Try free for 2 months
-
The Splendid and the Vile
- A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 20 hrs and 31 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $33.43
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
Kokoda (by Paul Ham)
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a war without mercy, fought back and forth along 90 miles of river crossings, steep inclines and precipitous descents, with both sides wracked by hunger and disease, and terrified of falling into enemy hands. Defeat was unthinkable: the Australian soldier was fighting for his homeland against an unyielding aggressor; the Japanese ordered to fight to the death in a bid to conquer ‘Greater East Asia’.
-
-
Awesome
- By The Nautrual on 13-09-2022
-
Hiroshima Nagasaki
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Robert Meldrum
- Length: 20 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed more than 100,000 instantly, mostly women, children, and the elderly. Many hundreds of thousands more succumbed to their horrific injuries later, or slowly perished of radiation-related sickness. Yet the bombs were "our least abhorrent choice", American leaders claimed at the time - and still today most people believe they ended the Pacific War and saved millions of American and Japanese lives. Ham challenges this view, arguing that the bombings, when Japan was on its knees, were the culmination of a strategic Allied air war on enemy civilians that began in Germany.
-
-
A thoroughly engaging tale of the true story of the atomic bombings of Japan
- By The Nautrual on 06-09-2020
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
The intrigue, deception & callous hidden behind politics in all countries, but particularly in Putin’s Russia.
- By Anonymous User on 14-01-2024
-
The Battle of Long Tan
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey monsoonal skies. D Company, 6RAR were four kilometres east of their Nui Dat base, on patrol in a rubber plantation not far from the abandoned village of Long Tan. A day after their base had suffered a mortar strike, they were looking for Viet Cong soldiers. Then—just when they were least expecting—they found them. Under withering fire, some Diggers perished, some were grievously wounded, the rest fought on, as they remained under sustained attack. For hours these men fought for their lives against the enemy onslaught.
-
-
A reasonable look at an important battle.
- By DGC on 09-12-2022
-
Vietnam
- The Australian War
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti - war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefi eld, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women.
-
-
The best audio book i have ever listen to.
- By Dave on 12-03-2022
-
Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage
- By: Geoffrey Blainey
- Narrated by: John Gregg
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1768 Captain James Cook and his crew set out on a small British naval vessel in search of a missing continent. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of that voyage, and Cook's 'discovery' of Australia. Captain Cook's Epic Voyage reveals the hardships and adventure of this remarkable quest, and the euphoria of discovering new lands.
-
-
Captivating!
- By James on 13-01-2021
-
Kokoda (by Paul Ham)
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a war without mercy, fought back and forth along 90 miles of river crossings, steep inclines and precipitous descents, with both sides wracked by hunger and disease, and terrified of falling into enemy hands. Defeat was unthinkable: the Australian soldier was fighting for his homeland against an unyielding aggressor; the Japanese ordered to fight to the death in a bid to conquer ‘Greater East Asia’.
-
-
Awesome
- By The Nautrual on 13-09-2022
-
Hiroshima Nagasaki
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Robert Meldrum
- Length: 20 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed more than 100,000 instantly, mostly women, children, and the elderly. Many hundreds of thousands more succumbed to their horrific injuries later, or slowly perished of radiation-related sickness. Yet the bombs were "our least abhorrent choice", American leaders claimed at the time - and still today most people believe they ended the Pacific War and saved millions of American and Japanese lives. Ham challenges this view, arguing that the bombings, when Japan was on its knees, were the culmination of a strategic Allied air war on enemy civilians that began in Germany.
-
-
A thoroughly engaging tale of the true story of the atomic bombings of Japan
- By The Nautrual on 06-09-2020
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
The intrigue, deception & callous hidden behind politics in all countries, but particularly in Putin’s Russia.
- By Anonymous User on 14-01-2024
-
The Battle of Long Tan
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: David Tredinnick
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey monsoonal skies. D Company, 6RAR were four kilometres east of their Nui Dat base, on patrol in a rubber plantation not far from the abandoned village of Long Tan. A day after their base had suffered a mortar strike, they were looking for Viet Cong soldiers. Then—just when they were least expecting—they found them. Under withering fire, some Diggers perished, some were grievously wounded, the rest fought on, as they remained under sustained attack. For hours these men fought for their lives against the enemy onslaught.
-
-
A reasonable look at an important battle.
- By DGC on 09-12-2022
-
Vietnam
- The Australian War
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti - war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefi eld, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women.
-
-
The best audio book i have ever listen to.
- By Dave on 12-03-2022
-
Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage
- By: Geoffrey Blainey
- Narrated by: John Gregg
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1768 Captain James Cook and his crew set out on a small British naval vessel in search of a missing continent. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of that voyage, and Cook's 'discovery' of Australia. Captain Cook's Epic Voyage reveals the hardships and adventure of this remarkable quest, and the euphoria of discovering new lands.
-
-
Captivating!
