History (part 1)
Talking Books
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the
RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.
Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title,
you will then receive another one.
If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the Customer Services
Team on 0303 123 9999 or email library@rnib.org.uk
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contact the Reader Services Team on 01733 37 53 33 or email
libraryinfo@rnib.org.uk
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Ancient history
Hancock, Graham
Heaven's mirror: quest for the lost civilization. 1998. Read by Nigel Graham, 13
hours 30 minutes. TB 12695.
The authors trace a network of sacred sites around the globe. The sites vary from the
pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt to the enigmatic statues of Easter Island. It is
an odyssey that leads to sunken moments and hidden chambers, a journey through
myth and magic, and astounding archaeological revelations. TB 12695.
Hancock, Graham
Fingerprints of the gods: a quest for the beginning and the end. 1995. Read by
Nigel Graham, 20 hours. TB 10797.
In this study of mankind's forgotten prehistory, the author reveals signs of an
unknown people who flourished during the last ice age - people who had high
intelligence, technological sophistication and detailed scientific knowledge of the
cosmos before any previously known civilisation. He challenges the dating of
archaeological sites, and considers the evidence for the catastrophe that must have
occurred to wipe out such a large civilisation. TB 10797.
Helms, Svend
Jawa: lost city of the black desert. 1981. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 7 hours 10
minutes. TB 4150.
From 1972-76 Svend Helms directed an excavation in the north-east Jordan, an arid
desert of black basalt. He describes the discovery of an urban settlement of
considerable complexity, 22 acres in size, which existed there as long ago as the
fourth millennium B.C. Interesting questions are raised: who were the Jawaites? Why
did they choose to settle in such an area? How did they learn their hydrological skills?
Why the town was suddenly abandoned? TB 4150.
Stone, I F
The trial of Socrates. 1988. Read by George Hagan, 11 hours 30 minutes. TB
7576.
A new look at the death of a secular saint becomes the story also of the decline of
democracy in Athens four centuries before Christ. The author sets out to discover
how a so-called free society, such as existed in Athens, could try and condemn to
death its most renowned philosopher. TB 7576.
2
Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian Wars. 1972. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 22 hours. TB
110.
A participant's classic account of the war between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC),
which destroyed the hope of Greek unity; and his scrutiny of human nature in politics.
TB 110.
British history - ancient and medieval
Bevan, Bryan
King Richard II. 1990. Read by John Livesey, 6 hours 10 minutes. TB 8960.
This new analysis by Bryan Bevan offers an antidote to previous unflattering portraits.
He relates how Richard II rose from behind the shadow of his father, "The Black
Prince", to rule England through 22 years of great political, social and economic
change. TB 8960.
Birley, Anthony
The people of Roman Britain. 1979. Read by Gordon Dulieu, 10 hours 38
minutes. TB 4596.
An authoritative description of the roles taken by the Roman governors, and of the
officers and soldiers of the garrison as well as the indigenous population, urban and
rural, merchants, craftsmen, slaves and freemen. Professor Birley shows the impact
of Christianity and the effect of the withdrawal of Rome in 409. TB 4596.
Bryant, Arthur
Set in a silver sea: the island peoples from earliest times to the fifteenth
century. 1984. Read by John Richmond, 22 hours 56 minutes. TB 5274.
The first of a Continuous narrative of our own island story beginning with the ancient
stone circles, touching on the Roman occupation and King Alfred, then on in a broad
sweep through the Middle Ages. He writes not only of kings but tells how ordinary
people lived and thought and gained their freedom. TB 5274.
Chancellor, John
The life and times of Edward I. 1981. Read by John Richmond, 5 hours 27
minutes. TB 4004.
The life of Edward I was happy and successful - privately (in his marriage to Eleanor
of Castile), on the battlefield and as a legal reformer. TB 4004.
3
Duggan, Alfred
The King of Athelney. 1961. Read by Anthony Parker, 12 hours 5 minutes. TB
1208.
The life of Alfred, soldier and Christian King of Wessex, who dedicated his lonely life
to driving out the heathen invaders and laying the foundations of good law. TB 1208.
Laing, Lloyd
The origins of Britain. 1980. Read by Robin Holmes, 7 hours 25 minutes. TB
3961.
The path of man's occupation of Britain from the scattered pockets of habitation in the
earliest Palaeolithic period through to his growing domination of the landscape
evident in the late Bronze Age. TB 3961.
Potter, Jeremy
Good King Richard? an account of Richard III and his reputation. 1983. Read by
Tom Crowe, 11 hours 1 minute. TB 5050.
Richard III, the so-called "last English King of England" and the wicked uncle of
tradition, is perhaps our most controversial monarch. Was he as evil as Tudor
chronicles stated, and if he wasn't why do some historians go on saying he was?
Written to mark the 500th anniversary of his accession to the throne, this is a history
of his reputation. TB 5050.
Pryor, Francis
Seahenge: new discoveries in prehistoric Britain. 2001. Read by Jon Cartwright,
12 hours 20 minutes. TB 12795.
In the spring of 1998, a circle of prehistoric timbers exposed by the receding tide, was
found projecting from the sands of a Norfolk beach. The site, soon to become known
as Seahenge would prove to be the most remarkable, controversial and highly
publicised archaeological find in Britain for many years. This book is the story of the
operation to save the Seahenge timbers; but more than that, it is the story of the
archaelogist Frances Pryor's personal quest in search of prehistoric Britain. TB
12795.
