Albert Camus
A Very Short Introduction
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $11.17
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Graham Halstead
-
By:
-
Oliver Gloag
About this listen
Few would question that Albert Camus (1913-1960), novelist, playwright, philosopher and journalist, is a major cultural icon. His widely quoted works have led to countless movie adaptions, graphic novels, pop songs, and even t-shirts.
In this Very Short Introduction, Oliver Gloag chronicles the inspiring story of Camus' life. From a poor fatherless settler in French-Algeria to the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Gloag offers a comprehensive view of Camus' major works and interventions, including his notion of the absurd and revolt, as well as his highly original concept of pure happiness through unity with nature called "bonheur". This original introduction also addresses debates on coloniality, which have arisen around Camus' work.
Gloag presents Camus in all his complexity a staunch defender of many progressive causes, fiercely attached to his French-Algerian roots, a writer of enormous talent and social awareness plagued by self-doubt, and a crucially relevant author whose major works continue to significantly impact our views on contemporary issues and events.
©2020 Oliver Gloag (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Wittgenstein
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: A. C. Grayling
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original thinker, whose influence on 20th-century thinking far outside the bounds of philosophy alone. In this engaging Introduction, A. C. Grayling makes Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general listener by explaining the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought.
-
-
Track -ta- toose?
- By sleight on 07-13-22
By: A. C. Grayling
-
Schopenhauer
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Christopher Janaway
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most accessible of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will-a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature.
-
-
am OK review
- By Arnulfo Perez on 01-25-23
-
The Myth of Sisyphus
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning.
-
-
Brilliant work, excellently narrated
- By Richard B. on 04-30-19
By: Albert Camus
-
Nietzsche
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Michael Tanner
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his well known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"
-
-
Presumes way too much
- By Kim M. on 04-30-24
By: Michael Tanner
-
The Stranger
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Albert Camus' The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived, and is certainly one of the most important and influential books ever produced. Now, for the first time, this revered masterpiece is available as an unabridged audio production.
-
-
Is amorality bad?
- By Rolando on 03-10-14
By: Albert Camus
-
Personal Writings
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and absurdity of existence. Personal Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically-linked essays from across Camus's writing career that reflect the scope and depth of his interior life. Grappling with an indifferent mother and an impoverished childhood in Algeria, an ever-present sense of exile, and an ongoing search for equilibrium, Camus's personal essays shed new light on the emotional and experiential foundations of his philosophical thought....
By: Albert Camus
-
Wittgenstein
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: A. C. Grayling
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original thinker, whose influence on 20th-century thinking far outside the bounds of philosophy alone. In this engaging Introduction, A. C. Grayling makes Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general listener by explaining the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought.
-
-
Track -ta- toose?
- By sleight on 07-13-22
By: A. C. Grayling
-
Schopenhauer
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Christopher Janaway
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most accessible of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will-a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature.
-
-
am OK review
- By Arnulfo Perez on 01-25-23
-
The Myth of Sisyphus
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning.
-
-
Brilliant work, excellently narrated
- By Richard B. on 04-30-19
By: Albert Camus
-
Nietzsche
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Michael Tanner
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his well known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"
-
-
Presumes way too much
- By Kim M. on 04-30-24
By: Michael Tanner
-
The Stranger
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Albert Camus' The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived, and is certainly one of the most important and influential books ever produced. Now, for the first time, this revered masterpiece is available as an unabridged audio production.
-
-
Is amorality bad?
- By Rolando on 03-10-14
By: Albert Camus
-
Personal Writings
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Albert Camus (1913-1960) is unsurpassed among writers for a body of work that animates the wonder and absurdity of existence. Personal Writings brings together, for the first time, thematically-linked essays from across Camus's writing career that reflect the scope and depth of his interior life. Grappling with an indifferent mother and an impoverished childhood in Algeria, an ever-present sense of exile, and an ongoing search for equilibrium, Camus's personal essays shed new light on the emotional and experiential foundations of his philosophical thought....
By: Albert Camus
-
Existentialism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Thomas Flynn
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the leading philosophical movements of the 20th century, existentialism has had more impact on literature and the arts than any other school of thought. Focusing on the leading figures of existentialism, including Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, and Camus, Thomas Flynn offers a concise account of existentialism, explaining the key themes of individuality, free will, and personal responsibility, which marked the movement as a way of life, not just a way of thinking.
