This well-researched production follows the social and political dominance of Rodrigo Borgia and his children, Cesare and Lucrezia, during the early Renaissance in Catholic Europe. Narrator Julian Elfer's fluid pronunciation of French, Italian, and Spanish place names and notable persons retains listener immersion. Elfer adopts the tone of a privileged insider, divulging verified accounts of court intrigue, political machinations, and lurid gossip in equal measure. The narration and scholarship strike a balance that neither condemns nor condones the behavior of the Borgias, royalty, and clergy members. Rather, it allows the dramatic personalities to emerge from contemporary perceptions and vetted information. Rodrigo's notorious ascent and retention of the papacy as Alexander VI rivals the plot of any novel and makes for compelling listening.
Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
Duration: 11 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781977347381
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A beautifully written and narrated work.
Brangan narrates her own history of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland with great empathy. The laundries were in operation all over Ireland from 1922 until 1996—and were in fact locked institutions run by the Catholic Church to ostensibly save “fallen” unwed pregnant women from ruin. In her lovely Irish brogue, Brangan follows several women throughout their experiences in the laundries. Her tone becomes subtly harsher when recounting the stories of those who looked the other way while the Church continued to imprison women and girls in plain sight. The story of the laundries has been told frequently in recent years, but never quite so thoroughly and compassionately.
A beautifully written and narrated work.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 14 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668121375
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 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: June 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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