
Foundation
The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Clive Chafer
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By:
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Peter Ackroyd
About this listen
In this massive best seller in England, one of Britain's most popular and esteemed historians tells the epic story of the birth of the country.
Peter Ackroyd, whose work has always been underpinned by a profound interest in and understanding of England's history, now tells the epic story of England itself.
In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house - and describes in rich prose the successive waves of invaders who made England English despite being themselves Roman, Viking, Saxon, or Norman French.
With his extraordinary skill for evoking time and place and his acute eye for the telling detail, Ackroyd recounts the story of warring kings, civil strife, and foreign wars. But he also gives us a vivid sense of how England's early people lived: the homes they built, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, even the jokes they told. All are brought vividly to life through the narrative mastery of one of Britain's finest writers.
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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WOW
- By Mitchell Drimmer on 02-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Everyday Life in Medieval London
- From the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors
- By: Toni Mount
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Our capital city has always been a thriving and colorful place, full of diverse and determined individuals developing trade and finance, exchanging gossip and doing business. Abandoned by the Romans, rebuilt by the Saxons, occupied by the Vikings and reconstructed by the Normans, London would become the largest trade and financial center, dominating the world in later centuries. London has always been a brilliant, vibrant, and eclectic place.
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Interesting
- By Faycal Ikhouane on 01-16-24
By: Toni Mount
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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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Edward II
- The Unconventional King
- By: Kathryn Warner
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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He is one of the most reviled English kings in history. He drove his kingdom to the brink of civil war a dozen times in less than twenty years. He allowed his male lovers to rule the kingdom. He led a great army to the most ignominious military defeat in English history. He was Edward II, and this book tells his story. Kathryn Warner strips away the myths which have been created about him over the centuries, and provides a far more accurate and vivid picture of him than has previously been seen.
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Not bad, but most definitely biased
- By Ashley Waldron on 01-20-24
By: Kathryn Warner
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Battle for the Island Kingdom
- England's Destiny 1000-1066
- By: Don Hollway
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In a saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones and The Last Kingdom, Battle for the Island Kingdom reveals the life-and-death struggle for power which changed the course of history. The six decades leading up to 1066 were defined by bloody wars and intrigues, in which three peoples vied for supremacy over the island kingdom. In this epic retelling, Don Hollway (The Last Viking) recounts the clashes of Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, their warlords and their conniving queens.
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Wonderfully told
- By Matt on 08-03-24
By: Don Hollway
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Henry IV
- The Righteous King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The talented, confident, and intelligent son of John of Gaunt, Henry IV started his reign as a popular and charismatic king after he dethroned the tyrannical and wildly unpopular Richard II. But six years into his reign, Henry had survived eight assassination and overthrow attempts. Having broken God's law of primogeniture by overthrowing the man many people saw as the chosen king, Henry IV left himself vulnerable to challenges from powerful enemies about the validity of his reign. Even so, Henry managed to establish the new Lancastrian dynasty and a new rule of law.
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Detailed and compelling
- By kayakman on 12-15-17
By: Ian Mortimer
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Henry V
- The Warrior King of 1415
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Accessible, grounded, enjoyable
- By Justa Guy on 04-10-18
By: Ian Mortimer
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Britain's War
- Volume 1, Into Battle, 1937-1941
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 35 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War, required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. The outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe.
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Great Performance, Biased with out a warning!
- By dell992 on 06-21-16
By: Daniel Todman
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The First Kingdom
- By: Max Adams
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Somewhere in the dim void between the departure from Britain of the Roman legions at the start of the fifth century and the days of the venerable Bede, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what? Max Adams scrutinises the narrative handed down to us by later historians and chronicles, stripping away the most lurid nonsense about Arthur and synthesising the research of the last 40 years to tease out strands of reality from myth.
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Very interesting, but not in my truck
- By Liz on 03-03-21
By: Max Adams
interesting history, terrible narration
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Good Overview
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Narration is too bad
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Anyhow, I recommend this book for those who want to know more about history of a country of such a great influence worldwide.
Good
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Not bad
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Foundation
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Where does Foundation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I studied a lot of British history in college and really enjoyed this audiobook. I'd highly encourage anyone interested in history to check this out. There's so much that happened, during this time period that had a significant impact on our modern world's theology, economy, and political structures.What did you like best about this story?
Good thorough review of the time period without getting too bogged down in details.Which character – as performed by Clive Chafer – was your favorite?
NAWas this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No...this was pretty long and I listen while I work from home so I like to listen to my audiobooks repeatedly.Great History!
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Long...but worth the listen
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Good history. Reader drones.
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Would you listen to Foundation again? Why?
I enjoyed it but I have it in hardcover so if I want to refer to it, I'll use the physical book.What did you like best about this story?
The author keeps things moving while still covering a lot of history.What does Clive Chafer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
When I first started listening, the narration was very annoying because it is so slow. I finally set the speed to 1.5 and that solved the problem for me. It was enough to sound normal and didn't distort the voice. I plan to do the same thing for the other books in the series.Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No extreme reaction, but it definitely motivated me to read the other books.A fix for the narration
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