Showing results by narrator "Matthew J Chandler-Smith" in All Categories

Imagine a society with no unemployment, zero inflation, free healthcare and education, free childcare, virtually no serious crime, and where women and men are treated with absolute equality. Such a society has existed: in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), popularly known as East Germany.

When the establishment of the State of Israel was announced on May 14, 1948, it seemed to many people that the new nation could not survive for long. The haste with which it was created meant that Israel lacked the infrastructure of government, and its armed forces consisted of little more than a handful of lightly armed former guerilla fighters. Ranged against it were some of the most powerful nations in the Arab world, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria.

Tina Turner had a powerful voice, but perhaps more importantly, she led a powerful life. Born into challenging circumstances, her early years in rural Tennessee were marked by adversity and struggle. Tina would soon prove that she could rise above it all, even though her path to stardom was far from straightforward. Her tumultuous and often violent relationship with Ike Turner became a highly publicized chapter in her life, yet she refused to be defined solely by her trials and tribulations.

Kosovo is a tiny land-locked nation located in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe. Before the 1990s, few people outside the immediate area had ever even heard of Kosovo. Then, in 1998, war began, and Kosovo moved to the center of the international stage.

From his humble beginnings as a farmhand working on tribal Iraqi land to becoming the president of Iraq for more than two decades, Saddam Hussein’s life story is nothing short of extraordinary. Transforming Iraq first into a prosperous nation then into a war-ravaged shell of its former self, Hussein is one of the key figures of the late 20th and early 21st century.

Pancho Villa was many things to many people. To some, he was a freedom fighter and revolutionary; to others, he was nothing more than a bloodthirsty bandit and killer. Villa’s life did indeed take many twists and turns, and some of the decisions he made would undoubtedly make many of us question his motives. This book seeks to cut through all of the moral ambiguity and deliver a testament of his life as it really was. Here, you will find the life and legacy of Pancho Villa in full.

Alan Turing had a radical and ingenious mind. He is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, and his theories on this matter range from purely mechanical to almost spiritual. During World War II, his decryption of the Nazis’ Enigma codes proved vital for the Allied victory over the Axis powers. Turing’s fingerprints are everywhere, and yet his own country for quite some time failed to acknowledge it.

Whether advocating for the peaceful use of nuclear energy or mentoring the next generation of scientists, Bohr’s influence extended far beyond his laboratory. Here in this book, we explore both his life and his life’s work in full.

As the tee-shirt slogans say, “If you can read this, thank the Phoenicians". The Phoenician achievements include creating the world’s first alphabet, which consisted of 22 consonant letters. If you’re sipping wine as you read, that’s another reason to thank the Phoenicians. From their travels, they learned which grapes were most suited for winemaking and spread those vines to the places along their trading routes. The Phoenicians were the masters of the Mediterranean Sea.

There are moments in history when two different people who have two completely different visions of the future rise to prominence at the same time and in the same exact place. The Chinese Civil War, which saw Chiang Kai-shek and his rival Mao Zedong fighting for the future of China, is a great case in point. Chiang believed that China should modernize and embrace capitalism. Mao, however, believed that communist doctrine would be the true salvation for the Chinese masses.

The last ruler of the House of Solomon, Haile Selassie, was not only the final Emperor of Ethiopia but also the link to a bygone past. In the days of Haile Selassie, absolute rule was given as an unquestioned divine right. Even though Selassie in many ways was a moderate progressive, he was still an autocratic ruler.

Admiral Chester Nimitz stands tall as an absolute giant in military history. The massive Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that still bear his name stand as a testament to that fact. During the Second World War, Nimitz was in charge of a huge chunk of the US Armed Forces in the Pacific theater. It was his job to orchestrate the projection of Allied power across the Pacific in order to take on a resurgent Japanese Empire. He did all these things and more. By war’s end, Nimitz was the highest-ranking member of the US Navy. The Navy, in fact, had to create a whole new rank just to promote him!

Freddie Mercury was the ultimate rock star. With a natural sense of timing and exuberance - some would say even flamboyance - Mercury seemed to be made for the stage. Still, it took a lot of hard work for him to get there. This book details Freddie Mercury’s rise to stardom - from his youth in Zanzibar and his arrival in England to his first forays with rock music and the ultimate formation of Queen.

Amy Winehouse was one of the most iconic voices of her generation. Born in London in 1983, she rose to fame with her soulful, jazz-inspired music, and became a household name with hits like “Rehab” and “Back to Black.” However, behind her success laid a life of personal struggles and addiction that ultimately led to her tragic death at 27-years-old.

“Trouble in the Balkans” was a familiar headline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as the European nations living under the rule of the Ottoman Empire simmered with nationalism, unrest, and a covetous yearning for one another’s territory. The Ottoman Empire had seen centuries of dominance, but by the start of the twentieth century, the once-powerful Turks were declining. As reformers within the empire sought routes to power, Ottoman subjects—denied access to the avenues of influence—sensed that the time was ripe for rebelling.

Irena Sendler is one of the often-unsung heroes of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, she deserves credit for her humanitarian efforts. Time and time again, she put her own safety at risk to save others. Her efforts were especially crucial as it pertained to saving the children who fell victim to the horrors of the Holocaust. As a Catholic Pole, Irena Sendler could have rather easily looked the other way and told herself that it was none of her business what was happening around her. But her conscience wouldn’t let her ignore the pleas of all those innocent voices who so desperately needed her aid.

Active US involvement in what became known as the Vietnam War (in Vietnam, this conflict is remembered as the American War) began in 1961 and spanned a period of twelve years until the Paris Peace Talks finally brought the deployment of American combat troops to an end in early 1973. Unfortunately, the peace talks didn’t also lead to the end of the civil war between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

Much of the history of Ireland is defined by the basic facts of its location as an island perched on the very western edge of Europe. Events that had a profound impact on other parts of Europe—the rise of the Roman Empire, the diaspora of Celtic people, and the settlement of Anglo-Saxons in Britain—either had relatively little impact in Ireland or happened much later than in other parts of Europe.

Rosalind Franklin was what can only be called an overlooked genius. Although she was not fully credited for the feat at the time, her work led to major breakthroughs in our understanding of DNA. In fact, she took the first X-ray photo of DNA in all of its double helix glory. By the time her former colleagues were being showered with accolades for results they made at least partially based on her findings, Franklin would not be around to see it. Sadly, it’s believed that her use of X-ray equipment gave her terminal cancer, cutting her life short at age 37.

In this audiobook, you will hear about the Vietnamese, who fought for their country against an enemy with superior weaponry and naval support. Learn about why the world powers of China, the Soviet Union, and the United States all got involved in the First Indochina War, and how that led to the division of Vietnam into a communist North Vietnam and capitalist South Vietnam in the years leading up to the Vietnam War.