Powers and Thrones
A New History of the Middle Ages
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Narrated by:
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Dan Jones
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Written by:
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Dan Jones
About this listen
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?
©2021 Dan Jones (P)2021 W F HowesYou may also enjoy...
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Good content, terrible recording
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Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece. Beginning in the second century A.D. at the apex of the Pax Romana, Gibbon traces the arc of decline and complete destruction through the centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a thrilling and cautionary tale of splendor and ruin, of faith and hubris, and of civilization and barbarism. Follow along as Christianity overcomes paganism... before itself coming under intense pressure from Islam.
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It almost killed me!
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What listeners say about Powers and Thrones
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- WJ
- 2023-01-30
Excellent update to conventional Middle Adge Hist
Damn, those Renaissance popes were something else corrupt. had no idea that the Sistene Chapel was funded by indulgences (basically a way to pay off your sin and the sin of dead family members).
This book is great and tightly winds up the legacy of the Middle Ages.
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- David Michael Sidhu
- 2022-05-01
Great overview of the Middle Ages.
This was a great history of the Middle Ages. For the most part, it had a perfect balance of detail and colour. It never got too lost in the details that a casual fan of history would find boring, but it also felt well researched and thorough.
My interest waned a bit when it stopped the chronological history and discussed some bigger concepts (eg monasticism, scholarship), beginning around 1000 AD, but it regained my interest around the Renaissance.
There were a few topics that I wished were covered in more detail (the conquest of Britain in 1066, the Hundred Years’ War).
But, as a whole, it was a great history of the Middle Ages. And well narrated by the author himself!
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- Andrea Taylor
- 2023-03-24
4.5 Stars
Powers and Thrones covers a thousand years of history in Dan Jones trademark eloquent and entertaining style. He deftly picks out not only the nobles and religious figures who influenced the course of medieval history from Hadrian's Wall to the Steppes of Asia; Jones brings to life the rebels and traders of the ordinary folks. I did have to knock off half a star because as brilliant and engrossing as this was, Jones speaks very very quietly. Well worth a listen,just not on a noisy bus.
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- Helen
- 2024-05-16
narrator
Dan Jones is always great
good listen
interesting book and wonderful reader
would heartily reccomend
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-08-19
excellent
Dan Jones is now my favorite Author and Narrator. I can't wait to listen to the rest of his work!
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- Gordon Mcghie
- 2023-07-07
Excellent history
Excellent. Great coverage of many historical interwoven events. Highly recommended. We’ll read too. I’ll add another few words to get to fifteen.
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- C. Smith
- 2022-09-18
Fantastic
Dan Jones is my absolute favourite, I have read all of his work, and this one is just as incredible as the others. absolute perfection, would 100% recommend.
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- David LaPointe
- 2022-11-24
Learned many things
Overall, this was a very good listen. It's a long one! And some sections were very engaging, more so than others... it is a long haul of history to get through. I did learn many things and it is an interesting book to have on while driving or working.
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- Kevin W.
- 2023-03-11
Good, general history of middle ages.
I havent read much on the middle ages but this was a very good general history of the middles ages to start exploring more across this passage of time and how all the moves during this time period affected the subsequent centuries leading to present day.
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- Mark
- 2021-12-21
Fulfilling.
It is long, and even with that there are gaps. However as the author says in his conclusion, more would add to the already voluminous nature of the book. That being, I was happy with the content and will leave the gaps for others to fill.
The author takes an anecdotal approach to providing us with history, rather than what I would say is a more linear, academic approach along timelines as we may see in the great courses series. I would say this added to the entertainment value.
The narrator was great, expressive without sounding like a fake act. Clear; I did not get tired of listening.
Would I listen to it again? Probably not, although there is the odd chapter I may return to. Would I recommend it? I would say yes.
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