Lotharingia

A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country

De: Simon Winder

Narrado por: Jonathan Cowley

Following Germania and Danubia, the third installment in Simon Winder's personal history of Europe.

In 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany, and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia.

Lotharingia is a history of in-between Europe. It is the story of a place between places. In this beguiling, hilarious, and compelling book, Simon Winder retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.

©2019 Simon Winder (P)2019 Tantor

Great writing but bad narrator

I loved Danubia and have already purchased Germania. The content of Lotharingia is excellent but the Narrator has a raspy smoker's voice that is often unpleasant. He sounds like Marge Simpson with advanced COPD.

A Wonderful Book, Author and Narration!

Meticulously researched, beautifully written with hundreds of relevant historical stitchings between very old times and the very new. Simon Winder has sewn a gorgeous tapestry that includes a brisk pace, detail and humour!

Loved this book!!

My only regret is I've run out of Simon Winder books! I have absolutely LOVED all three of the books in this series, because they are so unique. A blend of modern-day travel guide and historical narrative, tied together with a sumptuous dry Brit wit bow. I had to purchase print copies of them all just I could lovingly highlight all the comedic bits :) One small drawback would be the narration for this book, as Jonathan Cowley is both monotonous and sluggish. Just saying, if you don't care for this reading, Germania and Danubia are much better!

Wonderful fun!

I normally look for straight ahead historical works, but this was a delightful diversion. Brilliantly witty and engaging.

New narrator

This one is probably the weakest of the trilogy, but it is still very good in my opinion. One complaint - the excellent narrator from the first two books isn’t back for this one, and the new guy isn’t nearly as good.

Witty, informative and entertaining

Brilliant mixture of wit, history and stories based around the geography of 'the middle bit' of Charlemagnes empire. A whirlwind tour from prehistory to the 20th century with enough detail to be informative, and entertainingly delivered.

Vivid historical account

Well written and engaging. On the whole provided a clear account of historical events but the intrusion of the personal is jarring at times.

One of my favorite books

I love the lighthearted nature of this walk through Lotharingian history as much as I’ve liked it’s predecessors. The narrator does a great job and I’ve listened several times

Simon Winder Deserves Better

After reading and thoroughly enjoying "Germania" and "Danubia", I anticipated this later history of the Hapsburgs with enthusiasm. Imagine the disappointment of hearing constantly mispronounced artists' names, and a rising inflection at the end of each sentence as would a middle school recitation of something not truly understood.
The narration made it difficult to follow the line of history, so much so that I went back to the older books to see if I wasn't being too harsh in my judgement.
I wasn't.
James Cameron Stewart is a consummate performer, and makes one believe he is also the historian.
It's a shame he didn't perform "Lotharingia", too.

The author's continuous attempts at humor fail.

The book is one continuous bad joke made by the most annoying historian at the historian party. My head hurts from rolling my eyes so much.