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Queen of the Desert
- A Biography of the Female Lawrence of Arabia, Gertrude Bell (Bio Shorts, Book 8)
- Narrated by: Jason Sullivan
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
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Queen of the Desert
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Publisher's summary
In the shadow of every great man is a greater woman.
T.E. Lawrence is often credited with bringing diplomacy to the Middle East; in the shadows of every great man, you will often find an even greater woman. In Lawrence’s case, that woman’s name was Gertrude Bell.
In a time when women didn't go to school, Bell did; in a time when women didn't join the army, Bell secured a job at the Army Intelligence Headquarters in Cairo; she spoke Arabic, Persian, French, and German. She knew the Middle Eastern terrain and culture better than almost any Westerner of her time.
In a male-driven world, Bell managed to become one of the greatest policymakers the world has ever known; without her, the Middle East might very well be a much different place, and her influence in the territory gave her the nickname "Queen of the Desert".
This biography tells the extraordinary story of one of the most adventurous and fascinating women you will ever encounter.
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Gertrude Bell
- Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
- By: Georgina Howell
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
She has been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, which, while not inaccurate, fails to give Gertrude Bell her due. She was at one time the most powerful woman in the British Empire: a nation builder, the driving force behind the creation of modern-day Iraq. Born in 1868 into a world of privilege, Bell turned her back on Victorian society, choosing to read history at Oxford and going on to become an archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, and legendary mountaineer.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Shattering The Glass Ceiling in Britain
- By Nostromo on 08-05-18
By: Georgina Howell
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The World Beneath Their Feet
- Mountaineering, Madness, and the Deadly Race to Summit the Himalayas
- By: Scott Ellsworth
- Narrated by: Scott Ellsworth
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 41
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Story5 out of 5 stars 41
While tension steadily rose between European powers in the 1930s, a different kind of battle was raging across the Himalayas. Contingents from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States had set up rival camps at the base of the mountains, all hoping to become recognized as the fastest, strongest, and bravest climbers in the world. Climbing the Himalayas was the Greatest Generation's moonshot - one shrouded in the onset of war, interrupted by it, and then fully accomplished.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Near fatal flaws
- By A. Hill on 04-23-20
By: Scott Ellsworth
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A Woman in Arabia
- The Writings of the Queen of the Desert
- By: Gertrude Bell, Georgina Howell - introduction, Georgina Howell - editor
- Narrated by: Sian Thomas, Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
Gertrude Bell was leaning in 100 years before Sheryl Sandberg. One of the great woman adventurers of the 20th century, she turned her back on Victorian society to study at Oxford and travel the world and became the chief architect of British policy in the Middle East after World War I. Mountaineer, archaeologist, Arabist, writer, poet, linguist, and spy, she dedicated her life to championing the Arab cause and was instrumental in drawing the borders that define today's Middle East.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Raw historiography of a spectacular heroine
- By Josef on 01-07-16
By: Gertrude Bell, and others
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The Last of His Kind
- The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story5 out of 5 stars 41
In The Last of His Kind, renowned adventure writer David Roberts gives readers a spellbinding history of mountain climbing in the twentieth century as told through the biography of Brad Washburn, legendary mountaineering pioneer and photographer. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has praised David Roberts, saying, “Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering” - and nowhere is that truth more evident than in this breathtaking account of the life and exploits of America’s greatest mountain climber.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great introduction to Washburn & climbing elites
- By Geoffrey on 04-27-22
By: David Roberts
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Desert Queen
- The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
- By: Janet Wallach
- Narrated by: Jean Gilpin
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 270
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
Turning her back on her privileged life in Victorian England, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), fired by her innate curiosity, journeyed the world and became fascinated with all things Arab. Traveling the length and breadth of the Arab region, armed with a love for its language and its people, she not only produced several enormously popular books based on her experiences but became instrumental to the British foreign office. When World War I erupted, and the British needed the loyalty of the Arab leaders, it was Gertrude Bell's work and connections that helped provided the brain for T. E. Lawrence's military brawn.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great beginning, then gets boring
- By Msz on 03-31-16
By: Janet Wallach
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Wanderlust
- An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age
- By: Reid Mitenbuler
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself buried alive under the snow. During a sudden blizzard the night before, he had taken shelter underneath his dogsled and become trapped there while he slept. Now, as feeling drained from his body, he managed to claw a hole through the ice only to find himself in even greater danger: his beard, wet with condensation from his struggling breath, had frozen to his sled runners and lashed his head in place, exposing it to icy winds that needed only a few minutes to kill him. If Freuchen could escape that, he could escape anything.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazingly in-depth look at an amazing person.
