A People’s History of the World Audiobook By Chris Harman cover art

A People’s History of the World

From the Stone Age to the New Millennium

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A People’s History of the World

By: Chris Harman
Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
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Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild - from the empires of antiquity to the world wars of the 20th century.

In a bravura conclusion, Chris Harman exposes the reductive complacency of contemporary capitalism, and asks, in a world riven as never before by suffering and inequality, why we imagine that it can - or should - survive much longer. Ambitious, provocative and invigorating, A People's History of the World delivers a vital corrective to traditional history, as well as a powerful sense of the deep currents of humanity which surge beneath the froth of government.

©2017 Verso (P)2017 Tantor Freedom & Security Human Rights Politics & Government World War Socialism Middle Ages Capitalism Ancient History Soviet Union Imperialism Self-Determination Russia Latin America Africa Taxation Middle East British Empire World History Nonfiction Science

Critic reviews

“I have had many people ask me if there is a book which does for world history what my book A People's History of the United States does for this country. I always responded that I know of only one book that accomplishes this extremely difficult task, and that is Chris Harman's A People's History of the World. It is an indispensable volume on my reference bookshelf." (Howard Zinn)
Comprehensive World History • Working-class Perspective • Great Cadence • Engaging Narration • Informative Content
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The information is indispensable, but the narration is terrible. It sounds as if he's trying to make his performance the focal point instead of book.

Should've been narrated by anyone else

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Learn History, You Will See It Repeating all around you. You must understand the past to know your place in its future and what to teach your children.

Learn History, You Will See It Repeating

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I found myself completely distracted by the overemphasized inflection and odd accent which the actor seems to be able to turn on and off. I had trouble getting into the content because of this. Its like the actor is trying too hard and faking direction from someone who hasn't listened to 30 hour audio books and therefore doesn't understand how distracting this dude's horrible fake inflection really is.

Actor's voice distracts from content

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this one took me awhile but it was really insightful and informative. if one wants to understand the world as it is today one must understand the past and this book definitely helps one understand history.

perfect for the layman eager to learn

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This is one excellent book! Equal to Howard Zinns People's History of the United States, no doubt. If better at that. The narrators British accent is pleasing and clear. And the contents are way beyond anything you have ever gathered before in your pursuit of history. Purchase it and you will never regret it. Study history, for the world is a mystery. Read or bleed people, learn or burn!

Mortal Coils History

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This book helped me see how extensively white-washed the history we were taught in school was.

No wonder we don't question why we work harder than ever so the multinational corporate big wigs, who already have so much more than any human needs, can double and triple that wealth.

The 1% get richer and richer while we the people struggle just to pay bills and provide for our children.

This brand of insanity is what helped bring down the Roman Empire, and many other empires, and it may well bring down the American Empire (yes, it's an empire).

PS: My only quibble is that the narrator has a slightly unnatural and distracting style. You can ignore it much of the time, though.

Changed my view of history and explains so much!

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It is refreshing to hear a history of the world that is clear about its bias and has no pretense of being "objective." For those of you uninitiated in historiography, there is no such thing as "unbiased" history, as it is the job of the historian (and archivists!) to highlight and discard the aspects that they wish to write about, introducing bias into any work of history. Those that say they are "unbiased" are lying to you.

So this book does not pull any punches in telling history from a working-class perspective. That does not make it any less "true" than other accounts of history, those focused on Great People, for example, or on the actions of states. All are valuable in building a comprehensive picture of world history.

If this bothers you, if you're afraid of "ANTFA" or whatever, then by all means don't read. Uncomfortable truths can cause uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, and not everyone wants to deal with that. But for those intellectually curious about what may have been left-out of traditional world histories, this book is for you.

refreshing history from working class perspectives

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Reading and listening to this book are two wholly different experiences. The narrator’s voice is the most affected and pretentious-sounding voice I’ve ever heard. And I like English accents! But this guy … like nails on a chalkboard. I cannot finish it.
Go with the print version.

Audiobook version is painful!

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love the theme, and the author never lost sight of his overall message throughout. great writing and the narrator made the whole thing sound like an action movie!

awesome!

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A great book and a great reading. A real counter balance to your standard approach to historians focus on the rich and famous. Horrifying at times but not without moments of irony and humor. Good stuff!

Excellent!

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