Richards, Julian
Meet the ancestors: unearthing the evidence that brings us face to face with the
past. 1999. Read by Jon Cartwright, 5 hours 32 minutes. TB 12588.
Archaeologist Julian Richards plays expert detective, unearthing the secrets of the
past and piecing together ancient clues to reveal how a series of individuals lived and
died. Each chapter focuses on one burial, the story of which unfolds as the excavation
and analysis progress. TB 12588.
4
Rowse, Alfred Leslie
Bosworth Field and the Wars of the Roses. 1966. Read by Colin Doran, 14
hours. TB 659.
The transition from Medieval to Tudor England as portrayed in history and reflected in
literature. TB 659.
Schama, Simon
A history of Britain. 2003. Read by Stephen Thorne, 15 hours 46 minutes. TB
13486.
The first volume in this history of Britain tells the story of Britain from the time of the
earliest settlements, discovered in the Orkneys, to the death of Queen Elizabeth I.
Each chapter focuses on a major theme. TB 13486.
Weir, Alison
Eleanor of Aquitaine: by the Wrath of God, Queen of England. 2000. Read by
Joan Walker, 15 hours 55 minutes. TB 12578.
Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine was one of the leading personalities of the Middle
Ages, and also one of the most controversial. Married in turn Louis VII of France and
Henry II of England, and was the mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John. She
lived to be 82, and became the virtual ruler of England. TB 12578.
Wood, Michael
In search of the Dark Ages. 1981. Read by Robin Holmes, 10 hours 32 minutes.
TB 3979.
The history of Britain from the time of the Romans to the Norman Conquest. TB 3979.
British history - Tudors and Stuarts
Ackroyd, Peter
The life of Thomas More. 1998. Read by Gordon Dulieu, 18 hours. TB 12482.
This account of More's life concentrates upon the essence of the man, who gave his
life in the service of the old faith. The paradox which emerges between the successful
and ambitious careerist Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII's Court, and the private
personality of the man who remained guarded and silent about his spirituality and
deep piety, explains why More, regarded as the most brilliant Englishman of his age,
has remained an enigma for 500 years. TB 12482.
Dunn, Jane
Elizabeth and Mary: cousins, rivals, queens. 2003. Read by Louise Fryer, 19
hours 25 minutes. TB 13436.
Jane Dunn's double biography Elizabeth and Mary takes as its rich and explosive
subject matter the ultimately fatal relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England
5
and her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. Throughout much of the second half of the
16th century, these two women found themselves queens of their kingdoms and
locked in a battle for possession of the British Isles, which only ended with Mary's
eventual downfall and execution at Elizabeth's hands in 1586. TB 13436.
Fraser, Antonia
The six wives of Henry VIII. 1992. Read by Patricia Hughes, 22 hours 33
minutes. TB 9603.
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived is how Henry's wives have
become identified. Unwilling victims of Henry's obsession, they were rich and feisty
characters, who exhibited remarkable degrees of spirit and defiance, and
considerable strength and intelligence when women were supposedly possessed of
neither. There was rivalry between them, and the jealousy of queens who found
themselves abandoned, and the sexual jealousy of a king who discovered himself
betrayed. TB 9603.
Fraser, Antonia
Cromwell, our chief of men. 1973. Read by John Richmond, 42 hours 30
minutes. TB 2406.
The text looks at Britain's most famous soldier-statesman, a man about whom
historians still enjoy a debate and the author attempts here a scrupulously fair portrait
of the man that dismisses the stereotyped view of Oliver Cromwell as an ambitious
and hypocritical tyrant. TB 2406.
Fraser, Antonia
King Charles II. 1979. Read by John Westbrook, 25 hours 48 minutes. TB 5463.
The life story of possibly the best loved of all English monarchs from his youth when,
as their "Black Boy", he was born to reconcile the divided world, on through the
execution of his father and exile, to the Restoration and the many enigmas of his
reign. TB 5463.
Fraser, Antonia
The gunpowder plot: terror & faith in 1605. 1996. Read by Frances Jeater, 14
hours 14 minutes. TB 11022.
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 is one of the most commemorated events in English
history. Yet this astonishing episode remains shrouded in mystery and the subject of
passionate argument. The central aim of this book is to explain why there should have
been a plot at all, and to understand why the courageous, idealistic, but terrifyingly
misguided conspirators risked their lives for what they believed to be the cause of
God and their country. TB 11022.
6
Guy, John Alexander
My heart is my own: the life of Mary Queen of Scots. 2004. Read by Greg
Wagland, 23 hours 23 minutes. TB 14770.
To some she was a murderer, an adulteress, and a traitor. To others she was
courageous and principled, a heroine and a martyr. In this biography John Guy
returns to the archives to explode the myths and correct the inaccuracies in the
dramatic life of Mary Queen of Scots. TB 14770.
Loades, D M
Mary Tudor: a life. 1989. Read by Robert Ashby, 15 hours 24 minutes. TB 8239.
Apart from King John, Mary Tudor had the worst reputation of any English monarch.
She was seen as a ruthless and religious fanatic. The central question in this book is
how did this pious and gentle woman arouse an antipathy that still survives until now.
