Showing results by author "Hourly History" in All Categories

She was a famous American starlet who ended up living every girl’s dream of becoming a princess. This American celebrity married the prince of Monaco at the age of 26 and left Hollywood behind to become a monarch. Who was Grace Kelly? Was she an American icon? Was she the much-needed life support of an antiquated royal family? Was she just a trendsetter who got lucky, or was the character of Grace Kelly something that biographers, historians, and paparazzi all missed entirely?

In this audiobook, we will explore the man behind the revolution, explore the good and the bad of the man who - despite his lionization - was still a man with all of the foibles and complexities that can plague us all. From his days as a carefree medical student roving the South American countryside to his tenure as the most preeminent revolutionary in the world, the true story of Che Guevara is finally uncovered.

He’s the president with the asterisk by his name: Richard Milhous Nixon, the only US president to resign from office. But Richard Nixon’s legacy to the history of the US is much more complicated than the scandal of Watergate. His is the classic story of American legend - a young man who rose from his humble roots to achieve power and influence. Was Nixon a villain or a hero? Meet the president whose personality consisted of conflicting layers of pragmatism, patriotism, and self-doubt, which caused a fall from grace that roiled American democracy.

Mary I, perhaps best known by the moniker Bloody Mary, was England’s first female monarch who ruled in her own right. A fighter from birth, she was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary would make her way back to her father’s good graces after being cast out by him in favor of his numerous wives and would eventually undo her father’s religious reforms by restoring Roman Catholicism in England. The fourth Tudor to rule England, Mary is remembered for burning around 300 Protestants at the stake on her quest for religious reform.

One of the foremost screen sirens of her era, Katharine Hepburn was universally known for her grace, wit, and charm. She rose to the top of celebrity status in the great Golden Age of Hollywood, and she was able to maintain her sense of stardom all the way to her twilight years. During her many years in the limelight, Hepburn was dogged by wild gossip and rumors due to her eccentricities and often solitary lifestyle. This book cuts through all the noise and gets down to the core of Katharine Hepburn as we examine how she lived and loved.

This audiobook provides an introduction to one of the most intriguing wars of modern times - a war that saw several innovations, including the use of heliography and indirect fire, and caused the complete overhaul of the great Imperial British fighting machine in its aftermath. It also tells of the first example of the brilliant use of guerrilla warfare by the people who, to this day, have never been outclassed: the Boer commandos.

As the sole legitimate child of Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace was the progeny of literary royalty. Many might have naturally expected her to go into the field of her father, but instead of delving into poetry, she delved into the hard sciences of mathematics and analytic thinking. Even so, Ada still had the imagination of a lyricist when writing scientific treatises, at times referring to her own work as nothing short of “poetical science”.

Discover the remarkable life of Chester A. Arthur... Chester A. Arthur is not a name that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of great American presidents. He is, in many ways, the forgotten man of the White House, and most Americans would probably struggle to place him, let alone recall what he actually did. And yet his story is remarkable and, in many ways, surprising.

Imagine a society with no unemployment, zero inflation, free healthcare and education, free childcare, virtually no serious crime, and where women and men are treated with absolute equality. Such a society has existed: in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), popularly known as East Germany.

There are moments in history when two different people who have two completely different visions of the future rise to prominence at the same time and in the same exact place. The Chinese Civil War, which saw Chiang Kai-shek and his rival Mao Zedong fighting for the future of China, is a great case in point. Chiang believed that China should modernize and embrace capitalism. Mao, however, believed that communist doctrine would be the true salvation for the Chinese masses.

This guide succeeds in presenting an overall sketch of the creation of the world and the battles that follow, resulting in Zeus taking his place as the supreme god and ruling the earth from Mount Olympus. It covers the creation of man, it seems as a bit of an afterthought for the amusement of the Olympians, and some of the most famous stories that have come down to us via the writings of the great dramatists of the Classical Age.

Charles II of England remains one of the most easily identifiable and best known of England’s monarchs. Deprived of his throne following the execution of his father, he contended with hardship and exile before achieving a peaceful restoration and the beginning of what would be remembered as a colorful period of English history. His reign also led to the creation of the two-party system that would shape English and later British politics for centuries to come.

Nikola Tesla was a major figure in the world in which he lived. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, it was Tesla who would contribute to some of the world's most amazing inventions. It was Tesla's theories, patents, and experiments that would pave the way for the digital, wireless world we are so familiar with today. Tesla didn't enjoy the high honors bestowed on so many of his contemporaries, yet he enjoyed the power of knowing that it was his inventions that were powering the world, literally.

Caligula was one of the first rulers of the Roman Empire, and yet numbers among the most famous. His family history is mired in political scandals, tragedy, and murderous plots to forward the agendas of shadowy cabals that sought to oppose the nation in its early infancy. The full story of his life begins long before his birth, and his legacy continues long after his sensational murder at the hands of those closest to him.

Johnny Cash, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, was born into a family of impoverished sharecroppers during the Great Depression. From an early age, he picked cotton with his siblings at an Arkansas farm, learning the value of grit and hard work already as a young child. Cash never forgot where he came from, and he kept with him a defiant spirit and a sheer resilience that would be infused into classic songs known the world over. As much as Cash had his strengths, he also had his weaknesses.

Amelia Earhart was a legend - but perhaps an unlikely one at that. You see, Amelia Earhart was not always the dashing heroine that most of us associate with her name. She began life as a rather shy girl, who often found herself having to hide from her troubled upbringing. As her family life spiraled out of control, Amelia Earhart was forced to move from state to state, town to town, never getting the chance to put down roots. The high school she graduated from was one of many she attended, and a caption by her photo for that semester’s yearbook seems to have said it all.

Discover the remarkable life of Boudica... Boudica was the queen of her people, a proud Celtic tribe in the east of England, and she took that responsibility seriously. In a time when the Romans sought to add the British Isles to their ever-growing empire, she stood as the last line of defense between her tribe and total subjugation. And so, with nothing left to lose, she did what few had ever dared: she led her people in open revolt against the mightiest empire on earth.

George Stephenson is one of the world’s most famous engineers. His pioneering work on steam-powered locomotion would supercharge the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom and help bring about the heyday of the British Empire.

The Sumerians settled in the area known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, around 5,000 years ago. They produced many fundamental changes to the way in which human societies developed - these were the first city-builders, the first people to use wheeled vehicles, the first methodical astronomers, and the first people to develop a sophisticated written language. The Sumerians also produced art, music, and literature as well as created some of the first professional soldiers the world had ever seen.

From working in a shoe-blacking factory as a 12-year-old to help his family while his father was in debtor’s prison, Charles Dickens rose to become one of the best-known novelists of all time. In this book, you’ll meet the author who not only wrote famous novels like Great Expectations and David Copperfield, but whose work also helped to develop and popularize the genre of the novel.