By: Thomas Flynn
-
Critical Theory (Second Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Stephen Eric Bronner
- Narrated by: Justin Price
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose—and, if at all possible, cure—the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations.
-
-
Excellent content and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 11-18-24
-
The Fall
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality.
-
-
Wow Wow Wow
- By Lauren C on 07-14-21
By: Albert Camus
-
Heidegger
- A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition
- By: Michael Inwood
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Heidegger, considered by some to be the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of "philosopher", by some as an apologist for Nazism, and by others as an acknowledged leader in continental philosophy, is probably the most divisive thinker of the 20th century. In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Michael Inwood focuses on Heidegger's most important work, Being and Time, to explore its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity, guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time.
-
-
Very Limited and One-sided View
- By Jack L. Sammons on 10-25-24
By: Michael Inwood
-
Postmodernism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Christopher Butler
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Postmodernism has become the buzzword of contemporary society over the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this highly engaging introduction, the mysteries of this most elusive of concepts are unraveled, casting a critical light upon the way we live now, from the politicizing of museum culture to the cult of the politically correct. The key postmodernist ideas are explored and challenged, as they figure in the theory, philosophy, politics, ethics, and artwork of the period, and it is shown how they have interacted within a postmodernist culture.
-
-
Misleading Title
- By nicholas on 01-06-23
-
Kant
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Roger Scruton
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but also one of the most difficult. Roger Scruton tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background to Kant's work and showing why the Critique of Pure Reason has proved so enduring.
-
-
Comprehensive, Well Read, But Very Abstract
- By Drone Boy on 09-09-21
By: Roger Scruton
-
The Rebel
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he reveals how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny.
-
-
This book is amazing
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-19
By: Albert Camus
-
Humanly Possible
- Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
- By: Sarah Bakewell
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. For centuries, this worldview has inspired people to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism. In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes listeners on a grand intellectual adventure.
-
-
A glimmer of hope
- By RAY MONTECALVO on 04-14-23
By: Sarah Bakewell
-
At the Existentialist Café
- Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
- By: Sarah Bakewell
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, 1933: Three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
-
-
Consistent look at incoherent philosophy
- By Gary on 06-19-16
By: Sarah Bakewell
-
Stoicism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Brad Inwood
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stoicism is two things: a long past philosophical school of ancient Greece and Rome, and an enduring philosophical movement that still inspires people in the twenty-first century to rethink and reorganize their lives in order to achieve personal satisfaction. What is the connection between them? This Very Short Introduction provides an introductory account of Stoic philosophy, and tells the story of how ancient Stoicism survived and evolved into the movement we see today.
By: Brad Inwood
-
Weimar Culture
- The Outsider as Insider
- By: Peter Gay
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1968, Weimar Culture is one of the masterworks of Peter Gay's distinguished career. A study of German culture between the two wars, the book brilliantly traces the rise of the artistic, literary, and musical culture that bloomed ever so briefly in the 1920s amid the chaos of Germany's tenuous post-World War I democracy, and crashed violently in the wake of Hitler's rise to power.
-
-
Engaging book, terrible narrator
- By Beth Simone Noveck on 05-08-21
By: Peter Gay
-
Hegel
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Peter Singer
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hegel is regarded as one of the most influential figures on modern political and intellectual development. After painting Hegel's life and times in broad strokes, Peter Singer goes on to tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Hegel's philosophy. Offering a broad discussion of Hegel's ideas and an account of his major works, Singer explains what have often been considered abstruse and obscure ideas in a clear and inviting manner.
-
-
Great introduction
- By I'm all ears on 02-17-22
By: Peter Singer
Related to this topic
-
Weimar Culture
- The Outsider as Insider
- By: Peter Gay
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1968, Weimar Culture is one of the masterworks of Peter Gay's distinguished career. A study of German culture between the two wars, the book brilliantly traces the rise of the artistic, literary, and musical culture that bloomed ever so briefly in the 1920s amid the chaos of Germany's tenuous post-World War I democracy, and crashed violently in the wake of Hitler's rise to power.
-
-
Engaging book, terrible narrator
- By Beth Simone Noveck on 05-08-21
By: Peter Gay
-
The Long March
- How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America
- By: Roger Kimball
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The architects of America's cultural revolution of the 1960s were Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and celebrated figures like Norman Mailer, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, and Susan Sontag. In examining the lives and works of those who spoke for the 1960s, Roger Kimball conceives a series of cautionary tales, an annotated guidebook of wrong turns, dead-ends, and blind alleys.
