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To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette
To this day Marie Antoinette remains one of history's most misunderstood heroines. How she triumphed over the petty jealousies and backstairs rivalries of the court, how she sustained a good-hearted but malleable king, and how she was transformed from French queen to Austrian "whore," is the story told with skill and fascinating detail.
Carolly Erickson (Author), Davina Porter (Narrator)
Audiobook
Distinguished Yale historian Henry Ashby Turner Jr., makes an important and influential addition to his lifelong study of Nazi Germany. Hitler's Thirty Days to Power paints vivid portraits of the main players in the drama of January 1933 and, using newly available documents, masterfully recreates the bewildering circumstances surrounding Hitler's unexpected appointment as chancellor of Germany. The result is a work that Booklist calls "first rate...a gripping, foreboding narrative."
Henry Ashby Turner, Henry Ashby Turner Jr (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator)
Audiobook
The secret story of the Eiffel Tower
Everything you always wanted to know about the Eiffel Tower ! This incredible monument that became the symbol of a city, Paris, and of a country, France, has a fascinating history. The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It was named after the engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; about 7 million people ascended it in 2014. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010. The tower is 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. A "Committee of Three Hundred" was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the French arts establishment, including Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet: « We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection ... of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower ... To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years ... we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal. » Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?"
Emmanuelle Iger (Author), Stuart Walker (Narrator)
Audiobook
The fight at the pass of Thermopylae: Great Battles of History
The Battle of Thermopylae is without doubt the most famous battle in European ancient history. It has inspired many poems, stories, and movies, most recently Frank Miller's 300. Vastly outnumbered Greek soldiers fought with all their might and held off the Persian army for seven days, before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history's most famous last stands. This battle is a perfect example of tactical optimization and a stunning demonstration of the advantages of training and equipment to maximize an army's potential. Discover the epic story of the Spartan soldiers who became a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds; relive the tale of treachery that lies behind the military feat, and understand the advantage freedom gives to an army when it is forced to become legendary.
Anonymous (Author), Jonathan Waite (Narrator)
Audiobook
First travel of Dr Livingstone in Africa
David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and one of the greatest European explorers who ever lived. He fought all his life against slavery, and is remembered as a national hero for opening up the interior of the so-called "Dark Continent"; his expeditions had a tremendous influence on the colonization of Africa and the relation between Europeans and Africans. The son of a Christian missionary himself, Livingstone felt a spiritual calling to reach people in the interior of Africa in order to find new commercial routes and thus free the Africans from the plague of slavery. He was the first European to cross the width of southern Africa, reaching the mouth of the river Zambezi on the Indian Ocean in May 1856. When he first returned to Britain after this first expedition, he widely publicized the horrors of the slave trade while relating the tale of his adventures and explorations in a wild and unknown territory.
Livingstone (Author), Paul Edwards (Narrator)
Audiobook
The Life of Napoleon: Volume 6
William Hazlitt is one of the foremost writers of the English language. His fame as a critic, essayist and social commentator ranks with the likes of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He considered his justly famous Life of Napoleon as his most important work. In this, the sixth volume of the work, William Hazlitt takes us through his fall from power. He shows us how the situation of Europe at that time: England controlling the sea, England, Austria, Russia and Prussia massed on the borders of France, ready to consummate their twenty-five year struggle to restore the Bourbon monarchy. Nor were these the only enemies confronting Napoleon. Many of his own countrymen were ready to turn their backs on him, now that his aura of invincibility was at an end, destroyed by the disastrous campaign in Russia and further defeats in Europe. Hazlitt brings us to the great climax of the tragedy, the battle of Waterloo, and then follows Napoleon as he casts himself on the mercy of the English and finds himself transported to St. Helena. Hazlitt was a life-long admirer of Napoleon and of the French Revolution, but his admiration was not blind. His analysis is both passionate and clear-sighted. At this stage in Napoleon's career, he focuses more on the great events, less on the man and his mind. It is an appropriate focus; at this stage in his life, Napoleon's whole existence was wrapped up in those great events, his personal life was submerged in them. Hazlitt sometimes transcends and sometimes falls victim to the prevailing