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Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
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Hard to take a break from it!
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Publisher's summary
“In many ways, Land combines bits and pieces of many of Winchester’s previous books into a satisfying, globe-trotting whole.... Winchester is, once again, a consummate guide.” (Boston Globe)
The author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and The Perfectionists explores the notion of property - bought, earned, or received; in Europe, Africa, North America, or the South Pacific - through human history, how it has shaped us and what it will mean for our future.
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World examines in depth how we acquire land, how we steward it, how and why we fight over it, and finally, how we can, and on occasion do, come to share it. Ultimately, Winchester confronts the essential question: who actually owns the world’s land - and why does it matter?
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Land
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- semarla
- 01-31-21
Audiobook Version is the Best!
The only thing better to me than a Simon Winchester book is a Simon Winchester audiobook. This man's voice soothes me, like being read to by a treasured grandfather figure. There's nothing worse than an author who sounds like he is going through a tedious task of reading his own book. Not here. Simon is thrilled to be reading his book, one can tell, and I was thrilled to be listening to him do it.
Admission: I'm an attorney by trade. Before particularly tense hearings I often pull out my cell phone and my earbuds and listen to Simon read to me. True. He helps me concentrate in the way some people listen to music to help them feel motivated. It's quite remarkable really.
I buy everything this man does. He's my favorite nonfiction author. He's as interesting as all get out, he writes beautifully phrased narrative, he's fun(!) he has a subtle sense of humor I adore, he's curious, it seems, about the same things you're curious about, uncanny — this wonderful man has it in spades.
Simon Winchester's writing keeps getting better. I highly recommend this book! Mr. Winchester's voice is one huge cherry on top!
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27 people found this helpful
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- David Bogosian
- 03-09-21
Very disappointing
As a big fan of Winchester's earlier books, I was really let down by this one. There is no real story, no central core. It's merely a series of anecdotes related to land and issues surrounding ownership. A few are interesting, others simply mundane. He takes a very favorable view of cultures which did not believe in personal ownership of land, deplores the Western belief in personal ownership, and yet never reconciles this with his own purchase of over a hundred acres of woodland in upstate NY, something upon which he dwells in detail but never really explores. There are real questions here: how should a culture that believes in land ownership interact with another that doesn't? What are the rights and wrongs of that clash? How might things have gone more equitably? But he doesn't deal with any of this. He spends a whole chapter talking about modern experiments in communal ownership of land without ever really explaining what that means in practical terms. Overall, the worst Winchester book I have ever read (and I've read half a dozen).
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11 people found this helpful
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- Robert Bliss
- 08-13-21
A long and relentless polemic
I confess I could not make it through all of the book. The third that I did listen to was not so much about the history of “land” and concepts and social and legal norms surrounding it. Rather it was a series of tales of how whites in America dispossessed the Indians and how the British screwed up partition. There is nothing positive except the peaceful, happy, socially advanced pre-colonization Indians —- perhaps as biased as view as that about evil white men.
This book will appeal to those who like to read how bad western civilization is, without thinking through any alternatives.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Robin
- 02-07-21
Fascinating book .... with one large disappointmen
I am a Simon Winchester fan of many years' standing. I found Land, his recent far-reaching look at land ownership and import, from ancient times until now, to be excellently researched and presented with Winchester's usual flair. However, I was hugely disappointed in his discussion of the Wilkes brothers of Idaho. Mr. Winchester's attribution of so much of their stance to their Evangelical beliefs was truly below his standards. Please note: I am NOT Evangelical at all....just someone who remembers her mother's counsel to never berate another's religion. I think the actions of the Wilkes duo could have been presented very clearly without the snarky remarks about Evangelicals. I daresay this would NOT have happened had the brothers been Jewish, or Catholic, or Muslim. VERY disappointing to see a brilliant writer take out after someone else's religion. He should have known my mother.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Nieves Fragapane
- 07-16-21
One sided presentation of a complicated issue
I loved Winchester’s “The Men Who United The States” and it is hard to believe this is the same author. That book extolled the benefits of the engineering triumphs of railroads, bridges, roads, canals, telephone communication and other great endeavors to reshape the world. But, in “Land” he seems to suggest that mankind is a blight that ruins everything he touches and that hunter gatherers were the last of our species who deserved the earth they live on. He excoriates those countries that have at least tried to deal fairly with the indigenous peoples they found on the land while hardly mentioning how previous peoples of all kinds came to occupy that land to begin with. For millennia “Right of Conquest” was the way of things around the globe (see “Guns, Germs & Steel”, a Pulitzer Prize winning and fascinating book) and the conquered ended up dead or enslaved. England, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand garner much derision from the “Land” author for their often unsuccessful attempts to at least try to do better than the conquerors of the past. Winchester also makes almost no effort to acknowledge the positive benefits of modern land use and farming methods. All we get from him is a steady stream of examples of the horrors man has inflicted on the earth and his fellow man . . . Radiation, global warming, resettlement of indigenous peoples, mining scars, animal slaughter, pollution, habitat destruction, barbed wire fences, etc. Private Ownership of land (unless at subsistence farming levels) is pretty much vilified with hardly any redeeming values mentioned.