-
-
The Long March
- By Suzanne on 05-16-06
By: Roger Kimball
-
Reappraisals
- Reflections on the Forgotten 20th Century
- By: Tony Judt
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The accelerating changes of the past generation have been accompanied by a similarly accelerated amnesia. The 20th century has become "history" at an unprecedented rate. The world of 2007 was so utterly unlike that of even 1987, much less any earlier time, that we have lost touch with our immediate past even before we have begun to make sense of it - and the results are proving calamitous.
-
-
Superb. Insightful essays, Performance to match
- By Louis on 05-02-12
By: Tony Judt
-
Existentialism and Excess
- The Life and Times of Jean-Paul Sartre
- By: Gary Cox
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the undisputed giants of 20th-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism, combined with his creative and artistic flair, have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high-profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion.
-
-
a capitalista biography of Sartre
- By Anonymous User on 01-24-20
By: Gary Cox
-
Marx's General
- The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels
- By: Tristram Hunt
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Friedrich Engels is one of the most intriguing and contradictory figures of the 19th century. Born to a prosperous Prussian mercantile family, he spent his life working in the Manchester cotton industry, riding to the Cheshire hounds, and enjoying the comfortable upper-middle-class existence of a Victorian gentleman.
-
-
Not many choices here anyways.
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 02-16-13
By: Tristram Hunt
-
The Year of Our Lord 1943
- Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
- By: Alan Jacobs
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic thought the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.
-
-
The Audible is a Train Wreck
- By John on 09-04-18
By: Alan Jacobs
-
Weimar Culture
- The Outsider as Insider
- By: Peter Gay
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1968, Weimar Culture is one of the masterworks of Peter Gay's distinguished career. A study of German culture between the two wars, the book brilliantly traces the rise of the artistic, literary, and musical culture that bloomed ever so briefly in the 1920s amid the chaos of Germany's tenuous post-World War I democracy, and crashed violently in the wake of Hitler's rise to power.
-
-
Engaging book, terrible narrator
- By Beth Simone Noveck on 05-08-21
By: Peter Gay
-
The Long March
- How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America
- By: Roger Kimball
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The architects of America's cultural revolution of the 1960s were Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and celebrated figures like Norman Mailer, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, and Susan Sontag. In examining the lives and works of those who spoke for the 1960s, Roger Kimball conceives a series of cautionary tales, an annotated guidebook of wrong turns, dead-ends, and blind alleys.
-
-
The Long March
- By Suzanne on 05-16-06
By: Roger Kimball
-
Reappraisals
- Reflections on the Forgotten 20th Century
- By: Tony Judt
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The accelerating changes of the past generation have been accompanied by a similarly accelerated amnesia. The 20th century has become "history" at an unprecedented rate. The world of 2007 was so utterly unlike that of even 1987, much less any earlier time, that we have lost touch with our immediate past even before we have begun to make sense of it - and the results are proving calamitous.
-
-
Superb. Insightful essays, Performance to match
- By Louis on 05-02-12
By: Tony Judt
-
Existentialism and Excess
- The Life and Times of Jean-Paul Sartre
- By: Gary Cox
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the undisputed giants of 20th-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism, combined with his creative and artistic flair, have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high-profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion.
-
-
a capitalista biography of Sartre
- By Anonymous User on 01-24-20
By: Gary Cox
-
Marx's General
- The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels
- By: Tristram Hunt
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 17 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Friedrich Engels is one of the most intriguing and contradictory figures of the 19th century. Born to a prosperous Prussian mercantile family, he spent his life working in the Manchester cotton industry, riding to the Cheshire hounds, and enjoying the comfortable upper-middle-class existence of a Victorian gentleman.
-
-
Not many choices here anyways.
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 02-16-13
By: Tristram Hunt
-
The Year of Our Lord 1943
- Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
- By: Alan Jacobs
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic thought the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.
-
-
The Audible is a Train Wreck
- By John on 09-04-18
By: Alan Jacobs
-
We Stand Divided
- The Rift Between American Jews and Israel
- By: Daniel Gordis
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Relations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Since Israel’s founding 70 years ago, particularly as memory of the Holocaust and of Israel’s early vulnerability has receded, the divide has grown only wider. Most explanations pin the blame on Israel’s handling of its conflict with the Palestinians, Israel’s attitude toward non-Orthodox Judaism, and Israel’s dismissive attitude toward American Jews in general. In short, the cause for the rupture is not what Israel is; it’s what Israel does.
