World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire
The legacy of imperial Spain was shaped by many hands. Chief among them is the towering figure of King Philip II, the cultivated Spanish monarch whom a contemporary once called "the arbiter of the world." Cheerful and pious, he inherited vast authority from his father, but nevertheless felt himself unworthy to wield it. His forty-two-year reign changed the face of the globe forever. Alongside Philip we find the entitled descendants of New Spain's original explorers-men who, like their king, came into possession of land they never conquered and wielded supremacy they never sought. Here too are the Roman Catholic religious leaders of the Americas, whose internecine struggles created possibilities that the emerging Jesuit order was well-positioned to fill.



With the sublime stories of arms and armadas, kings and conquistadors come tales of the ridiculous: the opulent parties of New Spain's wealthy hedonists and the unexpected movement to encourage Philip II to conquer China. Finally, Hugh Thomas unearths the first indictments of imperial Spain's labor rights abuses in the Americas-and the early attempts by its more enlightened rulers and planters to address them.



Written in the brisk, flowing narrative style that has come to define Hugh Thomas's work, the final volume of this acclaimed trilogy stands alone as a history of an empire making the transition from conquest to inheritance-a history that Thomas reveals through the fascinating lives of the people who made it.
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World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire
The legacy of imperial Spain was shaped by many hands. Chief among them is the towering figure of King Philip II, the cultivated Spanish monarch whom a contemporary once called "the arbiter of the world." Cheerful and pious, he inherited vast authority from his father, but nevertheless felt himself unworthy to wield it. His forty-two-year reign changed the face of the globe forever. Alongside Philip we find the entitled descendants of New Spain's original explorers-men who, like their king, came into possession of land they never conquered and wielded supremacy they never sought. Here too are the Roman Catholic religious leaders of the Americas, whose internecine struggles created possibilities that the emerging Jesuit order was well-positioned to fill.



With the sublime stories of arms and armadas, kings and conquistadors come tales of the ridiculous: the opulent parties of New Spain's wealthy hedonists and the unexpected movement to encourage Philip II to conquer China. Finally, Hugh Thomas unearths the first indictments of imperial Spain's labor rights abuses in the Americas-and the early attempts by its more enlightened rulers and planters to address them.



Written in the brisk, flowing narrative style that has come to define Hugh Thomas's work, the final volume of this acclaimed trilogy stands alone as a history of an empire making the transition from conquest to inheritance-a history that Thomas reveals through the fascinating lives of the people who made it.
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World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire

World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire

by Hugh Thomas

Narrated by Shaun Grindell

Unabridged — 15 hours, 4 minutes

World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire

World Without End: Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire

by Hugh Thomas

Narrated by Shaun Grindell

Unabridged — 15 hours, 4 minutes

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Overview

The legacy of imperial Spain was shaped by many hands. Chief among them is the towering figure of King Philip II, the cultivated Spanish monarch whom a contemporary once called "the arbiter of the world." Cheerful and pious, he inherited vast authority from his father, but nevertheless felt himself unworthy to wield it. His forty-two-year reign changed the face of the globe forever. Alongside Philip we find the entitled descendants of New Spain's original explorers-men who, like their king, came into possession of land they never conquered and wielded supremacy they never sought. Here too are the Roman Catholic religious leaders of the Americas, whose internecine struggles created possibilities that the emerging Jesuit order was well-positioned to fill.



With the sublime stories of arms and armadas, kings and conquistadors come tales of the ridiculous: the opulent parties of New Spain's wealthy hedonists and the unexpected movement to encourage Philip II to conquer China. Finally, Hugh Thomas unearths the first indictments of imperial Spain's labor rights abuses in the Americas-and the early attempts by its more enlightened rulers and planters to address them.



Written in the brisk, flowing narrative style that has come to define Hugh Thomas's work, the final volume of this acclaimed trilogy stands alone as a history of an empire making the transition from conquest to inheritance-a history that Thomas reveals through the fascinating lives of the people who made it.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A sweeping, encyclopedic history of the arrogance, ambition, and ideology that fueled the quest for empire." ---Kirkus

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"A sweeping, encyclopedic history of the arrogance, ambition, and ideology that fueled the quest for empire." —Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews

2015-05-13
A celebration of Spain's prowess and reach. Award-winning British historian Thomas (The Golden Empire: Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America, 2011, etc.) ends his trilogy on the Spanish Empire with a densely (and sometimes dizzyingly) populated, overwhelmingly detailed narrative focused on the "dedicated and cultivated" Philip II, who reigned from 1556 to 1598, during which Spain consolidated its holdings in Mexico, South America, and the Philippines. By 1600, Thomas writes admiringly, Spain "controlled the largest collection of territories the world had seen since the fall of the Roman empire." The conquest was expedited by the "valour and imagination" of conquistadors as well as the determination of missionaries, especially Jesuits, "high-minded men of intelligence capable of sacrifice, endurance, and patience," who founded an unprecedented number of schools, churches, hospitals, and convents. In contrast were some of Philip's deputies: greedy and violent, they cruelly exploited indigenous peoples and African slaves. Among the problems these administrators faced were the spread of smallpox, typhus, measles, and influenza that decimated the native population and, therefore, the workforce; internecine struggles; piracy; the threat of slave rebellion; and emigrés who included vagrants, beggars, thieves, debtors, and fortune hunters hoping to loot the riches of the New World. Although most missionaries focused on education and condemned torture, some unleashed bloody punishment for idolatry. The colonial quest is no better exemplified than by Spain's bold plan to invade and conquer China, seen as "a well-managed, vast, rich land with stone-walled cities" and an easily-subdued population that "would welcome the conquerors as liberators" from the ruling Ming emperors, a comment likely to resonate chillingly with readers. Although the plan never came to fruition, Thomas suggests, "had it happened, it would surely have brought less deprivation to China than occurred under the Manchu dynasty and…the terrible communist era." A sweeping, encyclopedic history of the arrogance, ambition, and ideology that fueled the quest for empire.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940170746255
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication date: 08/11/2015
Edition description: Unabridged
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