Showing results for "Recordings" in Historical

Born to the ranks of the lower English gentry in 1775, Jane Austen led what some have mistakenly described as an ordinary and unremarkable life - a life that ended all too soon at the age of 41. But from this life, Austen drew inspiration for six novels that all rank as literary masterpieces, including the widely beloved Pride and Prejudice. So, what do we really know about Austen’s life and influences?

Royal intrigue takes center stage in The Abyssinians, a gripping new audio drama starring Danielle Deadwyler (Till, The Piano Lesson) delivering a masterful performance as a cunning queen navigating treacherous political waters and scheming sons. In the wake of King Ezana’s death, his brash widow Queen Yodit (Deadwyler) must decide which of her twin sons will ascend to the throne. Clashing beliefs about religion, duty, and the rights of a ruler collide in this unforgettable story about a royal house at a crossroads in history.

The invention of the telephone changed the world. That’s no exaggeration. Phones are such ubiquitous features of our lives now that it can be difficult to imagine life without them, or to understand just how astonishing this invention truly was in the 19th century.

More than a decade since Michael Jackson’s death, his legacy remains complicated and unresolved.

The following two audio clips are from Friedrich August von Hayek (May 8, 1899 - March 23, 1992), who was an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Gunnar Myrdal for work on money and economic fluctuations, and how prices communicate information. His seminal work, "The Road to Serfdom," has been republished many times over the eight decades since its original publication.

Through these 10 lectures, you will delve into the darkness of Poe’s most nightmarish stories, including “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. You’ll also learn how he invented the detective story and explored themes of love and loss in such poems as “Ulalume” and “Annabel Lee”. And you’ll discover how Poe employed symbolism, imagery, rhythm and rhyme, irony and paradox, repetition, simile, and foreshadowing to create a unique body of work.

When a DNA test blows apart her father’s hidden identity many years after his death, Deb finds she has a sister, Barbara, and an entirely new family she never knew. As the sisters work to unravel more of their father’s secrets, they find his connection to a dark chapter of British-Canadian history. Will the sisters finally get to the bottom of their father’s past? Or are some secrets meant to stay buried forever?

What did the Founding Fathers think about religion? And why did a group of practicing Protestants create a republic with widespread religious liberty? The 12 lectures included in this fascinating course provide multi-layered insights into the vision, philosophies, politics, and deep-seated faith of these brilliant leaders - in their own time, in their own words.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER Master of the Senate, Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years At the...

Hermine "Miep" Gies (February 15, 1909-January 11, 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family (Otto, Margot, Edith) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels) from the Nazis in an annex above Otto Frank's business premises during World War II.

Benjamin Franklin's wide range of activities and interests opened the doors of the world to him. Printer, inventor, philosopher, ambassador, champion of liberty - his influence has been felt by every American generation. And to everything he touched, including this autobiography, Franklin brought originality and wit.

Otto Heinrich Frank (May 12, 1889-August 19, 1980) was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 (subsequently known in English as The Diary of a Young Girl) and advised on its later theatrical and cinematic adaptations. In the 1950s and the 1960s, he established European charities in his daughter's name and founded the trust which preserved his family's wartime hiding place, the Anne Frank House, in Amsterdam. The following first two audio clips are in English; the third is in Dutch.

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881-October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism and the power of consumers. He is best known for his work on human behavior studies comparing communism and capitalism.

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881-October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism and the power of consumers. He is best known for his work on human behavior studies comparing communism and capitalism.

The Education of Henry Adams is among the oddest and most enlightening books in American literature. Henry Adams was the grandson of a president and the great-grandson of another one. He was also the son of the American Ambassador to England, and his secretery. As such he rubbed elbows, literally, with Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and with many of the great figures of his time.

Hear an actual cylinder recording of Harry Houdini: "...Ladies and gentlemen. Introducing my original invention, the Water Torture Cell. Although there is nothing supernatural about it, I am willing to proffer the sum of $1,000.00 to anyone who can prove that it is possible to consume air inside of the Torture Cell when I'm locked up in it in the regulation manner after it has been filled with water."

On May 1, 1969, Fred Rogers, host of the (then) recently nationally syndicated children's television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce Subcommittee on Communications to defend $20 million in federal funding proposed for the newly formed non-profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was at risk of being reduced to $10 million.

Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (September 22, 1880-February 13, 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)—and daughter of women's suffrage movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst and radical socialist Richard Pankhurst—she directed its militant actions from exile in France from 1912 to 1913. In 1914, Pankhurst supported the war against Germany. After the war, she moved to the United States, where she worked as an evangelist for the Second Adventist movement. This is a recording from 1908.

Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 to July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant, and the Giant of Illinois, was born and raised in Alton, Illinois. He is the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. Wadlow's height was 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) while his weight reached 439 lbs (199 kg) at his death at age 22. The following audio recordings are from a 1937 New York radio interview, a 1937 Ripley's Believe It or Not radio interview, and outtakes from 1930 film footage of Wadlow as a 12 year-old.

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970) was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain. Russell was a philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, prominent anti-war activist, and an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons. On December 11, 1950, Russell delivered the following speech at the ceremony for his Nobel Prize in Literature.