-
Tyrant
- Shakespeare on Politics
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
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
Buy for $13.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers.
As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.
Cherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules - these aspects of a society in crisis fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues - and the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them - and imagined how they might be stopped. As Greenblatt shows, Shakespeare's work, in this as in so many other ways, remains vitally relevant today.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
-
-
Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
-
The Swerve
- How the World Became Modern
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.
-
-
Very compelling history, a less compelling thesis
- By A reader on 05-01-12
-
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
-
-
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
-
Will in the World
- How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential literary thinkers in the world. An acclaimed interpreter of Shakespeare's works, his ideas have changed the way countless people approach the classics. Now Greenblatt's uniquely brilliant voice delivers a magnificent biography of the Bard himself.
-
-
Politically Motivated
- By Donald on 09-29-04
-
This Is Shakespeare
- By: Emma Smith
- Narrated by: Emma Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant.
-
-
Excellent and accessible listen
- By Amanda L. Hughes on 01-05-21
By: Emma Smith
-
The Iliad & The Odyssey
- By: Homer
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 28 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Little is known about the Ancient Greek oral poet Homer, the supposed 8th century BC author of the world-read Iliad and his later masterpiece, The Odyssey. These classic epics provided the basis for Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and formed the backbone of humane education through the birth of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.
-
-
Worth the price, worth the time
- By Sam on 12-31-04
By: Homer
-
The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
-
-
Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
-
The Swerve
- How the World Became Modern
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.
-
-
Very compelling history, a less compelling thesis
- By A reader on 05-01-12
-
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
-
-
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
-
Will in the World
- How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential literary thinkers in the world. An acclaimed interpreter of Shakespeare's works, his ideas have changed the way countless people approach the classics. Now Greenblatt's uniquely brilliant voice delivers a magnificent biography of the Bard himself.
-
-
Politically Motivated
- By Donald on 09-29-04
-
This Is Shakespeare
- By: Emma Smith
- Narrated by: Emma Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant.
-
-
Excellent and accessible listen
- By Amanda L. Hughes on 01-05-21
By: Emma Smith
-
The Iliad & The Odyssey
- By: Homer
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 28 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Little is known about the Ancient Greek oral poet Homer, the supposed 8th century BC author of the world-read Iliad and his later masterpiece, The Odyssey. These classic epics provided the basis for Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and formed the backbone of humane education through the birth of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.
-
-
Worth the price, worth the time
- By Sam on 12-31-04
By: Homer
-
Shakespeare in a Divided America
- What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes—presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike—have turned to Shakespeare’s works to explore the nation’s fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare’s four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
-
-
An Entertaining History Lesson
- By David on 08-17-20
By: James Shapiro
-
My Shakespeare
- A Director’s Journey Through the First Folio
- By: Greg Doran
- Narrated by: Greg Doran
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book charts the personal and professional journey of Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, from 2012 until 2022. My Shakespeare uniquely captures the excitement, energy, surprises, joys and agonies of working on the greatest of plays; sheds new light on these plays through Doran’s own research and discoveries made in the rehearsal room; and gives unprecedented access into the craft, life and loves of this exceptional director.
-
-
Amazing journey
- By klm on 02-09-24
By: Greg Doran
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Richard II
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Rupert Graves, Julian Glover, John Wood
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sensitive and poetic Richard II is undoubtedly the rightful king of England, but he is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment and mounts a challenge to his authority, Richard's right to the throne proves of little help to him. Richard is forced to abdicate, but as his power is stripped away, he gains dignity and self-awareness, and he meets his death heroically.
-
-
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
- By Darwin8u on 04-10-17
-
Super-Infinite
- The Transformations of John Donne
- By: Katherine Rundell
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. In his myriad lives he was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, a priest, an MP—and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. Along the way he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a sixteen-year old girl without her father’s consent, struggled to feed a family of ten children, and was often ill and in pain.
-
-
Oh but the narration…
- By David Benjamin on 01-01-23
-
48 Laws of Power
- By: Robert Greene
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other infamous strategists. The 48 Laws of Power will fascinate any listener interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
-
-
You don't have to be a psychopath to like this.
- By Gaggleframpf on 02-25-16
By: Robert Greene
-
Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman emperors. It's a colorful story of rule and ruination, from the rise of Augustus to the death of Nero.
