A Concise History of the Middle East, Ninth Edition

The American Civil War

• ORIGINAL (24 hrs and 36 mins)
• By The Great Courses, Gary W. Gallagher
• Narrated By Professor Gary W. Gallagher

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.

The Arabs: A History

• UNABRIDGED (27 hrs and 30 mins)
• By Eugene Rogan
• Narrated By Derek Perkins
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

In this definitive history of the modern Arab world, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on Arab sources and texts to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context for the first time. Tracing five centuries of Arab history, Rogan reveals that there was an age when the Arabs set the rules for the rest of the world. Today, however, the Arab world's sense of subjection to external powers carries vast consequences for both the region and Westerners who attempt to control it.

From Muhammed to Burj Khalifa: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 2 mins)
• By Michael Rank
• Narrated By Kevin Pierce

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.

The Foundations of Western Civilization

• ORIGINAL (24 hrs and 54 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Thomas F. X. Noble

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.

Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

• ORIGINAL (12 hrs and 39 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Steven Novella

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever. These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life.

America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History

• UNABRIDGED (15 hrs and 12 mins)
• By Andrew J. Bacevich
• Narrated By Rob Shapiro, Andrew J. Bacevich

From the end of World War II until 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in the Greater Middle East. Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere else. What caused this shift? Andrew J. Bacevich, one of the country's most respected voices on foreign affairs, offers an incisive critical history of this ongoing military enterprise - now more than 30 years old and with no end in sight.

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 33 mins)
• By Joby Warrick
• Narrated By Sunil Malhotra
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Pulitzer Prize, General nonfiction, 2016. When Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented account of the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq.

A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS

• UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 15 mins)
• By Robert Worth
• Narrated By Will Damron, Robert Worth
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

In 2011 a wave of revolution spread through the Middle East as protesters demanded an end to tyranny, corruption, and economic decay. From Egypt to Yemen, a generation of young Arabs insisted on a new ethos of common citizenship. Five years later their utopian aspirations have taken on a darker cast as old divides reemerge and deepen. In one country after another, brutal terrorists and dictators have risen to the top.

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World

• ORIGINAL (24 hrs and 28 mins)
• By The Great Courses, Robert Garland
• Narrated By Professor Robert Garland

Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East

• UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 25 mins)
• By Eugene Rogan
• Narrated By Derek Perkins

In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.

China: A History

• UNABRIDGED (25 hrs and 29 mins)
• By John Keay
• Narrated By Anne Flosnik
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

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.

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

• UNABRIDGED (24 hrs and 17 mins)
• By Peter Frankopan
• Narrated By Laurence Kennedy

It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions, and it was the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the emergence of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols, the transmission of the Black Death, the struggles of the Great Game, and the fall of Communism - the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.

A History of the Arab Peoples

• UNABRIDGED (20 hrs and 47 mins)
• By Albert Hourani
• Narrated By Nadia May

Despite the turmoil of Arab nationalism and fundamentalism, Middle Eastern wars, and oil crises, the history of the Arab world has been little known and poorly understood in the West. One reason may be that, for more than half a century, there has been no up-to-date single volume work that chronicles the story of Arab civilization - until now.

Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn

• UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 19 mins)
• By Daniel Gordis
• Narrated By Fred Sanders

Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused its imagination, and, lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future? We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions.

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

• UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 58 mins)
• By Michael B. Oren
• Narrated By Robert Whitfield

In Israel and the West, it is called the Six Day War. In the Arab world, it is known as the June War or, simply, as "the Setback". Never has a conflict so short, unforeseen, and largely unwanted by both sides so transformed the world. The Yom Kippur War, the war in Lebanon, the Camp David accords, the controversy over Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the intifada, and the rise of Palestinian terror are all part of the outcome of those six days.

The History of the Sunni and Shia Split: Understanding the Divisions within Islam

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 25 mins)
• By Charles River Editors
• Narrated By Colin Fluxman
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Different branches of the same religion are the exception more than the rule, and they have had a profound impact upon history. The schism between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches influenced relationships between nations across Europe, and religious intolerance based on different Christian faiths led to persecution and outright violence across the continent for centuries.

After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam

• UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 33 mins)
• By Lesley Hazleton
• Narrated By Lesley Hazleton
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Even as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over who would take control of the new Islamic nation had begun, sparking a succession crisis marked by power grabs, assassination, political intrigue, and passionate faith. Soon Islam was embroiled in civil war, pitting its founder's controversial wife, Aisha, against his son-in-law, Ali, and shattering Muhammad's ideal of unity.

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East

• UNABRIDGED (23 hrs and 44 mins)
• By Scott Anderson
• Narrated By Malcolm Hillgartner
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Based on four years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabiadefinitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.

Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making

• ORIGINAL (6 hrs and 10 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Randall Bartlett

Economic forces are everywhere around you. But that doesn't mean you need to passively accept whatever outcome those forces might press upon you. Instead, with these 12 fast-moving and crystal clear lectures, you can learn how to use a small handful of basic nuts-and-bolts principles to turn those same forces to your own advantage.

Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 9 mins)
• By Martin Bunton
• Narrated By Neil Shah
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

The conflict between Palestine and Israel is one of the most highly publicized and bitter struggles in history. In this accessible and stimulating Very Short Introduction, Martin Bunton clearly explains the history of the problem, reducing it to its very essence - a modern territorial contest between two nations and one geographical territory. Adopting a fresh and original approach, each section covers a twenty-year span, to highlight the historical complexity of the conflict throughout successive decades.

A History of the Middle East

• UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 5 mins)
• By Peter Mansfield
• Narrated By Richard Brown

In this masterly work of synthesis, Peter Mansfield, drawing on his experience as a journalist and a historian, explores two centuries of history in the Middle East. He forms a picture of the historical, political, and social history of the meeting point of Occident and Orient, from Bonaparte's marauding invasion of Egypt to the start of the Gulf War. For more than four thousand years, the Middle East has provided a setting for titanic struggles between great civilizations and religions.

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present

• UNABRIDGED (34 hrs and 12 mins)
• By Howard Zinn
• Narrated By Jeff Zinn

A classic since its original landmark publication in 1980, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is the first scholarly work to tell America's story from the bottom up - from the point of view of, and in the words of, America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

• UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 28 mins)
• By Michael Weiss, Hassan Hassan
• Narrated By Qarie Marshall

Initially dismissed by US President Barack Obama, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has shocked the world by conquering massive territories in both countries and promising to create a vast new Muslim caliphate that observes the strict dictates of Sharia law. In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who have conquered territory equal to the size of Great Britain.

Orientalism

• UNABRIDGED (19 hrs and 3 mins)
• By Edward Said
• Narrated By Peter Ganim
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."