-
Jungle of Stone
- The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $35.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Conquistador
- Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
-
-
A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
-
Still Lost...
- By Mel on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
River of Darkness
- Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Sammi on 02-17-18
By: Buddy Levy
-
The Maya (Ninth Edition)
- By: Michael D. Coe, Stephen Houston
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Maya has long been established as the best, most accessible introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. Coe and Houston update this classic by distilling the latest scholarship for the general listener and student.
-
-
Don't Skip This Book
- By Than on 02-02-22
By: Michael D. Coe, and others
-
Skeletons on the Zahara
- A True Story of Survival
- By: Dean King
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everywhere hailed as a masterpiece of historical adventure, this enthralling narrative recounts the experiences of 12 American sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815, captured by desert nomads, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish two-month journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara. The ordeal of these men - who found themselves tested by barbarism, murder, starvation, death, dehydration, and hostile tribes that roamed the desert on camelback - is made indelibly vivid in this gripping account of courage, brotherhood, and survival.
-
-
Haunting
- By thawstone on 06-05-16
By: Dean King
-
The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
-
-
A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
-
Conquistador
- Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
-
-
A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
-
Still Lost...
- By Mel on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
River of Darkness
- Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Sammi on 02-17-18
By: Buddy Levy
-
The Maya (Ninth Edition)
- By: Michael D. Coe, Stephen Houston
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Maya has long been established as the best, most accessible introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. Coe and Houston update this classic by distilling the latest scholarship for the general listener and student.
-
-
Don't Skip This Book
- By Than on 02-02-22
By: Michael D. Coe, and others
-
Skeletons on the Zahara
- A True Story of Survival
- By: Dean King
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everywhere hailed as a masterpiece of historical adventure, this enthralling narrative recounts the experiences of 12 American sailors who were shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815, captured by desert nomads, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish two-month journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara. The ordeal of these men - who found themselves tested by barbarism, murder, starvation, death, dehydration, and hostile tribes that roamed the desert on camelback - is made indelibly vivid in this gripping account of courage, brotherhood, and survival.
-
-
Haunting
- By thawstone on 06-05-16
By: Dean King
-
The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
-
-
A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
-
Into Africa
- The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" So goes the signature introduction of New York Herald star journalist Henry Morton Stanley to renowned explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing for six years in the wilds of Africa. Into Africa ushers us into the meeting of these remarkable men. In 1866, when Livingstone journeyed into the heart of the African continent in search of the Nile's source, the land was rough, unknown to Europeans, and inhabited by man-eating tribes.
-
-
Riveting
- By Gene on 04-01-04
By: Martin Dugard
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
The River of Doubt
- Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.
-
-
This audiobook deserves 6 stars
- By D. Littman on 11-15-05
By: Candice Millard
-
Island of the Lost
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave inspires his men to take action.
-
-
One of the Best Stories Ever Told!
- By Tiffany on 04-10-16
By: Joan Druett
-
The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
-
-
Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
-
A Land So Strange
- The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
- By: Andres Resendez
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the 300 men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived - three Spaniards and an African slave.
-
-
A worthwhile listen
- By Blake on 07-10-13
By: Andres Resendez
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Long Lost History
- By Than on 04-19-19
-
Blood and Thunder
- An Epic of the American West
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.
-
-
Publisher's summary does not do it justice
- By Eric on 02-07-11
By: Hampton Sides
-
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
-
-
Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
-
The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 31 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
-
-
No Stone Unturned
- By Tim on 06-25-13
By: David McCullough
-
Abduction
- Human Encounters with Aliens
- By: John E. Mack
- Narrated by: Brian Arens
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, John E. Mack, the author of A Prince of Our Disorder, presents accounts of alien abduction taken from the more than 60 cases he has investigated, and examines the implications for our identity as a species. These mesmerizing and thought-provoking stories of alien encounters from a Harvard professor take you through actual case studies of people from all walks of life and ages who have had challenging, sometimes disturbing, and in every case, life-changing experiences of alien abduction.
-
-
Gripping recounts of abduction experiences
- By Kaitlyn on 11-20-23
By: John E. Mack
-
Seven Years in Tibet
- By: Heinrich Harrer, Richard Graves
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landmark in travel writing, this is the incredible true story of Heinrich Harrer’s escape across the Himalayas to Tibet, set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Heinrich Harrer, already one of the greatest mountaineers of his time, was climbing in the Himalayas when war broke out in Europe. He was imprisoned by the British in India but succeeded in escaping and fled to Tibet.
