Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire
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Narrated by:
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Douglas R Pratt
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By:
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Tom Chaffin
About this listen
The career of John Charles Frémont (1813-90) ties together the full breadth of American expansionism from its 18th-century origins through its culmination in the Gilded Age. Tom Chaffin's biography demonstrates Frémont's vital importance to the history of American empire and illuminates his role in shattering long-held myths about the ecology and habitability of the American West.
As the most celebrated American explorer and mapper of his time, Frémont stood at the center of the vast federal project of Western exploration and conquest. His expeditions between 1838 and 1854 captured the public's imagination, inspired Americans to accept their nation's destiny as a vast continental empire, and earned him his enduring sobriquet, the Pathfinder.
But Frémont was more than an explorer. Chaffin's dramatic narrative includes Frémont's varied experiences as an entrepreneur, abolitionist, Civil War general, husband to the remarkable Jessie Benton Frémont, two-time Republican presidential candidate, and Gilded Age aristocrat.
“Pathfinder is the most eloquent, understanding, and yet very candid biography of Frémont that has appeared to date. A major contribution to American historical writing.” (Howard R. Lamar, Yale University)
“In his mesmerizing biography, Tom Chaffin brings to life not only Frémont but the amazing personalities who populated his world.” (Landon Jones, former managing editor, People magazine)
“In clear and vivid language, Tom Chaffin's Pathfinder re-creates the life of John C. Frémont...” (Elliott J. Gorn, Purdue University)
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Critic reviews
“Pathfinder is the most eloquent, understanding, and yet very candid biography of Frémont that has appeared to date. A major contribution to American historical writing.” (Howard R. Lamar, Yale University)
“In his mesmerizing biography, Tom Chaffin brings to life not only Frémont but the amazing personalities who populated his world.” (Landon Jones, former managing editor, People magazine)
“In clear and vivid language, Tom Chaffin's Pathfinder re-creates the life of John C. Frémont....” (Elliott J. Gorn, Purdue University)
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- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Daniel Boone
- The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer
- By: John Mack Faragher
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first and most reliable biography of Daniel Boone in more than 50 years, award-winning historian Faragher brilliantly portrays America's famous frontier hero while illuminating the American hero-making process itself. Drawing from popular narrative, the public record, scraps of documentation from Boone's own hand, and a treasure trove of reminiscences gathered by nineteenth-century antiquarians, Faragher uses the methods of new social history to create a portrait of the man and the times he helped shape.
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Excellent book for history readers
- By James P Carter on 11-11-13
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Blood and Thunder
- An Epic of the American West
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Publisher's summary does not do it justice
- By Eric on 02-07-11
By: Hampton Sides
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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
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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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Thunder in the Mountains
- Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War
- By: Daniel Sharfstein
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Oliver Otis Howard thought he was a man of destiny. Chosen to lead the Freedmen's Bureau after the Civil War, the Union Army general was entrusted with the era's most crucial task: helping millions of former slaves claim the rights of citizens. He was energized by the belief that abolition and Reconstruction, the country's great struggles for liberty and equality, were God's plan for himself and the nation.
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Interesting but lenghty.
- By Tristan on 05-10-18
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Lone Star Nation
- How a Ragged Army of Courageous Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Lone Star Nation is the gripping story of Texas' precarious journey to statehood, from its early colonization in the 1820s to the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad by the Mexican army, from its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches to its day of liberation as an upstart republic.
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Texas: From Spanish colony to statehood
- By Brian Shivers on 04-06-05
By: H.W. Brands
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Fur, Fortune, and Empire
- The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes this sweeping narrative of one of America’s most historically rich industries. Beginning his epic history in the early 1600s, Eric Jay Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur trade industry, from the first Dutch encounters with the Indians to the rise of the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century.
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a compilation of trivia
- By D. Littman on 07-18-10
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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David Crockett: The Lion of the West
- By: Michael Wallis
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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His name was David Crockett. He never signed his name any other way, but popular culture transformed his memory into "Davy Crockett", and Hollywood gave him a raccoon hat he hardly ever wore. Best-selling historian Michael Wallis casts a fresh look at the frontiersman, storyteller, and politician behind these legendary stories.
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Author is very bias.
- By Michael on 05-31-12
By: Michael Wallis
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Lewis and Clark
- By: William R. Lighton
- Narrated by: Kevin Stilwell
- Length: 70 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years 1804, 1805, and 1806, two men commanded an expedition which explored the wilderness that stretched from the mouth of the Missouri River to where the Columbia enters the Pacific, and dedicated to civilization a new empire. Their names were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This book relates that adventure from it’s inception through its completion as well as the effect the expedition had upon the history of the United States.
