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1666

Plague, War and Hellfire

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1666

By: Rebecca Rideal
Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown
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About this listen

1666 was a watershed year for England. The outbreak of the Great Plague, the eruption of the second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London all struck the country in rapid succession and with devastating repercussions.

Shedding light on these dramatic events, historian Rebecca Rideal reveals an unprecedented period of terror and triumph. Based on original archival research and drawing on little-known sources, 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire takes listeners on a thrilling journey through a crucial turning point in English history, as seen through the eyes of an extraordinary cast of historical characters.

While the central events of this significant year were ones of devastation and defeat, 1666 also offers a glimpse of the incredible scientific and artistic progress being made at that time, from Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity to Robert Hooke's microscopic wonders. It was in this year that John Milton completed Paradise Lost, Frances Stewart posed for the now-iconic image of Britannia, and a young architect named Christopher Wren proposed a plan for a new London - a stone phoenix to rise from the charred ashes of the old city.

With flair and style, 1666 shows a city and a country on the cusp of modernity, and a series of events that forever altered the course of history.

Cover image: The Great Fire of 1666, detail of a coloured woodcut by Matthaus Merian the Younger, courtesy of Swiss Re Company Archives, SRCA 10.122.727.01.

©2016 Rebecca Rideal (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
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What listeners say about 1666

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informative, holds your interest throughout

very informative, crash course on the sequence of events during that time giving a detailed insight to the landscape, the individuals involved and the suffering of the people

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    5 out of 5 stars
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fascinating insight to 1666

A brilliant read from start to finish. Narration was easy on the ears. Detailed and informative

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Fabulously Told, Humanising History

An entertaining and informative testimony of the age, explored largely through the point of views of those who lived through it. As a historian, I already knew a fair bit about the time, yet I found myself frequently listening to details I'd never known. It takes us on a journey into the streets - and often living rooms - of Londoners dealing with changing mores in the arts and science, as well as the honeymoon uncertainty of a restored monarch. Then war, plague, more war, fire and yet more war, alongside resilience, lessons learned and rebuilding. I felt like I knew the individuals personally as their stories interwove into the whole telling. No dry history this, but an engaging one doing its job of testifying to tumult that unfolded and the changes that resonate to this day.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Dramatic, personal, illuminating

A very interesting book, filled with personal and specific details which enable one to get a sense of 'what it was like' to live in 1666. This book is, however, very highly dependent on the diaries of Pepys and Spencer, making much of the text a retelling of their recollections rather than anything broader. As a result of the sources used (and, no doubt, the author's interest), this is not so much a history of 1666 in England as of 1666 in London specifically; the plague as it effected the rest of the country is mentioned only in passing and the economic and social effects of the war and fire outside of London are not discussed. This is disappointing. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting book to which I enjoyed listening, and one read well and intimately by Fullford-Brown. (I don't echo the criticism in other comments regarding her performance.)

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Great History

Brilliant and full of detail. So many facts about the time and so illuminating.

Recommended

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3 people found this helpful

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Evocative

This book was evocative of time and place with suitable quotation from contemporaries.

I found the narration very accomplished and appropriate conveyance for the content.

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Brilliant

love this book! it's so dense in detail I've listened 3 times and still hear new things. The Plague bit is really harrowing. Beautifully read.

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Great listen

A very interesting listen about a significant period of history, gives a thorough understanding of what England was like in that period of time.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

London, England

1066, 1666 dates that most English schoolchildren remember - the Battle of Hastings and the Great Fire of London. This book puts the fire into context of the times: the continual wars with the Dutch, alliances and conflicts with other European neighbors, the plague and finally from the ashes the Phoenix of the new London of bricks and mortar, a skyline dominated by Wren’s St Paul’s and his other churches which are still part of the fabric of London.

The story is a bit dry to begin with but soon becomes an absorbing tale of naval battles, the mounting numbers of plague deaths and the the great fire that for four days was master of the great city with extracts of eye witness accounts of these events including the inimitable Samuel Pepys.

I am not sure that it should have been a woman narrator, but it did remind the listener that the author was a woman with a scholarly but woman’s point of view of this period.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I can’t find fault

Very well read and even well written but I came away thinking, did I actually hear anything I didn’t already know? All the usual ground was covered with the same characters, but nothing new seemed to be deduced. Perhaps the ideal book for the casual history buff. I think the title is a little off as at least a third of the events occurred in 1665 but I doubt the author had much to do with that, on the whole a good listen.

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2 people found this helpful