THESE TRUTHS A History of the United States

Jill Lepore takes on her new one-volume history of the United States as narrator. Beginning in 1492, Lepore shares with listeners our county's many high and low points. Though her comprehensive tome includes many of the most exciting stories in our country's past, her narration falls somewhat short. She sounds too academic and misses opportunities to enliven both the interesting anecdotes and the drier explanations of facts. She gets much right about U.S. history in her writing--for example her spot-on analysis of "these truths," as stated by Thomas Jefferson. For that reason, it's a letdown that her performance makes listening to this 26-hour story more difficult than it should be. A.G.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2019]