The Lessons of History

By: Will, Ariel Durant

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A concise survey of the culture and civilization of mankind, The Lessons of History is the result of a lifetime of research from Pulitzer Prize–winning historians Will and Ariel Durant.

The authors devoted five decades to the study of world history and philosophy, culminating in the masterful eleven-volume Story of Civilization. In this compact summation of their work, Will and Ariel Durant share the vital and profound lessons of our collective past. Their perspective, gained after a lifetime of thinking and writing about the history of humankind, is an invaluable resource for us today. The rare archival recordings of the Durants in conversation, made from 1957–1977, illuminate our present condition and offer insightful guidance for the future.

©2004 John Little, Monica Ariel Mihell, and William James Durant Easton (P)2004 Durant archival recordings 1957-1977 used with permission of John Little, Monica Ariel Mihell, and William James Durant Easton

Very Interesting and brilliant perspective

What made the experience of listening to The Lessons of History the most enjoyable?

The point of view of the author. Quite brilliant and reasonable.

What did you like best about this story?

It gives one perspective on what reason is and what experience has taught us.

Did Grover Gardner do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

There were no characters. Just question and answer.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

The raspy voice of the author was unpleasant.

Wow

This is an astonishing work which is able to boil down a wide sweep of history into its core elements.

I have read and enjoyed many fine works of history. I’ve never had one book explains all of the other books in a universal way.

Wow.

My first Durant book, won’t be my last

This was my first Durant book and I’m looking forward to reading many more. Excellent read.

Good Perspective

Kind of hard to listen when the actual author speaks but the book has great perspective on the journey of humanity.

Excellent book, Great Narrator

Would you listen to The Lessons of History again? Why?

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lessons of History?

The entire book is about memorable moments. The Roman and medieval times, the story of Ignatius Loyola were particularly interesting to me.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

Mr. Gardner's narrations enhances the story with his timbre and entonation.

A book that should be required reading for humas.

will Durant does an amazing job of covering the trends and topics of history. From that he's able to extract truth and lay forth the best way to understand and live life. This has made me a big fan

History Repeats itself.

I found so much value in this audio book that I will be buying the book and listening to the audio version again! Everything that has occurred before is occurring again and will occur again unless we reach a synthesis.

Brilliant

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

By far the best complete historian I have read. Covers complexity theory, economic theory, social theory, military theory.

Antiquated and racist

Basically just a diatribe by the authority barbs against homosexuality and an out-of-nowhere spiel on the inherent superiority of the white race and the ills of race-mixing.

great thoughts!

well done , clear , and meaningful for our time, will recommend to others people