-
The Empress and the English Doctor
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 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 members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Empress and the English Doctor
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Traitor King
- The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor
- By: Andrew Lownie
- Narrated by: Andrew Lownie
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 259
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 202
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 201
December 11, 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
All That is Glamour can be Rotten
- By Joe France on 08-26-22
By: Andrew Lownie
-
Random Acts of Medicine
- The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health
- By: Anupam B. Jena, Christopher Worsham
- Narrated by: Anupam B. Jena, Christopher Worsham
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 22
As a University of Chicago–trained economist and Harvard medical school professor and doctor, Anupam Jena is uniquely equipped to answer these questions. And as a critical care doctor at Massachusetts General who researches health care policy, Christopher Worsham confronts their impact on the hospital’s sickest patients. In this singular work of science and medicine, Jena and Worsham show us how medicine really works, and its effect on all of us.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Podcast is much better
- By R. Weilacher on 08-22-23
By: Anupam B. Jena, and others
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
A History of the Human Brain
- From the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved
- By: Bret Stetka
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Just over 125,000 years ago, humanity was going extinct until a dramatic shift occurred—Homo sapiens started tracking the tides in order to eat the nearby oysters. Before long, they’d pulled themselves back from the brink of extinction. The human brain, and its evolutionary journey, is unlike anything else in history. In A History of the Human Brain, Bret Stetka takes listeners through that far-reaching journey. He also tackles the question of where the brain will take us next, exploring the burgeoning concepts of epigenetics and new technologies like CRISPR.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating survey of the evolution of the human brain
- By Cosmos on 03-30-21
By: Bret Stetka
-
The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,331
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,998
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not one boring moment!
- By WRWF on 12-22-17
-
On Juneteenth
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 557
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 498
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A short but compelling combination of history and
- By BK on 05-18-21
-
Traitor King
- The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor
- By: Andrew Lownie
- Narrated by: Andrew Lownie
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 259
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 202
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 201
December 11, 1936. The King of England, Edward VIII, has given up his crown, foregoing his duty for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Their courtship has been dogged by controversy and scandal, but with Edward's abdication, they can live happily ever after.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
All That is Glamour can be Rotten
- By Joe France on 08-26-22
By: Andrew Lownie
-
Random Acts of Medicine
- The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health
- By: Anupam B. Jena, Christopher Worsham
- Narrated by: Anupam B. Jena, Christopher Worsham
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 22
As a University of Chicago–trained economist and Harvard medical school professor and doctor, Anupam Jena is uniquely equipped to answer these questions. And as a critical care doctor at Massachusetts General who researches health care policy, Christopher Worsham confronts their impact on the hospital’s sickest patients. In this singular work of science and medicine, Jena and Worsham show us how medicine really works, and its effect on all of us.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Podcast is much better
- By R. Weilacher on 08-22-23
By: Anupam B. Jena, and others
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
A History of the Human Brain
- From the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved
- By: Bret Stetka
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Just over 125,000 years ago, humanity was going extinct until a dramatic shift occurred—Homo sapiens started tracking the tides in order to eat the nearby oysters. Before long, they’d pulled themselves back from the brink of extinction. The human brain, and its evolutionary journey, is unlike anything else in history. In A History of the Human Brain, Bret Stetka takes listeners through that far-reaching journey. He also tackles the question of where the brain will take us next, exploring the burgeoning concepts of epigenetics and new technologies like CRISPR.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating survey of the evolution of the human brain
- By Cosmos on 03-30-21
By: Bret Stetka
-
The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,331
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,998
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not one boring moment!
- By WRWF on 12-22-17
-
On Juneteenth
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 557
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 498
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian’s view of the country’s long road to Juneteenth, recounting both its origins in Texas and the enormous hardships that African Americans have endured in the century since, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow and beyond.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A short but compelling combination of history and
- By BK on 05-18-21
-
Satellite Boy
- The International Manhunt for a Master Thief That Launched the Modern Communication Age
- By: Andrew Amelinckx
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
On April 6, 1965, Georges Lemay was relaxing on his yacht in a south Florida marina following one of the largest and most daring bank heists in Canadian history. For four years, the roguishly handsome criminal mastermind hid in plain sight, eluding capture and the combined efforts of the FBI, Interpol, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His future appeared secure. What Lemay didn't know was that less than two hundred miles away at Cape Canaveral, a brilliant engineer named Harold Rosen was about to usher in the age of global live television.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED — this is a gripping history!!
- By Deborah R. Castleman on 03-22-23
By: Andrew Amelinckx
-
Have You Eaten Yet?
- Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World
- By: Cheuk Kwan
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
From Haifa, Israel, to Cape Town, South Africa, Chinese entrepreneurs and restaurateurs have brought delicious Chinese food across the globe. Unraveling a complex history of cultural migration and world politics, Cheuk Kwan describes a fascinating story of culture and place, ultimately revealing how an excellent meal always tells an even better story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
wonderful history of Chinese diaspora and food
- By Victoria on 03-06-23
By: Cheuk Kwan
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,462
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,282
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,277
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Con/Artist
- The Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger
- By: Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone, Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 216
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Incredibly interesting!
- By Carole Wooten on 12-07-22
By: Tony Tetro, and others
-
Trailed
- One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders
- By: Kathryn Miles
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 529
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 472
In May 1996, two skilled backcountry leaders, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, entered Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park for a week-long backcountry camping trip. The free-spirited and remarkable young couple had met and fallen in love the previous summer while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. After the pair didn’t return home as planned, park rangers found a scene of horror at their campsite, their tent slashed open, their beloved dog missing, and both women dead in their sleeping bags.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Far Too Long
- By Judy on 06-21-22
By: Kathryn Miles
-
His Majesty's Airship
- The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 128
The tragic fate of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular fireball in 1930, killing more people than died in the Hindenburg disaster seven years later—has been largely forgotten. In His Majesty’s Airship, S.C. Gwynne resurrects it in vivid detail, telling the epic story of great ambition gone terribly wrong.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
O, The Humanity
- By Glenn G Poole II on 06-11-23
By: S. C. Gwynne
-
The Escape Artist
- The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
- By: Jonathan Freedland
- Narrated by: Jonathan Freedland
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 719
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 643
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 644
In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became one of the very first Jews to escape from Auschwitz and make his way to freedom—among only a tiny handful who ever pulled off that near-impossible feat. He did it to reveal the truth of the death camp to the world—and to warn the last Jews of Europe what fate awaited them. Against all odds, Vrba and his fellow escapee, Fred Wetzler, climbed mountains, crossed rivers, and narrowly missed German bullets until they had smuggled out the first full account of Auschwitz the world had ever seen.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good
- By Matt on 11-10-22
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,649
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,582
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,548
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book, not crazy about the narrator
- By Cathi on 07-20-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Hunting the Falcon
- Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage That Shook Europe
- By: John Guy, Julia Fox
- Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
Hunting the Falcon is the story of how Henry VIII’s obsessive desire for Anne Boleyn changed him and his country forever. John Guy and Julia Fox, two of the most acclaimed and distinguished historians of this period, have joined forces to present Anne and Henry in startlingly new ways.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superb book and superb narration!
- By Buffy Martin Tarbox on 11-01-23
By: John Guy, and others
-
Into the Great Emptiness
- Peril and Survival on the Greenland Ice Cap
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed “Gino”), a twenty-three-year-old British explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious expedition to the east coast of Greenland and into its vast and forbidding interior to set up a permanent meteorological base on the icecap, 8,200 feet above sea level.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful!
- By Sandy L Fleming on 12-02-22
By: David Roberts
-
The Enlightenment
- The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
- By: Ritchie Robertson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
This magisterial history - sure to become the definitive work on the subject - recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The quickest 40 hour audio book I’ve listen to
- By Joey Caster on 04-02-21
-
Elixir
- A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
- By: Theresa Levitt
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 35
For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality—a spirit or essence—that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thrilling History of Organic Chemistry
- By Mark E. White on 06-13-23
By: Theresa Levitt
Publisher's summary
A killer virus, an all-powerful empress, an encounter cloaked in secrecy...the astonishing true story.
No disease sparked as much dread in the 18th century as smallpox. The virus killed millions across the globe, carrying off one in every five victims and disfiguring survivors with tell-tale pitted scars. But one mysterious method offered hope: inoculation, the practice of piercing the skin to insert a drop of infected matter and induce a mild case of smallpox. Those inoculated safely were protected from the ‘Speckled Monster’ and stayed immune for life.
Only one problem remained: convincing people to accept the treatment. Arguments raged in Europe over its risks and benefits, and public resistance ran high. In Russia, Catherine the Great took a momentous decision: to undergo inoculation herself to set an example in her empire and beyond. In 1768, she summoned the Quaker physician and inoculator Thomas Dimsdale from his Hertfordshire surgery to her glittering court in St Petersburg to carry out the secret mission that would transform both their lives.
This is a fascinating history of Enlightenment ideals, female leadership and the fight to promote science over superstition.
