
The Age of Daredevils
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Malcolm Hillgartner
-
By:
-
Michael Clarkson
About this listen
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a small but determined band of barrel jumpers risked their lives in one of the world's most wondrous waterfalls. Only a few survived.
By turns a family drama and an action-adventure story, The Age of Daredevils chronicles the lives of the men and women who devoted themselves to the extraordinary sport of jumping over Niagara Falls in a barrel - a death-defying gamble that proved a powerful temptation to a hardy few.
Internationally known in the 1920s and '30s for their barrel-jumping exploits, the Hills were a father-son team of daredevils who also rescued dozens of misguided thrill seekers and accident victims who followed them into the river. The publicity surrounding the Hills' spectacular feats ushered in tourism, making Niagara Falls the nation's foremost honeymoon destination, but ultimately set Red Hill Jr. on a perilous path to surpass his father's extraordinary leaps into the void.
Like the works of Jon Krakauer and David McCullough, The Age of Daredevils explores the primal force of fear and the thirst for adventure that drive humans to the brink of death to see if they can somehow escape.
©2016 Michael Clarkson. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Happiness Falls (Good Morning America Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Angie Kim
- Narrated by: Shannon Tyo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Thomas Pruyn, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.
-
-
A mixed review, but recommend
- By Andrea B. on 09-07-23
By: Angie Kim
-
Unbroken
- A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
- By: Laura Hillenbrand
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Seabiscuit was a runaway success, and Hillenbrand’s done it again with another true-life account about beating unbelievable odds. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared....
-
-
Indescribable
- By Janice on 12-01-10
-
America's First Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, best-selling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph - a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.
-
-
Great Story Great Narration
- By MissSusie66 on 03-30-16
By: Stephanie Dray, and others
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
Shadow Divers
- The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat, complete with its crew of 60 men, not too far off the New Jersey coast. The divers, realizing the momentousness of their discovery, began probing the mystery. Over the next six years, they became expert and well-traveled researchers, taught themselves German, hunted for clues in Germany, and constructed theories corrective of the history books, all in an effort to identify this sunken U-boat and its crew.
-
-
GRIPPING!
- By Douglas on 07-03-04
By: Robert Kurson
-
Beach Music
- A Novel
- By: Pat Conroy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
-
-
Memorable
- By Ella on 03-14-10
By: Pat Conroy
-
Happiness Falls (Good Morning America Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Angie Kim
- Narrated by: Shannon Tyo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Thomas Pruyn, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mia, the irreverent, hyperanalytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.
-
-
A mixed review, but recommend
- By Andrea B. on 09-07-23
By: Angie Kim
-
Unbroken
- A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
- By: Laura Hillenbrand
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Seabiscuit was a runaway success, and Hillenbrand’s done it again with another true-life account about beating unbelievable odds. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared....
-
-
Indescribable
- By Janice on 12-01-10
-
America's First Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, best-selling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph - a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.
-
-
Great Story Great Narration
- By MissSusie66 on 03-30-16
By: Stephanie Dray, and others
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
Shadow Divers
- The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat, complete with its crew of 60 men, not too far off the New Jersey coast. The divers, realizing the momentousness of their discovery, began probing the mystery. Over the next six years, they became expert and well-traveled researchers, taught themselves German, hunted for clues in Germany, and constructed theories corrective of the history books, all in an effort to identify this sunken U-boat and its crew.
-
-
GRIPPING!
- By Douglas on 07-03-04
By: Robert Kurson
-
Beach Music
- A Novel
- By: Pat Conroy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
-
-
Memorable
- By Ella on 03-14-10
By: Pat Conroy
-
One Perfect Summer
- By: Brenda Novak
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Serenity Alston swabbed her cheek for a genetic test, she joked about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing she expected was to discover two half sisters she didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about her loving family is drawn into question. And meeting these newfound sisters might be the only way to get answers.
-
-
DNA Tests can Change Lives
- By KC on 04-16-20
By: Brenda Novak
-
The Hamilton Affair
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Cobbs
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hamilton was a bastard son, raised on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution's most dashing - and unlikely - heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.