-
-
An Adventure Classic
- By Jean on 01-29-16
By: Heinrich Harrer, and others
Publisher's summary
"Thrilling.... A captivating history of two men who dramatically changed their contemporaries' view of the past." (Kirkus)
In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world's most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood - each already celebrated for their adventures in Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Rome - sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West's understanding of human history.
In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and In the Kingdom of Ice, former San Francisco Chronicle journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist William Carlsen reveals the unforgettable true story of the discovery of the ancient Maya. Enduring disease, war, and the torments of nature and terrain, Stephens and Catherwood uncovered and documented the remains of an astonishing civilization that had flourished in the Americas at the same time as classic Greece and Rome. Their remarkable book about the experience became a sensation and is recognized today as the birth of American archeology. Most importantly, Stephens and Catherwood were the first to grasp the significance of the Maya remains, recognizing that their antiquity and sophistication overturned the West's assumptions about the development of civilization.
By the time of the flowering of classical Greece (400 BC), the Maya were already constructing pyramids and temples around central plazas. Within a few hundred years, the structures took on a monumental scale. Over the next millennium dozens of city-states evolved, each governed by powerful lords, some with populations larger than any city in Europe at the time. The Maya developed a unified cosmology, an array of common gods, a creation story, and a shared artistic and architectural vision. They created dazzling stucco and stone monuments and bas reliefs, sculpting figures and hieroglyphs with refined artistic skill. At their peak an estimated 10 million people occupied the Maya's heartland on the Yucatan Peninsula. And yet, by the time the Spanish reached the "New World", the classic-era Maya had all but disappeared; they would remain a mystery for the next 300 years.
Today the tables are turned: The Maya are justly famous, if sometimes misunderstood, while Stephens and Catherwood have been all but forgotten. Based on Carlsen's rigorous research and his own 2,500-mile journey throughout the Yucatan and Central America, Jungle of Stone is equally a thrilling adventure narrative and a revelatory work of history that corrects our understanding of the Maya and the two remarkable men who set out in 1839 to find them.
More from the same
Narrator
Related to this topic
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Conquistadors
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following in the footsteps of the greatest Spanish adventurers, Michael Wood retraces the path of the conquistadors from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the deserts of North Mexico to the heights of Machu Picchu. As he travels the same routes as Hernán Cortés, Francisco, and Gonzalo Pizarro, Wood describes the dramatic events that accompanied the epic sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.
-
-
Horrific anti-European bias
- By Anonymous User on 08-30-20
By: Michael Wood
-
The Secret Token
- Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
- By: Andrew Lawler
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence XVII
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish the first English settlement in the New World. But when the new colony's leader returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers had vanished, leaving behind only a single clue - a "secret token" etched into a tree. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archeologists, and amateur sleuths for 400 years. In The Secret Token, Andrew Lawler sets out on a quest to determine the fate of the settlers.
-
-
trying to capitalize on race relations
- By Phil on 07-16-19
By: Andrew Lawler
-
Mirage
- Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt
- By: Nina Burleigh
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Little more than 200 years ago, only the most reckless or eccentric Europeans had dared traverse the unmapped territory of the modern-day Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of much myth and speculation: and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt.
-
-
A lesson in history
- By —- on 01-05-10
By: Nina Burleigh
-
The Suppressed History of America
- The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- By: Paul Schrag, Xaviant Haze
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meriwether Lewis discovered far more than the history books tell - ancient civilizations, strange monuments, "nearly white, blue-eyed" Indians, and evidence that the American continent was visited long before the first European settlers arrived. And he was murdered to keep it all secret. Examining the shadows and cracks between America's official version of history, Xaviant Haze and Paul Schrag propose that the America of old taught in schools is not the America that was discovered by Lewis and Clark and other early explorers.
-
-
Don't Bother
- By Georgia Deardoff on 03-31-17
By: Paul Schrag, and others
-
A Voyage Long and Strange
- Rediscovering the New World
- By: Tony Horwitz
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz makes an unsettling discovery. A history buff since early childhood, expensively educated at university - a history major, no less! - he's reached middle age with a third-grader's grasp of early America. In fact, he's mislaid more than a century of American history, the period separating Columbus' landing in 1492 from the arrival of English colonists at Jamestown in 16-oh-something. Did nothing happen in between?
