In Xanadu
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
In Xanadu
Buy for $16.03
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Michael Maloney
About this listen
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,225
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
Prisoners of the Castle
- An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 448
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 378
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 379
In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another chapter of history brought to life by a master
- By Steve on 09-28-22
By: Ben Macintyre
-
My Monticello
- Fiction
- By: Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
- Narrated by: Aja Naomi King, January LaVoy, Landon Woodson, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 162
In a daring and fierce debut work of fiction - the likes of which comes along once in a generation - Virginia’s landscapes, emblems, and Thomas Jefferson’s historic plantation set the stage for a cast of unforgettable characters fighting for their right to exist in America. Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW, That was amazing.
- By Kindle Customer on 12-21-24
-
In the Country of Men
- A Novel
- By: Hisham Matar
- Narrated by: Khalid Abdalla
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman's days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his father's constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mother's increasingly disturbing bedside stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars!
- By Alex Klop on 09-13-24
By: Hisham Matar
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,225
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
Prisoners of the Castle
- An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 448
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 378
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 379
In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Another chapter of history brought to life by a master
- By Steve on 09-28-22
By: Ben Macintyre
-
My Monticello
- Fiction
- By: Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
- Narrated by: Aja Naomi King, January LaVoy, Landon Woodson, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 162
In a daring and fierce debut work of fiction - the likes of which comes along once in a generation - Virginia’s landscapes, emblems, and Thomas Jefferson’s historic plantation set the stage for a cast of unforgettable characters fighting for their right to exist in America. Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
WOW, That was amazing.
- By Kindle Customer on 12-21-24
-
In the Country of Men
- A Novel
- By: Hisham Matar
- Narrated by: Khalid Abdalla
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman's days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his father's constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mother's increasingly disturbing bedside stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars!
- By Alex Klop on 09-13-24
By: Hisham Matar
-
The Shell Collector
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Hakeem Kae Kazim
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 316
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 267
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 268
The exquisitely crafted stories in Anthony Doerr's acclaimed debut collection take listeners from the African coast to the pine forests of Montana to the damp moors of Lapland, charting a vast physical and emotional landscape. Doerr explores the human condition in all its varieties - metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts - and conjures nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator not appropriate to the book.
- By Janet on 02-18-17
By: Anthony Doerr
-
Black Mischief
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
Black Mischief, Waugh's third novel, helped to establish his reputation as a master satirist. Set on the fictional African island of Azania, the novel chronicles the efforts of Emperor Seth, assisted by the Englishman Basil Seal, to modernize his kingdom. Profound hilarity ensues from the issuance of homemade currency, the staging of a "Birth Control Gala", the rightful ruler's demise at his own rather long and tiring coronation ceremonies, and a good deal more mischief.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Raucous, Not Racist
- By John on 10-01-16
By: Evelyn Waugh
-
Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days
- By: Michael Palin
- Narrated by: Michael Palin
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 204
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 202
In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier. The rules were simple. He had to make the journey in 80 days using only forms of transport that would have been available to Fogg.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
music incredibly distracting and annoying
- By LJ on 05-18-19
By: Michael Palin
-
Street Without a Name
- Childhood and Other Misadventures in Bulgaria
- By: Kapka Kassabova
- Narrated by: Emily Gray
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Kassabova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and grew up under the drab, muddy, gray mantle of one of communism’s most mindlessly authoritarian regimes. Escaping with her family as soon as possible after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, she lived in Britain, New Zealand, and Argentina, and several other places. But when Bulgaria was formally inducted to the European Union she decided it was time to return to the home she had spent most of her life trying to escape. What she found was a country languishing under the strain of transition. This two-part memoir of Kapka’s childhood and return explains life on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Good start, but ended up not liking the author
- By Giselle on 11-02-21
By: Kapka Kassabova
-
Himalaya
- By: Michael Palin
- Narrated by: Michael Palin
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 196
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
In his most challenging journey to date, Palin tackles the Himalayas, the greatest mountain range on earth. It is a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1,800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south-west China. Penetrated but never conquered, it remains the world's most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the history and politics of Asia to this day.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Summer Must-Have
- By James on 05-05-05
By: Michael Palin
-
The Places in Between
- By: Rory Stewart
- Narrated by: Rory Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 643
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 333
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 334
In January 2002, Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan, surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day, he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Brilliant Work of Nonfiction
- By K Shaneyfelt on 01-26-07
By: Rory Stewart
-
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
- By: Paul Theroux
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 24 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 248
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 179
In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Paul Theroux retraces the steps he took thirty years ago in his classic The Great Railway Bazaar. From the Eurostar in London, he once again sets out on a journey to the East, travelling overland through Eastern Europe, India and Asia. Infused with the changes that have shaped the exterior landscape and enriched with developments to his own perceptions and psychology, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is an absorbing and beautifully written follow-up to The Great Railway Bazaar.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
ghost train to the eastern star
- By roger w patton on 07-22-09
By: Paul Theroux
-
The Great Railway Bazaar
- By: Paul Theroux
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 521
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 444
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 438
The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes - the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto, and the Trans-Siberian Express - it describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Just about as good as it gets...
