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    Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty
    Unavailable
    Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty
    Unavailable
    Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty
    Audiobook7 hours

    Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles-even its language-can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange document and how did it gain such legendary status?

    Dan Jones takes us back to the turbulent year of 1215, when, beset by foreign crises and cornered by a growing domestic rebellion, King John reluctantly agreed to fix his seal to a document that would change the course of history. At the time of its creation the Magna Carta was just a peace treaty drafted by a group of rebel barons who were tired of the king's high taxes, arbitrary justice, and endless foreign wars. The fragile peace it established would last only two months, but its principles have reverberated over the centuries. 

    Jones's riveting narrative follows the story of the Magna Carta's creation, its failure, and the war that subsequently engulfed England, and charts the high points in its unexpected afterlife. Reissued by King John's successors it protected the Church, banned unlawful imprisonment, and set limits to the exercise of royal power. It established the principle that taxation must be tied to representation and paved the way for the creation of Parliament. 

    In 1776 American patriots, inspired by that long-ago defiance, dared to pick up arms against another English king and to demand even more far-reaching rights. We think of the Declaration of Independence as our founding document but those who drafted it had their eye on the Magna Carta.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 20, 2015
    ISBN9780147520630
    Unavailable
    Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty

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    Reviews for Magna Carta

    4/5

    41 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I can't say enough about Jones and his methods with the pen. All of his books are engrossing. He writes with an energy and passion that is not seen very often in the history field. His books are right on par with Susan Wise Bauer's history series. He keeps the story moving but moves at a slow enough pace that allows you to feel the chill on England's foggy banks and the sword as it slides into the ribs of the unfortunate.
    • 5/5
      I can't say enough about Jones and his methods with the pen. All of his books are engrossing. He writes with an energy and passion that is not seen very often in the history field. His books are right on par with Susan Wise Bauer's history series. He keeps the story moving but moves at a slow enough pace that allows you to feel the chill on England's foggy banks and the sword as it slides into the ribs of the unfortunate.
    • 4/5
      Great little book and Introduction to the people, places and background of the Magna Carta, helping readers realiize why it was created and why it was important. The last chapter explores its legacy up to the modern age, and how it influenced the reformers of the 17th century England and later America- even when they read ideas into the charter that did not actually exist.

      Its also research tool, with some useful appendices, including the text of the Magna Carta in Latin and English, a timeline of events, and Brief Biographies of the leading figures.
      I for one tend to be a little skeptical of 'popular' history books written by people who are not trained historians, but Dan Jones' research seems to be sound, and this has whet my appetite for his next book, '1215' due for release later this year.
    • 4/5
      This short and well illustrated book covers the background events that led up to the issuing of Magna Carta 800 years ago today (though I understand from a separate article I read online that some historians think the actual issuing took place on the 19th, notwithstanding the date on the face of the four extant copies of the original issue). The author places the Charter firmly in its context of Plantagenet politics, resisting the tendency to over-romanticise it, and shows what it meant to its contemporaries, which is by no means always the same as it what had meant to succeeding generations. Nevertheless, among the many clauses that point to contemporary issues to do with property, inheritance and scutage, are key clauses on freedom of the individual from arbitrary use of state and judicial power, that have informed many subsequent constitutional documents including the US Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights. A great general introduction.
    • 4/5
      King John is one of England’s most fascinating monarchs, and much of his history is covered alongside the origins of the Magna Carta. Certain sections didn’t hold me riveted, which is why I’ve rated it four stars instead of five, but overall this is well worth a read.
    • 5/5
      Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty by historian Dan Jones is excellent. As with his previous books, The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors and The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England , Mr. Jones makes a very complicated period of history accessible.

      The Magna Carta is often referred to as the starting point for our own Constitution. Ironically it was never intended as a tool to help the common man. It was intended to benefit the nobility by controlling a despotic king. Mr. Jones does a wonderful job of setting up the circumstances that required the creation of the Magna Carta. He also explains that it was not just one document and done. It was reissued with changes over the course of many years. It is a fascinating timeline to follow how a barons’s rebellion is credited in the creation of some many documents which brought freedom to nation’s citizens.

      Honestly I enjoyed John Curless’s narration of War of the Roses better than Mr. Jones’s narration of Magna Carta. I did enjoy Mr. Jone’s narration better than Clive Chafer’s narration of The Plantagenets. Mr. Jones has a pleasant voice. He certainly knows the text having written it. He provides emphasis where it is needed. It just comes down to personal choice in narrators. I would highly recommend Magna Carta. It is wonderful and not dry.

      This book was provided free from Audiobook Addicts on Facebook as a prize for a contest.

      1 person found this helpful