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Shakespeare's Kings
- The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337-1485
- Narrated by: John Curran
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
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Shakespeare's Kings
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Summary
William Shakespeare may have been the greatest playwright in the English language, but how does he measure up as a historian? In this brilliant comparison between the events and characters in Shakespeare's history plays and the actual events that inspired them, acclaimed historian John Julius Norwich examines the nine works that together amount to an epic masterpiece on England's most fascinating period.
Beginning with the newly authenticated "Edward III," and proceeding through "Richard II; Henry IV Parts I" and "II; " and "Henry V; Henry VI Parts I, II," and "III; " and finally "Richard III," Norwich holds the plays up to the light of history, answering questions such as: Who was the real Falstaff? How realistic is Shakespeare's depiction of Joan of Arc? At the same time, he provides a vibrant narrative of medieval life from 1337 to 1485, the era of the 100 Years War and the Wars of the Roses. It was a time of uncertainty and incessant warfare, a time during which the crown was constantly contested, alliances were made and broken, peasants and townsmen alike arose in revolt. Here was the raw material that Shakespeare used to explore the role of the monarch and the meaning of statehood.
But where does history stop and drama begin? Norwich concludes that Shakespeare was a reliable enough historian. He was, however, always willing to take liberties with the facts for the sake of his drama. As Norwich explains, "In the vast majority of instances when Shakespeare departed from the historic truth he did so for the best of all reasons: to make a better play." Beyond assessing Shakespeare's accuracy, Norwich provides the crucial knowledge that will enhance everyone's appreciation and understanding of these glorious plays.
No one but John Julius Norwich, praised for his three-part history of Byanztium, could weave drama and history together into such a lucid and absorbing account of a distant yet vitally important era. Illuminating and accessible, Shakespeare's Kings is an indispensable companion to Shakespeare's rich imagination -- an imagination that continues to inform the way we view the past today.
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What listeners say about Shakespeare's Kings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John
- 27-09-15
A mine of historical context for all Shakespearee fans
A massive amount of interesting commentary comparing and contrasting real history with Shakespeare's interpretation. It is clear the Bard took some liberties but who cares when he produced such magnificent works. I really enjoyed learning more about the historical setting of the plays.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- lady-yeah
- 24-07-15
Happy I persevered...
Although I found the narrator irritating with his stilted reading and strange pauses, I am glad I persevered. The content is excellent. The author describes the actual written historical accounts of each of the Kings Shakespeare has written about and then explains how much is true and how Shakespeare condensed so much history into his plays, sometimes covering many years in one scene. All very interesting stuff. I will probably listen to it again. So much to absorb.....
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mel
- 15-12-18
Great book narrated by a robot
Loved the book fascinating how it deconstructs the history and matches it to the play but the narration was terrible. It’s obviously some sort of clever Siri device as it doesn’t know how to pronounce words and names. The reading was in a singsong style that was bearable and almost realistic but after a while quite wearing.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leonardgodwin
- 12-07-15
Hard to listen to
Very good book spoiled by the peculiar rhythms of the narrato.r like a hectoring scoolmaster
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John Adams
- 14-04-15
Tudor propaganda.
Very interesting comparison between Shakespears Kings and historical facts. How history was distorted to tow the Tudor propagandist line and malign the name of Yorkist kings and nobility.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David J James
- 13-11-21
Nice text, shame about the talk.
I am sure I would have enjoyed this book with a different reader. The guy is well spoken, but he doesn't know the pronunciation of various English words before we even mention the French. Roy was probably already "rwa" in the time we are talking about, but if not,then given the uncertainty you should use the Modern French version anyway, or go the whole hog on reconstructing Medieval French.
His intonation is tedious and rather than being coloured by the text, takes three to five words at a time and then pauses without regard to whether the meaning requires it
The book itself is great, but wasted by this reader.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David_Cockayne
- 18-03-15
Erudite author; dreadful presentation
John Julius Norwich is a former diplomat and, as they say, an author and broadcaster. Radio 4 listeners of a certain age may remember his outstanding contributions to 'Round Britain Quiz'. He has written various books on history and on the arts, and so is ably qualified for this work in which he compares Shakespeare's major history plays with the actual historical events.
In particular, he makes the best case I have heard for bad king Richard III - that he really did have his nephews murdered. We'll never know for sure of course; for me, the politics don't work with Richard as the killer but they work very well for Henry VII.
JJ Norwich does an excellent job, which is more than I can say for the narrator, who, in addition to a number of pronunciation gaffes (fief pronounced fife for example), places pauses in entirely unnatural places in his sentences. It's as if he's been given randomly chopped up sentences to read - and it gets astonishing annoying after a while.
There is so much bad pronunciation in audio books that I have to wonder who edits this stuff.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Geraldine Charles
- 12-05-23
Another good book spoilt by narration
Are you handing the narrator his text on flashcards, with short delays? Either that or his phrasing is really odd, he stops in the middle of a natural phrase. Initially I wondered if you were using AI.
There are some mispronunciations as well, but the phrasing is the main issue here.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jim
- 26-04-14
Easy Listening
When deciding whether to buy a title I'll often look for a book review online so when I came across a slightly sniffy New York Times review which call this "Lively if not particularly scholarly" I was sold. This is highly engaging and well written without being too demanding which is what I was in the mood for over the Easter break. Norwich paints lively, opinionated portraits of the movers and shakers of medieval England; in each case going on to show us how Shakespeare wrote about them a few generations after the fact. It's a device that worked really well for me; partly because Norwich is good at bringing historical characters to life in a convincing way through the little we know about them and also because we get an insight into the shifting politics of the period by seeing what Shakespeare could and could not safely write about a hundred or more year later under the Tudors.
If you enjoy medieval history this won't break particularly new ground but it's well written, well narrated, it brings characters and the period to life and there's enough in it to enjoyably hold your attention without taxing the brain too much.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 14-08-19
Interesting book but terrible narration
I really enjoy JJN’s writing and had previously enjoyed his History of France on audible. I was intrigued by the premise of this book, which largely worked well through the chapters.
But this was an act of perseverance in the face of truly awful narration. Whether it was the really stilted pace of the delivery, where it was as if the narrator had chosen deliberately to put pauses in the most unexpected and nonsensical places, or his spectacular inability to pronounce many of the names of the protagonists, it was an act of vandalism towards what should have been a very enjoyable listen. As an aside, there were numerous places where additional narration had been edited into the dialogue, rendering the awfulness of the main narrative more starkly apparent.
One is left wondering whether JJN has ever listened to this and approved it. I would have given the performance zero stars, but the review process doesn’t allow it.
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6 people found this helpful