April, 1865. The country was in turmoil. The U.S. Civil War had come to an end, thousands of Union prisoners of war had recently been released, and President Lincoln had just been assassinated. The steamship 'Sultana' left New Orleans on April 21st, traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi where it took on 1,965 federal soldiers and 35 officers, all recently released prisoners of war, most of them held at the prison camps of Cahaba (or Cahawba, near Selma, Alabama) and Andersonville (in southwest Georgia), and now finally headed for their homes.
The 'Sultana' arrived in Memphis, Tennessee on April 26th and headed north toward Cairo, Illinois carrying over 2,100 passengers, but designed for a capacity of only 376. At approximately 2:00 a.m. of the 27th, mere hours after the assassination of John Wilkes Booth, the 'Sultana' mysteriously exploded while steaming about 7 miles north of Memphis, killing over 1,500 on board (estimates vary). The sole reason this incident received such scant attention at the time, and ever since, is the fact that the country was understandably absorbed in the recent assassinations. Subsequent inquiry into the 'Sultana' disaster would uncover some startling revelations into its cause, some believe leading directly to the topmost levels of the U.S. Government. The loss of the 'Sultana' was the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history, up until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This book, composed by Chester Berry, one of the survivors, is unique in that it gives firsthand account from well over 100 of the survivors of the tragedy in their own words.
Note - The online e-text (link provided) includes 3 lists for reference that are not included in this audio release:
1 - An official list of prisoners of war on the Sultana, including company served with
2 - Persons known to have been on board the Sultana, but not reported
3 - Name, Company, Regiment, and present (1892) residence of living survivors ( Roger Melin)
140 episodes
Mary Prince was born into slavery in the West Indies. As a free woman in England she wrote her memoirs, which sold well and supported and publicised the anti-slavery movement.
NB This book contains racial vocabulary and refers to physical and sexual abuse that some listeners may find offensive or distressing. (Newgatenovelist)
10 episodes
This 1911 history of the public health revolution that transformed New York City in the nineteenth century is also about every city and town of the world and the sanitary challenges that each encountered. Stephen Smith (1823-1922) was an American surgeon and a pioneer in public health. “The story of a great life-saving social revolution, the mightiest in the nineteenth century and one of the most momentous in the history of civilization, is told here for the first time. It is told from the standpoint of the transformation of the City of New York, by a chief actor in the event.” Chapter four, New York The Unclean, is the heart of this work. ( Publisher's Note and David Wales)
11 episodes
Subtitled, "A Cyclopaedia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work."
"The history of a people from the lips of the people themselves .. their labour, earnings, trials and sufferings, in their own unvarnished language, and to pourtray the condition of their homes and their families by personal observation of the places ..." "My earnest hope is that the book may serve to give the rich a more intimate knowledge of the sufferings, and the frequent heroism under those sufferings, of the poor ..."
Henry Mayhew was a social researcher and journalist. He compiled a four volume work in minute detail on the lives of the poor in London, of which this is the second volume, published in 1816. - Summary by Peter Yearsley
93 episodes
Vivisection is a pejorative term used by opponents of the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of physiological or pathological research. While opposition to the use of living animals for experimentation is most often associated with PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, founded in 1980], opposition to use of live animals in physiology research dates back several centuries. Animal experimentation was particularly decried before the development of anesthesia. This book briefly describes the personal histories of twelve prominent critics of live experimentation in 19th century England. - Summary by JefferySmith
14 episodes
Established in 1774, the ‘Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned’ published information on how to save people from drowning, promoted the concept of using methods of artificial resuscitation to attempt to revive victims who had appeared to have lost their life through drowning and rewarded those people who had saved a life.
Under the royal patronage of King George the Third, the Society changed its name in 1787 to ‘The Royal Humane Society’ and this organisation still exists today and is a well known and very active charity, whose aim is to recognise by the awarding of medals and certificates, the bravery of men, women and children who have saved, or who have tried to save someone else's life.
This book, Stories of the Royal Humane Society was one in a series of inspirational texts written by the Victorian author Frank Mundell and published by The Sunday School Union. The stories related here were taken from reports of actual incidents and events recorded by the Society around the turn of the last century.
