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  The Age of Reptiles: The History and Legacy of the Mesozoic Era and the Dinosaurs , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 204min

  The early history of our planet covers such vast stretches of time that years, centuries, and even millennia become virtually meaningless. Instead paleontologists and scientists who study geochronology divide time into periods and eras.The current view of science is that planet Earth is around 4.6 billion years old. The first four billion years of its development are known as the Precambrian period. For the first billion years or so, there was no life in Earth. Then the first single-celled life-forms, early bacteria and algae, began to emerge. We don’t know where they came from or even if they originated on this planet at all. This gradual development continued until around four billion years ago when suddenly (in geological terms!) more complex forms of life began to emerge.Scientists call this time of an explosion of new forms of life the Paleozoic Era and it stretched from around 541 to 250 million years ago (Mya). First of all, in the oceans and then on land, new creatures and plants began to appear in bewildering variety. By the end of this period, life on Earth had exploded into a myriad of complex forms that filled virtually every habitat and niche available in the seas and on the planet’s only continent, Pangea.Then a mysterious event that became known to early paleontologists as “The Great Dying” wiped out more than 95 percent of all life on Earth. No-one is entirely certain what caused this, but the effect of this cataclysm was as if someone had pressed a great, cosmic “reset” button and it took 30 million years for the development of life on Earth to start again. ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/217463/bk_acx0_217463_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Uranprojekt: The History and Legacy of Nazi Germany's Nuclear Weapons Program During World War II , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 90min

  What if the enemy should get the atomic bomb before we did! We could not run the mortal risk of being outstripped in this awful sphere. (Winston Churchill)Both the Western Allies and the Soviets knew of Adolf Hitler's V-2 rocket program, the forerunner of ballistic missiles and the space race. Each recognized the immense strategic value of these technologies and wished to secure their benefits for themselves. As the Soviets contemplated additional expansion following the "Great Patriotic War" and the US military came to understand the putative allies of today would emerge as the enemies of tomorrow, the men possessing knowledge of the V-2 rockets and other Third Reich military technology programs became seen as crucial pieces in the incipient NATO versus Warsaw Pact standoff.The result was the American-led "Operation Paperclip" on the Western side, which resulted in German scientists putting their expertise at the disposal of the US and other NATO members. Operation Paperclip aimed not only to obtain the benefits of German scientific advances for the United States but also to deny them to the potentially hostile Soviets, as General Leslie Groves enunciated: "Heisenberg was one of the world's leading physicists, and, at the time of the German break-up, he was worth more to us than ten divisions of Germans. Had he fallen into the Russian hands, he would have proven invaluable to them" (Naimark, 1995, 207).But Heisenberg was important not simply for being a physicist - he was one of the principal men in charge of Nazi Germany's nuclear weapons research.Tens of millions died during World War II as the warring powers raced to create the best fighter planes, tanks, and guns, and eventually that race extended to bombs which carried enough power to destroy civilization itself. While the war raged in Europe and the Pacific, a dream team of Nobel Laureates was working on the Manhattan Project, a program kept so secret that Vice ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/160453/bk_acx0_160453_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Mysterious Polynesia: The Myths, Legends, and Mysteries of the Polynesians , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 144min

  Taking into account similarities of appearance, customs and languages spread across a vast region of scattered islands, it was obvious that the Polynesian race emerged from a single origin, and that origin Cook speculated was somewhere in the Malay Peninsula or the “East Indies.” In this regard, he was not too far from the truth. The origins of the Polynesian race have been fiercely debated since then, and it was only relatively recently, through genetic and linguistic research, that it can now be stated with certainty that the Polynesian race originated on the Chinese mainland and the islands of Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Oceania was, indeed, the last major region of the Earth to be penetrated and settled by people, and Polynesia was the last region of Oceania to be inhabited. The vehicle of this expansion was the outrigger canoe, and aided by tides and wind patterns, a migration along the Malay Archipelago, and across the wide expanses of the South Pacific, began sometime between 3000 and 1000 BCE, reaching the western Polynesian Islands in about 900 BCE. The name Polynesia derives from the ancient Greek meaning “many islands.” The word was first used to describe the entirety of the South Sea Islands by the 18th century French writer and traveler Charles de Brosses, but technically, Polynesia refers specifically to an area described by a vast triangle that stretches across the southern Pacific, with Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand serving as the points. Close to the center of this triangle lies Tahiti, with the west limit defined by Samoa and Tonga, with a slight irregularity in the western edge of the triangle that serves to exclude Fiji, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, and a handful of Melanesian and Micronesian islands. The Melanesian demographic tends to differ quite dramatically from the Polynesian in both appearance and culture, the former tending to be of darker complexion, while the latter is more characteristic ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/172571/bk_acx0_172571_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Operation Rolling Thunder: The History of the American Bombardment of North Vietnam at the Start of the Vietnam War , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 119min

