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George, Nicholas and Wilhelm
- Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Together, they presided over the last years of dynastic Europe and the outbreak of the most destructive war the world had ever seen, a war that set twentieth-century Europe on course to be the most violent continent in the history of the world.
Miranda Carter uses the cousins’ correspondence and a host of historical sources to tell the tragicomic story of a tiny, glittering, solipsistic world that was often preposterously out of kilter with its times, struggling to stay in command of politics and world events as history overtook it. George, Nicholas and Wilhelm is a brilliant and sometimes darkly hilarious portrait of these men—damaged, egotistical Wilhelm; quiet, stubborn Nicholas; and anxious, dutiful George—and their lives, foibles and obsessions, from tantrums to uniforms to stamp collecting. It is also alive with fresh, subtle portraits of other familiar figures: Queen Victoria—grandmother to two of them, grandmother-in-law to the third—whose conservatism and bullying obsession with family left a dangerous legacy; and Edward VII, the playboy “arch-vulgarian” who turned out to have a remarkable gift for international relations and the theatrics of mass politics. At the same time, Carter weaves through their stories a riveting account of the events that led to World War I, showing how the personal and the political interacted, sometimes to devastating effect.
For all three men the war would be a disaster that destroyed forever the illusion of their close family relationships, with any sense of peace and harmony shattered in a final coda of murder, betrayal and abdication.
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Critic reviews
“Miranda Carter has written an engrossing and important book. While keeping her focus on the three cousins and their extended families, she skillfully interweaves and summarizes all important elements of how the war came about…Carter has given us an original book, highly recommended.” ---The Dallas Morning News
"Masterfully crafted. . . Carter has presented one of the most cohesive explorations of the dying days of European royalty and the coming of political modernity. . . Carter has delivered another gem." --Bookpage
"Ms. Carter writes incisively about the overlapping events that led to the Great War and changed the world. . . George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm is an impressive book. Ms. Carter has clearly not bitten off more than she can chew for she -- as John Updike once wrote of Gunter Grass -- 'chews it enthusiastically before our eyes.'" --The New York Times
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In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
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Peter the Great
- His Life and World
- By: Robert K. Massie
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.
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Narrater ruins everything
- By BrendaLouQuilts on 12-30-11
By: Robert K. Massie
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Churchill
- Walking with Destiny
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 50 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In this landmark biography of Winston Churchill based on extensive new material, the true genius of the man, statesman, and leader can finally be fully understood.
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Superb Biography
- By Jean on 03-03-19
By: Andrew Roberts
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Churchill and the King
- The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI
- By: Kenneth Weisbrode
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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For fans of The King's Speech, the intriguing bond between monarch and prime minister and its crucial role during World War II. The political and personal relationship between King George VI and Winston Churchill during World War II is one that has been largely overlooked throughout history, yet the trust and loyalty these men shared helped Britain navigate its perhaps most trying time. Despite their vast differences, the two men met weekly and found that their divergent virtues made them a powerful duo.
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Highly anecdotal narrative
- By Chess2016 on 02-09-15
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Queen Anne
- The Politics of Passion
- By: Anne Somerset
- Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
- Length: 28 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Queen Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1702. By the end of her comparatively short 12-year reign, Britain had emerged as a great power. But while the queen's military was performing dazzling exploits on the continent, her own attention rested on a more intimate conflict: the female friendship on which her happiness had for decades depended and which became, for her, a source of utter torment.
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Spoilt by a poorly edited, inadequate narration
- By Lesley on 04-01-17
By: Anne Somerset
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When Lions Roar
- The Churchills and the Kennedys
- By: Thomas Maier
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 21 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lions Roar begins in the mid-1930s at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's country estate, with new revelations surrounding a secret business deal orchestrated by Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of future American president John F. Kennedy. From London to America, these two powerful families shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers, and political associates - soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr.
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Study of influence of Winston Churchill on JFK
- By Pierke Bosschieter on 08-10-16
By: Thomas Maier
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Clementine
- The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill
- By: Sonia Purnell
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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By Winston Churchill's own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been "impossible without her". Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill's wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR's initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain's close relationship with America.
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Exasperating At Times But Very Good--
- By Gillian on 04-09-18
By: Sonia Purnell
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Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
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Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
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Napoleon
- A Life
- By: Adam Zamoyski
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of Napoleon has been written many times. In some versions, he is a military genius, in others a war-obsessed tyrant. Here, historian Adam Zamoyski cuts through the mythology and explains Napoleon against the background of the European Enlightenment and what he was himself seeking to achieve. This most famous of men is also the most hidden of men, and Zamoyski dives deeper than any previous biographer to find him. Beautifully written, Napoleon brilliantly sets the man in his European context.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 04-01-19
By: Adam Zamoyski
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We Two
- Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals
- By: Gillian Gill
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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It was the most influential marriage of the 19th Century - and one of history’s most enduring love stories. Traditional biographies tell us that Queen Victoria inherited the throne as a naïve teenager, when the British Empire was at the height of its power, and seemed doomed to find failure as a monarch and misery as a woman until she married her German cousin Albert and accepted him as her lord and master. Now renowned chronicler Gillian Gill turns this familiar story on its head, revealing a strong, feisty queen, and a brilliant, fragile prince working together to build a family.
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I found it extremely moving.
- By Cheryl on 08-07-09
By: Gillian Gill
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First Family
- Abigail & John Adams
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author of Founding Brothers and His Excellency brings America’s preeminent first couple to life in a moving and illuminating narrative that sweeps through the American Revolution and the republic’s tenuous early years. John and Abigail Adams left an indelible and remarkably preserved portrait of their lives together in their personal correspondence: Both Adamses were prolific letter writers (although John conceded that Abigail was clearly the more gifted of the two), and over the years they exchanged more than 12,000 letters.
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"Real History"
- By leslie on 11-15-10
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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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.
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Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."
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The 14th century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and the exquisitely decorated Books of Hours; and on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague.
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And you thought the twentieth century was rough...
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What listeners say about George, Nicholas and Wilhelm
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Linda Nichols
- 04-07-22
Three royal cousins and WWI
I enjoyed this book and I learned a good deal about Queen Victoria and her imperial grandsons, King George, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Tsar Nicholas. I highly recommend this book.
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- Tad Davis
- 06-08-14
Intimate lives of the rich and famous
"George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm" provides a unique perspective on the years leading up to the First World War. Miranda Carter focuses on the three related royal houses - the monarchs of England, Germany, and Russia - who were first cousins and who often addressed each other as "Nicky" and "Willy" (but possibly not "Georgie").
The characters of the three monarchs, especially the autocrats Wilhelm and Nicholas, are drawn with precision and dramatic detail. Nicholas, for example, was brought to the deathbed of his grandfather, Alexander II: Alexander had been mortally wounded by a terrorist bomb that blew his legs off and exposed his entrails. When Nicholas's father Alexander III died after a short reign, the family was in dire straits; Uncle Bertie - Albert Edward, Prince of Wales - took charge of the funeral arrangements and tried to coach Nicholas in his new role, a role for which the clueless young man had been given no preparation.
Carter's account of the death of Nicholas and his family at the hands of the Bolsheviks is wrenching. Wilhelm II comes in for an unusual amount of sympathy as well: his terrible birth, with a dislocated shoulder that left his arm permanently disabled; and his flight to the Netherlands as the war drew to an end, where he puttered sadly about, tried to justify himself, and in later years sent congratulatory telegrams to Hitler (which Hitler received with scorn).
As a portrait of royal families, it's a first-rate listen. Rosalyn Landor, the narrator, speaks with exquisite precision and empathy but with an occasional hint of exasperated humor. As a study of the origins of the First World War, it's a bit lopsided: Austria-Hungary wasn't in the grandchildren-of-Queen-Victoria league, so there's not much discussion of that empire; the assassination of Franz Ferdinand is dispensed with in a sentence. And the political situation in France - horror of horrors, a monarch-free Republic - receives little attention.
But the book serves its purpose: these three remote, lofty figures of history are given a local habitation and a name, not to mention recognizable personalities. Their lives, like everyone else's, were a mixture of blessings and great suffering.
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16 people found this helpful
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- WJR
- 10-17-13
Well done!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Excellent blend of history and deep psychological insight into three fascinating and tragic figures. A great single source to the understanding of the end of the Victorian age of empire and the beginning of the 20th century.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The deep sadness and tragedy that was Wilhelm who never grew up and was forever a struggling & deeply flawed adolescent
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Achlasaba
- 11-10-10
Outstanding
Miranda Carter's beautifully written history on a subject that was so unexpected was enhanced by the flawless narration of Rosalyn Landor.
Don't hestitate.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Douglas
- 04-05-14
A Delight for History Lovers
This was the most enjoyable book I've read for some time. This is a book that readers who are interested in the details of history will like. Biography enthusiasts will obviously appreciate it as well, as it is more or less the biography of 5 individuals (the 3 title characters as well as Queen Victoria and King Edward the VII). Rosalyn Landor is perfect for this story and does a marvelous job.
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- Jason
- 05-25-19
fascinating
heard about the book on NPR, was not disappointed. performed well, written well; the information was detailed, and well explained the juxtaposition between the Victorian monarchy/imperialism and the first world war; royal family dynamics and personal power being the driving force behind poor politics. very interesting and thought provoking as the dynamics of power abuses are still in play, on the world stage, today.
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- J
- 03-28-21
I Love Snark
The best part of this was the way the narrator totally skewered Queen Victoria--who was TRULY a HORRIBLE mother. The way the narrator imitated Victoria was truly hilarious. I thought Annette Crosbie in the Edward VII miniseries in 1975 did a good job of trashing the old cow, but this...WOW.
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- John
- 05-30-10
Interesting history
I enjoyed the audiobook but I wish I had read it instead. I had difficulty keeping up with many the names and nicknames. I don't think that would have been a problem with a book, which can be bookmarked and easly reread. Made me want to learn more history of the period.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Stephen F (SPFJR)
- 01-07-19
Great War with a Refreshing Angle
There are dozens of books which tell the story of the Great War (and I’ve read them all) but this one is unique in the angle it takes looking at the three emperors and their agency in the war.
This is the tale of the war which will most appeal to women. After having read 20 books about the Great War by men, for men, this was a very refreshing read. It offered many IMPORTANT stories about these men which helped build a more thorough portrait of them and how their idiosyncrasies led to the crisis.
Note: Catrine Clay also wrote a book with this angle but (1) Miranda Carter’s book is better and (2) Clay’s book is not available as an audiobook as on January 2019.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Commonsenseplz
- 12-01-21
Neither NOBILITY-or ABILITY-is Hereditary.
A fascinating description of these cousins' mindsets, through their own words and actions, as they flailed their way ineffectually through history and WWI. They put Victoria and Albert's belief that Europe would be stabilized through intermarriage of their descendants to the final test and proved it to be dismally wrong. This book tells an old story in an interesting new way. Although the narrator is female, I could easily accept her as the storyteller here.
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