This is the eighth in a regular weekly series (every Wednesday) of 4 Audible reviews, broken down into the categories, which I selected for my first Audible blog (Dan’s Top 5 Reasons to Start Listening to Audible.co.uk) and subdivided, where helpful.
This week’s is the second one to cover ‘learning something new’. Links to where you can purchase each of the titles for yourself (via Audible) are available by clicking the relevant title or photograph. Enjoy!
I know of no other historian who has so successfully combined being both an exceptional scholar and such a truly compelling presenter.
Starkey is, of course, never less than fascinating when dealing with his particular passion for the Tudor Titans, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, but he broadens his range, in this book, to extend effortlessly from the Tudors to Queen Victoria.
Whilst the majority of the stories he relates are probably familiar to British citizens, Starkey has a distinct knack for bringing these historical characters to life. He never talks down to his audience, if occasionally delighting in provoking them.
One never quite knows what Starkey’s personal take on the necessity of a British monarchy really is, although, judging from the interview which follows the book, he clearly has interesting debates on the subject with the current Royal Family. He certainly remains in thrall to this unique set of people who shaped our small island and whom often affected the entire world.
In relating the fascinating story of the rise of organised crime in America, truth is stranger than fiction, it seems. The stories of the Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese families are, quite simply, extraordinary. Equally of interest are the attempts by the agencies of the US government to bring them to heel, aided in more recent days with improvements in surveillance techniques and the harsh sentences which served to break omertà, the code of silence which previously protected the bosses.
Amongst many superb anecdotes in this audio book, my favourite tale was of Vincent Gigante who, for thirty years, feigned insanity to throw law enforcement off his trail. Eat your heart out Sir Daniel Day Lewis – this was a truly inspiring case of method acting! Mumbling incoherently to himself and roaming Greenwich Village in his bathrobe and slippers, Gigante almost got away with disguising the fact that, following John Gotti’s incarceration, he had become the most powerful crime boss in the United States.
‘They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper’ by Bruce Robinson
I’m just a little tired of authors declaring ‘case closed’ on a series of Victorian murders which will forever remain a mystery. At 30 hours and 31 minutes, this is clearly an enormous passion project for Bruce Robinson, the legendary writer and director of Withnail and I. Has he discovered the identity of the Ripper? No, I’m afraid that, despite his vehement assertions, he has not. His theory is just as ludicrous as the ones he sees so fit (at some length) to deride.
The problem is that Jack is an extremely slippery customer and, just when you think you have him cornered, he twists away into the dark. Robinson sets much store by the Ripper letters, for instance, which have, in the past month, been completely discredited, as the work of an ambitious journalist, leaving his masterwork in tatters. Whilst Robinson’s weaving of completely unconnected murders and outright pranks to fit with his personal belief in his suspect is intriguing it is also, at times, patently ridiculous. Robinson’s disgust at the Victorian establishment is more than justified but it doesn’t make him right and colours his every poe-faced pronouncement.
Without some unforeseen forensic breakthrough, we are destined never to know this particular serial killer’s name but that, of course, is what holds and will continue to hold the public’s imagination. You might think you know him but you really don’t.
‘Hitler’s Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich’ by Eric Kurlander
I think that this is actually my first negative review of an Audible book – I guess that I’m an unusual critic, in that I would rather concentrate on things that I have enjoyed and recommend. I’m afraid, however, that this is basically the sort of Nazi ‘clickbait’ that Channel 5 excel in producing and I am sorry that I fell for it. Essentially, I’ve reviewed it here, so that you don’t have to invest any of your own precious time in it.
The sad thing is that this is actually a fascinating subject – just how far the Nazi leadership were invested in fantastic supernatural notions deserves a decent exploration but, unfortunately, this ain’t it. Kurlander has mired his study in deeply, deeply dull prose. It is 18 hours of desperately, dry dissertation. That’s not to say Kurlander’s book is not well-researched, it is witheringly meticulous, but his decision to focus so much on the absurd ‘World Ice Theory’ at the expense of rather more interesting material was a poor one. Unfortunately, this audio book is not helped by dreadful narration by Grover Gardner who frequently and embarrassingly mispronounces German words and names. Avoid.