-
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 24 hrs and 35 mins
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
![Prime logo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $35.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Helen of Troy
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly three thousand years, Helen of Troy has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that it can wield. Held responsible for both the Trojan War and enduring the enmity between East and West, for millennia she has been viewed as an exquisite agent of extermination. But who was she really? Focusing on the 'real' Helen, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes reconstructs the true life for this elusive Green Bronze age princess and places her alongside the heroes and heroines of myth and history.
-
-
Revisiting "Helen," Two Decades Later
- By Joe on 01-09-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Venus and Aphrodite
- A Biography of Desire
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus and Aphrodite brings together ancient art, mythology, and archaeological revelations to tell the story of human desire. From Mesopotamia to modern-day London, from Botticelli to Beyoncé, Hughes explains why this immortal goddess continues to entrance us today - and how we trivialize her power at our peril.
-
-
I've learned about Aphrodite
- By Evon on 02-02-21
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Ideas That Make Us
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bettany Hughes reveals the surprising and invigorating history of civilisation's most influential ideas. In this compelling 'archaeology of philosophy', award-winning historian Bettany Hughes takes 25 single-word ideas from ancient Greek culture and traces their development. Travelling backwards and forwards through time, she investigates how they first emerged and have evolved throughout history - and how those changes have shaped us
-
-
Well Worth a Listen!
- By Marge on 03-02-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
The Ottomans
- Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs
- By: Marc David Baer
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.
-
-
Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Helen of Troy
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly three thousand years, Helen of Troy has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that it can wield. Held responsible for both the Trojan War and enduring the enmity between East and West, for millennia she has been viewed as an exquisite agent of extermination. But who was she really? Focusing on the 'real' Helen, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes reconstructs the true life for this elusive Green Bronze age princess and places her alongside the heroes and heroines of myth and history.
-
-
Revisiting "Helen," Two Decades Later
- By Joe on 01-09-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Venus and Aphrodite
- A Biography of Desire
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus and Aphrodite brings together ancient art, mythology, and archaeological revelations to tell the story of human desire. From Mesopotamia to modern-day London, from Botticelli to Beyoncé, Hughes explains why this immortal goddess continues to entrance us today - and how we trivialize her power at our peril.
-
-
I've learned about Aphrodite
- By Evon on 02-02-21
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Ideas That Make Us
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bettany Hughes reveals the surprising and invigorating history of civilisation's most influential ideas. In this compelling 'archaeology of philosophy', award-winning historian Bettany Hughes takes 25 single-word ideas from ancient Greek culture and traces their development. Travelling backwards and forwards through time, she investigates how they first emerged and have evolved throughout history - and how those changes have shaped us
-
-
Well Worth a Listen!
- By Marge on 03-02-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
The Ottomans
- Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs
- By: Marc David Baer
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.
-
-
Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
-
The Vikings
- A New History
- By: Neil Oliver
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on the latest discoveries that have only recently come to light, Scottish archaeologist Neil Oliver goes on the trail of the real Vikings. Where did they emerge from? How did they really live? And just what drove them to embark on such extraordinary voyages of discovery over 1,000 years ago? The Vikings: A New History explores many of those questions for the first time in an epic story of one of the world's great empires of conquest.
-
-
Intriguing for a broad audience.
- By Grant on 08-07-18
By: Neil Oliver
-
The Accursed Tower
- The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Accursed Tower, Roger Crowley delivers a lively narrative of the lead-up to the siege and a vivid, blow-by-blow account of the climactic battle. Drawing on extant Arabic sources as well as untranslated Latin documents, he argues that Acre is notable for technical advances in military planning and siege warfare, and extraordinary for its individual heroism and savage slaughter. A gripping depiction of the crusader era told through its dramatic last moments, The Accursed Tower offers an essential new view on a crucial turning point in world history.
-
-
Another great book by Roger Crowley
- By tp on 03-13-20
By: Roger Crowley
-
Persians
- The Age of the Great Kings
- By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
-
-
Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
-
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings
- A New History of the Ancient Near East
- By: Amanda H. Podany
- Narrated by: Amanda H. Podany
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.
