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The Shortest History of Italy: From the Rise and Fall of Rome to Unification and Modernization— A Re
A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence-from a foremost author of historic Italy. The calendar. The Senate. The university. The piano, the heliocentric model, and the pizzeria. It's hard to imagine a world without Italian influence-and easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from a strong, stable peninsula, sure of its place in the world. In this breakneck history, bestselling author Ross King dismantles this assumption, uncovering the story of a land rife with inner uncertainty even as its influence spread. As the Italian tale unfolds, prosperity and power fluctuate like the elevation in the Dolomites. If Rome's seven hills could talk, they might speak of the glorious time of Trajan-or bemoan the era of conquest and the Bubonic Plague that decimated Rome's population. Episodes of wealth like the First Triumvirate and the time of the Medicis are given fresh life alongside descriptions the Middle Ages, the early days of Venice, the invasion of Napoleon, and the long struggle for unification. King paints a colorful, fascinating portrait of a country that remains compelling not just to tens of millions of Italian Americans, but to the millions of Americans who visit Italy every year.
Ross King (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: The Tudors
Timothy Venning's series of alternative histories explores the pathways of British events from the Anglo-Saxon Age to the English Civil War. In this volume, he presents an in-depth analysis of the Tudor period. Venning discusses the fateful moments at which history could easily have taken a different turn. In a fascinating series of 'what if' scenarios, Venning presents a detailed look at the possible and likely results. While speculative, the scenarios are all plausible and rooted in a firm understanding of actually events and their context. In so doing, Venning gives listeners a clearer understanding of the factors at play and why things happened the way they did, as well as a tantalizing view of what might have been. Key questions discussed include: - Did the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck ever have a realistic chance of a successful invasion/coup? - If Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIIIs illegitimate son, had not died young, might he have been a suitable King? - What if Edward VI had not died at fifteen but reigned into the 1560s and 70s? - How might the Spanish Armada have succeeded in landing an army in England, and with what likely outcome?
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: The English Civil War
With hindsight, the victory of Parliamentarian forces over the Royalists in the English Civil War may seem inevitable but this outcome was not a foregone conclusion. Timothy Venning explores many of the turning points and discusses how they might so easily have played out differently. What if, for example, Charles I had capitalized on his victory at Edgehill by attacking London without delay? Could this have ended the war in 1642? His actual advance on the capital in 1643 failed but came close to causing a Parliamentarian collapse-how could it have succeeded and what then? Among the many other scenarios, full consideration is given to the role of Ireland (what if Papal meddling had not prevented Irish Catholics aiding Charles?) and Scotland (how might Montrose's Scottish loyalists have neutralized the Covenanters?). The author analyzes the plausible possibilities in each thread, throwing light on the role of chance and underlying factors in the real outcome, as well as what might easily have been different.
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: Normans and Early Plantagenets
Continuing his exploration of British history, Timothy Venning examines the turning points of the period from the death of William I to the reign of Edward III and a little beyond. He discusses the crucial junctions at which history could easily have taken a different turn and analyzes the possible results. While speculative, the scenarios are highly plausible and rooted in a firm understanding of actual events and their context. Venning gives listeners a clearer understanding of the factors at play and why things happened the way they did, as well as a tantalizing view of what might so easily have been different. Key scenarios include: - The civil war of 1136-53, how either Stephen or Matilda might have won quick and the likely consequences. - What if Richard the Lionheart had not gone on Crusade, leaving the inept John to rule in his place? Could the English (Angevin) Empire in France have been saved? What if that fatal crossbow bolt had missed Richard in 1199, sparing him an early death? - What if Edward I's riding accident in 1294 had been fatal, leaving Edward II to succeed at ten years of age? - A whole chapter with scenarios surrounding the Scottish kings.
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
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The Financial Times Guide to Strategy: How to create, pursue and deliver a winning strategy, 5th Edi
YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO STRATEGY. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. The Financial Times Guide to Strategy is your unbeatable reference on strategy. It offers an incisive overview of both corporate level and business unit level strategy, an A to Z of the world's leading strategic thinkers, and introduces the key strategic tools and techniques you need to develop your own strategy. Based on long experience and on conversations with leading strategists around the world, Richard Koch helps you discover each critical step in creating, delivering, and understanding successful strategy. The fifth edition of this bestselling book is your jargon-free guide to the strategic models and thinkers you really need to know about. Updated with new tools and examples, The Financial Times Guide to Strategy shows you which questions to ask, how to go about answering them, and then what action to take. This is the smartest and most accessible strategy guide available anywhere.
Richard Koch (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
How to Survive in Ancient Greece
What would it be like if you were transported back to Athens 420 BCE? This time-traveler's guide is a fascinating way to find out . . . Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Greece and you had to start a new life there. What would you see? How would the people around you think and believe? How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? What work would be available, and what help could you get if you got sick? All these questions, and many more, are answered in this engaging blend of self-help and survival guide that plunges you into this historical environment-and explains the many problems and strange new experiences you would face if you were there.