Critic reviews
"A fascinating and beautifully told story about courageous vaccination pioneers." (Kate Bingham, chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce)
"It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book than The Empress and the English Doctor. Mirroring so many of the vaccination issues of our modern age, as well as those of bodily autonomy, feminism and power, Lucy Ward's lively and in-depth exploration is a must-read." (JoJo Moyes, author of Me Before You)
"Packed with political intrigue and scientific insight, this is a fascinating narrative revealing how early inoculation pioneers overcame superstition, prejudice and misinformation. Move forward more than two centuries and the parallels with the current COVID-19 pandemic are incredible!" (Jonathan Ball, professor of virology, University of Nottingham)
Related to this topic
-
Dr. Benjamin Rush
- The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
A revealing biography of Dr. Benjamin Rush - fiery signer of the Declaration of Independence, prominent physician, ardent politician, zealous social reformer, passionate humanitarian, and dedicated educator. Known primarily as America's most influential and leading physician, Rush was also among the first to call for the abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, free education and health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation facilities, an end to child labor, and universal public education, among other causes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Great Humanitarian
- By Jean on 10-08-19
-
Rush
- Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
- By: Stephen Fried
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 241
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 209
By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The narration problem can be corrected
- By Sandra L. on 09-27-18
By: Stephen Fried
-
The Knife Man
- The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery
- By: Wendy Moore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 228
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 191
In The Knife Man, Wendy Moore unveils John Hunter's murky and macabre world - a world characterized by public hangings, secret expeditions to dank churchyards, and gruesome human dissections in pungent attic rooms. This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable pioneer and his determined struggle to haul surgery out of the realms of meaningless superstitious ritual and into the dawn of modern medicine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant
- By Bird on 12-02-15
By: Wendy Moore
-
The Mistresses of Cliveden
- Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home
- By: Natalie Livingstone
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
disappointed
- By Galina M. on 11-14-16
-
Prince of Pleasure
- The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency
- By: Saul David
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Described by the Duke of Wellington as "the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy and good feeling that I ever saw in one character in my life", George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, later George IV, was a highly controversial figure. He courted both Whigs and Tories in his attempts to establish the Regency during the "madness" of his father, George III.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
George IV in all his "glory"!
- By TemperPolk on 08-25-16
By: Saul David
-
Victoria
- A Life
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 184
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 184
The longest reigning British monarch and female sovereign in history, Queen Victoria was a figure of profound paradox who has mystified historians for over a century. Now in this magisterial biography, A.N. Wilson rebukes the conventional wisdom about her life - that she was merely a "funny little woman in a bonnet" who did next to nothing - to show she was in fact intensely involved in state affairs despite a public façade of inaction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This book has old and new info
- By Dr. A. on 10-29-14
By: A. N. Wilson
-
Dr. Benjamin Rush
- The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
A revealing biography of Dr. Benjamin Rush - fiery signer of the Declaration of Independence, prominent physician, ardent politician, zealous social reformer, passionate humanitarian, and dedicated educator. Known primarily as America's most influential and leading physician, Rush was also among the first to call for the abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, free education and health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation facilities, an end to child labor, and universal public education, among other causes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Great Humanitarian
- By Jean on 10-08-19
-
Rush
- Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
- By: Stephen Fried
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 241
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 209
By the time he was 30, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The narration problem can be corrected
- By Sandra L. on 09-27-18
By: Stephen Fried
-
The Knife Man
- The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery
- By: Wendy Moore
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 228
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 191
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 191
In The Knife Man, Wendy Moore unveils John Hunter's murky and macabre world - a world characterized by public hangings, secret expeditions to dank churchyards, and gruesome human dissections in pungent attic rooms. This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable pioneer and his determined struggle to haul surgery out of the realms of meaningless superstitious ritual and into the dawn of modern medicine.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant
- By Bird on 12-02-15
By: Wendy Moore
-
The Mistresses of Cliveden
- Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home
- By: Natalie Livingstone
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
disappointed
- By Galina M. on 11-14-16
-
Prince of Pleasure
- The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency
- By: Saul David
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Described by the Duke of Wellington as "the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy and good feeling that I ever saw in one character in my life", George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, later George IV, was a highly controversial figure. He courted both Whigs and Tories in his attempts to establish the Regency during the "madness" of his father, George III.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
George IV in all his "glory"!