- By david d. on 03-27-11
By: Paul Theroux
-
An Arabian Journey
- One Man's Quest Through the Heart of the Middle East
- By: Levison Wood
- Narrated by: Levison Wood
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Starting in a city in Northern Syria, Wood set forth on a 5,000-mile trek through the most contested region on the planet. He moved through the Middle East for six months, from ISIS-occupied Iraq through Kuwait and along the jagged coastlines of the Emirates and Oman; across a civil-war-torn Yemen and on to Saudia Arabia, Jordan, and Israel, before ending on the shores of the Mediterranean in Lebanon. Like his predecessors, Wood traveled through some of the harshest and most beautiful environments on Earth, seeking to challenge our perceptions of this misunderstood part of the world.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Learning about people
- By B Tidball on 07-13-21
By: Levison Wood
-
Through Sand & Snow
- A Man, a Bicycle, and a 43,000-Mile Journey to Adulthood via the Ends of the Earth
- By: Charlie Walker
- Narrated by: Charlie Walker
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 161
At age 22, Charlie Walker left home in search of adventure. Fleeing the boredom that comes with comfort, he set off on a secondhand bicycle. The aim was simple: to pedal to the furthest point in each of Europe, Asia, and Africa. He didn’t train or plan. He just started. The journey was an escape from an unremarkable existence, a pursuit of hardship, and a chance to shed the complacency of middle England. From the brutality of winter on the Tibetan plateau, to the claustrophobia of the Southeast Asian jungle, the quest provided Charlie with ample opportunity to test his mettle.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved this tale of adventure!
- By Harry Santa-Olalla on 04-09-19
By: Charlie Walker
-
Border
- A Journey to the Edge of Europe
- By: Kapka Kassabova
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In this extraordinary work of narrative reportage, Kapka Kassabova returns to Bulgaria to explore the border it shares with Turkey and Greece. When she was a child, the border zone was rumored to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, and it swarmed with soldiers and spies. On holidays in the "Red Riviera" on the Black Sea, she remembers playing on the beach only miles from a bristling electrified fence whose barbs pointed inward toward the enemy: the citizens of the totalitarian regime.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Repetition
- By Diane Bloomer on 06-02-24
By: Kapka Kassabova
-
Sovietistan
- Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan
- By: Erika Fatland
- Narrated by: Jill Rolls
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 65
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the listener on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding book
- By George MP on 04-24-22
By: Erika Fatland
So much fun!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found it was read v fast and I could not adjust
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Witty and well read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A better story. A less condescending attitude towards locals from this clearly arrogant British traveler. Fewer contrived moments & situations, clearly designed to give this rather boring journey some excitement.What do you think your next listen will be?
Probably something from Ha-Joon Chang.What aspect of Michael Maloney’s performance would you have changed?
The narrator & main character of the story is rather dorkey, eager, and annoying. The actor conveyed that perfectly, as there were many moments I thought him guilty of the faults of this book.If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from In Xanadu?
None.Any additional comments?
This is a travelogue written by a white British traveler clearly unable to to blend or integrate into the Middle-Eastern and Asian cultures he crosses. The result is a very distant and superficial look at locals. If you are looking to learn how locals would behave, or what they would say, towards a white British traveler...this would be the book for you. Just don't expect any deep or meaningful insights into these societies.A young, immature, British lad's travelogue
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.