Showing results by author "Hourly History" in All Categories

Bob Marley, the most prominent reggae musician of all time, was truly an icon. In later life, Marley became a champion for political freedom and even managed to get two vehemently opposed political leaders to shake hands on stage - all to the backdrop of a reggae groove. Bob Marley was many things to many people - in this book, we explore all facets of his unique personality.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel: one of the most famous engineers the United Kingdom has ever produced. A man who put his stamp on his own country in the most visible way possible: through the construction of bridges and tunnels that stand to this day and by transforming both the landscape and the nature of society. This audiobook will tell the story of the man known affectionately as “The little giant,” through telling the stories of the incredible achievements that made him a household name in his own lifetime and to the present day.

The Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica for a relatively short time — less than 100 years — but it is remembered today more than other ancient cultures in the region which sustained for much longer. Partly that is because this was a relatively recent culture which was widely reported by the first Europeans to make contact with it.

If anything, Karl Marx’s life reminds us of the power of the pen over the sword. During his lifetime, he lived in relative obscurity. Rather than making any waves, Marx was usually lucky just to make the rent. And to make the ongoing hardship of his life even worse, Karl Marx was afflicted with boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. But his pen would indeed demonstrate its power, and by the time 70-some years had passed since his demise, one-third of the entire planet would be living under regimes based upon his ideology.

Pancho Villa was many things to many people. To some, he was a freedom fighter and revolutionary; to others, he was nothing more than a bloodthirsty bandit and killer. Villa’s life did indeed take many twists and turns, and some of the decisions he made would undoubtedly make many of us question his motives. This book seeks to cut through all of the moral ambiguity and deliver a testament of his life as it really was. Here, you will find the life and legacy of Pancho Villa in full.

Rome is a city of myth and legend. The Eternal City, the city of the seven hills, the sacred city, the caput mundi, the center of the world, Roma, Rome, by any of her many names is a city built of history and blood, marble and water, war and conquest. From legendary beginnings, a city rose from the swamp surrounded by the seven hills and split by the Tiber River. Built and rebuilt, a sacred republic and a divine empire, blessed by a thousand gods and by One, the story of her rise and fall has been told and retold for a thousand years and is still relevant in today's world, as echoes of her ancient glory have shaped our culture, laws, lifestyle, and beliefs in subtle and pervasive ways.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was the last of the German emperors who reigned over the German Empire and Prussia. In this audiobook, we will explore his life, both personal and professional, to find out more about how Kaiser Wilhelm II became the last German emperor.

The original international woman of mystery, Mata Hari is maligned as a spy and a traitor. Having seduced a number of the most powerful men in Europe, she was accused of spying for both Allied and Central Powers during the First World War. Mata Hari’s biography tells a different story. From her remarkable transformation from a captain’s wife and mother in the Dutch East Indies to the most celebrated stage presence in Europe, Mata Hari fought for what she believed in.

The ingenious artist we know as Michelangelo lived during the Renaissance in Northern Italy, and you could say that he was indeed a Renaissance man - he was a painter, sculptor, poet, and engineer all rolled up into one. Even though it has been some 450 years since his passing, his legacy remains one of the strongest on record. If the burgeoning art student of today wishes to learn from the best, he takes his notes directly from Michelangelo.

In the nineteenth century, historians began to classify the periods of human prehistory into three ages: Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Of these three, the period known as the Bronze Age (lasting approximately from 3300 to 1200 BCE) was the most significant, not just because people began to work metal on a large scale for the first time but because of other changes taking place. People started to live in large, permanent sites that became the first cities. Agriculture replaced hunting and gathering as the principal means of producing food.

She vigorously played the dumb-blonde stereotype in her movie roles, but there is nothing at all dumb about Marilyn Monroe. Born to a single mother who suffered from severe mental illness, the odds were stacked against the girl originally named Norma Jeane from the very beginning. She became a ward of the state and bounced around from foster home to foster home. The fact that she rose from such impoverished beginnings to become one of the top-billed acts in Hollywood speaks for itself.

Saint Peter, also known as Peter the Apostle, was one of the main figures of the early Christian Church. He began his life as a simple fisherman who caught fish in the Sea of Galilea, but one day, this fisherman became a “fisher of men” instead. In good time, he would help to form one of the largest religious movements the world had ever known, eventually giving his life to the cause when he was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Here, in this audiobook, we discover the life of Saint Peter from beginning to end.

Imagine a fervently militaristic state with a feared professional army that included some of the only all-female military units ever seen. Imagine that same state with its own unique and sophisticated culture, religion, language, art, and society. Such a state did exist—not in the ancient past but as recently as the beginning of the 20th century.

Thomas Jefferson left his imprint on his state of Virginia; his young country, the United States; France, where he served as ambassador; and the world, where his opposition to tyranny and his advocacy of freedom have inspired generations to believe that the pursuit of happiness, as he wrote in his Declaration of Independence, is an unalienable right.

Irena Sendler is one of the often-unsung heroes of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, she deserves credit for her humanitarian efforts. Time and time again, she put her own safety at risk to save others. Her efforts were especially crucial as it pertained to saving the children who fell victim to the horrors of the Holocaust. As a Catholic Pole, Irena Sendler could have rather easily looked the other way and told herself that it was none of her business what was happening around her. But her conscience wouldn’t let her ignore the pleas of all those innocent voices who so desperately needed her aid.

Richard III has gone down in history as one of the most hated and vilified British monarchs of all time. His two-year-long reign as king of England ended in 1485 when he was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry Tudor, making him the last English king to die on the battlefield. Despite the brevity of his reign, Richard III managed to earn an enduring - albeit unflattering - reputation which lives on to this day. William Shakespeare painted him as a ruthless, hunch-backed usurper, who killed not only his brother but also his two young nephews to get his hands on the crown.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential literary figures of all time. Diving into the life of this well-known poet and author, this book explores all the ways he impacted the literary world, both in his own time and in ours. Start listening, and be transported back to the 19th century to learn about one of the most well-known American writers of all time.

J. R. R. Tolkien, an orphan in love with words, spent most of his life as an unassuming Professor of Literature at Oxford studying and teaching old languages. During his time there, he created his very own languages and a mythological world, Middle-earth. Middle-earth was inhabited by Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and other fascinating creatures. It was a world that became almost more real to Tolkien than the one he lived in. Tolkien’s two masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, have set the standard in mythological literature.

The Spanish Civil War was much more than just an overture to World War II. It was a war born out of schisms in Spanish society between rich and poor, monarchists and Republicans, the right and the left, and between those who supported the church and those who saw it as an instrument of oppression. For all its brutality and horror, the Spanish Civil War was a conflict between ideals often fought by volunteers on each side who truly believed that they were helping to build a better world.

Catherine the Great is one of the most influential rulers in Russian history. Though born in Prussia, she endeavored to gain the throne of Russia and went on to be the longest-ruling empress in Russian history. She ruled as an enlightened despot, promoting the principles of the European Enlightenment as she sought to modernize her beloved country. She reformed the educational system of Russia, creating a national system that utilized modern educational theory in a co-educational setting.