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The Fires of Lust
- Sex in the Middle Ages
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
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Publisher's summary
An illuminating exploration of the surprisingly familiar sex lives of ordinary medieval people.
The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much - or too little - sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong.
Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life, revealing details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.
Contains mature themes.
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- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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On October 31, 1517, an unknown monk nailed a theological pamphlet to a church door in a small university town and set in motion a process that helped usher in the modern world. Within a few years, Luther's ideas had spread like wildfire. His attempts to reform Christianity by returning it to its biblical roots split the Western Church, divided Europe, and polarized people's beliefs.
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The purpose of this book is not to be a biography
- By LionsCalling09 on 01-25-18
By: Lyndal Roper
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Who Cooked the Last Supper?
- The Women's History of the World
- By: Rosalind Miles
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Without politics or polemics, this brilliant and witty book overturns centuries of preconceptions to restore women to their rightful place at the center of culture, revolution, empire, war, and peace. Spiced with tales of individual women who have shaped civilization, celebrating the work and lives of women around the world, and distinguished by a wealth of research, Who Cooked the Last Supper? redefines our concept of historical reality.
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Waste of Time
- By Chihuahua Mom on 11-18-19
By: Rosalind Miles
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God Believes in Love
- Straight Talk About Gay Marriage
- By: Gene Robinson
- Narrated by: Gene Robinson
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From Gene Robinson, the Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church, the first openly gay person elected (in 2003) to the historic episcopate and the world's leading religious spokesperson for gay rights and gay marriage, comes a groundbreaking book that lovingly and persuasively makes the case for same-sex marriage. It establishes a commonsense, reasoned, religious argument, made by someone who holds the religious text of the Bible to be holy and sacred.
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He nailed it!
- By Jamie on 12-27-12
By: Gene Robinson
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The Creation of Anne Boleyn
- A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen
- By: Susan Bordo
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne’s life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination. Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really look like? Was she the flaxen-haired martyr of Romantic paintings or the raven-haired seductress of twenty-first-century portrayals? (Answer: Neither.) And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne’s death more than her life.
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Most Enjoyable Biography--Win!
- By Roswatheist on 03-29-14
By: Susan Bordo
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Before We Were Trans
- A New History of Gender
- By: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Heyam looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures.
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The history we need right now
- By Daniel Hebert on 04-11-23
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Marriage, a History
- How Love Conquered Marriage
- By: Stephanie Coontz
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Marriage, a History, historian and marriage expert Stephanie Coontz takes listeners from the marital intrigues of ancient Babylon to the torments of Victorian lovers to demonstrate how recent the idea of marrying for love is - and how absurd it would have seemed to most of our ancestors. It was when marriage moved into the emotional sphere in the 19th century, she argues, that it suffered as an institution just as it began to thrive as a personal relationship.
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Marriage from a secular feminist's perspective
- By Timothy Hanline on 12-23-19
By: Stephanie Coontz
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The Fall of Anne Boleyn
- A Countdown
- By: Claire Ridgway
- Narrated by: Claire Ridgway
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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During the spring of 1536 in Tudor England, events conspire to bring down Anne Boleyn, the Queen of England. The coup against the Queen results in the brutal executions of six innocent people - Anne Boleyn herself, her brother, and four courtiers - and the rise of a new Queen. Drawing on 16th-century letters, eye witness accounts, and chronicles, Claire Ridgway leads the listener through the sequence of chilling events one day at a time, telling the true story of Anne Boleyn's fall.
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Fascinating, well researched, and great narration.
- By Katherine K. Carlisle on 01-19-16
By: Claire Ridgway
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A Delusion of Satan
- The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials
- By: Frances Hill
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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During the bleak winter of 1692 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of an Indian slave, the accusations soon multiplied. In less than two years, 19 men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished. This evenhanded and now-classic history illuminates the horrifying episode with visceral clarity.
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A new take on the Witch Trials
- By Jolene Correll on 02-17-15
By: Frances Hill
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Mary Boleyn
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francois I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. In this astonishing and riveting biography, Alison Weir’s extensive research gives a new and detailed portrayal, in which she recounts that, contrary to popular belief, Mary was entirely undeserving of her posthumous notoriety as a great whore.
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Historiography not a bio
- By Mary Elizabeth Reynolds on 06-03-12
By: Alison Weir
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America Bewitched
- The Story of Witchcraft After Salem
- By: Owen Davies
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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America Bewitched is the first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day. The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain 'Remember Salem!' was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed.
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excellent book
- By BraveSparrow on 07-30-16
By: Owen Davies