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The Vertigo Years
- Europe 1900-1914
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's summary
Europe, 1900 - 1914: a world adrift, a pulsating era of creativity and contradictions. The major topics of the day: terrorism, globalization, immigration, consumerism, the collapse of moral values, and the rivalry of superpowers. The 20th century was not born in the trenches of the Somme or Passchendaelebut rather in the 15 vertiginous years preceding World War I.
In this short span of time, a new world order was emerging in ultimately tragic contradiction to the old. These were the years in which the political and personal repercussions of the Industrial Revolution were felt worldwide: Cities grew like never before as people fled the countryside and their traditional identities; science created new possibilities as well as nightmares; education changed the outlook of millions of people; mass-produced items transformed daily life; industrial laborers demanded a share of political power; and women sought to change their place in society as well as the very fabric of sexual relations.
From the tremendous hope for a new century embodied in the 1900 Worlds Fair in Paris to the shattering assassination of a Habsburg archduke in Sarajevo in 1914, historian Philipp Blom chronicles this extraordinary epoch year by year. Prime Ministers and peasants, anarchists and actresses, scientists and psychopaths intermingle on the stage of a new century in this portrait of an opulent, unstable age on the brink of disaster. Beautifully written and replete with deftly told anecdotes, The Vertigo Years brings the wonders, horrors, and fears of the early 20th century vividly to life.
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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.
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The Most Annoying Narrator EVER
- By JudieBee on 12-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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How the Scots Invented the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics - contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. This book is not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world.
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Eagerly Awaited Audiobook
- By Lulu on 09-01-16
By: Arthur Herman
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Adolf Hitler
- A Captivating Guide to the Life of the Führer of Nazi Germany
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Explore the rise of Adolf Hitler. Was Hitler, as Ian Kershaw asked, a natural consequence of German history, or an aberration? Not that Hitler had been in hiding, waiting to attack. The Führer had actually been following an aggressive and savage foreign policy for almost 10 years, and been named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1938.
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Awesome little book
- By Bryan T. on 02-02-19
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The Proud Tower
- A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The fateful quarter-century leading up to World War I was a time when the world of privilege still existed in Olympian luxury and the world of protest was heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate. The age was the climax of a century of the most accelerated rate of change in history, a cataclysmic shaping of destiny.
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Fascinating history
- By Doug on 02-18-07
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The Great Escape
- Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World
- By: Kati Marton
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The stunning story of the breathtaking journey of nine extraordinary men from Budapest to the New World, what they experienced along their dangerous route, and how they changed America and the world. In a style both personal and historically groundbreaking, acclaimed author Kati Marton (born in Budapest) tells the tale of their youth in Budapest's Golden Age of the early 20th century, their flight, and their lives of extraordinary accomplishment, danger, glamour, and poignancy.
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very interesting, well-narrated
- By D. Littman on 12-17-06
By: Kati Marton
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Existentialism and Excess
- The Life and Times of Jean-Paul Sartre
- By: Gary Cox
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the undisputed giants of 20th-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism, combined with his creative and artistic flair, have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high-profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion.
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a capitalista biography of Sartre
- By Anonymous User on 01-24-20
By: Gary Cox
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Amsterdam
- A History of the World's Most Liberal City
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam, showing how such disparate elements as herring anatomy, naked Anabaptists parading through the streets, and an intimate gathering in a 16th-century wine-tasting room had a profound effect on Dutch - and world - history. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually engaging story of Amsterdam from its golden age to the present.
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Worth Reading - Highly Recommended
- By Whit B on 05-12-14
By: Russell Shorto
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We Don't Know Ourselves
- A Personal History of Modern Ireland
- By: Fintan O'Toole
- Narrated by: Aidan Kelly
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In We Don't Know Ourselves, Fintan O'Toole weaves his own experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change, showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a reactionary "backwater" to an almost totally open society - perhaps the most astonishing national transformation in modern history. O'Toole narrates the once unthinkable collapse of the all-powerful Catholic Church, brought down by scandal and by the activism of ordinary Irish. He relates the horrific violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which led most Irish to reject violent nationalism.
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Relentlessly Negative
- By John on 06-02-22
By: Fintan O'Toole
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1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
- By: Charles Emerson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features last summers in grand aristocratic residences or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans.
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Good book ruined by bad read
- By GANESHi on 08-02-13
By: Charles Emerson
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Making History
- The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past
- By: Richard Cohen
- Narrated by: Richard Cohen
- Length: 26 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as “objective” history? In this “witty, wise, and elegant” (The Spectator), book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of “Bad History” and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country.
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Missing 20 pages from book
- By Rick, Austin on 04-23-22
By: Richard Cohen
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Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
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Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
What listeners say about The Vertigo Years
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Curious Artist Librarian
- 10-29-12
Really great history without pronounciation
Is there anything you would change about this book?
The narrator cannot pronounce a single name or word in the text.
What did you like best about this story?
It is really beautifully done - a detestable amount of detail about King Leopold's unsurpassed genocide in the Congo, but I am behind all of his unpacking of Colonialism.
Would you be willing to try another one of Joel Richards’s performances?
Never, although he has a perky Adam Gopnik-like voice and I listened for way too long because of the book. There is not ONE SINGLE WORD in French in German he can pronounce to save his life, to my regret, as it ruined the book for me. I had to give up.
Do you think The Vertigo Years needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
Great book I need to read in text and pronounce in my head correctly before I can decide.
Any additional comments?