TB 8239.
Milton, Giles
Big chief Elizabeth: how England's adventurers gambled and won the New
World. 2000. Read by Richard Heffer, 10 hours 20 minutes. TB 12608.
In 1585, Queen Elizabeth I was enthralled by captive American Indian Manteo.
Manteo was returned to his homeland as Governor, a gamble that resulted in the first
English settlement in the New World. TB 12608.
Milton, Giles
Nathaniel's nutmeg. 2000. Read by Stephen Thorne, 11 hours 5 minutes. TB
12609.
In 1616, Nathaniel Courthope arrived on a remote East Indies island on a secret
mission - to persuade the islanders to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg,
a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. Despite being overwhelmed by Dutch forces,
his heroism led to the founding of a great city. TB 12609.
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Mayflower: a voyage of war. 2006. Read by Jeff Harding, 12 hours 54 minutes.
TB 14846.
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the
Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred
national myth. Yet, as author reveals, the true story of the Pilgrims is much more than
the well-known tale of piety and sacrifice; it is a 55-year epic. TB 14846.
7
Rowse, Alfred Leslie
Eminent Elizabethans. 1983. Read by John Westbrook, 8 hours 36 minutes. TB
5078.
A quintet of Elizabethans, eminent in their own day and characteristic of their age: the
Lord Chamberlain, Hudson, loyal soldierly and direct; the Earl of Oxford, a gifted
deviant; Bess of Hardwick, a sixteenth century career woman Father Parsons, a
Jesuit and godson of the Queen; Sir John Harington who the author feels, was
underestimated as a writer. TB 5078.
Schama, Simon.
A history of Britain. 2004. Read by Stephen Thorne, 20hrs 47mins. TB 13487.
To understand what Britain has become we need to know what it has been. The
second volume in this history tells the story of Britain from the time of the Civil War.
Each chapter focuses on a major theme. TB 13487.
Starkey, David.
Elizabeth. 2000. Read by Robert Powell, 12hrs 50mins. TB 12522.
The author investigates the life of Elizabeth I beginning with her own speeches and
writings. Starkey focuses on Elizabeth's faith and education which had great bearing
on her approach to politics. TB 12522.
Tomalin, Claire.
Samuel Pepys: the unequalled self. 2002. Read by Frances Jeater, 18 hours 27
minutes. TB 13138.
A biography of naval administrator Samuel Pepys, who was well-known for being the
friend of the famous and powerful. This text, which draws on Pepys' own personal
diary, covers his childhood and young adulthood. It moves through the famous diary
years and beyond, to the death of his wife and the setting up of a new household.
While using the diary as a source, the author goes beyond its narrative to the inner
man, at the same time revealing life as a young man in Restoration London. Explored
within are Pepys' relations with women, his fears and ambitions, his political shifts and
his agonies and delights. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 13138.
Wedgwood, C. V
The King's peace, 1637-1641. 1978. Read by Alistair Maydon, 17 hours 18
minutes. TB 5992.
Civil war series, book 1. With good reason Charles I considered he was the happiest
King in Christendom in 1637. Within the next four years his kingdom was to be torn
apart; the Scots in revolt against religious conformity; the Irish in fury over the English
and Scottish settlers. Finally, the English themselves took up arms to defend their
religious and political principles. The colliding interests of the authority of the state
and the liberty of the subject is a conflict still open to resolution today. TB 5992.
8
British history – Hanoverian, Georgian & Regency
Adburgham, Alison
Silver fork society: fashionable life and literature from 1814-1840. 1983. Read by
David Rider, 11 hours 2 minutes. TB 5136.
Late Georgian Society was exposed by its own writers in the "silver fork" novels of the
day. Frequently these were "romans a clef" satirising the politicians and fashionable
people of the period. Extracts from contemporary letters, journals and memoirs
balance the romances and provide a comprehensive view of literature, life and
fashion in the year 1814 to 1840. TB 5136.
Bryant, Arthur
The years of endurance, 1793-1802. 1942. Read by Duncan Carse, 18 hours 5
minutes. TB 2148.
Napoleonic wars series, book 1. The history of the Napoleonic Wars from 1793 to
1802. TB 2148.
Forster, Margaret
The rash adventurer: the rise and fall of Charles Edward Stuart. 1973. Read by
Andrew Timothy, 15 hours 45 minutes. TB 2363.
The story of the rise and fall of Charles Edward Stuart - the boy and man as he really
was, and his hopeless struggle for the crown. TB 2363.
Fulford, Roger
The trial of Queen Caroline. 1967. Read by Colin Doran, 10 hours 55 minutes.
TB 485.
A historian's account of the 1820 trial of Queen Caroline, consort of George IV, which
was ultimately abandoned through fear of popular tumult. TB 485.
Gadd, David
Georgian summer: Bath in the eighteenth century. 1971. Read by George
Hagan, 6 hours 8 minutes. TB 1689.
An account of the architecture and history of Bath in its heyday. TB 1689.
Gordon, Richard
The sleep of life. 1975. Read by Stanley Pritchard, 11 hours 20 minutes. TB
2679.
The story of the discovery of anaesthesia, and its effect on medical life in Edinburgh
and London in the 1840s. TB 2679.
