Audiobooks by Peter Marshall

1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation

Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517 is one of the most famous events of Western history. It inaugurated the Protestant Reformation, and has for centuries been a powerful and enduring symbol of religious freedom of conscience, and of righteous protest against the abuse of power. But did it actually really happen? In this engagingly-written, wide-ranging and insightful work of cultural history, leading Reformation historian Peter Marshall reviews the available evidence, and concludes that, very probably, it did not. The theses-posting is a myth. And yet, Marshall argues, this fact makes the incident all the more historically significant. In tracing how-and why-a "non-event" ended up becoming a defining episode of the modern historical imagination. Marshall compellingly explores the multiple ways in which the figure of Martin Luther, and the nature of the Reformation itself, have been remembered and used for their own purposes by subsequent generations of Protestants and others-in Germany, Britain, the United States and elsewhere. As people in Europe, and across the world, prepare to remember, and celebrate, the 500th anniversary of Luther's posting of the theses, this book offers a timely contribution and corrective. The intention is not to "debunk," or to belittle Luther's achievement, but rather to invite renewed reflection on how the past speaks to the present-and on how, all too often, the present creates the past in its own image and likeness.

Peter Marshall (Author), Anne Flosnik (Narrator)

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Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation

Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history argues that sixteenth-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of "reform" in various competing guises. King Henry VIII wanted an orderly, uniform Reformation, but his actions opened a Pandora's Box from which pluralism and diversity flowed and rooted themselves in English life. With sensitivity to individual experience as well as masterfully synthesizing historical and institutional developments, Marshall frames the perceptions and actions of people great and small, from monarchs and bishops to ordinary families and ecclesiastics, against a backdrop of profound change that altered the meanings of "religion" itself. This engaging history reveals what was really at stake in the overthrow of Catholic culture and the reshaping of the English Church.

Peter Marshall (Author), Napoleon Ryan (Narrator)

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Mercy Clifton: Pilgrim Girl

The 1620 storm-tossed voyage of the Mayflower is the worst experience of Mercy Clifton’s sixteen years. She and her parents are Pilgrims, bound for the New World, where they can worship God in peace. Relying on her friends, Elizabeth and Priscilla, and the affection of an English Springer Spaniel named Loyal, Mercy survives the crossing and their first perilous months in America. But she is tested through painful loss, her attraction to the handsome but disturbing Jack Billington, and the perils of living in a danger-filled wilderness. Mercy faces her greatest challenge when she and her Indian friend Amie make an ominous discovery. Young rebels in the colony have so provoked the Native Americans that all-out war seems certain.

David Manuel, Peter Marshall, Sheldon Maxwell (Author), Aimee Lilly (Narrator)

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Nate Donovan: Revolutionary Spy

In 1777, during the War for Independence, Nate Donovan is the younger brother in an Irish Quaker family in British-occupied Philadelphia. He is too young to join the Continental Army that is fighting for America’s freedom, but when the war comes through the Donovan’s front door, Nate becomes the youngest member of General George Washington’s spy network. Dangerous? If Nate and his Indian friend, Running Fox, are caught as spies the penalty is death by hanging.

David Manuel, Peter Marshall, Sheldon Maxwell (Author), Marc Cashman (Narrator)

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Storm’s Edge: Life, Death and Magic in the Islands of Orkney

From Peter Marshall, winner of the Wolfson Prize 2018, Storm’s Edge is a new history of the Orkney Islands that dives deep into island politics, the evolution of folklore, and community memory on the geographical edge of Britain. Peter Marshall was born in Orkney, his ancestors were farmers and farm labourers on the northern island of Sanday – where, in 1624, one of them was murdered by a witch. Merging his local experience with wider historical expertise, Marshall looks afresh at a small group of islands that has been treated as a mere footnote, remote and peripheral, and in doing so invites us to think differently about key events of British history. With Orkney as our point of departure, Marshall traverses three centuries of dramatic religious, political and economic upheaval; a time during which what we think of as modern Scotland, and then modern Britain, was being forged and tested. What happens to our understanding of Scotland and Britain when they are viewed from the perspective of their island edge?

Peter Marshall (Author), Kenny Blyth, TBD (Narrator)

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The Light and the Glory

Did Columbus believe that God called him west to undiscovered lands? Does American democracy owe its inception to the handful of Pilgrims that settled at Plymouth? If, indeed, there was a specific, divine call upon this nation, is it still valid today? The Light and the Glory answers these questions, and many, many more. As we look at our nation's history from God's point of view, we begin to have an idea of how much we owe a very few-and how much is still at stake. "The Light and the Glory reveals our true national heritage and inspires us to stay on God's course as a nation."-Tim LaHaye

David Manuel, Peter Marshall (Author), Marguerite Gavin (Narrator)

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The Light and the Glory

Did Columbus believe that God called him west to undiscovered lands? Does American democracy owe its inception to the handful of Pilgrims that settled at Plymouth? If, indeed, there was a specific, divine call upon this nation, is it still valid today? Was this continent the stage for a new act in the drama of redemption?The Light and the Glory answers these questions and many more for anyoe interested in the founding of the great experiment called America, visiting American history from Christopher Columbus through George Washington's presidency. As we look at our nation's history from God's point of view, we begin to have an idea of how much we owe a very few—and how much is still at stake. The Light and the Glory is the perfect handbook to our nation's beginnings—and its future.

David Manuel, Peter Marshall (Author), Raymond Todd (Narrator)

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