Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with 'Voices of the Powerless', the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. The Norman Conquest is his starting point, a time when William the Conqueror's 'harrying of the North' affected the poor apprentice, the lowly ploughman and the humble shepherd.
Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with 'Voices of the Powerless', the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years.
Revolution Series
The Declarations of Havana (Revolutions Series): Tariq Ali presents Fidel Castro
By
Fidel Castro,
Ali Tariq
Narrated by
Chris Pavlo,
Tariq Ali
1.00
(1 ratings)
In response to the American administration's attempt to isolate Cuba, Fidel Castro delivered a series of speeches designed to radicalize Latin American society. As Latin America experiences more revolutions in Venezuela and Bolivia, and continues to upset America's plan for neoliberal imperialism, renowned radical writer and activist Tariq Ali provides a searing analysis of the relevance of Castro's message today. Includes an exclusive additional introduction by Tariq Ali.
8 titles featuring classic revolutionary texts by key figures from different periods and countries, ranging from Jesus Christ to Thomas Jefferson and Fidel Castro to Ho Chi Minh. Each classic text is introduced by major contemporary radical thinkers like Tariq Ali, Walden Bello and Hugo Chavez.
Customer Favourites
Shadow Divers: Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of WWII
By
Robert Kurson
Narrated by
Michael Prichard
4.80
(36 ratings)
In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat, complete with its crew of 60 men, not too far off the New Jersey coast. The divers, realizing the momentousness of their discovery, began probing the mystery. Over the next six years, they became expert and well-traveled researchers, taught themselves German, hunted for clues in Germany, and constructed theories corrective of the history books, all in an effort to identify this sunken U-boat and its crew.
Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty
By
Catherine Bailey
Narrated by
Gareth Armstrong
4.30
(96 ratings)
Wentworth is today a crumbling and forgotten palace in Yorkshire. Yet just 100 years ago it was the ancestral pile of the Fitzwilliam's - an aristocratic clan whose home and life were fuelled by coal mining. This is the story of their spectacular decline: of inheritance fights; rumours of a changeling and of lunacy; philandering earls; illicit love; war heroism: a tragic connection to the Kennedy's; violent deaths: mining poverty and squalor; and a class war that literally ripped apart the local landscape.
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume III, Red River to Appomattox
By
Shelby Foote
Narrated by
Grover Gardner
4.80
(17 ratings)
In the third and last volume of this vivid history, Shelby Foote brings to a close the story of four years of turmoil and strife which altered American life forever. Here, told in rich narrative and as seen from both sides, are those climactic struggles, great and small, on and off the field of battle, which finally decided the fate of this nation.
Of all the civilizations that have ever existed, none have inspired as much wonder and awe as Ancient Rome. No society has replicated the achievements nor enjoyed the longevity that the Roman Empire did. This course explores the world of Ancient Rome as students investigate important events and key figures of the epoch. At the end of this course, students will possess a thorough understanding of Ancient Rome's legacy to the modern world.
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Charles Dickens: A Life, the major new biography from the highly acclaimed Claire Tomalin, published for the 200th anniversary of his birth. Read by the actor Alex Jennings.
A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's fascinating and humorous quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. He takes subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry, and particle physics, and aims to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. In the company of some extraordinary scientists, Bill Bryson reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.
A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. This shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world - soldiers, sailors and airmen; housewives, farm workers and children. Reflecting Max Hastings's thirty-five years of research on World War II, All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events, but focuses chiefly upon human experience. This
From ancient times to the present day, the story of England has been laced with drama, intrigue, courage and passion - a rich and vibrant narrative of heroes and villains, kings and rebels, artists and highwaymen, bishops and scientists. In Great Tales from English History, historian Robert Lacey captures the most pivotal moments and the stories of the extraordinary characters who helped shape a nation.
Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World
Written by:
Kwasi Kwarteng
Narrated by:
Kwasi Kwarteng,
Elliot Levey
Not rated yet
The British Empire was the creation of a tremendous outpouring of energy and opportunism, when the British were at their most self-confident, and the wealth they gathered was prodigious. At its heart lay a sense of the rectitude of the British way of life, meted out to vast swathes of the rest of the world without let or hindrance. Yet, as this book explains, the empire was not formed by coherent policy, and its decline reflected this.
In this second volume of short essays, renowned historian Robert Lacey opens with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the flowering of the modern English language in the final years of the 14th century and ends with the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9, when Parliament secured control over the Crown. Along the way we hear about Dick Whittington and his cat, the origin of the V sign at Agincourt, The Wars of the Roses and all the pivotal events which have fashioned a nation.
Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, considering how the ordinary things in life came to be.
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Written by:
Ian Mortimer
Narrated by:
Jonathan Keeble
4.1
(245 ratings)
Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
In this magisterial book, Roy Jenkins' unparalleled command of the political history of Britain and his own high-level government experience combine in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.
Shortlisted for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2007. A History of Modern Britain confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age - rival idealisms - came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity, and self-gratification. In each decade, political leaders have thought they knew what they were doing, but found themselves confounded. Every time, the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted.
One of the best selling History titles of 2009. Examining the Second World War on every front, Andrew Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-making process and a different strategy, Hitler's Axis might even have won. Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler after the war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their former Führer once he was safely beyond defending himself?
It is the most famous military installation in the world. And no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside of it. Until now. This is the first book based on interviews with scientists, pilots, and engineers - 58 in total - who provide an unprecedented look into the mysterious activities of a top-secret base, from the Cold War to today. With a jaw-dropping ending, it proves that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.
Cornelius Vanderbilt parlayed a $100.00 investment into the largest private transportation company in the world while creating an American Dynasty in New York, Newport, Vermont, and Asheville, North Carolina. This history of his family and their lush, opulent lifestyle is filled with juicy stories and fun tidbits about their lives in the Gilded Era.
Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
By
Ken Burns,
Dayton Duncan
Narrated by
Ken Burns,
Adam Arkin
Not rated yet
In the spring of 1804, at the behest of President oThomas Jefferson, a party of explorers called the Corps of Discovery crossed the Mississippi River and started up the Missouri, heading west into the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.
Minutes after 2 A.M. on November 21, 1970, more than one hundred U.S. war planes shattered the dark calm of the skies over Hanoi. Their mission: rescue sixty-one American POWs from Son Tay prison. Less than thirty minutes later, the raid was over, but no Americans had been rescued. The prisoners had been moved from Son Tay four and a half months earlier and that wasn't all. Part of the raiding force landed at the wrong compound, a "school" bristling with enemy soldiers, but the soldiers weren't Vietnamese....
Author Larry Chambers vividly describes the guts and courage it took to pass the though volunteer-only training program in Nha Tarng to be part of the 5th Special Forces Recondo School, the hair-raising graduation mission to scout out, locate, and out-guerilla the NVA. Here is an unforgettable account that follows Chambers and the Rangers every step of the way - from joining, going through Recondo, and finally leading his own team on white-knuckle missions through the jungle hell of Vietnam.
Whattaya Mean I Can't Kill 'Em?: A Navy SEAL in Vietnam
By
Rad Miller
Narrated by
Eric Conger
Not rated yet
A tour in Vietnam as a Frog - a member of the navy's Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) - wasn't challenging enough for Rad Miller. So he spent most of 1968 learning to be a SEAL, completing what is arguably the toughest warrior training in the world. By early 1969, he was back in Vietnam, ready to go deep behind enemy lines with a squad of only seven men. In his unvarnished and brutally candid account, Miller shares the raw, bloody, and courageous daily life of SEALs in Vietnam.
In this volume is told the story of the first crusaders. It begins with their setting out, and it ends with the death of the last survivor. Eight hundred and thirty-five years have passed since then, and the lines of these men are known to us only by the chronicles of their days. Several of these chronicles were written by men who marched with the crusaders, by two chaplains and an unknown soldier.
Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World
By
Kwasi Kwarteng
Narrated by
Kwasi Kwarteng,
Elliot Levey
Not rated yet
The British Empire was the creation of a tremendous outpouring of energy and opportunism, when the British were at their most self-confident, and the wealth they gathered was prodigious. At its heart lay a sense of the rectitude of the British way of life, meted out to vast swathes of the rest of the world without let or hindrance. Yet, as this book explains, the empire was not formed by coherent policy, and its decline reflected this.
Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II
By
Barrett Tillman
Narrated by
Tom Weiner
Not rated yet
America's most decorated warship of World War II, Enterprise was constantly engaged against the Japanese Empire, earning the title "the fightingest ship" in the navy. Her career was eventful, vital, and short. Commissioned in 1938, her bombers sank a submarine just ten days after the Pearl Harbor attack, claiming the first Japanese vessel lost in the war.
Blackhorse Riders: A Desperate Last Stand, an Extraordinary Rescue Mission, and the Vietnam Battle America Forgot
By
Philip Keith
Narrated by
Dick Hill
Not rated yet
This is the incredible true story of a brave military unit in Vietnam that risked everything to rescue an outnumbered troop under heavy fire-and the 39-year odyssey to recognize their bravery.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama
By
Steven F. Hayward
Narrated by
Johnny Heller
Not rated yet
Academics, journalists, and popular historians agree: our greatest presidents are the ones who confronted a national crisis and mobilized the entire nation to face it. That's the conventional wisdom. The chief executives who are celebrated in textbooks and placed in the top echelon of presidents in surveys of experts are the bold leaders - the Woodrow Wilsons and Franklin Roosevelts - who reshaped the United States in line with their grand "vision" for America. Unfortunately, along the way, these "great" presidents inevitably expanded government - and shrank our liberties.
A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. This shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world - soldiers, sailors and airmen; housewives, farm workers and children. Reflecting Max Hastings's thirty-five years of research on World War II, All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events, but focuses chiefly upon human experience. This
Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution
By
Mark Meckler,
Jenny Beth Martin
Narrated by
Mark Meckler,
Jenny Beth Martin
Not rated yet
In 2009, an unemployed mother of two and a politically inexperienced Northern California attorney met on a conference call that would end up starting one of the largest grassroots political organizations in American history, the Tea Party Patriots. Fueled by the fires of passion and patriotism, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin have become the faces of the most powerful political movement in the country, empowering their more than twenty million members by using both high-tech advances and the time-tested American tradition of rallying in public.