-
-
Just Not For Me
- By Sara on 10-25-15
By: Tony Horwitz
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Conquistadors
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following in the footsteps of the greatest Spanish adventurers, Michael Wood retraces the path of the conquistadors from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the deserts of North Mexico to the heights of Machu Picchu. As he travels the same routes as Hernán Cortés, Francisco, and Gonzalo Pizarro, Wood describes the dramatic events that accompanied the epic sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.
-
-
Horrific anti-European bias
- By Anonymous User on 08-30-20
By: Michael Wood
-
The Secret Token
- Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
- By: Andrew Lawler
- Narrated by: David H. Lawrence XVII
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina to establish the first English settlement in the New World. But when the new colony's leader returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers had vanished, leaving behind only a single clue - a "secret token" etched into a tree. What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archeologists, and amateur sleuths for 400 years. In The Secret Token, Andrew Lawler sets out on a quest to determine the fate of the settlers.
-
-
trying to capitalize on race relations
- By Phil on 07-16-19
By: Andrew Lawler
-
Mirage
- Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt
- By: Nina Burleigh
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Little more than 200 years ago, only the most reckless or eccentric Europeans had dared traverse the unmapped territory of the modern-day Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of much myth and speculation: and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt.
-
-
A lesson in history
- By —- on 01-05-10
By: Nina Burleigh
-
The Suppressed History of America
- The Murder of Meriwether Lewis and the Mysterious Discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- By: Paul Schrag, Xaviant Haze
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meriwether Lewis discovered far more than the history books tell - ancient civilizations, strange monuments, "nearly white, blue-eyed" Indians, and evidence that the American continent was visited long before the first European settlers arrived. And he was murdered to keep it all secret. Examining the shadows and cracks between America's official version of history, Xaviant Haze and Paul Schrag propose that the America of old taught in schools is not the America that was discovered by Lewis and Clark and other early explorers.
-
-
Don't Bother
- By Georgia Deardoff on 03-31-17
By: Paul Schrag, and others
-
A Voyage Long and Strange
- Rediscovering the New World
- By: Tony Horwitz
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz makes an unsettling discovery. A history buff since early childhood, expensively educated at university - a history major, no less! - he's reached middle age with a third-grader's grasp of early America. In fact, he's mislaid more than a century of American history, the period separating Columbus' landing in 1492 from the arrival of English colonists at Jamestown in 16-oh-something. Did nothing happen in between?
-
-
Just Not For Me
- By Sara on 10-25-15
By: Tony Horwitz
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
-
The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
-
-
A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
-
The Pioneers
- The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
-
Into Africa
- The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" So goes the signature introduction of New York Herald star journalist Henry Morton Stanley to renowned explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing for six years in the wilds of Africa. Into Africa ushers us into the meeting of these remarkable men. In 1866, when Livingstone journeyed into the heart of the African continent in search of the Nile's source, the land was rough, unknown to Europeans, and inhabited by man-eating tribes.
-
-
Riveting
- By Gene on 04-01-04
By: Martin Dugard
-
Labyrinth of Kingdoms
- 10,000 Miles Through Islamic Africa
- By: Steve Kemper
- Narrated by: Ed Phillips
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1849 Heinrich Barth joined a small British expedition into unexplored regions of Islamic North and Central Africa. One by one his companions died, but he carried on alone, eventually reaching the fabled city of gold, Timbuktu. His five-and-a-half-year, 10,000-mile adventure ranks among the greatest journeys in the annals of exploration, and his discoveries are considered indispensable by modern scholars of Africa.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Sarah Broadwell on 02-02-15
By: Steve Kemper
-
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.
-
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Claire on 01-15-04
By: H.W. Brands
-
King and Queen of Malibu
- The True Story of the Battle for Paradise
- By: David K. Randall
- Narrated by: Eric Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over a half century, Malibu went from an untamed ranch in the middle of nowhere to a paradise seeded with movie stars. Behind its transformation is the love story of Frederick and May Rindge. He was a Harvard-trained confidant of presidents; she grew up on a hardscrabble Midwestern farm; yet their unlikely bond would shape history.
-
-
Great Listen!
- By Anonymous User on 09-25-23
By: David K. Randall
-
Black Dragon River
- A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires
- By: Dominic Ziegler
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black Dragon River is a personal journey down one of Asia's great rivers. The world's ninth largest river, the Amur serves as a large part of the border between Russia and China. As a crossroads for the great empires of Asia, this area offers journalist Dominic Ziegler a lens with which to examine the societies at Europe's only borderland with East Asia.
