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Among the many important historical documents from the Classical world of Greece and Rome The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus is one of the most distinctive and characterful. Josephus (37-c100 CE) set out with the clear purpose of telling the history of the Jews from the creation in Genesis to the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. Born in Jerusalem as Yosef ben Matityahu, he rose to become a leading participant in the First Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE). Surviving the aftermath, Josephus was initially enslaved and became an interpreter to Vespasian, but he increasingly accepted Roman ways and ultimately adopted Roman citizenship. It was this combination of a broad education, first-hand experience in conflict and politics and a genuine admiration for Roman life (without undermining his profound respect for his Jewish heritage) that made him an ideal figure to undertake his various chronicles. The most widely read remains The Jewish War written around 75 CE, but his magnum opus proved to be the most ambitious project, The Antiquities of the Jews. A considerable enterprise in size as well as scope, the 20 books of The Antiquities (written in Greek) falls more or less into two sections. The first 10 books present Jewish history based on the Hebrew bible starting with the creation of Adam and Eve. The remaining books soon leave the biblical tradition behind, as Josephus draws on the Greco-Roman historical sources available to him as a scholar alive and active during the times of Vespasian Titus and Domitian. Though drawing on many other historians, the importance of The Antiquities is the considerable amount of information it contains, which has not otherwise survived in such detail. These include dissension within the Jewish community when encountering Greek and other civilisations and, of course, the immense impact of Rome. Josephus mentions events concerning the careers of major Roman figures, including Pompey, Crassus, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, Augustus and others of which we would not otherwise know. And the account of Herod's reign in Judea, which spans four books in Josephus's narrative, provides detail unique in the ancient annals. Famously, The Antiquities also contains two references to Jesus and one to John the Baptist, though this is questioned by some historians who point out that all the extant sources for The Antiquities date from Christian times. Nevertheless the importance commanded by The Antiquities of the Jews in the historical record remains undisputed. The translation used here by William Whiston (1667-1752), appearing in 1737, is also a classic and remains eminently enjoyable for a modern audience. It is authoritatively read by Allan Corduner.
Flavius Josephus (Author), Allan Corduner (Narrator)
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[Russian] - Краткая история Испании
Краткая история Испании от ранних поселений, владычества Рима и арабского завоевания Пиренейского полуострова до возрождения Испании в XVII веке, войны на полуострове и революции в Испанской Америке, катастрофической Гражданской войны и тоталитарного режима Франко, Второй мировой войны и далее, до наших дней. Освещая главные вехи, включая христианскую Реконкисту, плавания Колумба, колонизацию Кубы, Филиппин и Пуэрто-Рико, правление Габсбургов и проведенную Бурбонами централизацию, затрагивая темы влияния Великой французской революции и Наполеоновских войн, падения монархии в 1930-х годах и многие другие, Джереми Блэк уделяет пристальное внимание самобытности регионов Испании, дает прогнозы на будущее, а также характеризует векторы культурного развития и общемирового влияния Испании в литературе, изобразительном искусстве, музыке и других сферах. 'Существует тенденция рассматривать Испанию как часть упрощенной, единообразной картины европейской и мировой истории — особенно это касается периода Гражданской войны. Часто возникают параллели и отсылки, например, Реконкисту сравнивают с Крестовыми походами, а Войну за независимость Америки — с латиноамериканскими войнами. Важно в каждом случае не только изучать конкретные обстоятельства и ход событий, но и рассматривать их в рамках более протяженного отрезка испанской истории'. (Джереми Блэк)
джереми блэк (Author), юлия тархова (Narrator)
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[Russian] - Краткая история Италии
Родина Возрождения и стиля барокко, Италия всегда была центром культуры. В современной Италии сильна гордость за культурную самобытность, которой отличаются Тоскана, Рим, Сицилия, Венеция и другие регионы. Обобщая самые важные события истории Италии от основания Рима и объединения страны до реалий фашистского режима в первой половине XX века и далее, до наших дней, авторитетный британский историк Джереми Блэк исследует истоки культурного влияния итальянцев на весь мир, а также причины и следствия политических событий и разделения, которое все еще существует сегодня. 'Эта книга незаменима для тех, кто собирается посетить Италию и при этом хочет узнать о ней больше того, что обычно можно прочитать в лаконичных путеводителях. На протяжении долгих столетий Италия была раздроблена и многие ее части принадлежали крупным, соперничающим друг с другом державам — Австрийской и Испанской империям. Поэтому у нее нет единой многовековой истории, как у других стран (например, Франции), и написание краткой истории Италии дело непростое. В мой рассказ включены как основополагающие события в хронологическом порядке, так и сведения об отдельных регионах'. (Джереми Блэк)
джереми блэк (Author), юлия тархова (Narrator)
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Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost
Michael C. Bender, senior White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, presents a deeply reported account of the 2020 presidential campaign that details how Donald J. Trump became the first incumbent in three decades to lose reelection-and the only one whose defeat culminated in a violent insurrection. Beginning with President Trump's first impeachment and ending with his second, FRANKLY, WE DID WIN THIS ELECTION chronicles the inside-the-room deliberations between Trump and his campaign team as they opened 2020 with a sleek political operation built to harness a surge of momentum from a bullish economy, a unified Republican Party, and a string of domestic and foreign policy successes-only to watch everything unravel when fortunes suddenly turned. With first-rate sourcing cultivated from five years of covering Trump in the White House and both of his campaigns, Bender brings readers inside the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and into the front row of the movement's signature mega-rallies for the story of an epic election-year convergence of COVID, economic collapse, and civil rights upheaval-and an unorthodox president's attempt to battle it all. Fresh interviews with Trump, key campaign advisers, and senior administration officials are paired with an exclusive collection of internal campaign memos, emails, and text messages for scores of never-before-reported details about the campaign. FRANKLY, WE DID WIN THIS ELECTION is the inside story of how Trump lost, and the definitive account of his final year in office that draws a straight line from the president's repeated insistence that he would never lose to the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol that imperiled one of his most loyal lieutenants-his own vice president.
