Vanished Kingdoms

The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

By: Norman Davies

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 30 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

An evocative account of 14 European kingdoms - their rise, maturity, and eventual disappearance.

There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Europe's past is littered with states and kingdoms, large and small, that are scarcely remembered today, and while their names may be unfamiliar - Aragon, Etruria, the Kingdom of the Two Burgundies - their stories should change our mental map of the past. We come across forgotten characters and famous ones - King Arthur and Macbeth, Napoleon and Queen Victoria, right up to Stalin and Gorbachev - and discover how faulty memory can be, and how much we can glean from these lost empires. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind.

This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from listeners of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.

©2011 Norman Davies (P)2021 Tantor

Great History Lesson in Rise and Fall of societies

Loves this informative book! Difficult to find these histories. I especially enjoyed the information on old Prussia. It’s difficult to find histories about Germany that don’t focus on the Third Reich! Fascinating reading or listening

Fine

It was good and informative and gave me a glimpse into histories that are impossible to find in accessible histories that aren't inadequate internet searches. I'm very much over English and French history. I've heard of this author before and this is my first book of his. It's dripping with pretension, reading quotes out in whatever foreign language it was in originally. Spoiler alert, turns out they didn't speak modern English at all in Medieval Europe, so prepare to sit through a lot of Latin and prepare to try and re-gather what the hell he was talking about after said Latin is thrown at your ears. Also, in the number 3 Burgundy chapter, thank you Norm, I never would have guessed that having an advanced college degree is better than an internet search. wish I would have thought of that before I bought this book.

Fascinating!!

This meaty historic tome discusses the existence of places that I never knew and would probably never know except for this book. It's pretty academic, and it's easy to get lost as a history buff/enthusiast. The discussion of the several states of Burgundy was particularly tough to digest. However, it's worth it! Who gives voice to the lost peoples of Europe? Norman Davies does.

Where else are you going to go for this?

Wonderful subject and as thoroughly researched as you'd expect from Davies while still being accessible to layman. Some of his 'Kingdoms' were a bit of a stretch, Galicia for instance, and he just glances over well tread topics like Byzantium but on the measure it was a delightful listen.

Excellent - Some Even More Interesting History

I love history books like this, with a wealth of detail and obvious attention being made to correct research methods. This is a great book to listen to. Everything I listen to or read that comes from Norman Davies is just as phenomenal, and Derek Perkins does an unbelievable job with general narration and especially with his attention to good pronunciation of non-English-language parts. More importantly, I love history like this, along with its philosophical and humanistic implications. They are more than implications, they are stated outright without pretension nor apology.

I thoroughly enjoyed the lesser-known, almost forgotten things we know (or at least have historical evidence for) about people and places. There are many important movements telling us to "Never Forget!", but they tell us not to forget things that are considered large parts of history and which find descriptions in the historical descriptions from the majority of humanity's groups.

I'm paraphrasing this next part of what Norman Davies says, but it's important. There are great and successful people, states, nations, countries, and events, but there are just as many if not more near misses, good tries, and even failures. The conclusion is that the latter need to be part of the history that is studied and published. I couldn't agree more.

When we think of history as a discipline, there are no states or people which are more deserving of being studied or of being written about. The goal of historical study is to find and share what happened in the past as well as we can. That past belongs to everyone who was part of it, and we as a species should strive to know about all of it. As someone who loves helping others with family history research and sharing, I don't want anyone to be forgotten, because I think it cheapens their existence and ours.

So, to conclude, I'll tell you that I found this book while looking for something, for anything, that discusses the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thanks, Norman Davies, for putting one out there. It helps me to know more about my wife's ancestors, whether great or small, whether on the winning or the losing side of history, whether worthy of emulation or not, whether the information is about a specific individual or some general fact about the group to which one or many of them may have belonged. I found that, and I have new trails of information to follow.

I was looking for that, and I found it. But I got much more than just information about that one region. I got great stories that are new and wonderful and instructive. I also got advice that is new and wonderful and instructive. My attitude toward human beings and their social structures is now better and more complete. I am better equipped to Never Forget people and stories that might otherwise slip from memory. I'm reminded of a kid's movie - Coco - which portrays the land of the dead. It is shown as a place where, once no one among other living remembers one of the dead, that dead individual ceases to exist. For the sake of those real people who play a vital part in making us who we are and in making our world what it is, let us strive to Never Forget the worth of each one.

very interesting

The story of the various countries or entities with both their tie to modern peoples and historical locations with super interesting. The only thing that was super annoying is that the author clearly wants to impress himself or others with his command of languages or at least his appearance of it by quoting at length in the original language and then translating it. That was annoying but the rest of the text was super interesting.

Beautiful

Elegant, eloquent, artful. I'd give this six stars if possible. The rest of this review is filler.

intriguing and insightful

Amazingly beautiful and profound introduction. Extraordinarily rich history, Wonderfully written and read. The details of hidden histories animated with stories, poems, and songs, often sampled in their native tongues.

Great book and stellar narrator

Best narration I've ever heard. This was a complicated read, but between the writing and unbelievably skilled narration, e.g., languages and type of materials read, it was easy to follow. Highly recommend.

Excellent!

No state lasts forever.. Some perish quite prematurely. A good lesson for us all in 2023! Beautifully researched, written and read!