-
-
word of advice
- By Jim Davis on 08-04-23
By: Amanda H. Podany
-
A Concise History of Turkey
- The History and Legacy of Turkey from Antiquity to Today
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: David Pickering
- Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through archaeological remains, ancient texts, and work by a new generation of historians, a picture can today be built of this remarkable civilization and their capital city. Although the city had been destroyed, the legacy of the Persians survived, even as they mostly remain an enigma to the West and are not nearly as well understood as the Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians. In a sense, the Achaemenid Persian Empire holds some of the most enduring mysteries of ancient civilization.
-
-
Waste of $5
- By bethany on 10-15-23
-
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this landmark work, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption into the Roman Empire - 3,000 years of wild drama, bold spectacle, and unforgettable characters. Award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson captures not only the lavish pomp and artistic grandeur of this land of pyramids and pharaohs but for the first time reveals the constant propaganda and repression that were its foundations.
-
-
Well Written and Detailed
- By Matthew G. on 01-26-18
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
1453
- The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.
-
-
A well written narrative with bizarre and biased commentary
- By Patrick D. Flynn on 08-17-17
By: Roger Crowley
-
The Great Sea
- A Human History of the Mediterranean
- By: David Abulafia
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 29 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all the history of human interaction across a region that has brought together many of the great civilizations of antiquity as well as the rival empires of medieval and modern times.
-
-
American Narration at it's Most Disapointing
- By Anonymous User on 03-26-18
By: David Abulafia
-
Emperor
- A New Life of Charles V
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 26 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Amazing.
- By bigdjunta on 10-21-19
By: Geoffrey Parker
-
In the Shadow of the Sword
- The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. In this exciting and sweeping history - the third in his trilogy of books on the ancient world - Tom Holland describes how the Arabs emerged to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion in a matter of decades, overcoming seemingly insuperable odds to create an imperial civilization.
-
-
Misleading title
- By Edd Huetteman on 04-08-16
By: Tom Holland
-
Arabs
- A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires
- By: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 25 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia.
-
-
Good book bad narration
- By Anonymous User on 09-18-19
-
Byzantium
- The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
- By: Judith Herrin
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism—gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium-long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium—what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.
-
-
Not a comprehensible history
- By kevin arsenault on 10-07-23
By: Judith Herrin
Publisher's summary
Istanbul has long been a place where stories and histories collide, where perception is as potent as fact. From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City," but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a global story.
In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey from the Neolithic to the present, through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities - exploring the ways that Istanbul's influence has spun out to shape the wider world. Hughes investigates what it takes to make a city and tells the story not just of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but of the poor and the voiceless, of the women and men whose aspirations and dreams have continuously reinvented Istanbul. Written with energy and animation, award-winning historian Bettany Hughes deftly guides listeners through Istanbul's rich layers of history.
Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate, and authoritative - narrative history at its finest.
Critic reviews
"A vibrant, sprawling portrait of a city as enigmatic as it is historically important...Hughes' entertaining narrative style with its visual details, dramatic archaeological discoveries, and cliffhanger chapter endings allows her erudition and exuberance to shine." (Booklist)
"Impressive. In Istanbul, Hughes plays intriguing, sophisticated games with time and space.... By making unlikely connections between well-described locations and events separated by eons, she gives voice to those witchy, diachronic feelings in a spectacular fashion." (The Economist)
"Hughes is not an argumentative historian. She avoids the debates of academe. She is a wistful and impassioned cosmopolitan who has produced a challenging story." (Financial Times)
Related to this topic
-
Persians
- The Age of the Great Kings
- By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
-
-
Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
-
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
-
In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
-
-
Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Lords of the Horizons
- A History of the Ottoman Empire
- By: Jason Goodwin
- Narrated by: Grahame Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long exerted a strong pull on Western minds and hearts. For over 600 years the empire swelled and declined, rising from a dusty fiefdom in the foothills of Anatolia to a power which ruled over the Danube and the Euphrates with the richest court in Europe. But its decline was prodigious, protracted and total.