  “Targeting bore little resemblance to reality in that the sequence of attacks was uncoordinated and the targets were approved randomly - even illogically. The North's airfields, which, according to any rational targeting policy, should have been hit first in the campaign, were also off-limits.”(Earl Tilford, US Air Force historian)The Vietnam War could have been called a comedy of errors if the consequences weren’t so deadly and tragic. In 1951, while war was raging in Korea, the United States began signing defense pacts with nations in the Pacific, intending to create alliances that would contain the spread of Communism. As the Korean War was winding down, America joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, pledging to defend several nations in the region from Communist aggression. One of those nations was South Vietnam. The seeds of Operation Rolling Thunder, America’s elaborately constrained air war against North Vietnam, appeared almost from the first moment that the USA inherited the conflict from the French. The half-communist, half-nationalist Viet Minh rebels of Ho Chi Minh evicted the French in 1954, but not before the latter partially created an anticommunist state, South Vietnam, in the lower half of the nation. Home to many Vietnamese who stood to lose property and potentially their lives in the event of the country’s reunification, the new state struggled with both Viet Cong guerrillas supplied by the north and its own internal corruption and factionalism. Many thousands of North Vietnamese fled there to escape Ho Chi Minh’s repression and occasional mass executions as well.Faced with such a determined opponent, skilled in asymmetrical warfare and enjoying considerable popular support, the Americans would ultimately choose to fight a war of attrition. While the Americans did employ strategic hamlets, pacification programs, and other kinetic counterinsurgency operations, they largely relied on a massive advantage in fire ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/163947/bk_acx0_163947_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Joseph Meek: The Life and Legacy of the Oregon Territory's Most Influential Politician during the 19th Century , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 135min

  At the start of the 1840s, the Oregon Country had no political boundaries or effective government. The only administrative organization in the territory was the Hudson’s Bay Company, which applied only to British subjects, and aside from natives, the region was populated by a handful of independent traders, hunters, and prospectors, as well as those employed in the various company depots. The first to begin showing up in large numbers were missionaries. The native populations were by then diminished by disease and dispirited, which meant they were more receptive to missionary aid and the Christian message. Christianity, of course, was not entirely unknown among the indigenous populations, given that marriages between white men and Indian women created a hybrid of “folk” Christianity that was commonly observed among the Indians. The first wave of missionaries represented the American Methodists, arriving in or around 1834, followed a year or two later by a second series of arrivals, sponsored this time by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The ABCFM was an ecumenical organization founded to promote the general outreach of the Presbyterian and Dutch Reform churches in the United States. Roman Catholics arrived around 1830, bringing missionaries mostly from Canada and Europe.In May 1848, the former mountain man Joseph Meek arrived in St. Louis after an overland journey from Oregon in the dead of winter, announcing himself as the “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic of Oregon to the Court of the United States”. In fact, Joseph Meek was a representative of the provisional government sent to plead for the establishment of US “Territory” status for Oregon. The essential message that he carried on behalf of the provisional government was that if the United States had attended to its duties earlier, the infamous Whitman Massacre and subsequent violence might never have happened. In time, far more ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/168350/bk_acx0_168350_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  The Triassic Period: The History and Legacy of the Geologic Era that Witnessed the Rise of Dinosaurs , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 71min

