Showing results by narrator "Andrea Giordani" in All Categories

British flag officer, inspiring military leader, and brilliant strategist. The name of Horatio Nelson is intrinsically linked with a great number of decisive British naval victories. His most notable battles were during the Napoleonic Wars culminating in his death during his final victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The ancient Greek poet Hesiod lived around the same time as Homer. He is considered to be an economist and also wrote works on mythology, ancient time-keeping, and farming techniques. The Hesiod Collection includes The Shield of Heracles, Theogony (the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods), and Works and Days (a farmer’s almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the art of agriculture).

As a foremost historian of his time, Samuel Rawson Gardiner’s evaluation of Oliver Cromwell has generally been perceived as a work of great significance. Gardiner applies his highly credited critical eye to one of England’s great military and political leaders. Cromwell rose to power during a time of turbulence and civil distress during which he was admired for certain attributes, yet distrusted for others, including his loyalties to Puritanism.

Julius Caesar peaked as one of the most powerful generals in Roman history. In “The Life of Caesar", Plutarch attempts to capture the greatness of this man on paper. With stirring prose, he documents Caesar’s military might and rousing spirit. The biography ends with the details of Caesar’s assassination, but Plutarch assures us that the murderers eventually paid for the deed.

The Analects or Selected Sayings is an ancient Chinese text comprising sayings and wisdom teachings attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, as well as fragmentary dialogues between the philosopher and his students. The Analects has been one of the most influential books in China for the last two millennia, and continues to contribute to Chinese and East Asian culture and thought.

Cato the Younger was one of the many biographies documented by Plutarch in his series called Parallel Lives. Related to Cato the Elder, Cato the Younger was also a student of philosophy as well as a Roman Statesman. After his father died and he gained his inheritance, Cato the Younger began his life as philosopher, warrior, and political leader. His life ended, as so many Roman lives did back then, in tragedy.

Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1873-1936) was a Scottish writer. Teutonic Myth and Legend (1912) is his retelling of the legends and myths of the Goths, Norsemen, Vandals, Burgundians, Franks, Angles, Saxons, and other Germanic tribes. Poems and prose passages from classic literature that are related to these myths are included.

In George Eliot's Middlemarch, the idea of marriage and vocation are explored through a small town's community of ordinary people. One of the main characters, Dorothea Brooke, is a kind and good-hearted woman who gives to the poor and helps to rebuild cottages of poor farmers. However, she is also stubborn and very strong-willed.

This moving treatise was composed when St. Chrysostom was in exile, probably shortly before his death. It was sent with a letter to his friend the deaconess Olympias in Constantinople. A portion of this treatise reflects the thoughts of Plato in the 10th book of The Republic to prove the immortality of the soul.

Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and literary critic. His 12 collections of fairy tales are known as Andrew Lang's Coloured Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors. The third in the series, the Green Fairy Book, contains tales from around the world, from Grimm (“The White Snake” and “Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle”), France de Caylus, Fenelon, Kletke, and D'Aulnoy. The stories include "The Crystal Coffin", "The Three Snake-Leaves", "The Riddle", "Jack My Hedgehog", "The Golden Lads", and many more.

The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. The Kalevala was instrumental in the development of the Finnish national identity and the sense of nationality that led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. Beginning with the traditional Finnish creation myth, the Kalevala branches out into stories of the creation of the earth, plants, creatures, and the sky. There are many stories of, romance, kidnapping, seduction, and magical spell casting and singing.

Saint John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. These three homilies deal with errors against, which Chrysostom contended all his life. It is assumed that they were delivered at Antioch when Chrysostom was a presbyter under the Episcopate of Flavian. Chrysostom opposed the idea that the world was abandoned to the dominion of devils, insisting very boldly on the freedom of will, moral responsibility, and the duty of vigorously resisting temptation.

Nathan the Wise, a play published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches Theatre in Berlin. The narrative is set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade and describes how the wise Jewish merchant Nathan, the enlightened sultan Saladin, and a Templar Knight bridge the differences between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Its major themes are friendship, tolerance, the relativism of God, a rejection of miracles and a need for communication.

Before his assassination, Julius Caesar named his great nephew Gaius Octavius as his successor. In this excerpt from The Twelve Caesars, Roman biographer Suetonius tells the life story of Octavius, who took the name Augustus when he became emperor. While Augustus did have a military career, Suetonius focuses on the dramatic details of Augustus’ personal life, making this biography more gossip-filled than its contemporaries.

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang is the first in a series of fairy tale compilation books. These fairy tales cover a variety of cultures and stories, including several from the Brothers Grimm and Arabian Nights stories. This is a great collection for any listener looking for nearly 40 different stories in one book. Lang includes classic tales such as "Cinderella" and more uncommon adventures, including "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou".

The Campaigns of Alexander, also titled The Anabasis of Alexander, is a history of Alexander the Great of Macedon, focusing on his conquest of the Persian Empire. Composed by Arrian of Nicomedia in the second century AD, the work comprises seven books providing a broadly chronological account of the reign and campaigns of Alexander with a particular focus on military matters. Book One begins with Alexander's accession to the Macedonian throne in 336 BCE, and Book Seven recounts the events of Alexander's final year and his death.

The Book of Jasher is a translation of a Hebrew book printed in 1613. Sepir Ha Yasher, the Hebrew title, means the "Book of the Just Man", or "the Upright Record". This text covers much of the same terrain as the Mosaic books of the Bible, from the creation to the death of Moses, with some minor differences....

First published in 1918, My Antonia is the final book of Willa Cather’s "prairie trilogy" of novels, preceded by O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. This is a coming-of-age story about the orphaned boy Jim Burden growing up on his grandparents' farm in Nebraska and his lifelong friendship with Ántonia Shimerda, the eldest daughter of an immigrant family from Bohemia.

The novel Shirley by Charlotte Brontë (1849) followed the huge popular success of her debut, Jane Eyre. The setting is an environment which is industrializing at a rapid pace during the Napoleonic Wars. This is the story of two heroines occupying vastly different social positions in life. Caroline Helstone, trapped in a Yorkshire rectory, serves as a symbol of all the single women of the time. On the other hand, there’s Shirley Keeldar, an independent woman whose wealth has liberated her.

Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. In it, the two characters, Meno and Socrates, discuss "arete", or virtue. This dialogue is also famous for introducing "Meno's Paradox".