-
-
Good introduction to the Ottomans, bad narration
- By Skeptical on 06-06-18
By: Jason Goodwin
-
The Templars
- The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons
- By: Michael Haag
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades - sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church.
-
-
Narrator ruined it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-19-17
By: Michael Haag
-
Persians
- The Age of the Great Kings
- By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
-
-
Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
-
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
-
In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
-
-
Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Lords of the Horizons
- A History of the Ottoman Empire
- By: Jason Goodwin
- Narrated by: Grahame Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long exerted a strong pull on Western minds and hearts. For over 600 years the empire swelled and declined, rising from a dusty fiefdom in the foothills of Anatolia to a power which ruled over the Danube and the Euphrates with the richest court in Europe. But its decline was prodigious, protracted and total.
-
-
Good introduction to the Ottomans, bad narration
- By Skeptical on 06-06-18
By: Jason Goodwin
-
The Templars
- The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons
- By: Michael Haag
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades - sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church.
-
-
Narrator ruined it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-19-17
By: Michael Haag
-
Marco Polo
- From Venice to Xanadu
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history.
-
-
Educational and Entertaining but a bit repetitive
- By PETER on 01-02-13
-
Taj Mahal
- Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire
- By: Diana Preston, Michael Preston
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While Galileo was suffering under house arrest at the hands of Pope Urban VIII, the 30 Years War was ruining Europe, and the Pilgrims were struggling to survive in the New World, work began on what would become one of the Seven Wonders of the World: the Taj Mahal. Built by the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, its flawless symmetry and gleaming presence have for centuries dazzled all who have seen it.
-
-
A broad perspective
- By Neil on 11-01-09
By: Diana Preston, and others
-
The Vikings
- A History
- By: Robert Ferguson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Robert Ferguson comes a comprehensive and thrilling history, based on the latest scholarship, that offers the definitive portrait of the Vikings.
-
-
Good Historical Overview
- By Elizabeth Ciminelli on 04-25-12
By: Robert Ferguson
-
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this landmark work, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption into the Roman Empire - 3,000 years of wild drama, bold spectacle, and unforgettable characters. Award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson captures not only the lavish pomp and artistic grandeur of this land of pyramids and pharaohs but for the first time reveals the constant propaganda and repression that were its foundations.
-
-
Well Written and Detailed
- By Matthew G. on 01-26-18
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
A Little History of the World
- By: E. H. Gombrich
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
E. H. Gombrich's world history, an international best seller now available in English for the first time, is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements, and an acute witness to its frailties.
-
-
an enlightening book; very well read
- By A.B.Oxford on 06-03-06
By: E. H. Gombrich
-
The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
-
-
An Historic Achievement
- By Ellen S. Wilds on 04-25-14
By: Susan Wise Bauer
-
Lotharingia
- A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country
- By: Simon Winder
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Germania and Danubia, the third installment in Simon Winder's personal history of Europe. In 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany, and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia.
-
-
The Loquacious Traveler in Middle Earth
- By Doris on 11-22-19
By: Simon Winder
-
Rome
- By: Matthew Kneale
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rome, the Eternal City. Today visitors can stand on bridges that Julius Caesar and Cicero crossed; walk around temples in the footsteps of emperors; visit churches from the earliest days of Christianity. This is all the more remarkable considering what the city has endured. It has been ravaged by fires, floods, earthquakes, and - most of all - by roving armies. Matthew Kneale uses seven of these crisis moments to create a powerful and captivating account of Rome’s extraordinary history. He paints portraits of the city before each assault, describing how Romans, both rich and poor, lived their everyday lives.