-
-
Jews Will Argue With Each Other
- By Benzion N. Chinn on 09-12-19
By: Daniel Gordis
-
Embracing Defeat
- By: John W. Dower
- Narrated by: Edward Lewis
- Length: 21 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This illuminating study explores the ways in which the shattering defeat of the Japanese in World War II, followed by over six years of American military occupation, affected every level of Japanese society. The author describes the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over", from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life.
-
-
Pulitzer Prize Winner!
- By KF on 10-09-07
By: John W. Dower
-
Age of Anger
- A History of the Present
- By: Pankaj Mishra
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world - from American shooters and ISIS to Donald Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the 18th century before leading us to the present.
-
-
Disappointing
- By AR on 04-28-17
By: Pankaj Mishra
-
Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life
- By: Jonathan Sperber
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 22 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Returning Marx to the Victorian confines of the 19th century, Jonathan Sperber, one of the United States' leading European historians, challenges many of our misconceptions of this political firebrand turned London journalist. In this deeply humanizing portrait, Marx no longer is the Olympian soothsayer, divining the dialectical imperatives of human history, but a scholar-activist whose revolutionary Weltanschauung was closer to Robespierre's than to those of 20th-century Marxists.
-
-
Informative intellectual biography, poor reading
- By anonymous on 10-25-13
By: Jonathan Sperber
-
The Fire Is upon Us
- James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America
- By: Nicholas Buccola
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America's most influential conservative intellectual. The topic was "the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro", and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it. Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is upon Us is the first book to tell the full story of the event.
-
-
Sadly, the story is timeless.
- By Edward P. Cerne on 01-17-20
By: Nicholas Buccola
-
Square Haunting
- Five Writers in London Between the Wars
- By: Francesca Wade
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mecklenburgh Square has always been a radical address. Nestled in the heart of Bloomsbury, these townhouses have borne witness to the lives of some of the century's most revolutionary cultural figures - many of whom were extraordinary women. United by their desire to experiment with new ways of living - and, therefore, of being - these authors and thinkers were trailblazers in their commitment to creative independence.
By: Francesca Wade
-
A Thousand Small Sanities
- The Moral Adventure of Liberalism
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Thousand Small Sanities is a manifesto rooted in the lives of people who invented and extended the liberal tradition. Taking us from Montaigne to Mill, and from Middlemarch to the civil rights movement, Adam Gopnik argues that liberalism is not a form of centrism, nor simply another word for free markets, nor merely a term denoting a set of rights. It is something far more ambitious: the search for radical change by humane measures. Gopnik shows us why liberalism is one of the great moral adventures in human history.
-
-
Erudite and entertaining!
- By D. A. Vail on 05-20-19
By: Adam Gopnik
-
Looking for the Good War
- American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Elizabeth D. Samet
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans - all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States' "exceptional" history and destiny.
-
-
Essential reading for military officers and political decision makers.
- By Arlene S. Burke on 02-23-22
-
The Craft
- How the Freemasons Made the Modern World
- By: John Dickie
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founded in London in 1717 as a way of binding men in fellowship, Freemasonry proved so addictive that within two decades it had spread across the globe. Masonic influence became pervasive. Under George Washington, the Craft became a creed for the new American nation. Masonic networks held the British empire together. Under Napoleon, the Craft became a tool of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. Both the Mormon Church and the Sicilian mafia owe their origins to Freemasonry.
-
-
The best book about Freemasonry out there.
- By Isaac Pea on 02-19-21
By: John Dickie
-
Looking for Lorraine
- The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: LisaGay Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lorraine Hansberry, who died at thirty-four, was by all accounts a force of nature. Although best-known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, her short life was full of extraordinary experiences and achievements, and she had an unflinching commitment to social justice, which brought her under FBI surveillance when she was barely in her twenties. While her close friends and contemporaries, like James Baldwin and Nina Simone, have been rightly celebrated, her story has been diminished and relegated to one work—until now.
-
-
Radiant
- By Rose Brookins on 03-20-19
By: Imani Perry
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
fascinating story not told.elsewhere in one place
- By Joseph Sullivan on 11-30-21
-
Goddess of the Market
- Ayn Rand and the American Right
- By: Jennifer Burns
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Burns highlights the two facets of Rand's work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: Her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life under Communism, and became among the most deeply enduring of her messages, attracting a diverse audience of college students and intellectuals, business people and Republican Party activists, libertarians and conservatives.