- By Dave on 06-18-23
By: Reid Mitenbuler
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The Man Who Loved China
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 369
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 370
No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire.
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5 out of 5 stars
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turn your watch back 70 years
- By Andy on 05-22-08
By: Simon Winchester
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The Earl and the Pharaoh
- From the Real Downton Abbey to the Discovery of Tutankhamun
- By: The Countess of Carnarvon
- Narrated by: The Countess of Carnarvon
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
Bestselling author the Countess of Carnarvon tells the thrilling behind-the-scenes story of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun on its centennial, and explores the unparalleled life of family ancestor George Herbert—the famed Egyptologist, world-traveler, and 5th Earl of Carnarvon behind it—whose country house, Highclere Castle, is the setting of the beloved series Downton Abbey.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Plodding Family History…Akin to Listening to Paint Dry
- By J. Willis-Opalenik on 10-31-23
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The British in India
- A Social History of the Raj
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 189
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
Full of illuminating anecdotes drawn from memoirs, correspondence, and government documents, The British in India weaves a rich tapestry of the everyday experiences of the Britons who found themselves in “the jewel in the crown” of the British Empire. David Gilmour captures the substance and texture of their work, home, and social lives, and illustrates how these transformed across the several centuries of British presence and rule in the subcontinent, from the East India Company’s first trading station in 1615 to the twilight of the Raj and Partition and Independence in 1947.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb. Loved every beautifully read minute!
- By Rosemary Wells on 01-31-19
By: David Gilmour
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How Iceland Changed the World
- The Big History of a Small Island
- By: Egill Bjarnason
- Narrated by: Einar Gunn
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 277
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 245
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 243
The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant
- By Ian D. Jones on 06-01-21
By: Egill Bjarnason
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Conquistadors of the Useless
- From the Alps to Annapurna
- By: Lionel Terray, David Roberts - foreword
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story5 out of 5 stars 63
Frenchman Lionel Terray is one of mountaineering history's greatest alpinists, and his autobiography, Conquistadors of the Useless, stands among the "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time", according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Terray emerged as a national hero, conquering summits atop the planet's highest mountains.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Conquistadors of the Useless
- By Stephen on 05-23-21
By: Lionel Terray, and others
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The Daughters of Yalta
- The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War
- By: Catherine Grace Katz
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 607
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 509
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 504
Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging
- By Jean on 06-19-21
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Balkan Ghosts
- A Journey Through History
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 221
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 222
From the assassination that triggered World War I to the ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, the Balkans have been the crucible of the 20th century, the place where terrorism and genocide first became tools of policy. Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, and greeted with critical acclaim as "the most insightful and timely work on the Balkans to date" (The Boston Globe), Kaplan's prescient, enthralling, and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Anti religious/anti catholic hit piece
- By Daniel Calvert on 05-04-21
By: Robert D. Kaplan
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Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia
- By: Michael Korda
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 419
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 323
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
Michael Korda's Hero is the story of an epic life on a grand scale: a revealing, in-depth, and gripping biography of the extraordinary, mysterious, and dynamic Englishman whose daring exploits and romantic profile, including his blond, sun-burnished good looks and flowing white robes, made him an object of intense fascination, still famous the world over as "Lawrence of Arabia".
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4 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book and narration
- By Ron L. Caldwell on 12-11-10
By: Michael Korda
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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister
- Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through 100 years of wars, revolutions, and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating reading
- By David L. Jones on 03-26-20
By: Jung Chang
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Eat the Buddha
- Life and Death in a Tibetan Town
- By: Barbara Demick
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 167
A gripping portrait of modern Tibet told through the lives of its people, from the best-selling author of Nothing to Envy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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TIBET
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 08-24-21
By: Barbara Demick
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A World Beneath the Sands
- The Golden Age of Egyptology
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
In A World Beneath the Sands, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson chronicles the ruthless race between the British, French, Germans, and Americans to lay claim to its mysteries and treasures. He tells riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilization helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An entrancing listen, fascinating History
- By L. Ford Ballard, Jr. on 01-27-21
By: Toby Wilkinson
What listeners say about Queen of the Desert
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- A.
- 04-22-21
lousy book about nothing
so many mistakes in Arabic names of people and places pronunciations
total waste of my time
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