Each story described here, allows us to appreciate the selfless acts of courage and bravery shown by ‘ordinary’ people and their extraordinary responses in taking action without regard for the risk to their own personal safety and wellbeing when confronted with an adverse situation that suddenly develops around them.
- Summary by Steve C
19 episodes
In 1888, George Broke with Harold Topham and William Williams, made the first exploration of the Alaskan Mt. St. Elias range, including the crossing of the great Malaspina Glacier and an attempt on the S.E. face of Mt. St. Elias itself. The journey is described in the interesting work With Sack and Stock in Alaska, vividly detailing the country visited and the characters met along the way. - Summary by Fritz
8 episodes
The history of African American enslavement, freedom from slavery, and the need for education as a prerequisite for success. - Summary by kirk202
8 episodes
THREE great names stand forth conspicuous in the annals of America, those of Washington, Bolívar, San Martin. Of Washington, the great leader of the Democracy of the North; of Bolívar and of San Martin, who were the emancipators of the southern half of the continent. The story of the life-work of the latter of these two is the Argument of this book.The scene of action passes on a vast theatre, a territory extending for more than fifty degrees of latitude, from Cape Horn to the Tropic of Cancer, and occupies twenty years of strife. The starting-point of this history is the Argentine revolution; it follows the course of this revolution as it spreads over the continent, and its object is to explain the laws which governed the establishment of a family of new Republics, and the fundamental principles from which they sprang. (from the Historical Introduction).The author of the book went on to become the President of Argentina, serving from 1862 to 1868. Summary by Piotr Nater
55 episodes
The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which follow, is not merely an example of self elevation under the most adverse circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of the highest aims of the American anti-slavery movement. (Introduction)
26 episodes
From its man-made origins as a consequence of medieval peat excavations, the Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk have evolved into a natural ecosystem, providing habitat for a diverse range of flora and fauna (some of which are unique to the Broads area), as well as a means of livelihood for the inhabitants of this region. In the company of the book’s author, a self-taught lifelong naturalist and undisputed expert of the Broads (who also wrote under the pen name of John Knowlittle), we discover how the life of the Broads unfolds over the course of a single year. So, why not listen in, and join us as we take an auditory saunter around these incomparable waterways, learn just a little of what life and nature in Broadland is all about and have a mardle or two with some of the old boys and their mawthers, whose families have lived and worked in this expansive landscape and under wide open skies for many generations. - Summary by TND
13 episodes
Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901) was a prolific novelist and historian. He wrote Fifty Years Ago to present a picture of life, manners, and society in Great Britain as it was when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne. In 1837, the seeds of new technology and new ideas were present and monumental changes from the ways of the 1700's were about to be felt. Starting first in London and over several decades, the progress moved outwards to the country towns of the British Isles. - Summary by Gary Clayton
20 episodes
Excerpt from Preface: Their patriotic sacrifices were made with an enthusiasm that showed the earnest spirit ready on every occasion to appear in generous acts. Some gave their own property, and went from house to house to solicit contributions for the army. Colors were embroidered by fair hands, and presented with the charge never to desert them; and arms and ammunition were provided by the same liberal zeal. They formed themselves into associations renouncing the use of teas, and other imported luxuries, and engaging to card, spin, and weave their own clothing.
16 episodes
The question most frequently asked me since I began my stay in South America has been: "Why do they have so many revolutions there?" Possibly the events recounted in the following pages may help the reader to answer this for himself. I hope that he will share my conviction that militarism has already definitely disappeared from more than half the continent and is slowly becoming less powerful in the remainder. Constitutional traditions, inherited from Spain and Portugal, implanted a tendency toward disintegration; Spanish and Portuguese tyranny bred in the people a distrust of all rulers and governments; the war of independence brought to the front military adventurers; civil disorders were inevitable, and the search for forms of government that should be final and stable has been very painful. On the other hand, the generous impulse that prompted the movement toward independence has grown into an earnest desire for ordered liberty, which is steadily spreading among all classes. Civic capacity is increasing among the body of South Americans and immigration is raising the industrial level. They are slowly evolving among themselves the best form of government for their special needs and conditions.It is hard to secure from the tangle of events called South American history a clearly defined picture. At the risk of repetition I have tried to tell separately the story of each country, because each has its special history and its peculiar characteristics. All of these states have, however, had much in common and it is only in the case of the larger nations that social and political conditions have been described in detail. (Fragment of the Preface)See the original text for the bibliography and numerous illustrations.
