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The Proud Tower
- A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
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The Proud Tower
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Summary
"The diplomatic origins, so-called, of the War are only the fever chart of the patient; they do not tell us what caused the fever. To probe for underlying causes and deeper forces one must operate within the framework of a whole society and try to discover what moved the people in it." (Barbara W. Tuchman)
The fateful quarter-century leading up to World War I was a time when the world of privilege still existed in Olympian luxury and the world of protest was heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate. The age was the climax of a century of the most accelerated rate of change in history, a cataclysmic shaping of destiny.
In The Proud Tower, Barbara Tuchman concentrates on society rather than the state. With an artist's selectivity, Tuchman brings to vivid life the people, places, and events that shaped the years leading up to the Great War: the Edwardian aristocracy and the end of their reign; the Anarchists of Europe and America, who voiced the protest of the oppressed; Germany, as portrayed through the figure of the self-depicted hero, Richard Strauss; the sudden gorgeous blaze of Diaghilev's Russian Ballet and Stravinsky's music; the Dreyfus Affair; the two Peace Conferences at the Hague; and, finally, the youth, ideals, enthusiasm, and tragedy of Socialism, epitomized in the moment when the heroic Jean Jaures was shot to death on the night the War began and an epoch ended.
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Critic reviews
"It would be impossible to read The Proud Tower without pleasure and admiration." (The New York Times)
"Tuchman proved in The Guns of August that she could write better military history than most men. In this sequel, she tells her story with cool wit and warm understanding." (Time)
What listeners say about The Proud Tower
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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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Leigh
- 28-08-21
Superb account of politics and society before 1914
Superb account of politics and society before 1914; a great complement to her earlier book, August 1914 (The Guns of August).
Beautifully read.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jim
- 21-02-14
A triumph of "amateur" history
There are a flurry of new books about the run up to WW1. But despite its being nearly 50 years old I went for Tuchman because The Guns of August is a wonderful account of the war itself, A Distant Mirror is one of my favourite listens about medieval life and in all her writing she strikes a nice balance between strategic overview, domestic detail and vivid personalities. Other subscribers have complained that Tuchman's narrators sound so upper class that it puts them off but that's always felt to me to be a dumb thing to criticise. No narrator should have to apologise for their origins and narration should surely be judged by clarity and tone. Tuchman's stuff always scores highly in both regards.
The Proud Tower itself emerges from Tuchman's research as a sequence of essays on aspects of life between 1890 to 1914 that struck her as significant. It's not the books she expected to write and as a result it's not the book I expected to read making it more interesting and surprising than I anticipated. An example of this is the time she spends focusing on the significance of anarchism and its relationship to the emerging communist ideology. Not a subject I knew much about and not one I thought of as influential in the run up to the war but Tuchman makes an interesting and compelling case for its significance.
I'm only giving this 4 stars because it didn't quite reach the extraordinarily high standards of the books mentioned above but frankly not much does. But if you fancy a bit of old school history with a really strong authorial voice this is a great listen
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6 people found this helpful
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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
- rezonville
- 22-08-20
Predictably excellent
As usual, hugely interesting and superbly written. It is a good idea, I think, to read this before progressing to August 1914.
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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
- fndktr
- 08-10-19
Maybe Barbara Tuchman's best
This might be my favourite from Tuchman. The narrative and subject matter fits her style very well, and the book remains entertaining and revealing throughout. I also thought the narrator, who I haven't been a huge fan of in the past, did a great job here bringing it to life.
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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
- gordon w
- 08-01-22
complex story brilliantly told
An important and timeless exposition of human and political drives which lead to conflict.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- pozcorporation
- 12-03-18
parts great others boring.
if u r interested in music then you'll enjoy those parts more than I did. loved the politics and social aspects
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- susan cumisky
- 02-04-22
Interesting times
It was a bit complicated to follow at times just like the times themselves. Worth listening to though as it put events into context and there were some interesting succinct descriptions of major figures.
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