The Power and the Glory
The Country House Before the Great War
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The Power and the Glory
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Narrated by:
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Matthew Spencer
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Adrian Tinniswood opens the doors on the excess, intrigue and absurdities of life in the late Victorian and Edwardian country house
In the decades before the First World War, the owners of the nation’s stately homes revelled in a golden age of glory and glamour. Nothing lay beyond their reach in a world where privilege and hedonism went hand-in-hand with duty and honour.
This was a time when the ancestral seats of ancient nobility stood side-by-side with the fabulous palaces of Jewish bankers and Indian princes, when dukes and duchesses mixed with aristocratic society hostesses who had learned to dance in the chorus line and self-made millionaires who had been raised in the slums of Manchester and Birmingham.
The Power and the Glory explores the country house during this golden age, when Britain ruled over a quarter of the world’s population, when its stately homes were at their most opulent and when, for the privileged few, life in the country house was the best life of all.
'Glamour, scholarship and superlative storytelling [...] an enthralling read.'
LUCY WORSLEY
'A wonderful book.'
JUDITH FLANDERS
'Scintillating and brilliant, from a master of the subject.'
GARETH RUSSELL
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What listeners say about The Power and the Glory
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- taylor
- 29-12-24
The history
A very interesting book, I thoroughly enjoyed it . I would recommend it. I will listen to it again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jane
- 06-01-25
Adrian Tinniswood, The Power and the Glory
For me, the double volume social history of the country house is riveting. Not only are these works also social geographies, they help to explain the almost complete change in the class-based use of space. In addition, they explain why some of the remaining edifices are now grand hotels or golf clubs and leisure centres. I was sad and regretful over the vanishing villages and vanishing or ruined and remaining homes that are now either museums or abandoned, like some Jacobean houses in central England. Above all, the changes in garden design, especially under Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Lutyens, is fascinating. I recommend both volumes highly. Dr Jane Starfield
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-12-24
Anti-British and Mispronunciations
Writer has fallen into the British hating and woke mindset. On top of which there is a narrator who manages to mispronounce one place after another in Britain. The book just rambles from one point to another and is written by someone who clearly has no pride in Britain and the country’s achievements. Intellectually stunted and very depressing - a book best avoided.
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