Audiobooks by Peter Watson

The British Imagination: A History of Ideas from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II

Before the 16th century Britain was a small, out-of-the-way backwater, lagging far behind other global powers in terms of power and innovation. This all changed when Queen Elizabeth I was crowned. During her reign, creative and intellectual life flourished as never before, and Britain became one of the leading nations of 'the West'. It has remained a major power ever since. What happened in the last five hundred years to bring about this change, and to maintain it? And what can it tell us about the unique nature of British identity and exceptionalism today? The British Imagination is a masterful journey through 500 years of history, from Shakespeare to Woolf, the Royal Society to the industrial revolution, and from the first New World colonies to the empire that by the 1920s had colonised a quarter of the world. The key tenets of British history, Peter Watson argues, are religion, empirical science, commerce and empire. Breathtaking in scope, covering everything from astronomy to geology, philosophy to literature, The British Imagination is a spellbinding tour of the most influential ideas - and the extraordinary people - who made Britain what it is today.

Peter Watson (Author), Unknown (Narrator)

Audiobook

The French Mind: 400 Years of Romance, Revolution and Renewal

We are endlessly fascinated by the French. We are fascinated by their way of life, their creativity, sophistication and self-assurance, and even their insistence that they are exceptional. But how did France become the country it is today, and what really sets it apart? Journalist and historian Peter Watson sets out to answer these questions in The French Mind, a dazzling history of France that takes us from the seventeenth century to the present day through the nation's most influential thinkers. He opens the doors to the Renaissance salons that were a breeding ground for poets, philosophers and scientists, and tells the forgotten stories of the extraordinary succession of women who ran these institutions, fostering a culture of stylish intellectualism unmatched anywhere else in the world. It's a story that takes us into Bohemian cafés and cabarets, into chic Parisian high culture via French philosophies of food, fashion and sex, while growing unrest hastens the bloody birth of a republic. From the 1789 revolution to the country's occupation by Nazi Germany, Watson argues that a unique series of devastating military defeats helped shape the resilient, proud, innovative character of the French. This is a history of breathtaking ambition, propelled by the characters Watson brings to vivid life: the writers, revolutionaries and painters who loved, inspired and rivalled one another over four hundred years. It documents the shaping of a nation whose global influence, in art, culture and politics, cannot be overstated.

Peter Watson (Author), Richard Attlee (Narrator)

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The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Ce

From the end of the Baroque age and the death of Bach in 1750 to the rise of Hitler in 1933, Germany was transformed from a poor relation among western nations into a dominant intellectual and cultural force more influential than France, Britain, Italy, Holland, and the United States. In the early decades of the 20th century, German artists, writers, philosophers, scientists, and engineers were leading their freshly-unified country to new and undreamed of heights, and by 1933, they had won more Nobel prizes than anyone else and more than the British and Americans combined. But this genius was cut down in its prime with the rise and subsequent fall of Adolf Hitler and his fascist Third Reich-a legacy of evil that has overshadowed the nation's contributions ever since. Yet how did the Germans achieve their pre-eminence beginning in the mid-18th century? In this fascinating cultural history, Peter Watson goes back through time to explore the origins of the German genius, how it flourished and shaped our lives, and, most importantly, to reveal how it continues to shape our world. As he convincingly demonstarates, while we may hold other European cultures in higher esteem, it was German thinking-from Bach to Nietzsche to Freud-that actually shaped modern America and Britain in ways that resonate today.

Peter Watson (Author), Richard Attlee (Narrator)

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Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up, and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb

The atomic bomb was the unnecessary product of mistrust and deceit between World War II allies--resulting in a threat of nuclear war that still haunts us today. Between December 1943 and August 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill ignited the Cold War by building an atomic bomb, even though they were confident by then that Germany, the notional target of the bomb, had no weapon of its own. Nevertheless, a series of lies, pretenses and deceptions between the Allies resulted in the most dangerous killing machine in history. The Americans did not tell the UK that the atomic research was compromised by Soviet spies; the British did not tell the Americans that in 1943 they knew for sure that Germany did not have a nuclear bomb program. And neither country admitted this to the scientists developing the bomb. Had they done so, many of the scientists, knowing the destructive power of the bomb, would have refused to build it. Peter Watson recounts this pulse-pounding story of military overreach, which led to the development of an unnecessary weapon that, once it existed, was inevitably going to be deployed. He shows how politicians fatally failed to understand the nature of atomic science and, in so doing, needlessly exposed the world to great danger--a danger that is still very much with us today.

Peter Watson (Author), Peter Ganim (Narrator)

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Madeleine's War: A Novel

A compulsively readable blend of romance and drama based on actual events in Britain and France leading up to D-day in 1944 Matthew Hammond is a British military officer posted to the European theater during World War II. He sustained a serious injury on the front lines, so bad, in fact, that it cost him a lung. Now he is back in England, unable to fight, but he continues to serve his country by training new Resistance fighters. One of the recruits under his tutelage is Madeleine, a spellbinding, impassioned French Canadian with eyes of "burnished whiskey." Despite protocols discouraging romance, they are deeply in love, and Matthew is torn about putting Madeleine's life in danger. He already has one tragic affair with a Resistance fighter under his belt-his former lover, Celestine, was killed because her assassination of a German doctor went awry. But the Allies are mustering all their resources for crucial beach landings in Normandy, and Matthew knows his unit will need to play a role. It will be a very dangerous mission: parachuting in behind the Nazi line. As Madeleine progresses through the training with her fellow recruits, Matthew can only hope that luck will guide her through when the drop finally arrives.

Peter Watson (Author), Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

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