Michael C. Bender (Author), Eric Pollins (Narrator)
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Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870
Known as the age of democracy, the nineteenth century witnessed the extension of the franchise and the rise of party politics. As Daniel Carpenter shows, however, democracy in America emerged not merely through elections and parties, but through the transformation of an ancient political tool: the petition. A statement of grievance accompanied by a list of signatures, the petition afforded women and men excluded from formal politics the chance to make their voices heard and to reshape the landscape of political possibility. Democracy by Petition traces the explosion and expansion of petitioning across the North American continent. Indigenous tribes in Canada, free Blacks from Boston to the British West Indies, Irish canal workers in Indiana, and Hispanic settlers in territorial New Mexico all used petitions to make claims on those in power. Petitions facilitated the extension of suffrage, the decline of feudal land tenure, and advances in liberty for women, African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Even where petitioners failed in their immediate aims, their campaigns advanced democracy by setting agendas, recruiting people into political causes, and fostering aspirations of equality. The coming of democracy in America owes much to the unprecedented energy with which the petition was employed in the antebellum period.
Daniel Carpenter (Author), Eric Michael Summerer (Narrator)
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The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans
A compelling history of seashells and the animals that make them, revealing what they have to tell us about nature, our changing oceans, and ourselves. Seashells have been the most coveted and collected of nature's creations since the dawn of humanity. They were money before coins, jewelry before gems, art before canvas. In The Sound of the Sea, acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells and the hidden lives of the mollusks that make them. Spiraling out from the great cities of shell that once rose in North America to the warming waters of the Maldives and the slave castles of Ghana, Barnett has created an unforgettable account of the world's most iconic seashells. She begins with their childhood wonder, unwinds surprising histories like the origin of Shell Oil as a family business importing exotic shells, and charts what shells and the soft animals that build them are telling scientists about our warming, acidifying seas. From the eerie calls of early shell trumpets to the evolutionary miracle of spines and spires and the modern science of carbon capture inspired by shell, Barnett circles to her central point of listening to nature's wisdom-and acting on what seashells have to say about taking care of each other and our world.
Cynthia Barnett (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)
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Lieutenant Dangerous: A Vietnam War Memoir
'A must-read war memoir… with zero punches pulled, related by one of the most incisive observers of the American political scene.' -KIRKUS (starred review) 'Funny, biting, thoughtful and wholly original.' -Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried Jeff Danziger, one of the leading political cartoonists of his generation, captures the fear, sorrow, absurdity, and unintended but inevitable consequences of war with dark humor and penetrating moral clarity. If there is any discipline at the start of wars it dissipates as the soldiers themselves become aware of the pointlessness of what they are being told to do. A conversation with a group of today's military age men and women about America's involvement in Vietnam inspired Jeff Danziger to write about his own wartime experiences: "War is interesting," he reveals, "if you can avoid getting killed, and don't mind loud noises." Fans of his cartooning will recognize his mordant humor applied to his own wartime training and combat experiences: "I learned, and I think most veterans learn, that making people or nations do something by bombing or sending in armed troops usually fails." Near the end of his telling, Danziger invites his audience-in particular the young friends who inspired him to write this informative and rollicking memoir-to ponder: "What would you do? . . . Could you summon the bravery-or the internal resistance-to simply refuse to be part of the whole idiotic theater of the war? . . . Or would you be like me?"
Jeff Danziger (Author), Jeff Danziger (Narrator)
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The Invention of Sicily: A Mediterranean History
Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by the Phoenicians and Greeks, the Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, and the Spanish and the French for thousands of years, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture. In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places. From its pivotal position in the development of Greek and Roman mythology, and the beautiful remnants of both the Arab and Norman invasions, through to the rise of the bandits and the Cosa Nostra, The Invention of Sicily is the perfect companion to the culture and history of Sicily. Mackay weaves the political and social development of the island in with its fascinating cultural heritage-in doing so discussing how great works including Lampedusa's masterpiece The Leopard and its film adaptation by Visconti, and the novels of Leonardo Sciascia, among many others, have both been shaped by Sicily's past, and continue to shape it into the present.
