Fascinating history

A captivating history of a remarkable life. I wish I were eloquent enough to do this title justice. If you enjoy history at all you will be enthralled by this book. Because I find that I retain less of the content of audio books than those I read, I often try to listen to history titles twice so that I will remember more. Unlike most titles, I enjoyed this book the second time through as much as the first.

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11 people found this helpful

Nice book awful narration

The content of the book was very readable and moved along at pace. Did not learn anything new but feel it was worth the read to get more of an holistic grasp of the story.
What spoiled it for me was the affected upper middle class drawl of the narrator who simply murder the correct pronunciation of many words. So officer becomes awficor as just one example. I would feel sad for anyone using this as a guide to the English language.

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Excellent

Only recently discovered Harold Lamb, this is one of his best. Didn’t know a lot about Hannibal but feel I have a good understanding now. Also really like the narration.

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fascinating and evocative

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this- for the content and the narration. And it gives an insight inot Hannibal who I now know was more than just about elephants and the alps! Also fascinating for the interrelationship of Rome, Carthage, Gauls, Numidians, Spainish, Greek etc at that time- when two superpowers through individuals and their armies.

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2 people found this helpful

A fantastic story of man against the odds

This is a well delivered story of Hannibal Barca, one of the few men who defeated the Romans in their own land. It is read by the excellent Charlton Griffin. It begins with the beginning of the Punic conflict, to the Barcas, through to Hannibal's life. Like Alexander the Great, Hannibal had a successful military father in Hamalcar Barca. It is through his promise to his father that Hannibal attacked Rome.

The book is intriguing and brings many insight into Hannibal. It was written by an author in the early 20th century. Much of what we know about Hannibal no longer survives, and most if not all sources are from the Roman sources. We may never know the true reason why Hannibal winded up eventually losing the way.

Though the Roman sources says it was their military might, one question whether betrayal may have a causative factor.

Be that as it may, the story of Hannibal reads out much like a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy.

Hannibal has been always associated with military genius, with even a character of the A-Team being named after him.

I think most people will enjoy this story, and will find it a great listen.

One point - the book fails to mention that Hannibal lead several successful naval campaigns, after he left the Greeks, before the Romans finally got him.

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1 person found this helpful

Interesting but drab

A very interesting subject, and I learned a great deal about the history of Hannibal. However this lacked the passion I expected and it was a much drier presentation than I hoped or expected. Not one of the best audio choices I have made but I suspect that I will return to several times over the years when I feel the need to be intellectual.

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3 people found this helpful