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The Sleepwalkers

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The Sleepwalkers

By: Christopher Clark
Narrated by: Peter Silverleaf
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The pacy, sensitive and formidably argued history of the causes of the First World War, from acclaimed historian and author Christopher Clark.

Sunday Times and Independent Books of the Year 2012.

The moments that it took Gavrilo Princip to step forward to the stalled car and shoot dead Franz Ferdinand and his wife were perhaps the most fateful of the modern era. An act of terrorism of staggering efficiency, it fulfilled its every aim: it would liberate Bosnia from Habsburg rule, and it created a powerful new Serbia, but it also brought down four great empires, killed millions of men and destroyed a civilization. What made a seemingly prosperous and complacent Europe so vulnerable to the impact of this assassination?

In The Sleepwalkers Christopher Clark retells the story of the outbreak of the First World War and its causes. Above all, it shows how the failure to understand the seriousness of the chaotic, near genocidal fighting in the Balkans would drag Europe into catastrophe.

©2012 Christopher Clark (P)2018 Audible, Ltd 20th Century 21st Century Europe Great Britain Judaism Military Modern Russia World War Imperialism Middle Ages Thought-Provoking Winston Churchill Soviet Union Middle East Socialism Africa Royalty Self-Determination Interwar Period
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Narration is totally fine, I could follow along no problem. The book itself is magnificent.

Groundbreaking and riveting. Narration good enough

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This is a great book. Fascinating and well researched by a master historian. However, the narrator, Peter Silverleaf, clearly never bothered to read the book prior to recording his narration, did not practice the pronunciation of the names and often sounds bored stiff. Even this isn’t enough to ruin a great book, but it heavily detracts from it, which is a great shame.

I agree with all the other reviewers

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Great book (apparently) spoiled by un-listenable narration with very basic pronunciation errors. Narration is not as bad at the beginning so I got a few hours in before giving up.

Awful narration

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Incredibly bad narration. So unfortunate, as it made an otherwise good book irritating to listen to.

Appalling narration

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Christopher Clarke did an outstanding and brilliant job. Such a huge eye opener about WW1

Immensely brilliant

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