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The Graves Are Walking
- The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's summary
It started in 1845 and lasted six years. Before it was over, more than one million men, women, and children starved to death and another million fled the country. Measured in terms of mortality, the Great Irish Potato Famine was one of the worst disasters in the 19th century-it claimed twice as many lives as the American Civil War. A perfect storm of bacterial infection, political greed, and religious intolerance sparked this catastrophe. But even more extraordinary than its scope were its political underpinnings, and The Graves Are Walking provides fresh material and analysis on the role that nineteenth-century evangelical Protestantism played in shaping British policies and on Britain's attempt to use the famine to reshape Irish society and character.
Perhaps most important, this is ultimately a story of triumph over perceived destiny: for 50 million Americans of Irish heritage, the saga of a broken people fleeing crushing starvation and remaking themselves in a new land is an inspiring story of exoneration.
Based on extensive research and written with novelistic flair, The Graves Are Walking draws a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic, that captures the drama of individual lives caught up in an unimaginable tragedy, while imparting a new understanding of the famine's causes and consequences.
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Bury the Chains
- Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves
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- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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In early 1787, 12 men - a printer, a lawyer, a clergyman, and others united by their hatred of slavery - came together in a London printing shop and began a remarkable grass-roots movement, battling for the rights of people on another continent. Masterfully stoking public opinion, the movement's leaders pioneered a variety of techniques that have been adopted by citizens' movements ever since, from consumer boycotts to wall posters and lapel buttons to celebrity endorsements.
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Great Eye-Opener
- By Carl Thompson on 01-06-19
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The Age of Gold
- The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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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.
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Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
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A Shorter History of Australia
- By: Geoffrey Blainey
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
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After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events which have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport, the suspicion of the tall poppy, the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbourne, new and old homelands, the conflicts of war abroad and race at home, the importance of technology, the recognition of our Aboriginal past and Native Title.
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Just couldn't stand the paternalism
- By Matthew on 04-02-14
By: Geoffrey Blainey
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A Commonwealth of Thieves
- The Improbable Birth of Australia
- By: Thomas Keneally
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
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It was 1786 when Arthur Phillip, an ambitious captain in the Royal Navy, was assigned the formidable task of organizing an expedition to Australia in order to establish a penal colony. With the authority of a renowned historian and the narrative grace of a brilliant novelist, Thomas Keneally offers an insider's perspective into the dramatic saga of the birth of a vibrant society in an unfamiliar land.
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Interesting tidbits, but slow overall
- By Dan on 08-23-07
By: Thomas Keneally
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King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
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In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
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Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
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The Immortal Irishman
- The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
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The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man. A dashing young orator during the Great Famine of the 1840s, in which a million of his Irish countrymen died, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony. He escaped and six months later was heralded in the streets of New York - the revolutionary hero, back from the dead, at the dawn of the great Irish immigration to America.
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Yes, but....
- By Dale and Carol on 04-01-16
By: Timothy Egan
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A Year in the South: 1865
- The True Story of Four Ordinary People Who Lived Through the Most Tumultuous Twelve Months in History
- By: Stephen V. Ash
- Narrated by: Neal Ghant, Nicholas Techosky, Jeremy Arthur, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
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A slave determined to gain freedom, a widow battling poverty and despair, a man of God grappling with spiritual and worldly troubles, and a former Confederate soldier seeking a new life. They lived in the South during 1865 - a year that saw war, disunion, and slavery give way to peace, reconstruction, and emancipation. Between January and December 1865, these four people witnessed, from very different vantage points, the death of the Old South and the birth of the New South. Civil War historian Stephen V. Ash reconstructs their daily lives, their fears and hopes, and their frustrations and triumphs in vivid detail.
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Excellent audio book
- By Rodney on 10-29-13
By: Stephen V. Ash
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Making Haste from Babylon
- The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History
- By: Nick Bunker
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
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At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across the night sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to the Arctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning of doom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrims prepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, the atmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men and women readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divine retribution. Against this background, and amid deep economic depression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile.
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Excellent, detailed and eye-opening
- By David on 09-20-15
By: Nick Bunker
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Five Points
- The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum
- By: Tyler Anbinder
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
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All but forgotten today, Five Points was once renowned the world over. Its handful of streets in lower Manhattan featured America's most wretched poverty, shared by Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans. It was the scene of more riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in the new world. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America's immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich.
