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The Shortest History of China
- From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower: A Retelling for Our Times
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
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Xi and the CCP Approve this Message
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Publisher's summary
From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics, and philosophy across the world for thousands of years.
Chinese history is nothing if not messy. Heroes are also villains; prosperity mingles with violence; cultural vibrancy coexists with censorship and repression. Modern China is seen variously as an economic powerhouse, an icon of urbanization, a propaganda state, and an aggressive superpower seeking world domination.
Jaivin distills this vast history into a sparkling narrative, from mythical origins to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a story in which China's women, from the earliest warriors to 20th-century suffragettes, receive long overdue attention.
As historical specters of corruption and disunity continue to haunt the People's Republic, Jaivin discusses what may lie ahead - not just for China but for the world.
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Brilliant and Funny. What more could you want?
- By Septimus MacGhilleglas on 01-22-09
By: Steve Wiegand, and others
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The Story of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
The Story of Russia is about how the Russians defined themselves―and repeatedly reinvented such definitions along the way. Moving from Russia’s agrarian beginnings in the first millennium to subsequent periods of monarchy, totalitarianism, and perestroika, all the way up to Vladimir Putin and his use of myths of Russian history to bolster his regime, celebrated historian Orlando Figes examines the ideas that have guided the country’s actions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Good overview of Russia. History that Provides an Effective Premise for Greater Understanding of Current Events
- By James E Mclaughlin on 12-22-22
By: Orlando Figes
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Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,916
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,606
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,598
Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world while ignoring the other. As Europeans colonized the globe, the two world histories intersected and the Western narrative drove the other one under. The West hardly noticed, but the Islamic world found the encounter profoundly disrupting.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A history of the world before the West mattered
- By David on 05-05-14
By: Tamim Ansary
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The Islamic Enlightenment
- The Struggle Between Faith and Reason: 1798 to Modern Times
- By: Christopher de Bellaigue
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
This absorbing account of the political and social reformations that transformed the lands of Islam during the 19th and early 20th centuries offers a game-changing assessment of the Middle East. Beginning his account in 1798, de Bellaigue demonstrates how the Middle East has long welcomed modern ideals and practices, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from seclusion, and the development of democracy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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fascinating story not told.elsewhere in one place
- By Joseph Sullivan on 11-30-21
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The Pursuit of Italy
- A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? These questions are asked and answered in a number of ways in this engaging, original consideration of the many histories that contribute to the brilliance - and weakness - of Italy today. David Gilmour's exploration of Italian life over the centuries is filled with provocative anecdotes as well as personal observations.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good history: Tough Narration
- By C.S. on 11-12-18
By: David Gilmour
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Mao Zedong
- A Captivating Guide to the Life of a Chairman of the Communist Party of China, the Cultural Revolution and the Political Theory of Maoism
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story5 out of 5 stars 29
Explore the captivating life of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong is recognized as one of the most influential figures of modern Chinese history. As the founding father of the People’s Republic of China and the centerpiece of one of the world’s most intense personality cults, the extent of his influence is difficult to understate. This biography details Mao’s remarkable journey from the son of a peasant to one of modern history’s greatest, and highly polarizing, leaders. It aims to provide a better understanding of Mao, his personality traits, and personal experiences that shaped his worldview.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A need read
- By Anonymous User on 05-09-20
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Fire and Blood
- A History of Mexico
- By: T. R. Fehrenbach
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 35 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 170
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 151
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
T. R. Fehrenbach brilliantly delineates the contrasts and conflicts between the many Mexicos, unraveling the history while weaving a fascinating tapestry of beauty and brutality: the Amerindians, who wrought from the vulnerable land a great indigenous Meso-American civilization by the first millennium BC; the successive reigns of Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Mexic masters, who ruled through an admirably efficient bureaucracy and the power of the priests, propitiating the capricious gods with human sacrifices; the Spanish conquistadors, and much more.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book bad narration
- By M. A. Chris Raine on 03-23-19
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
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Ottoman Empire: A Captivating Guide to the Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Fall of Constantinople, and the Life of Suleiman the Magnificent
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Desmond Manny, Duke Holm
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4 out of 5 stars 39
Incredible facts about this Ottoman Empire still surprise anyone who starts discovering those stories. You’ll find out that, for quite a while, this Islamic state was effectively ruled by women, and that’s just the beginning.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Narrators do not know how to pronounce words
- By Cynthia Clough on 11-08-23
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China
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 215
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 180
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 177
Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Needs new narrator
- By Betty on 10-16-16
By: John Keay
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From Muhammed to Burj Khalifa
- A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History
- By: Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4 out of 5 stars 85
To untangle the modern Middle East conflict and the 2,000 years behind it, this book is divided into 25 concise chapters. Each one is devoted to a major theme in Middle East history, such as the beginning of Islam, the Crusades, Genghis Khan, and the beginning of Israel in 1948. They can be read in a few minutes, giving you a fast overview of the issues and help you to understand Middle East current events.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting, but of course it's quite brief
- By Philo on 07-26-13
By: Michael Rank
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Incarnations
- India in Fifty Lives
- By: Sunil Khilnani
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
For all of India's myths, its sea of stories and moral epics, Indian history remains a curiously unpeopled place. In Incarnations, Sunil Khilnani fills that space, recapturing the human dimension of how the world's largest democracy came to be. His trenchant portraits of emperors, warriors, philosophers, film stars, and corporate titans - some famous, some unjustly forgotten - bring feeling, wry humor, and uncommon insight to dilemmas that extend from ancient times to our own.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen, the author is biased
- By Anonymous User on 02-15-19
By: Sunil Khilnani
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The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 141
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4 out of 5 stars 114
To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Ancient Rome
- By: Thomas R. Martin
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 799
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 689
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 684
With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great review and understanding of Christianity
- By David on 12-08-20
By: Thomas R. Martin
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Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,137
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,129
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
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A Brief History of China
- Dynasty, Revolution and Transformation: From the Middle Kingdom to the People's Republic
- By: Jonathan Clements
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society - from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings listeners through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Succinct and detailed overview of a huge topic
- By Stephen Sheafer on 08-19-20
-
English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
- By: Lacey Baldwin Smith
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,392
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,114
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,106
Here at last is a history of England that is designed to entertain as well as inform and that will delight the armchair traveler, the tourist, or just about anyone interested in history. No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as the English: extolled as the Athenians of modern times, yet hammered for their self-satisfaction and hypocrisy. But their history has been a spectacular one.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Cartoons mentioned in Publisher's Summary omitted
- By Megan G. on 08-27-18
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Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Needs new narrator
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Brief History of China
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society - from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings listeners through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Succinct and detailed overview of a huge topic
- By Stephen Sheafer on 08-19-20
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The Story of China
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world's oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well researched, balanced, and informative
- By Chinmay Aladangady on 04-25-23
By: Michael Wood
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China
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Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of people with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes listeners into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom. The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Simply outstanding
- By Serenissima on 06-20-21
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The Shortest History of Germany
- From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel: A Retelling for Our Times
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871 - yet today, Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The narrator can’t pronounce German
- By Vauras Ilmari on 03-22-19
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China
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Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Needs new narrator
- By Betty on 10-16-16
By: John Keay
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The History of China
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- By: History Brought Alive
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
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Story5 out of 5 stars 13
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5 out of 5 stars
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- By kennedy millsap on 10-22-23
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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5 out of 5 stars
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Succinct and detailed overview of a huge topic
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The Story of China
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world's oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well researched, balanced, and informative
- By Chinmay Aladangady on 04-25-23
By: Michael Wood
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- Length: 34 hrs and 49 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 491
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 439
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Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of people with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes listeners into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom. The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Simply outstanding
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A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871 - yet today, Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The narrator can’t pronounce German
- By Vauras Ilmari on 03-22-19
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The Shortest History of Europe
