Heaven's Command

An Imperial Progress - Pax Britannica, Volume 1

By: Jan Morris

Narrated by: Roy McMillan

The Pax Britannica trilogy is Jan Morris’s epic story of the British Empire from the accession of Queen Victoria to the death of Winston Churchill. It is a towering achievement: informative, accessible, entertaining and written with all her usual bravura. Heaven’s Command, the first volume, takes us from the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The story moves effortlessly across the world, from the English shores to Fiji, Zululand, the Canadian prairies and beyond. Totally gripping history!

Listen to Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire - Pax Britannica, Volume 2.;Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1973 A P Watt Limited (P)2011 Naxos AudioBooks

Witty, amazingly read and outstandingly written

Would you listen to Heaven's Command again? Why?

I already listened to part three of the book twice. I Loved it!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Heaven's Command?

Every minute was amazing!

What does Roy McMillan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have never listened to a better reader. It looks like I may have to read the last book in the series and I will miss Roy McMillan a lot. Terrific reader!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had the time

How Britain Stumbled Into an Empire

A wonderful and entertaining history of how Britain accumulated it's second empire (having lost the first in the 18th century in the United States). Mr. Morris has a wonderful eye for the details which make you feel like you are there in Fiji or Bermuda or deepest Africa. He doesn't try to provide a detailed history of everything that happened in the 19th century, but he chooses the individual actions which demonstrate the overall sweep of history as Imperial Britain eventually emerged.

One specific note concerning the Narrator - Roy McMillan. I have been listening to audiobooks for more years than I care to acknowledge, listening to celebrities and authors and all kinds of narrators. The narration to this audiobook is a masterpiece. This is not a short story, but at no point did I feel that the narrator was simply going through the lines in order to come out the other end as you can get with some audiobooks. Mr. McMillan is a joy to listen to and I certainly look forward to listening to the other two volumes in this history.

I didn't learn a lot that was new here

which is why my overall rating is lower than the others. Morris writes beautifully, in great detail, on a few specific topics (The Rout of Kabul, The Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, Charles Parnell as a figure in Irish history, etc.), which McMillan's enthusiastic narration complements well.

Engaging History of the Victorian Age

Moving telling of someone who grew up in Great Britain at the close of the Imperial Age. The narrator has a wonderful British accent. The history is tragic and moving--leading you to sympathize with Imperialists while learning about their tragedies and victories. Really enjoyable, and I will listen to this one again.

Stellar

Just go into it knowing that some terms and attitudes are a bit dated and listen accordingly. Then enjoy the ride. It’s like listening to the smartest, wittiest person at a party tell stories.

Surprised Me When I Enjoyed This Book So Much!

What did you love best about Heaven's Command?

Informative without being tedious. Covers a lot of territory in an easily understandable way. Felt like I got an excellent, overall view of the time period. Can be doing something else and still get a lot out of this. Easier to understand than I would have imagined.

What did you like best about this story?

How it focused on one area of the world at a time and then another area. And then draws it all together. One gets a real feel of what was going simultaneously in the world.

What does Roy McMillan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Intonations and paragraph breaks excellent. Inclusion of footnotes was seamless and very helpful and informative.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, cause I wouldn't have had the time. Glad I listened to it a little each day so I could assimilate it.

Any additional comments?

If one wants to get a very interesting sense of this period in British history, I'd recommend this book. I wanted to learn about the subject and this book provided just what I was looking for. I thought it might be a tedious read and maybe I wouldn't even finish it. But I found it absolutely fascinating and can't wait to listen to the next two parts of the series.

Ouystanding History

What made the experience of listening to Heaven's Command the most enjoyable?

An excellent reading of an obsorbing history.

What other book might you compare Heaven's Command to and why?

The Life Of Elizabeth I.

Which character – as performed by Roy McMillan – was your favorite?

N/A

Any additional comments?

You will probably want to bye the other two volumes.

A trilogy filled with history, wit and information

Being an Englishman by birth the Empire was in my blood. My greatAunt's brother in law was something big in the Indian Raj, my GreatUncle mapped the Red Sea, my Grandfathers both fought in it and my parents mourned its passing as though it were a personal loss to the family.

These three books were filled with fabulous information about all the possessions that made up the empire but particularly about India. I found it all totally fascinating. It was often unbelievable stuff, a country tamed by a courageous individual, daring dos by heros straight out of comic books (or an asylum!) or battles won at tremendous cost either to the English or the natives.

There was great humour and terrible sadness and all read by Roy McMillan who did a superlative job at narrating it with perfect accents for all the different quotes by great statesmen or colonialists or dominion politicians. Kipling got a good look in as did Churchill and Jan Morris marked the end of the Empire by Churchill's death - he was the last of the true imperialists. Jan Morris visited many of the countries he wrote about and it came across as a personal view of the Empire which made it all the more vivid.

I loved these books and can not but recommend them most enthusiastically for all history buffs. I know that I will be back to listen to it all again at some stage and as it is some 80 hrs long you don't do that unless you really really enjoyed it!

Excellent Reading of a Book that Makes the Empire Come Alive

The Pax Britannia trilogy is great reading for anyone who wants to understand the British Empire, not just to condemn (or to celebrate) it. Morris works from the assumption that the empire was made by, and made up of, people who, wise or foolish, good or bad, acted for understandable reasons. The people he describes are memorable—funny, tragic, inspiring, repulsive. Any student of the histories and literatures of nations that were and are influenced by the British Empire will find Morris’s book illuminating and entertaining. And in Roy McMillan, Morris’s distinctive literary voice find the ideal aural embodiment.

History at its best

I LOVE this book. Already downloaded volume 2 and fully expect to order volume 3.
If all history was written this well, we would all be better off.