Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (1)

Interestingly Written History AboutThe English Civil War of 1642-9
From about 1642 to 1649 there was a terrible Civil War in England.Over 200,000 people lost their lives either from battles,civilians being harmed by soldiers foraging for food and supplies and gold, or from sickness such as the plague. EventuallyKing Charles The First was beheaded.England became a "Republic"with power of the purse strings in The House of Commons that was comprised of elected representatives of the English People. The Divine Right of kings to do as they pleased came to and end in England.Thus, this was a big step forward in giving freedom and human rights to common people.I suppose the government of The USA benefited from the example.However, the "human rights of the people"were bought at a terrible price in lost lives and human misery in England.It's too bad there couldn't have been a less bloody and painful way to accomplish the same end.The book itself is very well written.You will enjoy "the story".Recommended.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Europe - General    3. History   

Features

• Abridged

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Business/Professional    2. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Corporate & Business History - General    5. Europe - General    6. Japan    7. New York    8. New York (State)    9. Real estate developers    10. Real estate development    11. Travel    12. United States - State & Local - General   

Editorial Review

The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude.Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John "Longitude" Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward. ... Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (237)

I suggest this book to anyone interested in geography and history.
I chose this one because I thought it kind of related to me in a way, but I always thought it would be just a bunch of useless fact. As I read it, I became more and more interested in the struggle to 'find the longitude.' I suggest this book to anyone interested in geography and history. It's also an easy reader.
An epic 40 year struggle!
Dava Sobel, like Simon Winchester or Canada's Pierre Berton, has clearly mastered the art of writing history in a form that is not only informative but, perhaps more important, is also compelling and entertaining.
Ocean Navigation Before GPS

Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Clock and watch makers    6. Great Britain    7. History    8. Longitude    9. Measurement    10. Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology   

Features

• Abridged

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Abridged Audio - History    3. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. Audiobooks    6. Europe - Great Britain - General    7. General    8. Great Britain    9. Great Britain - History    10. History   

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (17)

Great background for reading medieval historical books
Great information on the life and times of medieval culture.Informative when reading other historical books of the time period (including Alison Weir books: Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Life of Elizabeth I, Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Children of Henry VIII)
Time travel for the masses
Take a trip back to 1215. Read this book. Although not academic history, this popular book makes the people and times of 1215 seem as real as today. 1215 was a different world than our own, but it's the similarities and continuities that are intriguing. Take the trip.

A fun and informative history
Danny Danziger, author of the popular 'In the Year 1000', looks at the way of life of the English during another pivotal year - 1215, the year of the Magna Carta.In many respects, this is a much more important year than 1000 - in the first place, many people didn't realise it was the year 1000 when it was happening.A similar lack of awareness of the importance of the contemporary events takes place in 1215.
Read more

Subjects:  1. History: World    2. British & Irish history: c 1000 to c 1500    3. England    4. Social history    5. United Kingdom, Great Britain    6. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Editorial Review

Was IBM, "The Solutions Company," partly responsible for the Final Solution? That's the question raised by Edwin Black's Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (61)

a tale of two maniacs
Once upon a time in America there was a tabulating company executive who had almost done time for illegal business practices.This executive believed that the only way that he could stay in business was by selling the best tabulating machines on the market, and mercilessly crushing his competitors.Unfortunately for humanity, this maniac was doing business in a country run by another maniac, who had come to power by fomenting ethnic hatred.Even as things went down the drain, and the persecution of the Jews and other minorities reached loathsome heights, the American business executive didn't want to terminate his activities in Germany, and was supportive enough of the Nazis to accept the highest medal the Nazis could give him.
This book is chilling, and is a "must read"
Reading this book, and the knowledge that IBM had during WWII and thegenocide of millins of humans puts a face on cooprorate greed and hate unjlike any of the comparisions given to Halliburton today. IBM aided Hitler in his termination of the Jews, and others, and it has never, to my knowledge owned up to this, nor have they done any actions to make changes in the way companies help with genocide. Great book, great writer.

An Extraordinary Work
As proud as I am to be an American, this thoroughly documented, utterly revealing book, has for the first time made me look at the extents to which U.S. corporate greed and the amorality of one man, Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, will go to satisfy there lust for money and power.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - History    2. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Corporate & Business History - General    6. Economic aspects    7. Europe - Germany    8. History    9. Holocaust    10. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    11. Profiteering    12. History / Holocaust   

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (2)

Very enjoyable and well done
Not a bad book at all. Dean Joy joined the war late because of an interesting school deferment. He wanted to fly the famous P-51 Mustang but ended up the71st Infantry Division. The book is very interesting reading about a unit that doesn't get a lot of press because they entered the war so late. The book is an easy read, very well written, and provides a good overview of the end of the war. Of particular interest is his description of four captured P-51 Mustangs that were converted to German use.