9
Hibbert, Christopher
Nelson: a personal history. 1994. Read by Christopher Oxford, 16 hours 26
minutes. TB 14098.
In this tale of Nelson's life on and off the high seas, the author illuminates the
admiral's personality, his personal and political friendships, and his passionate love
affair with Sir William Hamilton's wife, the beautiful Lady Emma, daughter of a
blacksmith and once a London prostitute. TB 14098.
Low, Donald A
Thieves' kitchen: the Regency underworld. 1982. Read by Robert Gladwell, 9
hours 10 minutes. TB 4487.
A picture of the underworld of crime and vice that existed beneath the elegant
Regency society of Nash terraces and Pride and Prejudice tea parties. TB 4487.
Pope, Stephen
Hornblower's Navy: life at sea in the age of Nelson. 1998. Read by Peter
Wickham, 3 hours 17 minutes. TB 12301.
Most of those aboard Nelson's warships were society's dregs and disasters, many
had been victims of violent kidnap, and all existed in conditions that would shame a
medieval dungeon. What alchemy made such men the trusted, almost invincible
guardians of an Empire? TB 12301.
Priestley, J. B
The prince of pleasure and his Regency, 1811-20. 1969. Read by William Jack, 9
hours 45 minutes. TB 1169.
A portrait of the Prince Regent, the giants who surrounded him and the age of
extravagance in which he lived. TB 1169.
Somerset, Anne
The life and times of William IV. 1980. Read by John Richmond, 6 hours 2
minutes. TB 3810.
The reign of a man often ignored or dismissed as a genial eccentric, who was
nevertheless conscientious and fair-minded and adhered scrupulously to his royal
duties. TB 3810.
British history – Victorian & Edwardian
The blind Victorian: Henry Fawcett and British liberalism. 1989. Read by
Various, 8 hours 44 minutes. TB 9461.
Henry Fawcett, a promising academic, was blinded in a shooting accident at the age
of 25. This did not hinder him from consolidating his position at the confluence of so
many streams of British culture and politics. Contributors to this work include David
10
Rubenstein writing on Victorian feminists and Phyllis Deane, who asserts that Henry
Fawcett was the plain man's political economist. TB 9461.
Clarke, Patricia
The governesses: letters from the colonies 1862-1882. 1985. Read by Judith
Whale, 10 hours. TB 5673.
In the latter half of the 19th century a number of educated genteel women, sponsored
by the Female Middle Class Emigration Society, left Britain to seek a better life in the
colonies. Unemployed and unmarried they had failed to find employment as
governesses in the overcrowded Victorian job market. They borrowed their fares from
the Society and in letters back to the Society when repaying their loans, these women
reported on life in the colonies during the years 1862-82. TB 5673.
Coleman, Terry
The railway navvies: a history of the men who made the railways. 1968. Read by
Arthur Bush, 8 hours 30 minutes. TB 618.
A lively account of the men who built the railways in Victorian England, their
achievements and the conditions under which they worked. TB 618.
Dibnah, Fred
Fred Dibnah's industrial age: a guide to Britain's industrial heritage - where to
go, what to see. 1999. Read by Peter Barker, 5 hours 7 minutes. TB 13464.
Fred Dibnah recounts the history of Britain's industrial past and its mechanical relics,
bringing to life landmark events from the eighteenth century up to the early twentieth
century in his typically anecdotal manner. He introduces the great inventors from the
age of steam, describes the day-to-day operation of different mills and paints a vivid
picture of what life was like for all mill-hands and colliers who laboured in industrial
Britain. TB 13464.
Longford, Elizabeth Pakenham
Victoria RI. 1964. Read by Judith Whale, 33 hours 30 minutes. TB 1130.
A portrait of Queen Victoria from childhood to maturity. TB 1130.
O'Neill, Gilda
The good old days: crime, murder and mayhem in Victorian London. 2006. Read
by Michael Tudor Barnes, 7 hours 35 minutes. TB 14844.
Were things really better in the good old days? Only if you were healthy, wealthy and
male. For most, life in London was one of grinding poverty, binge drinking, prostitution
and gun-crime. Gilda O'Neill explores the teeming underbelly dwelling in the fogbound streets, rat-infested slums, common lodging houses, boozers, penny gaffs and
brothels in the heart of the greatest empire that the world has ever seen, revealing
that Victoria's was actually a most unruly reign. Contains strong language. TB 14844.
11
Priestley, J. B
The Edwardians. 1970. Read by David Strong, 10 hours 15 minutes. TB 1469.
A survey of the period from 1901 to the outbreak of the First World War from a social,
political and artistic viewpoint. TB 1469.
Strachey, Lytton
Eminent Victorians. 1948. Read by Robin Holmes, 11 hours 53 minutes. TB 848.
Studies of Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold of Rugby, and General
Gordon of Khartoum. TB 848.
Taylor, Ina
Victorian sisters. 1987. Read by Rosemary Davis, 10 hours 13 minutes. TB 7655.
In this book Ina Taylor looks at the lives of the four Macdonald sisters of the Victorian
period: Alice who was the mother of the writer, Rudyard Kipling: Georgie and Agnes
who married the artists Edward Burne-Jones and Edward Poynter and Louisa who
was the mother of the British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. Taylor examines the
sisters' background and asks if they could have broken through the strict conventions
of their age. TB 7655.
