Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Heaven's Command
    Heaven's Command
    Heaven's Command
    Audiobook20 hours

    Heaven's Command

    Written by Jan Morris

    Narrated by Roy McMillan

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Pax Britannica trilogy is Jan Morris’s masterly telling of the British Empire from the accession of Queen Victoria to the death of Winston Churchill. It is a towering achievement: informative, accessible, entertaining and written with all her usual bravura. Heaven’s Command, the first volume, takes us from the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Diamond Jubilee in 1897, moving effortlessly across the Empire, from the shores of England to Fiji, Zululand, the Canadian prairies and beyond. Truly gripping history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateApr 1, 2011
    ISBN9781843794660
    Heaven's Command

    More audiobooks from Jan Morris

    Related to Heaven's Command

    Related audiobooks

    European History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Reconquistadors

      Apr 15, 2021

      Reconquistadors
      3 min read

    • Article

      “In China, The Fear Of Chaos And The Desire For Order Come First”

      Jul 8, 2021

      MICHAEL WOOD ON… UNDERSTANDING THE “CHINESE WAY” This summer, China is on everyone’s radar. News reports and water-cooler conversations cover Hong Kong, AI, Taiwan and the human rights situation in Xinjiang. President Biden visited Europe and Britain

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Petulant King

      Nov 12, 2022

      The Petulant King
      8 min read

    • Article

      Queen Elizabeth I

      Aug 2, 2023

      Queen Elizabeth I
      6 min read

    • Article

      'Black Tudors' Reveals a Surprising and Overlooked Chapter of History

      Nov 16, 2017

      Hidden in British archives and parish records are the identities of dozens of black people who lived in England during Tudor times.

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Special Relationship

      Mar 20, 2024

      A Special Relationship
      5 min read

    • Article

      Miscellany

      Oct 26, 2023

      Miscellany
      9 min read

    • Article

      Crazy For Cider

      Aug 25, 2021

      JAMES CROWDEN is a poet, shepherd and total cider nut. In this, at least his third book on the subject, there is no other drink but that it suffers from his passion for cider, apple brandy and cider’s delicate, sweet sister, perry—and almost no momen

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Landscape Was His Mistress

      Feb 9, 2022

      IN 1802, John Constable wrote seven observations and resolutions about art. In them, among other things, he pledged to follow Nature, to make ‘unaffected’ pictures, and to avoid ‘common place people’. He also declared that ‘there is no easy way of be

      5 min read

    • Article

      Royal & loyal

      Sep 18, 2022

      Though it is the literal truth, the expression “born to rule” fitted Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the late Queen Elizabeth II, remarkably poorly. She was born a Princess of York, but her father wept bitter tears when he learnt 10 years later that he wou

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Queen Of The World

      Sep 8, 2022

      The Queen Of The World
      14 min read

    • Article

      Crowning Glory

      May 21, 2023

      Crowning Glory
      2 min read

    • Article

      Crowning Glory

      May 21, 2023

      Crowning Glory
      2 min read

    • Article

      'The Debatable Land' Probes The History Of A Chink In The Scottish-English Border

      Jun 19, 2018

      British historian Graham Robb explores the land that once supported the descendents of the first king of Scotland.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Home From Home

      Jun 23, 2021

      Home From Home
      6 min read

    • Article

      Michael Wood On…

      Oct 26, 2023

      Michael Wood On…
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Elizabethans

      Mar 14, 2024

      Although she is often hailed as a feminist icon, Elizabeth I was deeply conventional in her views of the female sex. In the most famous of her speeches, delivered as the Armada threatened England’s shores, she regretfully observed: “I know I have the

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Heaven's Command

    4.5/5

    136 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      ok
      Heaven's Command---An Imperial Progress by James Morris
      Just finished this first volume of Morris' trilogy on the British Empire. All the characters and incidents are here: Gladstone, Disraeli, Cecil Rhodes, General Gordon, Parnell, Napier, the Zulus, the Sepoy Rebellion, Richard Burton, Livingston, Stanley, General Wolseley, the discovery of the source of the Nile, the extermination of the native Tasmanians, the Ashanti War, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, the first Boer War, the Boer Victory at Majuba, Irish Home Rule, Paul Kruger, British Afghan disaster of 1842, the Hudson Bay Company, the Fenians, the Irish Famine, Daniel O'Connell, the Lawrences and the conquest of the Punjab, the Great Exhibition of 1951, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Lord Palmerston, etc.

      Some poetry. First we hear of Irish resentment.

      O Paddy dear an' did ye here the news that's go in' round?
      The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!

      And Kipling said to the USA about how tough it was--ruling an Empire:
      Take up the White Man's Burden----
      Have done with childish days----
      The lightly proffered laurel,
      The easy, ungrudged, praise.

      Tennyson on the superiority of British culture:
      Through the shadow of the globe we sweep into the younger day;
      Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.

      In summary, this was a fascinating start to a time when the sun never set on the British Empire.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Jan Morris has a great eye for interesting detail and, being a travel writer, is able to evoke time and place with beautifully crafted language. Great prose with intriguing dashes of the poetic. Having studied British History in the 1970s I am naturally sympathetic to her views and tone. Younger readers may find it unfashionably sympathetic towards some aspects of Empire, although she does not shy away from slavery, famine and misrule. She does not cover the opium wars which are a particularly venal episode in our relations with China but apart from that she tells the story using the main currents of history with some interesting and lesser known detours. I would recommend it as giving a more conventional telling of the tale, untouched by the revisionism and deconstructionism of the modern historiographical school. Modern readers can still find enjoyment and illumination here. The language is full of fun, allusion, light, shade and colour. A pleasure to listen to.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A beautifully narrated book that held my attention after just listening to Chapter 1. I never thought that a book dealing with the conquests of the British royalty, for whom I have no great love or admiration, could grasp me from the beginning. The diction was sublime, as were all the myriad quotes from those Victorian characters. It is a truly edifying book, and this part of the world's history so captivating that I would venture to listen to it again!
    • 4/5
      It is always a pleasure to read a Jan Morris book even if the subject is of limited interest, but in this case, she is covering an era of which I knew relatively little, the British Empire during the reign of Victoria. She populates the book with a cast of memorable characters, some of whom I had heard of (Gladstone and Disraeli) but many others I had never come across, mainly military. She brings them to life through the quality of her writing. Fortunately she is a prolific writer so there are many more books for me still to read.
    • 4/5
      Unless you have studied the history of the 19th century in earnest, you are probably like me - you pick up bits and pieces from all manner of sources. For me that includes everything from Kent's Bolitho, to Cornwell's Sharpe, to Fraser's Flashman. This series ties much of it together, providing an overall context and basis in fact, allowing you to better judge fact from fiction. Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      This is a flashy and fairly superficial survey of the Empah at the given moment. If you haven't read much in this area, this is a good first survey book. The prose is clear.
    • 4/5
      A bit dated in some ways, but still an entertaining overview of British imperialism during Victoria's reign. The anecdotal style, pepped up by Morris's first-hand knowledge of many of the places involved, makes it a quick, amusing read, with a few serious insights buried here and there as well.