Showing results by narrator "Chris Newman" in All Categories

Most people have heard of Ludwig von Beethoven, one of the most famous composers of all time. His music had a certain aggression, passion, and beauty to it that still brings admirers to tears, more than 200 years later. His symphonies came from his creativity, the circumstances, and the trends in that time period in Germany and Austria. There is much to say about the historical context, the deep experiences, and the studies that Beethoven encountered during his life.

Perhaps you have heard of Edgar Allan Poe. Perhaps not. Either way, this 19th-century author has received quite some fame for his works and his unique style. His mystery and gruesome horror stories, comedy, and other genres have reached far into the depths of American literature. Edgar Allan Poe had a life, a background worth studying. His death, however, was and still is a mystery by itself. Find out more about this fascinating author, in a time we can hardly understand without knowing more about it.

Elvis Presley is the famous singer who caused so much controversy, he was hated and loved among most of the American people. His sexual moves, his novel way of putting songs together - there was just something about him that attracted the ladies and the media attention at the same time. In a way, you could say he was living the American dream. But he was kind of a bad boy - facing legal troubles, broken relationships, and drug abuse. Explore the era and methods of Elvis with us, in this concise audiobook biography about his life.

Oscar Wilde was a wild one. His statements were bold, his career was successful, and his tongue was sharp. Not only did he disturb the common narrative of the nuclear family, the Catholic church, and the idea of patriotism, but he also blew many people away with his defense of his principles, his criticism of the state, philosophies on life itself, and more. Being open about being a homosexual in a time when it was unaccepted and even illegal, his life ended in imprisonment and exile. Yet, despite his orientation and his controversial preferences, his prose and poetry did not suffer.

The Crusades are one of those dark chapters in history that we would rather forget, especially religious people. In name of the church, or other religions, like the Muslim faith, people killed, destroyed, looted, and burned cities to the ground. There is nothing “holy” about attacking and plundering, yet this is what they did. In this book, we’ll explore some of the most important crusades everyone should know about. You will learn to understand better why people started them, what drove them to continue, and what ended them.

The Gilded Age was a period in American history that covered the late 19th century, from the 1870s till around 1900. The Gilded Age was a period of great financial development in the United States, specifically in the North and West. The time saw an increase of countless European immigrants, as American incomes were considerably higher than those in Europe, specifically for experienced workers, while industrialization demanded an ever-increasing labor force. The Gilded Age was also a time of severe poverty and inequality.

Thanks to ancient Greece, we know more about philosophy, politics, the democratic system, mythology, art, the Olympics, and many, many lingual references imbedded in almost every European language. Ancient Greece has had a significant impact on many concepts we still hold true today.

When we think of Ancient Egypt, we picture movies with mazes, pyramids, traps, mummies, and symbols. And although some of these things were definitely part of it, there is so much more to this ancient civilization. Ancient Egypt was a North African society that grew in the lower banks of the Nile River, in what's now the nation of Egypt. Let’s explore some of the most important features of that society today, and try to grasp what transpired in the culture, the thoughts, the problems, and the development of the Egyptian region more than 5,000 years ago.

In the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group that resided in England. They traced their roots back to the arrival of incomers to Britain in the fifth century. The contact between a Germanic tribe and native British populations led to the Anglo-Saxon identity. A lot of the native tribes ultimately incorporated and embraced Anglo-Saxon society and language. The Anglo-Saxons established the idea and Kingdom of England, and the modern English language owes practically 26 percent of its vocabulary to them, including the great bulk of words used in daily discussion.

The history of India is long and complicated. It dates back to thousands of years before Christ, according to historical analysts, and it involves wars, peoples, different spiritual movements, claims of independence, merging of empires, and various cultural aspects.

The war between the Protestant Netherlands, mostly led by William of Orange, and Catholic Spain was one of the marks in Dutch history. This war had determined the beliefs of many people who now lived along the three rivers that went through the country. Most of the people north of the rivers were Protestant, and most of the believers below them (even throughout Belgium as well) were Catholic. This was no coincidence. The war in the 1600s had become a symbol of Dutch resistance, independence, and the royal family (of Orange).

When we think of the Renaissance, we often think of paintings. And indeed, many painters and sculptors were part of the artistic transformation the Renaissance caused. But there was more. The Renaissance basically formed a period of collective enlightenment and freedoms that put an end to certain tyrannies and false notions from the Middle Ages. Advocates of a "long Renaissance" might put its start in the 14th century and its end in the 17th century. Let’s take a look at what the extensive time period of the Renaissance provided, and what it leaves us with today.

Perhaps you have heard of the horrible stories of the Spanish, Portuguese, or French inquisition, the Catholic body of persecutors who would arrest the supposed “heathens” and accuse them of witchcraft, heresies, blasphemy, adultery, and a whole list of other sins or crimes. Torture, interrogations, executions, burnings, and other inhumane methods were used to then force, coerce, or kill the victims of this Catholic organization within the church at the time.

We all have a typical image of Vikings, from the horns on their helmets to the beards and the clothes they wear. Their ships have a certain charm, and their reputation is that they were brutal, raw, and believed in multiple gods. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore some of the details about the Viking history. What did they do? How did they treat their women? Where did they go to conquer other nations? These are some of the questions we will answer.

The Sumerians were the people from Sumer, the first recognized society in the historic area of southern Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq), developed throughout the 6th and 5th centuries BC throughout the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages. In addition to age-old Egypt, the Caral-Supe culture, the Indus Valley civilization, the Minoan civilization, and age-old China, it is also one of the world's early civilizations. Sumerian farmers who lived along the Tigris and Euphrates valleys grew a great deal of grain and other items.

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages started with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. Population decrease, counter-urbanization, the collapse of central authority, invasions of countries, and mass movements of tribes, which had started in late antiquity, continued into the early Middle Ages. The massive movements of tribes formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. Explore more about this long time in history, a dark time when people faced countless challenges to their survival.

Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and writer who was commonly seen as one of the best mathematicians, physicists, and most prominent researchers of perpetuity. He was hailed as a natural theorist in his time. He was a considerable player in the knowledge thought movement. In the year 1687, he wrote Mathematical Concepts of Natural Philosophy, which established classical mechanics. Newton also made considerable advances in optics, and he shares credit for developing infinitesimal calculus with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were 2 American air travel leaders who are commonly credited with developing, structure, and flying the world's first effective motor-driven plane. On December seventeenth, 1903, four miles (6 kilometers) south of Cat Hawk, North Carolina, they made the first regulated, supported flight of a powered, heavier-than-air airplane with the Wright Leaflet. The brothers were also the first to develop airplane controls, leading the way for fixed-wing powered flight.

Michel de Nostredame, referred to as Nostradamus in Latin, was a French astronomer, doctor, and presumed seer mostly known for his work Les Prophéties, a collection of 942 poetic quatrains supposedly predicting future events, which was first released in the year 1555. In this audiobook, let’s take a look at what he predicted, and if any of it came true.

Thomas Alva Edison, called "America's biggest developer," was an American inventor and businessperson. In disciplines consisting of electrical power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and movie, he developed many devices.