the Best Audio Stories in Biography & Memoir, History & Culture

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/800337 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Wu: The Chinese Empress Who Schemed, Seduced and Murdered Her Way to Become a Living God Author: Jonathan Clements Narrator: Kathleen Li Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 4 minutes Release date: July 30, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Empress Wu Zetian (624-705 AD) was the only woman to be the sovereign ruler of imperial China. A teenage concubine of the Tang Emperor Taizong, she seduced his son while the emperor lay dying. Recalled from a nunnery as part of an intricate court power-game, she caused the deaths of two lady rivals, before securing her enthronement as the Emperor Gaozong's consort. She ruled in the name of her husband and two eldest sons, presiding over the pinnacle of the Silk Road, before proclaiming herself the founder of a new dynasty. Worshipped as the Sage Mother of Mankind and reviled as the Treacherous Fox, she was deposed aged 79, after angry courtiers murdered her two young lovers. The subject of countless books, plays, and films, Empress Wu remains a feminist icon and a bugbear of Chinese conservatism. Jonathan Clements weighs the evidence of her life and legacy: so charismatic that she could rise from nothing to the height of medieval power, so hated that her own children left her tombstone blank.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/803861 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges Author: Bernadette Mcdonald Narrator: Lisa S. Ware Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 34 minutes Release date: July 30, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: 'Alpine Rising is a fascinating history of the crucial and frequently tragic role of local Nepalis, Tibetans, and Pakistanis on mountaineering expeditions to the world's highest peaks.' —Jon Krakauer The name of Maurice Herzog, the first man to reach the summit of Annapurna, is widely recognized, but how many know Ang Tharkay, the Sherpa who carried the seriously frostbitten Herzog on his back for miles? Although rarely mentioned in published accounts of early expeditions, local climbers have long been significant members of first ascents on the world's tallest and most challenging peaks. In Alpine Rising, award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald sets the record straight by shining a light on these too often forgotten heroes. Now, in the twenty-first century, it is often local climbers who are setting records. A Nepali team was the first to climb K2 in winter; they reached the summit while singing their national anthem. Pakistani climbers like Little Karim and Ali Sadpara devoted their lives to helping others survive and succeed on and off the mountains and their stories deserve to be more widely known. Not only a timely reminder of the need to recognize the contributions of local climbers and the importance of correcting the historical record, Alpine Rising is a celebration of a region's local heroes.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/795366 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Being Hindu Being Indian: Lala Lajpat Rai's Ideas of Nationhood Author: Vanya Vaidehi Bhargava Narrator: Vasundhara Bose Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 19 hours 30 minutes Release date: July 30, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: In popular imagination, Lala Lajpat Rai is frequently associated with Bhagat Singh, who, by assassinating J.P. Saunders, avenged Rai' s death, caused by a police lathi charge, and was hanged for it. Lajpat Rai is also remembered for his fervent opposition to British rule.In recent decades, however, historians have converged with the Hindu Right in rediscovering Lajpat Rai as an ideological ancestor of Hindutva. But what then explains Rai' s wholehearted approval of the Congress– Muslim League cooperation, and attempt to endow Hindus and Muslims with bonds of common belonging? Why did he reinterpret India' s medieval history to highlight peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims? Have our hasty conclusions about Lajpat Rai' s nationalist thought concealed its complexities and distorted our understanding of nationalism in general?Meticulously researched and eloquently written, Being Hindu, Being Indian offers the first comprehensive examination of Lajpat Rai' s nationalist thought. By revealing the complexities of Rai' s thinking, it provokes us to think more deeply about broader questions relevant to present-day politics: Are all expressions of ‘ Hindu nationalism' the same as Hindutva? What are the similarities and differences between ‘ Hindu' and ‘ Indian' nationalism? Can communalism and secularism be expressed together? How should we understand fluidity in politics? This book invites readers to treat Lajpat Rai' s ideas as a gateway to think more deeply about history, politics, religious identity and nationhood.