The Scapegoat
The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham
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The Scapegoat
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Narrated by:
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Lucy Hughes-Hallett
About this listen
From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, an extraordinary history of the meteoric rise and fall of George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham.
As King James I’s favorite, Buckingham was also his confidant, gatekeeper, advisor and lover. When Charles I succeeded his father, he was similarly enthralled and made Buckingham his best friend and mentor. A dazzling figure on horseback and a skilful player of the political game, Buckingham rapidly transformed the influence his beauty gave him into immense wealth and power. He became one of the most flamboyant and enigmatic Englishmen at the heart of seventeenth-century royal and political life.
With a novelist’s touch, Lucy Hughes-Hallett transports us into a courtly world of masques and dancing, exquisite clothes, the art of Rubens and Van Dyck, gender-fluidity, same-sex desire, and appallingly rudimentary medicine. Witch hunts coexisted with Descartian rationality and public opinion was becoming a political force. Falling from grace spectacularly, Buckingham came to represent everything that was wrong with the country.
From kidnappings and murder plots to men weeping in Parliament over civil liberties, The Scapegoat navigates love, war-fever and pacifism in a society on the brink of cataclysmic change. In this immersive and authoritative account, Hughes-Hallett summons an era that still resonates today.
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2
From the author of The Sisters, a chronicle of the most brutal, turbulent, and exuberant period of England's history. Bess Hardwick, the fifth daughter of an impoverished Derbyshire nobleman, did not have an auspicious start in life. Widowed at sixteen, she nonetheless outlived four monarchs, married three more times, built the great house at Chatsworth, and died one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in English history.
By: Mary S. Lovell
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Thorns, Lust, and Glory
- The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn
- By: Estelle Paranque
- Narrated by: Anna Wilson-Jones
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4 out of 5 stars 13
Anne Boleyn has mesmerized the general public for centuries. Her tragic execution at the Tower of London on the 19th of May, 1536—orchestrated by her own husband—never ceases to intrigue. While many stories of Anne’s downfall have been told, few have truly traced the origins of her grim fate. In Thorns, Lust, and Glory, Estelle Paranque takes us back to where it all started: to France, where Anne learned the lessons that would set her on the path to becoming one of England's most infamous queens.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Truth is Revealed
- By Janyce H. Imoto on 12-08-24
By: Estelle Paranque
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The King in the North
- The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
- By: Max Adams
- Narrated by: Hamilton McLeod
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4 out of 5 stars 12
A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkein's Aragorn: Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic portrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist and biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Wendy on 02-14-25
By: Max Adams
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The Waiting Game
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens
- By: Nicola Clark
- Narrated by: Nicola Clark, Karen Cass
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the best!
- By Patt LaPierre on 01-13-25
By: Nicola Clark
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Italy Reborn
- From Fascism to Democracy
- By: Mark Gilbert
- Narrated by: Michael Langan
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war, and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the rebuilding of Europe.
By: Mark Gilbert
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Catherine de' Medici
- The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen
- By: Mary Hollingsworth
- Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 12
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 12
History is rarely kind to women of power, but few have had their reputations quite so brutally shredded as Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-born queen of France and influential mother of three successive French kings during that country’s long sequence of sectarian wars in the second half of the sixteenth century.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Don’t bother
- By Anonymous User on 12-05-24
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The Lives and Deaths of the Princesses of Hesse
- The curious destinies of Queen Victoria's granddaughters
- By: Frances Welch
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 9
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Drawing on hundreds of previously unseen letters from the sisters as well as from their grandmother Queen Victoria, The Princesses of Hesse takes us on a sweeping journey across the tumultuous landscape of the turn of the century - from the dramas of the Russian Court to the Russian Revolution, and through both World Wars in which they often found themselves on opposing sides.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Franchella on 03-07-25
By: Frances Welch
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The Lost Queen
- The Surprising Life of Catherine of Braganza: The Forgotten Queen Who Bridged Two Worlds
- By: Sophie Shorland
- Narrated by: Ruth Lass
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
A long-overlooked figure in history, Catherine has a crucial place in the history of the British Empire: she may have failed to produce an heir to the throne, but her marriage to Charles in 1662 marked a key turning point in Britain's imperial ascendancy, for part of her dowry was Bombay, Britain's first territory of the Indian subcontinent. Catherine also was highly influential in the worlds of fashion, Baroque art and music, and food and culture. She popularized tea drinking, bringing England's national drink into fashion for the first time.
