With his fluid baritone, Edoardo Ballerini gives a splendid reading of this work by Russian playwright Radzinsky. Adding to his previous works on Stalin, Czars Alexander II and Nicholas II, and an earlier work on Rasputin, Radzinsky uses information from a report of the Provisional Government of 1917 to portray the life of the mystic Rasputin in great depth. We see his daily life as well as a detailed account of his murder. Ballerini gives this translation an expressive, sometimes spritely, reading. He executes the narrative and the quotations in the same voice and is adroit with foreign languages, including Russian, though he sometimes gives names a somewhat British rather than purely Russian pronunciation. This production is a satisfying listening experience for those who love history.
Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
Duration: 22 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781524722357
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This highly informative history of prehistory tells a new story of how Homo sapiens settled down and started civilizing.
This is historian and popular podcaster Wyman’s second audiobook, after The Verge (2021), which spanned the years 1490-1530 during the European Renaissance. Here his focus is 10,000 years earlier, at the end of the Ice Age, and the spread of what could now be called humans. The story of how, all over the globe, they gave up the migratory life, settled, and started building is wonderfully, richly told in this outstanding history. Wyman doesn’t have the smoothest or most melodic of voices, but he easily wins over the ear and the imagination with his solid research and his adept storytelling.
This highly informative history of prehistory tells a new story of how Homo sapiens settled down and started civilizing.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 14 hrs, 55 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063256514
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: tomorrow
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
A fresh look at Europe’s long, contentious history.
Hearing all of European history compressed into 14 hours could be comparable to seeing Earth from outer space. Everything is familiar, yet wondrous and new. Even those familiar with the history will find this audiobook to be a unique listening experience. Actor and narrator Alisdair Simpson is a familiar voice from dozens of British documentaries, and his performance here is highly polished, exacting, and attuned to every word. History compressed becomes history clarified. Drama is lost—the Huns, Charlemagne, the fall of Constantinople, all here and gone in a minute. At the same time, patterns emerge. Simpson’s flawless voice carries listeners effortlessly into a wider and more timeless perspective.
A fresh look at Europe’s long, contentious history.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
Duration: 14 hrs, 10 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668656204
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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