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In Search of the Dark Ages

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In Search of the Dark Ages

By: Michael Wood
Narrated by: Marston York
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.

Alongside portraits of Boadicea, King Arthur, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, and William the Conqueror, the story of England is expanded further to include new voices, with all-new chapters on fascinating characters such as Penda of Mercia, Aethelflaed Lady of the Mercians, Hadrian the African, Eadgyth of England and Wynflaed. It's an altogether richer, more varied and inclusive study on the creation of Britain.

Just as it did when it first published 40 years ago, In Search of the Dark Ages overturns preconceptions of the Early Middle Ages as a shadowy and brutal era, showing them to be a richly exciting and formative period in the history of Britain.

©2001 Michael Wood (P)2022 Penguin Audio Europe Great Britain Medieval Military England Arthurian

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All stars
Most relevant  
Unfortunately pages 53-56 are missing. Hopefully these are the only ones. Narrator is excellent

Very good

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A wonderful introduction to the Dark Ages in England which is both informative and entertaining. A masterfully presented standard in popular history. Michael Wood is a treasure.

Outstanding

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I loved it. I have listened 3x and it still fills me with fascination . You feel as if you are in the mind of the shapers of a half millenium .

A wonderful review of history .

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I enjoyed listening to this so much, the narrator is excellent (especially given the unusual names and words to pronounce from old English, Danish etc). I felt the historical figures were really brought to life and given a detailed setting of the times they lived through. if only there was more!

fantastic book

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I'm on a bit of a history binge at the moment, so most of this was familiar enough to be interesting. However, there were several points that where it would have made sense to dive deeper into the primary source material, or examine the conclusions the author made. But instead, the author skimmed over a lot of interesting material e.g. that Harold probably wasn't killed by an arrow to the eye. Still, it was an okay book.

Mostly okay

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A wonderful book by a fabulous author and read beautifully- the editing is a bit dodgy in the first 2 chapters.

Issues with editing

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reason for 3 stars on performance was purely down to some editing mistakes I think, here and there. At the end of chapter 2 it ends abruptly mid sentence..what was it going to be for the conclusion of the King Arthur story and myth!!

Otherwise I found it excellent and up there for me with Michael Woods best writings. I can highly recommend it.

Excellent update on a classic book

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Nice voice and gave me a better understanding of a part of history I knew little about

Very informative

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A seminal work. Accessible, interesting and well read by the narrator. Well worth a listen.

Magnificent.

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I very much enjoyed listening to this. It wasn't overly long, like many historical works can be and wasn't dry and boring. My knowledge of the dark ages isn't great so it was a treat to hear of this period in more detail. Obviously well researched. Of course there were some perhaps and maybes but this is understandable as it was so long ago that there are bound to be gaps in the historical record, the author would admit this instead of just voicing personal opinion as I've seen elsewhere. The narrator was excellent.

Loved it

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