The author's initial commentary on the safety of night travel creates foreboding as David Shih narrates the story of the famous hijacking of a train between Shanghai and Peking in 1923. Shih builds intensity from the first skirmish as bandits fire on the train. His tone softens as he describes swallows that flew through the camp where the hostages, including many Westerners, were held. He gives the scene in which they sing "Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here" the bolstering feeling it must have had at the time, and he provides a light touch amid the chaos during an encounter between several bandits and two American women. This thorough re-creation creates sympathy for those on all sides of the dramatic historical event.
Pub Date: April 4, 2023
Duration: 9 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668621721
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A hint of hijinks in sleepy Königsberg sets ears ablaze.
The obscure uproar so vividly portrayed in this brief audiobook couldn’t be farther from today’s media commotions—or nearer. This “small vortex of turbulence” sounds like a stage farce: It’s set in backwater Königsberg, capital of East Prussia, in the 1830s, during the lull between the Napoleonic wars and the 1848 Revolution. Take a preposterous but compelling religious cult and two guileless but strikingly handsome Lutheran clergymen, add only a hint of fornication, and gossip does the rest. Vidish Athavale’s measured, finely nuanced narration gives edge and authority to a narrative without a wasted word or useless detail. And he clearly relishes the polysyllabic 19th-century German names.
A hint of hijinks in sleepy Königsberg sets ears ablaze.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
Duration: 4 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217282234
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
This is a title best heard in brief installments.
Many listeners will find this audiobook daunting. The concept is intriguing: to reconstruct everyday Romans’ views of their Caesars through jokes, songs, rumors, nicknames, and private messages. The research is impressive and the evidence extensive. The narrative is divided into five general categories but before very long, the copious historical examples in each category become overwhelming. Narrator Christopher Grove is skilled and effective but, lacking a narrative thread or arc, he relies on speed and agility, leaping across centuries from one Caesar to another, from Roman to Byzantine rulers, and from example to example.
This is a title best heard in brief installments.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 25 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318568749
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: today
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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