British history – 20TH Century
Annan, Noel Gilroy Annan
Our age: the generation that made post-war Britain. 1991. Read by Robert
Gladwell, 30 hours 49 minutes. TB 9319.
Sparkling sketches of Lord Annan's generation, from Ayer to Wittgenstein, from
Keynes to Thatcher. Pacifism, collectivism, homosexualism - the "isms" of our age are
provocatively discussed, and the scope makes you wonder that one man could know
so much about so much. This comprehensive scan of recent history is both fairminded and stimulating. TB 9319.
Davies, Hunter
Born 1900: A human history of the Twentieth Century – for everyone who was
there. 1998. Read by Christopher Scott, 16 hours 12 minutes. TB 11845.
This volume presents the story of the twentieth century through the lives of 24 people
and 14 institutions that came into being in 1900. Topics explored include why
education is not as valued today, where all the great philanthropists have gone and
why work means so little to people. TB 11845.
Lapping, Brian
End of Empire. 1985. Read by John Livesey, 21 hours 2 minutes. TB 6055.
The British Empire was the last of the great world empires, and with its decline and
fall went the idea that it is legitimate to conquer distant lands and then rule them from
12
a home base. It began with the "Jewel in the Crown", the Indian Empire, which won
independence in 1947, and ended with the creation of Zimbabwe in 1980: the
Colonial Governor is now - almost - an extinct species. TB 6055.
MacMillan, Margaret
Women of the Raj. 1988. Read by Judith Whale, 11 hours 19 minutes. TB 7312.
The role of the women of the Raj was to create a replica of British society in the face
of almost insuperable difficulties. They were in exile and surrounded by alien and
mysterious language, religion and customs; nor could they have the professional
training and commitment that inspired their menfolk. How did they adjust to the
moves, the separation from their children and the utter boredom? Extracts from
letters, memoirs and novels tell their story. TB 7312.
Pakenham, Thomas
The Boer war. 1992. Read by David Graham, 39 hours 8 minutes. TB 12071.
The Boer war fought in 1899 proved to be the longest, the costliest, the bloodiest and
the most humiliating campaign that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914. The text is
based on first-hand and largely unpublished sources ranging from the private papers
of the leading protagonists to the recollections of survivors from both sides. TB 12071.
Royle, Trevor
The last days of the Raj. 1989. Read by Garard Green, 12 hours 14 minutes. TB
7702.
Trevor Royle looks at the last few years of the two centuries of British rule in India
leading up to independence on 15 August 1947. The changing political climate of the
1930s and the influence of Gandhi are examined as are the appointment of Lord
Mountbatten as Viceroy and the slaughter during the civil war between Hindus and
Muslims in the Punjab. The final chapter looks at events with forty years hindsight. TB
7702.
British history - Scotland, Ireland & Wales
The long road to peace in Northern Ireland: peace lectures from the Institute of
Irish Studies at Liverpool University. 2002. Read by various narrators, 15 hours
7 minutes. TB 12888.
The bulk of the essays in this volume have been delivered as part of Liverpool
University's Institute of Irish Studies Peace Lecture Series, 1996-2000. With
contributions from Senator George J. Mitchell, Peter Mandelson, Lord David Owen
and Marianne Elliott among others, this text sets out to show how the drive for peace
in Ireland has evolved, culminating in the Good Friday Agreement. TB 12888.
13
Bingham, Caroline
The kings & queens of Scotland. 1976. Read by Peter Barker, 6 hours 37
minutes. TB 2990.
The lives not only of Scotland's well known monarchs, such as Mary Queen of Scots
and Macbeth, but also of its lesser known kings whose reigns continued the line from
Duncan I to Queen Anne. TB 2990.
Gray, Alasdair
Why Scots should rule Scotland, 1997: a carnaptious history of Britain from
Roman times until now. 1997. Read by Jonathan Hackett, 4 hours 8 minutes. TB
12847.
Written for the 1992 General Election, this book: examined the poor state of presentday Scotland; gave a history of the Scottish people and their relations with the rulers
of England; and argued that Scotland should have a strong government elected by its
own people. This rewritten version includes new chapters on Scottish education, landowning and law, and the Labour Party bring the arguments to date. TB 12847.
Inglis, Brian
The story of Ireland. 1956. Read by David Geary, 9 hours. TB 17.
Traces causes and effects in Ireland's history and evolvement, and embraces the
nationalism, culture, and religion of the land and her people. TB 17.
Keneally, Thomas
The great shame: a story of the Irish in the old world and the new 19th c. 1998.
Read by Nigel Graham, 36 hours 58 minutes. TB 14137.
The text traces the three causes of the halving of the Irish population in the nineteenth
century: the famine, the Irish emigrations to America and Canada, and the
transportation of political activists to Australia. It is a quest for the author's Irish
ancestors. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 14137.
Mackay, James A
William Wallace: brave heart. 1995. Read by Crawford Logan, 10 hours 20
minutes. TB 13305.
This biography tells the story of a man seven hundred years ago who, without wealth
or noble birth, rose to become Guardian of Scotland. William Wallace, with superb
general ship and tactical genius, led a country with no previous warlike tradition to
triumph gloriously over the much larger, better-armed and better-trained English
forces. William Wallace rose to become guardian of Scotland. With superb general
ship and tactical genius, he led the country to triumph over the much larger and better
equipped English forces. Contains violence. TB 13305.