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilization, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning and Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, and beyond - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great synopsis
- By mary Kelly on 01-01-23
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Ancient China
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- By: Captivating History
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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In this audiobook, you will be led on a journey through almost 2,000 years of Chinese history, showing you all the ups and downs of those ancient times, the sufferings and joys of the Chinese people, along with their greatest achievements and failures. Dynasties will change, people will be killed and born, art made and destroyed, but the Chinese civilization will prevail, rising from humble beginnings to an empire that at some points outshined any other in the world at that time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ancient China
- By Joey on 05-31-20
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The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,666
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,430
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,415
What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
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China and Japan
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- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back 1,500 years. But today, their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years, less than 10 percent of each population had positive feelings toward the other, and both countries insist that the other side must deal openly with its history before relations can improve. Ezra Vogel's China and Japan examines key turning points in Sino-Japanese history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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China & Japan is first rate by a top scholar
- By Louise Stone on 06-17-20
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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The American Civil War
- By: Gary W. Gallagher, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary W. Gallagher
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,567
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,053
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,028
Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Series
- By Rodney on 07-09-13
By: Gary W. Gallagher, and others
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The Shortest History of England
- Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit—A Retelling for Our Times
- By: James Hawes
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
England—begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor—is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors, and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else. This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented—yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mildly entertaining, simplistic, only filler
- By Buretto on 09-16-22
By: James Hawes
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A Short History of Russia
- How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, from the Pagans to Putin
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it has been subject to invasion by outsiders, from Vikings to Mongols, from Napoleon’s French to Hitler’s Germans. In order to forge an identity, it has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. In A Short History of Russia, Mark Galeotti explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate, and exasperating country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful short history
- By Tad Davis on 01-19-21
By: Mark Galeotti
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Three Tigers, One Mountain
- A Journey Through the Bitter History and Current Conflicts of China, Korea, and Japan
- By: Michael Booth
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 135
There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his latest entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, the enmity is between these three "tiger" nations and what prevents them from making peace.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not much new here if you are already familiar
- By Anonymous User on 07-13-20
By: Michael Booth
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A Concise History of Japan
- By: Brett L. Walker
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 19
Brett L. Walker tackles key themes regarding Japan's relationships with its minorities, state and economic development, and the uses of science and medicine. The book begins by tracing the country's early history through archaeological remains, before proceeding to explore life in the imperial court, the rise of the samurai, civil conflict, encounters with Europe, and the advent of modernity and empire. Walker's vibrant and accessible new narrative then follows Japan's ascension from the ashes of World War II into the thriving nation of today.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Zero analysis just-the-story history
- By Mr Daniel B Copeland on 04-06-22
By: Brett L. Walker
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Modern China (2nd Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4
China today is never out of the news: from international finance to human rights controversies, global coverage of its rising international presence, and the Chinese "economic miracle". It seems to be a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction audiobook offers the listener an entry to understanding the world's most populous nation, giving an integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics, and art.
By: Rana Mitter
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Emperor of Japan
- Meiji and His World, 1852-1912
- By: Donald Keene
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 38 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14
Little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first Japanese emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great book. Terrible narration.
- By Ken Snyder on 07-05-23
By: Donald Keene
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When China Attacks
- A Warning to America
- By: Col. Grant Newsham
- Narrated by: Axel Bosley
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4 out of 5 stars 27
Communist China is ambitious. It wants to replace the United States as the world’s leading superpower. And it is well on its way. It is dominant in the world economy. It is a master at intellectual property theft. It shows strategic genius at cornering essential markets. It has been staggeringly successful in buying influence among American elites. And its military buildup is astonishing. So far, China has been waging a cold war on the United States and its Asian allies. But, emboldened by American weakness and decline, that cold war is about to turn hot.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Please America, read this book.
- By tom a on 09-01-23