Europe Audiobooks | Travel

Central Europe’s ancient civilizations have long been dominated by empires: The Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire (based in Austria) and more recently, the Soviet Communist. But the decline of communism in the late twentieth century has unleashed old resentments, rivalries, and ambitions that have caused yet more war in this troubled region.

Ralph Racio, Ralph Raico (Author), Harry Reasoner, Peter Hackes, Richard C. Hottelet (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Full Catastrophe: Travels Among the New Greek Ruins

In recent years, small Greece, often associated with ancient philosophers and marble ruins, whitewashed villages and cerulean seas, has been at the center of a debt crisis that has sown economic and social ruin, spurred panic in international markets, and tested Europe's decades-old project of forging a closer union. In The Full Catastrophe, James Angelos makes sense of contrasting images of Greece, a nation both romanticized for its classical past and castigated for its dysfunctional present. It goes beyond the transient coverage in the daily headlines to deliver an enduring and absorbing portrait of modern Greece.

James Angelos (Author), Pete Cross (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Mediterranean Basin

The lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea contain some of the oldest cultures on Earth. Italy and the other countries of Europe and North Africa have played a central role in various expanding empires –and also in shrinking fortunes. This presentation explores the broad sweep of history in one of the cradles of civilization.

Ralph Racio, Ralph Raico (Author), Harry Reasoner, Peter Hackes, Richard C. Hottelet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Stoics and Epicureans

The Stoics and Epicureans date from the Hellenistic period (ca. 323 BC - 31 BC), and both schools were heavily influenced by the philosophy of Socrates. The Epicurean mission was to live virtuously in a wicked world. They advocated a simple, quiet, reclusive, sensible life of moderation among friends, avoiding extravagant worldly attractions and bringing no trouble on others. A wise person was one who exhibits rational self-control, subordinating excessive impulses and emotion-laden desires to the law of reason. The Epicureans were suspicious of overly artful or sophisticated intellectual debates; they preferred ordinary language and relied only on sense impressions to establish what we perceive or know. The Epicureans sought a life of pleasure -- that is, minimal pain and maximum peace of mind -- by rejecting external goods and pursuing true and lasting internal qualities such as justice, honor, and wisdom. Epicurus said there are four basic truths: (1) there are no divine beings to threaten us; (2) there is no next life; (3) the little we actually need is easy to get; and (4) what makes us suffer is easy to put up with. For the Stoics, logos was seen as the rational order of all things, as reflected in the three areas of philosophy: logic (knowledge, grammar, rhetoric, semantics), physics (cosmology, biology, geography, causality, psychology, theology), and ethics (the goals, proper functions, moral responsibility, and virtue of human character). Human virtue was seen as the highest pattern of a life that accords with universal nature. The early Stoics (Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus) were brilliant practitioners of paradox and dialectic (i.e. debates involving fine logical distinctions); their ideal was the sage, who could refute or trump all others. The later Stoics (Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius) emphasized the ideal of a model virtuous citizen, who fulfills his or her highest nature (which for humans is reason). We humans are, in turn, a part of universal reason -- the logos, the rational order of all things.

Daryl Hale, Professor Daryl Hale (Author), Lynn Redgrave (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Age of Shakespeare

Britain's most esteemed scholar of 16th and 17th century literature, Frank Kermode is also a noted author and professor. In this Modern Library Chronicle, he uses the context of the Elizabethan Era to link each of Shakespeare's plays to their probable years of creation. By portraying the bard's England in terms of its society, economy, and arts, Kermode provides an invaluable guide to understanding Shakespeare's works. "Academics and common readers alike have much to learn from Kermode's illuminating and delectable study."-Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate

Frank Kermode (Author), Paul Hecht (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Three Edwards

Thomas B. Costain (Author), David Case (Narrator)

