
A Training School for Elephants
Retracing a Curious Episode in the European Grab for Africa
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sophy Roberts
-
By:
-
Sophy Roberts
About this listen
Out of a sidelined, colonial-era expedition in Africa comes a new history of cruelty, deception, and adventure from the acclaimed author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia.
In 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa’s resources. The key to cracking open the continent, or so he thought, was its elephants—if only he could train them. And so he commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to the East African coast, where they were marched inland towards Congo. The ultimate aim was to establish a training school for African elephants.
Following in the footsteps of the four elephants, Roberts pieces together the story of this long-forgotten expedition, in travels that take her to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania, and Congo. The storytelling brings to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled. In an original weave of past and present, she digs deep into historic records revealing an extraordinary—and enduring—story of colonial greed, hypocrisy, and folly.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Codename Nemo
- The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and the Elusive Enigma Machine
- By: Charles Lachman
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 4, 1944, the course of World War II was forever changed. That day, a US Navy task force achieved the impossible—capturing a German U-Boat. Called Operation Nemo, it was the first seizure of an enemy ship in battle since the War of 1812, one of the greatest achievements of the US Navy and a victory that shortened the duration of the war. A deeply researched, fast-paced World War II narrative for the ages, Charles Lachman’s white-knuckled war saga and thrilling cat-and-mouse game is told through the eyes of the men on both sides of Operation Nemo.
-
-
The writing drew me back in time the narration made it feel current
- By CE on 06-17-24
By: Charles Lachman
-
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
- By: Sophy Roberts
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet also dotted throughout this remote land are pianos - grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness is a testament to governors, adventurers, and exiles.
-
-
Interesting History; Boring Narration
- By SusieQmom on 09-14-20
By: Sophy Roberts
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Challenger
- A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research—a riveting history that flows like a thriller.
-
-
Best book about Challenger so far
- By Bruce Baumbush on 06-05-24
-
The Demon of Unrest
- A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
-
-
Vividly Told History of the Start of the Civil War
- By WLC on 05-01-24
By: Erik Larson
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Lady Chaps on 03-31-23
By: Barbara Davis
-
Codename Nemo
- The Hunt for a Nazi U-Boat and the Elusive Enigma Machine
- By: Charles Lachman
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 4, 1944, the course of World War II was forever changed. That day, a US Navy task force achieved the impossible—capturing a German U-Boat. Called Operation Nemo, it was the first seizure of an enemy ship in battle since the War of 1812, one of the greatest achievements of the US Navy and a victory that shortened the duration of the war. A deeply researched, fast-paced World War II narrative for the ages, Charles Lachman’s white-knuckled war saga and thrilling cat-and-mouse game is told through the eyes of the men on both sides of Operation Nemo.
-
-
The writing drew me back in time the narration made it feel current
- By CE on 06-17-24
By: Charles Lachman
-
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
- By: Sophy Roberts
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet also dotted throughout this remote land are pianos - grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness is a testament to governors, adventurers, and exiles.
-
-
Interesting History; Boring Narration
- By SusieQmom on 09-14-20
By: Sophy Roberts
-
River of the Gods
- Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
- By: Candice Millard
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.
-
-
Good book by Millard, narrator ruined it
- By Tally D Lykins on 05-25-22
By: Candice Millard
-
Challenger
- A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research—a riveting history that flows like a thriller.
-
-
Best book about Challenger so far
- By Bruce Baumbush on 06-05-24
-
The Demon of Unrest
- A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
-
-
Vividly Told History of the Start of the Civil War
- By WLC on 05-01-24
By: Erik Larson
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Lady Chaps on 03-31-23
By: Barbara Davis
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
- By: Sophy Roberts
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet also dotted throughout this remote land are pianos - grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness is a testament to governors, adventurers, and exiles.
-
-
Interesting History; Boring Narration
- By SusieQmom on 09-14-20
By: Sophy Roberts
-
The Third Reich of Dreams
- The Nightmares of a Nation
- By: Charlotte Beradt, Damion Searls - translator, Dunya Mikhail - foreword
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlotte Beradt began having unsettling dreams after Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. She envisioned herself being shot at, tortured and scalped, surrounded by Nazis in disguise, and breathlessly fleeing across fields with storm troopers at her heels. Shaken by these nightmares and banned as a Jew from working, she began secretly collecting dreams from her friends and neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Disguising these "diaries of the night" in code and concealing them in the spines of books from her extensive library, she smuggled them out of the country one by one.
