
The Shortest History of Italy
3,000 Years from the Romans to the Renaissance to a Modern Republic―A Retelling for Our Times
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Liam Gerrard
-
By:
-
Ross King
About this listen
A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence—from a foremost author of historic Italy.
The calendar. The Senate. The university. The piano, the heliocentric model, and the pizzeria. It's hard to imagine a world without Italian influence—and easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from a strong, stable peninsula, sure of its place in the world. In this breakneck history, bestselling author Ross King dismantles this assumption, uncovering the story of a land rife with inner uncertainty even as its influence spread.
As the Italian tale unfolds, prosperity and power fluctuate like the elevation in the Dolomites. If Rome's seven hills could talk, they might speak of the glorious time of Trajan—or bemoan the era of conquest and the Bubonic Plague that decimated Rome's population. Episodes of wealth like the First Triumvirate and the time of the Medicis are given fresh life alongside descriptions the Middle Ages, the early days of Venice, the invasion of Napoleon, and the long struggle for unification. King paints a colorful, fascinating portrait of a country that remains compelling not just to tens of millions of Italian Americans, but to the millions of Americans who visit Italy every year.
©2024 Ross King (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Other Renaissance
- From Copernicus to Shakespeare: How the Renaissance in Northern Europe Transformed the World
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This "Other Renaissance" was initially centered on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence was soon being felt in France, the German states, London, and even in Italy itself.
-
-
Comprehensive study
- By Roger on 04-07-25
By: Paul Strathern
-
Michelangelo, God's Architect
- The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece
- By: William E. Wallace
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michelangelo, God's Architect is the first book to tell the full story of Michelangelo's final two decades, when the peerless artist refashioned himself into the master architect of St. Peter’s Basilica and other major buildings. When the Pope handed Michelangelo control of the St. Peter’s project in 1546, it was a study in architectural mismanagement, plagued by flawed design and faulty engineering.
-
-
Michelangelo, architect, urban designer, artist
- By Marco on 09-16-20
-
The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine
- From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace
- By: Michael Scott-Baumann
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine is one of the most bitter conflicts in history, with profound global consequences. In this book, Middle East expert Michael Scott-Baumann succinctly describes its origins and charts its evolution from civil war to the present day. Each chapter offers a lucid explanation of the politics and ends with personal testimony from Palestinians and Israelis whose lives have been impacted by the dispute.
-
-
Great Til 1980’s
- By Amazon Customer on 04-29-24
-
Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
-
Machiavelli
- Philosopher of Power
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Tim Reynolds
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopher - history's most famous theorist of "warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed" - and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times best-selling author of Brunelleschi's Dome, argues that the author of The Prince was a far more complex and sympathetic character than is often portrayed.
-
-
Awesome
- By Crisitna Tunon on 07-16-21
By: Ross King
-
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. During the four extraordinary years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the ceiling, power politics and personal rivalries swirled around him. He battled ill health, financial and family difficulties, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the Pope's impatience - a history that is more compelling than most novels.
-
-
History brought to life!
- By Anne on 05-17-03
By: Ross King
-
The Other Renaissance
- From Copernicus to Shakespeare: How the Renaissance in Northern Europe Transformed the World
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
However, a historical transformation of similar magnitude also took place in northern Europe at the same time. This "Other Renaissance" was initially centered on the city of Bruges in Flanders (modern Belgium), but its influence was soon being felt in France, the German states, London, and even in Italy itself.
-
-
Comprehensive study
- By Roger on 04-07-25
By: Paul Strathern
-
Michelangelo, God's Architect
- The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece
- By: William E. Wallace
- Narrated by: Simon Callow
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michelangelo, God's Architect is the first book to tell the full story of Michelangelo's final two decades, when the peerless artist refashioned himself into the master architect of St. Peter’s Basilica and other major buildings. When the Pope handed Michelangelo control of the St. Peter’s project in 1546, it was a study in architectural mismanagement, plagued by flawed design and faulty engineering.
-
-
Michelangelo, architect, urban designer, artist
- By Marco on 09-16-20
-
The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine
- From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace
- By: Michael Scott-Baumann
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine is one of the most bitter conflicts in history, with profound global consequences. In this book, Middle East expert Michael Scott-Baumann succinctly describes its origins and charts its evolution from civil war to the present day. Each chapter offers a lucid explanation of the politics and ends with personal testimony from Palestinians and Israelis whose lives have been impacted by the dispute.
-
-
Great Til 1980’s
- By Amazon Customer on 04-29-24
-
Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
-
Machiavelli
- Philosopher of Power
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Tim Reynolds
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopher - history's most famous theorist of "warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed" - and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times best-selling author of Brunelleschi's Dome, argues that the author of The Prince was a far more complex and sympathetic character than is often portrayed.
-
-
Awesome
- By Crisitna Tunon on 07-16-21
By: Ross King
-
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. During the four extraordinary years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the ceiling, power politics and personal rivalries swirled around him. He battled ill health, financial and family difficulties, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the Pope's impatience - a history that is more compelling than most novels.
-
-
History brought to life!