-
-
INFORMATIVE
- By JK on 10-14-22
By: Dominic Ziegler
-
Old Man River
- The Mississippi River in North American History
- By: Paul Schneider
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history - the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln's attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
-
-
Amazing, inspiring and informative
- By Rodney Curlee on 04-27-23
By: Paul Schneider
-
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher
- The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, Egan's book tells the remarkable untold story behind Edward Curtis's iconic photographs, following him throughout Indian country from desert to rainforest as he struggled to document the stories and rituals of more than eighty tribes. Even with the backing of Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, it took tremendous perseverance. The undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate.
-
-
STUPENDOUS!
- By Curious Reader on 10-29-12
By: Timothy Egan
-
The Last Days of the Incas
- By: Kim MacQuarrie
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1532, the 54-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother, Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca.
-
-
Interesting but problematic
- By Matthew on 11-05-07
By: Kim MacQuarrie
-
Life and Death in the Andes
- On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries
- By: Kim MacQuarrie
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Andes Mountains are the world's longest mountain chain, linking most of the countries in South America. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and author Kim MacQuarrie takes us on a historical journey through this unique region, bringing fresh insight and contemporary connections to such fabled characters as Charles Darwin, Pablo Escobar, Che Guevara, and many others.
-
-
Disappointed
- By HardyBoy64 on 01-09-24
By: Kim MacQuarrie
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Maya (Ninth Edition)
- By: Michael D. Coe, Stephen Houston
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Maya has long been established as the best, most accessible introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. Coe and Houston update this classic by distilling the latest scholarship for the general listener and student.
-
-
Don't Skip This Book
- By Than on 02-02-22
By: Michael D. Coe, and others
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
-
Still Lost...
- By Mel on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
-
Central America's Forgotten History
- Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
- By: Aviva Chomsky
- Narrated by: Aida Reluzco
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence in search of refuge in the United States. In Central America’s Forgotten History, Aviva Chomsky answers the urgent question “How did we get here?” Centering the centuries-long intertwined histories of US expansion and indigenous and Central American struggles against inequality and oppression, Chomsky highlights the pernicious cycle of colonial and neocolonial development policies.
-
-
Outline of a rigged game
- By Buretto on 02-07-22
By: Aviva Chomsky
-
Mayan Civilization
- A History from Beginning to End
- By: Hourly History
- Narrated by: Nathan Bierma
- Length: 1 hr and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook explores the glories and misfortunes of the Maya civilization and provides a deeper look at their pre-Columbian battling dynasties and their highly structured approach to religion, science, and society.
-
-
learned nothing
- By SG on 01-05-23
By: Hourly History
-
The Maya (Ninth Edition)
- By: Michael D. Coe, Stephen Houston
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Maya has long been established as the best, most accessible introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. Coe and Houston update this classic by distilling the latest scholarship for the general listener and student.
-
-
Don't Skip This Book
- By Than on 02-02-22
By: Michael D. Coe, and others
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
-
Still Lost...
- By Mel on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
-
Central America's Forgotten History
- Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
- By: Aviva Chomsky
- Narrated by: Aida Reluzco
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence in search of refuge in the United States. In Central America’s Forgotten History, Aviva Chomsky answers the urgent question “How did we get here?” Centering the centuries-long intertwined histories of US expansion and indigenous and Central American struggles against inequality and oppression, Chomsky highlights the pernicious cycle of colonial and neocolonial development policies.
-
-
Outline of a rigged game
- By Buretto on 02-07-22
By: Aviva Chomsky
-
Mayan Civilization
- A History from Beginning to End
- By: Hourly History
- Narrated by: Nathan Bierma
- Length: 1 hr and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook explores the glories and misfortunes of the Maya civilization and provides a deeper look at their pre-Columbian battling dynasties and their highly structured approach to religion, science, and society.
-
-
learned nothing
- By SG on 01-05-23
By: Hourly History
-
River of Darkness
- Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Sammi on 02-17-18
By: Buddy Levy
-
Conquistador Voices
- The Spanish Conquest of the Americas as Recounted Largely by the Participants, Volume I
- By: Kevin H. Siepel
- Narrated by: Kevin H Siepel
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Spanish Conquest: What really happened? If you like to use your drive time for education by audiobook, consider this audiobook for widening and deepening your view of an event you studied briefly in school - the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Conquistador Voices, neither glamorizes nor condemns the conquistadors. Somewhat in the manner of a modern film documentary, it treats the so-called conquest as an historical event that’s worth learning about for its own sake, with most of the moralizing left to the listener.
