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Audiobooks Narrated by Michael Page
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When one thinks of 'great' classical music, we harken back to the nineteenth century and the Romantic tradition.
The emotional resonance of nineteenth century has moved generations musicians and resonated with countless listeners. It has inspired artists and writers. But no writer until how has adopted such an insightful narrative approach as Stephen Walsh and he shows how there is more to Romantic music that meets the eye-and the ear.
The Beloved Vision links the music history of this singular epoch to the ideas that lay behind Romanticism in all its manifestations. In this account, we come to understand the phase in music history that has become the mainstay of the twentieth and twenty-first century concert and operatic repertoire.
The narrative begins in the eighteenth century, with C.P.E. Bach, Haydn and the literary movement known as Sturm und Drang. The windows are flung open, and everything to do with style, form, even technique, is exposed to the emotional and intellectual weather, the impulses and preferences of the individual composer. It's a colorful story, told with passion but also with the precision and clarity of detail for which Stephen Walsh is so widely admired.
A gripping account of the Knights Templar, challenging received wisdom to show how these devout medieval knights played a profound role in making modern Britain
The Knights Templar have an enduring reputation-but not one they would recognize. Originally established in the twelfth century to protect pilgrims, the Order is remembered today for heresy, fanaticism, and even satanism.
In this bold new interpretation, Steve Tibble sets out to correct the record. The Templars, famous for their battles on Christendom's eastern front, were in fact dedicated peace-mongers at home. They influenced royal strategy and policy, created financial structures, and brokered international peace treaties-primarily to ensure that men, money, and material could be transferred more readily to the east.
Charting the rise of the Order under Henry I through to its violent suppression following the fall of Acre, Tibble argues that these medieval knights were essential to the emergence of an early English state. Revealing the true legacy of the British Templars, he shows how a small group helped shape medieval Britain while simultaneously fighting in the name of the Christian Middle East.
A compelling, expansive history of the relationship between China and Russia, from the seventeenth century to the present
Russia and China, the largest and most populous countries in the world, respectively, have maintained a delicate relationship for four centuries. In addition to a four-thousand-kilometer border, they have periodically shared a common outlook on political and economic affairs. But they are, in essence, profoundly different polities and cultures, and their intermittent alliances have proven difficult and at times even volatile.
Philip Snow provides a full account of the relationship between these two global giants. Looking at politics, religion, economics, and culture, Snow uncovers the deep roots of the two nations' alignment. We see the shifts in the balance of power, from the wealth and strength of early Qing China to the Tsarist and Soviet ascendancies, and episodes of intense conflict followed by harmony. He looks too at the experiences and opinions of ordinary people, which often vastly differed from those of their governments, and considers how long the countries' current amicable relationship might endure.
The Soviet Union was one of the most secretive states that ever existed. Defended by a complex apparatus of rules and checks administered by the secret police, the Soviet state had seemingly unprecedented capabilities based on its near monopoly of productive capital, monolithic authority, and secretive decision making. But behind the scenes, Soviet secrecy was double-edged: it raised transaction costs, incentivized indecision, compromised the effectiveness of government officials, eroded citizens' trust in institutions and in each other, and led to a secretive society and an uninformed elite. The result is what this book calls the secrecy/capacity tradeoff: a bargain in which the Soviet state accepted the reduction of state capacity as the cost of ensuring its own survival. This book is the first comprehensive history of Soviet secrecy in the English language. Harrison combines quantitative and qualitative evidence to evaluate the impact of secrecy on Soviet state capacity from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Based on multiple years of research in once-secret Soviet-era archives, this book addresses two gaps in history and social science: the core role of secrecy in building and stabilizing the communist states of the twentieth century; and the corrosive effects of secrecy on the capabilities of authoritarian states.
By the time he was brought to trial in 1992, Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo had killed more than fifty women and children, often sexually abusing them and leaving their bodies mutilated beyond recognition. Although he was initially arrested in 1984, the police lacked enough evidence to pin the unsolved murders on him and he was able to torture and kill dozens more before his eventual conviction. Compiling exclusive interviews and trial transcripts, journalist and editor at London's Sunday Times Peter Conradi reveals how the grandfather and former teacher carried out a horrific twelve-year killing spree.
Based on extensive research into Chikatilo's past and the elements of Soviet society that allowed his crimes to go unsolved for so long, Conradi delves into the life of one of history's most prolific and disturbing serial killers. Interviews with Moscow police detectives detail the fervent hunt for the man who preyed on young children, prostitutes, and runaways.
A chilling look into the deranged mind of a monster, The Red Ripper is a comprehensive and shocking true crime account of one of the twentieth century's deadliest killers.
Contains mature themes.
The unlikely beginnings of the East India Company-from Tudor origins and rivalry with the superior Dutch-to laying the groundwork for future British expansion
The East India Company was the largest commercial enterprise in British history, yet its roots in Tudor England are often overlooked. The Tudor revolution in commerce led ambitious merchants to search for new forms of investment, not least in risky overseas enterprises-and for these 'adventurers' the most profitable bet of all would be on the Company.
