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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous 14th Century
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.
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In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
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Less than 40 years after England's golden age under Elizabeth I, the country was at war with itself. Split between loyalty to the Crown or to Parliament, war raged on English soil. Its casualties were immense. At the head of the disintegrating kingdom was King Charles I. In this vivid portrait - informed by previously unseen manuscripts, including royal correspondence between the king and his queen - Leanda de Lisle depicts a man who was principled and brave but fatally blinkered.
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Enlightening Stuart history
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This insightful look at the life of Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt casts new light on a period in history often held up as legend. A great English hero, Henry V was lionized by Shakespeare and revered by his countrymen for his religious commitment, his sense of justice, and his military victories. Here, noted historian and biographer Ian Mortimer takes a look at the man behind the legend and offers a clear, historically accurate, and realistic representation of a ruler who was all too human.
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Interesting, informative
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The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame. The Borgias were notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder. The story of the family's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to the highest position in Italian society is an absorbing tale.
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Covers the bases, but falls a little flat.
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The Birth of Britain
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The English-speaking peoples comprise perhaps the greatest number of human beings sharing a common language in the world today. These people also share a common heritage. For his four-volume work, Sir Winston Churchill took as his subject these great elements in world history. Volume 1 commences in 55BC, when Julius Caesar famously "turned his gaze upon Britain" and concludes with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
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Birth of Britain
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God's Wolf
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In a 2010 terrorist plot, Al-Qaeda hid a bomb in a FedEx shipment addressed to Reynald de Chatillon, a knight who had died centuries ago in the Crusades. A reviled figure in Islamic history, often portrayed as the very epitome of brutality, Reynald remains as controversial - and as vividly present in the minds of many in the Middle East - as the story of the Crusades themselves.
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A great look into the life of a great crusader
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The Lady Queen
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The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial - and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages. On March 15, 1348, 22-year-old Joanna I, queen of Naples, stood trial for the murder of her husband before the pope and his court in Avignon. Determined to defend herself, Joanna won her acquittal against overwhelming odds. Victorious, she returned to Naples and ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for the next three decades - until she herself was killed.
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Terrible mispronunciation of words
- By Amelie on 12-03-18
By: Nancy Goldstone
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What listeners say about A Distant Mirror
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nathan Copperwheat
- 02-23-24
Masterful Portrait of a Tragic Era
Tuchman’s voice shines among the greatest historians in the English language. This book was an incredible journey.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Luke
- 11-15-23
Difficult to Follow, untranslated French, many dates and names
Some very interesting material in the first 6 chapters on life in Europe during the Middle Ages but in chapter 7, she starts to focus on an individual French nobleman and it becomes an incredibly fast paced whirlwind of French names, dates, and places without any grounding context or cohesiveness. There is also a fair amount of French that the author doesn't bother to translate and a significant number of references to events, people, and places that are not explained or explored. The book feels like it was written for other experts on the period and not the casual history fan. There are still pockets of interesting cultural information and you can sometimes piece together what seems to be happening but the book is read at an incredible speed which leaves the less informed reader in the dust. The French pronunciation is perfect I am sure but if you are unfamiliar with the spelling of french words, as I am, you can't even look up the material yourself to flesh out what you don't understand.
Overall, despite the interesting first 6 chapters, probably not worth the time unless you are already an expert on the Hundred Years' War, speak French, and already have thorough background knowledge of French medieval history. Not for the novice. However! The reader is a greater narrator and has that wonderful old school, ambiguous North Atlantic accent.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 06-05-24
beautiful writing
The writing reads more like a story rather than a textbook or other historical books i’ve read. Even though I already knew most of the info in the book, I was still at times gripped with suspense for what comes next. It was in my opinion what every historical book should be like. At times I got emotional, and the epilogue gave me chills. It may be slightly outdated in some minor areas but I feel it could definitely still be used as a scholarly source to this day.
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2 people found this helpful
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- 52 weeks, 52 books
- 04-20-15
Tedious
I had tried to read this book before and thought the audiio book would be easier. It was still a lot like reading an encyclopia...lots of names, dates, and places but no thread to make it relevant.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JoAnne
- 09-18-24
Great historical narrative
I’m not a history buff, but I found this book interesting and enlightening. The narrator was superb
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- Joshua
- 01-19-14
A classic history
I really enjoy Barbara Tuchman's work. To listen is to be immersed in14th century Europe, where knights are bold, vicious, arrogant, conniving, sometimes not very bright, and very dangerous. The church is all about power and control, holding souls hostage to a harsh God, ransoming them for material gain. Villages are wiped off the map by the Black Death in a matter of weeks. Riveting!
But, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this performance. The reader does a reasonable job, but her pace is not mine. A slower, slightly more relaxed reading would make this book even more engrossing. I must say that I've enjoyed this title in spite of the narrator, she reads just a little too fast for me. If I were to recommend this book, I'd recommend a version by a different narrator.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Feather
- 10-15-13
Great book, but read too fast
Barbara Tuchman is an awesome historian and writer and I've never before read anything like this book. I bought the kindle version in order to re-read it in parts that were simply too quickly read for adequate comprehension. It is extremely dense with information--many, many names, places, and dates. In addition to going too fast (and barely, if at all pausing between paragraphs), I found the narrator's pronunciation of French names a little distracting. Sometimes it was perfect, sometimes half-right, and sometimes completely off, e.g. "Reims." But if you don't speak French you won't notice the mispronunciations. On the other hand, I would imagine that it would be very hard to keep the names straight without any knowledge of the language.
The content describing life in fourteenth century France was absolutely fascinating.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Blue. No - Yellow
- 01-22-14
A Favorite
What did you love best about A Distant Mirror?
Impressive detail from diverse sections of 14th century society gives the book wonderful perspective.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Distant Mirror?
The historical geographic view of the Black Death is fascinating.
What does Aviva Skell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
She certainly can pronounce the French names much better than I.
Any additional comments?
This book, which won an additional Pulitzer for Tuchman, is history at its very best. I have read this book before, but was delighted to find that even in the audio version it was just as difficult to put down (or pause). Good books about the early Middle Ages in Europe are hard to find; but even though this may be the best title on the subject, this is still a great book no matter the reader's favorite genre.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sue Moore
- 11-13-15
I didn't enjoy it overall.
I'm not much of a history person. The only reason I got it is because I had to read it for my AP Euro class. But other than that, it's not like I'm saying you shouldn't buy it. It's not a bad book, just not my style. The writing was good and the story was ok, but to someone else who loves history, this is probably a great book for you.
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- David
- 07-03-20
Plague and Pillage, Bullies and Brigands
The 14th Century must have been a horrible time to live. Wars, riots, torture, massacres, plague, pillage and corruption were common. The lessons of Barbara Tuchman’s scholarly yet readable history led to one conclusion: people can be very bad!
I learned a lot of medieval history from “A Distant Mirror,” and what I learned did not offer hope. Royalty was often incompetent; the nobles were selfish and brutal, the peasants bigoted. Even a relatively decent and pragmatic man, like the central figure the Lord of Coucy, was capable of cruelty.
The book is very long. Too much was about battles I had never heard of, royal alliances that don’t matter today and nobles whose names are long forgotten. My mind often wandered as I listened, like, what’s for dinner tonight?
The narrator was clear, and her pronunciations of foreign names and words sounded right, but she read too quickly. That kept the book moving, but it made it more difficult to grasp who was doing what to whom.
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