-
-
The Misleading Title is the Most Forgivable Part..
- By Tyler Sanders on 12-19-22
By: Kevin H. Siepel
-
Tutankhamun and the Tomb That Changed the World
- By: Bob Brier PhD
- Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is often thought that the story of Tutankhamun ended when the thousands of items discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and put on display. But there is far more to the story. Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World explores the 100 years of research on Tutankhamun that have taken place since the tomb's discovery, from the several objects in the tomb made of meteoritic iron that came from outer space to new evidence that shows that Tutankhamun may actually have been a warrior who went into battle.
-
-
Excellent book; performance stumbles
- By Sarah on 03-27-23
By: Bob Brier PhD
-
Island of the Lost
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave inspires his men to take action.
-
-
One of the Best Stories Ever Told!
- By Tiffany on 04-10-16
By: Joan Druett
-
Inca Apocalypse
- The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World
- By: R. Alan Covey
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 19 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Previous accounts of the fall of the Inca empire have played up the importance of the events of one violent day in November 1532 at the highland Andean town of Cajamarca. To some, the "Cajamarca miracle" - in which Francisco Pizarro and a small contingent of Spaniards captured an Inca who led an army numbering in the tens of thousands - demonstrated the intervention of divine providence. To others, the outcome was simply the result of European technological and immunological superiority.
-
-
A Comparison
- By Than on 12-28-20
By: R. Alan Covey
-
Mother of God
- An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
- By: Paul Rosolie
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of The Lost City of Z, Walking the Amazon, and Turn Right at Machu Picchu comes naturalist and explorer Paul Rosolie’s extraordinary adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon - a tale of discovery that vividly captures the awe, beauty, and isolation of this endangered land and presents an impassioned call to save it.
-
-
This whole book is B.S.
- By bob fields on 09-30-18
By: Paul Rosolie
-
The Promise of the Grand Canyon
- John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition - starving, battered, and nearly naked - they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
-
-
Parallels
- By Bruce McClenahan on 01-25-19
By: John F. Ross
-
Maya History: A Captivating Guide to the Maya Civilization, Culture, Mythology, and the Maya Peoples’ Impact on Mesoamerican History
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: David Patton
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this new Captivating History audiobook, you will discover amazing little-known facts about the Mayans as well as the truth about their remarkable history.
-
-
Beautifully written, terribly narrated
- By Anonymous User on 01-20-24
-
Conquistadors and Aztecs
- A History of the Fall of Tenochtitlan
- By: Stefan Rinke, Christopher Reid
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by a leading historian of Latin America, Conquistadors and Aztecs offers a timely portrayal of the fall of Tenochtitlan and the founding of an empire that would last for centuries.
-
-
Gold and Death
- By Rebecca Hill on 09-13-23
By: Stefan Rinke, and others
-
Mesoamerican Mythology
- A Captivating Guide to Maya Mythology, Aztec Mythology, Inca Mythology, and Central American Myths
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you're looking for a captivating collection of Inca myths, then pay attention.... This audiobook includes four captivating manuscripts: Maya Mythology, Aztec Mythology, Inca Mythology, and Central American Mythology.
-
-
Horrible pronouncing of names
- By Time2C on 09-27-21
By: Matt Clayton
-
The Lost World of the Old Ones
- Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this thrilling story of intellectual and archaeological discovery, David Roberts recounts his last 20 years of far-flung exploits in search of spectacular prehistoric ruins and rock art panels known to very few modern travelers. His adventures range across Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado, and illuminate the mysteries of the Ancestral Puebloans and their contemporary neighbors the Mogollon and Fremont, as well as of the more recent Navajo and Comanche.
-
-
Can we ever know?
- By Alan R Williams on 12-06-23
By: David Roberts
-
The Codex
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Greetings from the dead," declares Maxwell Broadbent on the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber, Broadbent accumulated over a half a billion dollars' worth of priceless art, gems, and artifacts before vanishing—along with his entire collection—from his mansion in New Mexico. At first, robbery is suspected, but the truth proves far stranger: As a final challenge to his three sons, Broadbent has buried himself and his treasure somewhere in the world, hidden away like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
-
-
Read my review before you buy!
