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Castles, Customs, and Kings
- True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors, Book 2
- Narrated by: Ruth Golding
- Length: 28 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's summary
An anthology of essays from the second year of the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book transports the listener across the centuries from prehistoric to 20th-century Britain. Nearly 50 different authors share the stories, incidents, and insights discovered while doing research for their own historical novels. From medieval law and literature to Tudor queens and courtiers, from Stuart royals and rebels to Regency soldiers and social calls, experience the panorama of Britain's yesteryear. Explore the history behind the fiction and discover the true tales surrounding Britain's castles, customs, and kings.
Volume two is a stand-alone book of essays that does not need to be heard in conjunction with volume one.
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Story
You think you know her story. You've read the Brothers Grimm, you've watched the Disney cartoons, you cheered as these virtuous women lived happily ever after. But the lives of real princesses couldn't be more different. Sure, many were graceful and benevolent leaders - but just as many were ruthless in their quest for power, and all of them had skeletons rattling in their royal closets.
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Princesses Researched Well
- By Mary Elizabeth Reynolds on 04-14-14
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A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
- 1599
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: James Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Abridged
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1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
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Note!--Abridged version
- By Scott on 01-05-16
By: James Shapiro
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Tudor
- Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England's Most Notorious Royal Family
- By: Leanda de Lisle
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tudors are England's most notorious royal family. But, as Leanda de Lisle's gripping new history reveals, they are a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew. The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family's obscure Welsh origins and the ordinary man known as Owen Tudor who would fall (literally) into a queen's lap - and later her bed.
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Clear and detailed
- By Tad Davis on 04-13-16
By: Leanda de Lisle
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Shakespeare by Another Name
- The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man who Was Shakespeare
- By: Mark Anderson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Actor William Shaksper of Stratford had little education, never left England, and apparently owned no books. How could he have written the great plays and poetry attributed to him? Journalist Mark Anderson's biography offers tantalizing proof that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier, spendthrift, scholar, traveler, soldier, scoundrel, and writer, was the real "Shakespeare".
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Brings the period to life
- By Dan on 01-15-06
By: Mark Anderson
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Edward III
- The Perfect King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.
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Great book about Edward III
- By Kiesha on 07-05-16
By: Ian Mortimer
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The House of Medici
- Its Rise and Fall
- By: Christopher Hibbert
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic, and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence's slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.
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Laundry list of names
- By Elizabeth W on 01-02-17
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Marco Polo
- From Venice to Xanadu
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history.
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Educational and Entertaining but a bit repetitive
- By PETER on 01-02-13
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The 14th century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and the exquisitely decorated Books of Hours; and on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague.
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And you thought the twentieth century was rough...
- By Rob on 03-23-06
What listeners say about Castles, Customs, and Kings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Eddie & Donna
- 04-06-17
Not so much "Tales" as facts
What did you like best about Castles, Customs, and Kings? What did you like least?
Did like: Interesting facts to use for writing a book or essay. Rather dull research but informative.
Did not like: I expected short stories about this topic.
Would you be willing to try another book from English Historical Fiction Authors? Why or why not?
Probably not. For Audible books, that I listen to while commuting, I enjoy story telling.
Which scene was your favorite?
Description of a castle which was inhabited by my ancestor.
Was Castles, Customs, and Kings worth the listening time?
No. The paper copy would be great for research for writers. I assumed the book was a story-based book.
Any additional comments?
An auditory learner would really enjoy studying from this book. However, I am looking for historical entertainment.
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