-
-
Accessible, enjoyable history
- By Mary on 01-28-16
By: Tom Holland
-
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
- 1599
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: James Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
-
-
Note!--Abridged version
- By Scott on 01-05-16
By: James Shapiro
-
Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed British historian Anthony Everitt delivers a compelling account of the former orphan who became Roman emperor in A.D. 117 after the death of his guardian Trajan. Hadrian strengthened Rome by ending territorial expansion and fortifying existing borders. And - except for the uprising he triggered in Judea - his strength-based diplomacy brought peace to the realm after a century of warfare.
-
-
A Biography "too tall for the height of the cella"
- By Darwin8u on 08-23-12
By: Anthony Everitt
-
Theory of Everything
- An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality
- By: Ken Wilber
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is a concise, comprehensive overview of Wilber's revolutionary thought and its application in today's world. In A Theory of Everything, Wilber uses clear, nontechnical language to present complex, cutting-edge theories that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. He then demonstrates how these theories and models can be applied to real-world problems in areas such as politics, medicine, business, education, and the environment.
-
-
Philosophy for Idiots
- By Micah Cavaleri on 08-19-20
By: Ken Wilber
-
The World of J.R.R. Tolkien
- By: Dimitra Fimi, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Dimitra Fimi
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The World of J.R.R. Tolkien, you will join Dr. Dimitra Fimi to delve into Tolkien’s complex and multilayered mythology, examining all these ingredients and more. In these 10 lectures, you will explore and appreciate Middle-earth as medieval, mythological, and modern, a literary creation that was shaped by forces old and new. And you may be surprised to discover just how much of Tolkien’s legendarium was constructed posthumously, with his son Christopher compiling and publishing many of Tolkien’s later works after his death.
-
-
Calls Tolkien a racist and sexist
- By Kevin on 09-29-22
By: Dimitra Fimi, and others
-
Henry at Work
- Thoreau on Making a Living
- By: John Kaag, Jonathan van Belle
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry at Work invites listeners to rethink how we work today by exploring an aspect of Henry David Thoreau that has often been overlooked: Thoreau the worker. John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle overturn the popular misconception of Thoreau as a navel-gazing recluse who was scornful of work and other mundanities. In fact, Thoreau worked hard—surveying land, running his family's pencil-making business, writing, lecturing, and building his cabin at Walden Pond—and thought intensely about work in its many dimensions.
-
-
Interesting Observations of Work Based on Thoreau
- By Nice guy on 07-21-23
By: John Kaag, and others
Related to this topic
-
Rome's Last Citizen
- The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marcus Porcius Cato: aristocrat who walked barefoot and slept on the ground with his troops, political heavyweight who cultivated the image of a Stoic philosopher, a hardnosed defender of tradition who presented himself as a man out of the sacred Roman past-and the last man standing when Rome's Republic fell to tyranny. His blood feud with Caesar began in the chamber of the Senate, played out on the battlefields of a world war, and ended when he took his own life rather than live under a dictator.
-
-
Unfortunate
- By Olivia N. on 11-06-20
By: Rob Goodman, and others
-
Secret Lives of the Tsars
- Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia
- By: Michael Farquhar
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity.
-
-
A good introduction to the Romanovs
- By Daniel Burgon on 07-14-14
By: Michael Farquhar
-
Elizabeth and Mary
- Cousins, Rivals, Queens
- By: Jane Dunn
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a rich and riveting narrative, Jane Dunn reveals the extraordinary rivalry between the regal cousins. It is the story of two queens ruling on one island, each with a claim to the throne of England, each embodying dramatically opposing qualities of character, ideals of womanliness (and views of sexuality), and divinely ordained kingship.
-
-
Fantastic book
- By Catharina on 05-09-04
By: Jane Dunn
-
Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman emperors. It's a colorful story of rule and ruination, from the rise of Augustus to the death of Nero.
-
-
Accessible, enjoyable history
- By Mary on 01-28-16
By: Tom Holland
-
Julius Caesar
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Julius Caesar, there are no heroes, only heroic words spoken by men of ambition, arrogance, and jealousy. Yet Julius Caesar is also one of Shakespeare's most popular and polished works, a seamless blend of highly-stylized oratory and penetrating soliloquies that lays bare the innermost workings of the human mind.
-
-
Sterling cast
- By John on 05-20-07
-
48 Laws of Power
- By: Robert Greene
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other infamous strategists. The 48 Laws of Power will fascinate any listener interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
-
-
You don't have to be a psychopath to like this.