By: Sophie Shorland
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The Thistle and the Rose
- By: Linda Porter
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of her more famous brother Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at thirteen to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death, and to construct a powerful position in her adopted country of Scotland as she dealt with domestic issues as well as navigating international relations with England and France.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Margaret Tudor / Queen of Scots
- By mariac25 on 09-24-24
By: Linda Porter
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The Final Year of Anne Boleyn
- By: Natalie Grueninger
- Narrated by: Polly Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
There are few women in English history more famous or controversial than Queen Anne Boleyn. In this vivid and engaging account of the triumphant and harrowing final year of Queen Anne Boleyn's life, the author reveals a very human portrait of a brilliant, passionate, and complex woman.
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5 out of 5 stars
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About time
- By Naomi on 03-31-24
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Six Loves of James I
- By: Mr. Gareth Russell
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
From the assassination of his father to the explosive political and personal intrigues of his reign, this fresh biography reveals as never before the passions that drove King James I.
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The Eagle and the Hart
- The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV
- By: Helen Castor
- Narrated by: Helen Castor
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story5 out of 5 stars 69
Richard of Bordeaux and Henry of Bolingbroke, cousins born just three months apart, were ten years old when Richard became king of England. They were thirty-two when Henry deposed him and became king in his place. Now, the story behind one of the strangest and most fateful events in English history (and the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s most celebrated history plays) is brought to vivid life by the acclaimed author of Blood and Roses, Helen Castor.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A thrilling read
- By Rich C on 11-30-24
By: Helen Castor
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Impossible Monsters
- Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion
- By: Michael Taylor
- Narrated by: Michael Langan
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4 out of 5 stars 12
Impossible Monsters reveals the central role of dinosaurs and their discovery in toppling traditional religious authority, and in changing perceptions about the Bible, history, and mankind's place in the world.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Repetitive and not that interesting
- By Michael on 09-09-24
By: Michael Taylor
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Rookie Move
- Playing for Keeps, Book 1
- By: Neve Wilder, Riley Hart
- Narrated by: Nick J. Russo
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 355
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 324
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
I’ve had a crush on my brother’s best friend since the moment I laid eyes on him four years ago. Warner Ramsey is 225 pounds of pure hotness, a media darling, and one of the best NFL quarterbacks in the league. Hell, he’s the reason I figured out I’m solidly bi. It was easy to keep my crush under control when I was in college. Now, we play for the same team, and every time he talks smack, I want to shut him up. With my mouth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I finished this in one sitting
- By Jess ~ Book Lover on 07-18-22
By: Neve Wilder, and others
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The Bluestockings
- A History of the First Women's Movement
- By: Susannah Gibson
- Narrated by: Fenella Fudge
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
In England in the 1700s, a woman who was an intellectual, spoke out, or wrote professionally was considered unnatural. After all, as the wisdom of the era dictated, a clever woman—if there were such a thing—would never make a good wife. But a circle of women called the Bluestockings did something extraordinary: Coming together in glittering salons to discuss and debate as intellectual equals with men, they fought for women to be educated and to have a public role in society. In this intimate and revelatory history, Susannah Gibson delves into the lives of these pioneering women.
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5 out of 5 stars
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fascinating book almost ruined by the reader
- By braingirl on 08-13-24
By: Susannah Gibson
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Winter King
- The Dawn of Tudor England
- By: Thomas Penn
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 633
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 566
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Story4 out of 5 stars 563
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors - the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty - filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. Near the turn of the sixteenth century, England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry Tudor clambered to the top of the heap, a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for 24 years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent portrayal of a man and his time
- By E. Stein on 06-09-12
By: Thomas Penn
Interesting piece of history
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