By: Charlotte Beradt, and others
-
Death in the Long Grass
- A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush
- By: Peter Hathaway Capstick
- Narrated by: Luke Oldham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few men can say they have known Africa as Capstick has known itleading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can recount their adventures with the flair of this former professional hunter-turned-writer.
-
-
The best African hunting author in my opinion
- By Chris Esplin on 04-10-24
-
The Last Days of Budapest
- The Destruction of Europe's Most Cosmopolitan Capital in World War II
- By: Adam LeBor
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Budapest, autumn 1943. After four years of war, Hungary was firmly allied with Nazi Germany. Budapest swirled with intrigue and betrayal, home to spies and agents of every kind. But the city remained an oasis in the midst of conflict where Allied POWs and Polish and Jewish refugees found sanctuary. All that came to an end in March 1944 when the Nazis invaded. By the summer Allied bombers were pounding Budapest’s grand boulevards and historic squares.
-
-
Outstanding and harrowing
- By Greg Russell on 06-19-25
By: Adam LeBor
-
Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective.
-
-
You cannot know a person until you know how he sees himself.
- By Chaim J. on 05-02-25
By: Tamim Ansary
-
Big Chief
- By: Jon Hickey
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mitch Caddo, a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer, is an outsider in the homeland of his Anishinaabe ancestors. But alongside his childhood friend, Tribal President Mack Beck, he runs the government of the Passage Rouge Nation, and with it, the tribe’s Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel. On the eve of Mack’s reelection, their tenuous grip on power is threatened by a nationally known activist and politician, Gloria Hawkins, and her young aide, Layla Beck, none other than Mack’s estranged sister and Mitch’s former love.
-
-
One of the best
- By Amazon Customer on 06-14-25
By: Jon Hickey
-
The Lost Pianos of Siberia
- By: Sophy Roberts
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet also dotted throughout this remote land are pianos - grand instruments created during the boom years of the 19th century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness is a testament to governors, adventurers, and exiles.
-
-
Interesting History; Boring Narration
- By SusieQmom on 09-14-20
By: Sophy Roberts
-
The Third Reich of Dreams
- The Nightmares of a Nation
- By: Charlotte Beradt, Damion Searls - translator, Dunya Mikhail - foreword
- Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlotte Beradt began having unsettling dreams after Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. She envisioned herself being shot at, tortured and scalped, surrounded by Nazis in disguise, and breathlessly fleeing across fields with storm troopers at her heels. Shaken by these nightmares and banned as a Jew from working, she began secretly collecting dreams from her friends and neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Disguising these "diaries of the night" in code and concealing them in the spines of books from her extensive library, she smuggled them out of the country one by one.
By: Charlotte Beradt, and others
-
Death in the Long Grass
- A Big Game Hunter's Adventures in the African Bush
- By: Peter Hathaway Capstick
- Narrated by: Luke Oldham
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few men can say they have known Africa as Capstick has known itleading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can recount their adventures with the flair of this former professional hunter-turned-writer.
-
-
The best African hunting author in my opinion
- By Chris Esplin on 04-10-24
-
The Last Days of Budapest
- The Destruction of Europe's Most Cosmopolitan Capital in World War II
- By: Adam LeBor
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Budapest, autumn 1943. After four years of war, Hungary was firmly allied with Nazi Germany. Budapest swirled with intrigue and betrayal, home to spies and agents of every kind. But the city remained an oasis in the midst of conflict where Allied POWs and Polish and Jewish refugees found sanctuary. All that came to an end in March 1944 when the Nazis invaded. By the summer Allied bombers were pounding Budapest’s grand boulevards and historic squares.
-
-
Outstanding and harrowing
- By Greg Russell on 06-19-25
By: Adam LeBor
-
Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective.
-
-
You cannot know a person until you know how he sees himself.
- By Chaim J. on 05-02-25
By: Tamim Ansary
-
Big Chief
- By: Jon Hickey
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mitch Caddo, a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer, is an outsider in the homeland of his Anishinaabe ancestors. But alongside his childhood friend, Tribal President Mack Beck, he runs the government of the Passage Rouge Nation, and with it, the tribe’s Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel. On the eve of Mack’s reelection, their tenuous grip on power is threatened by a nationally known activist and politician, Gloria Hawkins, and her young aide, Layla Beck, none other than Mack’s estranged sister and Mitch’s former love.
-
-
One of the best
- By Amazon Customer on 06-14-25
By: Jon Hickey
Contemporary travel brings history to life
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.