The Age of Revolution

A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume III

By: Sir Winston Churchill

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

This is the third volume in Churchill's famous account. During the long period of 1688 to 1815, three revolutions took place, and all led to war between the British and the French.

Don't miss the rest of the titles in this great series!

Volume I – The Birth of Britain: A History of the English Speaking Peoples,

Volume II – The New World: A History of the English Speaking Peoples, and

Volume IV – The Great Democracies: A History of the English Speaking Peoples.

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Historical Overview of Britain

Churchill had an amazing grasp of history, and his research is thorough. It is surprising that in view of his busy and intensive political life, that he found the time to write such a detailed account of the various revolutions that took place between 1688 and 1815. His description of the American war of Independence is covered objectively and in great detail, exposing the failings of the British to subdue the colonists.
Churchill has an excellent grasp of language which flows and is easy to listen to. He brings the battles alive with his rhetoric,transferring you to the scene and making you feel involved in it. Christian Rodska reads with clarity and expressiveness that make listening enjoyable

Bright start, but got laborious

When much younger, I started on Churchill's monumental British history and at length, bogged down and abandoned the effort, pledging to return on another day. Imagine my pleasure when I listened to the audio sample here and heard a colorful, finely etched portrait of William of Orange, thinking, now I am mature enough to really enjoy this. But then, as the narrative drew out into a long catalog of campaigns, thrusts and counter-thrusts, the punchy and colorful start seemed to ebb. Again, I found myself plodding with the umpteenth battle and iteration of backstabbing. The characters are not colorfully enough established for me to care about them. I know Churchill's relatives are here, and as a man in his self-conscious position in British history, these tableaus would obviously have been automatically gripping TO HIM. But for me, I wish he had labored a bit more on breathing life and color into these characters before the endless series of thrusts and counter-thrusts assumed a kind of tedious procession. I'll give it another ten years' pause and try again. And I'm someone who wants to know this history well. Perhaps after another ten tangential books by more artful authors I will enjoy this better.

Churchill knows his stuff but left me wanting more

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Pluses:
• Covers the Spain/War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War well
• The covering of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars had its ups and downs but did hit all of the main events

Minuses:
• At times it was difficult to listen to (flowery language obscured the meaning of what the writer was trying to convey)
• Too much time seemed to be spent on politics in England
• Too much time spent on minute details of events like the wars rather than summarize the main conclusions or how certain details related to the greater picture
• Was expecting it to be more focused on England than other countries
• Was left with a sense that the general progression of English society to a modern state was not covered or at least not summarized

Good straight forward history

What made the experience of listening to The Age of Revolution the most enjoyable?

The narrator is clear and the history is told in an easily understood, straightforward manner. Often times an historian gets sidetracked, but not Churchill. Also, its fascinating to hear the history of the American Revolutionary War from the English perspective

Another triumph for Sir Winston.

interesting insights into the American Revolution and the War of 1812 as told from an English perspective. Good insights indirectly into our present times as well.

Churchill was pure genius

Fantastic. Churchill was pure genius. His telling of history is neither dry nor cumbersome. It reads like a well edited novel. The History of.... is strong in fact and rich in anecdote. The narrator does an admirable job taking one thru this journey. 5 stars all around!

It's amazing to learn history from the English pov

Another classic by WSC. Grabbing Vol. IV as I type !! The narrator does another great job, though his voice imitations of great Americans such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were good, it was funny to hear him speaking their quotes in American English!

Battles, Battles and more Battles

Those who already understand English history will be able to just enjoy the eloquent, fine writing in this book.

For me, I'm only a beginner in the subject and I really needed diagrams, maps and charts to understand what was going on. I wanted to understand WHY things came about, what was in the minds of the people? I was looking for an analysis. This book mainly just gives us a blow by blow account of the battles between politicians, and the battles between armies.

Having now struggled through 3 volumes, I plan to do the same with volume IV.

Audio Problems

Although this is a fundamentally interesting book, it has a jarring and crackling audio which ruins the experience. Churchill also seems to have written in a far too politically biased manner which damages the educational reliability of this book. He constantly condemns the Whig party whilst praising the Tories and seems to have some particular favourite politicians who he is unbalanced in portraying. If taken with a pinch of salt it is a decent sweeping History but it is let down by the quality of the recording.

Wars and party politics told so well, but...

A rivetting and flowing story, with little room for anything but the revolutionary wars. Not the complete history, then, but essential and accomplished. Also, casts light on Winston. Read it.

Great story nicely presented

Churchill can be somewhat pompous but his grasp on history and his ability to effectively convey the important details and narrative and construct meaning from it shines through.

We stand on the shoulders of a legend.....

Rodska is the only Narrator with the voice and cadence to carry this of he lends weight and gravitas to the words of in my opinion the greatest statesman of the 20th century of any nation bar non. The best series of books ever written about little old England, Britain, The British Isles, Great Britain and not one but two empires.

The Wars of Revolution

Churchill continues his histories, from the Glorious Revolution up to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. much more interested in the battles and revolution of the age, certain events are covered in passing (Act of Union is mentioned in a summary of Queen Anne); causes of the French Revolution are summarised in 'great tomes have been written on the causes, suffice to say the political machinery did not represent the people' and most rigidly
egrigiously the Industrial Revolution is covered by oblique references like Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was published.

Churchill is far more interested in the so called 'Great Men' of history and names are only mentioned in reference to these figures that dominate the narrative. As Queen Anne ascends the throne the narrative pivots entirely to Marlborough (a descendant of Churchill) and the monarchy is rarely referenced. Extolling the virtues of his ancestor Churchill goes a little fast in calling his military achievements 'unequalled in the annuals of war'.

The change in focus from Monarchy to Parliament, the creation of the office of Prime Minister and Europe/ America's struggle for political reform is discussed well and military leaders, particularly the aforementioned Marlborough; Clive of India; Generals of the American War of Independence; Napolean and Wellington are given plenty of depth.

This is the shortest period of time covered in one of the volumes yet and still feels as though a lot of details are missed, but with the detail shown in the wars of the time its definitely worth exploring.

Insightful

Superb insight from WS Churchill as to how the spread of the English speaking people have developed the world today.