Europe Audiobooks | Travel

The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris

The day of 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12:00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced. By 12:00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day. The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these twenty-four hours.

Colin Jones (Author), Sasha Higgins (Narrator)

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The Faded Map: Lost Kingdoms of Scotland

Dive into Northern Britain's Dark Ages in 'a book which gives a satisfying and convincing account of this little-known part of Scotland's history' (Undiscovered Scotland). Modern communications have driven motorways and pylons through the countryside, dwarfed us with TV and telephone masts, and drastically altered the way in which we move around, see, and understand Scotland. Recent politics and logistics have established borders and jurisdictions which now seem permanent and impervious. The Faded Map looks beyond these to remember a land that was once quiet and green. Alistair Moffat's 'tireless research . . . and commanding knowledge' bring to vivid life the half-forgotten kings and kingdoms of two thousand years ago, from the time of the Romans into the early medieval period (Scottish Field). In this 'fascinating' account, Moffat describes the landscape these men and women moved through and writes of a Celtic society which spoke to itself in Old Welsh, where the Sons of Prophesy ruled, and the time when the English kings of Bernicia held sway over vast swathes of what is now Scotland (Alexander McCall Smith, author of Dream Angus). Heroes rode out of the mists to challenge them and then join with them, and the faint echo of the din of ancient battles can be heard as he takes the listener on a journey around a lost Scotland.

Alistair Moffat (Author), Neil Mcfarlane (Narrator)

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The Face of Britain: The Nation through Its Portraits

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Face of Britain by Simon Schma, read by Simon Schama and Roy McMillian. Churchill and his painter locked in a struggle of stares and glares; Gainsborough watching his daughters run after a butterfly; a naked John Lennon five hours before his death. Simon Schama has written a tour de force about British portraits over the centuries in which the image-maker, the subject and everyone else looking on are brought unforgettably to life. Mesmerising in its extraordinary storytelling, and beautifully illustrated, The Face of Britain will change the way we see our past -- and ourselves.

Simon Schama (Author), Roy McMillan, Simon Schama (Narrator)

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The Executions of British and French Royalty: The Lives of the Royals Who Were Put to Death in Engla

Over 450 years after his reign, Henry VIII is still the most famous and recognizable King of England, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Though well regarded by contemporaries as a learned King and 'one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne', he is best remembered today for his gluttony and multiple marriages, particularly the gruesome way in which he was widowed on more than one occasion. Naturally, that was the focus of the popular ShowTime drama series centered around his life, The Tudors. While Henry’s reign is not considered as favorably as his daughter’s, Queen Elizabeth I would ultimately sentence a queen to death herself. Mary, Queen of Scots’ fame as a monarch lies less in her personality or achievements than in her position within the dynastic maneuvers and political-religious upheavals taking place in northwest Europe in the 16th century. Most monarchs spend their early years learning in preparation to rule and then spend the latter part of their lives wielding power and status, but Mary was thrust upon the throne when she was only a week old, and she ceased to be queen nearly 20 years before her death. With French society in open revolt by the late 1780s, the King appeared indecisive at a number of crucial moments, including during a famous attempted escape that was thwarted at Vergennes, and he had to literally run for his life when a mob stormed the royal palace at Tuileries. Soon after, he was stripped of his dignity and his royal name, convicted of high treason in a sham trial as Citizen Louis Capet. Ironically, in death, some historians have asserted that his execution and the sympathy it engendered helped bring about the Restoration a generation later. Nearly 220 years after she was put to the guillotine, Marie Antoinette is more famous than ever, fairly or unfairly coming to epitomize royalty and everything that was wrong with it.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The Etruscans: History of the Ancient Pre-Roman Civilization in Italy

At its peak, the Etruscan society of age-old Italy covered circa what's now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio, and areas of what's now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and small parts of Campania. The first proof of an Etruscan society might be traced back to around 900 BC. This is the Iron Age Villanovan culture, which emerged from the former late Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan civilization in the exact same area and is considered the first stage of Etruscan civilization. Etruscan society lasted till it was taken in by Roman culture. Assimilation started due to the Roman-- Etruscan Wars in the late fourth century BC; it heightened with the grant of Roman citizenship in ninety BC, and was finished in 27 BC, when the Etruscans' terrain was taken in into the freshly established Roman Empire. In this guide, you will learn about these things and many other aspects of the Etruscan civilization.