Good WWII Memoir of Combat Described by Young American GI
A must for WWII History buffs, but an easy read for all readers.The author recalls how he wanted, along with many other young U.S high school grads to register for military service in WWII and to "fly". With his easy writing style and incredible drawings, Dean Joy pulls you into his daily disappointments as he realized he would fight as an infantryman. You feel what he did as he writes letters home to his beloved parents. Its as though I actually felt, saw, and heard, what this young man did.The remarkable discription of the different sounds of artillery, the German towns and rivers that the Allies went through, the pride of being in Patton's 3rd Army.Along with the author, I hated the "Krauts" and sorrowed over German civilians losing homes and farms to the ravages of war.I literally "willed" this young man to make it home. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - History    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Campaigns    5. General    6. History    7. Military - World War II    8. Personal narratives, American    9. Western Front    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. History / Military / World War II   

Editorial Review

Published to mark the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Stephen E. Ambrose's Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (299)

Good account of the US involvement at D-Day
Several others sum up my feelings on this book, so I will keep it brief.
One of Ambrose's best works.
I recently finished Band of Brothers and was amazed and how great a writer Ambrose was.So I ordered D-Day, Citizen Soldiers and The Victors.I'm roughly half-way through D-Day and can already say that it is one of the best books I've ever read.I work on second shift and get off work at 11:30 PM.I go home and start reading and can't put this book down.The next thing I know I look at the clock and it's 3 or 4 in the morning, and I can't believe the time went by so fast.Ambrose was a brilliant military historian.His descriptions of everything is so detailed.If you've watched Band of Brothers on TV you owe it to yourself to check out some of Ambrose's other works.I know you'll love them.

Fails as a military history book
The oral history approach by Ambrose & Co offers certainly has its attraction. And if this book would have consisted of personal accounts of D-Day veterans only, I think it would have made a valuable, insightful, and memorable account of this landmark battle.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - History    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Campaigns    5. France    6. General    7. Military - World War II    8. Normandy    9. World War, 1939-1945    10. History / General   

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (15)

Waste of money
Appalling - I only kept reading because I just couldn't believe it was going to be so bad all the way through! Just a list of complaints about food, hotels, everything he encountered, from London and Cardiff to the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Basically, for him, nothing is as good as America so it would have been better if he'd just stayed home. Also, there are several mistakes, particularly in his use of Welsh. Why didn't he do some proper research? And who needs to know about his medical problems or all the affairs he used to have (because he got bored with his wife early in their marriage). This poor woman was still being dragged around with him to see the few stones he got around to mentioning, all those years later. I read up to the bit about how this ego-on-legs felt he was being used as an instrument of God and that was it - I couldn't stomach any more. (Try Julian Cope's "The Modern Antiquarian" instead if you are interested in standing stones with some legends thrown in. It's a wonderful book written by a truly sensitive and INTERESTED author.)

Don't Trust This Title
As advertised on the cover of this book, anachronistic me-generation guru Peck and his wife Lily set off on a tour of Britain's legendary stone circles, right? Wrong. Peck and Lily do visit some circle sites but this book is about 1% stone circles and 99% Peck going on and on and on and on and on and on about himself, his life, his beliefs, his personal health, and why faithful Lily forgave him for all the pain his freewheeling, skirtchasing lifestyle as one of the "it" crowd of the '60's and '70's self-discovery movement caused her. This is not about Britain's heritage sites, or even about self-help, it's about Peck patting Peck on the back for being such a smart fella. A bad book without any redeeming qualities. A waste of money and time. Oh, and Dr. Peck, Scotland is not, as you claim, "larger than all the rest of the United Kingdom combined." Jeesh.

Not quite up to par with his other works
I think Dr. Peck is quite a smart man with many interesting, relevant things to say. That said, I also think that if I met him in person I might not like him very much. Just a hunch. Does this have anything to do with the book? Yeah, of course. Because this is his PERSONAL book. It's not like "The Road Less Traveled," where he is mainly focusing in on case histories and using them as a starting point to Illustrate Great Truths About the World, this is the book where he launches his Understanding About the Universe from his personal life. Since they came non-stop, I found his egotism and uncaring attitude to those around him a bit aggravating. As I struggled through the book--I struggled through because in spite of his faults still Dr. Peck had some true gems to offer--I felt like I was encaged in a closet with my least-favorite uncle, being preached at all the time by a man who can't manage his personal life.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Inspiration / Philosophy    2. Audiobooks    3. General    4. Great Britain    5. History    6. Inspirational - General    7. Megalithic monuments    8. Religion    9. Religious biography    10. United States    11. Religion / General   

Editorial Review

What do you get when you combine the resources and ethos of the BBC with the literary panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama's Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (41)

Great--but don't buy hardcover version
This is a wonderfully readible history of Great Britain and I enjoyed this volume tremendously--until I finished page 352.The version I have then jumped back to page 321 and repreated pages 321 through 352.Then it jumps to page 385.So I'm missing pages 353-384.
Excellent read
This is volumn 1 of a 3 volumn series.It is well written well researched and enables the reader to enjoy history.The events and characters come alive in this series and you fell history as it is being made.A series well worth reding.

