The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100M Final
By
Richard Moore
Narrated By
Traber Burns
Overall
(1)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of athletics, and more indelibly etched into the consciousness of the sport, the Olympics, and a global audience of millions, than any other athletics event before or since.
Containing remarkable new revelations, this book uses witness interviews - with Johnson, Lewis and Smith among others - to reconstruct the build-up to the race, the race itself, and the fallout when news of Johnson's positive test broke and he was forced into hiding. It also examines the rivalry of the two favourites going into it, and puts the race in a historical context, examining its continuing relevance on the sport today, where every new record elicits scepticism.
The Debate
Maggie Thatcher Saved Britain
By
Intelligence Squared Limited
Overall
(11)
Performance
(1)
Story
(1)
Maggie Thatcher Saved Britain Lord Bell, Charles Moore, and The Rt.Hon Sir John Nott spoke for the motion. Billy Bragg, Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, and Diane Abbott MP spoke against the motion.
Margaret Thatcher died on Monday 8th April aged 87 following a stroke. Known as the Iron Lady, Baroness Thatcher was Britain’s first and only female prime minister from 1979 to 1990. One of the most influential political figures of the 20th century, she was also one of the most divisive: the saviour – and scourge – of Britain. In this live debate, Lord Bell, Charles Moore, and The Rt.Hon Sir John Nott spoke for the motion. Billy Bragg, Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, and Diane Abbott MP spoke against the motion.
Customer Favourites
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume III, Red River to Appomattox
By
Shelby Foote
Narrated By
Grover Gardner
Overall
(25)
Performance
(2)
Story
(2)
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.
Chris Hunter has the most dangerous job in the world in the most dangerous place in the world: he's responsible for bomb disposal in the British sector of Iraq, pitted against some of the most ruthless and technically advanced terrorists in the world. It is a 24/7 job; his team defused over 45 bombs in the first two months alone. And the people they're up against don't play by the Geneva Convention. For them, there are no rules, only results.
In 'The Colditz Story', Pat Reid told the story of the escape academy that sprang up inside the most impregnable German POW camp of the Second World War, ending appropriately with his own incredible escape from Colditz. But Reid's own break-out was by no means the last. In this enthralling sequel, he follows the fortunes of the escape academy right up until the arrival of the allied forces in April 1945. Here are the tales of fantastic bravery and stunning ingenuity every bit as mesmerising as the original.
The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture
By
Thomas Madden
Overall
(12)
Performance
(2)
Story
(1)
An award-winning, widely recognized expert on pre-modern history, Professor Thomas F. Madden concludes this two-part series on the medieval world. In this course, we will see the error of the commonly held assumption that the "Dark Ages" was a time of superstition, ignorance, and violence. Rather than a time of darkness, the Middle Ages saw extraordinary innovation, invention, and cultural vitality.
From the earliest civilizations to the 21st century: a global journey through human history, published alongside a landmark BBC One television series. Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean.
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.
In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe', fearing discovery. All that time, Anne kept a diary.An intimate record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, Anne Frank's diary is one of those unique documents, famed throughout the world.It portrays innocence and humanity, suffering and survival in the starkest and most moving terms.
Here is a gripping account of the major postwar trial of the Nazi hierarchy in World War II. The Nuremberg Trial brilliantly recreates the trial proceedings and offers a reasoned, often profound examination of the processes that created international law. From the whimpering of Kaltenbrunner and Ribbentrop on the stand to the icy coolness of Goering, each participant is vividly drawn.
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 Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
by
William L. Shirer
Narrated by
Grover Gardner
4.4
(460 ratings)
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the 20th century's blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years.
A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485: Brief Histories
by
Nicholas Vincent
Narrated by
Roger Davies
4.2
(25 ratings)
From the Norman Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth Field - how Britain was invaded and became a nation. The first volume in the stunning four-volume Brief History of Britain series. From the Battle of Hastings to the Battle of Bosworth Field, Nicholas Vincent tells the story of how Britain was born. When William, Duke of Normandy, killed King Harold and seized the throne of England, England's language, culture, politics, and law were transformed.
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.
In 1660 England emerged from the devastations of the Civil Wars and restored the king, Charles II, to the throne. Over the next 190 years Britain would establish itself as the leading nation in the world - the centre of burgeoning Empire, at the forefront of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. However, radical change also brought with it anxiety and violence. America is lost in the War of Independence and calls for revolution at home are never far from the surface of everyday life.
Churchill's history of the Second World War is, and will remain, the definitive work. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction.
It was the night of May 16th, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge cylindrical bomb strapped underneath them. Their mission: to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the Third Reich's war machine. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous set-backs and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing raids of all time.
A giant in American journalism in the vanguard of "The Greatest Generation" reveals his World War II experiences in this National Geographic book. More than 100 of Cronkite's letters from 1943-45 (plus a few earlier letters) survive. They reveal surprising and little-known facts about this storied public figure in the vanguard of "The Greatest Generation". They chronicle both a great love story and a great war story.