Robert Garland (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: The War of the Roses
Timothy Venning's exploration of the alternative paths that British history might easily have taken moves on to the Wars of the Roses. What if Richard of York had not given battle in vain? How would a victory for Warwick the Kingmaker at the Battle of Barnet changed the course of the struggle for power? What if the Princes had escaped from the tower or the Stanleys had not betrayed their king at Bosworth? These are just a few of the fascinating questions posed by this book. As always, while necessarily speculative, Dr. Venning discusses all the scenarios within the benefit of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions, and trends that shaped British history. In so doing, he helps the listener to understand why things panned out as they did, as well as what might have been in this tumultuous period.
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: The Hundred Years War
Continuing his exploration of the alternative paths that British history might so easily have taken, Timothy Venning turns his attention to the Hundred Years War between England and France. Could the English have won in the long term, or, conversely, have been decisively defeated sooner? Among the many scenarios discussed are what would have happened if the Black Prince had not died prematurely of the Black Death, leaving the ten-year-old Richard to inherit Edward IIIs crown. What would have been the consequences if France's Scottish allies had been victorious at Neville's Cross in 1346, while most English forces were occupied in France? What if Henry V had recovered from the dysentery that killed him at 35, giving time for his son Henry VI to inherit the combined crowns of France and England as a mature (and half-French) man rather than an infant controlled by others? And what if Joan of Arc had not emerged to galvanize French resistance at Orleans? While necessarily speculative, all the scenarios are discussed within the framework of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions, and trends that shaped British history and help to shed light upon them.
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
Comic Book Punks: How a Generation of Brits Reinvented Pop Culture
The influence of the comic book has never been greater, from movies to streaming and beyond, but the journey comics took from little-regarded kids' magazines to literary prize-winning books and global franchises turned on a highly unusual group of writers and artists. Few would have expected a small gathering of British comic book fans and creators in the early 'seventies to be a global cultural pivot-point, but this was the start of a disparate movement of punks, dropouts, and disaffected youths who reinvented a medium and became the imaginative heart of a global success story. Based on years of interviews with a generation of leading writers, artists, and editors, Karl Stock reveals the true story of the wild times, passion, and determination that helped, hindered, and saw the reinvention of comics. Stock brilliantly tells the story of the triumphs and disasters that rewrote the rulebook on what comics could be and who they should be for.
Karl Stock (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
An Alternative History of Britain: The Anglo-Saxon Age
Taking a similar approach to his successful If Rome Hadn't Fallen, Timothy Venning explores the various decision points in a fascinating period of British history and the alternative paths that it might have taken. Dr. Timothy Venning starts within an outline of the process by which much of Britain came to be settled by Germanic tribes after the end of Roman rule, as far as it can be determined from the sparse and fragmentary sources. He then moves on to discuss a series of scenarios, which might have altered the course of subsequent history dramatically. For example, was a reconquest by the native British ever a possibility (under 'Arthur' or someone else)? Which of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might have united England sooner and would this have kept the Danes out? And, of course, what if Harold Godwinson had won at Hastings? While necessarily speculative, all the scenarios are discussed within the framework of a deep understanding of the major driving forces, tensions and trends that shaped British history and help to shed light upon them. In so doing they help the listener to understand why things panned out as they did, as well as what might have been.
Timothy Venning (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil
Oil is a curse, it is often said, that condemns the countries producing it to an existence defined by war, corruption, and enormous inequality. Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story, arguing that no nation escapes the political consequences of our collective dependence on oil. It shapes the body politic both in regions such as the Middle East, which rely upon revenues from oil production, and in the places that have the greatest demand for energy. Coal was a source of energy so open to disruption that oligarchies in the West became vulnerable to mass demands for democracy. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the development of cheap and abundant energy from oil offered a means to reduce this vulnerability to democratic pressures. The abundance of oil made it possible to reorganize political life around the management of something now called 'the economy'. The politics of the West became dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. In the twenty-first century, the oil-based forms of modern democratic politics have become unsustainable. Foreign intervention and military rule are faltering in the Middle East, while governments everywhere appear incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy-the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fueled collapse of the ecological order.
Timothy Mitchell (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
Mussolini in Myth and Memory: The First Totalitarian Dictator
Mussolini has rarely been taken seriously as a totalitarian dictator; Hitler and Stalin have always cast too long a shadow. But what was a negative judgement on the Duce, considered innocuous and ineffective, has begun to work to his advantage. As has occurred with many other European dictators, present-day popular memory of Mussolini is increasingly indulgent; in Italy and elsewhere he is remembered as a strong, decisive leader. Mussolini in Myth and Memory argues against this rehabilitation, documenting the inefficiencies, corruption, and violence of a highly repressive regime and exploding the myths of fascist good government. But this short study does not limit itself to setting the record straight; it seeks also to answer the question of why there is nostalgia for dictatorial rule. Linking past history and present memory, Corner's analysis constructs a picture of the realities of the Italian regime and examines the more general problem of why, in a moment of evident crisis of western democracy, people look for strong leadership and take refuge in the memory of past dictatorships. If, in this book, Fascism is placed in its totalitarian context and Mussolini emerges firmly in the company of his fellow dictators, the study also shows how a memory of the past, formed through reliance on illusion and myth, can affect the politics of the present.
Paul Corner (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)
Audiobook
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