-
-
Colleen Marlo's voice sounds like a robot
- By Jessie Cowan on 08-09-16
By: Elizabeth Cobbs
-
The House of Kennedy
- By: James Patterson
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Kennedys have always been a family of charismatic adventurers, raised to take risks and excel, living by the dual family mottos: "To whom much is given, much is expected" and "Win at all costs". And they do - but at a price. Across decades and generations, the Kennedys have occupied a unique place in the American imagination: charmed, cursed, at once familiar and unknowable. The House of Kennedy is a revealing, fascinating account of America's most storied family, as told by America's most trusted storyteller.
-
-
Nothing New
- By Placeholder on 04-23-20
By: James Patterson
-
It All Comes Back to You
- By: Beth Duke
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1947. War's over, cherry-print dresses, parking above the city lights, swing dancing. Beautiful, 17-year-old Violet lives in a perfect world. Everybody loves her. In 2012, she's still beautiful, charming, and surrounded by admirers. Veronica "Ronni" Johnson, licensed practical nurse and aspiring writer, meets the captivating Violet in the assisted living facility where Violet requires no assistance, just lots of male attention. When she dies, she leaves Ronni a very generous bequest - only if Ronni completes a book about her life within one year.
-
-
Don't waste your time
- By carolynn on 02-10-20
By: Beth Duke
-
That Churchill Woman
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Barron
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Paris Wife meets PBS’s Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of history’s most remarkable women: Winston Churchill’s scandalous American mother, Jennie Jerome.
-
-
Excellent Entertaining Historical Romance Novel
- By Nicole on 07-24-19
By: Stephanie Barron
-
Finding Dorothy
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Letts
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee, Elizabeth Letts
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns MGM is adapting her late husband’s masterpiece for the screen, 77-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank’s passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book - because she’s the only one left who knows its secrets. But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of “Over the Rainbow”, Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story.
-
-
Simple
- By Douglas A. Saunders on 04-02-19
By: Elizabeth Letts
-
The Family
- By: Naomi Krupitsky
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, loud and untamed. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. Best friends since birth, they live in the shadow of their fathers’ unspoken community: the Family. Sunday dinners gather them each week to feast, discuss business, and renew the intoxicating bond borne of blood and love. But the disappearance of Antonia’s father drives a whisper-thin wedge between the girls as they grow into women, wives, mothers, and leaders. One fateful night, their loyalty to each other and the Family will be tested.
-
-
Another Hyped up Book Club Pick that didn’t deliver
- By steven testasecca on 11-14-21
By: Naomi Krupitsky
-
Memories of Glass
- By: Melanie Dobson
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reminiscent of Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, this stunning novel draws from true accounts to shine a light on a period of Holland’s darkest history and bravest heroes. 1942. As war rips through the heart of Holland, childhood friends Josie van Rees and Eliese Linden partner with a few daring citizens to rescue Eliese’s son and hundreds of other Jewish children who await deportation in a converted theater in Amsterdam. But amid their resistance work, Josie and Eliese’s dangerous secrets could derail their friendship and their entire mission.
-
-
Memorable, Inspirational WWII Story
- By A+D on 09-08-19
By: Melanie Dobson
-
Travers Corners
- Classic Stories About Fly Fishing and a Small Montana Town
- By: Scott Waldie
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Travers Corners, a dusty Montana town, where nothing much has happened since Herbert Hoover stopped for gas. Travers Corners, like most small towns, has no newspaper, no radio station; but here, large trout - no better than large trout, fictitious trout - await the angler. And apart from spreading gossip outside the McCraken’s General Store, the residents of Travers Corners love nothing more than fly fishing. Scott Waldie’s delightful cast of characters breathes life into this tiny, out-of-the-way town.
-
-
A wonderful escape!
- By Jonathan Canty on 02-16-21
By: Scott Waldie
-
Silver Sparrow
- A Novel
- By: Tayari Jones
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Coleman Williams, Heather Alicia Simms
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, Silver Sparrow revolves around James Witherspoon's two families - the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters - the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle - she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another's lives.