-
-
Lack of language skills an irritation
- By lmc on 07-16-18
By: Matthew Kneale
-
The Nile: Travelling Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present
- The Vintage Departures Series
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Nile, like all of Egypt, is both timeless and ever-changing. In this audio, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey downriver that is both history and travelogue. We begin at the First Nile Cataract, close to the modern city of Aswan. From there, Wilkinson guides us through the illustrious nation birthed by this great river.
-
-
A Riverboat Cruise from the luxury of your phone
- By Amazon Customer on 02-20-20
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
Conquistadors
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following in the footsteps of the greatest Spanish adventurers, Michael Wood retraces the path of the conquistadors from Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, and from the deserts of North Mexico to the heights of Machu Picchu. As he travels the same routes as Hernán Cortés, Francisco, and Gonzalo Pizarro, Wood describes the dramatic events that accompanied the epic sixteenth-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.
-
-
Horrific anti-European bias
- By Anonymous User on 08-30-20
By: Michael Wood
-
Walls
- A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick
- By: David Frye
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Frye as our raconteur-guide, we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed - to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone and with them effectively divide humanity: On one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves - rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America....
-
-
The code for history
- By veronica d on 03-14-23
By: David Frye
-
The Rise and Fall of Alexandria
- Birthplace of the Modern Mind
- By: Justin Pollard, Howard Reid
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founded by Alexander the Great and built by self-styled Greek pharaohs, the city of Alexandria at its height dwarfed both Athens and Rome. It was the marvel of its age, legendary for its vast palaces, safe harbors, and magnificent lighthouse. But it was most famous for the astonishing intellectual efflorescence it fostered and the library it produced. If the European Renaissance was the "rebirth" of Western culture, then Alexandria, Egypt, was its birthplace.
-
-
A good listen
- By Jeffrey on 10-02-08
By: Justin Pollard, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Helen of Troy
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly three thousand years, Helen of Troy has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that it can wield. Held responsible for both the Trojan War and enduring the enmity between East and West, for millennia she has been viewed as an exquisite agent of extermination. But who was she really? Focusing on the 'real' Helen, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes reconstructs the true life for this elusive Green Bronze age princess and places her alongside the heroes and heroines of myth and history.
-
-
Revisiting "Helen," Two Decades Later
- By Joe on 01-09-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- A Journey Through History's Greatest Treasures
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Echoing down time, each of these persists in our imagination as an emblem of the glory of antiquity, but beneath the familiar images is a surprising, revelatory history.
-
-
Much more than just the seven wonders
- By William on 05-11-24
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Venus and Aphrodite
- A Biography of Desire
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus and Aphrodite brings together ancient art, mythology, and archaeological revelations to tell the story of human desire. From Mesopotamia to modern-day London, from Botticelli to Beyoncé, Hughes explains why this immortal goddess continues to entrance us today - and how we trivialize her power at our peril.
-
-
I've learned about Aphrodite
- By Evon on 02-02-21
By: Bettany Hughes
-
The Ottomans
- Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs
- By: Marc David Baer
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.
-
-
Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
-
Istanbul
- City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than two millennia, Istanbul has stood at the crossroads of the world, perched at the very tip of Europe, gazing across the shores of Asia. The history of this city - known as Byzantium, then Constantinople, now Istanbul - is at once glorious, outsized, and astounding. Founded by the Greeks, its location blessed it as a center for trade but also made it a target of every empire in history, from Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire, to the Romans and later the Ottomans.
-
-
A History Without People
- By SeanO on 04-02-19
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Helen of Troy
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly three thousand years, Helen of Troy has been both the embodiment of absolute female beauty and a reminder of the terrible power that it can wield. Held responsible for both the Trojan War and enduring the enmity between East and West, for millennia she has been viewed as an exquisite agent of extermination. But who was she really? Focusing on the 'real' Helen, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes reconstructs the true life for this elusive Green Bronze age princess and places her alongside the heroes and heroines of myth and history.
-
-
Revisiting "Helen," Two Decades Later
- By Joe on 01-09-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Istanbul
- Memories and the City
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share.