- By Gaggleframpf on 02-25-16
By: Robert Greene
-
Rome's Last Citizen
- The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marcus Porcius Cato: aristocrat who walked barefoot and slept on the ground with his troops, political heavyweight who cultivated the image of a Stoic philosopher, a hardnosed defender of tradition who presented himself as a man out of the sacred Roman past-and the last man standing when Rome's Republic fell to tyranny. His blood feud with Caesar began in the chamber of the Senate, played out on the battlefields of a world war, and ended when he took his own life rather than live under a dictator.
-
-
Unfortunate
- By Olivia N. on 11-06-20
By: Rob Goodman, and others
-
Secret Lives of the Tsars
- Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia
- By: Michael Farquhar
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity.
-
-
A good introduction to the Romanovs
- By Daniel Burgon on 07-14-14
By: Michael Farquhar
-
Elizabeth and Mary
- Cousins, Rivals, Queens
- By: Jane Dunn
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a rich and riveting narrative, Jane Dunn reveals the extraordinary rivalry between the regal cousins. It is the story of two queens ruling on one island, each with a claim to the throne of England, each embodying dramatically opposing qualities of character, ideals of womanliness (and views of sexuality), and divinely ordained kingship.
-
-
Fantastic book
- By Catharina on 05-09-04
By: Jane Dunn
-
Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman emperors. It's a colorful story of rule and ruination, from the rise of Augustus to the death of Nero.
-
-
Accessible, enjoyable history
- By Mary on 01-28-16
By: Tom Holland
-
Julius Caesar
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Julius Caesar, there are no heroes, only heroic words spoken by men of ambition, arrogance, and jealousy. Yet Julius Caesar is also one of Shakespeare's most popular and polished works, a seamless blend of highly-stylized oratory and penetrating soliloquies that lays bare the innermost workings of the human mind.
-
-
Sterling cast
- By John on 05-20-07
-
48 Laws of Power
- By: Robert Greene
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other infamous strategists. The 48 Laws of Power will fascinate any listener interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
-
-
You don't have to be a psychopath to like this.
- By Gaggleframpf on 02-25-16
By: Robert Greene
-
After the Prophet
- The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
- By: Lesley Hazleton
- Narrated by: Lesley Hazleton
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Combining meticulous research with compelling storytelling, After the Prophet explores the volatile intersections of religion and politics, psychology and culture, and history and current events. It is an indispensable guide to the depth and power of the Shia-Sunni split.
-
-
A good novel - but poor history
- By Yosemite on 03-08-19
By: Lesley Hazleton
-
Dying Every Day
- Seneca at the Court of Nero
- By: James S. Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Romm seamlessly weaves together the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue, and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot and madman.
-
-
Outstanding
- By michael bobadilla on 05-04-23
By: James S. Romm
-
Mistress Anne
- The Exceptional Life of Anne Boleyn
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful ruler, an alluring young woman, a scandal that would rock the nation: Anne Boleyn’s life story sounds more like a juicy TV docu-drama than a chapter of English history. Although she is not of noble birth or even especially beautiful, Anne Boleyn manages to rise to the very pinnacle of the English aristocracy. Renowned for her extraordinarily vivid recreations of historical events, Carolly Erickson brings out the full fascinating story of the enigmatic Anne Boleyn.
-
-
Just OK for me.
- By Amazon Customer on 01-11-12
By: Carolly Erickson
-
Shakespeare and the Resistance
- By: Clare Asquith
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1590s were bleak years for England. The queen was old, the succession unclear, and the treasury empty after decades of war. Amid the rising tension, William Shakespeare published a pair of poems dedicated to the young Earl of Southampton: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece a year later. Although wildly popular during Shakespeare's lifetime, to modern readers both works are almost impenetrable. But in her enthralling new book, the Shakespearean scholar Clare Asquith reveals their hidden contents.
-
-
Excellent scholarship unveiling hidden history
- By Lumen Fidei on 07-03-23
By: Clare Asquith
-
Catherine de Medici
- Renaissance Queen of France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
-
-
Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
By: Leonie Frieda
-
The First Elizabeth
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable biography, Carolly Erickson brings Elizabeth I to life and allows us to see her as a living, breathing, elegant, flirtatious, diplomatic, violent, arrogant, and outrageous woman who commands our attention, fascination, and awe. With the special skill for which she is acclaimed, Carolly Erickson electrifies the senses as she evokes with total fidelity the brilliant colors of Elizabethan clothing and jewelry, the texture of tapestries, and even the close, perfumed air of castle rooms. Erickson demonstrates her extraordinary ability to discern and bring to life psychological and physical reality.