- By Anne on 05-17-03
By: Ross King
-
Bugsy Siegel
- The Dark Side of the American Dream (Jewish Lives Series)
- By: Michael Shnayerson
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a brief life that led to a violent end, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (1906-1947) rose from desperate poverty to ill-gotten riches, from an early-20th-century family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side to a kingdom of his own making in Las Vegas. In this captivating portrait, author Michael Shnayerson sets out not to absolve Bugsy Siegel but rather to understand him in all his complexity.
-
-
Strange Memorial
- By Gordon A. Raley on 09-16-21
-
Twelve Caesars
- Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern (Bollingen Series)
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book - against a background of today’s “sculpture wars” - Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the Western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the “Twelve Caesars”, from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian.
-
-
This foray into art history is a disappointment.
- By Stephen J Chiulli on 11-10-21
By: Mary Beard
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
The English and Their History
- By: Robert Tombs
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 43 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Tombs' momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history.
-
-
Should be called, The English and their politics
- By Mary Elizabeth Reynolds on 08-24-16
By: Robert Tombs
-
Empire
- A New History of the World: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Civilizations
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A dazzling new history of the world told through the 10 major empires of human civilization. Combining breathtaking scope with masterful narrative control, Paul Strathern traces these connections across four millennia and sheds new light on these major civilizations - from the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty to the Aztec and Ottoman, through to the most recent and biggest empires: the British, Russo-Soviet, and American.
-
-
A good overview for a beginner
- By JAusten Fan on 06-09-23
By: Paul Strathern
-
The Shortest History of Europe
- By: John Hirst
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilization, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning and Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, and beyond - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times.
-
-
Political Cheap Shots Instead of History
- By Anonymous User on 08-25-24
By: John Hirst
-
Millennium
- From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization Has Changed over a Thousand Years
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Millennium, best-selling historian Ian Mortimer takes the listener on a whirlwind tour of the last 10 centuries of Western history. It is a journey into a past vividly brought to life and bursting with ideas, that pits one century against another in his quest to measure which century saw the greatest change. We journey from a time when there was a fair chance of your village being burned to the ground by invaders - and dried human dung was a recommended cure for cancer - to a world in which explorers sailed into the unknown and civilizations came into conflict.
-
-
Bad ending - literally
- By John Gordon on 12-14-16
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Shortest History of India
- From the World's Oldest Civilization to Its Largest Democracy—A Retelling for Our Times
- By: John Zubrzycki
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
5,000 years of history—from the Bhagavad Gita to Bollywood—fill this masterful portrait of the world's most populous nation and a rising global power.
-
-
Quick paced coverage of a very great deal of India’s History
- By Caleagle on 03-22-24
By: John Zubrzycki
-
Spice
- The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
-
-
Spice or Megellan?
- By BarbieAlaska on 06-21-24
By: Roger Crowley
-
To Be a Jew Today
- A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: Noah Feldman
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to be a Jew? At a time of worldwide crisis, venerable answers to this question have become unsettled. In To Be a Jew Today, the legal scholar and columnist Noah Feldman draws on a lifelong engagement with his religion to offer a wide-ranging interpretation of Judaism in its current varieties. How do Jews today understand their relationship to God, to Israel, and to each other—and live their lives accordingly?
-
-
Struggling with Judaism
- By Shmuel M on 05-22-24
By: Noah Feldman
-
Magna Carta
- The Birth of Liberty
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles - even its language - can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange document and how did it gain such legendary status? Dan Jones takes us back to the turbulent year of 1215, when, beset by foreign crises and cornered by a growing domestic rebellion, King John reluctantly agreed to fix his seal to a document that would change the course of history.
-
-
Complicated period of history made accessible
- By NH on 12-09-15
By: Dan Jones
-
Foundation
- The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house.
-
-
The Most Annoying Narrator EVER
- By JudieBee on 12-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
A Brief History of Italy
- Tracing the Renaissance, Unification, and the Lively Evolution of Art and Culture
- By: Dominic Haynes
- Narrated by: Jeff Bower
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perhaps no country has had such a lasting impact on Western culture as Italy. Whether it’s the frescoes of the Renaissance, the politics of ancient Rome, or the formation of the Catholic Church, Italy holds a central place on the world’s stage. This audiobook gives a quick but detailed overview of Italy’s grand, sweeping history, from ancient city-state to modern cultural mecca. Whether you’re a student of Italian history looking for a refresher or a brand-new learner looking for an introduction, this audiobook is a concise, easy-to-follow overview.
-
-
A brief History of Italy
- By Taha on 11-13-23
By: Dominic Haynes
-
The Pursuit of Italy
- A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? These questions are asked and answered in a number of ways in this engaging, original consideration of the many histories that contribute to the brilliance - and weakness - of Italy today. David Gilmour's exploration of Italian life over the centuries is filled with provocative anecdotes as well as personal observations.
-
-
Good history: Tough Narration
- By C.S. on 11-12-18
By: David Gilmour
-
The Bookseller of Florence
- The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings - the dazzling handiwork of the city's skilled artists and architects. But equally important for the centuries to follow were geniuses of a different sort: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars, and booksellers, who blew the dust off a thousand years of history and, through the discovery and diffusion of ancient knowledge, imagined a new and enlightened world.
