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Insight into a different age

Revisado: 06-30-24

Reading Czartoryska’s life story you can really immerse yourself into social relations and a way of doing politics that is completely foreign to us today. This makes it easier to understand the history of the turn of the 19th century Europe through the eyes of its contemporaries - the only way in which it can really make sense. It is also a great window into the story of Poland and Polish republicanism that has been central to late 18th and early 19th century European history but now largely forgotten - supressed by Russian efforts following the uprising of 1830-31.

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pLeAse SeE thE acCompAnYing PdF fOr a FoOtNoTe

Revisado: 04-26-24

I chose to listen to this audiobook fully aware that I’d be missing out on footnotes. If I wanted to see footnotes, I’d refer to a paper copy. Having the voice actor repeat „Please see the accompanying PDF for a footnote” every (!) time a footnote appears is a horrible production choice, and it makes the experience painful. Otherwise a thought-provoking book and good delivery.

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Great book, horrible performance

Revisado: 08-11-23

To start with, this is a great book that explores a side of Putin’s Russia that we rarely get to hear about. If anyone is looking for a supplement, I would suggest Catherine Belton’s „Putin’s People” for a more data-based analysis of the same question.

There is one but: the narrator completely ruins the experience. He has absolutely no idea how to pronounce Russian words and sometimes you just can’t make out what he means. But worst of all, he puts on grotesque accents for the Russian characters, which sound like cartoon French or Jamaican. This completely distracts from the narrative. A book like that doesn’t need accents for dramatization. But if you do decide to do them, then at least get them right. It would have taken consulting one person who knows what they’re talking about to know this was a terrible idea.

I’d suggest, get this great book in paper or digital copy and spare yourself the ordeal.

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