The author says this book is a profound study of our incomparable Navy, and indeed it is, but the guileless solemnity with which he presents and explains a wealth of untoward incident combines Norfield's innocently literal interpretations to make it just as diverting as it is profound. Beyond doubt there is no other like it. Both author and artist are out for fun. They take an impish delight in looking at things in every way but the normal and what they see loses nothing but their sense of period which is certainly as timeless as the sea itself.
Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction
By
Allen C. Guelzo
Narrated By
Brian Holsopple
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
In Fateful Lightning, two-time Lincoln Prize-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the Civil War and its era, covering not only the major figures and epic battles, but also politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. He examines the strategy, the tactics, and the logistics of the Civil War and brings the most recent historical thinking to bear on emancipation, the presidency and the war powers, the blockade and international law, and the role of intellectuals, North and South.
By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans
By
Greg Robinson
Narrated By
R.C. Bray
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
On February 19, 1942, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese Army successes in the Pacific, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a fateful order. In the name of security, Executive Order 9066 allowed for the summary removal of Japanese aliens and American citizens of Japanese descent from their West Coast homes and their incarceration under guard in camps. Amid the numerous histories and memoirs devoted to this shameful event, FDR's contributions have been seen as negligible.
On the Trail of the Assassins: One Man's Quest to Solve the Murder of President Kennedy
By
Jim Garrison
Narrated By
Mark Kincaid
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
Almost 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his murder continues to haunt the American psyche and stands as a turning point in our nation's history. The Warren Commission rushed out its report in 1964, but questions continue to linger: Was there a conspiracy? Was there a coup at the highest levels of government? On March 1, 1967, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison shocked the world by arresting local businessman Clay Shaw for conspiracy to murder the president.
The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story
By
Dean King
Narrated By
Dan Woren
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
Filled with bitter quarrels, reckless affairs, treacherous betrayals, relentless mercenaries, and courageous detectives, The Feud is the riveting story of two frontier families struggling for survival within the narrow confines of an unforgiving land. It is a formative American tale, and in it, we see the reflection of our own family bonds and the lengths to which we might go in order to defend our honor, our loyalties, and our livelihood.
A Companion to Thomas Jefferson presents a state-of-the-art assessment and overview of the life and legacy of Thomas Jefferson through a collection of essays grounded in the latest scholarship. Features essays by the leading scholars in the field, including Pulitzer Prize winners Annette Gordon-Reed and Jack Rakove.
Law in American History : Volume 1: From the Colonial Years Through the Civil War
By
G. Edward White
Narrated By
Graeme Spicer
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
In the first of the three volumes of his projected comprehensive narrative history of the role of law in America from the colonial years through the twentieth century, G. Edward White takes up the central themes of American legal history from the earliest European settlements through the Civil War.
Fever Season: The Story of a Terrifying Epidemic and the People Who Saved a City
By
Jeanette Keith
Narrated By
Margie Lenhart
Overall
(0)
Performance
(0)
Story
(0)
While the American South had grown to expect a yellow fever breakout almost annually, the 1878 epidemic was without question the worst ever. Moving up the Mississippi River in the late summer, in the span of just a few months the fever killed more than 18,000 people. The city of Memphis, Tennessee, was particularly hard hit: Of the approximately 20,000 who didn't flee the city, 17,000 contracted the fever, and more than 5,000 died - the equivalent of a million New Yorkers dying in an epidemic today. Fever Season chronicles the drama in Memphis from the outbreak in August until the disease ran its course in late October.
Thomas, better known as "Uncle Tom", reflects on his youth as the servant of a storekeeper. Tom's boyish spirit is confronted with a number of disappointments; however, he never loses sight of his goal to be free. The Adventures of Uncle Tom detail the nature of a young man full of wit, character and resourcefulness to out "fox" his ill-tempered master.
It was the largest campaign ever attempted in the Civil War: the Peninsula campaign of 1862. General George McClellan planned to advance from Yorktown up the Virginia Peninsula and destroy the Rebel army in its own capital. But with Robert E. Lee delivering blows to the Union army, McClellan's plan fell through at the gates of Richmond. Now, in a study of the great Civil War engagement that weaves together narrative, military analysis, and eyewitness accounts drawn from the diaries and letters of soldiers, historian Stephen W. Sears showcases all the reasons why Ken Burns, the producer of the PBS series The Civil War, calls Sears "one of our best Civil War historians."
From the end of the Second World War to the present day, the world has changed immeasurably. The art of spying has changed too, as spies have reacted to changing threats. Here you will find the fascinating stories of real-life spies, both famous and obscure, from either side of the Iron Curtain, along with previously secret details of War on Terror operations.Detailed stories of individual spies are set in the context of the development of the major espionage agencies, interspersed with anecdotes of gadgets, trickery, honeytraps and assassinations worthy of any fictional spy.