Foundation

The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1

By: Peter Ackroyd

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

In this massive best seller in England, one of Britain's most popular and esteemed historians tells the epic story of the birth of the country.

Peter Ackroyd, whose work has always been underpinned by a profound interest in and understanding of England's history, now tells the epic story of England itself.

In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house - and describes in rich prose the successive waves of invaders who made England English despite being themselves Roman, Viking, Saxon, or Norman French.

With his extraordinary skill for evoking time and place and his acute eye for the telling detail, Ackroyd recounts the story of warring kings, civil strife, and foreign wars. But he also gives us a vivid sense of how England's early people lived: the homes they built, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, even the jokes they told. All are brought vividly to life through the narrative mastery of one of Britain's finest writers.

©2011 Peter Ackroyd (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Good Overview

Good and interesting early pre-history and history of England for the anglophile neophite. Sometimes the narrative gets bogged down but this in English history for crying out loud. Just being able to follow along and understand without shaking your head is a major accomplishment. Good book......

Narration is too bad

Very interesting subject, but I can't finish the book due to the narration. It almost sounds like each sentence was recorded separately. There's no flow between sentences.

Good

It is a good book with several new info about the rich history of England. Until the first 1/3 of the book, I was rating as 5 stars. However, from this point to the end, the author becomes very descriptive and loose the big picture of the events.
Anyhow, I recommend this book for those who want to know more about history of a country of such a great influence worldwide.

interesting history, terrible narration

i really liked the history, but it was hard to listed to due to the terrible narration. the narrator's voice was quite monotone with an extremely annoying inflection or intonation (not sure how to describe it) at the end of each sentence. I'm not sure if i will be able to listen to the whole thing, solely because of the narrator.

Not bad

I noted a couple of things that do not appear to be factual. it is my understand that the grain product called corn did not arrive until into the 1500's but it is mentioned many times as a crop prior to that date. also the mention that Richard III bones were disinterred and then scattered is obviously false as well since his body was discovered a few years ago. all other history books simple state that his body was lost to history.

Foundation

The subject matter is very good except it needs to be updated to include the recent findings concerning Richard III. The narrator is a little too monotone for my taste.

Great History!

Where does Foundation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I studied a lot of British history in college and really enjoyed this audiobook. I'd highly encourage anyone interested in history to check this out. There's so much that happened, during this time period that had a significant impact on our modern world's theology, economy, and political structures.

What did you like best about this story?

Good thorough review of the time period without getting too bogged down in details.

Which character – as performed by Clive Chafer – was your favorite?

NA

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No...this was pretty long and I listen while I work from home so I like to listen to my audiobooks repeatedly.

Long...but worth the listen

A struggle to finish, a value for the price, none the less, it's a great history lesson

Good history. Reader drones.

Enjoyed the story but i love English history in any form. The reader has a distinctive drone that I find quite irritating and almost painful. I will not listen to anything he reads in the future.

A fix for the narration

Would you listen to Foundation again? Why?

I enjoyed it but I have it in hardcover so if I want to refer to it, I'll use the physical book.

What did you like best about this story?

The author keeps things moving while still covering a lot of history.

What does Clive Chafer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

When I first started listening, the narration was very annoying because it is so slow. I finally set the speed to 1.5 and that solved the problem for me. It was enough to sound normal and didn't distort the voice. I plan to do the same thing for the other books in the series.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction, but it definitely motivated me to read the other books.