- By Ken on 03-19-04
By: Douglas Preston
What listeners say about Jungle of Stone
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- thomas
- 01-10-17
Unsung Explorers at the Heart of History
What did you love best about Jungle of Stone?
I enjoy micro history books. Detailed books on subjects on the fringe of what is popular history. This book is a great example of that genre and very well done. These two men lived incredible lives and were at the heart of exploration, creating a chronicle of central American and Mexican culture that changed the way we think about history in general. Fascinating account.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Jungle of Stone?
Their ability to bounce back from adversity time and time again.
What about Paul Michael Garcia’s performance did you like?
History books can be tricky. Getting overly dramatic takes away from the story but merely reading doesn't do the job. I thought he hit just the right tone.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The things people can do with their lives when they put their mind to it is truly incredible.These men changed the world and were on the cusp of modernity. Though I will never be an explorer it truly is inspirational.
Any additional comments?
I am not a historian. I am just a guy who likes different types of books over the course of a year. If you are a varied reader and have an interest in the Mayan and Inca cultures I think you will enjoy it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
21 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allen
- 02-23-17
Lacking on adventure, misleading title
Reads more like a biography of Stevens and Catherwood. Narration is good, but I was disappointed how little there was about the discoveries and time in the jungle. The first third I thought I had misread the title of the book. This book is a lot more a full life biography of Stevens and Catherwood than an adventure narrative. Boring in parts even. If you seek Central American ancient civilization discovery adventure try "Lost City of the Monkey God" instead.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stuart
- 09-01-16
Great history and characters, a bit too tangential
A great story with inspiring characters. The level of depth is astounding and paints a strong picture of the two men as they travel throughout central America. The book is very tangential at times and this doesn't play well with the audiobook format as it is easy to get lost.
In terms of information on the Maya, it is certainly there and is very interesting, but is only introduced about half way through the book. This title is first and foremost about Stevens and Catherwood, with the Mayan cities as a backdrop for their life stories.
Nevertheless, a good overview of Mayan civilization, its successes and eventual downfall is given. The 1800s were an incredible time and discovering many of these ruins for the first time in Western history is a marvel well conveyed by the author.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 07-21-16
You could not find a better place to start
I have always been a bit perplexed on things Mezoamerican and this book provided a lot of much needed focus. Its not as if I never put my toe in and I even have a Great Courses lecture series. But its really all about the Maya. A seriously high civilization from a seriously small place and very very alien. I spent half my time googling places and people and it was well worth the effort. Google mayan art and think about it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martin Fierro
- 05-19-16
Great Presentation of a Fascinating Story
I studied several books to prepare for a trio to the Yucatan focused on Maya archeological sites.
This book covers much of what I learned, skillfully interwoven with the story of two adventurers who (at great personal risk and pain) brought some of the mysteries of the Maya to the world.
Well worth the read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 05-07-16
Hard to follow.
Tried twice but very difficult to listen to. Perhaps it would be a better read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rick
- 01-18-19
Ghost Cities in the Jungle
When two fearless explorers set out in 1839 to investigate reports of stone ruins in the thick jungles of Central America, they had no idea they would turn the history of the Western Hemisphere on its head. It was a time when the world was thought to be only a few thousand years old. The Maya—and, for that matter, the Aztecs and Incas—were believed by many to be descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.
John Lloyd Stephens, an American writer and diplomat, and British artist Frederick Catherwood discovered and documented the remains of stunning city-states that had been home to an estimated ten million Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The more sophisticated their culture proved to be, the more public opinion held that it must have been the work of ancient visiting Europeans, or Asians, or even refugees from the Lost City of Atlantis. The indigenous people of the region just weren’t capable of such things, the argument went.
But the adventurers proved them wrong. “At the zenith of their achievements,” writes William Carlsen, “during a 600-year period lasting through the 10th century AD, the Maya were in a class of their own in the Americas.” And then they vanished, for reasons the book details, and the jungle engulfed their cities and swallowed their pyramids, centuries before Stephens and Catherwood arrived.
Their work was meticulous and free of hyperbole, unlike most other explorers of their time. They measured, filled notebooks with details, and Catherwood produced hundreds of spectacular drawings that are definitely worth googling. They published best-selling books on their findings, and held public exhibitions.
