
Catherine the Great & Potemkin
The Imperial Love Affair
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sophie Roberts
About this listen
A widely acclaimed biography from the bestselling author of The Romanovs: "One of the great love stories of history” (The Economist) between Catherine the Great and the wildly flamboyant and talented Prince Potemkin. • "Captures the genius of two extraordinary Enlightenment figures—and of the age as well." —The Wall Street Journal
Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these “twin souls” never stopped loving each other.
Drawing on the pair’s intimate letters and on vast research, Simon Sebag Montefiore restores these imperial partners to their rightful place as titans of their age.
"Biography in the grand tradition...Riveting...The author [is] a gifted storyteller." —The Washington Post
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Jerusalem
- The Biography
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.
-
-
In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
-
The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
-
-
Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
-
Hannibal
- By: Patrick N. Hunt
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the greatest commanders of the ancient world brought vividly to life: Hannibal, the brilliant general who successfully crossed the Alps with his war elephants and brought Rome to its knees. Hannibal Barca of Carthage, born 247 BC, was one of the great generals of the ancient world. Historian Patrick N. Hunt has led archaeological expeditions in the Alps and elsewhere to study Hannibal's achievements. Now he brings Hannibal's incredible story to life in this riveting and dramatic audiobook.
-
-
A monotone mundane narration
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-22-20
By: Patrick N. Hunt
-
Titans of History
- The Giants Who Made Our World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring, horrifying, and accessible collection of short, entertaining, and vivid life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore - one of our preeminent historians and a prizewinning writer - presents the giant characters who have changed the course of world history.
-
-
Party line history
- By Narada on 11-24-18
-
Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
-
-
Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
Jerusalem
- The Biography
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.
-
-
In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
-
The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
-
-
Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
-
Hannibal
- By: Patrick N. Hunt
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the greatest commanders of the ancient world brought vividly to life: Hannibal, the brilliant general who successfully crossed the Alps with his war elephants and brought Rome to its knees. Hannibal Barca of Carthage, born 247 BC, was one of the great generals of the ancient world. Historian Patrick N. Hunt has led archaeological expeditions in the Alps and elsewhere to study Hannibal's achievements. Now he brings Hannibal's incredible story to life in this riveting and dramatic audiobook.
-
-
A monotone mundane narration
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-22-20
By: Patrick N. Hunt
-
Titans of History
- The Giants Who Made Our World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring, horrifying, and accessible collection of short, entertaining, and vivid life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore - one of our preeminent historians and a prizewinning writer - presents the giant characters who have changed the course of world history.
-
-
Party line history
- By Narada on 11-24-18
-
Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
-
-
Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
The King and the Catholics
- England, Ireland, and the Fight for Religious Freedom, 1780-1829
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gordon Riots marked a crucial turning point in the fight for Catholic emancipation. Over the next 50 years, factions battled to reform the laws of the land. Kings George III and George IV refused to address the “Catholic Question,” even when pressed by their prime ministers. But in 1829, through the dogged work of charismatic Irish lawyer Daniel O’Connell and the support of the great Duke of Wellington, the watershed Roman Catholic Relief Act finally passed, opening the door to the radical transformation of the Victorian age.
-
-
Peaceful Revolution. How it was done.
- By Albert C Reichelt on 10-16-18
By: Antonia Fraser
-
The Anglo-Saxons
- A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 - 1066
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the vikings.
-
-
"Pretty Good"
- By Stephen on 05-30-21
By: Marc Morris
-
Written in History
- Letters That Changed the World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Tuppence Middleton, Rupert Penry-Jones, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in History: Letters that Changed the World celebrates the great letters of world history, and cultural and personal life. Bestselling, prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion—whether passion, rage, humor—from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal, coarse, and frankly outrageous, many are erotic, others heartbreaking.
-
-
A great collection.
- By brian on 06-11-20
-
Britain at Bay
- The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941
- By: Alan Allport
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 21 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the many-faceted, world-historically significant story of Britain at war. In looking closely the military and political dimensions of the conflict's first crucial years, Alan Allport tackles questions such as: Could the war have been avoided? Could it have been lost? Were the strategic decisions the rights ones? How well did the British organize and fight? How well did the British live up to their own values? What difference did the war make in the end to the fate of the nation?
-
-
A History worth your read
- By Norm the Nonfiction Reader on 08-18-21
By: Alan Allport
-
American Radicals
- How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation
- By: Holly Jackson
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On July 4, 1826, as Americans lit firecrackers to celebrate the country’s 50th birthday, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were on their deathbeds. The young nation had outlived the men who made it, but could it survive intensifying divisions over the very meaning of the land of the free? American Radicals is a dynamic, timely history of 19th-century activists - free-lovers and socialists, abolitionists and vigilantes - and the social revolution they sparked in the turbulent Civil War era.
-
-
Enlightening overview
- By R.S. on 07-17-23
By: Holly Jackson
-
Hero of Two Worlds
- The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
- By: Mike Duncan
- Narrated by: Mike Duncan
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the massively popular podcaster and New York Times best-selling author comes the story of the Marquis de Lafayette's lifelong quest to protect the principles of democracy, told through the lens of the three revolutions he participated in: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Revolution of 1830.
-
-
Thrillingly storytelling — brilliant narration
- By Byron on 08-24-21
By: Mike Duncan
-
Revolutionary
- George Washington at War
- By: Robert L. O'Connell
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an acclaimed military historian, a bold reappraisal of young George Washington, an ambitious if reckless soldier destined to become the legendary general who took on the British and, through his leadership, defined the American character.
