The Dreyfus Affair
The Scandal That Tore France in Two
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The Dreyfus Affair
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Narrated by:
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David Pevsner
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By:
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Piers Paul Read
About this listen
July 20, 1894: The German Military Attache in Paris, Colonel Maximillien von Schwarzkoppen received a visit from a seedy-looking middle-aged Frenchman who would not give his name. He told Schwarzkoppen that he was a French army officer serving on the General Staff; that he was in desperate need of money; and was therefore prepared to sell military secrets to the Germans.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, then aged 35, was a high-flying career artillery officer. Shy, reserved, sometimes awkward, but intelligent and ambitious, Dreyfus had everything he might have hoped for: a wife, two enchanting children, plenty of money, and a post on the General Staff. However, Dreyfus' rise in the army had not made him friends. Many of them came from the impoverished Catholic aristocracy and disliked Dreyfus because he was rich, bourgeois and, above all, a Jew.
On October 13, Captain Dreyfus was summoned by the General de Boisdeffre to the Ministry of War. Despite minimal evidence against him he was placed under arrest for the crime of high treason. Not long afterward Dreyfus was incarcerated on Devil's Island.
But how did an innocent man come to be convicted? And why was he kept locked up for so long?
The Dreyfus Affair uniquely combines a fast-moving mystery story with a snapshot of France at a moment of great social flux and cultural richness - the Belle Epoque, the Impressionists, novelists such as Flaubert, Zola, the Goncourts, Proust. It is a key to an understanding of later history; the Holocaust and Zionism: the virulent anti-Semitism of the anti-Dreyfusards and the decision that the Jews must have a state of their own.
©2012 Piers Paul Read (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Dreyfus Affair
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MR J R C BRITCHFORD
- 08-03-21
A story surprisingly relevant in our times.
The parallels between the conspiracies of then and now are unnerving. Je suis un Dreyfusard!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- susan
- 22-06-21
dreyfus
Loved the detail, a bit distracted by some strange pronunciations. A very good read though.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tommy Two-sheds
- 09-12-14
Great Story disappointing reader
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Its a very important story with lots of twists and turns over a period of many years. Sometimes I found myself getting bored with the intricacies but there's no doubt as to the significance of the events it covers.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Dreyfus has to be the character one has most sympathy for
How could the performance have been better?
Yes. I found the pronunciation of the French names extremely annoying. If you are going to have an American voice please ensure they can pronounce the locations and names correctly.
Did The Dreyfus Affair inspire you to do anything?
Yes. read more books about the period in French history
Any additional comments?
Good book let down by poor French language
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ms CMcG
- 14-09-21
Let down completely by bad narration
The poor narration makes it difficult to listen to and follow the story successfully, would suggest avoiding this version
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary
- 09-11-15
Addresses us as though we were a public meeting
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Maybe, if you can stand being read to in the pompous, ponderous, portentous manner of this narrator.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Don't know. Couldn't get beyond Chapter 1.
How could the performance have been better?
Tone down the narrator or choose someone different.
Was The Dreyfus Affair worth the listening time?
Not for me. And it was expensive, too.
Any additional comments?
Piers Paul Read is a significant writer who deserves a better narrator
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-03-23
Unbearable narration, please re-record ASAP
Who the hell picked this narrator? The text itself is fine, (though maybe leans a little too heavy into the Catholic viewpoint to the point it feels slightly unbalanced), but the narrator speaks like he doesn't know what he's even reading. His pronunciation of French words and names is weirdly inconsistent and he reads dates and numbers like a computer. For example: "Henry V", instead of being read as "Henry the fifth", becomes "Henry five".
it's also very hard to discern when something is the author's own words or quotation, which becomes jarringly alarming when he seamlessly goes from standard commentary to hideous, antisemitic descriptions of Jews without indicating that he was actually reading a quote from an antisemite from the period discussed.
I'm struggling to continue listening to this. Please get this re-recorded.
I listened to another book recently and the narrator, Elinor Coleman, was absolutely brilliant and suits this style of historical commentary perfectly. If you're going to pick anyone, pick her.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Mary Carnegie
- 01-05-18
Unbearable
Had hoped to be able to hang on long enough to get an impression of the writer’s take on Dreyfus. Far too much explanation of why French Catholics might have been touchy, from the Revolution on; even though French Protestants had already been massacred or had fled abroad, with significant damage to the economy.
I can’t tolerate any longer the narrator’s bored, flat voice or his utter refusal to pronounce French names in any recognisable form.
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