fm2
- 18
- reviews
- 36
- helpful votes
- 18
- ratings
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Seapower States
- Maritime Culture, Continental Empires, and the Conflict That Made the Modern World
- By: Andrew Lambert
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge - winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal - turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as "seapowers" informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size. Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline.
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1 out of 5 stars
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only got 1 hour or so through
- By fm2 on 01-14-19
- Seapower States
- Maritime Culture, Continental Empires, and the Conflict That Made the Modern World
- By: Andrew Lambert
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
only got 1 hour or so through
Reviewed: 01-14-19
Intro and part of Ch. 1 i listened to were horribly repetitive....went around in circles a bit--these are not such difficult cocnepts that they require this. the editor failed in his job.
gave up
maybe back end is better
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5 people found this helpful
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Darkest Hour
- How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink
- By: Anthony McCarten
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 975
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 857
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 854
May 1940. Britain is at war, Winston Churchill has unexpectedly been promoted to prime minister, and the horrors of Blitzkrieg witness one Western European democracy fall after another in rapid succession. Facing this horror, with pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, Churchill wonders what words could capture the public mood when the invasion of Britain seems mere hours away. It is this fascinating period that Anthony McCarten captures in this deeply researched and wonderfully written new book, The Darkest Hour.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping
- By Jean on 12-06-17
- Darkest Hour
- How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink
- By: Anthony McCarten
- Narrated by: John Lee
good story, but amateurishly written
Reviewed: 03-07-18
Contains bombastic language, exaggeration, many, many very trite expressions ( and a bit of condescension in the early pages/minutes). It's not boring, but it is annoying and it seems like it was written by a teenager even if a well-informed and well-read one. As a result, hard to "trust" it and after 2 hours i gave up. i think i'll go see the movie instead.
performance was okay
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Pax Romana
- War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 485
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 427
Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the conquered and examines why they broke out, why most failed, and how they became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing resistance movements to fade away.
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2 out of 5 stars
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2 stars if youve read goldsworthy; 2.5 or 3 if not
- By fm2 on 10-21-16
- Pax Romana
- War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
2 stars if youve read goldsworthy; 2.5 or 3 if not
Reviewed: 10-21-16
Hes an excellent writer and historian, well balanced and realistic.
this book however, has too much recycled material from his other books and some of the lengthy chapters are badly organized...especially 8 and 9..those chapters wore me out
the chapter on cicero's governorship are interesting
the intro and the conclusion are his same warning hes used in other books not to use rome as a lens for today etc etc etc
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11 people found this helpful
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By My Hand
- The Christmas of Commissario Ricciardi: The Commissario Ricciardi Series, Book 5
- By: Maurizio de Giovanni
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
As Naples prepares for its holiday celebrations, behind the facade of order and happiness imposed by the fascist regime lurks terrible poverty and blinding desperation. In a luxurious apartment on the Mergellina beach, the bodies of a fascist militia officer and his wife have been found. The woman's throat has been cut while the man has been stabbed over 60 times. Seemingly, the hands of two separate killers have been at work.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I'm not an Audible regular
- By pickyreader on 06-07-21
- By My Hand
- The Christmas of Commissario Ricciardi: The Commissario Ricciardi Series, Book 5
- By: Maurizio de Giovanni
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
still good but
Reviewed: 08-27-16
as the series wears on the author overplays his hand on the personal story lines (as opposed to the crime). he takes too many opportunities to stretch them out book after book.
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I Will Have Vengeance
- Commissario Ricciardi, Book 1
- By: Maurizio de Giovanni
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 178
Naples, 1931. A bitter wind stalks the city streets, and murder lies at its chilled heart. When Maestro Vezzi, one of the world's greatest tenors, is found brutally murdered in his dressing room at Naples' famous San Carlo theater, the enigmatic and aloof Commissario Ricciardi is called to investigate. Arrogant and bad-tempered, Vezzi was hated by many. But with the livelihoods of the opera at stake, who would have committed such a callous act?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Little right, a Lot Wrong
- By Gabrielle on 03-08-16
- I Will Have Vengeance
- Commissario Ricciardi, Book 1
- By: Maurizio de Giovanni
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
series review: very good noir; a bit unusual
Reviewed: 08-27-16
The 7 books in the series are good- some are very good. i have my quibbles and complaints about a couple of 'em (i.e. the author intentionally misleads) but mystery novels often have those issues.
the books also bring a nice flavor of naples.
grover gardner is great as always--yes, his italian is a bit off...but an excellent narrator.
