The History of the Renaissance World

From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople

By: Susan Wise Bauer

Narrated by: John Lee

A lively and fascinating narrative history about the birth of the modern world.

Beginning in the heady days just after the First Crusade, this volume - the third in the series that began with The History of the Ancient World and The History of the Medieval World - chronicles the contradictions of a world in transition. Popes continue to preach crusade, but the hope of a Christian empire comes to a bloody end at the walls of Constantinople. Aristotelian logic and Greek rationality blossom while the Inquisition gathers strength. As kings and emperors continue to insist on their divine rights, ordinary people all over the world seize power: the lingayats of India, the Jacquerie of France, the Red Turbans of China, and the peasants of England.

New threats appear, as the Ottomans emerge from a tiny Turkish village and the Mongols ride out of the East to set the world on fire. New currencies are forged, new weapons invented, and world-changing catastrophes alter the landscape: the Little Ice Age and the Great Famine kill millions; the Black Death, millions more. In the chaos of these epoch-making events, our own world begins to take shape.

Impressively researched and brilliantly told, The History of the Renaissance World offers not just the names, dates, and facts but the memorable characters who illuminate the years between 1100 and 1453 - years that marked a sea change in mankind's perception of the world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2013 Susan Wise Bauer (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

more than just European history

I like that this series covers the history of the entire world chronologically, so you can get a sense of what was happening in Asia, India, the Americas, etc. and break out of the old eurocentric view point.

Best history book

I’ve listened several times to this. It brings history to life. People are people and she’s done an awesome job creating stories showing their behavior.

Objective content and appealing voice

I thought the author might be biased toward Christianity because of her religious background but it turned out what I had hoped: human history is game of chance, NOT divine manipulation. Good reading for middle age and above.

A pleasure

It shed light on so much, and I wanted it to keep going on and on.

Another great history

The pacing of the narration is excellent, the research seems quite deep, and the historic road map detailed and informative. I truly hope Susan Bauer sees fit to do a volume tying the end of this to modern history!

War after war after war

Was so glad to get a world history view of the time. The reader was excellent and drew me on. His pronunciation of names was amazing. When thinking Renaissance I think of multiple changes, not just political. Had this book had been titled Political History of the Renaissance I would give it 5 stars.

Almost Great

Any additional comments?

This was a very enjoyable listen. It took a little while but once I settled into this book I really enjoyed John Lee's reading. I am not a student of this time period in history and this book gave me a great broad understanding of and exposure to many events I had heard of (and many I had't) but would have been hard pressed to explain or put in context. This sparked my interest in specific subjects that I can delve into deeper. I doubt a knowledgable history buff would learn much new or hear any critical insights.

In the end that is where the book fell a bit short for me. I suppose there was so much material to cover that there was little room for historical retrospective. I was also hoping for more background on the influence of ancient writers and thought and how it shaped events.It would have been more engaging if there was more focus on the development of thought and knowledge and the struggles it caused.

Ultimately the history of this time period (and alas much of human history) can be summed up thus .... dates, Kings, Popes, conquests, mass murders, ruthless power struggles and untimely deaths ... rinse and repeat. There were very few heros beyond the inventors, artists and thinkers.

A Mighty Effort

This recording attempts to cover the entire Renaisance period in 22 hours. .
quite an undertaking! The narrator is impressive and the task formidable. I found it a bit confusing to switch from Europe to the Middle East to Asia and back again every decade or so. I realize that this was probably done to show what was happening simultaneously, but it was hard to retain all the details from one area of the world while considering those of the next. I bought this recording in order to get a perspective of the era, as I am a science major and woefully ignorant about it. it was a bit surprising that none of the arts or inventions of the era were discussed. This is a political discussion only. Nevertheless, I feel as though I have been educated to a degree and would certainly say that it is worth the listen. Were it to have chapters easily accessible for review, it would be even better.

Great 3 volume series!

I appreciated how Susan stayed away from the Eurocentric mindset when researching and writing this series. Very well done 👍🏽

Great Overview

This book is a well read overview of the world history of the title period. The inclusion of interesting anecdotes along the way gives the story forward momentum.