The Magna Charta

Well written. It gave me a whole new perspective of how far reaching the Magna Charta actually was as a forunner of the UN charter. Geoffrey Howard's narration made listening quite enjoyable.

King John's intigues in wanting to hold onto power.

Geoffrey Howard's performance made the story come alive. I've always enjoyed hearing him read.

Would you rename the Mona Lisa? Thjis book may not be on the same level but why change a title that works? I certainly won't.

Audible certainly makes listening to books more enjoyable, especially on long drives.

This was a really great book. I enjoyed listening to the excellent narration, and the author treated a subject that could have been dull with some good (sometimes sarcastic) humor. Very informative.

Wish he had written more books about history!

The story of the Magna Charta itself is engrossing and well done. That is the first part of the book and it is great. The latter part, in which the author attempts to show additional steps of the same type as a continuation of the trend begun by the Magna Charta, is a confused and ill-informed failure: a serious disappointment to any student of political history. The narration was excellent throughout.

Not my cup of tea. More of a dramatically narrated propaganda piece, with excessive use of charged words, such as 'Evil' and 'Cowardly' than a thoughtful historical account. Not to fault the narrator for reflecting the tone of the author.

No

Some of the story about King John's shenanigans before being forced to sign the Magna Carta was interesting.
Most of the rest of the book has either gone overkill on the adjectives or one gets confused about the character's involved and their importance.

Dull. Overly dramatic.

No.

Language is way too flowery and the narration overly dramatic. And the last chapter linking the Magna Carta to every conceivably important document since is overkill.
I guess that the story itself is informative, and its nice to see an attempt to make it interesting with histrionics... but it just doesn't work. I found myself bored and not caring.
Not sure if its truly the narrator's fault since he is only reading what was given to him, but the narration didn't feel exciting either. I'm looking for a good book about the Middle Ages that keeps my attention... still looking.

The early part of the book was interesting and generally accurate with little bias. We were really enjoying it. I love William Marshall and was excited that he was talked about in the book. Then we got to Part 4 and the American history. It had so much bias and was such a bunch of crap it was painful to listen to.

Maybe a pedantic scholar somewhere will enjoy it.

Very unlikely. I listen to audiobooks in the car on my commute and this one kept putting me to sleep. It almost killed me.

He sounds like he's reading it to a 4 year old.

I'm just glad it was a short introduction. I can hardly imagine what the author would do in a detailed account. Excruciating minutiae abounds in this introduction...

As an armchair archaeologist, I expected an at least an interesting story. Instead it sounded like one dull scholar writing for others of the same ilk. I'm not looking for Indiana Jones adventures but this certainly pegged the opposite end of the scale.