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History

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Michael

Michael Walnut Creek, CA, United States Member Since 2002

I focus on fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, science, history, politics and read a lot. I try to review everything I read.

HELPFUL VOTES
1601
ratings
REVIEWS
1290
298
FOLLOWERS
FOLLOWING
486
6
  • "Fantastic"

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Western histories tend to avoid this bit - this book fixes that big time. It is a history, but with about as much characterization as is possible. It is filled with details and I learned a lot and enjoyed every minute. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history. The story is filled with action and intrigue, technology and religion, war and even a little peace. It is more than just the novelty that makes this a wonderful listen, it is the story and the characters.

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    Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 19 mins)
    • By Jack Weatherford
    • Narrated By Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (2569)
    Performance
    (1284)
    Story
    (1296)

    The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.

    Peter says: "Brilliant, insightful, intriguing."
  • "Flawed but Important"

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    Performance
    Story

    This book should be read by anyone interested in the history of the CIA. I have rated this five stars, but this is not the perfect book, just a must read. The author clearly focuses only upon the failures of the CIA and glosses over any successes. Nevertheless, there is substantial value is focusing on failures (of course there is also value is focusing on successes, but that would be a different book). This book also does not seem to go out of its way to suggest tangible changes to improve the CIA.

    The material is somewhat dry, and there is some jumping around. The narration is quite good, which helps keep the book interesting. This is not the best book about the CIA, but it is an indispensable viewpoint for anyone who wants to understand the agency.

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    Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

    • UNABRIDGED (21 hrs and 25 mins)
    • By Tim Weiner
    • Narrated By Stefan Rudnicki
    Overall
    (1762)
    Performance
    (396)
    Story
    (391)

    This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.

    Michael says: "Flawed but Important"
  • "Shockingly Great"

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    Performance
    Story

    This was a great book. I really found myself unable to put this down. I somewhat expected a dry, one sided, hatchet job. Instead this was detailed story starting with the early life of the clearly troubled founder of Scientology and continuing to the present day. I fully enjoyed the reading of every footnote. I did not really expect to, but I learned a lot. The writing and the narration were both quite compelling.

    I have not been a fan of Scientology since a friend of mine joined, and after a few years called me having just escaped penniless and only wearing his underwear out of a window after a many hour auditing session with several people pointing out body thetons on him that were visible to them but not visible to my friend. I agree many of the ideas of Scientology are no weirder than any other religion, and I always thought the basic idea of auditing sounded interesting and potentially useful, but there does seem to be a pattern of secrecy and intimidation not seen elsewhere. This book presents a pattern of paranoia, violence; control, and hypocrisy with an intensity that is truly shocking. I would recommend anyone thinking about Scientology to read this book first.

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    Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 27 mins)
    • By Lawrence Wright
    • Narrated By Morton Sellers
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (505)
    Performance
    (438)
    Story
    (425)

    A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. Based on more than 200 personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists - both famous and less well known - and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.

    Chris Reich says: "Scared the Hell Out of Me"
  1. Genghis Khan and the Maki...
  2. Legacy of Ashes: The Hist...
  3. Going Clear: Scientology,...
  4. .

The History of Storytelling

Fall of Rome, Rise of Christianity

What's Trending in History:

  • A Short History of Nearly Everything
    Play A Short History of Nearly Everything

    A Short History of Nearly Everything

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 48 mins)
    • By Bill Bryson
    • Narrated By Richard Matthews
    Overall
    (5288)
    Performance
    (1228)
    Story
    (1224)

    Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.

    Corby says: "Very informative, fun to listen to"
  • The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
    Play The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

    The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

    • UNABRIDGED (18 hrs and 4 mins)
    • By George Packer
    • Narrated By Robert Fass
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (14)
    Performance
    (6)
    Story
    (9)

    In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.

    Janet Pittman Henley says: "Can't understand the low ratings!"
  • Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
    Play Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

    Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs)
    • By Laura Hillenbrand
    • Narrated By Edward Herrmann
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
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    Performance
    (4526)
    Story
    (4530)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: Seabiscuit was a runaway success, and Hillenbrand’s done it again with another true-life account about beating unbelievable odds. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.....

    Janice says: "Indescribable"
  • The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story
    Play The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story

    The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 46 mins)
    • By Lily Koppel
    • Narrated By Orlagh Cassidy
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (4)
    Performance
    (4)
    Story
    (4)

    As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, meeting regularly to provide support and friendship. As their celebrity rose - and as divorce and tragic death began to touch their lives - they continued to rally together, and the wives have now been friends for more than fifty years.

    Cynthia says: "Sea of Tranquility Ocean of Storms"
  •  
  • Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
    Play Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

    Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 25 mins)
    • By Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
    • Narrated By Bill O'Reilly
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
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    Performance
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    Story
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    More than a million listeners have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the can't-stop-listening work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

    JerryL says: "Good book..."
  • American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms
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    American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms

    • UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 55 mins)
    • By Chris Kyle, William Doyle
    • Narrated By John Pruden
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
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    Performance
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    At the time of his tragic death in February 2013, former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most accomplished sniper in U.S. military history, was finishing a remarkable book that retold American history through the lens of a hand-selected list of firearms. Kyle masterfully argues that guns have played a fascinating, indispensable, and often under-appreciated role in our national story. He carefully chose ten guns to help tell his story, ranging from the American long rifle to the modern M-16, and uses these guns as a platform for exploring American history.

  • Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever
    Play Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever

    Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 49 mins)
    • By Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
    • Narrated By Bill O'Reilly
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (3027)
    Performance
    (2695)
    Story
    (2701)

    The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history—how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles. President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices are not appeased....

    William says: "Decent Book - Bad Narration"
  • The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
    Play The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

    The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

    • UNABRIDGED (32 hrs and 24 mins)
    • By Rick Atkinson
    • Narrated By L. J. Ganser
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
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    (18)
    Performance
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    Story
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    It is the 20th century's unrivaled epic: At a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his best-selling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted the history of how the American-led coalition fought its way from North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all - the titanic battle in Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the war's final campaign, and Atkinson's astonishingly fresh account of that enormous gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows.

    David says: "Well Written Overview"
  •  
  • Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
    Play Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

    Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

    • UNABRIDGED (41 hrs and 32 mins)
    • By Doris Kearns Goodwin
    • Narrated By Suzanne Toren
    Overall
    (766)
    Performance
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    Story
    (633)

    On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.

    Jeremiah Duncan says: "Beautiful, Heartbreaking, and Informative"
  • Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield
    Play Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

    Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

    • UNABRIDGED (24 hrs and 8 mins)
    • By Jeremy Scahill
    • Narrated By Tom Weiner
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (56)
    Performance
    (45)
    Story
    (47)

    From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen, Somalia, and beyond, Scahill speaks to the CIA agents, mercenaries, and elite Special Operations Forces operators who populate the dark side of American war-fighting. He goes deep into al Qaeda-held territory in Yemen and walks the streets of Mogadishu with CIA-backed warlords. We also meet the survivors of US night raids and drone strikes - including families of US citizens targeted for assassination by their own government - who reveal the human consequences of the dirty wars the United States struggles to keep hidden.

    aaron says: "Non political BUT very anti-violence"
  • Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
    Play Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

    Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

    • UNABRIDGED (18 hrs and 50 mins)
    • By Jon Meacham
    • Narrated By Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (476)
    Performance
    (401)
    Story
    (397)

    In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson’s genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power.

    Darwin8u says: "A Man and Biography Relevant to Our Day"
  • 1776
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    1776

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 32 mins)
    • By David McCullough
    • Narrated By David McCullough
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (3790)
    Performance
    (1060)
    Story
    (1068)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: If you ever thought history was boring, David McCullough’s performance of his fascinating book will change your mind. In this stirring audiobook, McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success.

    Shawn says: "Great Book"
  • Gettysburg: Voices from the Front
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    Gettysburg: Voices from the Front

    • UNABRIDGED (39 mins)
    • By Robert Child
    • Narrated By Joe Pike
    Overall
    (0)
    Performance
    (0)
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    (0)

    A stirring collection of first-hand accounts from Privates on up to the commanding Generals at the Battle of Gettysburg woven into a dramatic and compelling narrative. The reader is transported back to the chaos and uncertainty of the sweltering first three days of July 1863 when Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North threatening Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington itself.

  • The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis
    Play The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis

    The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 40 mins)
    • By Teresa Carpenter
    • Narrated By Eliza Foss
    Overall
    (0)
    Performance
    (0)
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    (0)

    On September 3, 1901, a Protestant missionary named Ellen Stone set out on horseback across the mountainous hinterlands of Balkan Macedonia and was ambushed by a band of armed revolutionaries. In The Miss Stone Affair, Teresa Carpenter re-creates an event that captured the attention of the world and posed a dilemma for incoming president Theodore Roosevelt. Should he send in the Navy or not? And, if so, send it where? Drawing upon a wealth of contemporary correspondence and documents, Carpenter constructs a narrative that is suspenseful, harrowing, and at times even comical. It is a story for our time.

  • The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking
    Play The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

    The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 25 mins)
    • By Brendan I. Koerner
    • Narrated By Rob Shapiro
    Overall
    (0)
    Performance
    (0)
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    (0)

    A shattered Army veteran and a mischievous party girl, Roger Holder and Cathy Kerkow commandeered Western Airlines Flight 701 as a vague protest against the war. Through a combination of savvy and dumb luck, the couple managed to flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom, a feat that made them notorious around the globe. Koerner spent four years chronicling this madcap tale, which involves a cast of characters ranging from exiled Black Panthers, to African despots, to French movie stars.

  • The Mark of a Giant: 7 People Who Changed the World
    Play The Mark of a Giant: 7 People Who Changed the World

    The Mark of a Giant: 7 People Who Changed the World

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 58 mins)
    • By Ted Stewart, Chris Stewart
    • Narrated By Art Allen
    Overall
    (0)
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    Throughout the course of history, civilization has been blessed by strong-minded men and women who have impacted our world in extraordinary ways. Their imprint upon humanity is beyond dispute. And many would contend that they were no less than the result of Divine Providence - a gift of God to the human race. The Mark of a Giant examines the lives and contributions of seven men and women who changed the world: Abraham of Ur, Pericles, the Apostle Paul, Sir Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa.