- By James on 13-01-2021
Publisher's Summary
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A STARTLING, GRIPPING PORTRAIT OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE ALIVE IN BRITAIN DURING THE BLITZ, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE AROUND CHURCHILL.
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, the Nazis would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons and destroying two million homes.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson gives a new and brilliantly cinematic account of how Britain’s most iconic leader set about unifying the nation at its most vulnerable moment, and teaching ‘the art of being fearless.’
Drawing on once-secret intelligence reports and diaries, #1 bestselling author Larson takes readers from the shelled streets of London to Churchill’s own chambers, giving a vivid vision of true leadership, when – in the face of unrelenting horror – a leader of eloquence, strategic brilliance and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
Critic Reviews
"Every time Churchill took to the airwaves it was as if he were injecting adrenaline-soaked courage directly into the British people...Larson tells the story of how that feat was accomplished...Fresh, fast and deeply moving." (New York Times)
"There are countless books about World War II, but there’s only one Erik Larson...There are many things to admire about The Splendid and the Vile, but chief among them is Larson’s electric writing. The book reads like a novel, and even though everyone (hopefully) knows how the war ultimately ended, he keeps the reader turning the pages with his gripping prose." (NPR)
"A particularly gripping read, written with bounce and brio. Larson pulls together vivid vignettes – some moving, some amusing, a few grim...A fine writer of narrative nonfiction history." (Robbie Millen, Times)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Splendid and the Vile
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 20-10-2023
Brilliant!
Loved this retelling of the beginning of WW2, especially with all the diary entries. Learnt so much!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bambi
- 27-05-2023
Terrific
Surprisingly riveting. The immense mass of detail is superbly handled, creating the feeling of being a fly on the wall in the Churchill family during the first year of the war. The stories of his circle, including his staff, top brass - the Prof, General Ismay, and others; American envoys, his daughters, are interwoven with German High Command and others to form a 3-D view of events, switching with ease from the experience of an air-raid warden to Goering to Mary Churchill. Can’t believe that such a detailed history - every word factual - could be so gripping and at times even amusing. A masterpiece. I was almost enraged when it ended. I do hope there will be more. Max Addis’ reading was perfect, including his imitation of Churchill.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 18-06-2022
A Gripping Must Read . . .
Thank goodness so many people kept diaries during WW2! The narration of this gripping "story" of England surviving through the toughest and most frightenly challenging times has been a result of such research based on these records of day to day experiences as well as other historical records. Such a tribute to the author to meld history through personal experiences so successfully. The result was indeed a gripping tale which was difficult to put down.! So beautifuly read too.
A wonderful read. Thank you Eric Larsson
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fiona Gregory
- 28-01-2022
Enjoyable Comparisons of Life in Churchill’s Britain and Hitler’s Reich
The Splendid and the Vile
This is my third book by author Erik Larson and I can see why I always enjoy his history books. They are so well researched and constructed that they read more like a narrative than a dry prose.
Primary source material and descriptions are cleverly incorporated into each chapter, that you feel as though transported back to the period in time, this case, 1940 London England.
It’s the start of the German Route on the French, Belgian and British Expeditionary Force. Churchill has just come to the Prime Ministership after the resignation of Neville Chamberlaine. The Lords are horrified. The King, Queen and the public are delighted.
It is a baptism by fire and water to be sure. But Churchill is proves up to the task because of his experience, his determination and singular power of oratory. Hitler had met more than his equal.
It’s part biography on Churchill and his family, including his marriage with Clementine, indulged & entitled son Randolph and almost adult daughter Mary. My favourite description of Churchill is where, rather than cowering in the air raid shelters under Number 10, he was to be found on the roof watching the action, much to his wife’s consternation.
There’s information about war production, inventions such as air raid shelters, barge balloons, radar and code making & breaking devices.
It includes action from early in the War, where Britain lost almost all allies within weeks. It includes the:
Blitzkreig;
Rout of the French army;
Surrender of the French Government;
Evacuation of Dunkirk;
Destruction of the French Navy;
Multiple appeals to Roosevelt for aid;
Lend/Lease arrangement;
Battle of Britain from both sides of the conflict;
Perils of the London Blitz;
Rationing;
Living for the moment whilst faced with death each night;
Sleeping and ablution conditions in air raid shelters; (inspections & reforms by Clementine!)
Stoicism of the Royal Family;
Atlantic Convoys & Wolf packs;
Operation Barbarossa;
Pearl Harbour;
And briefly, the end of the War and subsequent War Trials.
The Audible version is read by Matt Addis and he gives it just the right touch of voice differentiation that you can distinguish the direct quotes (he does a very good job of an English female accent, east end and even Churchill distinctive cadence) from the narrative.
Worth its five stars
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 09-04-2021
Absolutely brilliant
The best book I have ever read. Amazing. Loved it. So sad when I got to the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- elizabeth b.
- 12-07-2020
Fabulous
This is a terrific book so interesting and narration by Matt Addis. What an interesting man Churchill was. This is well worth a listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!