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The Proud Tower
- A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
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Publisher's summary
"The diplomatic origins, so-called, of the War are only the fever chart of the patient; they do not tell us what caused the fever. To probe for underlying causes and deeper forces one must operate within the framework of a whole society and try to discover what moved the people in it." (Barbara W. Tuchman)
The fateful quarter-century leading up to World War I was a time when the world of privilege still existed in Olympian luxury and the world of protest was heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate. The age was the climax of a century of the most accelerated rate of change in history, a cataclysmic shaping of destiny.
In The Proud Tower, Barbara Tuchman concentrates on society rather than the state. With an artist's selectivity, Tuchman brings to vivid life the people, places, and events that shaped the years leading up to the Great War: the Edwardian aristocracy and the end of their reign; the Anarchists of Europe and America, who voiced the protest of the oppressed; Germany, as portrayed through the figure of the self-depicted hero, Richard Strauss; the sudden gorgeous blaze of Diaghilev's Russian Ballet and Stravinsky's music; the Dreyfus Affair; the two Peace Conferences at the Hague; and, finally, the youth, ideals, enthusiasm, and tragedy of Socialism, epitomized in the moment when the heroic Jean Jaures was shot to death on the night the War began and an epoch ended.
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Indian Summer
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- By: Alex von Tunzelmann
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the British Empire withdrew from India, igniting the exhilaration and turmoil of a newly free society. In this vivid, atmospheric popular history, Alex von Tunzelmann chronicles these times through the most prominent figures.
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Such an interesting piece of History made easy
- By Diego on 01-23-12
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The Empire Must Die
- Russia's Revolutionary Collapse, 1900 - 1917
- By: Mikhail Zygar
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The window between two equally stifling autocracies - the imperial family and the communists - was open only briefly, in the last couple of years of the 19th century until the end of WWI, by which time the revolution was in full fury. From the last years of Tolstoy until the death of the Tsar and his family, however, Russia experimented with liberalism and cultural openness. Novelists and playwrights blossomed and political ideas were swapped in coffee houses.
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An excellent look at an interesting history.
- By brian on 06-22-18
By: Mikhail Zygar
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Young Radicals
- In the War for American Ideals
- By: Jeremy McCarter
- Narrated by: Jeremy McCarter
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Where do we find our ideals? What does it mean to live for them - and to risk dying for them? For Americans during World War I, these weren't abstract questions. Young Radicals tells the story of five activists, intellectuals, and troublemakers who agitated for freedom and equality in the hopeful years before the war, then fought to defend those values in a country pitching into violence and chaos.
By: Jeremy McCarter
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John Quincy Adams
- Militant Spirit
- By: James Traub
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 25 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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John Quincy Adams was the last of his kind - a Puritan from the age of the Founders who despised party and compromise yet dedicated himself to politics and government. The son of John Adams, he was a brilliant ambassador and secretary of state, a frustrated president at a historic turning point in American politics, and a dedicated congressman who literally died in office - at the age of 80, in the House of Representatives, in the midst of an impassioned political debate.
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Best narrator of all the audio books I've listened
- By grimm79 on 12-12-17
By: James Traub
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For Liberty and Glory
- Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions
- By: James R. Gaines
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this audiobook tells the story of those revolutions and shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were.
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Excellent presentation
- By Hal on 08-20-12
By: James R. Gaines
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1932
- The Rise of Hitler and FDR - Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny
- By: David Pietrusza
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Two Depression-battered nations confronted destiny in 1932, going to the polls in their own way to anoint new leaders, to rescue their people from starvation and hopelessness. America would elect a Congress and a president - ebullient aristocrat Franklin Roosevelt or tarnished "Wonder Boy" Herbert Hoover. Decadent, divided Weimar Germany faced two rounds of bloody Reichstag elections and two presidential contests - doddering reactionary Paul von Hindenburg against rising radical hate-monger Adolf Hitler.
