Narrator Gerard Doyle performs this work as if he has an intimate knowledge of its content, leaving little doubt that he and the author are of like mind. Almost a hundred years after the infamous assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, British author Tim Butcher recounts his journey across modern-day Bosnia and Serbia on the trail of the triggerman, Gavrilo Princip, who fired the shot that started WWI. Doyle presents the many interesting facts the author discovers in his travels. He has lengthy conversations with Princip's relatives and discovers new writings about the events before and after the shooting. Doyle gives each interviewee a unique voice, which adds to the authenticity of the work. Listeners will be interested to hear that Princip was shocked that his actions started the chain reaction that would bring the world into a grim, deadly conflict.
Pub Date: June 12, 2014
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
GENERAL HISTORY | WORLD | MILITARY | HISTORY
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
Andoh gives a magnetic performance for fans of Wild Swans and anyone interested in learning about China.
British actress Adjoa Andoh’s robust, smooth voice elevates Chang’s follow-up to her bestselling 1991 book Wild Swans, resulting in an engrossing and thought-provoking listen. Chang chronicles her life after 1978, when she became a British citizen and began researching and writing about China and Mao Zedong. She reflects on China’s political shifts and on her mother’s guidance as Chang navigates a suspicious and sometimes hostile government. Andoh narrates the more academic passages with a measured pace. In more personal sections, such as Chang’s battle with breast cancer and her recollections of her father’s imprisonment, Andoh ups the emotion.
Andoh gives a magnetic performance for fans of Wild Swans and anyone interested in learning about China.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063480070
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2026
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