-
-
Unfortunate
- By Andrej Drapal on 03-14-18
By: Jennifer Burns
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Aesthetics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Bence Nanay
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Bence Nanay introduces the field of aesthetics, considering both Western and non-Western aesthetic traditions and exploring why it is sometimes misunderstood or considered to be too elitist - by artists, musicians, and even philosophers. As Nanay shows, so-called "high art" has no more claims on aesthetics than sitcoms, tattoos, or punk rock.
-
-
Critique of 'Western' Aesthetics - A Virtue Signal
- By Mr Timothy Webber on 10-05-21
By: Bence Nanay
-
Existentialism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Thomas Flynn
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the leading philosophical movements of the 20th century, existentialism has had more impact on literature and the arts than any other school of thought. Focusing on the leading figures of existentialism, including Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, and Camus, Thomas Flynn offers a concise account of existentialism, explaining the key themes of individuality, free will, and personal responsibility, which marked the movement as a way of life, not just a way of thinking.
By: Thomas Flynn
-
Foucault (2nd Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Gary Gutting
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Gary Gutting presents a wide-ranging but nonsystematic exploration of some highlights of Foucault's life and thought. Beginning with a brief biography to set the social and political stage, he then tackles Foucault's thoughts on literature, in particular the avant-garde scene; his philosophical and historical work; his treatment of knowledge and power in modern society; and his thoughts on sexuality.
-
-
VSI # 122
- By Darwin8u on 10-29-24
By: Gary Gutting
-
Heidegger
- A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition
- By: Michael Inwood
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Heidegger, considered by some to be the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of "philosopher", by some as an apologist for Nazism, and by others as an acknowledged leader in continental philosophy, is probably the most divisive thinker of the 20th century. In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Michael Inwood focuses on Heidegger's most important work, Being and Time, to explore its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity, guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time.
-
-
Very Limited and One-sided View
- By Jack L. Sammons on 10-25-24
By: Michael Inwood
-
Fascism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Kevin Passmore
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fascism is notoriously hard to define. How do we make sense of an ideology that appeals to streetfighters and intellectuals alike? That is overtly macho in style, yet attracts many women? That calls for a return to tradition while maintaining a fascination with technology? And that preaches violence in the name of an ordered society? In the new edition of this Very Short Introduction, Kevin Passmore brilliantly unravels the paradoxes of one of the most important phenomena in the modern world
-
-
Brings Clarity to a Resurging Topic
- By Fernanda Araujo on 03-24-20
By: Kevin Passmore
-
Schopenhauer
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Christopher Janaway
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most accessible of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will-a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature.
-
-
am OK review
- By Arnulfo Perez on 01-25-23
-
Aesthetics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Bence Nanay
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Bence Nanay introduces the field of aesthetics, considering both Western and non-Western aesthetic traditions and exploring why it is sometimes misunderstood or considered to be too elitist - by artists, musicians, and even philosophers. As Nanay shows, so-called "high art" has no more claims on aesthetics than sitcoms, tattoos, or punk rock.
-
-
Critique of 'Western' Aesthetics - A Virtue Signal
- By Mr Timothy Webber on 10-05-21
By: Bence Nanay
-
Existentialism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Thomas Flynn
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the leading philosophical movements of the 20th century, existentialism has had more impact on literature and the arts than any other school of thought. Focusing on the leading figures of existentialism, including Sartre, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, and Camus, Thomas Flynn offers a concise account of existentialism, explaining the key themes of individuality, free will, and personal responsibility, which marked the movement as a way of life, not just a way of thinking.
By: Thomas Flynn
-
Foucault (2nd Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Gary Gutting
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Gary Gutting presents a wide-ranging but nonsystematic exploration of some highlights of Foucault's life and thought. Beginning with a brief biography to set the social and political stage, he then tackles Foucault's thoughts on literature, in particular the avant-garde scene; his philosophical and historical work; his treatment of knowledge and power in modern society; and his thoughts on sexuality.
-
-
VSI # 122
- By Darwin8u on 10-29-24
By: Gary Gutting
-
Heidegger
- A Very Short Introduction, 2nd Edition
- By: Michael Inwood
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Heidegger, considered by some to be the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of "philosopher", by some as an apologist for Nazism, and by others as an acknowledged leader in continental philosophy, is probably the most divisive thinker of the 20th century. In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Michael Inwood focuses on Heidegger's most important work, Being and Time, to explore its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity, guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time.
-
-
Very Limited and One-sided View
- By Jack L. