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Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's summary
The first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world, from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling historians William Dalrymple and Anita Anand.
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
Under commission from the British East India Company, gossip from Delhi bazaars was woven into what would become the accepted history of the Koh-i-Noor. Now, for the first time, 150 years after it was written, this version is finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology which has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, conquest, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation through an impressive slice of South and Central Asian history. Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.
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In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
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Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
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The White King
- Charles I, Traitor, Murderer, Martyr
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- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
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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
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By: Leanda de Lisle
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Daughters of the Sun
- Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire
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- Narrated by: Shernaz Patel
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
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In 1526, when the nomadic Timurid warrior-scholar Babur rode into Hindustan, his wives, sisters, daughters, aunts and distant female relatives travelled with him. These women would help establish a dynasty and empire that would rule India for the next 200 years and become a byword for opulence and grandeur. In Daughters of the Sun, we meet remarkable characters like Khanzada Begum who, at 65, rode on horseback through 750 kilometres of icy passes and unforgiving terrain to parley on behalf of her nephew, Humayun....
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Repetitive Content
- By Sharmistha on 07-18-22
By: Ira Mukhoty
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Elizabeth
- The Forgotten Years
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- 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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Catherine de Medici
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Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
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Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
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Peter the Great
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This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Narrater ruins everything
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By: Robert K. Massie
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Four Princes
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John Julius Norwich - whom the Wall Street Journal called "the very model of a popular historian" - has crafted a big, bold tapestry of the early 16th century, when Europe and the Middle East were overshadowed by a quartet of legendary rulers, all born within a 10-year period. Against the vibrant background of the Renaissance, these four men laid the foundations for modern Europe and the Middle East, as they collectively impacted the culture, religion, and politics of their respective domains.
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For the most part, very informative.
- By Paula on 02-05-18
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The Borgias and Their Enemies
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The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame. The Borgias were notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder. The story of the family's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to the highest position in Italian society is an absorbing tale.
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Covers the bases, but falls a little flat.
- By Chap Walker on 06-16-13
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Claudius the God
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Robert Graves continues Claudius' story with the epic adulteries of Messalina, King Herod Agrippa's betrayal of his old friend, and the final arrival of that bloodthirsty teenager, Nero.
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The Deified King of Historical Fiction
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Cleopatra: The Egyptian Queen: The Entire Life Story
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Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, nominally survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. She was also a diplomat, naval commander, polyglot, and medical author. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder, Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.
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Good overview, poor narration
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By: THE HISTORY HOUR
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The Conquering Family
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Thomas B. Costain's four-volume history of the Plantagenets begins with The Conquering Family and the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, closing with the reign of John in 1216. The troubled period after the Norman Conquest, when the foundations of government were hammered out between monarch and people, comes to life through Costain's storytelling skill and historical imagination.
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An Entrancing History of the Early Plantegenets
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Tudor
- Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England's Most Notorious Royal Family
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- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
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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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What listeners say about Koh-i-Noor
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- NPK
- 10-04-21
Only one complaint
It was really hard as an Indian to listen to a "performer" mispronounce common Indian terms from that period. Apparently Audible could not find a single Indian to narrate this book. Too bad. Fascinating content though.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-22-20
Fascinating book
I’m a fan of both William Dalrymple and Anita Anand so I was predisposed to like this book. But although the narrator was clear and well spoken, he mispronounced a lot of names ... particularly non-Anglo ones, which is a shame in a book about colonialism ...
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- Subhadra
- 06-28-20
Sparkling and comprehensive
Koh-i-noor - The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand
171 years ago this month, the British Raj under Queen Victoria took the world's most sought after 105 carat diamond which was the size of half an egg, from the 10-year old Sikh emperor of Punjab, Maharaja Duleep Singh.
From the Peacock Throne of the Mughals, to the bracelets of Nadir Shah and Ranjit Singh, and finally to the crown of Queen Victoria, this small but precious inanimate object has travelled the world, adorned thrones, been hidden in cracks in prison walls, displayed with pride, and disappeared mysteriously.
Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Great Britain, all claim ownership and this seemingly harmless piece of stone looks on almost smilingly as Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians alike keep hacking at ways to get it for themselves.
The Koh-i-noor, believed to be cursed, has left wars, murders, cruel decapitations, capture, and plunder in its wake. It's owners have been brought to the streets and left to die alone, been killed by cholera, have been assassinated by their own family, or died in captivity. It might do us all well to revisit and ask ourselves if it the stone that's cursed, or human desire.
This book was a good narration of the diamond's sparkling history and bedazzling journey.
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- harshad
- 07-30-24
Nice book
Enjoyed it, was great to listen to all the places this diamond travelled over the centuries.
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- Jean
- 07-08-17
Fascinating
This book is divided into two parts. The first part is written by William Dalrymple, who is an authority on 18th and 19th century India. He tells the story of the Koh-I-Noor diamond from the time Persian Nadu Shah humiliated the Mughal Emperor, sacked Delhi and sized the diamond, the Peacock throne and other jewels. The Mughal Dynasty was of Turkic-Mongol origin and ruled most of Northern India from 16th to mid-18th century. The Shah was murdered and the Afghan King took the diamond. It was then taken by the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh. When the British conquered the Punjab in 1846, the ten-year-old King Duleep Singh gave it to Queen Victoria. It is now in the Tower of London.
Dalrymple makes it clear that the history of the diamond prior to being captured by the Persian Nadu Shah is only based on guess work and fables. The author goes into the relationship the Indians have with gems including culture and religion. Dalrymple states that in ancient times the Indians sifted the diamonds from the sands of stream beds. All diamonds came from India until the 18th century when diamonds were discovered in Brazil.
The author states there were three great diamonds taken from the Mughal Emperor by the Persian Nadu Shah: the Koh-I-Noor is in England, the Darya-I-Noor is in Iran and the Orlov is in the center of the Imperial Scepter of Catherine the Great in Russia.
The second part of the book is written by journalist Anita Anand. She tells the story of King Duleep Singh. Anand sites the history of the diamond in the hands of the British. The author also discusses the characteristics of the diamond. It is thought the diamond came from the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh India in the 13th century. It was claimed to be 793 carets and 158.6g uncut and a clear color.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. The authors tell the complicated story drawing on a wide range of literature and memoirs. Koh-I-Noor in Persian means Mountain of Light.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Leighton Pugh does a good job narrating the book. Pugh is an actor, voice over artist and audiobook narrator.
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9 people found this helpful
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- John F. Miller
- 12-13-22
Koh-I-noor
Well-written. Enjoyable to listen too. It’s clear to me that this diamond should be returned to the Goddess it was stolen from.
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- Siva Pragathesewaran
- 02-07-24
Remarkable story
The entire history of the Kohinoor has been written in a great storytelling manner that moves one's imagination. Brilliant in it's flow and oration.
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- Laura J. Hunt
- 06-30-24
Fascinating
I had thought somehow that this was going to be historical fiction. Instead, I found something different…a fascinating retelling of a true story, told with sensitivity and related clearly to today.
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- FruhGeeLay
- 05-03-24
Too biased
Great info, sadly tainted by way too much bias. Just give the facts, no need to flower it up with how you feel about it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- RD
- 01-21-18
Dissapointing
Too many foreign words for this to be tolerable. Leighton Pugh did a great job of narrating.
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