Kelly Mass (Author), Doug Greene (Narrator)

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The Etruscans and the First Romans: The History and Legacy of the Civilizations that Fought for Cont

“These people of Greek descent were called Etruscans, and it has been discovered that they had advanced so far in civilization, that they afterwards gave many of their customs to the city of Rome when it came to power. A confederacy known as the ‘Twelve Cities of Etruria’ became famous afterwards, though no one knows exactly which the twelve were.” – Arthur Gilman, The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic When people think of ancient Italy, the Romans are usually the first and last people that come to mind, but long before Rome was built by Latin speaking people, the culture of Italy was dominated by the Etruscans. Although the Etruscans may not comprise the core of most histories of the ancient Mediterranean, they exerted a profound influence on the region from the 8th-5th centuries BCE that continued to resonate for centuries after as the Romans carried on many of their traditions. Today, much of what is known about the Etruscans comes from the ancient Roman and Greek writers who had a deep respect for them but saw them as exotic and foreign. As the famous Roman philosopher Seneca wrote about the Etruscans, “Whereas we believe lightning to be released as a result of the collision of clouds, they believe that the clouds collide so as to release lightning: for as they attribute all to deity, they are led to believe not that things have a meaning insofar as they occur, but rather that they occur because they must have a meaning.” The Etruscans referred to themselves as “Rasenna” in their own language, but the Greeks called them “Tyrrhenians” and the Romans referred to them as “Etrusci”, which is where the modern term “Etruscan” is derived (Cornell 1995, 45). As this suggests, reconstructing Etruscan history is based primarily on the Greco-Roman accounts, but other sources are utilized by modern scholars to create a more accurate picture.

Charles River Editors (Author), Stephen Platt (Narrator)

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The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim

From the New York Times reporters who first uncovered S.S. officer Aribert Heim’s secret life in Egypt comes the never-before-told story of the most hunted Nazi war criminal in the world. Dr. Aribert Heim worked at the Mauthausen concentration camp for only a few months in 1941 but left a devastating mark. According to the testimony of survivors, Heim euthanized patients with injections of gasoline into their hearts. He performed surgeries on otherwise healthy people. Some recalled prisoners' skulls set out on his desk to display perfect sets of teeth. Yet in the chaos of the postwar period, Heim was able to slip away from his dark past and establish himself as a reputable doctor and family man in the resort town of Baden-Baden. His story might have ended there, but for certain rare Germans who were unwilling to let Nazi war criminals go unpunished, among them a police investigator named Alfred Aedtner. After Heim fled on a tip that he was about to be arrested, Aedtner turned finding him into an overriding obsession. His quest took him across Europe and across decades, and into a close alliance with legendary Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The hunt for Heim became a powerful symbol of Germany's evolving attitude toward the sins of its past, which finally crested in a desire to see justice done at almost any cost. As late as 2009, the mystery of Heim’s disappearance remained unsolved. Now, in The Eternal Nazi, Nicholas Kulish and Souad Mekhennet reveal for the first time how Aribert Heim evaded capture--living in a working-class neighborhood of Cairo, praying in Arabic, beloved by an adopted Muslim family--while inspiring a manhunt that outlived him by many years. It is a brilliant feat of historical detection that illuminates a nation’s dramatic reckoning with the crimes of the Holocaust.

Nicholas Kulish, Souad Mekhennet (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator)

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The Essential Englishman: A Celebration

There is no watertight excuse for this book. It strolls impertinently over ground that has been carefully mapped by the qualified authorities and elegantly appreciated by many devoted amateurs. Its purview is ludicrously broad - nothing less than an exhibition of the Englishman in his more characteristic manifestations through the ages. It is, wriggle out of it as we would, a hopelessly, damnably patriotic book. However, it is our opinion that the evils of nationalism, cultural hostility, race hatred and fear of social change are best countered by an open regard for the values of one's own society and a cheerful celebration of its virtues - and, on this basis, an honest recognition of its failures and weaknesses. The Essential Englishman is a fascinating portrait that seeks to define at least some of the Englishman's attitudes, to celebrate his successes, admire his strengths, to glance with understanding at his weaknesses and also to reflect the way that others see him. Recent dramatic political changes make it even more timely for the millennial Englishman to be able to gain, through looking back at history, a quirky if affectionate view at who and what he is. The picture that emerges is rich in contradictions. The archetypal Englishman, it seems, adores animals yet has a passion for fox hunting; he has founded empires but has an inherent mistrust for anything foreign; he is suspicious of government yet trusts his (unwritten) Constitution implicitly. And while the English possess a profound scepticism about the value of creative endeavour, England has consistently given the world some of its greatest poets, writers, musicians and artists. Authors Duncan Steen and Nicolas Soames have called evidence for the defence (and occasionally for the prosecution) from more than a thousand years of English literature, history and historical anecdote while witnesses range from Shakespeare to Bernard Shaw, from Dr Johnson to D. H. Lawrence - and a range of foreigners who are bemused yet often view their subjects with a whimsical goodwill. By turns hilarious, sad, heroic, eccentric, maddening and oddly inspiring, here is the true Englishman - at school, in love, in battle, at prayer, at sport, abroad, or at home in the country. This entertaining and informative book is essential listening for everyone in or out of England, and especially as it forges a new identity within the geographic (if not political) environs of Europe.