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Great historical piece
- By Jim Braunstein on 08-19-19
By: Tyler Anbinder
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The Pioneers
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- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
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The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
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i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
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The First Kennedys
- The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty
- By: Neal Thompson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
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Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys’ initial political profile, as JFK leveraged his working-class roots to connect with blue-collar voters. Today, we remember this iconic American family as the vanguard of wealth, power, and style rather than as the descendants of poor immigrants. Here at last, we meet the first American Kennedys, Patrick and Bridget, who arrived as many thousands of others did following the Great Famine—penniless and hungry. Less than a decade after their marriage in Boston, Patrick’s sudden death left Bridget to raise their children single-handedly.
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Fascinating and inspiring
- By tejanomusic on 04-03-22
By: Neal Thompson
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What listeners say about The Graves Are Walking
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- Lee
- 03-07-14
In A Word......Excellent!
Any additional comments?
As the great-great-great-grandson of immigrants who came to America during "The Great Hunger", I've always had a healthy interest in this tragic period in Irish History. This book did not disappoint. As a community college history professor, I have to admit that when I listen to non-fiction books, I hate the ones that are heavy handed with facts, figures, and dates. I prefer those with a broader narrative that weaves the "meat" of the story in with the stories of individuals. This book does not disappoint in that regard. I have to say that I listened to it once just for the story and then again for specific details. It is easy to get lost in, for sure.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in this period of Irish History. I particularly recommend it to Irish-Americans, Irish-Canadians, or Irish-Australians who's families fled Ireland during this era. It will bring you closer to your ancestors and you will get a better understanding of exactly what transpired during those tragic years.
Modern day arguments over whether or not the "Famine" was an act of genocide or not certainly have their place. However, by focusing entirely on that we lose sight of what is really important. These were human beings who endured tremendous hardships and were forced out of a land they loved. Indeed, they arrived on distant shores an unwanted people, certainly in America, but through it all they endured and then they thrived. As we approach St. Patrick's Day, let those of us who are lucky enough to be descended from these brave men and women never forget the struggles that our families went through to make for us the life that we enjoy today.
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- Carole T.
- 08-22-12
Unforgettable, Haunting, and a Compelling Warning
What an amazing book! I listened well into the night, the story and the narration were so compelling. I can't recommend it highly enough! Today, I am enlightened, appalled, grieved, very angry, and even alarmed about an event that happened half a world away over 150 years ago. I'd say that's a tribute to any historical account!
Like nearly all Americans, I was familiar with the reason so many Irish left their country in the 1840's. Mostly, it was, to me, more a story of American immigration than Irish tragedy. Well, no more! This is gut-wrenching, heart-breaking stuff, and, like all the best histories, brings to life the events and people of the time.
Can you believe it? The legislature of the most powerful and wealthy country of the time failed to react adequately to a natural disaster because 1} the poor in Ireland (a lazy bunch, anyway) might become dependent on government handouts; 2) giving away food would disrupt the free market (perfectly good non-potato food was, throughout the famine, being exported at great profit from Ireland); and 3) Party squabbles and greedy personal agendas meant too little action and too little political will to help the poor (and even the formerly relatively prosperous). This could never happen again, right?
So, besides being the terrible story of an awful time in Ireland that affected the entire world, this is a dire warning for the future. Bad economies, failing crops, and over-population are international problems. Once again, we'd better know our history and heed its lessons!
Beautifully written by John Kelly and compellingly narrated by Gerard Doyle, this is an important, important book. Don't miss it!
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47 people found this helpful
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- Todd
- 09-24-12
Whew!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
If they are really into history or their Irish heritage.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Graves Are Walking?
I know there wasn't a happy moment.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Jan
- 06-10-13
Irish Geneology Joy
If you have Irish in your family tree, this is certainly worth a listen to understand what is really meant by "potato famine." I never imagined the extent and ramifications of the famine, nor the lifestyle which precipitated it or the politics which worsened it. No wonder tracing my Irish side is such a nightmare.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Susan K Treiman
- 10-08-12
Fascinating window into a pivotal event
I've always heard about the potato famine, but never really knew the details - including how avoidable it was . The story is well-told, well-read, and well-documented. All that it missed, and this is a personal preference rather than a criticism, were some in-depth and personal stories about actual families deeply affected by the crisis. That said, it explained the ongoing struggles between the English and the Irish, the huge migration to American, and some pretty misinformed food policies. Worth reading!!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Chris
- 02-15-18
Such a tragedy
my great great grandfather came from Ireland (born 1822) sometime during the famine years, this book gave me insight on his experience and why he needed to come to America. So horrible this had to happen due to ignorance, snobbery, and religious/racial hatred. Let's learn from the past and not repeat it. God bless Ireland!