I found the whole presentation to be extremely one sided. Cannot recommend this book and very disappointed to have to say so.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jeff P
- 07-20-21
not one of his best
Winchester's books are always interesting, but this was not one of his best. He sometimes repeats the same idea, in different words, for a page, and sometimes his preaching verges on the insufferable, but still an enjoyable ride.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Andy
- 02-24-21
winchester brings land to life
Simon Winchester does it again. He brings life and perspective to land. How we see it, how we use it, how we own it and the many ways it affects our lives. The combination of history, facts, language and his wonderful narration made this book a pleasure to listen to.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-04-21
Terrible book
History very lite with lots of virtue signaling. The basic theme is each evil successive land owner stole from the previous virtuous occupants. The sing song narrator makes it worse. I have enjoyed Winchester in the past but no more in the future.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-08-23
A great book!
A great book that unfolds many different stories around land, history, and politics.
I love that the author also narrates the book. I can listen to him for hours.
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- Brad D
- 04-24-23
Exceptionally Narrated by the Author Himself
Enjoyed the heck out of this story - each chapter is a historical story in its own and at times disparate but the authors narration keeps u staying for each and in the end he ties it together nicely…
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Story
In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth - and a central plank of established Christian religion - on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany.
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Who knew rocks could be so deceptive?
- By Jody R. Nathan on 11-09-04
By: Simon Winchester
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The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
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Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
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Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
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Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
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Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
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Colorful anecdotes but tiring after a while.
- By reader on 05-03-23
By: Simon Winchester
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The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
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Somewhat less than perfect
- By enya keshet on 06-19-18
By: Simon Winchester
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The End of the River
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When it comes to climate-change-inspired threats, it is rising sea levels we hear most about. But if the oceans are, as Herman Melville put it, “the tide-beating heart of the Earth”, rivers are its circulatory system. In the United States, there is no river more storied, symbolic, and vital than the Mississippi, and none, to use Mark Twain’s word, more lawless. The struggle to control it has been going on nearly as long as there has been human civilization on its banks, and the attendant drama and dangers have been memorialized by many writers.
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Excellent
- By rattyaddy on 03-30-23
By: Simon Winchester
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The Map That Changed the World
- William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth - and a central plank of established Christian religion - on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany.
-
-
Who knew rocks could be so deceptive?
- By Jody R. Nathan on 11-09-04
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Men Who United the States
- America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators. Introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree.
-
-
Sarcastic
- By Cynthia Hartman on 06-16-16
By: Simon Winchester
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Pacific
- Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
-
-
Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
- By Mark Patterson on 12-25-15
By: Simon Winchester
-
Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
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-
Colorful anecdotes but tiring after a while.
- By reader on 05-03-23
By: Simon Winchester
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A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
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7 Hours and 45 minutes . . .
- By Tim on 12-09-05
By: Simon Winchester
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Atlantic
- Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Atlantic is a biography of a tremendous space that has been central to the ambitions of explorers, scientists, and warriors, and continues profoundly to affect our character, attitudes, and dreams. Spanning the ocean's story, from its geological origins to the age of exploration, from World War II battles to today's struggles with pollution and overfishing, Winchester's narrative is epic, intimate, and awe inspiring.
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Starts Better Than it Finishes
- By Ray on 12-18-10
By: Simon Winchester
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Krakatoa
- The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa - the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster - was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light.
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Great subject, great writing, great voice
- By rwise on 01-26-04
By: Simon Winchester
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The Meaning of Everything
- The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the best-selling author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and Krakatoa comes a truly wonderful celebration of the English language and of its unrivaled treasure house, the Oxford English Dictionary.
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A New Appreciation
- By Donald on 11-01-04
By: Simon Winchester
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The Man Who Loved China
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire.
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turn your watch back 70 years
- By Andy on 05-22-08
By: Simon Winchester
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Alice Behind Wonderland
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance