-
Bismarck
- The Man and the Statesman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
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Publisher's summary
In this compelling biography, historian A. J. P. Taylor reevaluates Bismarck's motives and methods, focusing on the chancellor's rise to power in the 1860s and his removal from office in 1890.
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By: Ian Kershaw
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Blood and Iron
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- By: Katja Hoyer
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?
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Misleading title/subtitle
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By: Katja Hoyer
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Japan 1941
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- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
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When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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The Three Lives of James Madison
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Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician, he cofounded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
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Cogently organized, meticulously balanced
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Churchill
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James C. Humes reveals the astonishingly accurate predictions of Britain's most famous prime minister and how his critics' perceptions of them shaped his political career. Who could have foreseen the start of World War I twenty-five years before the assassination of a Serbian archduke plunged Europe into war? Who could have predicted the rise of al-Qaeda nearly eight decades before anyone had heard of Osama bin Laden? Winston Churchill did.
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The voice in the wilderness--Are we listening yet?
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A Peace to End All Peace
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The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
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Winston Churchill
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The eminent historian John Keegan charts Churchill's career, following his steadfast leadership during the catastrophic events of World War II while England was dangerously poised on the brink of collapse. With wonderful eloquence, Keegan illuminates Churchill's incredible strength during this crucial moment in history and his unshakable belief that democracy would always prevail.
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A good intro/summary
- By Sabrina on 01-07-06
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The Balfour Declaration
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Issued in London in 1917, the Balfour Declaration was one of the key documents of the 20th century. It committed Britain to supporting the establishment in Palestine of "a National Home for the Jewish people", and its reverberations continue to be felt to this day. Now the entire fascinating story of the document is revealed in this impressive work of modern history.
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From the Zionist Point of View
- By Sam Peter on 10-11-19
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The Death of Democracy
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Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In this dramatic audiobook, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. Benjamin Carter Hett is one of America’s leading scholars of 20th-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of the feckless politicians of the Weimar Republic show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it.
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I can't trust the author's account of these events
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What listeners say about Bismarck
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Carlos M.
- 04-19-18
Excellent book
The writing and narration are excellent. The book assumes you know basic history of the time, which I did not. However, by pausing and looking up a few things, I was able to understand. Getting a sense as to who Bismarck was as an individual was excellent.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Seth T
- 04-18-18
surprisingly good
considering the mediocre reviews this books received online, I found it interesting, well paced, and reasonably balanced
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lonz
- 04-10-19
Great narration
The narrator makes a great effort to pronounce foreign works and names correctly. He did an excellent job.
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3 people found this helpful
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- George C.
- 04-30-18
Not what I expected
I have read many biographies including Churchill, Neopoleon, Grant, Hoover, Eisenhower and more
this does not follow the norm. Typically we learn of the subect's early years and the formation of the person and the leaderl they become. We learn of either privilege or austere up bringings and how these form their decisions later in life. Most writers bring life to their subject with clever stories, opionions and insight. This book does none of that. it jumps in and has all the depth and passion of a business journal I can't recommend this book.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Stephen F (SPFJR)
- 10-12-20
A Best-in-Class Biography
AJP Taylor is a tremendous historian and an excellent writer. I have surveyed all major works on German history during this period and consider this the best available Audible title for two specific reasons having to do with Taylor’s understanding of the topic and his approach to history itself.
Reason #1:
Sometimes a good writer will jump into a topic and write a book in a short period of time which doesn’t have the depth of thought to reflect the depth of the subject. That is not the case with Taylor and this time period. He has spent his whole career doing groundbreaking research on the geopolitics of the period and has written several books on German history before and after this time. This gives him the subject matter expertise on the time and space to do this right.
Reason #2:
Another fundamental aspect of this book I enjoyed was Taylor’s recognition that what is now the well-documented past was once the unpredictable future. This comes across on every page of this book. Nowhere is it assumed that X event will happen a year after Y decision. All decisions are discussed in the mindset of a person with only the information available at that time. The flawed theories of today were once the best known explanations of yesterday and Taylor is respectful of that uncertainty in all his subjects’ minds.
These two aspects of Taylor’s writing stand out to make this a simply marvelous work.
I can only hope Audible will record all AJP Taylor’s other works, especially “the Course of German History”.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Paolo Menuez
- 06-12-18
Good, but read a primer first
a good history, written with wit and attention to detail, but absolutely dense with minute and somewhat opaque historical references a newcomer to Bismarck will have practically no way of understanding. Those hoping for more personal, anecdotal material may also be disappointed. This is a work that keeps the focus strictly on the minutiae of Bismarck's domestic and foreign intrigues. In the end, one gets a clear sense of the statesman, but perhaps not the man. His close political allies, associates and other contemporaries are also extremely submerged in this account. One doesn't get a sense of how he interacted with these people on a personal level. Only the great chancellor and William 1 truly occupy the stage in this telling. To get the most out of this book requires a robust and broad understanding of the period and it's principal actors; a deep dive for those looking for a blow by blow account of his intricate, behind the scenes policy manouevers. A little dry, slighly myopic at times, but a solid work.
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22 people found this helpful
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- michelle Morris
- 06-21-23
Very educational
I learned as much about European history as I did about Bismarck and how all of it mirrors today’s politics.
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- Keith Swanson
- 09-10-21
A very good overview
This is a good introduction to Bismarck. Vital to understanding modern Germany and Europe. We mostly get the British version of European history. It's refreshing to get other points of view.
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- Ednan
- 03-04-22
Nice info
Some parts of this biography are a bit vague especially for someone uninformed of 19th century, but overall it is a solid biography about a great man!
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- Chris Corsini
- 04-12-24
Definitely technical, but also excellent
This was my first experience with AJP Taylor. Not a typical biography with a firm narrative structure, but an excellent study in the great man’s character and decision making. A little knowledge about the period and some of the players is probably helpful, but if you’ve got that, it’s a great listen.
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