Europe Audiobooks | Travel

A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved Its Food Heritage, and Inspire

Mals, Italy, has long been known as the breadbasket of the Tyrol. But recently the tiny town became known for something else entirely. A Precautionary Tale tells us why, introducing readers to an unlikely group of activists and a forward-thinking mayor who came together to ban pesticides in Mals by a referendum vote-making it the first place on Earth to accomplish such a feat, and a model for other towns and regions to follow. For hundreds of years, the people of Mals had cherished their traditional foodways and kept their local agriculture organic. Their town had become a mecca for tourists drawn by the alpine landscape, the rural and historic character of the villages, and the fine breads, wines, cheeses, herbs, vegetables, and the other traditional foods they produced. Yet Mals is located high up in the eastern Alps, and the valley below was being steadily overtaken by big apple producers, heavily dependent on pesticides. As Big Apple crept further and further up the region's mountainsides, their toxic spray drifted with the valley's ever-present winds and began to fall on the farms and fields of Mals-threatening their organic certifications, as well as their health and that of their livestock. The advancing threats gradually motivated a diverse cast of characters to take action-each in their own unique way, and then in concert in an iconic display of direct democracy in action. As Ackerman-Leist recounts their uprising, we meet an organic dairy farmer who decides to speak up when his hay is poisoned by drift; a pediatrician who engaged other medical professionals to protect the soil, water, and air that the health of her patients depends upon; a hairdresser whose salon conversations mobilized the town's women in an extraordinarily conceived campaign; and others who together orchestrated one of the rare revolutionary successes of our time and inspired a movement now snaking its way through Europe and the United States. A foreword by Vandana Shiva calls upon others to follow in Mals's footsteps.

Philip Ackerman-Leist (Author), Will Damron (Narrator)

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A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men: The Forgotten British Special Operations Soldiers of World War II

The untold story of four special operations officers who fought together behind enemy lines across multiple theaters of World War II, and then continued to serve, officially and unofficially, for decades after in the hottest parts of the Cold War There have always been special warriors; Achilles and his Myrmidons are the obvious classical examples. What we now think of as "special operations," however, were born in World War II, and one of the earliest and most exciting units formed was Britain's SOE. In the early years of the war, when Britain stood alone against the Nazis, Winston Churchill put them on a mission to "set Europe ablaze": to foment local revolt, to gather intelligence, to blow up bridges, and to do anything that could help to disrupt the Axis cause. A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men follows four SOE officers who distinguished themselves in this fight: the Spanish Civil War veteran Peter Kemp, the demolitions expert David Smiley, the born guerrilla leader Billy McLean, and the political natural Julian Amery. With new and extensive research, including unprecedented access to private family papers that reveal the men's unbreakable bonds and vibrant personalities, Shannon Monaghan has uncovered a story of war in the twentieth century that, due to the secretive nature of the SOE's work, has remained largely unknown. A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men is a thrilling and inspiring story of four remarkable men who, through sheer determination and daring, as well as unwavering friendship and loyalty, fought for a better world.

Shannon Monaghan (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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A Rare Recording of Corrie ten Boom Vol. 3

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom (April 15, 1892 - April 15, 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker who worked with her father Casper and other family members to help, reportedly, 800 Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II by hiding them in their home. Eventually, the family was caught, and ten Boom was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, but released after ten months due to a clerical error. Later in life, ten Boom wrote, "The Hiding Place," a biography that recounts the story of her family's efforts and how she was able to find hope while imprisoned at the concentration camp. It was later made in to a movie. The following is part one of a speech ten Boom gave called, Authority Over Demons.

Corrie Ten Boom (Author), Corrie Ten Boom (Narrator)

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A Rare Recording of Corrie ten Boom Vol. 4

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna "Corrie" ten Boom (April 15, 1892 - April 15, 1983) was a Dutch watchmaker who worked with her father Casper and other family members to help, reportedly, 800 Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II by hiding them in their home. Eventually, the family was caught, and ten Boom was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, but released after ten months due to a clerical error. Later in life, ten Boom wrote, "The Hiding Place," a biography that recounts the story of her family's efforts and how she was able to find hope while imprisoned at the concentration camp. It was later made in to a movie. The following is part two of a speech ten Boom gave called, Authority Over Demons.

Corrie Ten Boom (Author), Corrie Ten Boom (Narrator)

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A Rare Recording of Lord Haw-Haw

Lord Haw-Haw was a nickname given to the American-born Brit, William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to Britain from Germany during the Second World War. Lord Haw-Haw was a Nazi broadcaster during World War II. Joyce emigrated to Germany and broadcast Nazi messages for several years. The Reich Ministry of Propaganda used these broadcasts to discourage and demoralize Allied forces and the British population by exaggerating their war losses. Up to 60% of the British population actually tuned in to Lord Haw-Haw's broadcasts. They lasted from 1939-1945. Eventually Joyce was captured by Allied forces and brought back to England for trial. He was convicted of treason and hanged on January 3, 1946. This recording from April 9, 1940 is about the Nazi invasion of Denmark and Norway.

Lord Haw-Haw (Author), Lord Haw-Haw (Narrator)

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A Really Short History of the Norman Conquest of England

The Norman Conquest of England was that series of events during the latter part of the eleventh century by which a Norman Duke was set on the throne of England, and was enabled to hand down the crown of England to his descendants. The Norman Conquest of England does in truth mean a great deal more than the mere transfer of the crown from one prince or one family to another, or even than the transfer of the crown from a prince born in the land to a prince who came from beyond the sea. It means a great number of changes of all kinds which have made the history and state of England ever since very different from what they would have been if the Norman Conquest had never happened.

