Mostrando resultados por narrador "Charlton Griffin" en Todas las categorías

We enter directly into the intrigues between the Greeks and Persians. Darius, infuriated with Athens because of her support for the liberation of the Ionian Greeks, initiates the first invasion of Greece, which ends with the Athenian victory at Marathon. When Xerxes ascends the Persian throne a few years later, the war is resumed on a vastly greater scale. In some of the most wonderful prose of all time, Herodotus describes the events ending in the naval battle of Salamis and the clash of armies at Plataea.

Volume Two begins with the accession of the Roman Emperor Valens in the year 364, a period which heralded vast movements of barbarian tribes from the north and east. The Huns move from the confines of Mongolia westward into Europe, pushing the German tribes in terror before them, who in turn move across the Rhine and Danube into Roman territory. The names of Goths, Franks, Lombards and Vandals will become part of the daily vocabulary. Gibbon describes in matchless style the dramatic events as the Western Roman Empire disintegrates under the pressure of Germanic invasion and internal corruption.

Trying to squeeze an entire history of Chinese civilization into a brief, one volume account is a formidable task, but one that has succeeded brilliantly here. Hilda Hookham has provided us with a concise story that, while not getting too entangled with personalities and cultural issues, manages to navigate the swirling passage of events that comprise over 3,000 years of Chinese political history.

This is the story of Margaret Hale, a young English woman who accompanies her family's move from rural southern England to the industrial north. It proves to be a difficult change, with all the attendant social conflicts and cultural misunderstandings consequent to such situations. It is a study in contrasts. Mrs. Gaskell created one of the Victorian era's greatest heroines in Margaret Hale, a young lady of passionate intensity.

In 1789 a group of sober-minded, concerned citizens set in motion a series of events which were to end up leading to the deaths of thousands of perfectly innocent persons. How did this reasonable movement of level-headed civic leaders spin out of control? At a glance, the French Revolution appears a bewildering series of political factions sweeping in and out of power, massacre and counter-massacre, terror and guillotine, and one economic crisis following another.

Wuthering Heights is a ghost story with the atmosphere of ancient tragedy. An epic poem in prose, it is widely considered to be one of the greatest English novels. The book was published in 1848 and did not meet with approval at first because of its bleak descriptions of physical and mental cruelty. Essentially, it is a tale of revenge set in the North Yorkshire moorlands.

Spartacus is one of the most unusual historical novels of the 20th century and certainly one of the most realistic. In a whirlwind of savagery, despair, and desperation, the listener is suddenly and violently plunged into the great Roman slave revolt of 73 BC. The author, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, does not waste time by slowly setting up his characters, nor in leisurely describing domestic scenes. From the first word, you are literally hurled into the frenetic life of an escaped Greek slave by the name of Kleon.

Vanity Fair is a satirical novel of manners which takes place during, and in the decade after, the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The various scenes in the novel range across Europe and England. It was first published in serial form beginning in 1847. The work is by turns witty, scintillating, brutally realistic, tragic, humorous, and always fascinating. The title of the book stems from Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”, where Vanity is a town along the pilgrim’s route, and which holds an eternal fair of the vanities. It is a place where people are ensnared by worldly things.

By the middle of the second century B.C., the Roman Republic has been changed completely from the sober and virtuous character of the previous generations of self-sacrificing soldier-farmers. Rome has become a wealthy, diverse metropolis of many conflicting interests.

Although best known as a lyrical poet, Mörike's brilliant novella about Mozart is one of the most penetrating and revealing studies of the great composer's personality ever written. The story is a work of fiction based on Mozart's actual journey in the fall of 1787 from Vienna to Prague, where he was to stage his new opera Don Giovanni. Mörike takes this historic event and has Mozart and his wife, Konstanze, spend some time during their journey in the company of the fictional family of a certain Count von Schinzberg.

From the instance of its first publication, in 1766, Oliver Goldsmith's novel of Christian piety and endurance has stood the test of time. The story is told in the first person by a vicar, Dr. Primrose, who, along with his wife and six children, lives a rural idyllic life in a country parish. It is a very sophisticated work which contrasts the forces that separate religious principal from the actual experiences of life. It is also a delightful, sentimental work whose amusing characters are both wise and foolish, brave and cowardly, rich and poor, as well as honest and knavish.

The Wind in the Willows is a pastoral fantasy by Scottish writer Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. By turns slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals: Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. They live in a rural version of Edwardian England. The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie. It is universally celebrated for its charming evocation of the Thames Valley countryside.

Accustomed as we are to accepting as accurate the judgements of ancient Roman history handed down to us by primary sources like Suetonius and Tacitus, it may come as a surprise that some scholars consider these ancient historians to be misleading and biased. According to Italian historian Guglielmo Ferrero, who pointedly took exception to the narrative provided by ancient historians, the narrative we have taken to be indisputable may be entirely false.

Count Luna is the story of Alexander Jessiersky, an Austrian aristocrat who presides over a Viennese transport company. As World War II opens, Jessiersky, who detests the Nazis, is asked by his board of directors to acquiesce in the confiscation of a neighboring parcel of land in order to accommodate expanded war business. Jessiersky refuses to go along, but because of inattention or laziness his board carries out the land seizure behind his back.

The ominous forces of militarism, nationalism, and secret alliances were finally set loose by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. As the Central Powers of Austria-Hungary and Germany move to quickly bring the issue to a speedy climax, the wheels begin to come off. Instead of quick victory, a devastating stalemate ensued.

In this concluding volume, the South finally comes to grip with the modern world. It does so as a result of three events: World War I, The Great Depression, and World War II. At the end of each of these, change accelerates. By the end of World War II, the region is experiencing the kind of prosperity it has never known.

William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) took his reading material quite seriously. He said, "When I read a book, I seem to read it with my eyes only. But now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me." Maugham's work has certainly become a part of millions of his fans today. To judge by his short story masterpieces, it was in the tiny crevasses and pinched corners of humanity that Maugham illuminated those elemental qualities that were to fascinate him all his life.

Don Quixote is widely considered to be the first modern novel. As a classic of Western literature, it is regarded by scholars worldwide to be one of the best works of fiction ever written and a magnificent product of the Spanish golden age of literature. And merely from a grammatical standpoint alone, Cervantes' influence on the Spanish language has been so great that his work is often called " la lengua de Cervantes".

In Volume 2: The Kingdom of Cotton, the economic and social forces that doomed the South are fully explored. As the textile factories of New England and Europe spring up, they create an insatiable demand for cotton. When Eli Whitney's invention appears, it unleashes the equivalent of a gold rush in the South. In spite of the heroic efforts of Northern and Southern statesmen over a period of 40 years, the regions have moved too far apart. And when war comes, the South is totally unprepared.

The story of the Roman Republic is the greatest epic in human history. Seen in the long perspective of time, it seems too fantastic to be real. From its modest beginnings as a convenient fording place on the Tiber to its eventual destiny as the mistress of the Mediterranean, Rome offers a strange tale of fate, sacrifice, and indomitable willpower. The stern realities of war shaped its policies from the very beginning.