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- Gretchen
- 10-20-13
Very informative
I found this to be very informative but maybe too much like reading a text book.
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- Cynthia
- 10-01-13
Stop Using Food as a Tool of Moral Reeducation
Have you ever read/listened to a or story and found yourself getting really angry? I don't mean the polite. distant, "I can't believe that happened" mad. I mean the kind of righteous ire that has you pacing the floor, cursing, and punching sofa cushions. John Kelly's "The Graves are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People" (2012) enraged me, because Kelly was talking about my great grandfather's parents, Rosetta and John, who immigrated from Ireland in 1846 and 1847, when they were 8 and 9.
I've always known that Rosetta and John were 'potato famine Irish', but until Kelly's book, I had no appreciation for what that meant. My understanding of 'The Great Famine' was romanticized by Ron Howard's 1992 film "Far and Away." It would have been more historically accurate if Howard had used the same gaunt, haunted actors Steven Spielberg cast in "Schindler's List" (1993); and if Howard had replaced the beautiful Irish landscape with useless public works roads leading to nowhere, and stripped the verdant, forrested hills to bare dirt for no reason at all.
Phytophthora infestans (a fungus) caused Ireland's potato crop failures in 1845 to 1847, but England's attempt at social engineering actually killed an estimated 750,000 Irish. 2,000,000 more - including my great great grandparents - left. 25% to 30% of Ireland was gone in 2 years.
England's grand idea was that depriving the Irish of potatoes would make them self sufficient. Perhaps if Ireland, at England's direction, wasn't exporting food during the famine . . . Or if the grandiose administrators distributed grain sent from around the world , . . Or corrupt officials weren't propping up import prices . . . It broke my heart.
Although this book had a profound effect on me, I'm giving the story a 3 because it really wandered and repeated itself. I was confused about what happened, and when. Obvious questions weren't answered - who determined Phytophthora infestans was the culprit? What worked to stop it? There are more questions I'd like answered.
Gerard Doyle was a good narrator, although - with apologies to John and Rosetta - I wouldn't know a true Irish accent unless I was at Coulter Bay with a native of the "Irish race." Not my phrase, of course - thank the phrenologists of the day.
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23 people found this helpful
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- Debbie
- 10-31-13
Grueling Historical Account of Mass Suffering
I have to say that I do not normally buy purely historical audio books. I got this one on the daily deal at a discount. I much prefer historical FICTION, because I feel like I gain a better perspective on a human level, and I am more vested in the story, as well as the outcome. But I have always been interested in the great potato famine and the Irish people, so I got this one based on many of the recommendations. I feel sure that the historical data is well researched, and it is grueling to listen to. But in my opinion, it lacks HEART. It does, however, explain how something so horrendous can happen. The political times in England then are not far removed from many of the crooked, self-serving politicians of today. And red tape surely wasn't an invention of modern times, was it? The response of the "church" to the potato famine is especially gut wrenching, amounting to human beings proclaiming themselves to be God. I was able to understand the Irish immigration to America better than before, and the Irish Catholic roots here, both socially and politically. However, overall, the book was difficult to "get through". It was hard to keep my place. The scenes, terribly depressing, repeated themselves over and over, and I couldn't keep track of what year it was in Ireland . . . what had already happened and what was happening next.
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9 people found this helpful
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- 6catz
- 04-05-18
Jaw-dropping history lesson
It’s almost impossible to describe exactly how shocked and appalled I was upon learning the details of this chapter of Irish history. Much credit goes to John Kelly for wrestling with this beast of a story, and for his attempt to cover it in as fair-minded a way as possible. My own emotions ran the gamut as I read, from sorrow to contempt to outrage, and I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for the author to keep his own emotions in check while telling the tale of this holocaust.
It would appear that human arrogance and cruelty in the name of so-called morality has and had no bounds at all, allowing hundreds of thousands to starve as an exercise in “freeing them from the tyranny of dependence on the crown.” Potatoes, you see, had been too easy to grow and created a culture of laziness which was being corrected by God in the form of blight . . . I can’t go on . . . So said the “moralists” of the day. Sound familiar?
Gerard Doyle is compelling as always. Highly recommended.
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