And their exploits were worthy of an Indiana Jones movie. They threaded their way through civil wars and treacherous characters, endured physical hardships of blistering heat, voracious insects, malaria and injuries. They nearly starved, became lost, and their equipment failed. Today, with modern technology like airborne Lidar that sees through the jungle canopy with lasers, the true dimensions of the Maya civilization are becoming clear. But these guys did it the hard way.
This could have been a shorter true-life adventure. But in nearly 17 hours of scrupulous detail and historical context—certainly including plenty of harrowing exploits—the author has produced a work that skews more scholarly. Exactly, perhaps, the way Stephens and Catherwood would have done.
Narrator Paul Michael Garcia is a good fit for relating this long and complex story, including heroic efforts at pronouncing countless Spanish words, some of them incorrectly. He is a steady presence in the winding tale of two extraordinary lives and the remarkable civilization they uncovered and shared with the world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vicky
- 02-12-18
Lndmarks of a People; Stories in Stone
Oblivion beckons for what we hold most dear… our memories. Memory loss is not the affliction solely of individual human beings. Society itself, in a never ending rush to discard all that is cherished of the past, often through fascination with the new, and even in distrust of what is passed down unwitnessed by our own eyes, simply ‘forgets’ to remember the evidence of our progress, and especially of our mistakes. When we ignore the landmarks of our past, we lose our way. How can we know where we are going, unless we know where we have been?
Here is the story of Classical Mayan architecture and the Golden-age of Mesoamerican history in stone ruins. John Lloyd Stephens and Frank Catherwood, the acknowledged progenitors of American archaeology, forged a new narrative of the ‘New World’ that had yet been untold and unwritten. Jungle of Stone tells the remarkable human story of these two men and a forgotten civilization buried in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula. The author, William Carlsen, leaves out nothing in the story as he sketches a brief bio of their personal lives.
Stephens had studied originally for the Law profession, but was drawn away from New York to the Mediterranean for his health, where he indulged in a study of the great sites of Europe, Egypt, and the Middle East. Taking Catherwood, an architect/ artist he met there, they journeyed to Central America and began exploring and recording the many ruins of the Maya Empire. Before that, it was thought that the Americas had been sparsely populated by roving bands of hunter/gatherer tribes. Of course, the population of the area had been greatly reduced because the diseases Columbus and others brought to the coast had rushed far inland, devastating empires ahead of the Conquistadores.
I read this book as part of my Journey Around the World in 80 Books challenge for the Honduras. (My book-trip will continue from here to El Salvador.) I debated before buying the book, unsure how detailed it might be, and not wanting one of the trend of ‘pop-history’ books that float around today rewriting the real history. There was none of that here. I chose the Audible originally and quickly decided to splurge for the Kindle version as well to continue in Whisper-sync, because the pronunciation of some of the city names was excellent. This was even better when I realized the Audible included many very good illustrations and maps. So, it is certainly not a book I would suggest going with the Audible alone.
One of the more fascinating aspects of Maya studies for me has always been the limitations they had with muscle, technology, and tools. The book includes details on the facts; such as the lack of larger land animals in the Mesoamericas for protein, not even wheels for technology, and the use of Stone Age tools. But, the book also includes details of competition between a British expedition that tried to ‘out-scoop’ Stephens’ expeditions. There is much here that could not even be gained from the individual primary sources of Stephens’ own books written during his expeditions, though I certainly hope to get good hardback copies of those for all of Catherwood’s excellent artwork. And, interesting details are included like the fact that barbecue was first discovered in this area (and among the Taino Indians.)
From the Mayan Cities of Copan and Palenque to Chichen Itza and many cities in between; Stephens and Catherwood uncovered the story of the Americas etched in the hieroglyphs and carved bas-reliefs of a lost people. They found themselves often in the midst of revolutions and wars, and survived diseases and malaria to recount their discoveries, some of which have been since left in rubbles, and are preserved only in the drawings of their books. Across mountains and through jungles, this book brings the story to life.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- BearheartRaven
- 08-09-16
Disappointingly Eurocentric
I found the story to be disappointingly Eurocentric. It focused on the Europeans that found the ruins and there story rather than the civilization which created them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amar Hinduja
- 07-23-16
rediscovering Maya
An interesting narrative of the 1840s - both archaeological and biographical. I never realized that central America had such a rich archaeological heritage. The discovery of the Mayan sites , laying of the Panama railroad, and struggles in the lives of RL Stevens and Fredrick Catherwood are all interwoven in this interesting narrative. Be sure to see Catherwood's wonderful lithographs of the Maya on the net.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful