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The Middle Kingdoms
- A New History of Central Europe
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's summary
An essential new history of Central Europe, the contested lands so often at the heart of world history
Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle Kingdoms, Martyn Rady offers the definitive history of the region, demonstrating that Central Europe has always been more than merely the fault line between West and East. Even as Central European powers warred with their neighbors, the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture. Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, developed the philosophy of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and advanced some of the twentieth century’s most important artistic movements.
Drawing on a lifetime of research and scholarship, The Middle Kingdoms tells as never before the captivating story of two thousand years of Central Europe’s history and its enduring significance in world affairs.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it has been subject to invasion by outsiders, from Vikings to Mongols, from Napoleon’s French to Hitler’s Germans. In order to forge an identity, it has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. In A Short History of Russia, Mark Galeotti explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate, and exasperating country.
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Wonderful short history
- By Tad Davis on 01-19-21
By: Mark Galeotti
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History of France
- A Captivating Guide to French History
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
France has influenced the course of history in Europe and the world for centuries. Considered one of the world’s most beautiful countries and home to some of the world’s most visited tourist locations, France has enthralled and fascinated the people who’ve discovered that, in many ways, the history of France encompasses both the good and bad in the human character.
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A Quick Overview of French History - Great Reader
- By JJares on 06-23-21
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The Greeks
- A Global History
- By: Roderick Beaton
- Narrated by: Anna Crowe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
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An Ethnography of the Greeks
- By gmurphy92 on 03-27-22
By: Roderick Beaton
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European History
- A Captivating Guide to the History of Europe, Starting from the Neanderthals Through to the Roman Empire and the End of the Cold War
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Europe’s past is characterized by fighting and warfare, and it is punctuated with great works of art, philosophy, science, and technology. Even its recent history is much the same - that’s why, so much of the globe was once ruled by European monarchies. Despite all the infighting and territorial exploits, Europeans have managed to create some of the most beautiful pieces of literature, architecture, political structures, and ideas the world has ever seen.
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Highly Recommended
- By Jean Marshall on 08-06-20
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Superpower Interrupted
- The Chinese History of the World
- By: Michael Schuman
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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This global history as the Chinese would write it gives brilliant and unconventional insights for understanding China's role in the world, especially the drive to "Make China Great Again." In this colorful, informative story filled with fascinating characters, epic battles, influential thinkers, and decisive moments, we come to understand how the Chinese view their own history and how its narrative is distinctly different from that of Western civilization.
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Nice overview
- By Matthew G. Towner on 08-12-20
By: Michael Schuman
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A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000
- By: John Gibney
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Five centuries of Irish history are explored in this informative and accessible volume. John Gibney proceeds from the beginning of Ireland’s modern period and continues through to virtually the present day, offering an integrated overview of the island nation’s cultural, political, and socioeconomic history. This succinct, scholarly study covers important historical events, including the Cromwellian conquest and settlement, the Great Famine, and the struggle for Irish independence.
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Accurate, concise, but lacks spark
- By lightbringer34 on 01-22-24
By: John Gibney
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The Invention of Sicily
- A Mediterranean History
- By: Jamie Mackay
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by the Phoenicians and Greeks, the Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, and the Spanish and the French for thousands of years, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture. In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places.
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Wonderful overview of Sicily
- By jay lazier on 01-28-24
By: Jamie Mackay
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A Brief History of Korea
- Isolation, War, Despotism and Revival: The Fascinating Story of a Resilient But Divided People
- By: Michael J. Seth
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Korea was one of the last countries in Asia to be visited by Westerners, and its borders have remained largely unchanged since it was unified in the seventh century. Though it is one of the world's oldest and most ethnically homogeneous states, Korea was not born in a vacuum. Geographically isolated, the country was heavily influenced by powerful China and was often used as a bridge to the mainland by Japan. Calling themselves as "a shrimp among whales", Koreans borrowed elements of government, culture, and religion, all the while fiercely fighting to maintain independence.
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Loved the historical context but ..
- By Kathy on 01-06-20
By: Michael J. Seth
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Medieval Europe
- By: Chris Wickham
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period - one not easily chronicled within a single book. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation.
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Wow! Outstanding Work on the Period
- By Dane Maralason on 01-15-19
By: Chris Wickham
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A Concise History of Spain
- By: William Phillips Jr., Carla Rahn Phillips
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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This audiobook traces Spain's development from prehistoric times to the present, focusing particularly on culture, society, politics, and personalities. It introduces listeners to key themes that have shaped Spain's history and culture, including its varied landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse human migrations; the importance of its location as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism.
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Underwhelmed
- By Anonymous User on 02-20-20
By: William Phillips Jr., and others
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Extremely Disappointing
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needs a good editor.
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Ideal for students of empires, nationalism, minorities and ethnic groups
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The Story of the Goths
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The Goths are the most enigmatic of all the ancient German tribes. Their name today is still widely in use for a variety of cultural and artistic movements. But unlike other famous German tribes whose names are still descriptive of nations they founded - the Franks, the Lombards, the Angles, the Saxons and the Alemanni - the Goths simply disappeared. The subject of Henry Bradley's splendid short history is tracing the rise, the migrations, and the impact of the Goths on European history along with their spectacular fall.
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Interesting Book about a little understood people
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Rome and Persia
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Roman empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between Rome and Persia, historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows how these two great powers evolved together
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MAPS NEEDED
- By David on 12-29-23
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Blood and Iron
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?
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Misleading title/subtitle
- By Ethan Brown on 12-15-21
By: Katja Hoyer
What listeners say about The Middle Kingdoms
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dallin Young
- 04-10-24
Amazing narrative
This has been the comprehensive historical work on central Europe I've been waiting for. It goes in depth into origins and histories of the lesser written about countries such as Poland, Hungary, Polmeralia and Pomerania and more importantly, how they all interacted and impacted each other. 10/10.
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- Barididum Kaakpo
- 08-25-24
Great book
I really enjoyed the performance and the story. The book covers comprehensively covers the history of Central Europe over a vast amount of time.
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- Josh Peterson
- 08-28-23
Voice Edit
Remove voice edit at just after 19 hours, 27 minutes. Just wanted to pass on in case it’s an easy technical fix.
Very informative. Enjoying this very much!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Susan K Weimer
- 04-22-24
COMPREHENSIVE
This is a well thought out review of the East Central a European countries’ histories. The flow of the narrative carried the listener from the early Middle Ages right up to Russia’s capture of the Crimea and beyond. The listener is able to piece together various trends through major headlines in recent times. It blended the succession of the Imperial Rulers with events that shaped the region. Very lengthy but extremely worthwhile and thought provoking.
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- Okahead
- 09-28-23
The Middle Kingdoms
This is a great history book of central and Eastern Europe. As a reader and listener you will gain a lot of knowledge of this area of Europe from Medieval to present. The reader was enjoyable and the performance was great.
This is a excellent source as an introduction to the history for any scholar or lover of history
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-02-24
Not wellorgaized
Jumps from subject to subject, person to person, time period to time period. No wonder I have yet to find an accurate history of middle Europe.
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- Paul Boothroyd
- 10-20-23
Marred by the errors in the modern section
The author states matter-of-factly that the Soviets joined WWII on the side of the Allies in 1941, blithely ignoring the fact that 1941 is the year they switched sides after being betrayed by their Nazi ally. Poland, Finland, the Baltic republics, and Japan would all agree that 1941 is far from the year the Soviet Union joined the conflict. This is just one of several basic factual errors that mar the modern section of the book, much of which was otherwise excellent.
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4 people found this helpful