14
Morris, Jan
Wales: epic views of a small country. 2000. Read by Sion Probert, 21 hours 35
minutes. TB 13325.
In 1400-10, Owain Glyndwr, a hero of Welsh resistance, led an unsuccessful rebellion
against the English. That event is at the heart of this celebration of Wales and all
things Welsh: the literature and folklore, the buildings and scenery, and Wales'
historical destiny and future. TB 13325.
Prebble, John
Glencoe: the story of the massacre. 1966. Read by Stanley Pritchard, 12 hours
25 minutes. TB 609.
The story of the Massacre, with graphic details of the plotting that preceded it and the
characters concerned. TB 609.
Scott, Walter
Tales of a grandfather. 1834. Read by Stanley Pritchard, 7 hours 30 minutes. TB
411.
Abridged and adapted from the epic history of Scotland from Macbeth to Bonny
Prince Charlie, which Sir Walter Scott wrote for his grandson. TB 411.
British history - general & social
Ackroyd, Peter
London: the biography. 2000. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 34 hours 12
minutes. TB 12722.
Much of Peter Ackroyd's work has been concerned with the life and past of London
but here, as a culmination, is his definitive account of the city. For him it is an
organism with its own laws of growth and change, so this book is a biography rather
than a history. Ackroyd reveals the dozens of ways in which the continuity of the city
survives - in ward boundaries unchanged since the Middle Ages, in vocabulary and in
various traditions - showing London as constantly changing, yet forever the same in
essence. Contains strong language. TB 12722.
Bartlett, Neville
Six-minute history tours: English life and work over two centuries. 2003. Read
by Bob Rollett, 4 hours 56 minutes. TB 14334.
This book provides a collection of forty-five talks about various aspects of English life
and work over more than two centuries. The talks cover a complete topic and can be
understood without referring to the rest of the book, and are designed to take
approximately six minutes when read out loud. TB 14334.
15
Bennett, Daphne
Emily Davies and the liberation of women, 1830-1921. 1990. Read by Judith
Whale, 13 hours 22 minutes. TB 8467.
Emily Davies was one of the great pioneers in the cause of women; but she is hardly
known, and little recognition is given to her. She ensured that the new universitysponsored school examinations were open to girls as well as boys. As a result, she
was the first woman to be invited to give evidence before a Royal Commission. In
1873, she founded Girton College, Cambridge. The representation of the People Act
in 1919 gave her the satisfaction of casting her vote at the age of 90. TB 8467.
Dawes, Frank V
Not in front of the servants: a true portrait of upstairs, downstairs life. 1989.
Read by Jacqueline King, 7 hours 1 minute. TB 7773.
A book to satisfy modern interest in the lives of the below stairs people in large British
houses during the last century and the earlier part of the present one. Over 250
former domestic servants contributed their reminiscences and anecdotes of life in
service, to the compilation of this documentary on the lives of servants. The book
contains fascinating sections including "The apron will be starched", "A fate worse
than death" and "Fires before breakfast". TB 7773.
McCrum, Paul
The story of English. 1986. Read by David Rider, 15 hours 36 minutes. TB 6969.
2000 years ago English was confined to a handful of savage tribes on the shores of
north Western Europe. Today it is spoken by about a billion people of whom 350
million - nearly one tenth of the world's population - use it as their mother tongue.
Why do people in Newfoundland speak it with an Irish brogue? How was rhyming
slang borrowed by the hippy movement? Nine journeys across time and space show
how the language was carried from the villages all round the world. TB 6969.
Paxman, Jeremy
The English: a portrait of a people. 1998. Read by Richard Derrington and
Jeremy Paxman, 10 hours 22 minutes. TB 11961.
Not so long ago, everyone knew who the English were. They were polite, unexcitable,
reserved, and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex life. A new self-confidence
seems to have taken hold in Wales and Scotland, and the English are being forced to
ask what it is that makes them who they are. The author looks for clues in the English
language and literature, lukewarm religion, and curiously passionless devotion to
cricket. He also explores attitudes to the countryside, intellectuals, food, Catholicism,
and the French. TB 11961.
16
Robinson, Tony
The worst jobs in history: two thousand years of miserable employment. 2004.
Read by Raymond Sawyer and Jacqueline King, 8 hours 18 minutes. TB 13929.
A no-holds-barred look at the most unenviable jobs of the last two thousand years. As
befits the man behind Baldrick, Tony Robinson sets out to investigate life in the
underbelly of history. Whether it's swilling out the crotch of a knight's soiled armour
after the battle of Agincourt, risking his neck in the rigging of HMS Victory, or as
'Groomer of the Stool' going to places where none of Henry VIII's six wives would
venture - Tony endures it all to get to the bottom (sometimes literally) of the story.
Covering the Roman invasion to the reign of Queen Victoria, Tony's challenge is to
seek out the worst jobs of each era. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 13929.
Strong, Roy
The story of Britain. 1996. Read by Stephen Thorne, 20 hours 13 minutes. TB
13886.
The text tells the story of Britain, from the earliest recorded Celtic times to the era of
Margaret Thatcher. He tells the story as a continuous narrative, in chapters which
give meaning and point to every period with which they deal. TB 13886.
