King of the Gunrunners: How a Philadelphia Fruit Importer Inspired a Revolution and Provoked the Spanish-American War
James W. Miller
Sep 2024 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Jim Denison
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11 hr 13 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
By the time he turned thirty at the end of the nineteenth century, John D. Hart thrived as the busiest importer of bananas on the East Coast. A master of ships with a thunderous voice, Hart aggressively carried tropical fruit to an insatiable market with little concern for notions of supply and demand. But when an unexpected crisis hit the fruit business, Hart was unprepared. The financial Panic of 1893 doomed his strategy of bringing in limitless bananas. Jobless consumers could not afford such luxuries. Nearing bankruptcy, Hart was approached by Emilio Nuñez, a member of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Nuñez enlisted Hart as a "filibuster" to transport guns and ammunition to the Cuban rebels. For nearly three years, Hart became the most visible of a disparate group of mariners between New York and Key West who tormented Spanish authorities, riled the United States government, and became heroes to an oppressed people fighting to be free. In King of the Gunrunners, author James W. Miller reveals the untold story of a forgotten American whose adventures helped pave the way for the United States' emergence as an international power. This volume presents the story of Hart, the defiant king of the Cuban gunrunners, who prolonged a revolution, provoked a war, and left an indelible mark on history.
About the author
James W. Miller is retired athletics director at the University of New Orleans. Prior to his tenure there, he spent eleven years as a newspaper reporter and twenty-one years in the NFL, where he worked for the New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, and Chicago Bears. He is author of Integrated.
Jim Denison is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner and a Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) Voice Arts Award nominee. He has experience as an actor on a variety of television shows and movies, appearing on Netflix, HBO, the National Geographic Channel, and other networks.
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