検索キーワード： ナレーター "Matthew J. Chandler-Smith" すべてのカテゴリー

James Brown is known as the “Godfather of Soul”—and for good reason. All you have to do is listen to that signature James Brown sound, and you understand the impact he made on music. Just one lip curl and Elvis was sent running. Just one “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and Michael Jackson was inspired. It seems that James Brown’s every move has somehow made an impact on the world of music.

In this audiobook, you will hear about the Vietnamese, who fought for their country against an enemy with superior weaponry and naval support. Learn about why the world powers of China, the Soviet Union, and the United States all got involved in the First Indochina War, and how that led to the division of Vietnam into a communist North Vietnam and capitalist South Vietnam in the years leading up to the Vietnam War.

Irish author Bram Stoker is considered one of the masters of Gothic horror, in large part due to his creation of one of modern culture’s most enduring villains, Count Dracula. Making a life first in civil service and then in the theater, Stoker drew upon his personal experiences, his deepest fears, and the larger-than-life people in his inner circle to create his timeless masterpiece, cementing his own immortality in the process.

Red Cloud’s War was one conflict in the long series of Indian Wars fought between the United States and the indigenous nations of North America. As White Americans scrambled for wealth and land further and further west, the people who had inhabited these regions for centuries fought to maintain their autonomy and way of life. Red Cloud was a Lakota Indian who fought alongside the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples against the might of the United States Army between 1866 and 1868.

The American Civil War was a long and bloody conflict whose effects are still felt today in the United States. The descendants of the men who fought in the war continue to pay the fallen their respects and remember the events of the war, the various battles, and the personalities of the many leaders involved.

Seen by many as one of America’s greatest presidents, Harry S. Truman was, in many ways, an unexpected president. He came from a very undistinguished background and is, in fact, the only US president in recent history with the honor of being a college dropout. Despite what he may have lacked in formal education, Truman was a quick learner from the real-life experience he was given on the world stage. As president, he gets the credit for some major milestones in American policy. Here, in this book, we cover the dynamic life and powerful legacy of President Harry S. Truman in full.

When the establishment of the State of Israel was announced on May 14, 1948, it seemed to many people that the new nation could not survive for long. The haste with which it was created meant that Israel lacked the infrastructure of government, and its armed forces consisted of little more than a handful of lightly armed former guerilla fighters. Ranged against it were some of the most powerful nations in the Arab world, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria.

One of Hitler’s most notorious henchmen, Hermann Göring was the bulldog who obediently followed orders while destroying countless lives. In his early career as the leader of the SA, also known as the Brownshirts or Stormtroopers, Göring played a pivotal role in suppressing any and all opposition to the Nazi Party. He was also implicated in the Reichstag Fire of 1933, an event that resulted in the suspension of civil liberties in Germany and greatly aided in the consolidation of Nazi control.

In the 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secretly planned, supported, and funded two coups: one in Guatemala and one in Iran. This was the height of the Cold War, and both deposed governments were suspected of leaning to the left and favoring closer ties with the Soviet Union, while the regimes that replaced them were more inclined to look favorably on the United States.

Amy Winehouse was one of the most iconic voices of her generation. Born in London in 1983, she rose to fame with her soulful, jazz-inspired music, and became a household name with hits like “Rehab” and “Back to Black.” However, behind her success laid a life of personal struggles and addiction that ultimately led to her tragic death at 27-years-old.

The Punic Wars, a series of three wars involving the Roman Republic and Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE, did much to shape the subsequent history of the world. These wars were among the most important of any fought in the ancient world and led directly to the power and reach of the later Roman Empire. One of these wars also saw the emergence of two men who would become revered as among the greatest military leaders of all time: the Carthaginian leader Hannibal Barca and the Roman General Scipio Africanus....

A main architect of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler was perhaps one of the most ruthless men that ever lived. For most, this would be hyperbole, but for Himmler, such words would seem like a rather apt description.

Apartheid, a state-sponsored policy of discrimination and segregation, was introduced and brutally enforced in South Africa for more than 40 years. It led to thousands of deaths, mass arrests, torture of prisoners, and to the suspension of the most basic human rights for the majority of Black South Africans. How did this come to be, and how did a modern state come to enact and enforce a series of laws deliberately designed to ensure poverty and lack of opportunity for the majority of its population?

Nikita Khrushchev came to power in the aftermath of the notorious Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s death. Although Khrushchev came on the scene with aggression and fury (the world would never forget how he declared that he would bury the West), he was ultimately a much more peaceful Soviet leader than Stalin ever was. Even when the Cold War was at its most dangerous point during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was, in many ways, the measured restraint of Khrushchev which helped to avoid unleashing nuclear Armageddon.

Even half a century after his death, Humphrey Bogart remains one of the most iconic actors of all time. The epitome of class and cool, he embodied the ultimate tough guy—and no one wore a fedora quite like him. “Bogie” began life under uncertain circumstances, born to parents addicted to drugs and disorder, but he would rise above these difficulties to become a star. From Broadway to Hollywood, he became a top-billed actor, the likes of which the world has rarely seen.

At one point, the Japanese Empire was one of the largest the world had ever seen, governing almost 20 percent of the total population of the Earth. One of the most striking features of this empire was the rapidity with which it grew. In 1870, Japan was a largely agrarian nation with a culture and society based on feudal values.

What would become the Russian Empire began in the ninth century. In 1682, a new tsar took over the nation that had become known as Russia. Peter I, remembered as Peter the Great, transformed the country, and in 1721, he adopted the title of emperor. A series of powerful rulers, including Catherine the Great, built on the foundations that Peter had created to expand the territory controlled by the Russian Empire until it became one of the largest empires the world had ever seen. At its zenith, the Russian Empire controlled over one-sixth of the total landmass of the Earth

Little Richard was an incredible performer and musical pioneer who revolutionized music for generations to come. For just about anyone else, such words might sound like hyperbole, but for Little Richard, it’s the pure and simple truth. Little Richard, with his jumpy driving sound and innovative vocalizations, certainly earned his title as the “Architect of Rock and Roll.”

In 1066, England was in a state of turmoil. King Edward the Confessor had died, leaving behind no heirs and no clear line of succession. It is said that he had promised the English throne to his distant cousin, William, the Duke of Normandy, but after Edward’s death, Harold Godwinson took the throne, claiming that the king had left it to him just before he passed away. The crowning of Harold met with William’s displeasure, and he immediately prepared to invade England.

The Gallipoli Campaign is known as one of the worst blunders committed by the Allied Forces during the First World War. Despite being first thought up long before the beginning of the war, it was ultimately a hastily arranged campaign that the British hoped would knock the Ottoman Empire—one of the Central Powers—out of the war and slow the German war machine. With Germany finding success on every front, the Allies were desperate for new ideas.