Good for sippin'
Leslie Klinger, author of "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes," describes Simon Schama's "A History of Britain" as "magisterial," and that indeed is how I felt about the televised version (produced in the U.K. by the BBC and aired here in the U.S. on the History Channel).But for some reason I find myself somewhat disenchanted by its printed form.That it is beautifully written is almost indisputable.It should appeal to anyone with a broad vocabulary or to those who like to read with their dictionary close at hand.But at the same time, some might perceive Schama's style as simply a case of "showing off."Balancing $20 words with $.99 specials to create an understandable and aesthetically pleasing result is a delicate art, and there are times when the narrative seems a bit too adorned.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - History    2. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    3. Audio Adult: Other    4. Europe - Great Britain - General    5. General    6. History    7. History / Great Britain   

Editorial Review

In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas Cahill takes us to the "island of saints and scholars," the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells.Here, far from the barbarian despoliation of the continent, monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the West's written treasury.When stability returned in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning, becoming not only the conservators of civilization, but also the shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on Western culture. ... Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (232)

history with flavor
Anyone who over-reacted to this book considering it bigotry should lighten up. The title indicates that it has a Irish focus and that it is bravado in its very nature.This is a great story that should not be treated as a the most accurate take on all of civilization and mankind. It has the flavor of the Irish in the very words of the book and the telling of the story. So often do people criticize anything that has any flavor or opinion, but it is so easy to do that. We are not all world historians who get off on reading just the facts. Just as in reading Vasari's "Lives of the Artist's" nobody should complain about how he goes on and on and on about how Michelangelo was God's gift to the world, rather we should have a laugh be entertained and learn a few things about the nature of humanity. Good Read.

Readable, Anecdotal and Enjoyable
Always amazes me to ponder how a single person can change the course of history, as Thomas Cahill shows. For example, if St. Patrick hadn't returned to Ireland to found monasteries, we would be reading a different history of continental Europe. In fact, there might not be a Europe. Really enjoyable book with interesting anecdotes. Very readable, except for occasional flights of political correctness. Makes me want to find out more about Medieval Europe.
Bad Bigoted History.
Read the top most "helpful reviews of this shockingly offensive pamphlet." I am sure you will find the one star reviews far more honest and detailed than the "Naive positive reviewers." There are always people who will whitewash bigotry if it supports their own ethnic delusions of grandeur. I am the third Asian person to boycott this author. I have noticed that many others agree with us. THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 400-1400    2. Abridged Audio - History    3. Books    4. Civilization    5. Civilization, Classical    6. Europe - Ireland    7. General    8. History    9. Ireland    10. Learning and scholarship    11. Medieval, 500-1500    12. Study and teaching    13. British & Irish history    14. History / General   

Editorial Review

In the last half-millennium, as the noted cultural critic and historian Jacques Barzun observes, great revolutions have swept the Western world. Each has brought profound change--for instance, the remaking of the commercial and social worlds wrought by the rise of Protestantism and by the decline of hereditary monarchies. And each, Barzun hints, is too little studied or appreciated today, in a time he does not hesitate to label as decadent.Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (143)

This Book Is 6384 Pages Long
After having read Jacques Barzun's suma seven times, I have concluded that this book is not really 912 pages long as it appears in the product details, but rather 6384 pages. Every time I read this masterpiece, I find new ideas and fresh material on every page. Seemingly, the book is an endless fount of intellect, culture, etiquette, morals, art, science, politics, and genius that serves as the capstone of the last era and the cornerstone for the next.
The greatest book of all time
With the tools of knowledge and wit, Jacques Barzun has created the most significant and culturally definitive works of all time. The Columbia professor shows his French ties (he was born there, 1907) through the un-proportional focus on that country in the book, yet is able to thoroughly describe every aspect of Western culture in the last 500 years.
750 pages out of 800 ain't bad.
Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence is a vast, idiosyncratic 800-page history of the last five hundred years of Western cultural life. It is important to emphasise that this is a ‘cultural history’. Barzun explores the culture of the Modern Era by looking at examples from literature, music, theatre, painting, sculpture, philosophy, science, clothing, food, architecture, economics, etc. This is not a book for those seeking a comprehensive history of politics and war in the West. Barzun unifies his text by looking at recurring themes, which he defines as "not historical ‘forces’ or ‘causes’ but names for the desires, attitudes, purposes behind the events or movements, some embodied in lasting institutions.”
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Audiobooks    3. Civilization    4. Civilization, Western    5. Europe - General    6. Historiography    7. History    8. Learning and scholarship    9. Unabridged Audio - History    10. World - General    11. History / General   