  Scientists have long attempted to understand Earth’s past, and in service to that effort, they have divided the world’s history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages. For example, the current eon is called the Phanerozoic, which means “visible life”. This is the eon in which multi-cellular life has evolved and thrived. Before this, life was microscopic (single cell).The Phanerozoic eon is divided into 3 eras - Paleozoic (“old life”), Mesozoic (“middle life”) and Cenozoic (“new life”). From there, the Mesozoic era is divided into 3 periods - Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.Before the Triassic, primitive life had built up in the oceans and seas, and some lifeforms finally had crawled onto land during the Paleozoic era. With that, life had become well established, but then came the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, the worst extinction event in the history of the planet. At the end of the Triassic, another extinction event cleared the way for dinosaurs to become the dominant set of species in the Jurassic.Though the Triassic does not have as interesting a list of creatures as those in the Jurassic and Cretaceous, such as Tyranosaurus rex, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyls, Brontosaurus, and the like, the life which reclaimed the Earth and then thrived during this period was no less important. Life during the Triassic spent nearly 60 percent of its time recovering from the Permian-Triassic extinction event, roughly 30 million years. What had been built up was then slammed by nature, effectively clearing the board once more for new species to take over.The Triassic Period: The History and Legacy of the Geologic Era that Witnessed the Rise of Dinosaurs looks at the development of the era, the extinction events that preceded it, and how dinosaurs began to evolve in the Late Triassic. You will learn about the Triassic Period like never before. ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/164667/bk_acx0_164667_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Narcissa Whitman: The Life and Legacy of the Missionary Killed by Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 152min

  At the start of the 1840s, the Oregon Country had no political boundaries or effective government. The only administrative organization was the Hudson’s Bay Company, which applied only to British subjects, and aside from natives, the region was populated by a handful of independent traders, hunters, and prospectors, as well as those employed in the various company depots.The first to begin showing up in large numbers were missionaries. The native populations were by then diminished by disease and dispirited, which meant they were more receptive to missionary aid and the Christian message. Christianity, of course, was not entirely unknown among the indigenous populations, given that marriages between white men and Indian women created a hybrid of “folk” Christianity that was commonly observed among the Indians. The first wave of missionaries represented the American Methodists, arriving in or around 1834, followed a year or two later by a second series of arrivals, sponsored this time by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The ABCFM was an ecumenical organization founded to promote the general outreach of the Presbyterian and Dutch Reform churches in the United States. Roman Catholics arrived around 1830, bringing missionaries mostly from Canada and Europe.Most wives and children remained in the East while men rolled the dice to seek fortunes in the Pacific region. However, religious movements committed to denominational migrations eventually found their way into the western plains through faintly-established routes, leading to the eventual settling of Utah. Before such western societies took root, the Pacific Northwest remained a dark void in the agendas of missionary organizations. Most were of the general mind that to convert the Nez Percé and Cayuse tribes of the Columbia River Plateau to Christianity was a hopeless venture. However, a few aspiring Protestant missionaries persisted in the belief that conversion of th ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/159143/bk_acx0_159143_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  The Dreyfus Affair: The History and Legacy of France's Most Notorious Antisemitic Political Scandal , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 76min