-
-
Terrible pronunciation
- By K. Jaynes on 02-25-18
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- A Journey Through History's Greatest Treasures
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Echoing down time, each of these persists in our imagination as an emblem of the glory of antiquity, but beneath the familiar images is a surprising, revelatory history.
-
-
Much more than just the seven wonders
- By William on 05-11-24
By: Bettany Hughes
-
Venus and Aphrodite
- A Biography of Desire
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venus and Aphrodite brings together ancient art, mythology, and archaeological revelations to tell the story of human desire. From Mesopotamia to modern-day London, from Botticelli to Beyoncé, Hughes explains why this immortal goddess continues to entrance us today - and how we trivialize her power at our peril.
-
-
I've learned about Aphrodite
- By Evon on 02-02-21
By: Bettany Hughes
-
The Ottomans
- Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs
- By: Marc David Baer
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.
-
-
Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
-
Lords of the Horizons
- A History of the Ottoman Empire
- By: Jason Goodwin
- Narrated by: Grahame Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ottoman Empire has long exerted a strong pull on Western minds and hearts. For over 600 years the empire swelled and declined, rising from a dusty fiefdom in the foothills of Anatolia to a power which ruled over the Danube and the Euphrates with the richest court in Europe. But its decline was prodigious, protracted and total.
-
-
Good introduction to the Ottomans, bad narration
- By Skeptical on 06-06-18
By: Jason Goodwin
-
1453
- The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.
-
-
A well written narrative with bizarre and biased commentary
- By Patrick D. Flynn on 08-17-17
By: Roger Crowley
-
Persians
- The Age of the Great Kings
- By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
-
-
Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
-
The Ideas That Make Us
- By: Bettany Hughes
- Narrated by: Bettany Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bettany Hughes reveals the surprising and invigorating history of civilisation's most influential ideas. In this compelling 'archaeology of philosophy', award-winning historian Bettany Hughes takes 25 single-word ideas from ancient Greek culture and traces their development. Travelling backwards and forwards through time, she investigates how they first emerged and have evolved throughout history - and how those changes have shaped us
-
-
Well Worth a Listen!
- By Marge on 03-02-23
By: Bettany Hughes
-
A Concise History of Turkey
- The History and Legacy of Turkey from Antiquity to Today
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: David Pickering
- Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through archaeological remains, ancient texts, and work by a new generation of historians, a picture can today be built of this remarkable civilization and their capital city. Although the city had been destroyed, the legacy of the Persians survived, even as they mostly remain an enigma to the West and are not nearly as well understood as the Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians. In a sense, the Achaemenid Persian Empire holds some of the most enduring mysteries of ancient civilization.
-
-
Waste of $5
- By bethany on 10-15-23
-
Last Train to Istanbul
- A Novel
- By: Ayşe Kulin John, John W. Baker - translator
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born into privilege to one of the last Ottoman pashas, beautiful, spirited Selva is the brightest jewel in her father’s household - until she falls in love with Rafael Alfandari. Though Turkey has long been a safe haven for Jews, marriage between a high-ranking Muslim girl and a Jewish boy is strictly forbidden. Yet young love will not be denied, and Selva and Rafael defy their parents and marry, fleeing to Paris in hopes of a better life - only to find themselves trapped in the path of the invading Nazis.
-
-
Problematic Narration
- By Halit Pinar, MD on 01-02-15
By: Ayşe Kulin John, and others
-
Istanbul Passage
- A Novel
- By: Joseph Kanon
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul has spent the war as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even American businessman Leon Bauer has been drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs for the Allied war effort. Now, as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of postwar life, he is given one more assignment, a routine job that goes fatally wrong, plunging him into a tangle of intrigue and moral confusion.
-
-
What choice do you make when all options are bad?
- By Maine Colonial 🌲 on 06-08-12
By: Joseph Kanon
-
The Enemy at the Gate
- Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe
- By: Andrew Wheatcroft
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Siege of Vienna is the centerpiece for historian Andrew Wheatcroft's richly drawn portrait of the centuries-long rivalry between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires for control of the European continent. A gripping work by a master historian, The Enemy at the Gate offers a timely examination of an epic clash of civilizations.