-
-
underwhelming ending
- By Keisha on 01-17-13
By: Tayari Jones
-
The Chanel Sisters
- A Novel
- By: Judithe Little
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Antoinette and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel know they’re destined for something better. Abandoned by their family at a young age, they’ve grown up under the guidance of nuns preparing them for simple lives as the wives of tradesmen or shopkeepers. At night, their secret stash of romantic novels and magazine cutouts beneath the floorboards are all they have to keep their dreams of the future alive.
-
-
Straining Against Convention
- By Dan Collins on 05-15-21
By: Judithe Little
-
The First Mrs. Rothschild
- A Novel
- By: Sara Aharoni, Yardenne Greenspan - translator
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the turn of the 18th century in Frankfurt, Germany, and young Gutle and Meir Amschel Rothschild struggle to establish themselves in the cramped, restricted Judengasse. But when Meir’s talents as a novice banker catch the attention of a German prince, Meir is afforded entrée into the European world of finance and nobility, and the Rothschilds’ lives are changed forever. As proud as Gutle is of her husband’s success, she is also cautious - very much aware of the fact that her husband’s rise is tied to his patrons’ willingness to “see past” his Jewishness.
-
-
Witness the Power of a Great Book
- By James on 09-16-19
By: Sara Aharoni, and others
What listeners say about The Age of Daredevils
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- shireen c. mason
- 08-05-18
interesting
loved the the history of the falls and what. conveyance that people used in their attempts to go over the falls in one piece and alive.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rich H.
- 08-06-18
great info
really good book for some history about the falls and the river men who lived off of the devastation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Phyllis
- 09-01-18
Does it matter?
Mildly interesting at first but it dragged slowly to a non-ending. The stories of a bunch of dumb people risking their lives to go over the falls just doesn’t have any redeeming value.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 07-24-19
Very interesting
Many years ago my family visited Niagara Falls and while there we visited a museum that had some of the barrels that had been used for the various stunts. I found it very interesting to hear the story about the people associated with those exploits.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- radchick
- 10-11-16
A by gone era
You feel as if you know the River Boys who risk their lives and the consequences that play on their families lives saving people who come into contact with Niagara Falls. William Red Hill will always be remembered as a great Man and the patriarch of the Daredevil's.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- BDHumbert
- 08-02-18
Fascinating
Who knew. Well I guess the people living near the falls knew. Met some really fascinating characters who were clearly born too soon. Could only wonder what their lives would be like today with cable and social media
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Always Honest
- 10-10-16
Interesting
The facts given within are interesting...but this is not a spellbinding book. I could take it or leave it. It is a good choice if you have work to do that would get ignored if you were stuck in a book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Joan Kiefer
- 08-13-18
More than awesome, and captivating!!
This is my first book review, but I have to let others know how fabulous this audio book was. I bought the book not realizing that this was about a real family of daredevils. The way their lives unwound, yet came together. Much more than just reading about the stunts. Narration was spot on, and the narrator was able to show the personalities with subtle nuances. Afterwards, I went on YouTube and researched more of the William "Red" Hill family. So interesting. I have been to Niagra Falls in Canada, years ago, and now learned I've actually touched some of the barrels the family used. Gave me goosebumps!! Read it, research it, love it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- lovetoread
- 09-29-19
What people will do for kicks
Interesting true stories of people who were risk takers by going over Niagra Falls. It was quite a cult and some made a living out of this kind of risky behavior. Having been to Niagra Falls, I was stunned that anyone would even think about trying this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Very upset customer!
- 08-20-18
A Story seldom heard
I love little bits of history that rarely make the history books. Everyone knows the people went over the falls in a barrel but to know these people makes history come alive. The Hill family story needs to be told. It kept me involved & sometimes at the edge of my seat. I felt the heart sickness of the wives who were helpless to convince their husbands & father to their children to choose them over the falls. But there was a call, an obsession, or even a vision of fame & money that had to be fulfilled regardless of the insurmountable odds against success.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!