Vanished Kingdoms

The Rise and Fall of States and Nations

By: Norman Davies

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

An evocative account of 14 European kingdoms - their rise, maturity, and eventual disappearance.

There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Europe's past is littered with states and kingdoms, large and small, that are scarcely remembered today, and while their names may be unfamiliar - Aragon, Etruria, the Kingdom of the Two Burgundies - their stories should change our mental map of the past. We come across forgotten characters and famous ones - King Arthur and Macbeth, Napoleon and Queen Victoria, right up to Stalin and Gorbachev - and discover how faulty memory can be, and how much we can glean from these lost empires. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind.

This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from listeners of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.

©2011 Norman Davies (P)2021 Tantor

Great History Lesson in Rise and Fall of societies

Loves this informative book! Difficult to find these histories. I especially enjoyed the information on old Prussia. It’s difficult to find histories about Germany that don’t focus on the Third Reich! Fascinating reading or listening

Fine

It was good and informative and gave me a glimpse into histories that are impossible to find in accessible histories that aren't inadequate internet searches. I'm very much over English and French history. I've heard of this author before and this is my first book of his. It's dripping with pretension, reading quotes out in whatever foreign language it was in originally. Spoiler alert, turns out they didn't speak modern English at all in Medieval Europe, so prepare to sit through a lot of Latin and prepare to try and re-gather what the hell he was talking about after said Latin is thrown at your ears. Also, in the number 3 Burgundy chapter, thank you Norm, I never would have guessed that having an advanced college degree is better than an internet search. wish I would have thought of that before I bought this book.

A lot of aristocratic minutiae

This book starts strong, but there is an incredible amount of discussion of aristocratic minutiae. I mostly felt like I didn't really understand the culture and legacy of the kingdoms that vanished and instead feel like the author just rambled through the leaders without giving a good sense of what the people and culture were. This is especially bad around the Napoleon's era when I felt like the author just wanted an excuse to talk about aristocratic life. The early part of the book -- probably because there is less known about the kingdoms discussed -- was more interesting. and I especially felt like his discussions of Poland and the Baltic States is something usually overlooked in the west. But otherwise, I found myself playing at double speed to just get through the litany of aristocratic minutiae.

Fascinating!!

This meaty historic tome discusses the existence of places that I never knew and would probably never know except for this book. It's pretty academic, and it's easy to get lost as a history buff/enthusiast. The discussion of the several states of Burgundy was particularly tough to digest. However, it's worth it! Who gives voice to the lost peoples of Europe? Norman Davies does.

Where else are you going to go for this?

Wonderful subject and as thoroughly researched as you'd expect from Davies while still being accessible to layman. Some of his 'Kingdoms' were a bit of a stretch, Galicia for instance, and he just glances over well tread topics like Byzantium but on the measure it was a delightful listen.

Beautiful

Elegant, eloquent, artful. I'd give this six stars if possible. The rest of this review is filler.

intriguing and insightful

Amazingly beautiful and profound introduction. Extraordinarily rich history, Wonderfully written and read. The details of hidden histories animated with stories, poems, and songs, often sampled in their native tongues.

Great book and stellar narrator

Best narration I've ever heard. This was a complicated read, but between the writing and unbelievably skilled narration, e.g., languages and type of materials read, it was easy to follow. Highly recommend.

Excellent!

No state lasts forever.. Some perish quite prematurely. A good lesson for us all in 2023! Beautifully researched, written and read!

Informative

I have ancestry in 5 of these vanished kingdoms. It was interesting to learn the history behind them, which is often ignored.