-
-
Well Researched Book
- By JustBill on 03-13-15
By: Carolly Erickson
-
How to Win an Election
- An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians
- By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, Philip Freeman - translator
- Narrated by: Doug Kaye
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.
-
-
How to be a politician ...
- By Benedict on 07-31-13
By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, and others
-
The Crucible
- By: Arthur Miller
- Narrated by: Stacy Keach, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Begley Jr., and others
- Length: 1 hr and 58 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic—with ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor—The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950’s.
-
-
Abridged Version
- By Michael G. Stoffel on 05-07-12
By: Arthur Miller
-
King Lear
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Paul Scofield, Alec McCowen, Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragedy of King Lear receives an outstanding performance in an all-star cast led by Britain’s senior classical actor, Paul Scofield. He is joined by Alec McCowen as Gloucester, Kenneth Branagh as The Fool, Harriet Walter as Gonerill, Sara Kestelman as Regan and Emilia Fox as Cordelia. This is the ninth recording of Shakespeare plays undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press, and is directed by John Tydeman. It was released to mark the 80th birthday of Paul Scofield in January 2002.
-
-
This cold night will turn us all to fools & madmen
- By Darwin8u on 11-01-17
-
The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
-
-
Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
-
The Rival Queens
- Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom
- By: Nancy Goldstone
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for 30 years. Her youngest daughter, Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control.
-
-
Definitely not a dull bio!
- By Nella on 07-04-15
By: Nancy Goldstone
-
The Friar of Carcassonne
- Revolt Against the Inquisition in the Last Days of the Cathars
- By: Stephen O'Shea
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1300, the French region of Languedoc had been cowed under the authority of both Rome and France since Pope Innocent III 's Albigensian Crusade nearly a century earlier. That crusade almost wiped out the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians whose beliefs threatened the authority of the Catholic Church. But decades of harrowing repression - enforced by the ruthless Pope Boniface VIII; the Machiavellian French King Philip the Fair, of France; and the pitiless grand inquisitor of Toulouse; Bernard Gui (the villain in The Name of the Rose) - had bred resentment.
-
-
Fascinating
- By P on 08-04-15
By: Stephen O'Shea
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Will in the World
- How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential literary thinkers in the world. An acclaimed interpreter of Shakespeare's works, his ideas have changed the way countless people approach the classics. Now Greenblatt's uniquely brilliant voice delivers a magnificent biography of the Bard himself.
-
-
Politically Motivated
- By Donald on 09-29-04
-
The Swerve
- How the World Became Modern
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.
-
-
Very compelling history, a less compelling thesis
- By A reader on 05-01-12
-
Second Chances
- Shakespeare & Freud
- By: Adam Phillips, Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Steven Crossley
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Innumerable stories, from the Homeric epics to the New Testament, and from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet, explore the realization or failure of second chances—outcomes that depend on accident, acts of will, or fate. Such stories let us repeatedly rehearse the experience of loss and recovery: to know the joy that comes with a renewal of love and pleasure and to face the pain that comes with realizing that some damage can never be undone. Through a series of illuminating readings, the authors show how Shakespeare was the supreme virtuoso of the second chance and Freud was its supreme interpreter.
By: Adam Phillips, and others
-
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
-
-
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
-
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
- By: Samuel Johnson, James Boswell
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull, Alexander Spencer
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1773, 63-year-old literary giant Samuel Johnson joined James Boswell, a 32-year-old Scottish lawyer, on an historic horseback expedition across the Scottish Highlands to the Western Islands. The unlikely duo's travelogue records their fascinating conversations and encounters with great wit and incredible detail. Johnson, one of the 18th century's most celebrated writers, provided an elegant and stately account of everything from Loch Ness's medicinal waters to Scotland's puzzling lack of trees.