Venning, Annabel
Following the drum. 2006. Read by Karen Cass, 13 hours 9 minutes. TB 14624.
Spanning four centuries, from the 1660s to the present day, this tells the stories of the
women who followed their men around the world, sometimes onto the battlefield itself,
and went on to become brave, headstrong and positively warlike. Army wives have
"followed the drum" to the cholera-ridden valleys of the Crimea, the sweltering plains
of the Indian Mutiny, the treacherous Burmese jungle and into the last Gulf War.
Drawing on letters, journals and interviews, Annabel Venning pays tribute to the
remarkable women who triumphed amidst the blood, battles and brawls. TB 14624.
World history
Baigent, Michael
The temple and the lodge. 1989. Read by George Hagan, 14 hours 2 minutes. TB
7610.
The origins and rituals of Freemasonry have always been shrouded in mystery. This
well researched book tells how the society arose from the Knights Templar in the 12th
century and charts its development over the centuries. It describes in detail the role
Freemasonry has played in the major events of world history. TB 7610.
17
Branch, Taylor
Parting the waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil rights movement, 1954-63.
1988. Read by Nigel Graham, 46 hours 55 minutes. TB 7976.
Within this work, Taylor Branch presents America in the midst of change and provides
the first definitive history of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. The
struggle is chronicled, moving from black churches where the movement started with
anthems and prayers, to Washington, where the Kennedy brothers were faced with
the demands of people versus the volatile realities of politics. A gallery of characters
is brought to life. TB 7976.
Chang, Jung
Wild Swans: three daughters of China. 1991. Read by Di Langford, 23 hours 33
minutes. TB 9774.
A family tapestry, chronicling the fortunes of Jung Chang, her mother and
grandmother, mirroring the history of 20th century China. The grandmother, given as
a concubine to a warlord general in 1924, the daughter growing up in Manchuria
under Japanese and Russian occupation and committed to Mao and finally Jung
Chang herself, after a period as a Red Guard, exiled after questioning the regime and
working as a peasant doctor in the Himalayas. Inside China, we are taken from
palace to prison cell, from scenes of insurrection to quiet rooms where confidences
are passed from mother to daughter. Contains violence. TB 9774.
Cooke, Alistair
Alistair Cooke's America. 1973. Read by Andrew Timothy, 13 hours 15 minutes.
TB 3022.
In this greatly expanded version of his acclaimed television series, the author tells the
story of the USA from before its discovery by Columbus to the present day. TB 3022.
Davis, John H
The Kennedy clan: dynasty and disaster. 1992. Read by Hayward Morse, 35
hours 6 minutes. TB 9948.
An illuminating and informative history of America's most provocative family,
stretching from Joseph P Kennedy's bludgeoning tactics to Ted's involvement in the
Palm Beach scandal. The latest investigations into the JFK and RFK assassination
cases are also revealed. TB 9948.
Eban, Abba
Heritage: civilization and the Jews. 1985. Read by Gabriel Woolf, 14 hours 7
minutes. TB 6556.
The author charts the 5000-year-old Jewish encounter with civilisation, from its birth in
the Mesopotamian desert to the rebirth of independence in the modern state of Israel.
He throws a new light on the mystery of how so small a people could have such a
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profound impact on all aspects of civilisation, and yet manage to preserve its own
identity against all odds. TB 6556.
Fraser, Antonia
Marie Antoinette: the journey. 2001. Read by Joan Walker, 19 hours 35 minutes.
TB 12992.
Still a controversial figure - as well as a celebrated one – Marie Antoinette's dramatic
life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. Was she, as Edmund Burke thought, a
misused heroine? Or would there have been no French Revolution without her, as
Thomas Jefferson believed? TB 12992.
Fraser, Antonia
Boadicea's chariot: the warrior queens. 1988. Read by Rosalind Shanks, 16
hours 55 minutes. TB 7494.
It is because "all history has been made by men" that the author attaches such
importance to the women whose characters and careers are magnificent exceptions.
Boadicea is a living legend and most people know her story - in most cases,
incorrectly. Not so well known are Zenobia of Palmyra, Isabella of Spain and Queen
Jinga of Angola. These warrior ladies are examined along with the more well known
including Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Indira Ghandi and Mrs Thatcher. TB 7494.
Funder, Anna
Stasiland. 2003. Read by Erica Grant, 10 hours 55 minutes. TB 13730.
Berlin in the 1990s. A city split for forty years by the Wall is trying to knit itself back
together - a city where former Stasi men and their victims now pass one another in
the street, and where, just under the surface, the Nazi past lies buried. When Anna
Funder hears of ordinary people who resisted the fearsome Stasi - extraordinary
stories that are barely being told now - she sets out to explore the underbelly of the
most perfected surveillance state of all time, the former East Germany. Contains
strong language. TB 13730.
Gilbert, Martin
Israel: a history. 1998. Read by David Graham, 38 hours 22 minutes. TB 11666.
Israel is a small and relatively young country, but its turbulent history has placed it
squarely at the centre of the world stage this century. Martin Gilbert traces its history,
from its beginnings with the dramatic declaration of Statehood in May 1948, through
the many subsequent conflicts and political watersheds. Using contemporary
documents and eyewitness accounts, drawing on his own intimate knowledge of the
country and its people, the author weaves together all these dramatic events into a
seamless narrative. TB 11666.