Audiobook

Saint-Germain-des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter

For many years, Saint-Germain-des-Pres has been a stronghold of sans culottes, a refuge to artists, a paradise for bohemians. It's where Marat printed L'Ami du Peuple and Thomas Paine wrote The Rights of Man. Napoleon, Hemingway, and Sartre have all called it home. Descartes is buried there. Now bestselling author and Paris expert John Baxter takes listeners on a narrative tour of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which is also where Baxter makes his home. Tucked along the shores of the Left Bank, Saint-Germain-des-Pres embodies so much of what makes Paris special. Its cobblestone streets and ancient facades survive to this day, spared from modernization thanks to a quirk in their construction. Traditionally cheap rents attracted outsiders and political dissidents from the days of Robespierre to the student revolts of the 1960s. And its intellectual pedigree boasts such luminaries as Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir, Gertrude Stein, and Albert Camus. Part-history, part-guidebook, Saint-Germain-des-Pres is a fresh look at one of the City of Light's most iconic quarters, and a delight for new tourists and Paris veterans alike.

John Baxter (Author), Graham Halstead (Narrator)

Audiobook

Russia and the Soviet Union

Recent events have made it clear that the Soviet Union is not a monolith; it's a collection of nationalities, many with serious objections to union. The demise of communism holds great promise and great danger not only for the Soviets, but for the world. These tapes examine how the region's long history led to modern reality.

Ralph Racio, Ralph Raico (Author), Harry Reasoner, Peter Hackes, Richard C. Hottelet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Reflections on the Revolution in France/Rights of Man

Reflections on the Revolution in France is a slashing attack on the French Revolution by one of Britain's most famous statesmen. Liberty and social order, Burke argues, are maintained by the traditional rights and duties embedded in custom and law. And when these traditions are overthrown in revolutions, society is threatened with chaos, bloodshed and despotism. Rights of Man - Thomas Paine believed the French Revolution was based on the same principles as the American Revolution: natural rights, an implied "social contract", and the right of revolution against oppressive governments. Paine, unlike Burke, sees government as the primary threat to social order. He has little regard for traditional institutions, if those institutions are oppressive and unjust.

George H. Smith, Wendy McElroy, Wendy Mcelroy (Author), A Supporting Cast, Craig Deitschman, Craig Deitschmann, Don Jones, Jonathan Lutz, Robert Wynne, Travis Hardison (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poland

The breakdown of Europe's Eastern Bloc proves that the map of Europe cannot be redrawn merely to serve political ends. Perhaps no country illustrates this more clearly than Poland, whose borders often have been a negotiating tool of the Big Powers. These cassettes enlighten our understanding of the current drama in Eastern Europe.

Victoria Varga (Author), Harry Reasoner, Peter Hackes, Richard C. Hottelet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Medieval Science

After Rome fell in the 5th century A.D., Europe endured a long drought of ideas. The Middle Ages were a time when spiritual, other-worldly concerns dominated intellectual life; study of the natural world was directed toward moral and religious truth. The works of Aristotle and Plato were almost entirely lost (and often purposefully destroyed) during the Dark Ages (455 - 1000 A.D.). The library and museum at Alexandria, a major repository of learning, was destroyed. Only in the Muslim world of Arabia and Spain, and in some Christian monasteries, was worldly learning preserved to any extent at all. Influences from China, India, and Persia shaped many of the new scientific developments that did occur. Alchemists, the forerunners of modern chemists, were influenced by Neoplatonist views about the close relationship between appearance and reality; they sought to change metals by changing their color. Many natural events were mysterious; magic or superstition were common, and there was a great overlap between the natural and the supernatural. After 1000 A.D., translations of great works were increasingly available, and craft associations evolved into universities. Most educated people were clergy, and they worked to justify their faith with the new learning. With the development of printing in 1452 and the increasing dispersion of knowledge, a foundation was being laid for a scientific breakthrough - in the Renaissance.

Jack Sanders, Professor John T. Sanders (Author), Edwin Newman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ireland

The "isle of poets and scholars" has known almost constant warfare for centuries. In 1920, it was divided into North and South. Yet this purely political solution left a religious and cultural schism intact. This presentation follows Ireland's tragic course from St. Patrick to Britain's imposition of direct rule in 1974. The World's Political Hot Spots series explains the basis of conflicts in some of the world's most politically sensitive areas. Many of these regions are in today's headlines, and tensions recently have become violent in virtually all of them. Each presentation covers up to ten centuries of background, revealing how and why today's problems occur.

Wendy McElroy (Author), Harry Reasoner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Europe Audiobooks in Travel