Discover the Best Sellers Audiobooks in History, European

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Title: The History of Rome, Book 3

Subtitle: From the Union of Italy to the Subjugation of Carthage and the Greek States

Author: Theodor Mommsen

Narrator: Charlton Griffin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-11-16

Publisher: Audio Connoisseur

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

Book three of Mommsen's history covers the 118 years from 264 to 146 BC, the period in which Rome became the undisputed master of the Mediterranean Basin. How did this happen, and why?

Carthage was instrumental in this transformation. With the defeat and expulsion of Pyrrhus in 275 BC, Rome had moved to consolidate its hold over the Italian peninsula, a position it had acquired in a century of almost continuous warfare with Italian tribes. But only 11 years later, in 264 BC, the political and commercial rivalry with Carthage over control of Sicily broke out into open war. At the end of two brutal wars with Carthage and three with Macedonia and the Greek Seleucid and Antigonid Kingdoms, the Mediterranean lay in the power of Rome. It was not a power the Roman state had consciously sought. In its fanatical zeal for security, Rome subdued one adversary after the other with unerring determination. In the end there was no one left to subdue.

But along with that power came wealth and social changes that were to tear the republic apart. Mommsen's brilliant explanation for how this process of decay sapped the moral fiber of the Roman people is perhaps his most outstanding contribution to our understanding of this era.

This is the third in a five-volume series. This volume was recorded entirely on location in Rome, Italy. Listeners may notice some differences in sound compared to our usual studio recordings.

Although Mommsen used the AUC system of Roman years, which begins as the Roman year 1 (754 BC), we have transposed these dates to those of the Christian era. All dates are BC except where otherwise indicated.

We do not recommend Mommsen for those without a firm grasp of Roman republican history. The work of Cyril Robinson would be a great place to start for the neophyte historian.

Translated from the original German by W. P. Dickson.

Members Reviews:

East meets West, what could go wrong?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It would depend on who the friend was and whether I wanted to keep him/her as a friend. It really needs a grounding in Roman History, as a fair number of the author's assumptions can be disputed by more recent historical analysis.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

While I knew the broad outlines of Roman History, and even knew a few of the details I didn't realize the sheer scope of what was going on besides the war with Carthage during this time frame. Besides the three Punic wars, Rome established herself as the undisputed "naval" power of the Mediterranean basin, fought major and victorious campaigns in Spain, Southern France, the Adriatic and Greece, while extended the borders of Italy from the Po River to the base of the Alps, not too mention invading North Africa, all while containing Hannibal in southern Italy with what today we would call an "economy of force" strategy--the minimal force required to ensure he made no mischief with the Roman allied territories while becoming a noxious burden on his friends who shared his blockade.

Any additional comments?

Like all the older historians of Rome, he conflates the Senate with the Republic and vice versa. While indisputably a component of the Republic, it was arguably the least important.

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Title: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Subtitle: Churchill's Mavericks: Plotting Hitler's Defeat

Author: Giles Milton

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-30-16

Publisher: John Murray

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

'This was a secret war whose battles were lost or won unknown to the public.... No such warfare had ever been waged by mortal men.' (Winston Churchill)

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, a country house called The Firs in Buckinghamshire was requisitioned by the War Office. Sentries were posted at the entrance gates, and barbed wire was strung around the perimeter fence. To local villagers it looked like a prison camp. But the truth was far more sinister. This rambling Edwardian mansion had become home to an eccentric band of scientists, inventors and bluestockings. Their task was to build devastating new weaponry that could be used against the Nazis.

Led by the gung-ho Millis Jefferis, the men and women who worked at Churchill's Toyshop, as it became known, devised many of the key weapons of the Second World War. Their prototype limpet mine made possible the Cockleshell Raid on Bordeaux Harbour. Churchill said that this one raid alone shortened the war by six months. Next they pioneered the water bomb that closed the Rhine to German shipping.

Although the team at Churchill's Toyshop proved extraordinarily adept, they were not working alone. Other country houses were also requisitioned and handed over to the specialists. Some focused on developing new weapons; some planned sabotage missions in occupied Europe; some became training schools for agents. But all were working towards a common goal: the destruction of the Nazi war machine. Collectively they were known as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Members Reviews:

Humbling and enthralling

I never tire of hearing tales of sacrifice and commitment made by those in WWII that allow us the freedom to lead the lives we lead today. These tales are made all the more fascinating when you learn of how those selfless acts of bravery were supported by a small army of crackpots and geniuses who dared stand by their convictions and in the face of conventional thinking.

