Bismarck

The Story of a Fighter

By: Emil Ludwig, Eden Paul, Cedar Paul

Narrated by: Ken Maxon

Otto von Bismarck was more than a politician and a leader: He was the single driving force that turned the disparate states of Germany into one cohesive empire. He then went on to lead Germany and the rest of Europe into an age of political peace that lasted from 1871 until the outbreak of World War I. Under his influence, Germany thrived. Bismarck’s use of statesmanship to fight for the interests of his country was legendary. As one of the most influential and powerful individuals in his country’s history, Bismarck became a symbol of leadership and pride for German nationalists. The historical conception of him was as the "Iron Chancellor", an unbending and untouchable figure.

In his landmark biography of the man of "blood and iron", Emil Ludwig rejects the pedestal that history has placed Bismarck upon, and instead seeks a historical and psychological understanding of the chancellor "as he really was, and not as distorted by worship." Bismarck was not merely a hard and calculating statesman, but a man ruled by pride, courage, and hatred. To fully comprehend the actions this enigmatic and important character, we must first understand his feelings, his motivations, and his private life.

Beginning with Bismarck’s childhood and delving more fully into his early life than any other work, Ludwig’s landmark volume is invaluable in understanding the forces behind one of the most influential men in modern history.

©1927 Little, Brown, and Company (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"As a human portrait of Bismarck...this book will stand long.” ( Saturday Review of Literature)

Avoid this audiobook at all costs.

The narration of this book is beyond challenging. It sounds like a text-to-voice app the entire time. The biography is written in a narrative form by the author, interspersed with excerpts of diaries and official letters. The narrator does nothing to indicate this, whether it be changing his tone of voice, cadence, or even pausing. He continues with the same monotone throughout the entire book.

I honestly can't tell whether the book is even a good biography of Bismarck. It was almost impossible to follow along due to the poor reading.

Weak epilogue

I learned about German unificaron, but it didn’t really have an epilogue summarizing the events that followed in Europe.

Not a biography but a personality analysis

Very interesting book about a pivotal figure in modern history, very few people have had the impact Otto von Bismark had in the history of the last 200 years. Why not a 5 stars review? The author has an anti-monarchist and somewhat socialist outlook that taints the analysis, and the reader has clear and purporseful English pronunciation, but pretty poor French pronunciation. The author does a very good job highlighting the premonitory ideas of Bismark about the future of Europe, and this book is from 1927, even more has come true over the following almost hundred years.

too long a tape

What would have made Bismarck better?

just keep to the important matters

Has Bismarck turned you off from other books in this genre?

not yet

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ken Maxon?

nothing wrong with the narrator

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Bismarck?

most of his early life

Any additional comments?

I couldn't stay awake or pay attention some times

Hard to Endure

The worst narrator I've ever heard. His German is not bad but abominable. His voice never varies a bit no matter who he's quoting or whether or not he's quoting...how can one tell? I have never given up on an Audible history, but he's tempting me.