Duncan Steen, Nicolas Soames (Author), Nicholas Boulton (Narrator)

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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790

Brought to you by Penguin. The Enlightenment is one of the formative periods of Western history, yet more than 300 years after it began, it remains controversial. It is often seen as the fountainhead of modern values such as human rights, religious toleration, freedom of thought, scientific thought as an exemplary form of reasoning, and rationality and evidence-based argument. Others accuse the Enlightenment of putting forward a scientific rationality which ignores the complexity and variety of human beings, propagates shallow atheism, and aims to subjugate nature to so-called technical progress. Ritchie Robertson engages with all these views to show that the Enlightenment sought above all to increase human happiness in this world by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument and by challenging the authority traditionally assumed by the Churches. His book presents illuminating readings of many key Enlightenment texts, and overturns many received opinions - for example, that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion. Answering the question 'what is Enlightenment?' Kant famously urged men and women above all to use their ownunderstanding. Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. It is a master-class in 'big picture' history, about one of the foundational epochs of modern times. © Ritchie Robertson 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Ritchie Robertson (Author), Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)

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The Enlightenment: An Enthralling Guide to a Period of Scientific, Political, and Philosophical Disc

Can you imagine how the world would be different today if there had been no Enlightenment era? The Age of Enlightenment, which lasted throughout the 18th century, brought about fundamental changes in people’s thinking and transformed the entire fabric of society. Even ordinary people began to question the entrenched beliefs and dogmas. They wanted education, justice, freedom, and progress. They struggled to eliminate despotic rulers and desired to be governed by democratically elected representatives. But how did this fundamental shift in thinking occur in a relatively short period? And who were the great thinkers and philosophers of that era who dared to go against the established authority of the church and the power of the autocrats? Are you curious about how the Enlightenment influenced the French and American Revolutions? If so, this audiobook holds the answers you seek. You will also learn about the following: - The ideals of the Enlightenment, including reason, individual freedom, and democracy; - How the average person viewed the Enlightenment; - The philosophy and impact of great thinkers like Rousseau, Locke, Hume, and Voltaire; - How the American and French Revolutions brought about changes to the traditional monarchy; - The massive progress in education, science, and social justice; - A brief look at the Scientific Revolution and the inventions that changed history; - The explosive growth of trade and commerce that reduced poverty and created wealth; - The remarkable women who stood up for women’s rights; - And much, much more! Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to learn more about the Enlightenment!

Billy Wellman (Author), Jay Herbert (Narrator)

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The English Armada: The History of the Counter Armada Sent by Queen Elizabeth to Spain in 1589

On July 12, 1588, the legendary Spanish Armada headed for the English Channel. The Spanish plan was to take this invasion, led by the Duke of Parma, to the coast of southeast England, where they would be unleashed to conquer Elizabethan England for Spain’s King Philip II and Catholic Christendom. The Armada included over 150 ships, 8,000 sailors, and 18,000 soldiers, and it boasted a firepower of 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. Just leaving port itself took the entire Armada two days. As everyone who has been taught history now knows, the Armada was one of the most famous military debacles in history. Regardless of the debate over whether it was simple mathematical miscalculation or plain bad luck, coupled with English fire ships assailing the Spanish ships, the Armada was decisively defeated. The Armada ultimately found its reluctant way home in awful conditions, having permanently lost over a third of the ships, and on the Irish coast, the Armada suffered further losses. For the Counter Armada, Elizabeth turned to the most notorious English sailor of the era. The life of Sir Francis Drake, or, more precisely the tale of it, is a prime example that history is written by the winners. Drake’s successes against the Spanish as a captain and a privateer were legendary, and Drake was celebrated for fighting the queen’s enemies, sinking their ships and capturing the treasure that would otherwise be used to finance attacks on England. Drake vigorously pursued every mission given to him by Elizabeth I, and he brought all his skill, experience, and training to bear against her enemies. He was recognized at court for his valor, praised in story and song, and remembered for the kind of personality and esprit de corps that the English have long desired and celebrated in their military heroes. They were to patrol the shores of England and Spain and destroy any remaining Spanish ships.

Charles River Editors (Author), Steve Knupp (Narrator)

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The English and Their History

Robert Tombs's momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history. The English have come a long way from those first precarious days of invasion and conquest, with many spectacular changes of fortune. Their political, economic, and cultural contacts have left traces for good and ill across the world. This book describes their history and its meanings, from their beginnings in the monasteries of Northumbria and the wetlands of Wessex to the cosmopolitan energy of today's England. Tombs draws out important threads running through the story, including participatory government, language, law, religion, the land and the sea, and ever-changing relations with other peoples.

Robert Tombs (Author), James Langton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Europe Audiobooks in Travel