LONDON

Condensing eight hundred pages and several hundred centuries into four tapes leads inevitably to a loss of detail, but the listener of this abridgment isn't left wanting. The book itself is crammed with the trivia of history, from the time of the Druids to the last decade of the twentieth century. Even with this condensed form, the listener is held spellbound. Prebble's British accents range from royal to cockney, and his narration is peppered with various Celtic brogues, all distinguishing a complex cast of characters and cameo appearances by the likes of Chaucer and Shakespeare. Rutherfurd is a master storyteller, and the quality of his craft is in no way diminished through abridgment. B.L.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 98]