Joan
The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint
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Narrated by:
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Dick Hill
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By:
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Donald Spoto
About this listen
During the tumultuous Hundred Years War between England and France, a young peasant girl nicknamed "The Maid" (La Pucelle) followed her heart and came to the aid of her nation. Facing unimaginable odds, Joan's belief in her mission from God continued to propel her forward. Within months, she was directing soldiers and bravely fighting for her nation. Joan became a national hero and was the guest of honor at her king's coronation. However, her success and fame ultimately and ironically became her undoing.
Best-selling biographer Donald Spoto uses newly translated transcripts of Joan's trial to deliver an intimate portrait of this extraordinary woman. Neither wife nor nun, neither queen nor noblewoman, neither philosopher nor stateswoman, Joan showed the world that anyone who follows her or his heart has the power to change history.
©2007 Donald Spoto (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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"Basing much of his research on newly translated transcripts of Joan's trial, Spoto breathes new life into an old subject." (Booklist)
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Eminence
- Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France
- By: Jean-Vincent Blanchard
- Narrated by: Mary Kane
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the 17th century, and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Niccol Machiavelli. Truly larger than life, he has captured the imagination of generations, both through his own story and through his portrayal as a ruthless political mastermind in Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers.
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Great story boringly told
- By pete k on 09-19-16
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Elizabeth
- The Forgotten Years
- By: John Guy
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Elizabeth was crowned at 25 after a tempestuous childhood as a bastard and an outcast, but it was only when she reached 50 and all hopes of a royal marriage were dashed that she began to wield real power in her own right. For 25 years she had struggled to assert her authority over advisers who pressed her to marry and settle the succession; now, she was determined not only to reign but also to rule.
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worth the credit
- By Lesley on 04-19-17
By: John Guy
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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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The White King
- Charles I, Traitor, Murderer, Martyr
- By: Leanda de Lisle
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Less than 40 years after England's golden age under Elizabeth I, the country was at war with itself. Split between loyalty to the Crown or to Parliament, war raged on English soil. Its casualties were immense. At the head of the disintegrating kingdom was King Charles I. In this vivid portrait - informed by previously unseen manuscripts, including royal correspondence between the king and his queen - Leanda de Lisle depicts a man who was principled and brave but fatally blinkered.
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Enlightening Stuart history
- By Adeliese Baumann on 01-25-18
By: Leanda de Lisle
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Defenders of the Faith
- Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536
- By: James Reston Jr.
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling Warriors of God and Dogs of God, James Reston Jr. limned two epochal conflicts between Islam and Christendom. Here he examines the ultimate battle in that centuries-long war, which found Europe at its most vulnerable and Islam on the attack. This drama was propelled by two astonishing young sovereigns: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Turkish sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Though they represented two colliding worlds, they were remarkably similar.
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Good account of interesting period of history
- By ItalCali on 03-11-22
By: James Reston Jr.
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A World Lit Only by Fire
- The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance.
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Ruined by the narrator
- By Wallen on 02-28-09
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Foundation
- The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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The Most Annoying Narrator EVER
- By JudieBee on 12-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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The Rival Queens
- Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom
- By: Nancy Goldstone
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.
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Definitely not a dull bio!
- By Nella on 07-04-15
By: Nancy Goldstone
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Mary Queen of Scots
- The True Life of Mary Stuart
- By: John Guy
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 25 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first full-scale biography of Mary Stuart in more than 30 years, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history's most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Queen of Scots as a romantic leading lady - achieving her ends through feminine wiles - and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.
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Horrible narration - don’t purchase
- By ballymerrigan on 12-27-18
By: John Guy
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The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Bologna, 1858: A police posse, acting on the orders of a Catholic inquisitor, invades the home of a Jewish merchant, Momolo Mortara, wrenches his crying six-year-old son from his arms, and rushes him off in a carriage bound for Rome. His mother is so distraught that she collapses and has to be taken to a neighbor's house, but her weeping can be heard across the city. With this terrifying scene - one that would haunt this family forever - David I. Kertzer begins his fascinating investigation of the dramatic kidnapping.
