Audio only
Length10h 55m
About this audiobook
“The Erie Canal rubbed Aladdin’s lamp. America awoke, catching for the first time the wondrous vision of its own dimensions and power.”—Francis Kimball, American architect
The technological marvel of its age, the Erie Canal grew out of a sudden fit of inspiration. Proponents didn’t just dream; they built a 360-mile waterway entirely by hand and largely through wilderness. As excitement crackled down its length, the canal became the scene of the most striking outburst of imagination in American history. Zealots invented new religions and new modes of living. The Erie Canal made New York the financial capital of America and brought the modern world crashing into the frontier. Men and women saw God face-to-face, gained and lost fortunes, and reveled in a period of intense spiritual creativity.
Heaven’s Ditch illuminates the spiritual and political upheavals along this “psychic highway,” from its opening in 1825 through 1844. “Wage slave” Sam Patch became America’s first celebrity daredevil. William Miller envisioned the apocalypse. Farm boy Joseph Smith gave birth to Mormonism, a new and distinctly American religion. Along the way, one encounters America’s very first “crime of the century,” a treasure hunt, searing acts of violence, a visionary cross-dresser, and a panoply of fanatics, mystics, and hoaxers.
A page-turning narrative, Heaven’s Ditch offers an excitingly fresh look at a heady, foundational moment in American history.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (1.3K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreHistory, Other
Length10 hrs 55 mins
Narrated byAndrew Reilly
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 5, 2016
LanguageEnglish
More from Jack Kelly
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
Mere ChristianityC. S. Lewis7h 7m4.4 (519.7K)$24 · $0.00
Her Daily BreadKate Wood12h 57m4.6 (153)$33 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m4.8 (1.6K)$3 · $0.00
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m4.7 (3K)$2 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m4.7 (2.6K)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m4.7 (3.2K)$11 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m4.7 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m4.7 (536)$18 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m4.7 (550)$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m4.6 (13.1K)$40 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
The Elementia Chronicles #2: The New OrderSean Fay Wolfe11h 17m4.6 (841)$29 · $0.00
The ActsLuke2h 55m4.6 (19.7K)$12 · $0.00
New Testament - Easy NavigationWorld English Bible19h 35m4.6 (1.3K)$1.30 · $0.00
You may also like
Vatican WaltzRoland Merullo8h 36m3.8 (1.6K)$20 · $0.00
The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Revised and UpdatedJusto L. González18h 36m4.4 (7K)$25
Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China During the Years 1844-1846 (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)Evariste Régis Huc27h 57m4.3 (344)$2 · $0.00
How to Read the Bible and Still Be a ChristianJohn Dominic Crossan8h 54m4.2 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
An Essay on the Development of Christian DoctrineJohn Henry Newman15h 2m4.4 (672)$2 · $0.00
The Ocean of TheosophyWilliam Quan Judge5h 26m4.2 (469)$1.20 · $0.00
Book of II PeterUnknown Author12m4.5 (1.6K)$8
The Age of ReasonThomas Paine36h 44m4.3 (12.7K)$2 · $0.00
History of the Sabbath and first day of the weekJohn Nevins Andrews18h 43m4.5 (469)$2 · $0.00
The Church HistoryEusebius, Paul L. Maier13h 15m4.2 (5.7K)$23
Memoirs Of Extraordinary Popular DelusionsCharles Mackay10h 22m4.0 (9.2K)Free
The Book of EnochR. H. Charles5h 2m4.2 (12.8K)$4.60 · $0.00
The Ecclesiastical History (Summarized Edition)Eusebius12h 28m4.3 (3.7K)$2
A Key to the Knowledge of Church History (Ancient)John Henry Blunt4h 39m3.3 (19)$2 · $0.00
Reason, the Only Oracle of Man; Or, A Compendius System of Natural ReligionEthan Allen6h 6m3.9 (48)$1 · $0.00
371 Days That Scarred Our PlanetRuss Miller5h 1m$15
The Story Of The Prophet JonasAnonymous8m$2 · $0.00
Essentials in Church HistoryJoseph Fielding Smith27h 3m4.1 (51)$2 · $0.00
The World English Bible (WEB): JonahAnonymous8m$2 · $0.00
Red Stick Rising: The Creek War, Horseshoe Bend, and the Making of Andrew JacksonDaniel Whitcomb4h 1m4.8 (10)$6