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5 people found this helpful
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The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 996
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 899
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 888
From the best-selling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
- The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
too much minutiae
Reviewed: 02-11-16
way too much unimportant minutiae....well written and read, ltos of background, but she goes too far
could be cut by a quarter without loss.
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A Study in Scarlet
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 938
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 809
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 809
Originally named A Tangled Skein, this is the first Sherlock Holmes story. The real strength and the unique quality of the novel lies in the introduction of Holmes and Watson to each other - and those dark early scenes when a corpse is discovered in a derelict house in southeast London. The ultimate crusader against crime and criminals, Holmes' genius is revealed here for the very first time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The result of all our study in scarlet ...
- By Felicia J on 11-04-13
- A Study in Scarlet
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
wrong title for javcobi
Reviewed: 03-23-15
Jacobi is a great narrator for many things but does lousy americna accents and this book had a lot of americans in it-at least in part two. so part two was much more unpleasant to lsiten to than part one
.
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The Restoration of Rome
- Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 134
In AD 476, the last of Rome's emperors, known as "Augustulus", was deposed by a barbarian general, the son of one of Attila the Hun's henchmen. With the imperial vestments dispatched to Constantinople, the curtain fell on the Roman empire in Western Europe, its territories divided among successor kingdoms constructed around barbarian military manpower. But, if the Roman Empire was dead, Romans across much of the old empire still lived, holding on to their lands, their values, and their institutions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Byzantine Empire Stands Tall!
- By Placeholder on 05-22-14
- The Restoration of Rome
- Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
Written for the college freshman
Reviewed: 02-09-15
The author, although clearly knowledgeable and has studied the sources from several angles, writes as if he is teaching a lecture hall of 250 freshman, and is trying his best to get good student "reviews" or "ratings" at the end of the semester. Annoying for an adult.
The narrator is very competent but i don't like him. Not everyone will have the same problem of course. I listened to one other book which he narrated, and it is the same. He is best described as SMARMY sounding. I'm sure that he wont irritate many people, especially those who themselves are smarmy. But i find him irritating to listen to...not droll, but........
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1 person found this helpful
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Charlemagne
- By: Richard Winston
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 990
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 550
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Story4 out of 5 stars 553
Charlemagne was easily one of the most fascinating figures in Western civilization, as well as the most heroic and romantic. The 47 years of his reign marked some of the most significant and far reaching events of the Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, it was his enlightened vision for Europe that resulted in the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural flowering that never really ceased to develop, and which led in a straight line directly to that period of astonishing achievement we now call the High Gothic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I like this book
- By Randall on 04-25-09
- Charlemagne
- By: Richard Winston
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
Excellent
Reviewed: 12-13-14
Well told and interesting. The author is from a school of history prior to that which started to gain prominence 20 years ago or so.
the sound effects are cheesy but they dont really spoil the book.
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The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
- By: Ferdinand Lot
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Ferdinand Lot (1866-1952) was one of the great historians of his generation, and the transition from Roman to Medieval civilization was a process that fascinated him most of his life. Rather than placing the emphasis for Rome’s fall on purely political or military reasons, Lot put forth multiple explanations for the birth of the Middle Ages which embrace not only politics and war, but linguistic, geographic, cultural, social and economic factors.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Rome "too vast, too complicated and too cunning"
- By Philo on 11-26-15
a few tedious spots, but fantastic scope
Reviewed: 11-26-14
Lot covers many elements of the decline of the ancient world (science, various art forms, political..etc). The book gives a rare combination of depth of understanding with broad survey. Some would complain that hes not P.C. or 'deliberative enough"-- e.g. he will flat out say that "by the 5th century plastic art had declined and was utterly worthless" A mark of a great historian is one who is capable of and not afraid to give you rapid judgements and explanations on small items. its a bit out of vogue today.
The production--chuckle! well..others have complained about the gongs, the gregorian chants at the end, the weird reverb chamber when the narrator reads quotes. Yes its a bit strange or as some have called it "cheesy". I like griffin well enough though, even if he over emphasizes -sort of like John Houseman in the old smith barney commercials. The weird production is a minor element that has little real impact
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5 people found this helpful