44 episodes
John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862), son of the famous painter John James Audubon and an artist in his own right, joined Col. Henry Webb's California Company expedition in 1849. From New Orleans the expedition sailed to the Rio Grande; it headed west overland through northern Mexico and through Arizona to San Diego, California. Cholera and outlaws decimated the group. Many of them turned back, including the leader. Audubon assumed command of those remaining and they pushed on to California, although he was forced to abandon his paints and canvases in the desert…. Throughout the whole of this long journey Mr. Audubon took notes of scenes and occurrences by the way. In his descriptions he exhibits the keen observation of the naturalist and the trained eye of the artist. The result is a remarkable picture of social conditions in Mexico, of birds and trees, of sky and mountains and the changing face of nature, of the barrenness of the desert and the difficulties of the journey, of the ruined missions of California, of methods of mining, and of the chaos of races and babel of tongues in the gold fields. It was manifestly impossible to keep a daily journal, and the entries were made from time to time as opportunity occurred. Considering the circumstances under which they were taken, the notes are remarkable for their accuracy. Because it was not edited by Audubon, the text (and this recording) ends abruptly. - Summary by Book Introduction and David Wales
11 episodes
This history begins when Pizarro and Almagro, Valdivia and Benalcazar, led their desperadoes across the Isthmus to the conquest, massacre, and enslavement of the prosperous and civilised millions who inhabited the Pacific coast of South America. It ends with the United States opening a way through that same Isthmus for the ships, the trade, the capital of all the world; with American engineers laying railroad iron on the imperial highway of the Incas; with British bondholders forgiving stricken Peru's national debt; with their debtor bravely facing the fact of bankruptcy, and turning over to them all its railways. (from the Preface, available in the source text together with the bibliography and numerous pictures)
30 episodes
Dr. Woodson describes the internal migration of African Americans within the United States, including the Northern Migration and the draw of California. Cultural and sociological observations are made as well as a study of principal economic factors in this migration. Summary by KevinS.
9 episodes
Charles James Fox (1749-1806) was a prominent British Whig member of Parliament and the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger. A staunch opponent of George III, he supported the American colonists throughout the War of Independence. He was a leading parliamentary advocate of religious tolerance, individual liberty, and the anti-slavery cause. A notorious gambler and womanizer, Fox fell in love with and married Elizabeth Armistead, the former mistress of the Prince of Wales, and found happiness and tranquility in their home, St. Anne's Hill. He was most famous for his oratory, of which Wakeman writes that in "the whole range of Fox's speeches there is not to be found a mean thought or an affectation...The very openness and complete absence of reserve, with which he poured out his whole heart to his audience took them by storm." (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)
21 episodes
Building a State in Apache Land by Charles Debrille Poston is a compilation of articles published in 1894 in the Overland Monthly magazine. Charles D. Poston gives a colorful account of the history of what would become the Arizona Territory as well and his role in such. His adventures and accomplishments in the lands ceded from Mexico to the USA in the mid 19th Century are recounted and constitute a interesting take of how the groundwork was laid for Arizona to become a unique American entity of many peoples. (Summary by Tony Posante)
4 episodes
A very brief introduction to postal stamps used and issued during times of war. The principal focus might be said to be placed upon the Great War which just erupted in Europe and across much of the globe. - Summary by KevinS
3 episodes
This Part 2 of "The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80" discusses the 1878-80 war, which was one of the major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins and Phil Griffith
10 episodes
In this short (58 page) work, Morris and Woodress present a selection of fascinating source materials to survey key events which occurred during the presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. As the authors state in their preface, "The early part of the last century was an exciting time to live in America. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution, mostly old men by now, saw that their experiment in republican government had turned out to be a success. The nation was flourishing in these years like a healthy adolescent. There were growing pains, to be sure, but no one doubted now that the youngster would reach manhood. The question was: What is he going to be like?" - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi
12 episodes
