The Alps Audiobook By Stephen O'Shea cover art

The Alps

A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond

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The Alps

By: Stephen O'Shea
Narrated by: Robert Fass
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For centuries the Alps have seen the march of armies, the flow of pilgrims and Crusaders, the feats of mountaineers, and the dreams of engineers - and some 14 million people live among their peaks today. In The Alps, Stephen O'Shea takes listeners up and down these majestic mountains, journeying through their 500-mile arc across France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. Along the way he explores the reality behind Hannibal and his elephants' famous crossing in 218 BCE; he reveals how the Alps have profoundly influenced culture, from Frankenstein to Heidi to The Sound of Music; and he visits the spot where Arthur Conan Doyle staged Sherlock Holmes' death scene, the bloody site of the Italians' retreat in World War I, and Hitler's notorious vacation house, the Eagle's Nest. Throughout, O'Shea records his adventures with the watchmakers, salt miners, cable-car operators, and yodelers who define the Alps today.

©2017 Stephen O’Shea (P)2017 HighBridge, a Division of Recorded Books Alps Ecosystems & Habitats Europe Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Travel Writing & Commentary Middle Ages Italy
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Fasten your seatbelts! The acrophobic, yet opinionated author Stephen o’Shea has taken the drivers seat, and is about to speed you through the alps, giving you insight into all the local stories and anecdotes, as well as his piece of mind on every nationality unfortunate to cross his alpine path. I loved all the curious stories he had to tell, following the route on google maps - for much needed visuals of the trip! Would highly recommend this as an easy read to get you in the mood for a European roadtrip.

A travel buddy you didn’t know you needed

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The Alps is a travelagoue created Stephen O’Shea filled with history tidbits and personal interactions. These sort of books are often not my favorite, even the classics like The Innocents Abroad and Roughing It by Mark Twain took some effort for me to get through. However, O’Shea does a really good job at keeping it engaging and exploring many aspects of Alpine culture and the people you meet there. While his historical blurbs are sometimes light on details they were often fascinating. If this is your kind of book, I would not hesitate recommending it.

An enjoyable and easy to listen to Travelogue

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Places I haven’t learned about and areas I will bucket list and others not so much. Flowing and interesting. Narrator is one of the best!

Alps history and geography

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I listened twice and the second time i regularly referenced a detailed animated birds eye view map of the Alps. It really made a difference in my ability to visualize the entire trip. Great reader - and kinda funny to hear an Alps book by someone “afraid of heights”

Get a cool map and follow along

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I really liked the narration. his voice inflection was perfect. felt like I was there with him on the journey. very funny at times

funny one liners

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Every place in this book his enormous appeal after Mr. O'Shea describes it. and there's still thousands of other places to explore in your own.

Wanderlust? Fernweh?

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Not much to happens. But nice to tag along for the ride through the alps.

Nice journey through the alps.

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Extremely well written, very informative, and highly entertaining! This book is a must read for anyone heading to the Alps. I'm now more excited and better informed for my next trip.

Brilliant.

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This guy is afraid of heights and he’s writing about the Alps! Good concept and I bet he’s trying to create drama, but come on! Not recommend!

Meh

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The performance is dreadful. The narrator has adopted a pattern of inflection that is very odd and jarring. Adding injury to insult, he recites every sentence in this singsong manner. I stopped after two chapters.

Disappointing Performance

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