Missed opportunity. Great book, I think. A well-meaning perky reader with zilch ability in French/German pronunciation [key to hearing]. I blame the audiobook publisher for not briefing him. A waste. If you doubt me, check out Robert Hughes in Shock of the New on Ubuweb, since it is a lot of the same names and words and he gets 100 percent, and the narrator here, barely a thing.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jonathan I. Rosenblatt
- 02-16-18
Ruined by Narrator
This is rich and nuanced book, packed with incidents and characters if great interest. Its themes have a haunting currency. What a shame it was delivered into the hands of a narrator who reveals the thinness of his education on almost every page. He mispronounces names, murders foreign phrases and mangles simple words. His insistence on 'litachur' and 'boogwa' is maddening. Poor casting. He's be great for Brad Easton Ellis--trapped, as he seems to be, in a bookless monolingual hyper-contemporary American sensibility. Where is the director? Producer? Editor? Do any adults listen to these readings before they are published? It seems cruel to leave this narrator to an eternity of self-embarrassment.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley
- 11-12-21
Vital reading
Philipp Blom’s work is extraordinary, comprehensive, and critical to our understanding of the run-up to World War I and the frenetic turmoil of those years prior to 1914.I recommend it to everyone. Joel Richards did a good job in the narration. My only criticism is in some of his inaccurate pronunciations, often adjectives and in names of musicians, for example. I found this curious.
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- Luiz
- 09-15-15
Excellent
If you could sum up The Vertigo Years in three words, what would they be?
Panoramic view of early 1900's
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Vertigo Years?
Connections between culture changes, social changes, political changes and world historic events
Have you listened to any of Joel Richards’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
no.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
yes
Any additional comments?
Goes very well with Fracture, by the same author
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Steve
- 01-21-11
The Butcher
I agree that the narrator is a disaster. It's not only French words he butchers. He is impartial-- French, German, Italian, even a few English ones for time to time. Personal names, place names, ordinary words, without fear or favor. Still, if you can kind of guess at what he was supposed to say, the book is interesting. Each chapter is one year, and the author uses an incident during that year to explore a theme or related themes of the period. Mostly it works, occasionally it doesn't. The subjects covered are so varied that there is probably at least something here for anyone who is interested in the history of the period -- everything from Freud to Dreadnought.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Regina Connell
- 02-06-11
I THINK it was a good book, but...
If I were the author, I'd be looking for some restitution from the producer and audiobook publisher for the appalling quality of the narration.
I THINK the content was good, fine, instructive, and extremely well researched. However, every time the narrator mispronounced a word (and as the others have pointed out, in every language including English), I'd lose my concentration and my place for a few moments. The fact that the narrator of this book (or was it the producer) chose to simulate a French, German, or other accent....only to mispronounce words...made it all the more ludicrous.
In addition, not only does the narrator mispronounce words, he reads too rapidly and (as a result) slurs words. Perhaps this is why it didn't sound as if the narrator understood what he was reading.
This is a book better read than listened to, at least with this narrator/producer combination.
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- Konrad
- 07-11-19
Pronunciation: don't even try.
A great overview of many facets of life from an era that we've overlooked and miss important historical fiction lessons as a result. BUT. The reader can't pronounce anything, ANYTHING that is not English. Great voice and pace is tossed aside by the painfully distracting butchery of German, French, and Russian. It's not just an American twang (that's not a problem in and of itself) it's a total disregard for the fact that the other languages of the world don't follow the same rules as English. Three hours of intensive lessons on German pronunciation and you would know that it's not GO-THA, but Goet(h)a. Or that ei is "aye" and ie is "ee". Nevermind that when the reader impersonated French (unnecessary anyway) it sounded like a Russian caricature. Half of the time I didn't know who was being discussed (Wait who is Yoo-len-berg? oh he means Eulenberg pronounced "Oilenberg"). Sometimes he even gets English wrong. Distracting and annoying but a fascinating account otherwise.
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- JG of NH
- 06-18-20
Appalling narration.
Unnecessary and comically poor French accents. Ludicrous mispronunciation of common words, both English and foreign.
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- AAJ
- 08-06-11
Read this book - don't listen to it
Shame on everyone who had a hand in the production of this audiobook. The reader could not correctly pronounce words in any language, including English. Where was the quality control? Why did the editors allow such stupid errors? How could they release such shoddy work for sale? How could audible.com agree to sell such an inferior product? Be warned: buy this title in print and read it yourself. Listening to it will only set your teeth on edge and raise your blood pressure.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Simone
- 06-24-12
Badly sctructured
It???s hard to make clear what bugs me about this book. Overall I like it??? but???
I wanted a high-level overview of European history from 1900 to 1914, and while this book does provide that, it goes into too much small (unnecessary) detail. Like for example: a drilled down explanation of how Xrays work. Sure that???s all very interesting, but this is not a book about the discoveries of Xrays!! It is possible to talk about Marie Curie and why she matters in the grand scheme of history without detailed technical analysis of radio activity or how she discovered radium. It was like a Physics or Chemistry lesson, and I felt the book was getting off-topic.
I am only about a quarter of the way in and I think I have to change my expectation and approach the book more as a collection of historical anecdotes. I think that will help me better appreciate the material. Now, if only the information was presented as a collection of historical anecdotes!! Haha!! - I don???t like the 1 topic per year set up.
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Almost done almost done almost done almost done almost done almost done almost done almost done ... one more chapter to go! Not Horrible, but I have to downgrade my rating from 3 to 2 stars because it's just so jumpy and the set up is lousy. That's not a critique on the content, but it was on the tedious side to get through...
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