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The Cotton Kingdom
- A Traveler’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States, 1853-1861
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 24 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's summary
In 1853, Frederick Law Olmsted was working for the New York Times when he journeyed to the southern slave states and wrote one of the most important pro-abolition discourses.
The Cotton Kingdom recounts his daily observations of the curse of slavery: the poverty it brought to both black and white people, the inadequacies of the plantation system, and the economic consequences and problems associated with America’s most “peculiar institution.”
Disproving the opinion that “cotton is king”, Olmsted examined the huge differences between the economies of the northern and southern states, contrasting the more successful, wealthy, and progressive North with the South, which was stubbornly convinced of the necessity of slavery.
Hailed as one of the most convincing and influential antislavery arguments, Olmsted’s work was widely praised, with London’s Westminster Review declaring, “it is impossible to resist his accumulated evidence.”
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SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
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The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave - Related by Herself
- By: Mary Prince
- Narrated by: Katie Haigh
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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"This is the story of Mary Prince", who was sold into slavery at the age of 12 for £38 sterling. It is the first account of the life of a black woman ever to be published in the United Kingdom, and it was published at a time when slavery was still legal in the British Colonies. "The history of Mary Prince" is firsthand testimony of the brutalities of enslavement. Its tone is direct and authentic, which makes this vivid story go straight to the heart.
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Whitewashed
- By Giavanna on 03-09-20
By: Mary Prince
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Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave
- By: William Wells Brown
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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"Brother, you have often declared that you would not end your days in slavery. I see no possible way in which you can escape with us; and now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for you to escape to a land of liberty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you. If we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping you from a land of freedom."
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EVERYONE!!!! Should Listen/Read This Story!!!!
- By BluBtrfly1 on 06-25-22
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Up from Slavery
- By: Booker T. Washington
- Narrated by: Noah Waterman
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Booker T. Washington fought his way out of slavery to become an educator, statesman, political shaper, and proponent of the "do-it-yourself" idea. In his autobiography, he describes his early life as a slave on a Virginia plantation, his steady rise during the Civil War, his struggle for education, his schooling at the Hampton Institute, and his years as founder and president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which was devoted to helping minorities learn useful, marketable skills.
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The Best Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need
- By Gillian on 02-10-17
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (Annotated)
- Bicentennial Edition with Douglass Family Histories
- By: Frederick Douglass
- Narrated by: Gordon Jackson
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a special bicentennial edition of Douglass' most famous book, which has been published by his direct descendants through Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI).
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Most authentic voice
- By Troy Harris on 08-15-19
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Walden
- Life in the Woods
- By: Henry David Thoreau
- Narrated by: Alec Sand
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Thoreau's classic account of the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years, is one of the most influential books ever written. The bible of the environmental movement, Walden vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.
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Excellent book and narration
- By Kindle Customer on 06-14-11
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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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Growth of the Soil
- By: Knut Hamsun, Sverre Lyngstad - translator, Brad Leithauser - introduction
- Narrated by: BJ Harrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Growth of the Soil, Hamsun's Nobel Prize winning novel, is a classic of Scandinavian literature. The farmer Isak scarcely acknowledges the values of modern living. Illiterate but capable of carrying out the business of running a farm, he has physical strength and works with his hands. Although initially amazed by Isak's prowess - his wife Inger, who came into contact with modern society when imprisoned for killing her infant due to its birth defect, return to the home much less impressed by the country life.
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Top of my all time favorites list
- By Pete on 05-17-21
By: Knut Hamsun, and others
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The Road to Wigan Pier
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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When Orwell went to England in the 30's to find out how industrial workers lived, he not only observed but shared in their experiences. He stayed in cramped, dreary lodgings and subsisted on the scant, cheerless diet of the poor. He went down into the coal mines and walked crouching, as the miners did, through a one- to three-mile passage too low to stand up in. He watched the back-breaking, dangerous labor of men whose net pay then averaged $575 a year.
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Frederick Davidson's a Great Reader
- By Debali on 01-11-09
By: George Orwell
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Stolen
- The Astonishing Odyssey of Five Boys Along the Reverse Underground Railroad
- By: Richard Bell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Philadelphia, 1825: Five young, free Black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the US. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.