19
Hindley, Geoffrey
Tourists, travellers and pilgrims. 1983. Read by Christopher Scott, 8 hours 44
minutes. TB 4849.
From the first package tour organised in 1458 by a Venetian galley master, this tour
covers five centuries of bad hotels, thieving servants, transport delays and bad food
as experienced by the writers, ambassadors and eccentrics who recorded their
impression of the delights and hazards of travel. TB 4849.
Hughes, Robert
The fatal shore: a history of the transportation of convicts to Australia, 17871868. 1987. Read by Nigel Graham, 31hours 45 minutes. TB 8548.
In describing Australia's painful transition from prison camp to open society, Robert
Hughes draws on a wealth of documents, private and official, never before consulted.
Their vivid testimony adds to the most complete account yet written of how 160,000
men, women and children, some innocent, some not, were shipped off the face of the
known world to suffer, to die, to succeed and to go on to found a new nation. TB
8548.
Michael
The Royal House of Greece. 1990. Read by Elizabeth Proud, 4 hours 3 minutes.
TB 8536.
A full and informative historical account of the Greek monarchy from its foundation by
popular plebiscite in the 19th Century to the deposition of King Constantine II in 1973.
A story of tragedy and drama during a complex period of political history, set against
the wider context of the royal families of the world. TB 8536.
Milton, Giles
Samurai William: the adventurer who unlocked Japan. 2002. Read by Steve
Hodson, 11 hours 50 minutes. TB 12893.
In the spring of 1611, London's merchants received an intriguing and wholly
unexpected letter. Written by a marooned English mariner named William Adams, it
revealed that he had been living in the unknown land of Japan for more than a
decade. Seven adventurers were sent to Japan with orders to find and befriend
Adams. It was believed he held the key to exploiting the opulent riches of this
forbidden land. When they finally stepped ashore, they were astonished to discover
that William Adams had gone native. Samurai William is the tale of two worlds.
Illuminated by first-hand accounts, it is a fascinating story of the first Englishman to
visit the forbidden lands of Japan. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 12893.
Mitford, Nancy
The Sun King. 1966. Read by Alvar Lidell, 10 hours. TB 105.
Brings to life the splendour and glittering times of France in the golden age of Louis
XIV, known as the Sun King. TB 105.
20
Reed, John
Ten days that shook the world. 1977. Read by Steve Hodson, 16 hours 40
minutes. TB 13218.
The author conveys, with the immediacy of cinema, the impression of a whole nation
in ferment and disintegration. A contemporary journalist writing in the first flush of
revolutionary enthusiasm, he gives a gripping record of the events in Petrograd in
November 1917, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks finally seized power. TB 13218.
Schama, Simon
Citizens: a chronicle of the French Revolution. 1989. Read by John Livesey, 33
hours 39 minutes. TB 8289.
At the heart of Schama's account of the French Revolution is the concept of
"Subjects" to "Citizens". He shows us an ebullient country, infatuated with novelty and
the cult of the new, where the crumbling old distinctions between noble and
commoner are evident. The citizens of the revolution are lawyers, priests,
professional men, even nobles imbued with faith that they can construct a new
France. TB 8289.
Severin, Timothy
In search of Genghis Khan. 1991. Read by Nigel Graham, 9 hours 37 minutes.
TB 9811.
The text retraces the tracks of Genghis Khan's horde as they established history's
largest empire, and tells of the legends surrounding the Great Khan's life, and
explains how Mongolian culture has changed little since the Middle Ages. TB 9811.
Taylor, A J P
The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918. Read by John Livesey, 10 hours 48
minutes. TB 8491.
Dissolved in 1918, the Habsburg Empire "had a unique character, out of time and out
of place". A.J.P. Taylor comments "No other family has left so deep a mark upon
Europe; the Habsburgs were the greatest dynasty of modern history, and the history
of central Europe revolves around them, not they round it". TB 8491.
Thubron, Colin
In Siberia. 2000. Read by Stephen Thorne, 10 hours 35 minutes. TB 12439.
Travelling through exotic cities and deserted villages by truck, boat and bus, this is a
travel writer's account of his meetings with nostalgic old Stalinists, and aggressive
Orthodox churchmen while interweaving Siberia's history with a vivid description of
the place today. TB 12439.
21
Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim
The first salute. 1989. Read by Alistair Maydon, 14 hours 38 minutes. TB 7909.
In this provocative and searching view of the pivotal events of the American
Revolution, the author draws upon a broad knowledge of history, an understanding of
human nature and a shrewd grasp of the machinations of governments and
statesmen. The facts are presented in a re-evaluation of the Revolution, and are
supported by characterisations of the key players in this historical pageant. TB 7909.
Winchester, Simon
Krakatoa: the day the world exploded. 2003. Read by Simon Winchester, 11
hours 35 minutes. TB 13642.
The author focuses on one of the most cataclysmic events of modern history: the
volcanic eruption, in 1883, of the South East Asian island of Krakatoa, which resulted
in the deaths of 36,000 people and sent shock-waves around the world. Winchester
veers between eyewitness accounts by survivors and the limited scientific
measurements of the time in an attempt to describe the indescribable. TB 13642.
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