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The Middle Sea
- A History of the Mediterranean
- Narrated by: Alpha Trivette
- Length: 29 hrs and 31 mins
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Publisher's summary
This lively and dramatic book brings roaring to life the grand sweep of 5,000 years of history in the cradle of civilization.
A colorful account of the civilizations that rose and fell on the lands bordering the Mediterranean, The Middle Sea represents the culmination of a great historian’s unparalleled art and scholarship. John Julius Norwich provides brilliant portraits of the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the French, the Venetians, the Popes, and the pirates of the Gulf. Above all, he deftly traces the intermingling of ancient conflicts and modern sensibilities that shapes life today on the shores of the Middle Sea.
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- A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume I
- By: Sir Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The English-speaking peoples comprise perhaps the greatest number of human beings sharing a common language in the world today. These people also share a common heritage. For his four-volume work, Sir Winston Churchill took as his subject these great elements in world history. Volume 1 commences in 55BC, when Julius Caesar famously "turned his gaze upon Britain" and concludes with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
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Birth of Britain
- By Terryl Pettengill on 02-11-07
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Napoleon
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Johnson's book is a refreshing return to a concept whose time has come once again: the Great Man theory of biography. It serves as "the greatest possible refutation of those who hold that events are governed by forces, classes, economics, and geography rather than the powerful wills of men and women". Napoleon truly was the Great Man of his age, a towering and terrible genius who managed to conquer the Continent.
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Not your standard biography
- By Mark Grannis on 04-24-05
By: Paul Johnson
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The Norman Conquest
- The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.
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A Balanced, Entertaining, and Informative History
- By Jefferson on 06-01-14
By: Marc Morris
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Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom
- China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War
- By: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Angela Lin
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen R. Platt is widely respected for his incisive nonfiction, particularly in regard to his knowledge and understanding of China. With Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Platt details the absorbing narrative of the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in the loss of 20 million lives. Occurring in the 1850s, this is the story of a cultural movement characterized by intriguing personages such as influential military strategist Zeng Guofan and brilliant Taiping leader Hong Rengan.
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InTOLerable Reader
- By Adam on 07-07-12
By: Stephen R. Platt
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By the Spear
- Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire
- By: Ian Worthington
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time, By the Spear offers an exhilarating military narrative of the reigns of these two larger-than-life figures in one volume. Ian Worthington gives full breadth to the careers of father and son, showing how Philip was the architect of the Macedonian empire, which reached its zenith under Alexander, only to disintegrate upon his death.
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Bueller..... Bueller...... Bueller...... Monotone
- By Jonathan Allen Beard on 02-15-15
By: Ian Worthington
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The Crusades: The World's Debate
- By: Hilaire Belloc
- Narrated by: RJ Bayley
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) - one of the most prominent Catholic authors of his time - gives a common-sense explanation of why the Crusades were necessary and why they ultimately failed. Writing in 1937, following the demise of the Ottoman Empire, Belloc believed that the West had finally gained the advantage over its mortal foe; however, he also includes a prophetic warning concerning the eventual resurgence of Islam and its enduring desire to destroy Christendom.
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Brutally Honest Assessment
- By Anonymous User on 12-04-20
By: Hilaire Belloc
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Edward III
- The Perfect King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Holding power for over 50 years starting in 1327, Edward III was one of England's most influential kings and one who shaped the course of English history. Revered as one of the country's most illustrious leaders for centuries, he was also a usurper and a warmonger who ordered his uncle beheaded. A brutal man, to be sure, but also a brilliant one.
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Great book about Edward III
- By Kiesha on 07-05-16
By: Ian Mortimer
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John Julius Norwich - called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore - returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France, a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best. Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters - Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few - as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history.
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Absolute Monarchs
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Shakespeare's Kings
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William Shakespeare may have been the greatest playwright in the English language, but how does he measure up as a historian? In this brilliant comparison between the events and characters in Shakespeare's history plays and the actual events that inspired them, acclaimed historian John Julius Norwich examines the nine works that together amount to an epic masterpiece on England's most fascinating period.
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City of Fortune
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A Wonderful Listen
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Sicily
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DISAPPOINTING
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The Great Sea
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American Narration at it's Most Disapointing
- By Anonymous User on 03-26-18
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A History of France
- By: John Julius Norwich
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- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
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John Julius Norwich - called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore - returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France, a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best. Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters - Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few - as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history.
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Kings and Wars
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City of Fortune
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What listeners say about The Middle Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- W. O'Mara
- 11-23-22
not awful but filled with errors
This text jumps around with little regard for the coherence of the subject matter itself or the interrelationships and origins of the peoples mentioned. Worse, it includes a lot of basic errors in fact that should have been caught well before it reached both paperback and audiobook, like the offhand claim that Darius I killed Cambyses II. It's worth a read/listen, but be cautious about repeating things it says without verifying the facts.
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- Sally T. Warthen
- 04-06-19
An engaging history with a terrible reader.