In the early 19th century, in the Hudson Valley of New York State, hundreds of square miles of land were still the feudal domains of large landowners known as patroons. Such families as the Van Rensselaers, Livingstons, and Schuylers owned the farms and towns in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary people lived and worked. Even the capitol city of New York State, Albany, was encompassed in the private fiefdom of a patroon. On July 4, 1839, in the mountain town of Berne, New York, a mass meeting of tenant farmers issued a declaration of independence, promising: "We will take up the ball of the Revolution where our fathers stopped it and roll it to the final consummation of freedom and independence of the masses." The Anti-Rent War consumed the Catskill Mountain region through the 1840's, leading in the end to the downfall of the patroon system and the democratization of land ownership in New York State. - Summary by Maria Kasper
25 episodes
Richmond, Virginia, was the capital of The Confederacy during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. It was the focus of two military campaigns by Northern armies, one in the summer of 1862 (the Peninsula Campaign) and the second in 1864-1865. When the city was conquered and destroyed in early April, 1865, , it was only a few days later that General Lee surrendered to General Grant and the Civil War was over. Published in 1961, this is National Park Service Historical Handbook 33. The text contains many informative maps and interesting photographs. - Summary by david wales
6 episodes
Arizona's Yesterday Being the Narrative of John H. Cady, Pioneer. Written by John Henry Cady and revised and rewritten in 1915 by noted Playwright and Journalist Basil Woon. Cady was born in Ohio, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and eventually settled in Arizona Territory. Cady's story is one of adventure, determination, a pioneering spirit, and an entrepreneurial drive. Arizona's Yesterday is a glimpse of an Arizona not so much filled with gunfighters and warriors, but of an Arizona on the cusp of Statehood and the modern era. - Summary by Tony Posante
11 episodes
Naturalist William Henry Hudson was born in Argentina of immigrant parents from England, and later settled there. He published books on ornithology and novels, and other books of far ranging interest. This is a short overview, which he calls a sketch, of the California Missions starting with the first travels of Father Junipero Serra to their time of declining influence. Summary by Larry Wilson.
12 episodes
Excerpt: At the time when Mr. Cleveland was inaugurated there had been no Democratic President for a full quarter of a century. A whole generation had been born and had grown to manhood and to womanhood without ever having lived under any but Republican rule. This long continuance in power of a single party had led many citizens to identify the interest of that party with the interests of the nation. The democrats had been so invariably beaten at the polls as to make Republicans believe that the defeated party had no decent reason for existence, and that is was composed only of wilful obstructionists or of persons destitute of patriotism.
Note: Footnotes will not be read but will be indicated along with page numbers which can be found at
https://archive.org/details/20yrstherepublic00peckrich/page/n8/mode/2up - Summary by Celine Major
41 episodes
This 1904 history of slavery in the southeastern United States reflects the state of knowledge at that time, of course. The text contains so many extensive quotations (well footnoted along with an extensive bibliography) that it was unfeasible to indicate them as quotes in reading the text. The author was a professor of history and English at Claremont College, a North Carolina school that closed in 1917. A resource of more current thinking may be had at the well-regarded 1988 Dictionary Of Afro-American Slavery. - Summary by David Wales
8 episodes
A beautifully written and witty history of The New York Times, and of newspaper publishing in general, from the 1850s to 1921 by three-time Peabody Award winner Elmer Davis. Davis provides a detailed history of the founding of The Times; its role in the exposure and demise of the notorious Boss Tweed; its resurrection from near-failure by legendary publisher Adolph Ochs; its role in local and national politics; and how The Times became the dominant newspaper of his generation. Along the way, Davis shares insight into how technology (or lack thereof) influences newsgathering, and reveals The Times' surprising role in some of the major technological advances of the era. Overall, the book is both an uncompromising evaluation of and a love letter to the newspaper at which Davis began his storied career. - Summary by Joanne Turner
20 episodes
The book describes a voyage undertaken in 1889 by an English barrister Edward Frederick Knight to the South Seas. This delightful story takes the reader on a voyage to the forbidding desert island of Trindade, where it is rumored that immense treasure lies buried. Though the heroes of this treasure-hunt do not have to contend with malicious people, they have their share of adventures. Almost inaccessible desert island, changing weather, hideous land crabs and heavy digging in the mud are enough challenges for the brave adventurers. (Kristine Bekere)
22 episodes
