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Iron Kingdom

The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

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Iron Kingdom

Written by: Christopher Clark
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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In the aftermath of World War II, Prussia - a centuries-old state pivotal to Europe's development - ceased to exist. In their eagerness to erase all traces of the Third Reich from the earth, the Allies believed that Prussia, the very embodiment of German militarism, had to be abolished. But as Christopher Clark reveals in this pioneering history, Prussia's legacy is far more complex.

What we find is a kingdom that existed nearly half a millennium ago as a patchwork of territorial fragments, with neither significant resources nor a coherent culture. With its capital in Berlin, Prussia grew from being a small, poor, disregarded medieval state into one of the most vigorous and powerful nations in Europe. Iron Kingdom traces Prussia's involvement in the continent's foundational religious and political conflagrations: from the devastations of the Thirty Years' War through centuries of political machinations to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, from the enlightenment of Frederick the Great to the destructive conquests of Napoleon, and from the "iron and blood" policies of Bismarck to the creation of the German Empire in 1871 and all that implied for the tumultuous 20th century.

©2006 Christopher Clark (P)2017 Tantor Europe Germany Military Western Western Europe War Middle Ages Royalty Imperialism Socialism
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The best effort was likely made to keep material this dense from being dry, and the narrator made a commendable effort to add inflection wherever possible. The beginning was the hardest as I had just finished listening to the monumental Peter the Great narration, which was a lovely experience in its general lightness. This tome contains more info but does not have nearly the atmosphere of Peter. In all, this listen was a tall ask but I made it through and learned a lot.

Rich in details

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1410 victory over Teutonic Order does not belong to Moscovites... Oops.
Small glitch in otherwise good story.

Good audio.

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A fascinating listen. But the narrator mispronounces almost every German name. Despite this, entirely worth a listen and details the history of Prussia.

Infuriating narrator can't say German names

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If you're a real history buff, this book is for you. Otherwise...
This is a scholarly work. Well-researched, full of quotes. I bet the paper version has plenty of footnotes. Clark's descriptions of military events is spot-on. The sociopolitical discussions are less palatable. The book generally follows a linear timeline, but jumps around a bit based on the subject matter. If you're studying Prussian History, this work has all you need.
Unfortunately, the topic, outside of a college class, is pretty dry - and doesn't translate well to the audiobook configuration. Further, in the download there are no chapter headings - a date range for each chapter would have been helpful to be able to navigate through this 29 (twenty-nine!!) hour recording. The paper form of the book, with an index, would be a great desk-reference.
Shaun Grindell is an average reader...not terrible given the subject matter. His tone is good, he reads German and Latin words fairly accurately (albeit not perfectly), and he tries to inject a modicum of emotion into the text. But I swear I heard him stifling a yawn at one point.
It's likely worth 6 stars out of 10, but I can't give it that. Buy the hard copy.

Good History Textbook. Not Good Format

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The narrators German pronunciation is terrible - even mine is probably better - and his English pronunciation is pretty peculiar as well. All of that made the book a lot harder to understand and follow, which is too bad as Clark really knows his stuff.

Good book, poor narration

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