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/800344 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing Author: Peter Harmsen Narrator: Tom Campbell Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 49 minutes Release date: July 30, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: In December 1937, the Chinese capital, Nanjing, falls and the Japanese army unleash an orgy of torture, murder, and rape. Over the course of six weeks, hundreds of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are killed. At the very onset of the atrocities, the Danish supervisor at a cement plant just outside the city, 26-year-old Bernhard Arp Sindberg, opens the factory gates and welcomes in 10,000 Chinese civilians to safety. He becomes an Asian equivalent of Oskar Schindler, the savior of Jews in the Holocaust. This biography follows Sindberg from his childhood and on his first adventures as a sailor and a Foreign Legionnaire to the 104 days as a rescuer of thousands of helpless men, women, and children in the darkest hour of the Sino-Japanese War. After his remarkable achievement, he receded back into obscurity, spending decades at sea and becoming a naturalized American citizen, before dying of old age in Los Angeles in 1983. The book sets the record straight by providing the first complete account of Sindberg's life in English. What emerges is the surprising tale of a person who was average in every respect but rose to the occasion when faced with unimaginable brutality, discovering an inner strength and courage that transformed him into one of the great humanitarian figures of the twentieth century and an inspiration for our modern age.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/798405 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Wild Wisdom: Life Lessons from Leading Teams to Some of the Most Inhospitable Places in the World Author: Christine Amour-Levar Narrator: Ellie Flory Fawcett Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 6 minutes Release date: July 30, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: A tale of adventure, pushing limits, humanity and the transformative power of challenging expeditions to help us grow wiser, more compassionate and purposeful with our livesWild Wisdom recounts the story of social entrepreneur and philanthropist Christine Amour-Levar and the all-female expeditions she has led across the globe via her two non-profit organisations, Women on a Mission and HER Planet Earth. Over a decade, she has taken hundreds of women, of all nationalities, ages and backgrounds, to off the beaten track locations around the world on challenging, often pioneering, expeditions that really push them outside of their comfort zone.She has run expeditions to some incredible places, from regions of the Arctic circle to the coldest, windiest and most remote continent on earth, Antarctica. Her teams have crossed the largest caves in the world in Vietnam, sailed across remote islands in Asia, were the first all-female team to bike across the frozen Arctic Circle Trail of Greenland and the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia – the hottest place on earth. And all these expeditions have had as mission to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable women, transforming the lives of thousands of women and girls in the process.By sharing her personal story and highlighting her life lessons, from growing up on multiple continents to leading teams on expeditions, she sets the stage for a new approach to caring for the human condition and the planet, at a deeper, more intrinsic, heart level. Ultimately, this is a story about roots and values, sisterhood and adventure, pushing limits and the power of our common humanity and compassion to drive change and impact the world for the better.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/805800 to listen full audiobooks. Title: God gave Us a Special Needs Child: A miracle from above story Author: Dr. Lloyd C. Darby Ph.D. Narrator: Dr. Lloyd C. Darby Ph.D. Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 3 hours 57 minutes Release date: July 26, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: I wrote this book because I wanted the world to know the story of my special needs son Lloyd C. Darby lll. Affectionately known as DJ, which stands for Darby Junior. When people triumph over their circumstances as my wife and I have, there are usually hidden lessons others can benefit from contained within the events. However, if we don't share our stories with the world, no one will ever hear about them. That's why it is so important to share our successes, and failures, to let others know they are not alone. Rather, a part of a bigger picture that is so significant, their message alone has the power to set people free. Whether through books, video, television, or the radio, we must communicate our thoughts and promote ideas and principles that produce a better society for all people. Due to the painful memories, and recreating various parts of my true story, I needed to make this book simple to understand. It is my sincere effort that this information can be absorbed quickly and to the point.