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What a waste of time
- By Pam Sullivan on 07-06-19
By: David Pietrusza
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Lenin
- The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
- By: Victor Sebestyen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on new research, including the diaries, memoirs, and personal letters of both Lenin and his friends, Victor Sebestyen's unique biography - the first in English in nearly two decades - is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century but a portrait of Lenin the man. Unexpectedly, Lenin was someone who loved nature, hunting, and fishing and could identify hundreds of species of plants, a despotic ruler whose closest ties and friendships were with women.
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Lenin totally took an extra piece of that cake.
- By John Gathly on 05-14-19
By: Victor Sebestyen
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The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 41 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Winston Churchill is perhaps the most important political figure of the 20th century. His great oratory and leadership during the Second World War were only part of his huge breadth of experience and achievement. Studying his life is a fascinating way to imbibe the history of his era and gain insight into key events that have shaped our time.
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Superb - Review of Both Volume I & Volume II
- By Wolfpacker on 01-23-09
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Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The March of Folly
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In The March of Folly, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning historian Barbara Tuchman tackles the pervasive presence of folly in governments through the ages. Defining folly as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives, Tuchman details four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly in government.
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Tuchman surprises me...
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The Guns of August
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In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
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Wonderful
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-28-08
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 38 mins
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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...
- By Rob on 03-23-06
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The Zimmermann Telegram
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
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In the dark winter of 1917, as World War I was deadlocked, Britain knew that Europe could be saved only if the United States joined the war. But President Wilson remained unshakable in his neutrality. Then, with a single stroke, the tool to propel America into the war came into a quiet British office. One of countless messages intercepted by the crack team of British decoders, the Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message from Berlin inviting Mexico to join Japan in an invasion of the United States.
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US entry to World War I
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-09-12
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Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
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In this Pulitzer Prize - winning biography, Barbara Tuchman explores American relations with China through the experiences of one of our men on the ground. In the cantankerous but level-headed "Vinegar Joe", Tuchman found a subject who allowed her to perform, in the words of the National Review, "one of the historian's most envied magic acts: conjoining a fine biography of a man with a fascinating epic story."
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A period that directly affected our world today
- By Charlotte on 08-29-12
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous 14th Century
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.
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A classic history
- By Joshua on 01-19-14
By: Barbara Tuchman
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The March of Folly
- From Troy to Vietnam
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
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In The March of Folly, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning historian Barbara Tuchman tackles the pervasive presence of folly in governments through the ages. Defining folly as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives, Tuchman details four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly in government.
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Tuchman surprises me...
- By Plimtuna on 09-24-09
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The Guns of August
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
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Wonderful
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-28-08
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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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...
- By Rob on 03-23-06
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The Zimmermann Telegram
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In the dark winter of 1917, as World War I was deadlocked, Britain knew that Europe could be saved only if the United States joined the war. But President Wilson remained unshakable in his neutrality. Then, with a single stroke, the tool to propel America into the war came into a quiet British office. One of countless messages intercepted by the crack team of British decoders, the Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message from Berlin inviting Mexico to join Japan in an invasion of the United States.
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US entry to World War I
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-09-12
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Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
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In this Pulitzer Prize - winning biography, Barbara Tuchman explores American relations with China through the experiences of one of our men on the ground. In the cantankerous but level-headed "Vinegar Joe", Tuchman found a subject who allowed her to perform, in the words of the National Review, "one of the historian's most envied magic acts: conjoining a fine biography of a man with a fascinating epic story."
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A period that directly affected our world today
- By Charlotte on 08-29-12
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous 14th Century
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.
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A classic history
- By Joshua on 01-19-14
By: Barbara Tuchman
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The First Salute
- A View of the American Revolution
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This compellingly written history presents a fresh, new view of the events that led from the first foreign salute to American nationhood in 1776 to the last campaign of the Revolution five years later. It paints a magnificent portrait of General George Washington and recounts in riveting detail the events responsible for the birth of our nation.
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A brilliant classic
- By Matthew on 03-27-09
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Bible and Sword
- England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
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- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Barbara Tuchman explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state - and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.
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Excellent book, but not quite objective
- By Kellie on 04-25-11
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Practicing History
- Selected Essays
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Master historian Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees. This accessible introduction to the subject of history offers striking insights into America's past and present, trenchant observations on the international scene, and thoughtful pieces on the historian's role. Here is a splendid body of work, the story of a lifetime spent "practicing history".
