Get Your Free Audiobook
Dreams of El Dorado
Non-member price: $42.90
People who bought this also bought...
-
Hymns of the Republic
- The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fourth and final year of the Civil War offers one of that era’s most compelling narratives, defining the nation and one of history’s great turning points. Now, S.C. Gwynne’s Hymns of the Republic addresses the time Ulysses S. Grant arrives to take command of all Union armies in March 1864 to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox a year later. He breathes new life into the epic battle between Lee and Grant; the advent of 180,000 black soldiers in the Union army; Sherman’s March to the Sea; the rise of Clara Barton; and much more.
-
The Greatest Fury
- The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America
- By: William C. Davis
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From master historian William C. Davis, the definitive story of the Battle of New Orleans, the fight that decided the ultimate fate not only of the War of 1812 but the future course of the fledgling American republic. It was a battle that could not be won. Outnumbered farmers, merchants, backwoodsmen, smugglers, slaves, and Choctaw Indians, many of them unarmed, were up against the cream of the British army, professional soldiers who had defeated the great Napoleon and set Washington, DC, ablaze.
-
Vicksburg
- Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy
- By: Donald L. Miller
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 21 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The astonishing story of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war.
-
Big Wonderful Thing
- By: Stephen Harrigan
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and of the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world.
-
Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
-
Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers
- The Texas Victory That Changed American History
- By: Brian Kilmeade
- Narrated by: Brian Kilmeade
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his now-trademark style, Brian Kilmeade brings alive one of the most pivotal moments in American history, this time telling the heart-stopping story of America's fight for Texas. While the story of the Alamo is familiar to most, few remember how Sam Houston led Texians after a crushing loss to a shocking victory that secured their freedom and paved the way for America's growth. In March 1836, the Mexican army led by General Santa Anna massacred more than 200 Texians who had been trapped in a tiny adobe mission in San Antonio for 13 days.
-
Hymns of the Republic
- The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fourth and final year of the Civil War offers one of that era’s most compelling narratives, defining the nation and one of history’s great turning points. Now, S.C. Gwynne’s Hymns of the Republic addresses the time Ulysses S. Grant arrives to take command of all Union armies in March 1864 to the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox a year later. He breathes new life into the epic battle between Lee and Grant; the advent of 180,000 black soldiers in the Union army; Sherman’s March to the Sea; the rise of Clara Barton; and much more.
-
The Greatest Fury
- The Battle of New Orleans and the Rebirth of America
- By: William C. Davis
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From master historian William C. Davis, the definitive story of the Battle of New Orleans, the fight that decided the ultimate fate not only of the War of 1812 but the future course of the fledgling American republic. It was a battle that could not be won. Outnumbered farmers, merchants, backwoodsmen, smugglers, slaves, and Choctaw Indians, many of them unarmed, were up against the cream of the British army, professional soldiers who had defeated the great Napoleon and set Washington, DC, ablaze.
-
Vicksburg
- Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy
- By: Donald L. Miller
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 21 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The astonishing story of the longest and most decisive military campaign of the Civil War in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which opened the Mississippi River, split the Confederacy, freed tens of thousands of slaves, and made Ulysses S. Grant the most important general of the war.
-
Big Wonderful Thing
- By: Stephen Harrigan
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and of the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world.
-
Heirs of the Founders
- The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery.
-
Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers
- The Texas Victory That Changed American History
- By: Brian Kilmeade
- Narrated by: Brian Kilmeade
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his now-trademark style, Brian Kilmeade brings alive one of the most pivotal moments in American history, this time telling the heart-stopping story of America's fight for Texas. While the story of the Alamo is familiar to most, few remember how Sam Houston led Texians after a crushing loss to a shocking victory that secured their freedom and paved the way for America's growth. In March 1836, the Mexican army led by General Santa Anna massacred more than 200 Texians who had been trapped in a tiny adobe mission in San Antonio for 13 days.
-
The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill on the American River, it completely transformed the territory of California. Hundreds of thousands of people sped to California by any means possible, and small cities sprung up to service their needs as they sought the precious metal. By 1850, California had become a state; it had also become a symbol of where the nation was going.
-
George Marshall
- Defender of the Republic
- By: David L. Roll
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 27 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The extraordinary career of George Catlett Marshall - America’s most distinguished soldier - statesman since George Washington - whose selfless leadership and moral character influenced the course of two world wars and helped define the American century. Set against the backdrop of five major conflicts - two world wars, Palestine, Korea, and the Cold War - Marshall's education in military, diplomatic, and political power, replete with their nuances and ambiguities, runs parallel with America's emergence as a global superpower.
-
The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the best-selling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological makeup.
-
-
Another masterpiece.
