Europe Audiobooks | History

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

The fourteenth century reflects two contradictory images: on one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry; on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague. Barbara Tuchman reveals the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as she examines everything from political assassinations, sea battles, corruption, satire and humor, sorcery and demonology, to lawyers, tax collectors, scholars, grocers, knights, and lust and sadism on the stage.

Barbara W. Tuchman (Author), Nadia May, Wanda Mccaddon (Narrator)

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The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal

Joseph Stalin had never been able to shake off the nightmare of Adolf Hitler. Just as in 1941 he refused to understand that Hitler had broken their non-aggression pact, he was in 1945 unwilling to believe that the dictator had committed suicide in the debris of the Berlin bunker. In his paranoia, Stalin ordered his secret police, the NKVD, precursor to the KGB, to explore in detail every last vestige of the private life of the only man he considered a worthy opponent, and to clarify beyond doubt the circumstances of his death. For months two captives of the Soviet Army--Otto Guensche, Hitler's adjutant, and Heinz Linge, his personal valet--were interrogated daily, their stories crosschecked, until the NKVD were convinced that they had the fullest possible account of the life of the Furher. In 1949 they presented their work, in a single copy, to Stalin. It is as remarkable for the depth of its insight into Adolf Hitler--from his specific directions to Linge as to how his body was to be burned, to his sense of humor--as for what it does not say, reflecting the prejudices of the intended reader: Joseph Stalin. Nowhere, for instance, does the dossier criticize Hitler's treatment of the Jews. Today, the 413-page original of Stalin's personal biography of Hitler is a Kremlin treasure and it is said to be held in President Putin's safe. The only other copy, made by order of Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, in 1959, was deposited in Moscow Party archives under the code number 462A. It was there that Henrik Eberle and Matthias Uhl, two German historians, found it. Available to the public in full for the first time, The Hitler Book presents a captivating, astonishing, and deeply revealing portrait of Hitler, Stalin, and the mutual antagonism of these two dictators, who between them wrought devastation on the European continent.

Henrik Eberle, Matthias Uhl (Author), Michael Prichard (Narrator)

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The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy

In this landmark study, Burckhardt chronicles the breakup of the medieval worldview that came with the rediscoveries of Greek and Roman culture and the new emphasis on the role of the individual. These went hand in hand with scientific achievement and a more naturalistic depiction of the world in art and literature.

Jacob Burckhardt (Author), Geoffrey Howard, Ralph Cosham (Narrator)

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One Christmas in Washington: Roosevelt and Churchill Forge the Grand Alliance

One Christmas in Washington is the fascinating, in-depth look at the Washington war conference of 1941, as two proud and accomplished statesmen struggled to overcome biases, suspicion, and hubris to create what turned out to be the war-winning alliance. The authors take a penetrating look at the high-level meetings and at the scenes behind the scenes. As with any momentous gathering of world leaders, there was high politics and low gossip, and both contributed to earth-shaking events of this momentous time. "James does a wonderful job of illuminating a historical event not previously well chronicled....Listeners who try this title will learn something and enjoy doing it."-AudioFile

David Bercuson, Holger Herwig (Author), Lloyd James (Narrator)

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Ireland

The "isle of poets and scholars" has known almost constant warfare for centuries. In 1920, it was divided into North and South. Yet this purely political solution left a religious and cultural schism intact. This presentation follows Ireland's tragic course from St. Patrick to Britain's imposition of direct rule in 1974. The World's Political Hot Spots series explains the basis of conflicts in some of the world's most politically sensitive areas. Many of these regions are in today's headlines, and tensions recently have become violent in virtually all of them. Each presentation covers up to ten centuries of background, revealing how and why today's problems occur.

Wendy McElroy (Author), Harry Reasoner (Narrator)

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Germany

Germany is historically one of the most important of all nations. Since emerging from its days as a Roman province, Germany (including Prussia) has had a central role in European affairs. It has reached the heights in art, music, literature and political power, yet it's also reached the depths in humiliating military defeat and partition. This presentation reviews the broad sweep of German history.

Ralph Raico, Wendy McElroy (Author), Harry Reasoner, Peter Hackes, Richard C. Hottelet (Narrator)

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In Time of War: Hitler's Terrorist Attack on America

In 1942, eight Nazi saboteurs were caught on American beaches and executed. The decision was challenged in court but eventually upheld in the Supreme Court's ruling in Ex parte Quirin-a case that has frequently been cited by the George W. Bush administration in support of its declared power to hold "enemy combatants" and try them by military commission. But O'Donnell, a former Supreme Court law clerk, argues that we should be cautious in applying it as precedence, because the process by which it was decided by the Supreme Court was illegitimate.

Pierce O'Donnell (Author), Raymond Todd (Narrator)

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Pensées

Blaise Pascal (Author), William Sutherland (Narrator)

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Scott's Last Expedition

In November 1910, a team of explorers left New Zealand led by Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman determined to be the first man to reach the South Pole. This is Scott's detailed memoir of his journey-up until March 29, 1912, when he and the few remaining members of his team died in a brutal blizzard. The daily progress of the expedition is recorded in an immensely vivid and personal narrative.

Robert Falcon Scott (Author), William Sutherland (Narrator)

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Tales of the Alhambra:A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards

Washington Irving (Author), Geoffrey Howard, Ralph Cosham (Narrator)

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The Story of the Renaissance

In this comprehensive survey, William Hudson explores the forces responsible for bringing about the Renaissance, which he describes as the West's 'transition from the medieval to the modern world.' Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning, and the advent of science contribute to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period, which are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity which he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual. This history gives the listener a lucid, perceptive analysis of the splendid Renaissance.

William Henry Hudson (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

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Pensées

Compiled after his death in 1662, Pascal's'pens├®es' (thoughts) are his ideas for a book in defense of faith in a rational world. These fragments give evidence of a profoundly original thinker who had resolved the conflict between his scientific mind and his heart-felt faith. The book begins with an analysis of the difference between mathematical and intuitive thinking and goes on to consider the value of skepticism, contradictions, feeling, memory, and imagination. It is a powerful look at humanity's weakness and the futility of worldly life. Much of the value ofPens├®eslies in the clarity with which Pascal was able to present his intuitive thoughts. Pascal spent much of his life composing this magnum opus, which offers some of the most powerful aphorisms about human experience and behavior ever written.

Blaise Pascal (Author), William Sutherland (Narrator)

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