attitudes of his day. His thinking sometimes juxtaposes highly progressive ideas with casual bigotry. His text has been left as he wrote it; it is valuable to hear and remember that even great minds have held ideas we prefer to think we have overcome. The Life of Napoleon was originally published in four volumes in 1828-1830, not long before Hazlitt's death. It was later republished in a limited edition of six volumes by the Grolier Society. This audiobook is based on that edition.of Napoleon as his most important work. William Hazlitt is one of the foremost writers of the English language. His fame as a critic, essayist and social commentator ranks with the likes of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He considered his justly famous Life of Napoleon as his most important work. In this, the fifth volume of the work, William Hazlitt takes us through Napoleon's captivity on the island of St. Helena, his decline and his death. Napoleon is no longer involved in the great affairs of France and Europe, which gives Hazlitt the opportunity to focus as never before on Napoleon the man. We see the Emperor who once battled the combined nations of Europe engaged in constant war against the petty tyranny of the English governor of the island while preparing his memoirs and longing for his family, who were never allowed to visit him. In the end, death claims him. Hazlitt was a life-long admirer of Napoleon and of the French Revolution, but his admiration was not blind. His analysis is both passionate and clear-sighted. At this stage in Napoleon's career, he focuses more on the great events, less on the man and his mind. It is an appropriate focus; at this stage in his life, Napoleon's whole existence was wrapped up in those great events, his personal life was submerged in them. Hazlitt sometimes transcends and sometimes falls victim to the prevailing attitudes of his day. His thinking sometimes juxtaposes highly progressive ideas with casual bigotry. His text has been left as he wrote it; it is valuable to hear and remember that even great minds have held ideas we prefer to think we have overcome. The Life of Napoleon was originally published in four volumes in 1828-1830, not long before Hazlitt's death. It was later republished in a limited edition of six volumes by the Grolier Society. This audiobook is based on that edition.
William Hazlitt (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)
Audiobook
Louis VI was a warrior king, but at the end of his reign, his weight had become so great that it had become difficult for him to lead in the field - hence his nickname "The Fat". He was a strong and competent ruler, who managed to considerably reinforce his power in the kingdom, and largely contributed to the subsequent centralization of authority in France. Learn about his soar to power, his struggles with the "robber barons", and his successes in alliances and coalitions.
J. M. Gardner (Author), Stuart Walker (Narrator)
Audiobook
This collection of audiobooks will help you understand a crucial part of the history of French monarchy. For each King, you will find a detailed description of the style of his reign and his political achievements, narrated in a lively way.
J. M. Gardner (Author), Katie Haigh (Narrator)
Audiobook
The bar was high after the glorious reign of the Sun King. Louis XV, his successor, had a difficult time driving the country through religious disputes, intellectual shifts and economical hardness. This eventually led to a steep economic decline, which played an important role in the reaction of the French people against the monarchy, and eventually gave way to the French Revolution. This collection of audiobooks will help you understand a crucial part of the history of French monarchy. For each King, you will find a detailed description of the style of his reign and his political achievements, narrated in a lively way.*
J. M. Gardner (Author), Katie Haigh (Narrator)
Audiobook
This collection of audiobooks will help you understand a crucial part of the history of French monarchy. For each King, you will find a detailed description of the style of his reign and his political achievements, narrated in a lively way.
J. M. Gardner (Author), Katie Haigh (Narrator)
Audiobook
This collection of audiobooks will help you understand a crucial part of the history of French monarchy. For each King, you will find a detailed description of the style of his reign and his political achievements, narrated in a lively way.
J. M. Gardner (Author), Katie Haigh (Narrator)
Audiobook
Louis-Philippe, King of France
Louis Philippe (1773–1850) is France's first "constitutional monarch", having being properly elected by the National Assembly. He lived through the French Revolution, during which he saw his brother and sister-in-law, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, guillotined by extreme revolutionaries. Then, Napoleon Bonaparte seized the throne, declared himself emperor, and began the conquest of Europe; after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, France welcomed Louis Philippe back as an elected King. His reign was based on the principle of union of king and people, and marked the first real shift away from the “divine right to rule” approach to kingship; as such, Louis Philippe is the best embodiment of the passage from the Ancien Regime to the truly modern world. This collection of audiobooks will help you understand a crucial part of the history of French monarchy. For each King, you will find a detailed description of the style of his reign and his political achievements, narrated in a lively way.
J. M. Gardner (Author), Katie Haigh (Narrator)
Audiobook
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