-
-
Interesting
- By Shielding C on 06-25-22
-
The Lion House
- The Coming of a King
- By: Christopher de Bellaigue
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrated through the eyes of the intimates of Suleyman the Magnificent, the sixteenth-century sultan of the Ottoman Empire, The Lion House animates with stunning immediacy the fears and stratagems of those around him: the Greek slave who becomes his Grand Vizier, the Venetian jewel dealer who acts as his go-between, the Russian consort who becomes his wife. Christopher de Bellaigue tells not just the story of rival superpowers, nor of one of the most consequential lives in human history, but of what it means to live in a time when a few men get to decide the fate of the world.
-
-
Amazing Magical Storytelling
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-23
-
Cleopatra
- The Queen Who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity
- By: Alberto Angela
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of Italy’s most revered cultural figures reconstructs the extraordinary life of the legendary Cleopatra at the height of her power in this epic story of passion, intrigue, betrayal, and war.
-
-
This should be listed under the historical romance category not history.
- By Mickie on 09-10-24
By: Alberto Angela
-
Catherine de Medici
- Renaissance Queen of France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
-
-
Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
By: Leonie Frieda
-
Know Thyself
- Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance
- By: Ingrid Rossellini
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Know thyself" - this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge.
-
-
Ideas +major proponents, filtered through the arts
- By Philo on 06-20-18
-
Inventing America
- Jefferson's Declaration of Independence
- By: Garry Wills
- Narrated by: Tom Weitzel
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From acclaimed historian Garry Wills, author of Lincoln at Gettysburg, a celebrated re-appraisal of the meaning and the source of inspiration of The Declaration of Independence, based on a reading of Jefferson's original draft document.
-
-
Very interesting treatise
- By Larry and Cindi on 07-17-23
By: Garry Wills
Critic reviews
"One of the great love stories of history...Excellent with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair." —The Economist
"Montefiore conveys [Russian] history with vivid detail and narrative momentum...Captures the genius of two extraordinary Enlightenment figures—and of the age as well." —The Wall Street Journal
"Biography in the grand tradition...Riveting...The author [is] a gifted storyteller." —The Washington Post
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
-
-
Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
-
Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
-
-
Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
-
The World
- A Family History of Humanity
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Sebag Montefiore, full cast
- Length: 68 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history, one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us. In this epic, ever-surprising book, Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history to the people at the heart of the human drama.
-
-
Had To Stop
- By Eugenia on 06-15-23
-
Titans of History
- The Giants Who Made Our World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring, horrifying, and accessible collection of short, entertaining, and vivid life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore - one of our preeminent historians and a prizewinning writer - presents the giant characters who have changed the course of world history.
-
-
Party line history
- By Narada on 11-24-18
-
Jerusalem
- The Biography
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.
-
-
In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
-
-
Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
-
Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
-
-
Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
-
The World
- A Family History of Humanity
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Sebag Montefiore, full cast
- Length: 68 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history, one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us. In this epic, ever-surprising book, Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history to the people at the heart of the human drama.
-
-
Had To Stop
- By Eugenia on 06-15-23
-
Titans of History
- The Giants Who Made Our World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring, horrifying, and accessible collection of short, entertaining, and vivid life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore - one of our preeminent historians and a prizewinning writer - presents the giant characters who have changed the course of world history.
-
-
Party line history
- By Narada on 11-24-18
-
Jerusalem
- The Biography
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.
-
-
In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
but I wasn't aware of any of the bias and ended up seeing Potemkin was really a great man.
so while I could clearly see the author was sort of defending these figures, overall, instead of being annoyed by what could be seen as 'one sided efforts ' of author; I actually found his information well researched. He had A LOT of info that really supported all the admiration the author has for his books subjects.
it has lots of clear detail, delivered in a pretty easy-to-follow presentation of it. and as I said , I am weary of authors who set out to'defend' a personage I didn't feel this was the case here. as the book went on, I agreed with the author that this mans life deserved a closer look, and the facts he shared made me agree that Potemkin was a great man and history seems to have jaded the truth of him and Catherine. In this book, facts are laid bear with wonderful sources of great ACTUAL archived letters between them and contemporarys.
but it only follows the events important to Catherine and mostly Potemkin. it does not cover anything else happening in that time period unless it involved them.
but it was performed well, and the info was entertaining and inspired. I liked it. Catherine an Potemkins relationship was TRUELY a unique relationship by all means. I found that interesting and appreciated that aspect more seeing it unfold. the people in the story are unique and they don't let you down but surprise you .
I appreciate the work the author did to present this vast and extensive work.
good in-depth book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sheds light on subject
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Simon Sebag Montefiore is excellent as expected. Captures the time of Potemkin and Catherine. The culture, domestic politics, and international politics. The influence of France, Britain, Prussia, Austria, America, and Ottomans on Russia. To spice up the timeline - Potemkin was at his best as the USA won independence, France destroyed itself, Europe was in full "enlightenment", Austria was at limits, and Britain entering its Golden Age. This book is like a prequal to War and Peace. Many of the hero's of 1812 making an appearance in the late 18th century - Bagatrion, Subarov, and Kutuzov. Even the complex Russian love lives. I thought Anna Karenia was an oddity, but not an oddity if Catherine was an influential role model in the culture.
Potemkin- a force of Nature
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Somewhat disappointing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Liked the book, hated the narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Attention to detail
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.