The History of the Ancient World

From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome

De: Susan Wise Bauer

Narrado por: John Lee

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own.

This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled. The result is an engrossing tapestry of human behavior from which we may draw conclusions about the direction of world events and the causes behind them.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2007 Susan Wise Bauer (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Too Close to Myth

I have read many more accounts of ancient history and I am not sure what the goal was of the author, but her accounts of Egypt, early Semites, and that era was closer to the history of the Bible and other religious books than I have read by other authors, such as "Who Wrote the Bible" by Freeman and Campbell's accounts. I grant you that most of that history was unwritten and some that was written was fanciful and written significantly years after events. The book recounts a broad sweep of history over as much of the world as anyone probably has information about. As the author approaches AD the story conforms more to something familiar and less the product of lore. The constant lists of in-fighting, assassinations, and murders, even of children, left me with the sinking feeling that the only thing that has changed over time is that, among civilized people, murder of opponents is not as common , but backbiting persists. However, the "civilized" people find it "necessary" to inflict pain, suffering, and death miles from their borders, and seek to contain it outside their borders. I need to read (listen to) a book of man's accomplishments; they were mentioned few and far between in this book. Perhaps that was not the author's goal. The book could be a good reference, however, for some series of events.

Interesting structure

This book gives a summary explanation of most ancient events and civilizations but what is truly interesting is that it provides them with chronological context. For example, while the battle of 300 Spartans is happening, battles and by nasties are waging in China and Romulus is starting the village that will be Rome. Adds a fresh perspective to a lot of historical events and is an interesting comparison of cultural development.

Highly Engaging History (but a few quibbles)

This book really made the ancient past come alive for me in a way that I have never before experienced. There are so many names and places to keep up with but really, in the end, you don't have to keep track of every single detail to get an amazing perspective these events from so long ago. Just go with the flow and you'll pick up the gist and easily remember the more important parts. The many references to actual ancient texts really helped pull me in and I loved how she ties together multiple threads when she can, showing how the same individuals are sometimes mentioned in, say, the Bible but also in ancient Egyptian or Persian documents and how events in one part of the world end up influencing events in another part.

The quibbles I had were small, but worth mentioning. I suppose that it is in the nature of ancient history that most of what we know is who the leaders were, when they ruled, what wars were fought, and who won, so a lot of this book is that sort of thing. The rise and fall of nations and kings. Great battles, More great battles.

It does bog down a bit toward the end where we end up with an obligatory potted history of all of the Roman Emperors (and proto-emperors) from Julius Cesar to Constantine, which sounds like a brief summary of Gibbon.

As I said, these are small complaints. What you get with this book is an excellent overview of a long period of history over a vast array of places. A tremendous introduction to the subject. And John Lee is masterful as always.

***
A quick addendum about the complaints in some other reviews about the author's treatment of the Bible as historical source material and possibly having a Christian bias. I too was taken aback at first when I heard her using the Bible, sometimes uncritically, as a historical reference. Ultimately, however, I realized that she was treating the Bible no differently from the way she treated many other similar ancient texts, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Iliad and the Odyssey to ancient Persian and Egyptian texts to Thucydides and Herodotus. All of these sources are to some degree or another, unreliable but all of them also include valuable insights and descriptions of actual historical events. The trick is knowing what to trust, what to take with a grain of salt, and what to treat as mythological nonsense. For the most part I think Bauer handles the balancing act well, whatever her own personal religious beliefs may be.

I love it!

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

I really enjoyed this book, a great overview of the ancient world, with enough detail to make each chapter fascinating.

Any additional comments?

The main thing I miss was that chapters should have useful names, even something simple like "Gilgamesh", rather than Chapter 1, 2 etc. so I can easily go back to re-listen to chapters I am interested in.

Outstanding

This is an incredible review of the history of the ancient world. Beautifully written so as not to appear boring or complicated and equally well narrated, this is a must have.

Susan Wise Bauer is somehow able to remove the jargon and present history in a perfectly readable form.

John Lee is amazing as usual.

Good into to history

A good introduction to history, but too religious and brief in many areas. The work will leave you wanting to know more and dig deeper.

Fantastic in all facets

A sweeping and breathtaking epic that is informational, educational and refreshingly unbiased. An absolute masterpiece.

great summary.

mutch information to digest, but great for getting a overview of our history. great as a starter to have a general knowledge and understanding a events relation in the overall timeline.

ambitious, sometimes tough listen

This book that ambitiously attempts to cover thousands of years. On the plus side, even with my long commute it took me a month to finish it while driving, and I loved learning about the patterns that repeated themselves over multiple civilizations and periods. On the downside, it tends to be Roman-centric, particularly at the end. To be fair, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Chinese are also discussed in some detail, along with mentions of several others in less detail. No doubt this perspective is driven by the information available, and I guess more is available about Roman civilization, but potential readers should just know what they will hear. Another issue is it is very hard to keep track of all of the names in this audio format, and this problem is compounded because the author at times seemed to feel obligated to list names of minor players in passing that were never mentioned again, which makes it hard to sort out which ones we need to remember and which ones we need not memorize as we listen.

History that is fun to listen to

I couldn’t believe the author and reader kept my attention so long for so well. Well done!