This book covers the people and the operations undertaken in perfect detail. The narration is well suited and the book an easy listen. One of the best audible books I've bought.

A truly incredible story.

Takes a short while to get going but it takes hold and becomes gripping to the end. I knew so many of the stories contained within but never knew how they were linked to so few people. Story superbly written and fabulously narrated.

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Título: Imperio Colonial Portugués: Inicio, apogeo crisis y caída [The Portuguese Colonial Empire]

Autor: Online Studio Productions

Narrador: uncredited

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 37 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 06-14-16

Editor: Online Studio Productions

Calificaciones: 4 de 5 de 1 votos

Categorías: History, European

Resumen del editor:

La historia del nacimiento, cúspide y ocaso de Portugal como potencia mundial en un audio de total interés histórico. Tras separarse en el siglo XV de la antigua influencia española, el país impulsó una ambiciosa política de expansión que los llevó a la gloria de la mano de marinos notables como Vasco Da Gama, Fernando de Magallanes, o Sebastián Elcano.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Opiniones de los miembros:

Synthetic and informative. Very interesting.

As Brazilian, I had the opportunity to learn the history from a different poit of view, like the possible visit of Spaniards to Brazil before Cabral, and the Magalhaes expedition under Spanish flag. It inspired me to read more on the subject from different countries. I like it.

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Title: A Macat Analysis of Ernst H. Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology

Author: Simon Thomson

Narrator: Macat.com

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-16

Publisher: Macat International Limited.

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

A Macat analysis of Ernst H. Kantorowicz's The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997

Examining 1,200 years of history from the foundation of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire to the beheading of King Charles I in England is in itself a mammoth undertaking. But it is the issues explored by German American historian Ernst H. Kantorowicz in his 1957 study The King's Two Bodies that have had a profound effect on the way academics think about the study of history.

Early European monarchs were considered to have two bodies: one earthly and private, one almost divine, embodying the State. Examining the image of these two bodies, Kantorowicz goes on to identify the ways in which monarchies used religious imagery and ideas to enhance and extend the ruler's power and to form states.

Analyzing an impressive array of primary material - from literary and artistic texts to historical and legal works - Kantorowicz compares the ways leaders across the centuries make use of broadly similar symbols to achieve their political ends. Decades after its original publication, The King's Two Bodies remains a major text in its field.

You can find out more about how Kantorowicz's ideas have been challenged and applied - and how his work has impacted on thinkers in other academic disciplines - by exploring further in the Macat Library.

Macat's analyses cover 14 different subjects in the humanities and social sciences.

Macat. Learn better. Think smarter. Aim higher.

Members Reviews:

Written by a Smartbot?

This is my first encounter with the Macat titles. "Macaw" might be a better name them, given the brainless repetition of words and phrases.

Though these titles apparently cover a superb, interesting selection of scholarly texts, the format is oddly robotic, to say the least. The audio is divided in Sections and Modules. Each Module repeats what was in the previous ones, with some sentences and details added. I am about halfway through and though we have yet to get to the work itself, I have heard that the author was "influenced by Carl Schmitt's Political Theology" eight or nine times. It is repeated anew again and again in each module, along with most of the other information. Then a bit of addition information is added.

It appears that the idea is to somehow impress the material, phrase by phrase, on your neural system without engaging your consciousness. Perhaps the format is intended for students who want to input test material while sleeping. Alternately, it could be used to train a scholarly-sounding Macaw: "Kantorowicz influenced by Schmitt! Ach! Ach! Cracker! Cracker!"

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Title: A Macat Analysis of Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848

Author: Patrick Glen, Tom Stammers

Narrator: Macat.com

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-02-16

Publisher: Macat International Limited.

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

In The Age of Revolution, renowned British Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm focuses on the historical period from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th. He concludes that the "dual revolutions" of the time - the French Revolution and the British Industrial Revolution - changed the way the whole world thought about politics and power, and fundamentally shaped the modern era.

This is the first in Hobsbawm's acclaimed trilogy of books on the "long" 19th century - from 1789 to 1914. In The Age of Revolution he explains how the dual revolutions created conditions in which capitalism and liberalism could rise and dominate. But while values such as liberty, free trade, and meritocracy led to the formation of the middle class, this leap forward largely excluded the urban, laboring poor, resulting in the emergence of socialism and the working class.