-
-
Look elsewhere
- By Ben H. on 09-20-21
-
My Name Is Red
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Erdag Goknar - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of 16th-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.
-
-
Complex and interesting
- By Kathleen on 05-13-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
-
Byzantium
- The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
- By: Judith Herrin
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism—gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium-long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium—what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.
-
-
Not a comprehensible history
- By kevin arsenault on 10-07-23
By: Judith Herrin
-
The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
-
-
Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
-
Budapest
- Portrait of a City Between East and West
- By: Victor Sebestyen
- Narrated by: Elinor Coleman
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the critically acclaimed historian Victor Sebestyen, the enthralling account of historical and cultural events that defined Budapest, a unique city on the fault line between East and West in the heart of Europe.
-
-
Absolutely Amazing 🤩
- By Elizabeth Hoadley on 04-28-24
By: Victor Sebestyen
What listeners say about Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steven
- 03-21-23
One of the best works of non-fiction I've read
This was fun engaging and informative without being dull or dead. I was surprised because even though it's not dramatized, I was emotionally invested in the story. Fantastic work and the authors knowledge of the subject and passion are wonderfully infectious
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian Hayward
- 03-16-23
Fascinating! You'll definitely want to visit
Never heard an audiobook that spans such a huge timespan on one city. The author sells
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Agatha Holmes
- 06-15-22
Bettany Hughes excellence
I chose this because i am a big fan of her documentaries and felt confident this book would be equally enjoyable, especially since she is the narrator. I was not disappointed. I learned a lot about a part of the world i knew little of.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-17-22
If you love history. This is a must read.
Bettany Hughes never dissapoints this a great read. Istanbul now is now on my bucket list of places to visit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- james
- 05-13-19
Great Book - Huge Scope Suceedes
Hughes manages to include detail and write a coherent narrative. This book is an accomplishment.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SGS
- 12-24-17
A daunting undertaking pulled off superlatively
Would you listen to Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities again? Why?
Yes. There is just so much there, and it is so well done. It wld serve as an excellent guide toward digging deeper into a particular topic, era, personage etc....
Who was your favorite character and why?
I am a huge fan of Justinian, Theodora, Alcebiaties and Harold Hadrada. All make appearances.
Which character – as performed by Bettany Hughes – was your favorite?
It is history and she performs no characters per se, but her narration is excellent.
Any additional comments?
This is a huge undertaking. And is achieved with style. This book wld serve this historian, the history buff and the layperson with equal excellence. But particularly the layperson and the (somewhat) educated consumer. The narrative is chronological, the tangents limited but extremely relevant and the author's passion for the topic comes through in her narration. The City is really at the epicenter of major historical events in both Western and Eastern civilization. With amazing characters and tales that the most imaginative fiction writers could not have made up, this is an epic story. And extremely well told. I have been an Audible listener practically since inception. This is the first review I have ever written. That is the best compliment I can offer for this book, story and performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Crisitna Tunon
- 03-29-22
The narration was amazing
This audio book was so informative and entertaining. It really gives the reader a comprehensive understanding of the city’s history and importance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Farooq Hussain
- 05-31-23
If you love Istanbul…
This is a substantial book and needs some commitment and reading endurance to get through. Bettany Hughes is fantastic-of course- and her reading of the book makes it all the more fun. You can catch her excitement with the city and it’s history. Highly recommended
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Casey
- 06-09-22
Great writing, read well
A great social, economic, and political, and military history of multicultural Istanbul through the ages. Hughes’s narration of her own writing captures the emotion and intellect of the text—while making easy work of Istanbul’s tricky multilingualism.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- michaelforrest
- 11-04-22
Wonderfully informative
I was in Istanbul about 4 years ago and would have enjoyed it sooo much more had I previously read this book. So much history to cram in but the author provides it with easy fascination for her topic: the ruby surrounded by diamonds. i want to visit Istanbul again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!