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Our Declaration
- A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
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Publisher's summary
In just 1,337 words, the Declaration of Independence changed the world, but curiously it is now rarely read from start to finish, much less understood. Unsettled by this, Danielle Allen read the text quietly with students and discovered its animating power.
"Bringing the analytical skills of a philosopher, the voice of a gifted memoirist, and the spirit of a soulful humanist to the task, Allen manages to find new meaning in Thomas Jefferson' s understanding of equality," says Joseph J. Ellis about Our Declaration. Countering much of the popular perception, she restores equality to its rightful place, detailing the Declaration's case that freedom rests on equality. The contradictions between ideals and reality in a document that perpetuated slavery are also brilliantly tackled by Allen, whose cogently written book is a must-listen "for all who care about the future as well as the origins of America' s democracy" (David M. Kennedy).
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- How Moral Revolutions Happen
- By: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Narrated by: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking work, Kwame Anthony Appiah, hailed as "one of the most relevant philosophers today" (New York Times Book Review), changes the way we understand human behavior and the way social reform is brought about. In brilliantly arguing that new democratic movements over the last century have not been driven by legislation from above, Appiah explores the end of the duel in aristocratic England, the tumultuous struggles over foot binding in 19th-century China, the uprising of ordinary people against Atlantic slavery, and much more.
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Horribly Boring
- By Merle N. Savedow on 02-10-21
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Decision in Philadelphia
- The Constitutional Convention of 1787
- By: James Collier, Christopher Collier
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a document that would create a country and change a world: the Constitution. Here is a remarkable rendering of that fateful time, told with humanity and humor. Decision in Philadelphia is the best popular history of the Constitutional Convention; in it, the life and times of 18th-century America not only come alive, but the very human qualities of the men who framed the document are brought provocatively into focus - casting many of the Founding Fathers in a new light.
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excellent book
- By Josh on 09-13-12
By: James Collier, and others
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The Idea of America
- Reflections on the Birth of the United States
- By: Gordon S Wood
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The preeminent historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history
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Sophisticated analyses
- By Roger on 01-25-12
By: Gordon S Wood
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The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
- By: Bernard Bailyn
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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To the original text of what has become a classic of American historical literature, Bernard Bailyn adds a substantial essay, "Fulfillment", as a postscript. Here he discusses the intense nationwide debate on the ratification of the Constitution, stressing the continuities between that struggle over the foundations of the national government and the original principles of the Revolution.
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Bernard Bailyn is a genius!
- By John M. Crean on 04-21-19
By: Bernard Bailyn
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Revolutionary Characters
- What Made the Founders Different
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Gordon Wood's wondrous accomplishment here is to bring these men and their times down to earth and within our reach, showing us just who they were and what drove them. In so doing, he shows us that although a lot has changed in two hundred years, to an amazing degree the virtues these founders defined for themselves are the virtues we aspire to still.
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Wood clearly dislikes Adams
- By Michael on 01-15-07
By: Gordon S. Wood
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The Three Lives of James Madison
- Genius, Partisan, President
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 34 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician, he cofounded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
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Cogently organized, meticulously balanced
- By Diana Black Kennedy on 06-15-18
By: Noah Feldman
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The Problem of Democracy
- The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality
- By: Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for results; and they made it clear that they were talking about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. When John Adams succeeded George Washington as President, his son had already followed him into public service and was stationed in Europe as a diplomat.
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Very insightful and rewarding adding understanding
- By William on 05-12-19
By: Nancy Isenberg, and others
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Ayn Rand Answers
- The Best of Her Q & A
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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After the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand occasionally lectured in order to bring her philosophy of Objectivism to a wider audience and apply it to current cultural and political issues. These taped lectures and the question-and-answer sessions that followed added not only an eloquent new dimension to Ayn Rand's ideas and beliefs, but a fresh and spontaneous insight into Ayn Rand herself.