Edward Augustus Freeman, Man With A Cat (Author), Man With A Cat (Narrator)

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A sangre y fuego (To Blood and Fire): Heroes, Bestias y martires (Heroes and Beasts of Spain)

Escritas entre 1936 y 1937, las nueve historias que componen este apasionante y perspicaz libro retratan diferentes acontecimientos de la Guerra Civil española. Con solidaridad y compasión por aquellos que sufren los horrores de la guerra de primera mano, el autor observa estas escenas de guerra con impresionante lucidez e imparcialidad, llevando a ambas partes a la tarea por las atrocidades que han cometido. Redactados entre 1936 y 1937, los nueve relatos que componen este libro cautivante y perspicaz retratan distintos sucesos de la Guerra Civil Española. Chaves Nogales, director del periódico Ahora durante los primeros meses de la guerra, basa cada uno de los episodios en hechos y personas reales. Con solidaridad y compasión por quienes sufren en carne propia los horrores de la guerra, el autor observa los acontecimientos de la contienda con una asombrosa lucidez e imparcialidad, denunciando las atrocidades cometidas por ambos bandos.

Manuel Chaves Nogales (Author), Carlos Alsina (Narrator)

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A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer

As the Nazi war machine caused death and destruction throughout Europe, one man in the Fatherland began his own reign of terror. This is the true story of the pursuit and capture of a serial killer in the heart of the Third Reich. For all appearances, Paul Ogorzow was a model German. An employed family man, party member, and sergeant in the infamous Brownshirts, he had worked his way up in the Berlin railroad from a manual laborer laying track to assistant signalman. But he also had a secret need to harass and frighten women. Then he was given a gift from the Nazi high command. Due to Allied bombing raids, a total blackout was instituted throughout Berlin, including on the commuter trains-trains often used by women riding home alone from the factories. Under cover of darkness and with a helpless flock of victims to choose from, Ogorzow's depredations grew more and more horrific. He escalated from simply frightening women to physically attacking them, eventually raping and murdering them. Beginning in September 1940, he started casually tossing their bodies off the moving train. Though the Nazi party tried to censor news of the attacks, the women of Berlin soon lived in a state of constant fear. It was up to Wilhelm Lüdtke, head of the Berlin police's serious crimes division, to hunt down the madman in their midst. For the first time, the gripping full story of Ogorzow's killing spree and Lüdtke's relentless pursuit is told in dramatic detail.

Scott Andrew Selby (Author), Don Hagen (Narrator)

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A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop

Brought to you by Penguin. After all the debates, manoeuvrings, recriminations and exaltations, Brexit is upon us. But, as Kevin O'Rourke writes, Brexit did not emerge out of nowhere: it is the culmination of events that have been under way for decades and have historical roots stretching back well beyond that. Brexit has a history. O'Rourke, one of the leading economic historians of his generation, explains not only how British attitudes to Europe have evolved, but also how the EU's history explains why it operates as it does today - and how that history has shaped the ways in which it has responded to Brexit. Why are the economics, the politics and the history so tightly woven together? Crucially, he also explains why the question of the Irish border is not just one of customs and trade, but for the EU goes to the heart of what it is about. The way in which British, Irish and European histories continue to interact with each other will shape the future of Brexit - and of the continent. Calm and lucid, A Short History of Brexit rises above the usual fray of discussions to provide fresh perspectives and understanding of the most momentous political and economic change in Britain and the EU for decades.

Kevin O'rourke (Author), Jeremy Clyde (Narrator)

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A Short History of Drunkenness

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of A Short History of Drunkenness by Mark Forsyth, read by Sh*tfaced Shakespeare's Richard Hughes. Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle. A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to Prohibition, answering every possible question along the way: What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons, why? On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at how Greeks got giddy and Romans got rat-arsed, and find out how bars in the Wild West were never quite like in the movies. This is a history of the world at its inebriated best.

Mark Forsyth (Author), Richard Hughes (Narrator)

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A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of A Short History of Europe written and read by Simon Jenkins. Europe is an astonishingly successful place. In this dazzling new history, bestselling author Simon Jenkins grippingly tells the story of its evolution from warring peoples to peace, wealth and freedom - a story that twists and turns from Greece and Rome, through the Dark Ages, the Reformation and the French Revolution, to the Second World War and up to the present day. Jenkins takes in leaders from Julius Caesar and Joan of Arc, to Wellington and Angela Merkel, as well as cultural figures from Aristotle to Shakespeare and Picasso. He brings together the transformative forces and dominant eras into one chronological tale - all with his usual insight, colour and authority. Despite the importance of Europe's politics, economy and culture, there has not been - until now - a concise book to tell this story. Covering the key events, themes and individuals, Jenkins' portrait of the continent could not be more timely - or masterful.

Simon Jenkins (Author), Simon Jenkins (Narrator)

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A Short History Of Ireland

This series started on the 27th March, 2006 and ran for a total of 240 episodes, taking you on an historical journey spanning the Ice Age, the arrival of Christianity, the Viking era, Brian Boru, the Norman invasion, the plantation and the famine through to the creation of the Irish Free State. Written by Dr. Jonathan Bardon OBE, QUB, each programme was read by local actors Frances Tomelty, James Greene and Richard Dormer, who interweave eye-witness accounts, letters and diary extracts from the times with the historical facts.

Jonathan Bardon (Author), Frances Tomelty (Narrator)

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Europe Audiobooks in Travel