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Should have been a fact based novel
- By Cate F. on 01-11-21
By: Richard Bell
What listeners say about The Cotton Kingdom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- michael
- 08-18-24
American history as I never heard it before.
As a southerner, a devout southerner, I was very much interested in hearing the account of our history from an outsider. A very informative and enlightening book. The language is very outdated but the content behind the language shed light on problems that still exist within the American household today. I do not mean the problem of race, but the problem of a lack of industry and foresight. The last chapter of the book is a masterclass of reason that will help all communities regardless of race, region, religion or political affiliation.
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- Rogelio
- 08-08-23
Fascinating History
Very interesting listen. The story was great and informative. Frustrating to hear arguments, still used today, being eviscerated by contemporary facts.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dan L Barton
- 04-26-21
Essential reading in light of today's struggle for racial justice in the United States, 160 years after its publication.
Olmsted's "Cotton Kingdom" is the most profound revelation of life in what would soon be called the Confederacy, I would consider this work to be essential reading for anyone and everyone wishing to understand the institution of Slavery and its detrimental effect upon the entire economy and society of the Southern states, the effects of which still reverberate 160 years after this book was first published. Today, in 2021, the perpetuation of brutality by "law enforcement" against African American citizens should be understood in context of this very book.
It took several chapters before I became comfortable with the narrator's style; but eventually became convinced of the genius of his method of presentation.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Targetsea
- 07-18-21
Fascinating
Amazing that this happened. That Olmsted, with his farming experience, should spend three years touring the plantations of the south on the eve of the civil war. And then write it all down.
I agree with the last reviewer that Lescault’s sometimes staccato narration takes getting used to. And that in the end it is a brilliant framing. Olmsted cloaks his own views as he lets the people he meets speak for themselves. So a certain dry irony of required. Occasionally Lescault lets Olmsted’s evident anger comes through.
Olmsted ranges from the Carolinas through Louisiana to Texas and back, riding from plantation to plantation. His hilarious descriptions of appalling accommodations prick the ‘Gone with the wind’ imagining of how life was lived. His day time tours of cotton plantations explain the economic of cotton in detail - maybe too much detail for some. More broadly, he has much to say about the impact of slavery on the south - on the labor market, on the policing, on the lawlessness - in ways that inform today’s politics.
Olmsted went in to build Central Park in New York!
Extensive use of the N-word (although not by Olmsted) if you are triggered.
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3 people found this helpful
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- philip
- 05-19-22
UNDERAPPRECIATED CLASSIC
Anybody interested in the issue of slavery should read this book. It is part travel journal, part analysis of the cotton/Slave Kingdom. Olmstead's thesis is that the South's system of slave plantation economy retarded the economic and cultural development of the south. His journey's throughout the south, where he stayed sometimes in shabby hotels, but more often in shabby houses is hilarious. He records his conversations with slaveowner, poor whites, slaves, pro-slavery and anti-slavery individuals. The conversations are enlightening and often funny. His characterization of many of the slaveowners and the south in general is brutal. Apologists for the "Lost Cause" will not love this book. I did.
A special word for the narrator, John Lescault. He gives a brilliant performance. He does so many difference voices and accents, all quite entertaining. I assume his narration of Olmstead is Lescault's real voice.
A special warning: This book probably sets the record for the "F Bomb". Nearly every character uses it every time referring to a black person, which is all the time. Olmstead himself uses the term "negro", but he doesn't flinch from recording the southern vernacular. I hope the reader/listener will accept the terminology in the spirit in which it is recorded by Olmstead.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Brent
- 04-02-22
A Surreal Exercise in Time Travel
I arrived at this book having recently listened to a biography of its park-making author, Frederick Law Olmstead. Arguably what he documented during his travels through the antebellum South are as important, or perhaps more so, to his legacy. Often over the course of the narrative sections of this book I felt as if I were there there with Olmstead, sharing in the often dumbfounding experiences he encountered in the South. This is where Olmstead is at his strongest, in vivid descriptions of places, people, and conversations. For any listener, or reader, seeking a greater degree of understanding of the reality of daily life under slavery, Olmstead's work is priceless. His conversations with slaves and slave owners, his visceral immersion in the poverty of the south, and his expert observations of southern agricultural failings, and his unique perspective on what he was witnessing are all of great interest.
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3 people found this helpful