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  • Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train
    Play Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train

    Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 36 mins)
    • By Ina Caro
    • Narrated By Christa Lewis
    Overall
    (0)
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    In one of the most inventive travel books in years, Ina Caro invites listeners on 25 one-day train trips that depart from Paris and transport us back through 700 years of French history. Whether taking us to Orléans to evoke the visions of Joan of Arc or to the Place de la Concorde to witness the beheading of Marie Antoinette, Caro animates history with her lush descriptions of architectural splendors and tales of court intrigue. "[An] enchanting travelogue" (Publishers Weekly), Paris to the Past has become one of the classic guidebooks of our time.

  • Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier
    Play Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier

    Humboldt: Life on America's Marijuana Frontier

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 29 mins)
    • By Emily Brady
    • Narrated By Dan Woren, Sonny Warner, Erin Bennett, and others
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (0)
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    Humboldt is a narrative exploration of an insular community in Northern California, which for nearly 40 years has existed primarily on the cultivation and sale of marijuana. Emily Brady spent a year living with the highly secretive residents of Humboldt County, and her cast of eccentric, intimately drawn characters take us into a fascinating, alternate universe. It's the story of a small town that became dependent on a forbidden plant, and of how everything is changing as marijuana goes mainstream.

  • The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley
    Play The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley

    The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 24 mins)
    • By Fritz Zimmerman
    • Narrated By Cynthia Wallace
    Overall
    (0)
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    Did a race of giant humans once roam the Biblical lands, Europe and North America? Over 300 historical accounts of giant human skeletons are presented for the first time. Massive human skeletal remains, burial mound types, symbolism, etymology, numerology and ceremonial centers are compared in the Biblical Levant, the British Isles and the Ohio Valley with stunning similarities.

  • Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas
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    Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 52 mins)
    • By Dale Carpenter
    • Narrated By Mark Whitten
    Overall
    (0)
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    No one could have predicted that the night of September 17, 1998, would be anything but routine in Houston, Texas. Even the call to police that a black man was "going crazy with a gun" was hardly unusual in this urban setting. Nobody could have imagined that the arrest of two men for a minor criminal offense would reverberate in American constitutional law, exposing a deep malignity in our judicial system and challenging the traditional conception of what makes a family.

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  • Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders: Chicago's Private War Against Capone
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    Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders: Chicago's Private War Against Capone

    • UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 20 mins)
    • By Dennis E. Hoffman
    • Narrated By Gregg A. Rizzo
    Overall
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    According to the Elliot Ness myth, which has been widely disseminated through books, television shows, and movies, Ness and the Untouchables defeated Al Capone by marshaling superior firepower. In Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders, Dennis Hoffman presents a fresh new perspective on the downfall of Al Capone.

  • None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism
    Play None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism

    None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 8 mins)
    • By Michael Hirsh
    • Narrated By Corey Snow
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (0)
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    From award-winning journalist and combat veteran Michael Hirsh comes the thrilling inside story of the Air Force's pararescue operations in Afghanistan. The first journalist to be embedded with an Air Force combat unit in the war on terrorism, Hirsh flew from Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, with the 71st Rescue Squadron to their expeditionary headquarters at a secret location in Central Asia. Unparalleled access to the pararescue jumpers - or PJs - as well as to the courageous men and women who fly them where they have to go, often under enemy fire, allowed Michael Hirsh to uncover incredible stories of courage.

  • Cradles of Civilization: The Lectures of Dr. David Neiman
    Play Cradles of Civilization: The Lectures of Dr. David Neiman

    Cradles of Civilization: The Lectures of Dr. David Neiman

    • ORIGINAL (4 hrs and 16 mins)
    • By Dr. David Neiman
    • Narrated By Dr. David Neiman
    Overall
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    Dr. David Neiman tracks the rise of civilization from the Agricultural Revolution to the Ceramic Age, and then the Bronze. He traces the origin of writing and its development into hieroglyphics and then into the alphabet. Dr. Neiman explores the legendary reign of Hammurabi of Babylon, the tumultuous history of ancient Egypt and gives a dramatic retelling of the earliest known piece of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh.

  • Lunch with Charlotte
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    Lunch with Charlotte

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 58 mins)
    • By Leon Berger
    • Narrated By Leon Berger
    Overall
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    Every Friday for the last 25 years of her life, I had lunch with Charlotte and each week she told me more of her extraordinary story. To all appearances, she was a strong and dignified survivor, with old-world courtesies, a twinkling sense of humor, and a lilting Austrian syntax. Yet deep within, she'd been scarred by a profound personal trauma.

    Finally, just before she died at the age of 91, she chose to entrust me with this profound secret, and all at once I understood how it had affected her entire adult life.

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