Jamie Mackay (Author), John Lee (Narrator)
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The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
The creator of the hit podcast series Tides of History and Fall of Rome explores the four explosive decades between 1490 and 1530, bringing to life the dramatic and deeply human story of how the West was reborn. In the bestselling tradition of The Swerve and A Distant Mirror, The Verge tells the story of a period that marked a decisive turning point for both European and world history. Here, author Patrick Wyman examines two complementary and contradictory sides of the same historical coin: the world-altering implications of the developments of printed mass media, extreme taxation, exploitative globalization, humanistic learning, gunpowder warfare, and mass religious conflict in the long term, and their intensely disruptive consequences in the short-term. As told through the lives of ten real people—from famous figures like Christopher Columbus and wealthy banker Jakob Fugger to a ruthless small-time merchant and a one-armed mercenary captain—The Verge illustrates how their lives, and the times in which they lived, set the stage for an unprecedented globalized future. Over an intense forty-year period, the seeds for the so-called "Great Divergence" between Western Europe and the rest of the globe would be planted. From Columbus's voyage across the Atlantic to Martin Luther's sparking the Protestant Reformation, the foundations of our own, recognizably modern world came into being. For the past 500 years, historians, economists, and the policy-oriented have argued which of these individual developments best explains the West's rise from backwater periphery to global dominance. As The Verge presents it, however, the answer is far more nuanced.
Patrick Wyman (Author), Patrick Wyman (Narrator)
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Catkiller 3-2: An Army Pilot Flying for the Marines in the Vietnam War
Catkiller 3-2 provides unique insights into the role of the tactical air controller, airborne (TACA) in I Corps as seen through the eyes of one of the pilots who flew low-flying, unarmed, single-engine aircraft in support of marine ground units during the Vietnam War. When Gen. William Westmoreland changed the marines' role in I Corps into a combat one, the Marines found themselves in need of more fixed wing aircraft to handle the TACA missions. The advance party of the Army's 220th Reconnaissance Aircraft Company (RAC) arrived in Vietnam in late June 1965 thinking they were going to be assigned to III Corps Tactical Zone. However, because of the shortage of existing Marine Birddogs, the 220th was immediately reassigned to I Corps and came under the operational control of the Marines. No other work details the tactics, restrictions, aerial maneuvers, and dangers experienced by the army pilots and marine aerial observers flying these missions. As young lieutenants and captains, they had at their beck and call as much authority to request and control artillery and air strikes as ground commanders of much higher rank. Raymond G. Caryl provides unrivaled examples of the cultural mores, attitudes, and recreational activity of these young pilots and observers supporting the ground forces.
Raymond G. Caryl (Author), Tom Parks (Narrator)
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The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction
The monarchs of the Tudor period are among some of the most well-known figures in British history. John Guy presents a compelling and fascinating exploration of the Tudors in the new edition of this Very Short Introduction. Looking at all aspects of the period, from beginning to end, he considers Tudor politics, religion, and economics, as well as issues relating to gender and minority rule, and the art, architecture, and social and material culture of the time. Introducing all of the key Tudor monarchs, Guy considers the impact the Tudor period had not only at the time, but also the historical legacy it left behind.
John Guy (Author), Mary Sarah (Narrator)
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The Great Pyramid Void Enigma: The Mystery of the Hall of the Ancestors
• Analyzes ancient Coptic-Egyptian texts and evidence from astronomy and archaeology to show how the Big Void may be a grand "Hall of Ancestors" • Explores the controversy surrounding the discovery of the Big Void and debunks many of the theories regarding the purpose of this massive new "chamber" • Reveals how the Great Pyramid was built by Khufu as an indestructible "recovery vault" to help Egyptian civilization rebuild after an anticipated cataclysm In November 2017, an international team of more than 30 scientists published the results of their two-year-long Great Pyramid research project in the journal Nature. Using an advanced imaging technique known as muon radiography, three groups working independently from each other discovered a massive, previously unknown space within the Great Pyramid of Giza. Mainstream Egyptologists suggest that the "Big Void" is simply a stress-relieving device for the Grand Gallery. But, as Scott Creighton reveals, ancient Coptic-Egyptian texts describe exactly what the Big Void is. Exploring the controversy surrounding the Big Void, Creighton artfully debunks many of the theories about the purpose of this massive chamber as well as other long-held Egyptology beliefs. Analyzing the Coptic-Egyptian texts and evidence from astronomy, archaeology, and other sources, the author reveals how the Great Pyramid was built by Khufu as an indestructible recovery vault to help Egyptian civilization rebuild after a cataclysmic natural disaster--a rapid pole shift and subsequent deluge--predicted by his astronomer-priests. And the key component of the recovery vault would have been the Hall of the Ancestors, a sealed safe haven containing the mummified remains of the Osiris Kings, deceased pharaohs who would seek the benevolence of the gods to ensure Egypt's recovery from the disaster.
Scott Creighton (Author), Micah Hanks (Narrator)
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