-
-
Tasty, but abridged
- By Tad Davis on 08-22-13
By: Samuel Johnson, and others
-
The Modern Scholar
- Shakespeare: Ten Great Comedies
- By: Prof. Raphael Shargel
- Narrated by: Prof. Raphael Shargel
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor Raphael Shargel channels his passion for teaching and expertise as a Shakespearean scholar into this illuminative study of the Immortal Bard's 10 great comedies. Shakespeare's genius is as readily apparent in these comedies as in his timeless tragedies. Often marked by internal and external conflicts, young lovers struggling for union, mistaken identities, and intertwining plots, Shakespeare's comedies to this day reveal the master's unparalleled insight into the human condition.
-
Will in the World
- How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential literary thinkers in the world. An acclaimed interpreter of Shakespeare's works, his ideas have changed the way countless people approach the classics. Now Greenblatt's uniquely brilliant voice delivers a magnificent biography of the Bard himself.
-
-
Politically Motivated
- By Donald on 09-29-04
-
The Swerve
- How the World Became Modern
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.
-
-
Very compelling history, a less compelling thesis
- By A reader on 05-01-12
-
Second Chances
- Shakespeare & Freud
- By: Adam Phillips, Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Steven Crossley
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Innumerable stories, from the Homeric epics to the New Testament, and from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet, explore the realization or failure of second chances—outcomes that depend on accident, acts of will, or fate. Such stories let us repeatedly rehearse the experience of loss and recovery: to know the joy that comes with a renewal of love and pleasure and to face the pain that comes with realizing that some damage can never be undone. Through a series of illuminating readings, the authors show how Shakespeare was the supreme virtuoso of the second chance and Freud was its supreme interpreter.
By: Adam Phillips, and others
-
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
-
-
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
-
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
- By: Samuel Johnson, James Boswell
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull, Alexander Spencer
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1773, 63-year-old literary giant Samuel Johnson joined James Boswell, a 32-year-old Scottish lawyer, on an historic horseback expedition across the Scottish Highlands to the Western Islands. The unlikely duo's travelogue records their fascinating conversations and encounters with great wit and incredible detail. Johnson, one of the 18th century's most celebrated writers, provided an elegant and stately account of everything from Loch Ness's medicinal waters to Scotland's puzzling lack of trees.
-
-
Tasty, but abridged
- By Tad Davis on 08-22-13
By: Samuel Johnson, and others
-
The Modern Scholar
- Shakespeare: Ten Great Comedies
- By: Prof. Raphael Shargel
- Narrated by: Prof. Raphael Shargel
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor Raphael Shargel channels his passion for teaching and expertise as a Shakespearean scholar into this illuminative study of the Immortal Bard's 10 great comedies. Shakespeare's genius is as readily apparent in these comedies as in his timeless tragedies. Often marked by internal and external conflicts, young lovers struggling for union, mistaken identities, and intertwining plots, Shakespeare's comedies to this day reveal the master's unparalleled insight into the human condition.
-
The Modern Scholar
- Shakespeare: The Seven Major Tragedies
- By: Professor Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Professor Harold Bloom
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shakespeare's seven great tragedies contain unmistakable elements that set them apart from any other plays ever written. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare embodied in the character of Juliet the world's most impressive representation ever of a woman in love. With Julius Caesar, the great playwright produced a drama of astonishing and perpetual relevance.
-
-
Lowest WPM Ever
- By Ronald on 11-16-11
-
Contested Will
- Who Wrote Shakespeare?
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly two centuries, the authorship of William Shakespeare's plays has been challenged by writers and artists as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Henry James, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, Malcolm X, and Sir Derek Jacobi. How could a young man from rural Warwickshire, lacking a university education, write some of the greatest works in the English language?
-
-
Somewhat Surprised and very pleased
- By Geoff in NY on 04-10-10
By: James Shapiro
-
The Lives of the Artists
- By: Giorgio Vasari, Julia Conway Bondanella - Translated by, Peter Bondanella - Translated by
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These biographies of the great quattrocento artists have long been considered among the most important of contemporary sources on Italian Renaissance art. Vasari, who invented the term "Renaissance", was the first to outline the influential theory of Renaissance art that traces a progression through Giotto, Brunelleschi, and finally the titanic figures of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael.
-
-
Awesome
- By Daniel on 05-17-19
By: Giorgio Vasari, and others
-
Battling the Gods
- Atheism in the Ancient World
- By: Tim Whitmarsh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms.