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I've never heard the word etcetera so many times
- By D. Johnson on 06-01-12
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American Legend
- The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Chris Abernathy
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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David Crockett was an adventurer, a pioneer, and a media-savvy national celebrity. In his short-but-distinguished lifetime, this charismatic frontiersman won three terms as a US congressman and a presidential nomination. His 1834 memoir enjoyed frenzied sales and prompted the first-ever "official" book tour for its enormously popular author. Down-to-earth, heroic, and independent to a fault, the real Crockett became lost in his own hype, and he's been overshadowed by a larger-than-life, pop-culture character in a coonskin cap.
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A honest take on an American Legend.
- By Chris Moore on 03-15-23
By: Buddy Levy
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Into the Bright Sunshine
- Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights (Pivotal Moments in American History Series)
- By: Samuel G. Freedman
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president—the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate—but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium.
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Narrator bungles pronunciations
- By ARV on 09-23-23
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William Walker's Wars
- How One Man's Private American Army Tried to Conquer Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras
- By: Scott Martelle
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In the decade before the onset of the Civil War, groups of Americans engaged in a series of longshot - and illegal - forays into Mexico, Cuba, and other Central American countries in hopes of taking them over. These efforts became known as filibustering, and their goal was to seize territory to create new independent fiefdoms, which would ultimately be annexed by the still-growing United States. Most failed miserably. William Walker was the outlier. Soft-spoken with no military background, in 1856 he managed to install himself as president of Nicaragua.
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Riveting
- By Jean on 03-17-19
By: Scott Martelle
What listeners say about Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Than
- 07-10-20
The More You Think About Him the More He Pops Up
When I bought this book I knew NOTHING about John C. Fremont. I started the audiobook during a camping trip in southern Colorado a few hours away from me. And I was in Fremont County which I learned after is named after John C. Fremont. I was on Hardscrabble Creek in the Wet Mountains which I came to learn was part of his last exploring expeditions. I've always been a fan of Fremont Culture in Utah and didn't know that was named after a river named after him. He became like Mr. Poopybutthole on Rick and Morty the more I looked the more I realized his name is everywhere, his mark on American history seems to be everywhere! Quite a fascinating character and story. I didn't know anything about how California was 'obtained' from Mexico, nor would I have cared in the past. But in the context of the book it is made interesting. The narrator didn't do a bad job but wasn't as lively as I would have hoped. He mispronounced Cairo, Illinois like Cairo, Egypt (instead of Kay-Row which is how it's pronounced). Overall a great book if you like history, exploration, etc.
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2 people found this helpful
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- DrTunz
- 05-20-22
The story of a great American
John C. Fremont was compared to Christopher Columbus and George Washington in his time and that was not hyperbole. This is an excellent and detailed account of his life and I am impressed with how much those of us that live in California (or really anywhere in the US) owe to this courageous man.
The narrator reads with good expression but he needs to visit California and learn how to pronounce very common words that are used here every day.
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- Russell Wilson
- 09-24-24
The connection we share as adventurers in our American way of life.
To be born with the dream of exploration and discovery, to ultimately result beyond our imagination or finality, is in the end to favor all mankind into our expression of the human experience.
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- brian johnson
- 11-02-20
Great story, terrible narrator
Or-y-Gun not Or-e-GONE
Cairo is CIRO not CARO
Willamette is Will-aaa-MIT not Will-uh-METTE
Dalles is Dalls not Dall-es
Benicia is Ben-eesha not Ben-iksia
Very little voice inflection and need to learn key pronunciations.
The biography is fantastic.
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4 people found this helpful
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- john auble
- 09-04-19
Delightful book
The first chapters are brutally slow and excruciatingly detailed about his life before exploring. Once his adventures start you will be mesmerized with his courage and endurance. A great American story.
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3 people found this helpful
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- coffeedave
- 09-05-19
Comprehensive but balanced
For good and/or bad John C. Fremont was a man who had a significant impact in the course of United States history. Chaffin gives us a.balanced and honest perspective of who this man was by organizing details from a vast number of primary sources. Loved this book!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Joanne Nieman
- 11-26-23
Disappointed in narrator
The significant mis-pronunciation of Pacific NW locations drove me crazy. Obviously no research had been done to determine the correct way to pronounce the native names of rivers, lakes, and localities.
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1 person found this helpful