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A Political History of the World
- Three Thousand Years of War and Peace (A Pelican Book)
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
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Publisher's summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of A Political History of the World by Jonathan Holslag, read by Roy McMillan.
In 3,000 years of history, China has spent at least 11 centuries at war. The Roman Empire was in conflict during at least 50 percent of its lifetime. Since 1776, the United States has spent over 100 years at war. The dream of peace has been universal in the history of humanity. So why have we so rarely been able to achieve it?
In A Political History of the World, Jonathan Holslag has produced a sweeping history of the world, from the Iron Age to the present, that investigates the causes of conflict between empires, nations and peoples and the attempts at diplomacy and cosmopolitanism. A bird's-eye view of 3,000 years of history, the book illuminates the forces shaping world politics from ancient Egypt to the Han Dynasty, the Pax Romana to the rise of Islam, the Peace of Westphalia to the creation of the United Nations.
This truly global approach enables Holslag to search for patterns across different eras and regions and explore larger questions about war, diplomacy, and power. Has trade fostered peace? What are the limits of diplomacy? How does environmental change affect stability? Is war a universal sin of power? At a time when the threat of nuclear war looms again, this is a much-needed history intended for students of international politics and anyone looking for a background on current events.
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- Juancornetto
- 12-14-18
Fantastic
Does exactly what it says on the tin. If like me, you had a patchy knowledge of how current geo-politics came to pass, then this will fill a lot of gaps.
Prepare to be left with the feeling that we humans are hard wired for power hierarchy, bloodshed and folly.
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4 people found this helpful
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- stephie L
- 05-17-19
great history
very good. packs last 300 years into the last chapter. this last chapter could have been stretched out a bit more. Packed with information on history, politics, economics and literature through the ages.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Michael Kosmides
- 05-13-19
More history than political history
The final chapter with the conclusions and analysis is for me the most interesting part of this book. It is an overall good historical review of the last 3000 (or so) years, but for most part -with the exception of the last couple of centuries, it reads more like general history. I was expecting more politics into it, parties in different countries, different political systems developing, class structures and struggle.But it's worthy for its conclusions. If you are happy with your historical knowledge skip straight to it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Charlie
- 12-19-18
Concise summary of war and peace throughout history
A great deal of information packed into this audiobook, and we learn about many conflicts and how they came about. But the author never considers the decline of war and violence, as documented by Steven Pinker.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 04-09-19
No discoveries here...
I studied history so for this very reason I have a basic knowledge which wasn't enlightened at all. Somehow we were traveling through history so fast that the subjects the author was talking about were hardly touched. I also imagined to have more diplomacy, the reasons why and how but all I got it was shallow facts everyone knows from history school books.
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1 person found this helpful
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- ian f.
- 01-12-23
War and Peace - a History of the world.
Fascinating, interesting and yet sad to hear the world’s history in this way. A well put together summary of the main history of the main issues and conflicts across 3 thousand years. Worth a listen.
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- Chan Fai CHAN
- 07-07-21
Great summary of the world
Like it very much, as it is informative and great to refresh some of what we learnt years ago.
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- Ad Le Lan
- 09-07-19
A broad, shallow 3000yr history, expertly narrated
No idea if McMillan's pronunciations of people/place names are accurate but they're certainly very convincing!
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- Mary
- 03-03-19
Great book but too much to cover.
Great book and algo very good narration in British accent. I would recommend as an overview.
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- Sean
- 01-18-19
Sorta
left wanting after finishing this, lots of wee bits of info throughout but could be longer for sure.
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Have you ever wondered how the world got to where it is today? Get ready to discover the rich history of our planet. You will be astonished to learn about some of the events that have occurred! Subjects include: Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, The Roman Empire, Constantine and Christianity, India, Ancient Korea, Chinese Dynasties, Napoleonic Europe, Foundation of USA, The 1812 War, Australia and Wars, World War I, World War II, The Ottoman Empire, Greece and North Africa, The Diem Regime, Pearl Harbor, and much more!
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Truly a fine book
- By Zlady Neri on 09-08-19
By: Adam Brown
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In God's Path
- The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire
- By: Robert G. Hoyland
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.
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Islamic conquest history from the outside
- By SAMA on 01-22-15
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The Fall of the Roman Empire
- A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors Rome called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling an Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. A leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians, Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every possible level, eventually pulled the empire apart.
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A New HIstory but not a better history
- By Mario on 03-28-14
By: Peter Heather
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Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
- By: Richard Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
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Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
- By Haakon B. Dahl on 01-21-13
By: Richard Miles
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Ancient China
- A Captivating Guide to the Ancient History of China and the Chinese Civilization Starting from the Shang Dynasty to the Fall of the Han Dynasty
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Desmond Manny
- Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Ancient China
- By Joey on 05-31-20
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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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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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Good book bad narration
- By M. A. Chris Raine on 03-23-19
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
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Assyrian History: A Captivating Guide to the Assyrians and Their Powerful Empire in Ancient Mesopotamia
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: David Patton
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Of all the famous civilizations to emerge from Mesopotamia, a list that includes the Akkadians, the Sumerians, and the Babylonians, it’s the Assyrians who deserve the fame and glory. The empire they constructed over the course of some 1,200 years survived constant attacks, a few defeats, and the famed Dark Age, known as the Bronze Age collapse, to become one of the largest and most expansive empires the world has ever seen.
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Cringe wording, a narration that cannot pronounce
- By Shane on 09-23-19
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The Great Sea
- A Human History of the Mediterranean
- By: David Abulafia
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 29 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all the history of human interaction across a region that has brought together many of the great civilizations of antiquity as well as the rival empires of medieval and modern times.
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American Narration at it's Most Disapointing
- By Anonymous User on 03-26-18
By: David Abulafia
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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
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