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Bolshoi Confidential
- Secrets of the Russian Ballet - From the Rule of the Tsars to Today
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
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Bolshoi Confidential
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Publisher's Summary
On January 17, 2013, a hooded assailant hurled acid into the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, making international headlines. A lead soloist, enraged by institutional power struggles, later confessed to masterminding the crime. The scandal, though shocking, is not an anomaly in the turbulent and tormented yet magnificent history of the Bolshoi.
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What listeners say about Bolshoi Confidential
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- J. Palmer
- 02-27-17
Not very engaging
This book didn't have a lot of potential to begin with but why on why can't they choose readers who can pronounce the Russian words? I'm not even sure he got Da right - it was painful to listen to!
3 people found this helpful
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- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
Paris has always been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it has also been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well written and researched- A Romanov PostScript
- By Pita on 07-24-22
By: Helen Rappaport
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Fryderyk Chopin
- A Life and Times
- By: Dr. Alan Walker
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Based on 10 years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker's monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker's work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This book is a masterpiece
- By Carpe Diem on 02-09-19
By: Dr. Alan Walker
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A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
- 1599
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: James Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 84
1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Note!--Abridged version
- By Scott on 01-05-16
By: James Shapiro
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Mademoiselle
- Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History
- By: Rhonda Garelick
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 167
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 143
Little black dresses. Fake pearls. Jersey knit. Blazers. Ballet flats. Today - and for nearly the last hundred years - we all see some version of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel every time we pass a woman on the street. But few among us realize that Chanel’s role in the events of the twentieth century was as pervasive as her influence on fashion, or how deeply she absorbed and then brilliantly reimagined the historical currents around her.
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1 out of 5 stars
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An Unlikable Portrait
- By Sara on 09-25-16
By: Rhonda Garelick
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Toscanini
- Musician of Conscience
- By: Harvey Sachs
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 40 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
During a 68-year career, conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) was famed for his fierce dedication, photographic memory, explosive temper, and impassioned performances. At various times he dominated La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the NBC Symphony, and the Bayreuth, Salzburg, and Lucerne festivals. His reforms influenced generations of musicians, and his opposition to Nazism and fascism made him a model for artists of conscience.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book; unable to finish due to technical issu
- By BigWally on 06-25-19
By: Harvey Sachs
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Enchantment
- The Life of Audrey Hepburn
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 299
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 235
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
Her name is synonymous with elegance, style, and grace. Over the course of her extraordinary life and career, Audrey Hepburn captured hearts around the world and created a public image that stands as one of the most recognizable and beloved in recent memory. But despite her international fame and her tireless efforts on behalf of UNICEF, Audrey was also known for her intense privacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow - What a Story!!
- By Tim on 03-05-09
By: Donald Spoto
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Natasha's Dance
- A Cultural History of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
By: Orlando Figes
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My Thoughts Be Bloody
- The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth
- By: Nora Titone, Doris Kearns Goodwin - introduction/notes
- Narrated by: John B. Lloyd
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 235
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 184
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 183
My Thoughts Be Bloody, a sweeping family saga, revives an extraordinary figure whose name has been missing, until now, from the story of President Lincoln's death. Edwin Booth, John Wilkes's older brother by four years, was in his day the biggest star of the American stage. Without an account of Edwin Booth, author Nora Titone argues, the real story of Lincoln's assassin has never been told.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not Bad For A First Book However . . .
- By Carolyn on 03-13-11
By: Nora Titone, and others
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Eva Peron
- By: Nicholas Fraser, Marysa Navarro
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
The story begins in a dusty village lost in the Argentine pampas, where a girl, born out of wedlock, scrambles her way to the capital city by the time she is 15. It ends with the embalmed corpse of Eva Perõn being hidden away by nervous politicians for fear that if the working people of Argentina knew where it was buried, it would inspire them to revolution.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great first look at Evita and this period of Argentine history.
- By ToddH on 02-08-23
By: Nicholas Fraser, and others
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The History of Theatre
- By: David Timson
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Here is a diverse and fascinating story of the Theatre, from the first tragedies and comedies of Ancient Greece to the high-tech mega-musicals of the late 20th century. It is an absorbing listen, encompassing ancient tales, medieval theatre, Commedia dell'Arte, the great dramas of the Elizabethan age, and more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nice job! Very good basic overview of theater!
- By Tim on 01-30-09
By: David Timson
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The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 479
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 298
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Story4 out of 5 stars 294
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
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Empress Dowager Cixi
- The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Jolene Kim
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 411
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 353
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 351
At the age of 16, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China - behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An insult to audiobooks. Get a print version.
- By Reademandweep on 02-23-15
By: Jung Chang
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 180
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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We'll Always Have Casablanca
- The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie
- By: Noah Isenberg
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4 out of 5 stars 55
We'll Always Have Casablanca is celebrated film historian Noah Isenberg's rich account of this most beloved movie's origins. Through extensive research and interviews with filmmakers, film critics, family members of the cast and crew, and diehard fans, Isenberg reveals the myths and realities behind Casablanca's production, exploring the transformation of the unproduced stage play into the classic screenplay, the controversial casting decisions, and the effect of the war's progress on the movie's reception.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good for fans, would've liked more insider info
- By Buretto on 07-30-17
By: Noah Isenberg
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The Black Russian
- By: Vladimir Alexandrov
- Narrated by: Peter Marinker
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
The Black Russian is the incredible story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and - in a highly unusual choice for a black American at the time - went to Russia in 1899. Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship.
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5 out of 5 stars
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US Born African Descendant 2 Russian Citizenship
- By Sheila Gibson on 03-14-15
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Charles Darwin
- A Great Biologist. the Entire Life Story. Biography, Facts & Quotes (Great Biographies, Book 1)
- By: The History Hour
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors and, in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.
By: The History Hour