Reviews (7)

Engrossing, detailed .... but not totally satisfying
I found the book to be well written and engaging in that typical British anecdotal style that breathes life into historical characters. It offers a detailed account of the sometimes bizarre history of this magnificent city during more than two millennia, all in one book, up until the middle of the 20th century.
Just the Facts, Please
In Self-Reliance, Emerson says, "In history our imagination plays us false.Kingdom and lordship, power and estate are gaudier vocabulary than private John and Edward in a small house and common day's work; but the things of life are the same to both; the sum total of both is the same," (130).This is a good place to begin articulating my discomfort with Hibbert's Rome: The Biography of a City.Halfway through the book one still has not seen any of Emerson's view that history is more than a succession of popes and kings.On the contrary, Hibbert seems to think that history is only that.It is an older book, and so we spare it some of our modern politics, but thus far, I've read nothing of women, nothing even of artists or architects in a city renowned for these, only that this king fought with this pope etc. through the centuries. I thought historians somehow knew better.One possible explanation for Hibbert's lack of attention to the actual soul of Rome is that he casts a broad net, writing so many histories he can hardly have time to do anything like justice to a place.He's written about France, Britain, America, and India, about their revolutions and separate books about their major figures, lending the impression that he may approach theses "biographies" like assembly-line machinery.One last neglect which seems to me not only in bad taste, but odd:Hibbert's Rome has been pretty overt in its dismissal of the Catholic Church.Nothing has been said about its many acts of charity, nor of its social/art educational status in the community, nor about the individual faiths of the saints and pilgrims, whose devotion, in the face of such obvious abuses, I find heartening.

A bird's eye view of an incredible uninterrupted history
With a book that covers over 2,500 years of history, don't expect in-depth coverage here.That's not what this book is about.It provides a very good, bird's-eye view of the city and its history, however, and does a good job of impressing on the reader the incredible continuity of the city's history.I think there's a tendency to concentrate on ancient Rome and then to jump a thousand years to the Renaissance and the Baroque, without focusing on the incredible medieval history of the city.I found the chapters of the book devoted to the medieval period to be some of the more interesting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Other    2. Europe - Italy    3. Unabridged Audio - History   

Editorial Review

Long before he entered politics, when he was just in his early 20s,South Dakotan George McGovern flew 35 bomber missions over Nazi-occupied Europe,earning a Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery under fire. Stephen Ambrose,the industrious historian, focuses on McGovern and the young crew of his B-24bomber, volunteers all, in this vivid study of the air war in Europe.Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (156)

A SOLID READ - IF NOT THE AUTHOR'S BEST
While I enjoyed this one, it certainly was not the author's best work.It did draw attention to a group of very brave men, the B-24 crew members in the European Theater, which was good as this group and this plane is often overlooked.It did seem to me though that the author, on one side was trying to write a biography of George McGovern, or if he was trying to cover the air war during the last part of WWII.I did enjoy his trade mark technique of telling the stories of different men who participated, but he would always go back to McGovern.Perhaps if he had stuck to one or the other the book would have had more of an impact.Parts of this work did drag and were rather repetative.On the other hand, the author did not try to over dramatize McGovern's part in the war.The work was well crafted and you certainy would not waste your time in reading it.I suppose it is not quite fare to compare this work with other works by this author.After all, no one bats a thousand all the time.Overall, recommend this one with reservations.It is about very brave young men and we do need to know as much about them as possible.

Almost to dramatic to be believed
The only other Ambrose book I've read was "Band of brothers" so I really can't compare it to his other works. But I had to comment after reading the negative reviews. They must have skipped around a lot. This book was so exciting and dramatic it was almost unbelievable. McGovern shows himself to be an exceptional pilot and a true hero. The book is full of unforgetable moments and breath-taking action. After reading it I immediatly started looking up more information on line. I consider it a must read.

Mr. Mc Govern's book.
I have read better books by Stephen Ambrose(or his team of writers...). This one is dull, tiringsome, centered in one person. Ok the guy was supposed to be charismatic in spite of not wining a presidential election long ago forgotten.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - History    2. Abridged Audio - Misc. Nonfiction    3. Aerial operations, American    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. B-24 bomber    6. History    7. Military    8. Military - Aviation    9. Military - United States    10. Military - World War II    11. Regimental histories    12. United States    13. World War, 1939-1945    14. History / Russia (pre- & post-Soviet Union)   

Features

• Unabridged

Subjects:  1. Europe - General    2. History    3. History: World    4. Unabridged Audio - History    5. World - General