Download The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond AudioBook Free
For years and years the Alps have seen the march of armies, the flow of pilgrims and Crusaders, the feats of mountaineers, and the dreams of technicians - plus some 14 million people live amongst their peaks today. In The Alps, Stephen O'Shea can take listeners up and down these majestic mountains, journeying through their 500-mile arc across France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia. On the way he explores the truth behind Hannibal and his elephants' famous crossing in 218 BCE; he discloses how the Alps have profoundly inspired culture, from Frankenstein to Heidi to The Audio of Music; and he visits the spot where Arthur Conan Doyle staged Sherlock Holmes' fatality landscape, the bloody site of the Italians' retreat in World Conflict I, and Hitler's notorious holiday house, the Eagle's Nest. Throughout, O'Shea details his travels with the watchmakers, sodium miners, cable-car providers, and yodelers who specify the Alps today.
