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The Pursuit of Power
- Europe 1815-1914
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 41 hrs and 37 mins
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The Pursuit of Power
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Summary
The Pursuit of Power draws on a lifetime of thinking about 19th-century Europe to create an extraordinarily rich, surprising and entertaining panorama of a continent undergoing drastic change.
The aim of this audiobook is to reignite the sense of wonder that permeated this remarkable era, as rulers and ruled navigated overwhelming cultural, political and technological changes. It was a time where what was seen as modern with amazing speed appeared old-fashioned, where huge cities sprang up in a generation, where new European countries were created and where, for the first time, humans could communicate almost instantly over thousands of miles.
Richard Evans gives full coverage to the revolutions, empire building and wars that marked the 19th century, but the book is about so much more, whether it is illness, serfdom, religion or philosophy. The Pursuit of Power is an audiobook by a historian at the height of his powers and an essential audiobook for anyone trying to understand Europe, then or now.
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What listeners say about The Pursuit of Power
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter
- 25-05-21
excellent
I really enjoyed this. It is interesting how much of or world, like universal suffrage and cars, was created in this period. I had been looking for a big sweeping history and this is it. The story is fascinating, really well told and supported by an incredible number of facts and statistics. Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr
- 24-10-20
Great stuff
Great history, epic survey of a period of history that is often skipped, this plugged many gaps in my knowledge. Loved the performance too. Great production. Would recommend to anyone who likes European history.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John O'Flaherty
- 10-11-22
Poor editing and presentation mar an exceptional work
It’s irritating that the title of the chapters isn’t available on a contents page. This makes it difficult to position where you are in the context of the book. For example I’m at Chap 46 but want to remind myself about Portugal in the 1830’s. How do I find it? If there was a table of contents I’d know that the section I’m looking for was in Chapter 20 (for example). This isn’t the only audible product with this basic problem.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Drew Ratter
- 10-02-18
Magnificent
Richard J Evans is a genius. He handles a huge amount of material with matchless skill and provides the reader with a compelling picture of the century of Europe’s peak and the reasons for its precipitate decline.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- kellyw03
- 23-12-22
Silly voices are distracting
I can’t stand the voices, especially the female ones 😮 it’s not a novel, why the need for silly voices??
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Johnstone
- 27-08-17
Excellent history
A truly superb history of a surprisingly under-reported time period. If you enjoy sweeping narratives of the grand strategies of the competing powers, you should enjoy this book. It also goes into great detail about the political, economic and social forces at work in this era. I will definitely lists again.
The narrator is a little... unusual. However, he quickly becomes very engaging and I would listen to more of his work.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-03-19
Great writing and narrating
Napoleon Ryan has the perfect voice for such a feat. Slow and comprehensive, he might not be everyone's taste but he is the best for a detailed history book. Evans is a great historian, expert on nazi germany, but he shines on the european 19th century with remarkable and interesting details. In conclusion, if you like history and the 19th century, give it a try. If you find difficult to follow the narrating, i would suggest to speed it up, however its not required to enjoy it.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BPM Architect
- 29-04-21
Great book let down by the "voice talent"
Fascinating book- nice weaving of political developmemt with socio-economic coverage. The speaker was a grating disaster!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Colette
- 14-03-21
audio version needs a rethink
The structure of the book and approach to multiple strands was not easy to use on audible. needed the audio book to have chapter titles available. Really unpardonable to fail to do this. Also all female voices were read in a breathless and stupid sounding falsetto which made me cringe.
It's a book worth reading, and I did finish it, but this format is lazy and thoughtless.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mike L
- 24-10-22
brilliant book, ordinary performance
this is a superb analysis marred by some strange pronunciation of foreign names and the decision to read out the birth and death of every person as in the book, breaking up the narrative arc.
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