-
-
We have a history as long and as rich as any relig
- By Glencannnon on 08-13-19
By: Tim Whitmarsh
-
Chaucer's People
- Everyday Lives in Medieval England
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chaucer wrote about everyday people outside the walls of the English court-men and women who spent days at the pedal of a loom, or maintaining the ledgers of an estate, or on the high seas. In Chaucer's People, Liza Picard transforms The Canterbury Tales into a masterful guide for a gloriously detailed tour of medieval England, from the mills and farms of a manor house to the lending houses and Inns of Court in London. In Chaucer's People, we meet, again, the motley crew of pilgrims on the road to Canterbury.
-
-
A delight
- By Tad Davis on 05-10-19
By: Liza Picard
-
Macbeth: A Dagger of the Mind
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's more brilliantly populated plays and remains among the most widely read. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Macbeth's interiority and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character. The book also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity.
-
-
Narrative choices at odds with text
- By Bill Bleuel on 04-23-24
By: Harold Bloom
-
King Henry IV
- Shadow of Succession
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Harry Althaus, William Brown, Wilson Cain III, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shakespeare's drama tells the story of a young man who can only come into his own upon his father's death and the father who longs for immortality. Using only Shakespeare's words, this adaptation tells the deeply personal story of Prince Hal's coming of age and his relationships with two father figures: the mistrustful King Henry IV and the hilarious, irrepressible Falstaff. A Court Theatre Production.
-
The Modern Scholar: Rediscovering Shakespeare - The Tragedies
- By: Professor Matthew Wagner
- Narrated by: Professor Matthew Wagner
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it laughable) A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders Separation and re-unification Deception among characters (especially mistaken identity) A clever servant Disputes between characters, often within a family Multiple, intertwining plots. Use of all styles of comedy (slapstick, puns, dry humour, earthy humour, witty banter, practical jokes) Pastoral element (courtly people living an idealized, rural life), originally an element of Pastoral Romance, exploited by Shakespeare for his comic plots and often parodied therein for humorous effects Happy Ending.
-
Everyday Life in Medieval London
- From the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors
- By: Toni Mount
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our capital city has always been a thriving and colorful place, full of diverse and determined individuals developing trade and finance, exchanging gossip and doing business. Abandoned by the Romans, rebuilt by the Saxons, occupied by the Vikings and reconstructed by the Normans, London would become the largest trade and financial center, dominating the world in later centuries. London has always been a brilliant, vibrant, and eclectic place.
-
-
Interesting
- By Faycal Ikhouane on 01-16-24
By: Toni Mount
-
The Emperor Charlemagne
- By: E.R. Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III. Under his guidance the Carolingian Renaissance flourished, with his capital of Aachen becoming a center of learning and artistic genius. The legacy of Charlemagne on European history and culture is monumental. Yet, within 30 years of his death, his empire had fragmented. Who was this legendary ruler? How had he managed to rule these vast domains? And why has his legacy continued to influence Europeans to this day?
-
-
Its well done
- By Steve on 02-03-23
By: E.R. Chamberlin
-
Rome's Last Citizen
- The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marcus Porcius Cato: aristocrat who walked barefoot and slept on the ground with his troops, political heavyweight who cultivated the image of a Stoic philosopher, a hardnosed defender of tradition who presented himself as a man out of the sacred Roman past-and the last man standing when Rome's Republic fell to tyranny. His blood feud with Caesar began in the chamber of the Senate, played out on the battlefields of a world war, and ended when he took his own life rather than live under a dictator.
-
-
Unfortunate
- By Olivia N. on 11-06-20
By: Rob Goodman, and others
-
The Catholic Church [Modern Library Chronicles]
- By: Hans Kung
- Narrated by: Robert O'Keefe
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1979 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith withdrew Hans Kung's missio canonica. Pope Paul VI approved the censure saying, "We are obligated to declare that in his writings he fell short of integrity and the truth of the Catholic faith." Through a 1980 agreement with the Vatican, Kung is now permitted to teach, but only under secular auspices. In this acclaimed Modern Library Chronicle, Kung examines the Catholic Church through its many reformations, focusing on the people and events...
-
-
Theologian's Accurate View of Church Development
- By Jack on 01-12-06
By: Hans Kung
What listeners say about Tyrant
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jaded Buddha
- 06-11-18
Timely essay on Shakespeare's tyrants
Greenblatt's scholarly elucidation of Shakespeare's tyrants implicitly comment on the spectacle of Trump. Masterful and thoroughly enjoyable.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H2O_Doc
- 05-22-20
Worthwhile read.