-
-
Great book, Horrible narrator
- By Sergio Remon on 07-01-21
By: Ross King
-
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. During the four extraordinary years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the ceiling, power politics and personal rivalries swirled around him. He battled ill health, financial and family difficulties, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the Pope's impatience - a history that is more compelling than most novels.
-
-
History brought to life!
- By Anne on 05-17-03
By: Ross King
-
Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
-
Brunelleschi's Dome
- How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction.
-
-
Great history with terrible narration
- By Whiskey Mike on 12-16-21
By: Ross King
-
A Brief History of Italy
- Tracing the Renaissance, Unification, and the Lively Evolution of Art and Culture
- By: Dominic Haynes
- Narrated by: Jeff Bower
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perhaps no country has had such a lasting impact on Western culture as Italy. Whether it’s the frescoes of the Renaissance, the politics of ancient Rome, or the formation of the Catholic Church, Italy holds a central place on the world’s stage. This audiobook gives a quick but detailed overview of Italy’s grand, sweeping history, from ancient city-state to modern cultural mecca. Whether you’re a student of Italian history looking for a refresher or a brand-new learner looking for an introduction, this audiobook is a concise, easy-to-follow overview.
-
-
A brief History of Italy
- By Taha on 11-13-23
By: Dominic Haynes
-
The Pursuit of Italy
- A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? These questions are asked and answered in a number of ways in this engaging, original consideration of the many histories that contribute to the brilliance - and weakness - of Italy today. David Gilmour's exploration of Italian life over the centuries is filled with provocative anecdotes as well as personal observations.
-
-
Good history: Tough Narration
- By C.S. on 11-12-18
By: David Gilmour
-
The Bookseller of Florence
- The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings - the dazzling handiwork of the city's skilled artists and architects. But equally important for the centuries to follow were geniuses of a different sort: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars, and booksellers, who blew the dust off a thousand years of history and, through the discovery and diffusion of ancient knowledge, imagined a new and enlightened world.
-
-
Great book, Horrible narrator
- By Sergio Remon on 07-01-21
By: Ross King
-
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. During the four extraordinary years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the ceiling, power politics and personal rivalries swirled around him. He battled ill health, financial and family difficulties, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the Pope's impatience - a history that is more compelling than most novels.
-
-
History brought to life!
- By Anne on 05-17-03
By: Ross King
-
Mad Enchantment
- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings. They are in museums all over the world and are among the most beloved works of art of the past century. Yet, ironically, these soothing images were created amid terrible personal turmoil and sadness.
-
-
Wonderful book. Awful awful narration.
- By StphnyC on 06-23-17
By: Ross King
-
Brunelleschi's Dome
- How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction.
-
-
Great history with terrible narration
- By Whiskey Mike on 12-16-21
By: Ross King
-
The Judgment of Paris
- The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Tristan Layton
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the Civil War raged in America, another very different revolution was beginning to take shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris. The artists who would make Impressionism the most popular art form in history were showing their first paintings amid scorn and derision from the French artistic establishment. Indeed, no artistic movement has ever been, at its inception, quite so controversial.
-
-
Try this!
- By Robert on 10-28-08
By: Ross King
-
Leonardo and the Last Supper
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Early in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began work in Milan on what would become one of history's most influential and beloved works of art - The Last Supper. After a dozen years at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point personally and professionally: at 43, in an era when he had almost reached the average life expectancy, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise.
-
-
Informative yet creative
- By Isabellabasil on 05-27-15
By: Ross King
-
A Concise History of Italy
- By: Christopher Duggan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West to the present day, and surveys the difficulties Italy has faced during the last two centuries in creating a unified country. Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist and idealist programs for forging a nation-state.
-
-
Concise indeed
- By nikex on 03-22-21
-
Domino
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Denis Quilley
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After meeting the mysterious and beautiful Lady Beauclair at a society ball, George Cautley, a hapless young artist trying to make his way in the gilded world of 1770s London, paints her portrait while she tells him the scandalous story of Tristano, a castrato singer in Handel's opera company 50 years before. Cautley, seeking love and truth in an age of deception and disguise, flees to Bath, where he unwittingly finds himself re-enacting the tragic fate of Tristano.
By: Ross King
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
The House of Medici
- Its Rise and Fall
- By: Christopher Hibbert
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic, and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence's slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.
-
-
Laundry list of names
- By Elizabeth W on 01-02-17
What listeners say about The Shortest History of Italy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Miguel
- 08-18-24
Why not hire a reader who has any idea how to pronounce Italian?
Truly annoying.
Also would have appreciated more social history and less Great Man. A bit old-fashioned.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elizabeth A
- 05-24-24
Read the book; avoid the audiobook if you like the Italian language.
The book is well written and worth the time to read. The narrator of the audiobook, however, mangles most of the Italian words. There are a lot of Italian words in this book so if you are fluent in Italian or even speak it well, you might cringe at the pronunciation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!