Danubia Audiobook By Simon Winder cover art

Danubia

A Personal History of Habsburg Europe

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Danubia

By: Simon Winder
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
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From the end of the Middle Ages to the First World War, Europe was dominated by one family: the Habsburgs. Their unprecedented rule is the focus of Simon Winder's vivid third book, Danubia.

Winder's approach is friendly, witty, personal; this is a narrative that, while erudite and well researched, prefers to be discursive and anecdotal. In his survey of the centuries of often incompetent Habsburg rule which have continued to shape the fate of Central Europe, Winder does not shy away from the horrors, railing against the effects of nationalism, recounting the violence that was often part of life. But this is a history dominated above all by Winder's energy and curiosity. Thrillingly informative, Danubia is a treat that listeners will be eager to dip into.

©2013 Simon Winder (P)2018 Tantor Austria & Hungary Europe Witty Middle Ages Imperialism Central European History
Fascinating History • Witty Humor • Engaging Storytelling • Personal Reflections • Informative Content
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Lovely narration, brilliant book with the serious material leavened by dry humor that reminds me of Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series. I should take some time to digest Danubia now that I’ve completed it, and I will reread it in e-book format, but now I want to go ahead and read Winder’s Germania.

Lovely narration, brilliant book

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While I learned a great deal from this book, the author’s personality was a lamp through the museum of an obsolete world. His meditations on the scope of the history are always helpful context.

Amazing level of detail

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I want to like this book, I suspect it is interesting, but for me, the narrator ruins it. His voice is so monotone, it's difficult to keep attention on what he's saying, and I have to keep backing up the book because I realize I had tuned out.

Worse, though, is the fact that the narrator can't make it through a sentence without having to stop and inhale at least twice. While I feel bad for him with his apparent dyspnea, it's distracting.

I'm giving up on the audio version and will read the Kindle version instead.

Narrator ruins it

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Not finishing a book grates on me, but I abandoned ship on this one after 11 hours. It felt so scattered. Meandering history can be really wonderful, strolling off on interesting tangents and avoiding the most direct route from A to B, but I guess my sensibilities don't match the author's in this instance. You get a lot of Winder's artistic and musical preferences and musings, to the point that it felt as if a digression on putti in Habsburgs art got as much space as the Thirty Years' War. Again, I could even see that balance working in some books. It just didn't for me here. It's neither enough of a travelogue to feel immersed in a place nor enough of a history to gain a sense of the times (it's laid out in a nominally linear timeline ... but very nominally). Still, I do think it's well written, pleasantly not self-serious and obviously comes from a deep love of the subject matter. Other listeners might connect with more of the digressions.

Too scattered for me

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I throughly enjoyed this book both for it’s level of detail and it’s entertaining presentation. I found the author’s personal interjections and observations quite humorous and providing a dry wit that I very much appreciated. I had to refer to maps several times in order to remain situationally aware of the story and would highly recommend having a map handy as a reference while listening to this book. I am looking forward to listening to the author’s other works.

Informative and Entertaining

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Historians travel guide. Liked that it had a lighter take on most histories while still being informative.

Good listen

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The research is so deep it can be daunting...but I appreciated the many tie-ins of culture and personality. Man is not designed to govern man.... this history is one more proof.

Not an easy book, but worth the time .

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Winder’s erudition and droll humor find their perfect expression in Stewart’s understated delivery. Highly entertaining.

Superb narration

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The details of the shifting states, religions, rulers and border can be a little overwhelming without a series of maps.
The love the author has of traveling to explore unique aspects of history shines through, and his occasional wry and humorous comments being a smile.

Intensive history with a dash of humor.

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I was fascinated by all the facts I didn't know about Central Europe, and am very grateful to the author for putting them all into words and sequence.
But for me personally it was hard to listen because of the unusual ( to me) manner of reading. And also it felt boring to be repetitively told about some personal experiences of the author . But this is me.
I just love facts and fluent narration.

Interesting subject for sure

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