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A brilliant picture of dark age Britain & Ireland
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A brilliant picture of dark age Britain & Ireland
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I feel failed by my schooling
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The Last Viking
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A great way to re-tell the sagas
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For 2,500 years, the Celts have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then, huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds. All these developments are part of this fully updated edition.
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Continuously inhabited for five millennia and at one point the most powerful city in ancient Greece, Thebes has been overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. According to myth, the city was founded when Kadmos sowed dragon’s teeth into the ground and warriors sprang forth, ready not only to build the fledgling city but to defend it from all-comers. It was Hercules’ birthplace and the home of the Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus solved, winning the Theban crown and the king’s widow in marriage, little knowing that the widow was his mother, Jocasta.
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Excellent general account, poor reading
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We often think of Britain springing from nowhere with the arrival of the Romans. But in Ancestors, pre-eminent archaeologist, broadcaster and academic Professor Alice Roberts explores what we can learn about the very earliest Britons – from their burial sites. Although we have very little evidence of what life was like in prehistorical times, here their stories are told through the bones and funerary offerings left behind, preserved in the ground for thousands of years.
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Patronising and barely disguised prejudice
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Powers and Thrones
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From the best-selling author of The Templars, Dan Jones' epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built. Across 16 chapters, blending Dan Jones' trademark gripping narrative style with authoritative analysis, Powers and Thrones shows how, at each stage in this story, successive Western powers thrived by attracting - or stealing - the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world.
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A stunning recounting of the past (and probable lesson for the future)
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Our understanding of the Persian Empire has traditionally come from the histories of Greek writers such as Herodotus—and as such, over many centuries, our perspective has been skewed by ancient political and cultural agendas. Professor Llewellyn-Jones, however, calls upon original Achaemenid sources, including inscriptions, art and recent archaeological discoveries in Iran, to create an authentic 'Persian Version' of this remarkable first great empire of antiquity—the Age of the Great Kings.
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Fascinating new history of ancient Persia
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Buried
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- Unabridged
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Funerary rituals show us what people thought about mortality; how they felt about loss; what they believed came next. From Roman cremations and graveside feasts, to deviant burials with heads rearranged, from richly furnished Anglo Saxon graves to the first Christian burial grounds in Wales, Buried provides an alternative history of the first millennium in Britain.
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So interesting
- By FJI on 15-06-22
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The Song of Simon de Montfort
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- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The Song of Simon de Montfort is the story of this extraordinary man: heir to a great warrior, devoted husband and father, fearless crusader knight and charismatic leader. It is the story of a man whose passion for good governance was so fierce that, in 1258, frustrated by the king’s refusal to take the advice of his nobles and the increasing injustice meted out to his subjects, he marched on Henry III’s hall at Westminster and seized the reins of power.
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Listen at speed 1.2x
- By Christine on 11-03-22
Summary
The best-selling author of The King in the North turns his attention to the obscure era of British history known as 'the age of Arthur'.
Somewhere in the dim void between the departure from Britain of the Roman legions at the start of the fifth century and the days of the venerable Bede, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what?
Max Adams scrutinises the narrative handed down to us by later historians and chronicles, stripping away the most lurid nonsense about Arthur and synthesising the research of the last 40 years to tease out strands of reality from myth.
His central theme evolves from an apparently simple question: how, after the end of the Roman state, were people taxed? Rejecting ethnic and nationalist explanations for the emergence of the Early Medieval kingdoms, Adams shows how careful use of a wide range of perspectives, from anthropology to geography, can deliver a picture of the emergence of distinct polities in the sixth century that survive long enough to be embedded in the medieval landscape, recorded in the lines of river, road and watershed and in place names.
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What listeners say about The First Kingdom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 19-02-21
Academic and accessible... oh, and enjoyable.
Max Adams strikes a perfect balance between the academic and the accessible in The First Kingdom: Britain in the Age of Arthur. I am perennially peeved when books about Britain turn out to be clearly – in your face - books about England, written by chaps for chaps. The First Kingdom is not like that. Max Adams uses the evidence that is, not what he would have liked the evidence to be, and so, what we get is clarity and reality - brilliantly written. Just don’t expect an historical Arthur. He is in the title because every post-Roman-Britain history book has to have Arthur in the title. This detracts from a reading of the title but not from a reading of the book. The narration by Kris Dyer is precise and engaging. The First Kingdom - highly recommended. Adam Ardrey
PS One thing only – Constantine, “tyrant whelp of the filthy lioness,” was from Damnonia, Scotland, not from Dumnonia, England. The Latin says Damnonia. This was “translated”, or, rather, 'changed' to Dumnonia in the English. Arthurian Sources. vol. 7, Ed. John Morris. This sets Arthur, not in Scotland, in England. No big deal - Even Homer...
4 people found this helpful
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- Shaun
- 17-02-21
Awful narration
The narration on this book is so awful that I can’t listen to it. It’s so robotic and unnatural. It actually sounds like C3PO and Siri had a baby.
4 people found this helpful
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- Elsa
- 09-03-21
Excellent book but not an easy listen
Excellent book but very robotic reader unfortunately. At times this made this interesting book difficult to listen to.
2 people found this helpful
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- Benjamin
- 25-07-21
Great book, terrible narration
Always love Max Adams books. As a professional archaeologist, his books are still a surprising and educational synthesis for me. I would recommend reading any of his books, especially this one, however this is the first I have got as an audiobook and this narrator is awful. I was under the impression that narrators were voice artists, but this person can't act, can't add the right emphasis and speaks with a flat nasal tone throughout. I'm not sure what the word is for the opposite of gravitas, but this is it.
1 person found this helpful
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- Man-O-War1977
- 24-02-21
Awful narration
I was really looking forward to this but the narrator makes an already dry subject unendurable
1 person found this helpful
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- Meddestane
- 17-11-21
Unlistenable
I can't comment on the content as the "narrator' renders the book entirely unlistenable. His tone sounds sarcastic and far too often he finishes sentences with a questioning inflection. I shan't be rude by mentioning his voice's nasal quality...
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- David Glyn Lewis
- 05-10-21
Pronunciation
Great book ruined by the terrible narrator. No research whatsoever into how to pronounce current Gaelic/Welsh words, let alone OE words. Disappointed.
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- KittyA
- 24-09-21
Probably a good book, but poor narration.
I wish I'd bought this as a book to read. Five chapters in and I'm struggling with the narration which is monotonous, robotic, and lacks fluency. Not sure if I'll be able to finish.
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- Don't leave your toaster in the rain
- 19-06-21
Pronunciation of modern Welsh placenames weak
I'm a native but not a Welsh speaker and found this hard to follow. I wonder if the Latin and Gaelic were as bad?
Loved the text. The last chapter could have been more gripping
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- Anonymous User
- 25-05-21
Appalling Narration , Drossy Content
It is hard to say which is worse -the appallingly bad narration or the actual 'story' which sounds like it was written by a weak A'level history exam candidate (the sort who waffle to pad out an essay). I had been looking forward to my first Max Adams , having heard much good about them but I shall be returning this as soon as I have finished this review.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-03-21
Very interesting, but not in my truck
I listen to audio books in my truck. This book, although well written, and well delivered, and I do enjoy the subject, was impossible for me to follow while driving. Anything happens do distract me for ten seconds and I fall behind and I cannot catch up. I will try again in the house, with maps, sitting, alone.
1 person found this helpful