Try free for 30 days
-
A History of Britain: Volume 1
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
A History of the World
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: Andrew Marr, David Timson
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Great work
- By James on 22-05-2015
-
A Shorter History of Australia
- By: Geoffrey Blainey
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events which have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport, the suspicion of the tall poppy, the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbourne, new and old homelands, the conflicts of war abroad and race at home, the importance of technology, the recognition of our Aboriginal past and Native Title.
-
-
What happens when two ancient civilisations collid
- By Daryl on 21-04-2022
-
Children of Ash and Elm
- A History of the Vikings
- By: Neil Price
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
-
-
great and informative listen
- By Liam Prendergast on 18-02-2021
-
Rubicon
- The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows, Tom Holland
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. Rubicon paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness - the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall. It is a story of incomparable drama.
-
-
A well narrated (hi)story
- By K-2 on 24-09-2022
-
The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse
- From the Australian bush to the Battle of Beersheba - an Epic Story of Courage, Resilience and Derring-Do
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Bligh
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons.
-
-
A great story of a great Australian event
- By Russell on 22-02-2024
-
Kindred
- By: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Narrated by: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Kindred, Neanderthal expert Becky Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. Using a thematic rather than chronological approach, this book will shed new light on where they lived, what they ate and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that is being discovered.
-
-
Amazing
- By Anonymous User on 23-10-2023
-
A History of the World
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: Andrew Marr, David Timson
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Great work
- By James on 22-05-2015
-
A Shorter History of Australia
- By: Geoffrey Blainey
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events which have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport, the suspicion of the tall poppy, the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbourne, new and old homelands, the conflicts of war abroad and race at home, the importance of technology, the recognition of our Aboriginal past and Native Title.
-
-
What happens when two ancient civilisations collid
- By Daryl on 21-04-2022
-
Children of Ash and Elm
- A History of the Vikings
- By: Neil Price
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
-
-
great and informative listen
- By Liam Prendergast on 18-02-2021
-
Rubicon
- The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows, Tom Holland
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. Rubicon paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness - the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall. It is a story of incomparable drama.
-
-
A well narrated (hi)story
- By K-2 on 24-09-2022
-
The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse
- From the Australian bush to the Battle of Beersheba - an Epic Story of Courage, Resilience and Derring-Do
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Bligh
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons.
-
-
A great story of a great Australian event
- By Russell on 22-02-2024
-
Kindred
- By: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Narrated by: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Kindred, Neanderthal expert Becky Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. Using a thematic rather than chronological approach, this book will shed new light on where they lived, what they ate and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that is being discovered.
-
-
Amazing
- By Anonymous User on 23-10-2023
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
-
-
Absorbing, never-dull narration of our history
- By PAS on 18-03-2019
-
Ancestors
- A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Strong start, then veered off course
- By Sonya on 29-09-2021
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
-
Directionless and difficult to follow.
- By Howling Fantods on 09-12-2019
-
Empire
- How Britain Made the Modern World
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red, and Britannia ruled not just the waves but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries.
-
-
niall ferguson at his articulate and erudite best
- By Sharkyjones on 16-08-2018
-
D DAY Through German Eyes
- The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944
- By: Holger Eckhertz
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost all accounts of D-Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6, 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?
-
-
Great 1st hand accounts
- By Jan on 02-02-2018
Publisher's Summary
The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000 BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney.
From the successes and failures of the monarchy to the daily life of a Roman soldier stationed on Hadrian's Wall, Schama gives a vivid, fascinating account of the many different stories and struggles that lie behind the growth of our island nation. Simon Schama's major BBC2 series has shown him to be one of our most original and exciting historians.
More from the same
What listeners say about A History of Britain: Volume 1
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 26-08-2018
More poetry then history
A rather disjointed catalogue in my opinion, the writter is more on the side of making the journey about their own writing ability than breaking down the vast history into more digestible portions. It also makes for a difficult read that there's no character introduction or period introduction, leaving a constantly rolling poetic passing of significant periods without any general overview, leading you to meed to know your history already as the writer makes assumptions that you already know the characters of history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 17-02-2023
A Brilliant Introduction to the History of Britain
This is an ambitious piece of work but cleverly executed. Simon Sharma’s writing is economical and insightful. We get a glimpse of the thoughts, feelings and schemes of key figures throughout the ages. Sharma’s sense of humour and social commentary is academic and entertaining. I recommend this text to anyone who loves history and is looking for a text that identifies key narratives that have shaped Britain.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David Rowe
- 13-01-2023
Great listen.
Covers all aspects of British history, from pre-Roman times to the Middle Ages. Well researched and informative.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- alan riles
- 10-07-2022
Engaging and accessible, but overall quality mixed
Easy to listen to, and competently narrated, but chapter structure a bit random.
And more conventional than the Preface hinted at.
The 3 pre-Roman millenia were rushed and justice was not done; it started well enough with the remarkable Orkney archaeology, but mentioned Stonehenge only in passing and Bronze Age not at all, as it rushed to the Roman occupation.
Insightful account of the interplay between Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans and then on to 1066 and all that.
A bit episodic, as it delved deeply into various highlights: the Norman invasion, Thomas Beckett well and truly done to death, the reign of warlord Edward 1 and his efforts to create ahead of its time a colonial administration of a 'Great Britain', the defiance of Wallace and the Bruce in Scotland keeping England and its monarchy honest in its ambitions, curbed also by the cathartic cleansing of the Black Death and its labour supply impacts. I lost the plot a bit as we skipped through the Peasants Revolt and Henry V (somewhat of a breach!) to the War of the Roses, summarily dealt with, and the Reformation.. And then Henry VIII and his wives and the political machinations with Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, for which quite frankly I will refer to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy!
Certainly revealed well the strength of the French Connection during the Norman and Plantagenet eras. Also enlightening for me at least was the account of the 13th century baronial revolt and 'civil war', a precursor to the 'real' Civil War. And how the seeds for that Civil War were sown so much earlier. British stability since 1066 is often lauded in comparison with Continental Europe but Schama seems to be saying that there has long been a festering sore of civil unrest, especially NW vs SE.
Flawed but insomuch as it sent me scurrying off to additional/alternative references I guess was a success
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tyro
- 04-12-2021
Medieval gossip
Too much focus on the private lives of kings and queens. Clearly written for popular consumption. Very disappointing. Surely an author of such distinction can do better than this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Garry Fox
- 06-06-2021
Truthfull, Entertaining
Author well informed, with a captivating writing style , not to b let down by an entertaining spoken performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!