This reader's bizarre pronunciation is very distracting. He mispronounces not just proper names, but a great many normal English words.
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- Ary Shalizi
- 06-10-15
Interesting concept, but overall disappointing.
I really liked the concept of this book, which is a "biography" of the cultures Mediterranean sea and their conflicts from antiquity to the end of the First World War. In places, it's a great story, full of interesting and colorful anecdotes. It suffers from two main faults, as I see it.
First, after the fall of Rome, and certainly once he enters into the 19th century, Norwich shifts to an almost exclusive discussion of the various conflicts that swept across the Mediterranean littoral over the last 1000 years. While these are important, and have consequences we live with to this day, the shifting of borders and movements of armies doesn't translate well to audio. Moreover, after the fall of Rome he all but entirely drops the discussion of cultural developments, ethnic interactions, and social forces which had been discussed more thoroughly when dealing with the empires of antiquity. The Renaissance gets barely a mention, nor is there any discussion of the flow of knowledge and technologies across the Mediterranean.
Second, the narrator is a huge distraction. I thought that "Alpha Trivette" was the name of a crappy text-to-speech program, but according to IMDB he is an actual actor of some sort. However, he has the most jarring delivery, often pausing at odd spots mid-sentence; I set the playback speed to 1.25x to smooth out the flow, which helped. Worse still, he has a tin ear for the pronunciation of, well, every other language spoken around the Mediterranean. For example, the Italian name Gugliermo is rendered "googly-ermo" rather than "gool-yer-mo," the Israeli port of Acre is rendered "ack-ree" rather than "aker," and on and on. I wish readers would check on the pronunciation of words they were unfamiliar with before jumping in and thoroughly mangling everything.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Karen L.
- 08-01-19
Fine narrator. Great history.
I can't understand the complaints. I love Norwich's books and have never found fault with his narrators. If you are an American, you'll be pleased that Alpha Trivette has no difficult accent.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Brian Abel Ragen
- 09-09-14
A Poor Reading of Review of Quick of Western Civ.
Lord Norwich's account of the Mediterranean will disappoint readers of his histories of Venice, Byzantium, and Norman Italy, since it is a much more superficial run through of much the same territory, but one too spotty to do any part of the subject justice. As a quick review of the outlines of history once taught in "Western Civ." courses, however, it is not bad. The reading, however, will not serve those new to the subject well at all, since it may leave them thinking that many words, especially names, are pronounced in the eccentric ways in which Trivette renders them. Readers more familiar with the subject will simply find those blunders grating and distracting.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-23-19
Great book! Who is the moron narrating it?
I've always like the books of Lord Norwich, but I am astonished that the person chosen to read this one for Audible has no concept of typical pronunciation. I understand that there are sometimes multiple ways of saying some place names, but this book is filled with idiotic things like "prosterity" instead of "posterity". For goodness sake, Audible, your auditioning process leaves a lot to be desired! One expects at least minimal literacy with narrators: this man is the worst I've ever heard!
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- Steve
- 07-31-15
Worst Possible Narration
I had to stop listening to this book within the first chapter after the narrator, who has a grating Midwest American accent, so totally mispronounced important words that it became impossible to tolerate any longer. I deeply wish I could get my credit back in order to get another book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Phyllis
- 04-27-14
A huge disappointment in every way
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
There is no sense of purpose or direction. The reader was terrible. I think it would require a complete re-do. it is the first and only Audible Book I truly disliked and could not finish.
Would you be willing to try another one of Alpha Trivette’s performances?
Never, if that is the name of the reader
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4 people found this helpful
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- The Louligan
- 08-12-15
REALLY BAD NARRATOR
Does Audible.com even LISTEN to its product before they ask its Members to shell out credits or money? "The Middle Sea" is a history of the Mediterranean civilization going back 5,000 years. For some inexplicable reason, the book is narrated by a little known American actor named ALPHA TRIVETTE - yes, ALPHA TRIVETTE - who, like his name, sounds the stereotypical Sheriff of a small western town during the cowboy era. He stumbles and bumbles through the plethora of foreign names, locations and languages. After only 30 minutes of this hayseed massacre, I wanted Doc Holliday to take me up to Boot Hill and SHOOT me in my Tony Llamas! There's no way I could have made it through almost 30 HOURS!!! I enjoyed "Absolute Monarchs" by John Julius Norwich but it was narrated by the awesome Michael Page. Alpha may be an "actor" (at least, according to IMDB) but he is no narrator - I wouldn't listen to him reading "Lonesome Dove"!! You're a daisy if you waste money on this big ole bag o' fertilizer!
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19 people found this helpful
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- A. Kennedy
- 03-25-23
I wish I had read the reviews before I purchased..
I'm heading to Malta later this summer and really wanted to read up on the history. However, I had no idea I would have to listen to the absolute WORST narrator I have every had the misfortune to come across in all of the hundreds of books I have listened to on Audible. I tried for about an hour, but that's all I could suffer through. Literally, this man's reading was a turn off....
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