Through a host of stories and fascinating details, David Howarth brings to life the Company's way of doing business-from the leaky ships and petty seafarers of its embattled early days to later sweeping commercial success. While the Company's efforts met with disappointment in Japan, they sowed the seeds of success in India, setting the outline for what would later become the Raj. Drawing on an abundance of sources, Howarth shows how competition from European powers was vital to success-and considers whether the Company was truly 'English' at all, or rather part of a Europe-wide movement.
An engrossing chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, from the bestselling author of Thermopylae.
At the dawn of the thirteenth century, Constantinople stood as the bastion of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The capital city of the Byzantine Empire, it was a center of art, culture, and commerce that had commanded trading routes between Asia, Russia, and Europe for hundreds of years. But in 1204, the city suffered a devastating attack that would spell the end of the Holy Roman Empire.
The army of the Fourth Crusade had set out to reclaim Jerusalem, but under the sway of their Venetian patrons, the crusaders diverted from their path in order to lay siege to Constantinople. With longstanding tensions between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the crusaders set arms against their Christian neighbors, destroying a vital alliance between Eastern and Western Rome.
In The Great Betrayal, historian Ernle Bradford brings to life this powerful tale of envy and greed, demonstrating the far-reaching consequences this siege would have across Europe for centuries to come.
A compelling history of the British Army in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-showing how the military gathered knowledge from campaigns across the globe
At the outbreak of the War of Austrian Succession in 1742, the British Army's military tactics were tired and outdated, stultified after three decades of peace. The army's leadership was conservative, resistant to change, and unable to match new military techniques developing on the continent. Losses were cataclysmic and the force was in dire need of modernization-both in terms of strategy and in leadership and technology.
In this wide-ranging and highly original account, Huw Davies traces the British Army's accumulation of military knowledge across the following century. An essentially global force, British armies and soldiers continually gleaned and synthesized strategy from warzones the world over: from Europe to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Davies records how the army and its officers put this globally acquired knowledge to use, exchanging information and developing into a remarkable vehicle of innovation-leading to the pinnacle of its military prowess in the nineteenth century.
In this compelling new study, Paull Hill reveals what documentary records and the growing body of archaeological evidence can tell us about war and combat in the age of the great Anglo-Saxon kings. The violent centuries before the Norman Conquest come to life in this detailed account of how and why the Anglo-Saxons fought, how their warriors were armed and trained, how their armies were organized, and much more.
The role of combat in Anglo-Saxon society is explored, from the parts played by the king and the noblemen to the means by which the men of the fyrd were summoned to fight in times of danger. Land and naval warfare are both explored in depth. Hill also covers the politics and diplomacy of warfare, the conduct of negotiations, the taking of hostages, the use of treachery, and the controversial subject of the use of cavalry.
The weapons and armor of the Anglo-Saxons are described, including the spears, scramsaxes, axes, bows, swords, helmets, shields, and mail that were employed in the close-quarter fighting of the day. Drawing on this wealth of information, Hill presents a vivid recreation of the actual experience of fighting in the campaigns against the Danes; the battles of Ashdown, Maldon and Stamford Bridge; and the sieges at Reading and Rochester.
How did the books of the Bible come to be recognized as Holy Scripture? Who decided what shape the canon should take? What criteria influenced these decisions?
After nearly nineteen centuries the canon of Scripture still remains an issue of debate. Protestants, Catholics, and the Orthodox all have slightly differing collections of documents in their Bibles. And many Christians today, while confessing the authority of all of Scripture, tend to rely on only a few books and particular themes while ignoring the rest.
Research into second-century Gnostic texts have led some to argue that politics played a significant role in the formation of the Christian canon. Assessing the influence of ancient communities and a variety of disputes on the final shaping of the canon call for ongoing study.
In this significant historical study, F. F. Bruce brings the wisdom of a lifetime of reflection and biblical interpretation to bear in answering the questions and clearing away the confusion surrounding the Christian canon of Scripture. Adept in both Old and New Testament studies, he brings a rare comprehensive perspective to his task.
With known exoplanets now numbering in the thousands and initiatives like 100 Year Starship and Breakthrough Starshot advancing the idea of interstellar travel, the age-old dream of venturing forth into the cosmos and perhaps even colonizing distant worlds may one day become a reality. A Traveler's Guide to the Stars reveals how.
Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges-both human and technological-that we will need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow's possibilities.
A Traveler's Guide to the Stars is your passport to the next great frontier of human discovery, providing a rare inside look at the remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology that will help tomorrow's space travelers chart a course for the stars.
Many Christians are disconnected from the past or imagine they are 'above' history, immune to it, as if self-starters from clean slates in every generation. They suffer from a lack of awareness of time and the effects of history-both personal and collective-and thus are naive about current issues and fixated on the end times.
Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that awakening to the spiritual significance of time is crucial for orienting faith in the twenty-first century. He encourages us to cultivate the spiritual discipline of memento tempori, a temporal awareness of the Spirit's presence-indebted to a past, oriented toward the future, and faithful in the present. To gain spiritual appreciation for our mortality. To synchronize our heart-clocks with the tempo of the Spirit, which changes in the different seasons of life. Integrating popular culture, biblical exposition, and meditation, Smith provides insights for pastoring, counseling, spiritual formation, politics, and public life.