  Sometime in 1889, a woman named Madame Marie Bastian was recruited as an agent of the secretive “Statistical Section”, an espionage and counter-intelligence agency attached to the military intelligence office of the French General Staff. Mme. Bastian was a cleaner employed by the German Embassy in Paris. Thanks to her Romany origins, she was somewhat acquainted with Germany and marginally conversant in the German language. She enjoyed complete and unrestricted access to the private residences of many important German diplomats and functionaries, and as she gathered up the torn-up documents in the various wastepaper baskets, she routinely passed them on to a handler attached to the Statistical Section.In September 1890, among a pile of torn-up documents delivered by Mme. Bastian was found a note handwritten in French which, when pieced together, proved to be a list of French military secrets handed over to the Germans by an unknown French officer of the General Staff. This discovery, which proved the existence of a traitor in the department, triggered a ferment in the corridors of the Conseil Supérieur de la Guerre, and the hunt was on for the culprit.By a process of elimination, officers of the military intelligence were able to narrow down a list of probable traitors, among whom was a young Jewish staff officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus who was immediately earmarked as the chief suspect. Dreyfus’ handwriting was compared to that on the bordereau and although the various handwriting experts who conducted the comparison failed to reach a common consensus, it was nonetheless judged that Dreyfus was indeed the culprit. In December 1894, Dreyfus was court-martialed, convicted, and sentenced to a term of life in prison. On January 5, 1895, in a formal parade, Captain Dreyfus was stripped of his rank, his sword was broken over the knee of a sergeant, and he was shipped overseas to the penal colony of Devil’s Island on the coast of French Guiana.p ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/160241/bk_acx0_160241_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Buried Treasure: A Collection of Strange Mysteries, Golden Legends, and Lucky Finds in the Search for Hidden Wealth , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 108min

  When Robert Louis Stevenson published Treasure Island in the late 19th century, it all but created every stereotype now associated with pirates. The book is a coming-of-age adventure that mixes character studies, action, a vivid setting, and commentary on the ambiguity of morality, as embodied by the memorable Long John Silver. Its influence on the popularity of historical pirates is unmistakable, with its inclusion of treasure maps, where "X" marks the spot, schooners, tropical islands, and one-legged pirates with parrots on their shoulders. Of course, Stevenson’s work and the public’s fascination with pirates were hardly new phenomena. After all, people had heard tales of hidden booty and gold for centuries, from rumors about Blackbeard and Captain William Kidd to stories about outlaws and criminals burying their booty to come back for it at a later date. It was only fitting that Stevenson’s work came in the same era that people across the world were panning the earth for mineral resources, most notably the California Gold Rush in the late 1840s. As this all suggests, there’s something about buried treasure that catches someone’s attention like few other things. As soon as there’s the potential for uncovering hidden wealth, otherwise sane and reliable people will abandon their homes and regular lives and become obsessed with tracking down the treasure.In the 1969 Western Mackenna’s Gold, word gets out that the Apaches have an entire canyon filled with gold deep in their territory. A gang of outlaws go after it, with the sheriff hot on their tails, but the sheriff’s task gets immeasurably harder when the nearby locals rush out looking for the gold, too. Soon, the local cavalry captain gets corrupted by gold fever as well, and everyone is fighting everybody, with the Apaches picking off the survivors.Luckily, most treasure hunts aren’t that bloody, but they can be dangerous and disappointing. Indeed, those who typicall ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T. Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/179533/bk_acx0_179533_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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  Mad Anthony Wayne: The Life and Legacy of the Famous Revolutionary War General , Hörbuch, Digital, ungekürzt, 115min

  “Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.” (Mad Anthony Wayne) The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the “shot heard ‘round the world” to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington and Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses. From 1764-1775, a chain of events that included lightning rods like the Townshend Acts led to bloodshed in the form of the Boston Massacre, while the Boston Tea Party became a symbol of nonviolent protest. One of the most unique aspects of the Revolutionary War is that a number of the most recognizable American heroes of that war hailed from overseas. When the Revolution began, the Continental Army sported numerous volunteers from Ireland, Scotland, virtually every European nation between France and Russia, and men from the northern and southern borders of the European continent. This is understandable, given that at the start of the war, military confrontations between the world powers had become so common that combat was raised to the status of a fine art, consuming a large portion of time for adolescent males in training and comprising a sizable component of the economy. Weaponry was developed to a degree of quality not accessible to most North Americans, and European aristocrats were reared in the mastery of swordsmanship with an emphasis on the saber for military use. Likewise, the cavalry, buoyed by a tradition of expert horsemanship and saddle-based combat, was a fighting force largely beyond reach for colonists, which meant that fighting on horses was an undeveloped practice in the fledgling Continental Army, and the American military did not yet fully comprehend the value of cavalry units. Few sword maste ungekürzt. Language: English. Narrator: Gregory T Luzitano. Audio sample: https://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/194186/bk_acx0_194186_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.

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