-
Powers and Thrones
- A New History of the Middle Ages
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 24 hrs and 33 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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $32.68
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
From the best-selling author of The Templars, Dan Jones' epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built.
Across 16 chapters, blending Dan Jones' trademark gripping narrative style with authoritative analysis, Powers and Thrones shows how, at each stage in this story, successive Western powers thrived by attracting - or stealing - the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world. It casts new light on iconic locations - Rome, Paris, Venice, Constantinople - and it features some of history's most famous and notorious men and women.
This is a book written about - and for - an age of profound change, and it asks the biggest questions about the West both then and now. Where did we come from? What made us? Where do we go from here?
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- By: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
-
-
Extraordinary story, expertly told and skillfully narrated
- By Daniel Vergara on 03-01-24
By: Bart van Loo, and others
-
The Eagle and the Lion
- Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roman empire shaped the culture of the Western world against which all other great powers are compared. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. However, the exception lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. This was the place Alexander the Great had swept through, creating a dream of glory and conquest which tantalized Greeks and Romans alike.
-
-
Good Goldsworthy, Not greatest
- By Timothy Hopper on 07-27-23
-
The Silmarillion
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Martin Shaw
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete unabridged audiobook of J.R.R Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.
-
-
Finally!
- By Brian on 11-22-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
A History of Britain: Volume 1
- By: Simon Schama
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney. From the successes and failures of the monarchy to the daily life of a Roman soldier stationed on Hadrian's Wall, Schama gives a vivid, fascinating account of the many different stories and struggles that lie behind the growth of our island nation.
-
-
Some History. Mostly a Monarchy Tabloid Rag
- By Carrie on 03-22-19
By: Simon Schama
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
Best Single-Volume History of the 30 Years' War
- By Amazon Customer on 10-09-23
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- By: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
-
-
Extraordinary story, expertly told and skillfully narrated
- By Daniel Vergara on 03-01-24
By: Bart van Loo, and others
-
The Eagle and the Lion
- Rome, Persia and an Unwinnable Conflict
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roman empire shaped the culture of the Western world against which all other great powers are compared. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. However, the exception lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. This was the place Alexander the Great had swept through, creating a dream of glory and conquest which tantalized Greeks and Romans alike.
-
-
Good Goldsworthy, Not greatest
- By Timothy Hopper on 07-27-23
-
The Silmarillion
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Martin Shaw
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete unabridged audiobook of J.R.R Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.
-
-
Finally!
- By Brian on 11-22-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
-
-
They create a computer using a 30 million man Army
- By Josh P on 12-07-14
By: Cixin Liu
-
A History of Britain: Volume 1
- By: Simon Schama
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney. From the successes and failures of the monarchy to the daily life of a Roman soldier stationed on Hadrian's Wall, Schama gives a vivid, fascinating account of the many different stories and struggles that lie behind the growth of our island nation.
-
-
Some History. Mostly a Monarchy Tabloid Rag
- By Carrie on 03-22-19
By: Simon Schama
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
Best Single-Volume History of the 30 Years' War
- By Amazon Customer on 10-09-23
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
-
-
Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
-
The Templars
- The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1307, as they struggled to secure their last strongholds in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Templars fell afoul of the vindictive and impulsive king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state?
-
-
Unexpected
- By Protogere on 10-30-17
By: Dan Jones
-
Crusaders
- The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
-
-
Gripping but not tidy
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-20
By: Dan Jones
-
The House of Beaufort
- The Bastard Line That Captured the Crown
- By: Nathen Amin
- Narrated by: Graham Mack
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Wars of the Roses were a tumultuous period in English history, with family fighting family over the greatest prize in the kingdom—the throne of England. But what gave the eventual victor of these brutal and complex wars, Henry Tudor, the right to claim the crown? What made his Beaufort mother the great heiress of medieval England, and how exactly did an illegitimate line come to challenge the English monarchy? This book uncovers the rise of the Beauforts and tracks their fall during the 1460s and 1470s.
-
-
Too many "ashumptions" for me...
- By Vicki Patterson on 12-11-23
By: Nathen Amin
-
Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
-
Poland
- The First Thousand Years
- By: Patrice M. Dabrowski
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.
-
-
Easy listen.
- By Pieter Reyneke on 01-11-23
What listeners say about Powers and Thrones
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 08-21-22
Author should focus on his field, history...
The historical analysis is quite compelling, especially things often left out of other history books.
But the comments on modern times, is sometimes insultingly, poorly handled.
Casually calling people, concerned about the integration of Muslims into the Christian world "far right", is not, and never will be an appropriate response.
On the other hand, if by "far right" the author means genuinely aggressive, and genuinely hateful groups on both the Muslim and Christian side, who both derive large parts of their identity from a time in history, then there is some merit.
But the nature of the book, and the often reckless use of words in our modern society, leaves a lot room for misinterpretation.
Something that should be clear to any student of history though, is that cultural, and religious integration is an exceedingly difficult task, often with horrendous consequences. And the glibness of the "far left" should be of much more concern.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael van der Galien
- 01-25-23
thrilling
By far the best comprehensive history of the Middle Ages. An amazing accomplishment from this distinguished author.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!