At the Edge of the World
The Heroic Century of the French Foreign Legion
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Narrated by:
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Julian Elfer
About this listen
An aura of mystery, romance, and danger surrounds the French Foreign Legion, the all-volunteer corps of the French Army, founded in 1831. Famous for its physically grueling training in harsh climates, the legion fought in French wars from Mexico to Madagascar, Southeast Asia to North Africa. In At the Edge of the World, historian Jean-Vincent Blanchard follows the legion's rise to fame during the 19th century - focusing on its campaigns in Indochina and especially in Africa - when the corps played a central role in expanding and protecting the French Empire. As France struggled to be a power capable of rivaling the British, the figure of the legionnaire came to represent the might and morale that would secure a greater, stronger nation. Drawing from rare archival memoirs and testimonies of legionnaires from the period, and tracing the fascinating career of Hubert Lyautey, France's first resident-general in Morocco and a hero to many a legionnaire, At the Edge of the World chronicles the Foreign Legion at the height of its renown, when the corps and its archetypically handsome, moody, and marginalized recruits became both the symbols of a triumphant colonialism and the stuff of legend.
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The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands.
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An indispensable contribution
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-27-17
By: Mark Thompson
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The Enemy at the Gate
- Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe
- By: Andrew Wheatcroft
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcroft's richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.
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Look elsewhere
- By Ben H. on 09-20-21
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Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
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Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
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Lawrence in Arabia
- War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 23 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history - the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game” to control the Middle East. Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.
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A Comprehensive, Compelling Biography
- By Lester Gesteland on 10-05-20
By: Scott Anderson
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Three Empires on the Nile
- The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899
- By: Dominic Green
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Three Empires on the Nile tells of the rise of the first modern Islamic state and its fateful encounter with the British Empire of Queen Victoria. Ever since the self-proclaimed Islamic messiah known as the Mahdi gathered an army in the Sudan and besieged and captured Khartoum under its British overlord Charles Gordon, the dream of a new caliphate has haunted modern Islamists. The 19th-century origins of it all were even more dramatic and strange than today's headlines.
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Astoundingly good
- By Sean O'Keefe on 05-05-07
By: Dominic Green
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The Bloody White Baron
- The Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia
- By: James Palmer
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the history of the modern world, there have been few characters more sadistic, sinister, and deeply demented as Baron Ungern-Sternberg. An anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, Baron Ungern-Sternberg took over Mongolia in 1920 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese, and native Mongolians.
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Truth is stranger than fiction
- By David on 01-21-10
By: James Palmer
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Catastrophe 1914
- Europe Goes to War
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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From the acclaimed military historian, a new history of the outbreak of World War I: the dramatic stretch from the breakdown of diplomacy to the battles - the Marne, Ypres, Tannenberg - that marked the frenzied first year before the war bogged down in the trenches. In Catastrophe 1914, Max Hastings gives us a conflict different from the familiar one of barbed wire, mud, and futility.
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I thought I knew the battle of the frontiers
- By Anonymous User on 04-02-21
By: Max Hastings
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Revolutionary
- George Washington at War
- By: Robert L. O'Connell
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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From an acclaimed military historian, a bold reappraisal of young George Washington, an ambitious if reckless soldier destined to become the legendary general who took on the British and, through his leadership, defined the American character.
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Interesting
- By Shielding C on 06-25-22
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The Black Count
- Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
- By: Tom Reiss
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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General Alex Dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
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The story behind the greatest novelist of all time
- By Melinda on 01-13-13
By: Tom Reiss
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The Boer War
- By: Martin Bossenbroek
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 19 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Boer War, winner of the Netherland's 2013 Libris History Prize and shortlisted for the 2013 AKO Literature Prize, the author brings a completely new perspective to this chapter of South African history, critically examining the involvement of the Netherlands in the war. Furthermore, unlike other accounts, Martin Bossenbroek explores the war primarily through the experiences of three men uniquely active during the bloody conflict.
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Interesting and engaging view of the War
- By Douglas on 04-17-18
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The Fall of the Ottomans
- The Great War in the Middle East
- By: Eugene Rogan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.
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Great Book About A Little Known Part of WWI
- By Nostromo on 06-08-15
By: Eugene Rogan
What listeners say about At the Edge of the World
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- Julie Pollaro
- 06-03-24
Boring
Interesting topic and stories. However the author is way too wordy and narrator fails to bring any adventure or excitement . Couldn’t finish.
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- Damian
- 05-31-18
Got to go against all the high praise...
or at least how this book was marketed.:”The Heroic Century of the French Foreign Legion?” Really? I found a prosaic (albeit, well researched) History of French Colonialism. I thought I’d be in for more anecdotal accounts, details on FFL campaigns, reports from the front...instead, be prepared for a somewhat lusterless account of political intrigue, in depth analysis of one particular Marshal and even intellectual philosophizing on colonialism. Yawn! Looked up the author...no surprise...Always amuses me to read the conclusions of someone purporting to be an “expert” when there is (apparently) nothing in their background except Ivory Tower research. Let a Legionnaire tell us what a Legionnaire thinks...please.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mike
- 06-05-20
Interesting book of mixed genre
This book is essentially a mix between a military history of the FFL, a political history and overview of French Imperialism from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, and a biography of French FFL colonial generals.
I found the book to be interesting as it covered historical events that are hard to find good content for in English. Later French Imperialism was an important historical process that is still relevant in much of Africa.
On top of that is was cool to read about the very masculine adventures of the FFL. And cool to here an account of French society at the time, and how Generals and FFL outcasts interacted with it.
My main complaint for the book is the mix of genres is just sort of awkward. Most people don’t love political, military, and biographical histories equally. So It is likely parts of the book will bore you and others will excite you. It’s just a strange organization choice.
If you are interested in the FFL or French/European colonialism this book is worth reading and different from usual historical topics in English books.
However the mix is genres will probably leave most people a little bored and disappointed during certain parts of the book. Overall it is a good book though.
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1 person found this helpful