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It sounds like Ayn Rand
- By Anonymous User on 06-09-18
By: Ayn Rand
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1620
- A Critical Response to the 1619 Project
- By: Peter W. Wood
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Was America founded on the auction block in Jamestown in 1619 or aboard the Mayflower in 1620? The controversy erupted in August 2019 when the New York Times announced its 1619 Project. The Times set to transform history by asserting that all the laws, material gains, and cultural achievements of Americans are rooted in the exploitation of African Americans. Historians have pushed back, saying that the 1619 Project conjures a false narrative out of racial grievance.
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I'm Sympathetic, but wanting balance, not found.
- By Anonymous User on 11-21-20
By: Peter W. Wood
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“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” writes Du Bois, in one of the most prophetic works in all of American literature. First published in 1903, this collection of 15 essays dared to describe the racism that prevailed at that time in America—and to demand an end to it. Du Bois’ writing draws on his early experiences, from teaching in the hills of Tennessee, to the death of his infant son, to his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker T. Washington.
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Essays of 'life and love and strife and failure'
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Broken Clocks
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I fell for William Grayson in a matter of minutes. The connection between us was undeniable, but our timing was off. I was dating someone and by the time I was single again, he was taken. And a year later, when we finally got together, it was clear that we were soul mates. But circumstances out of our control cut our time short.
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This was too depressing!
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What listeners say about Our Declaration
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JWK
- 06-20-15
June 2015 Declaration Review.
Like many of my generation I just never have taken the time to read Our Declaration but now in my seventy fourth year I have to say it's been very enlightening.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Justin & Olivia
- 07-30-20
Essential reading for every American
This should be essential reading for every American student. It can get overly analytical and intellectual in the semantic arguments but it's not wrong either.
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- Shaw
- 07-09-23
Where it all began: Explained by a Master!
Miss. Allen has devoted time & energy in the exploration of all the facts which contributed for our nation to prosper in the highest echelon in the world for the past 247-years and counting. Monarchy dwindled, contributing to world-wide education, hence producing better citizens of the world. Declaration of Independence was where the fountain of egalitarian was first discovered.
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- Christopher
- 01-27-15
Second Most Interesting Book I've Ever Read
What made the experience of listening to Our Declaration the most enjoyable?
The narrator read slowly, but given the weightiness, depth, and complexity of the material, her pace was necessary. She did an excellent job, and was an excellent choice to read this book.
Any additional comments?
This is the second most interesting book I have ever read. It gives in-depth historical, etymological/philological, and historical background for the Declaration of Independence, but it is primarily a work of political philosophy. Allen does a fantastic job keeping it highly personal and practical. She argues that the Declaration is one of the most important documents in American politics/political history, and that it has been and is being misread in the current political landscape. It changed my political outlook on our contemporary situation, and I buy her extremely well-reasoned argument.
However, I cannot remember reading a more intense book, a book that required all of my concentration and nearly all of my (not inconsiderable) intellect. I first acquired it as an Audible (audio) book, but I had to buy it so that I could listen and read it at the same time. It was worth every penny, every minute, and every bit of energy.
Do not read this book if you are not willing to commit to understanding it and reading it through the end of the epilogue. Do not read this book if you are uninterested in political philosophy - there are other, excellent books on the history of the Declaration.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amber L. Katherine
- 07-26-22
I teach this book in Critical Thinking course!
I use Allen's accessible "reading" of our original text as a springboard for learning how to make good judgments, especially the ability to make and evaluate arguments as democratic citizens. Allen's analysis of the argument at the heart of the declaration enables students to understand the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning. Once they see the logic of the declaration's argument, and how our INDEPENDENCE depends on EQUALITY as a condition for FREEDOM, they are ready to collaborate on what we need to declare today, on the eve of the 250th birthday of our still imperfect union. Allen's masterful arguments and democratic sensibilities provide a powerful way to learn critical thinking for participation in public life. It ought to be required reading for civic literacy at high schools and colleges. Philosophy Professor, Santa Monica College
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