Although now over 50 years old, the text remains a superb introduction to modern history and has been read by millions worldwide.

You can find out more about how Hobsbawm's ideas have been challenged and applied - and how his work has impacted on thinkers in other academic disciplines - by exploring further in the Macat Library.

Macat's analyses cover 14 different subjects in the humanities and social sciences. To browse our whole multi media library and get a lot more, visit www.macat.com today.

Macat. Learn better. Think smarter. Aim higher.

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Title: History of France

Author: Jacob Hailey

Narrator: Andrew Winford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-16-16

Publisher: Jacob Hailey

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language.

Over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic annexed southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire.

In the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, setting the stage for Frankish dominance in the region for hundreds of years. Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The medieval Kingdom of France emerged from the western part of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire, known as West Francia, and achieved increasing prominence under the rule of the House of Capet, founded by Hugh Capet in 987.

A succession crisis following the death of the last direct Capetian monarch in 1328 led to the series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VI's attempt to seize the Duchy of Aquitaine from its hereditary holder, Edward III of England, the Plantagenet claimant to the French throne.

Members Reviews:

The Narrator

I recognize the narrator and recall now why that I'm not a fan. But to his credit, his Cali frat boy -cum- infomercial salesman style may actually be perfect for college kids or tourists needing a quick refresh. Since I'm neither, and did in fact purchase this, I have only myself to blame.

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Titolo: Il Basso Medioevo: Dagli albori dell'Umanesimo alla Firenze laurenziana (Storia d'Italia 28-33)

Autore: vari

Narratore: Eugenio Farn

Formato: Unabridged

Durata: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Lingua: Italiano

Data di pubblicazione: 05-13-16

Editore: Il Narratore s.r.l.

Categoria: History, European

Riepilogo Editore:

Secondo la più moderna e riconosciuta periodizzazione storica il Basso Medioevo inizia nel XIV secolo e finisce con la scoperta dell'America (1492), due secoli densi di avvenimenti in Europa e in Italia: la cattività avignonese dei papi, i conflitti con i re di Francia, il frazionamento dell'Italia i molti staterelli, signorie e comuni, guerre mercenarie, carestie ed epidemie che causarono profondi mutamenti sociali ed economici nella società. Ma iniziò a cambiare anche la mentalità dei ceti più elevati e degli uomini di cultura, l'individualità si afferma e attraverso l'Umanesimo quattrocentesco si prepara la nuova civiltà rinascimentale che si diffonderà grazie anche al sostegno di un'aristocrazia colta e di una borghesia sempre più ampia e facoltosa.

Quest'opera raccoglie insieme cinque volumi della Storia d'Italia pubblicati e disponibili separatamente, dal vol. 28 "Il Trecento e gli albori dell'Umanesimo" fino al vol. 33 "Lorenzo de' Medici": luoghi, politiche, costumi, economia, religione... e molti altri aspetti dell'Umanesimo, a partire dai maggiori protagonisti (come il Duca di Urbino e Lorenzo de' Medici), sono descritti con un linguaggio chiaro e reso ancor più intelligibile dalla lettura esperta di Eugenio Farn.

©2016 il Narratore Srl (P)2016 il Narratore Srl

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Title: Hitler's Final Push

Subtitle: The Battle of the Bulge from the German Point of View

Author: Danny S. Parker - editor

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-08-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

Notes on one of the most infamous and bloody battles of World War II - from the German perspective.

As the Allied armies swept toward the Reich in late 1944, the German high command embarked on an ambitious plan to gain the initiative on the western front and deal a crippling blow to the Allied war effort. As early as August 1944, when the Germans were being crushed in the east and hammered in Normandy, Hitler was talking of an offensive aimed at destroying as many American and British divisions as possible in a massive surprise assault. By December 1944, Hitler was telling his generals, "the final decisions have been made, everything points to victory."

This volume consists of primary source material, including translations of German documentation and debriefs of German generals, edited by a foremost expert on this decisive campaign. The Battle of the Bulge presents the assessments by leading figures in the German high command, of the preparations for the offensive, the progress of the operation, and the performance of the Wehrmacht. There are accounts of Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, head of the high command of the armed forces; Schramm, the keeper of the Wehrmacht's war diary, transcripts of two of Hitler's key speeches to his generals; and much more.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers/listeners interested in history - books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times best seller or a national best seller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Members Reviews:

Terrible pronunciation

This certainly had potential because it is a story worth telling, but it was very hard to get through because the tale wandered aimlessly much of the time. The appendices were the most interesting part.