- By scott on 23-10-2019
-
The British Are Coming
- The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Rick Atkinson
- Length: 26 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now, he turns his attention to a new war, and in this book about the American Revolution recounts the first 21 months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force.
-
The Europeans
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Natasha's Dance, The Europeans is a richly enthralling, panoramic cultural history of 19th-century Europe, told through the intertwined lives of three remarkable people: a great singer, Pauline Viardot, a great writer, Ivan Turgenev, and a great connoisseur, Pauline's husband, Louis. Their passionate, ambitious lives were bound up with an array of writers, composers and painters all trying to make their way through the exciting, prosperous and pan-European culture that came about as a result of huge economic and technological change.
-
American Predator
- The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
- By: Maureen Callahan
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes's life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement.
-
D-Day Girls
- The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
- By: Sarah Rose
- Narrated by: Sarah Rose
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Believing that Britain was locked in an existential battle, Winston Churchill had already created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharpshooting. Their job, he declared, was to 'set Europe ablaze'. But with most men on the front lines, the SOE was forced to do something unprecedented: recruit women. Thirty-nine answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France.
-
Escalante's Dream
- On the Trail of the Spanish Discovery of the Southwest
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1776 a pair of Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, were charged by the governor of New Mexico with discovering a route across the unknown Southwest to the new Spanish colony in California. They had other goals as well, some of them secret: converting the indigenous natives along the way to the true faith, discovering a semi-mythical paradise known as Teguayo, hunting for sources of gold and silver, and paving the way for Spanish settlements from Santa Fe to Monterey. In strict terms, the expedition failed.
-
The Second Founding
- How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
- By: Eric Foner
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar, a timely history of the constitutional changes that built equality into the nation's foundation and how those guarantees have been shaken over time.
-
Bagehot
- The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian
- By: James Grant
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the upheavals of 2007-9, the chairman of the Federal Reserve had the name of a Victorian icon on the tip of his tongue: Walter Bagehot. Banker, man of letters, inventor of the Treasury bill, and author of Lombard Street, the still-canonical guide to stopping a run on the banks, Bagehot prescribed the doctrines that - decades later - inspired the radical responses to the world's worst financial crises.
-
When Pride Still Mattered
- A Life of Vince Lombardi
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: David Maraniss
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Pride Still Mattered is the quintessential story of the American family: how Vince Lombardi, the son of an immigrant Italian butcher, rose to the top, and how his character and will to prevail transformed him, his wife, his children, his players, his sport, and ultimately the entire country.
-
-
The story behind the trophy
- By Anonymous User on 06-03-2019
-
The Narrow Corridor
- States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 23 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the authors of the international best seller Why Nations Fail, based on decades of research, this powerful new big-picture framework explains how some countries develop towards and provide liberty while others fall to despotism, anarchy or asphyxiating norms - and explains how liberty can thrive despite new threats.
Publisher's Summary
From a New York Times best-selling author, a sweeping history of the American West
In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame - and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.
Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic Reviews
"A subject this monumental demands prose to match it, and I am pleased that to report that, in this sprawling epic, H. W. Brands is at his sparkling best. He is of the American West and grew up in its myths, which may explain why he writes about it with such passion and clarity." (S. C. Gwynne, New York Times best-selling author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell)
"The 'winning' of the American West is that biggest and most daunting of subjects, so big that most historians have found it necessary to bite off small corners of this grand and sordid tale of empire-building. But here H. W. Brands endeavors to tell it all, from Texas to California, from beaver pelts to buffalo robes, from the hoofbeats of horses to the steam blasts of the first transcontinental trains. Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope, this is a bravura performance from one of our master historians." (Hampton Sides, best-selling author of Blood and Thunder)
"The expansion of the United States across what would become the American West is the sort of sprawling, tumultuous epic that is best told by a calm and concentrated mind. Fortunately the author of this book is H. W. Brands, who has the vision and supreme narrative skill to braid the chaotic tendrils that make up the past into a story that is almost as exciting for its coherence as it is for the heroic and heartbreaking events it so vividly renders. Dreams of El Dorado is the latest reason to think of Brands as America's go-to historian." (Stephen Harrigan, author of Big Wonderful Thing and The Gates of the Alamo)
More from the same
What members say
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Fredmo
- 09-12-2019
Dreadful narration
The poor narration made this book unlistenable for me. Every sentence is read as though it was the most profound thing ever said.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- BJ Johnson
- 04-12-2019
A better narrator could have made it 5 stars
The story is marvelous, well written and the analysis of the various stages of development of the West was insightful. Disturbing were the various mispronunciations on the part of the narrator of Indian tribes and most of all the Willamette River and Valley. Emphasis is on the “a” and you should not just guess at that. I also felt he rushed his delivery. Some areas needed more gravity, deliberation. But well worth the listen.