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Too much detail
- By L. WILLIAM on 03-03-24
By: David I. Kertzer
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Henry VIII
- By: Abigail Archer
- Narrated by: Sarah Nichols
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Henry VIII ruled England from 1509 to 1547. As a young man, he was fond of sports and hunting and was said to be uncommonly handsome. Standing more than six feet tall, he loomed large in the lives and minds of his subjects as he navigated his country through the tricky diplomatic and military hazards of the 16th century.
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WASTE OF TIME
- By The Louligan on 09-04-20
By: Abigail Archer
What listeners say about Joan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Eliza
- 09-17-24
Presented as based on primary sources
This was interesting and among one of my favorites of several biographies on Joan of Arc that I started. I didn’t love the choice of the male narrator doing Joan’s voice. At least not this specific deep voiced one. Otherwise the narration was good.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-23-18
fascinating
I was fascinated by this woman. In that day and age, at her young age, to be so clever and poised, so convicted in her beliefs. Something to aspire to, but so sad what pride causes us to do to another.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Troy
- 06-12-14
The Most Balanced Account I've Read About Joan
Mark Twain did not see himself as a religious man, and yet he was still captivated by the story of Joan of Arc. I share in Twain's fascination, and I've read a handful of accounts about the Maid of Orleans over the years. Some were in the larger context of the Hundred Years War, others were varying accounts trying to distinguish if Joan was just psychotic or not. Up until this particular biography, I've felt like the only account to actually attempt to understand Joan within her own time and circumstances was the historical fiction account that Twain himself wrote.
This book is quite possibly the most fair and balanced account of Joan I've ever had the privilege to read. Instead of dismissing claims as "it could not happen, therefore it didn't," Spoto instead looks at the facts and tries to make sense of them in more broad strokes. He compares Joan's story with Biblical stories and alongside religious figures ranging from Jesus to Mohammed to Buddha, pointing out the parallel themes and ideas. He tries to offer explanations that toe the line between the mystical and the simply human, and to my mind he walks that tightrope quite admirably. It's a completely new paradigm that explores the tale in terms of how it would appear to those in 15th century France and dares to suggest that, regardless of what your own spiritual background may or may not be, there is indeed something special about one called Joan of Arc.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Daniel B. Johnson
- 06-18-21
A Great Account of the Life of Joan of Arc
Spoto does a fine job relating an objective account of the life of Joan of Arc, from the perspective of a believer. The book was immensely interesting and it was refreshing to hear it told by one who shared a love of God and truth. The narration was also excellent, except for the fluctuation in volume mentioned by others when reading transcripts of Joan's trial. But that's a minor distraction to an otherwise great narration and deeply moving story.
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- Soledad
- 04-29-24
Questionable Credibility
This is an enjoyable and possibly good account of Saint Joan. However, the author states that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist. Why he makes that erroneous claim is beyond comprehension. Needless to say, Christians will reject that bogus assertion and in my case, question the fidelity of everything else conveyed in this book.
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- paul b
- 06-27-08
joan of arc
if you are a history buff than this book is for you. if you are not then this book is also for you. it doesn't matter if you are an atheist,agostic or a believer. you will not be able to put this book down.certainly one of the most extroadinary characters in history and died at the age of 19. amazing she accomplished so much, especially being a female in the 1400's. get it. you will not be dissapointed!!!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Lisa
- 04-22-14
History Made Interesting
What did you love best about Joan?
Loved the book. It was like listening to a very good college lecture. Factual but not dry. I want to listen to it again. Story is very interesting and very compelling.
Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
no
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- Scott R.
- 04-29-17
Terrible production / narration spoils decent story
The second half of this book is virtually un-listenable as the narrator alternates between whispering (Joan) and yelling (bishop). Choose between inaudible or ear-drum bursting.
If anyone from audible reads this, please give me my credit back.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-30-07
Not a biography
This is not a biography but a hagiography. I did not find the objective study I was looking for.
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2 people found this helpful