Mike B

Interesting and unbiased

Revisado: 10-23-23

Alan Shipnuck's book is a great listen and a must listen for liv-friendly golf fans. Interesting and unbiased.

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The clue is in the title.

Revisado: 01-15-21

TL;DR, great history.. painful editorial insertions of post-modern naivete almost cancel it out.

Cotes' conquest of Mexico by so few against so many is and was miraculous. I didn't understand what the Spaniard went through and the author does a great job detailing courage and bravery and greed and barbarity displayed by the Spaniards. Regrettably, Mr. Levy does a poor job in understanding the mind of a 14th century Spanish catholic recently freed from Moorish rule and trying to survive with a crew outnumbered 1000-to-1. As an example, in Chapter 18 Levy prepares the reader for Cortes' ordinanzas by projecting that one 'doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.' But that's actually Mr. Levy's personal box; I think most readers will understand that Cortes was not going to appoint a diversity officer. Like,,, the clue is in the title of the book.

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2 stars for the chapter divisions

Revisado: 02-12-20

the story and narration are on par with the rest of the aubrey/maturin books which is to say, superb.

however this audiobook's chapters are not aligned with the book's chapters. it's annoying to the reader and doubly so given how simple it must be to insert chapter placemarks. if audible has an interest in quality control, this should be addressed yesterday.

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terrific history and without revisionist bias

Revisado: 01-28-20

i was concerned taking this title having consumed churchill's marlborough volumes as well as the recent 'the favourite' movie both of which center on queen anne. the concern was that the author and/or reader would impart 2010 societal fashions onto early 1700s life. it does not. the author simply presents the documented history using the correspondence of the principals to tell a fascinating history without inserting a lot of 'analysis.' rare these days and appreciated.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

oozes contempt for its subject

Revisado: 01-17-20

the story and subject are interesting, even fascinating. the factual research is thorough. but the author indulges his biases throughout... he seems to dislike his subject greatly. i checked to see if it was just me but no.. contemporary book reviews from 1968 got the same vibe:
NYT: Manchester biases his story; he describes every member as having some unfortunate trait, and all as somewhat malevolent.
Time Mag; As a work of history, the book is marred, too, by an overwrought style and an unbecomingly snide use of irony. Manchester is not fond of the Germans, and he caricatures them either as superefficient and slavishly obedient or as a folk barely removed from dwarfs and dragons, blood feuds and bags of tainted gold.

if your filter can stay intact for 48 hours, you can learn a lot.

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guelzo the academic

Revisado: 10-27-18

so guelzo is a good writer and outstanding researcher. he demonstrated that with gettysburg. (srsly. if youve done the foote-mcpherson-catton-shaara reading and think there's not much new to know about gettysburg,, guelzo's book will prove that assumption wrong.) but with this fateful lightning he indulges in that unfortunate trait of academics: imposing the values of 2018 onto 1865. one particular anecdote illustrates his devotion to current dogma: he notes natural law as a compelling reason for freeing slaves while simultaneously dismissing the roles women held of supporting their men from time immemorial... seemingly another application of natural law. well which is it? is natural law good when it comes to freeing slaves but bad when it comes to maintaining gender roles evolved over millenia? does this inconsistent application of principle even occur to the academic as needing a rationalization?
lookit, if you cant get enough civil war and want to learn more about the mechanics leading to the heroic wheel left at the emmitsburg pike on day two by longstreet's corps, pick up guelzo's gettysburg. seriously. if you want an understanding about the time and place of 1860s USA without doctrinaire thought imposition... this aint the book.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Unlistenable robot

Revisado: 12-14-17

Seriously have not gotten past preface. Sounds like a robot and a poor one at that.

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fascinating history

Revisado: 05-09-17

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

it's a very authoritative history of many pre-historic civilizations in an easily consumable format.

How could the performance have been better?

the narrator's voice is rather high pitched and not terrific to listen to over the [long] course of this a-book.

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