What made this entirely unenjoyable was the terrible pronunciation...even of simple names like Guderian. I wonder how an audio book publisher can possibly publish something where half of the names are mispronounced. Isn't that the whole job of an audiobook producer? And if I were the narrator and was not 100%sure how to pronounce something, I would look it up. Clearly, this narrator does not care one bit about his job performance.

Do yourself a favor and skip this audiobook...there are many more out there on a similar topic that can at least pronounce Manteufel.

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Title: Istoriya Pugachevskogo bunta

Author: A. S. Pushkin

Narrator: Il'ya Prudovskiy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-07-16

Publisher: Mul'timediynoye izdatel'stvo Strel'bitskogo

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, European

Publisher's Summary:

V nachale 1830-kh gg. A. S. Pushkin zainteresovalsya istoriyey Krest'yanskoy voyny 1773-1775 gg. Pod predvoditel'stvom Yemel'yana Pugacheva.On tshchatel'no izuchil arkhivnyye materialy i dokumenty, a v 1833 g. otpravilsya v poyezdku po mestam vosstaniya - Orenburgskuyu i Kazanskuyu gubernii, gde rassprashival starikov-ochevidtsev, sobiral izustnyye rasskazy i predaniya o Pugacheve.Itogom etikh issledovaniy stalo dva proizvedeniya: khudozhestvennaya povest' "Kapitanskaya dochka" i istoricheskiy trud "Istoriya Pugacheva", napisannaya v Boldine osen'yu 1833 g.Tsenzorom "Istorii Pugacheva" stal sam imperator Nikolay I, kotoryy potreboval pereimenovat' rabotu v "Istoriyu Pugachevskogo bunta".

Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Critic Reviews:

V nachale 1830-kh gg. A. S. Pushkin zainteresovalsya istoriyey Krest'yanskoy voyny 1773-1775 gg. Pod predvoditel'stvom Yemel'yana Pugacheva.On tshchatel'no izuchil arkhivnyye materialy i dokumenty, a v 1833 g. otpravilsya v poyezdku po mestam vosstaniya - Orenburgskuyu i Kazanskuyu gubernii, gde rassprashival starikov-ochevidtsev, sobiral izustnyye rasskazy i predaniya o Pugacheve.Itogom etikh issledovaniy stalo dva proizvedeniya: khudozhestvennaya povest' "Kapitanskaya dochka" i istoricheskiy trud "Istoriya Pugacheva", napisannaya v Boldine osen'yu 1833 g.Tsenzorom "Istorii Pugacheva" stal sam imperator Nikolay I, kotoryy potreboval pereimenovat' rabotu v "Istoriyu Pugachevskogo bunta".

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Título: Imperio español [Spanish Empire]

Autor: Manuel Rivero Rodríguez

Narrador: Santiago Noriega Gil

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 04-01-16

Editor: sonolibro

Calificaciones: 5 de 5 de 1 votos

Categorías: History, European

Resumen del editor:

Una potencia imperial es aquella que determina e incluso decide el comportamiento del conjunto de la comunidad internacional, en política, economía, tecnología, y cultura. Durante los siglos XVI y XVII España ejerció ese papel. De ese imperio aun existen signos visibles de su potencia e influencia, más allá de la comunidad de países hispanohablantes. Si hay chocolateros suizos en los Alpes, pizza con tomate en Nápoles, patatas fritas en Bélgica o tabaco para pipa en Inglaterra esto se debe a la capacidad de transferencia de productos y modas que esparció el Imperio español en todo el mundo. Por eso es importante conocer su Historia.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Opiniones de los miembros:

Ideología y guías políticas: Carlos I a Felipe III

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Es un buen libro para alguien que ya conozca los hechos básicos y quiera entender mejor el período: la forma de pensar, de ejercer presión en cada capa social, de relaciones entre reinos de la Monarquía Hispánica...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Imperio español [Spanish Empire]?

La parte de Felipe III es muy interesante por ser un reinado normalmente eclipsado por el de su padre y que sin embargo resulta ser una época mucho mejor de lo esperado.

Any additional comments?

El audiolibro termina de forma inesperada. Da la impresión de que falta una segunda mitad.