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Barbara Tuchman fan faced with reality
- By J. Whittle on 09-27-18
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The First Salute
- A View of the American Revolution
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The prize-winning historian’s fresh look at the people and events that decided America’s struggle for independence. Its suspenseful climax is the 500-mile march undertaken by General Washington to surround Cornwallis at Yorktown.
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A different view of the American Revolution
- By uriah1970 on 11-29-15
By: Barbara Tuchman
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The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.
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Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
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1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
- By: Charles Emerson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features last summers in grand aristocratic residences or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans.
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Good book ruined by bad read
- By GANESHi on 08-02-13
By: Charles Emerson
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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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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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Excellent, but
- By James A. Nietopski on 03-12-22
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Practicing History—Selected Essays
- By: Barbara Tuchman
- Narrated by: Aviva Skell
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The critically-acclaimed historian’s insights, sense of humor, and sharp pen take on everything from Vietnam, Israel, and the Great War to writing history and its meaning. Includes these essays: Why Policy-Makers Do Not Listen; When Does History Happen?; Is History a Guide to the Future?; America as an Idea; How We Entered World War I; and more
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Amazing!
- By Havi Wingfield on 06-13-17
By: Barbara Tuchman
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The Birth of the Modern
- World Society 1815–1830
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 48 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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This is an extraordinary chronicle of the fifteen years, 1815–1830, that laid the foundations of modern society. It is a history of people, ideas, politics, manners, morals, economics, art, science and technology, diplomacy, business and commerce, literature, and revolution.
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Surprised By a Negative Review
- By Doug Smith on 09-01-13
By: Paul Johnson
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
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A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
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Notes From China
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Rita Knox
- Length: 2 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Two hundred years ago China's imperial rulers sensed a threat to a past-oriented society in the dynamism of the West and tried to frustrate foreign entry.
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Great Historian
- By JerryT on 08-08-05
What listeners say about The Proud Tower
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- mostlymaimonides
- 02-18-09
Remarkable Achievement
Tuchman's Proud Tower is both history and literary work of art. Her focus on the the high tide of the 2nd industrial revolution, the cult of progress, the rise of mass politics and the invention of the modern city, suggest an ambition closer to Gibbon recalling his beloved Romans than a world that is only a century past. And in a moral sense, this is the point of her work, the historical rupture of WW1 and all that it swept away. Tuchman's account of the Dreyfus Affair, Speaker of the House Thomas Reed's showdown with Congress and the death of Jaures are like perfect miniatures from Plutarch, each of them models and warnings about the end of a civilization.
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11 people found this helpful
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- William
- 05-30-14
A portrait of a gilded age
What did you love best about The Proud Tower?
The narrative is so engaging. So much ground is covered, so many names, places, movements and events are presented but they flow seamlessly together and never once are you overwhelmed.
What about Nadia May’s performance did you like?
It felt intimate. The tone and pacing was if an aunt or grandparent were talking to reading to you when you were a child (but never down to you by any stretch!). It was a flow of information that not at all a lecture.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Hidden sight is of course 20/20. Attitudes, ideas and actions were at times shocking. The Dreifus Affair was insane by ever stretch of the imagination.
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3 people found this helpful
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- A. M. Dirks
- 02-16-16
Insightful history
Very informative and good documented characterizations. Very interesting descriptions of The Hague and its formation.
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- jake
- 06-23-16
Adds textured context to a pivotal period of time
Hard to detract from this book at all, especially since it delivered completely on its promise. The narrator is a perfect match for Tuchman's work which may be the only reason I marked down the story - to show how good the narrator is. I recommend checking this pair out in Distant Mirror as well.
If you are looking for narrative with protagonists and the like, it's here, but you have to bring your imagination. this is a period piece, a snapshot of the subjective and immaterial that, for me, brings history to life.
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- Gregala
- 03-18-22
Simply outstanding
Barbara Tuchman was the complete package: erudite, elegant. She viewed her work as an art, and she tells stories that make history sing.