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/795367 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Tilak: The Empire's Biggest Enemy Author: Vaibhav Purandare Narrator: Abhishek Ajay Sharma Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 16 hours 29 minutes Release date: July 22, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Bal Gangadhar Tilak was considered to be the biggest threat to the British hegemony.He was prosecuted thrice for sedition.Was termed ‘the father of Indian unrest.'He was convicted for his fiery writings in his nationalist daily Kesari.Tilak, the first definitive biography of the man who raised the slogan that ‘freedom is my birthright and I shall have it.'Before Mahatma Gandhi, there was Bal Gangadhar Tilak – the revolutionary who ignited the spark of Indian nationalism. The Times, London, called him ‘the father of Indian unrest,' and the one-time Secretary of State for India Edward Montagu felt he had ‘the greatest influence of any person' on the Indian people. Above all, for the British Raj, Tilak was sedition-monger-in-chief, and it prosecuted him thrice for sedition.Hailed as ‘Lokmanya' or ‘One Revered by the People,' Tilak transformed India's fight for freedom from polite discourse to a mass uprising. His fierce writings, relentless activism, and controversial stances earned him the title ‘enemy of the British government' from the Raj, which saw him as its greatest threat. And at a time the British were undermining Indian self-esteem and dismissing Indians as ‘uncivilized heathens,' Tilak argued powerfully and relentlessly that there was much of enormous value in India's past, its culture, heritage and civilization, awakening Indians to a sense of their own identity. This definitive biography traces Tilak's journey from his early days in Konkan to his influential role across India, highlighting his battles against the British, imprisonments, and commitment to Swaraj.Rediscover an icon of Indian history whose ideas and actions continue to resonate today. Bal Gangadhar Tilak's story is not just a tale of resistance but a testament to perseverance and conviction.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/792070 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Our Daily War Author: Andrey Kurkov Narrator: Andrey Kurkov Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 13 hours 54 minutes Release date: July 18, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: The determination of the Ukrainian armed forces and entire population of the country have won the admiration of the civilised world. They are often forced to live without water, without electricity; schools and kindergartens are frequently held below ground, whole cities have been shattered by artillery fire, by drone assaults; fields and towns have been changed forever by an almost unthinkable quantity of mines. But what is beyond question is that Ukraine will not be defeated by the Russian forces, will never give in, and will, in time, rebuild their peoples' shattered lives. Weaving his own personal story with that of his countrymen, those fighting the war on land, sea and air, and other displaced Ukrainians, Our Daily War is a deeply personal and profound account of the war in Ukraine, and a portrait of a defiant, irrepressible nation facing immeasurable crisis.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/792451 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [German] - Neville Goddard - Die erwachte Vorstellungskraft (Awakened Imagination 1954): Manifestieren mit dem Gesetz der Annahme nach Neville Goddard Series: #9 of Neville Goddard: Alle 14 original Bücher auf Deutsch Author: Fabio Mantegna Narrator: Konrad Lindemann Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 1 hour 48 minutes Release date: July 18, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Neville Goddard (Deutsch): Die erwachte Vorstellungskraft - Originaltitel: Awakened Imagination - aus dem Jahre 1954. Das 9. Buch von Neville Goddard über das Manifestieren mit dem Gesetz der Annahme. Die erwachte Vorstellungskraft ist die deutsche Übersetzung von Awakened Imagination aus dem Jahre 1954. Es ist das 9. Buch über das Manifestieren mit dem Gesetz der Annahme, dass Neville Goddard zu seiner Zeit veröffentlicht hat. 'Neville Lancelot Goddard, der über einen autodidaktischen und ungewöhnlich scharfen Intellekt verfügte, vertrat eine kühne und umfassende spirituelle Vision: Alles was wir sehen und erleben, einschließlich anderer Menschen, sei das Ergebnis unserer eigenen Gedanken und emotionalen Zustände. Jeder von uns träumt eine Unzahl von Realitäten ins Dasein. Wenn wir Menschen das erkennen, so lehrte Neville Goddard, würden wir entdecken, dass wir ein schlummernder Zweig der Schöpfung sind, der in menschlicher Form gekleidet sei und am Ruder der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten stehe.' - Mitch Horowitz - Neville Goddard kann am besten als erleuchteter Mystiker und Hermetiker bezeichnet werden. Sein Wunsch war es den Menschen ihre Schöpferkraft bewusstwerden zu lassen. Und dabei ging es nicht nur um das Manifestieren, sondern auch, dass die tiefgreifenden Mechanismen unseres Daseins erneut verstanden und bewusst angewendet werden können. Und dieses Wissen kann mit diesem Buch - Die erwachte Vorstellungskraft (Awakened Imagination) - von Neville Goddard wieder verstanden und bewusst angewendet werden. 'Wenn der Mensch beginnt, diese Kraft in sich zu entdecken, spielt er nie mehr die Rolle, die er früher gespielt hat. Er kehrt nicht zurück nur um ein Abbild des Lebens zu werden; von nun an ist er der Urheber des Lebens.' - Neville Lancelot Goddard -

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/808219 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Late Have I Loved You: Recollections of a Life Author: Mike Aquilina, John Michael Talbot Narrator: John Michael Talbot Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 32 minutes Release date: July 18, 2024 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Late Have I Loved You, Recollections of a Life - Foreword by Mike Aquilina - is Grammy / Dove award winning, multi-platinum selling, Best-Selling Author John Michael Talbot's first autobiography.