- By TemperPolk on 08-25-16
By: Saul David
-
Victoria
- A Life
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 200
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 184
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 184
The longest reigning British monarch and female sovereign in history, Queen Victoria was a figure of profound paradox who has mystified historians for over a century. Now in this magisterial biography, A.N. Wilson rebukes the conventional wisdom about her life - that she was merely a "funny little woman in a bonnet" who did next to nothing - to show she was in fact intensely involved in state affairs despite a public façade of inaction.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
This book has old and new info
- By Dr. A. on 10-29-14
By: A. N. Wilson
-
The Butchering Art
- Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
- By: Lindsey Fitzharris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,331
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,998
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,990
In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation. She conjures up early operating theaters - no place for the squeamish - and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. They were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister would solve the deadly riddle and change the course of history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not one boring moment!
- By WRWF on 12-22-17
-
Marie Antoinette
- The Journey
- By: Antonia Fraser
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 559
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 393
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 394
France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake", was alternately revered and reviled during her lifetime. For centuries since, she has been the object of debate, speculation, and the fascination so often accorded illustrious figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted child was thrust onto the royal stage and commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in European history.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Annoying Narration
- By LaFemmeRouge on 10-28-06
By: Antonia Fraser
-
The Modern Scholar
- The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
- By: Professor H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: H.W. Brands
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
This course examines the life of Benjamin Franklin and his influence on both American and world history. He remains the model of the American thinker - a man who was interested in nearly everything, and who pursued those interests with an admirable and contagious passion. To study Franklin's life is to learn not only the history of a single man, but to understand some of the most monumental changes in all of human history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Love it
- By Holly on 02-20-16
-
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,649
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,582
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,548
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us - an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings. In best-selling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours. The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book, not crazy about the narrator
- By Cathi on 07-20-13
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Queen Victoria's Children
- By: John Van der Kiste
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, had nine children, who, despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families, their loyalties were divided and their lives dominated by political controversy. This is not only the story of their lives in terms of world impact but also of personal achievements in their own right, individual contributions to public life in Britain and overseas, and as the children of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Was the narrator just too bored?
- By James Bruce on 03-16-18
-
Marie Antoinette
- A Captivating Guide to the Last Queen of France Before and During the French Revolution, Including Her Relationship with King Louis XVI
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Marie Antoinette is one of history's most celebrated queens thanks to her style and confidence, yet generally, she is perceived as a greedy and selfish mistress of France. Despite popular belief, Marie Antoinette was not entirely obsessed with pretty dresses and towering hairstyles - though she wouldn't quite have been the same without them. In this captivating audiobook, you will discover the truth about the remarkable life of Marie Antoinette.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The tragic and true story of the last queen of Fr
- By Charlie Ortiz on 11-12-23
-
We Two
- Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals
- By: Gillian Gill
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 249
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 249
It was the most influential marriage of the 19th Century - and one of history’s most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager, when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chronicler Gillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing a strong, feisty queen, and a brilliant, fragile prince working together to build a family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I found it extremely moving.
- By Cheryl on 08-07-09
By: Gillian Gill
-
Catherine de Medici
- Renaissance Queen of France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 452
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 385
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 382
Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
By: Leonie Frieda
-
Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,182
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,000
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 989
This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
-
The Fever of 1721
- The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics
- By: Stephen Coss
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 106
During the worst smallpox epidemic in Boston history, Mather convinced Doctor Boylston to try a procedure that he believed would prevent death - by making an incision in the arm of a healthy person and implanting it with smallpox. "Inoculation" led to vaccination, one of the most profound medical discoveries in history.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Glad that's done
- By GB on 04-21-16
By: Stephen Coss
-
Daughters of the Winter Queen
- Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots
- By: Nancy Goldstone
- Narrated by: Laura Kirman
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 333
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 287
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 287
Young Elizabeth Stuart was thrust into a life of wealth and splendor when her godmother, Queen Elizabeth I, died and her father, James I, ascended to the illustrious throne of England. At 16 she was married to a dashing German count far below her rank, with the understanding that James would help her husband achieve the crown of Bohemia. Her father's terrible betrayal of this promise would ruin "the Winter Queen", as Elizabeth would forever be known, imperil the lives of those she loved, and launch a war that would last for 30 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Misnamed but Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 05-16-18
By: Nancy Goldstone
-
The Duchess
- By: Amanda Foreman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 141
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774 Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying William Cavendish, fifth Duke of Devonshire, one of England's richest and most influential aristocrats. She became the queen of fashionable society and founder of the most important political salon of her time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Better than the movie!
- By Sarah on 07-31-17
By: Amanda Foreman
What listeners say about The Empress and the English Doctor
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sarcazim
- 12-19-22
very Very Insightful
Well written. Not a cumbersome historical read and keeps the listener engaged. Interesting juxtaposition with the ongoing Covid epidemic without forcing it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!