European History Lives

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, two million Jewish immigrants poured into America, leaving places like Warsaw or the Russian shtetls to pass through Ellis Island and start over in the New World. Though some moved on to Philadelphia, Chicago, and other points west, many of these new citizens settled in New York City, especially in Manhattan's teeming tenements....

At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange - they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures.

The life of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), ruler of Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and much of Italy and Central and South America, has long intrigued biographers. But the elusive nature of the man (despite an abundance of documentation), his relentless travel and the control of his own image, together with the complexity of governing the world's first transatlantic empire, complicate the task.

Europe’s past is characterized by fighting and warfare, and it is punctuated with great works of art, philosophy, science, and technology. Even its recent history is much the same - that’s why, so much of the globe was once ruled by European monarchies. Despite all the infighting and territorial exploits, Europeans have managed to create some of the most beautiful pieces of literature, architecture, political structures, and ideas the world has ever seen.

The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands.

Throughout this audiobook, I will explore the best locations that Europe has to offer. This is not just any travel guide, but an eye into the life of these dynamic destinations. I will assist you and prepare you for your next European holiday. I aim to inform and inspire you to get the most out of your trip while taking you on an exciting journey through each of these 47 places I have personally visited.

Emperor of Fate: The Divine Saga of Napoleon Bonaparte Step into the extraordinary world of historical grandeur with "Emperor of Fate: The Divine Saga of Napoleon Bonaparte." This gripping biography, enriched with captivating fictional dialogues, unveils the enigmatic tapestry of one of history's most revered and controversial figures. From the very outset, the author masterfully intertwines the threads of history and imagination, painting a vivid portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte as the orchestrator of his own destiny. The fictional dialogues breathe life into the narrative, offering readers ...

Sir Bobby Charlton’s story is more than a record of footballing excellence—it is a portrait of resilience, humility, and enduring influence in an ever-changing sport. From his early days in Ashington’s coal country to lifting the World Cup at Wembley in 1966, Charlton’s journey embodies the very spirit of the beautiful game. This definitive biography follows him from the formative influence of the Milburn family legacy, through the tragedy of the 1958 Munich air disaster, and into the heart of Manchester United’s golden eras. It captures his emergence as England’s most ...

"Ambition is like the balloonist. To some extent, the rise is nice and he does enjoy a splendid view and a vast landscape. But when he rises more, vertigo occurs, the air becomes thin and the risk of a big fall increases." With this parable, the Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg inadvertently predicted the destiny to which he would bravely ride, despite the warnings and the sweet talkers. In any case, he followed his heart's mandate. And Charlotte, the princess, was "one of the most cultured and beautiful" in Europe.

During an age of heightened religious conflict, Catherine de' Medici lived her life at the center of sixteenth-century European and French politics. Catherine de' Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen is Mary Hollingsworth's evocative, authoritative biography of the most extraordinary woman of the sixteenth-century.

The Hundred Years' War: A Captivating Guide to One of the Most Notable Conflicts of the Middle Ages and in European History and the Life of Joan of Arc contains two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Hundred Years’ War: A Captivating Guide to the Conflicts Between the English House of Plantagenet and the French House of Valois That Took Place During the Middle Ages and Joan of Arc: A Captivating Guide to a Heroine of France and Her Role During the Lancastrian Phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

This is the first English-language version of an award-winning Italian novel, The Nine Lives of Tito d'Amelia. The book is a love story about a cat, a family, and an Italian town. Mixing fiction with fact, Nine Lives recounts the history of the town of Amelia, Italy, at nine points in its existence. In fact, Amelia is considered the first organized city of central Italy, and is four centuries older than Rome. The author, Ettore Farrattini Pojani, uses the multiple lives of a cat named Tito as the way to span the ages. (The author is the heir of the Farrattini noble family, which stretches ...

From Canada’s top war historian, a definitive medical history of the Great War, illuminating how the carnage of modern battle gave birth to revolutionary life-saving innovations. It brings to light shocking revelations of the ways the brutality of combat and the necessity of agonizing battlefield decisions led to unimaginable strain for men and women of medicine who fought to save the lives of soldiers.