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- jansig
- 05-03-22
A wonderful survey
Tuchman creates a vivid portrayal of seemingly disparate topics that sum up the very nature of life in the two and one half decades before WW l. All the major forces that contributed to the status of the world’s condition in August 1914 are there. Even without a link to the coming war the momentous shifts of the old world of the 19th century to the new 20th century are spell binding.
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- ejb
- 01-15-23
Tuchman’
Of the four books written by Barbara Tuchman, I found this the most interesting. If you’ve liked Guns of August or March of Folly, you’ll enjoy her presentation here too.
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- Carolyn
- 12-09-12
All-Encompassing View of the Period
This book was truly a complete picture of life leading up to the First World War. British politics, the Spanish-American War, the French Dreyfus Affair, German composers, peace conferences, socialists, and anarchists are all covered in excruciating detail, along with several other topics. I knew very little about the period before I started listening and now I feel like I really understand what life was like in that period. To really understand the First World War, you need to understand more than just the Triple Entente/Triple Alliance and the Serbian terrorist attack of 1914. The tension, the romantic attitude towards war, and the arms race all contributed as well, along with many other factors.
The world really was culturally foreign in that time compared to the rest of the 20th century, so understanding it takes covering a wide variety of parts of life in that time period to properly get the feeling of it. This book covers everything you might want to know (and more) and gives a clear picture of what factors created the powder keg that existed in 1914. It sticks with one topic for a section, even if that means referencing events that haven't been explained yet. Don't worry if you hear a reference to something and are frustrated by the lack of explanation - she gets to them later and as the book goes on it fits together better and better.
The narration in this book is perhaps the best I've ever encountered. Nadia May is the only narrator I've ever heard do a huge variety of accents without sounding like she's mocking them (her only weakness is American accents - she is British and her American accents sound mostly British with some American phonemes to my ears). I teach French and her pronunciation in that language is impeccable - I find it very annoying if it is done poorly, and this is the first one I've listened to with French terms where I haven't found the pronunciation lacking. I know very little German, but her German sounds just as high-quality as far as I can tell.
The reason I gave this book four stars instead of five (and I would have liked to do 4.5) was because of the lack of explanation for foreign-language statements at times and for the extent of background knowledge required on the variety of democratic systems existing at the time. While I understand French perfectly, I did notice a lack of translation for some longer phrases and once it reached the section with German, which I only understand in terms of phrasebook-level phrases, it was frustrating to not get the full picture sometimes. Being Canadian, I understand the British system (ours is based on theirs) and the American system and am familiar with the French and German ones to an extent from teaching political science. But it would be confusing if you had no real understanding of those systems, especially the British one, which was talked about in detail but never explained. In fact, none of them were explained, just referenced.
The other small issue was that the sections on British politics were so full of a huge number of characters that they were hard to follow, even when you understand their political system. Dozens of ministers, opposition leaders, union leaders, lords, aristocrats, and influential figures come and go and it requires some concentration to keep track of who's who. I listen to audiobooks in the car, and splitting up the British sections meant that it always took me a minute to remember which party Lord Salisbury belonged to and what the heck he'd been doing when I paused it that morning.
In general, one of the most enlightening and educational works of non-fiction I've ever read.
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27 people found this helpful
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- Bruce
- 03-07-15
Tuchman's great, but this book isn't for beginners
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Great book if you already have some basic knowledge of the era. Terrible book if you don't already know a basic outline of Europe of the era.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Proud Tower?
Hardly a 'moment' - but the (long) description of the changes in music and theater were particularly informative and new information.
Have you listened to any of Nadia May’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Handled different accents, persons, voices, exceptionally well.
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- Beth
- 04-26-21
The World Before The Great War
I bought Tuchman’s well known book The Guns of August without realizing The Proud Tower really should be read first. For those of us who aren’t familiar with the years before WWI began, this book sets TGOA up beautifully. Tuchman’s writing is just my style: witty, somewhat informal, articulate. Wanda McCaddon’s narration was wonderful.
The only thing I would change would be to eliminate some of the many details regarding politicians. Oh, an occasional summation would’ve been nice, too. In a book this long it’s easy to lose track. All in all, a great book.
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