Outstanding, interesting, and shows just how relevant Shakespeare still is and always will be. Take the time to read this one if you like both Shakespeare and the study of human behavior.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. Gross
- 05-10-18
Too Close for Comfort
What an enjoyable listen. As the author reviewed the atrocities and calamities embodied in the Shakespearean tyrants and systems of oppression, I felt somewhat cheered up about our current political mess, and readied myself for it to get worse before it gets better. It just goes to show - the more things change, the more they stay the same. My only real regret is my near-certainty that the people who would most benefit from this wouldn’t dream of reading it or listening to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- william
- 11-25-22
Required reading ina time of tyrants
This book is a gem and should be required reading for every citizen! Not only are the plays explained but the concepts of power and the personalities that abuse it are crystal clear This. A great book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- brooke stanton
- 08-19-18
Necessary reading for our troubled times
Brilliantly written, Greenblatt ties Shakespeare’s tyrants and their storylines to today’s current American political quagmire.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- smmasterson
- 01-25-23
Brilliant book read brilliantly
Greenblatt has achieved a marvelous synthesis of the plays as commentary on our current political condition. Without naming any of the present offenders of our political order, he powerfully condemns them, while illuminating the deeper meaning of the plays. The audio presentation is equal to the brilliant text
.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- El Mort
- 11-10-23
Ballerini!
Greenblatt is fascinating as always with his depth. Having Ballerini read it is icing on the cake.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darwin8u
- 02-06-20
What is the city but the people
"What is the city but the people"
- Coriolanus: Act 3 Scene 1
"Tyrants are enemies of the future."
- Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
Stephen Greenblatt, like Harold Bloom, is a man steeped in Shakespeare. So, it is obvious that Greenblatt would be a wise choice to turn to to see if Shakespeare can give us any information (via Shakespeare) on the behavior, motives, and reason for tyrants. And he does, well. He examines such plays as Henry VI (all three), Richard II, Richard III, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Coriolanus to better understand, via Shakespeare, Tyrants.
The subtitle is a bit oblique. He isn't looking at politics. Greenblatt is looking squarely at Trump and the demagogues across the pond. The parallels he finds and the examples he gives square too close to our modern political realities. He looks at questions like: "Why do large number of people knowingly accept being lied to? How does a figure like Richard III or Macbeth ascend to the throne." He also asks fundamentally important questions like: "Why would anyone...be drawn to a leader manifestly unsuited to govern, someone dangerously impulsive or viciously conniving or indifferent to truth? Why in some circumstances, does evidence of mendacity, crudeness, or cruelty serve not as a fatal disadvantage but as an allure, attracting ardent followers? Why do otherwise proud and self-respecting people submit to the sheer effrontery of the tyrant, his sense that he can get away with saying and doing anything he likes, his spectacular indecency?" It sounds like Greenblatt had a model tyrant in mind as he wrote this book.
That said, it isn't Greenblatt's most inventive or insightful book. IT is timely, and I guess that is the reason for it. Interesting, timely, not his greatest.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeff Lacy
- 09-25-19
Shakespeare is always pertinent for our time
Shakespeare is always pertinent for our time, and in TYRANT, Stephen Greenblatt presents the relevance of the bard’s plays to the brutality of the making and sustaining of a tyrant and narcissistic politicians—qualities that have not changed. This is a literary and political book, confidently written, clearly thought out, and brilliantly original. Ballerini’s performance is resonant and well suited to acting the particular parts of the referenced plays. He accomplished every aspect well. This is an exceptional Audible recording.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- duke ponick
- 12-07-19
A Timely Civics Lesson from 400 Years Ago
Shakespeare's depictions and analyses of the pursuit and exercise of absolute political power by psychologically damaged or unstable characters are combined in a meaningful and convincing way in this latest book by an authoritative Shakespeare scholar. The characters act out their warped inner fantasies and delusions in characteristic thuggish, capricious, and sometimes clownish ways. A recurring feature in the plays are the number and type of the characters who aid an abet the mad pursuit and exercise of uncontrolled political power. The panoply of Shakespeare's plays dealing with the subject are here: King Henry VI, Richard III, Macbeth, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Coriolanus, and Julius Caesar. Jack Cade's demagogic pursuit of power in Henry VI and the class manipulation in Coriolanus are barely distinguishable from politics in the here and now. The book has the added virtue of well documented quotes to the plays to make its points. It is worthwhile to buy the book to read and also listen to the audiobook in my opinion.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!