoyed the arts and used Homer’s great epic, the Iliad, as a bible. As his empire grew, Alexander exhibited respect for the traditions of his new subjects and careful judgment in administering rule over his vast territory. But his career also had a dark side.
-
-
Alexander never gets...old.
- By Douglas Knops on 09-04-19
By: Anthony Everitt
-
American Heritage History of the American Revolution
- By: Bruce Lancaster
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Lancaster starts his story with an examination of colonial society and the origins of the quarrel with England. He details the ensuing battles and military campaigns from Lexington and Concord to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, as well as the tense political and social situation of the new nation. The American Heritage History of the American Revolution details the birth of America with insight and depth.
-
-
Great book
- By Jarred King on 04-21-18
By: Bruce Lancaster
-
The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
-
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
-
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.
-
-
A Superficial Read
- By Gordon Shumway on 10-06-16
By: Jon Meacham
-
Abraham Lincoln
- The Prairie Years and The War Years
- By: Carl Sandburg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 44 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally published in six volumes, which sold more than one million copies, Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln was praised as the most noteworthy historical biography of Sandburg’s generation. He later distilled this monumental work into one volume that critics and readers alike consider his greatest work of nonfiction, as well as the most distinguished, authoritative biography of Lincoln ever published.
Growing up in an Illinois prairie town, Sandburg listened to stories of old-timers who had known Lincoln. By the time this single-volume edition was competed, he had spent a lifetime studying, researching, and writing about our 16th president.
-
-
A moving tale of a very human man
- By Kindle Customer on 06-25-16
By: Carl Sandburg
-
Books That Matter: The Federalist Papers
- By: Joseph Hoffmann, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Joseph Hoffmann
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It would be difficult to overstate the influence of The Federalist Papers. Despite their lack of official or legal status, these 85 brilliant essays have served as the single most important guide to the interpretation and application of the US Constitution for more than 230 years. Authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers offer a detailed blueprint for building a successful democratic republic. Books That Matter: The Federalist Papers gives you the chance to delve into this magisterial blueprint for yourself.
-
-
Not about the Federalist Papers. liberal opinions
- By Spitfire on 12-07-20
By: Joseph Hoffmann, and others
-
Winning Independence
- The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781
- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price
- Length: 24 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was 1778, and the recent American victory at Saratoga had netted the US a powerful ally in France. Many, including General George Washington, presumed France’s entrance into the war meant independence was just around the corner. Meanwhile, having lost an entire army at Saratoga, Great Britain pivoted to a 'southern strategy'. The army would henceforth seek to regain its southern colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, a highly profitable segment of its prewar American empire.
-
-
Superb
- By Aldy on 06-10-21
By: John Ferling
-
The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top-secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States.
-
-
Compelling as historical thriller, character study
- By Mr. Pointy on 08-25-15
By: David E. Hoffman
Publisher's Summary
The American Revolutionary War has inspired best-selling books, iconic paintings, and hit Broadway musicals. More than 250 years after the “shot heard around the world” was fired in Concord, we remain fascinated by the causes and legacy of the Revolution.
In 18 dynamic audio lectures, West Point history professor Robert McDonald leads you past the politics and battle tactics to explore the underlying ideas that sparked the Revolution. The editor of The American Revolution: Core Documents (Ashbrook Center, 2016) and writer or editor of numerous books about the Founding Fathers, Prof. McDonald has an encyclopedic knowledge of the complex factors that made the Revolution much more than a war for independence.
Under his guidance, you’ll examine American history from the establishment of Britain’s North American colonies through the ratification of the Constitution. Although you’ll revisit famous events like the French and Indian War, the Boston Massacre, and the First Continental Congress, this course invites you to reconsider the wider context — political, religious, and economic — of the Revolution.
Throughout the series, you’ll entertain questions without easy answers. How can we be sure that it was the Revolutionary War and not something else — like the Enlightenment — that was driving change across the landscape? How did the new land of liberty approach the issues of slavery and women’s equality?
Join Prof. McDonald for a fresh and exciting take on the classic story at the heart of the United States of America.
This course is part of the Learn25 collection.
More from the same
What listeners say about American Revolution: The War for Independence and the Birth of the United States
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- George in Topeka
- 04-02-21
See History in a New Way & Learn from the Best!
Professor McDonald is the type of teacher whom you would want to teach you, your children, and just about everyone else. His speaking style is engaging and colloquial, but he doesn’t talk down to the listener. You can hear his enthusiasm for the subject in the very tone of his voice. He knows that the teacher’s job is not just to provide answers, but to ask questions in order to make his students think.
Beware that this course is going to challenge the way that you have been taught to think about United States history. This is certainly evident in his lectures that focus on the extremely difficult and sensitive issue of slavery. Professor McDonald helps the listener to understand how slavery evolved in the former colonies in a way that made it impossible for slaves ever to become free to compete with their masters. But he also questions how truly “revolutionary” the American Revolution actually was, and he doesn’t portray the colonists as patriots and the British redcoats as tyrants in the one-dimensional way that history used to do. This is, in a real way, a course on the identity-building of the United States.
I especially liked how Professor McDonald presents history in context, and not as a series of unrelated events. His comments on the relationship of the French and Indian War and other events (the Stamp Act, the Townshend Duties) to the Revolutionary War are a good example, as is how the Boston Massacre of 1770 has been widely misunderstood in public consciousness. The course discusses how incompetence, blundering, and mismanagement of the colonies by the British sovereign and Parliament were the cause of the eventual revolution more than any actual tyranny.
In summary, this is a great course for anyone who loves history and who wants to be engaged and challenged to think about US history in a different way. One can only envy Professor McDonald’s students.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lawrenceholliday
- 08-20-21
typical lectures more about author than subject
boring and mundane effort that made me regret this 5 star selection very much
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Davison
- 08-18-20
Erudite, engaging, energetic
Prof. McDonald is passionate and knowledgeable about this country’s fascinating origin story. The lectures are a good length and easy to listen to. I studied this era in college and still learned many things I didn’t know.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Bloom
- 02-28-20
Excellent history, engaging presentation
Prof. McDonald has a knack for exploring the big themes of early American history while telling great stories about the individuals who shaped it. I enjoyed every lecture.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Higgins
- 12-03-19
Unique Course on the Revolution
I've read and listened to many books about the Revolutionary War, and this one stands out, chiefly due to the presentation of the author Rob McDonald. He balances funny stories and a likable personality with a deep knowledge of the major players and events that shaped early America. As a professor at West Point, he's got a great feeling for military history as well.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tom McGowan
- 12-02-19
Truly outstanding course
Among the many Learn25 titles I've enjoyed, this is one of my favorites, perhaps my very favorite. Professor McDonald has a knack for both presenting important context to the American Revolution - the enlightenment in American, the Great Awaking, American economic conditions, etc. - and vivid portraits of the men and women who shaped early American history. His lectures are well-organized, engaging, funny and memorable. I give this series my highest recommendation.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 12-19-21
A fantastic travel into US history. Thank you.
Very informative. Very entertaining. Very wide view. A good voice. Some links to the paintings spoken of would be good, but they were actually easy to find from the information given.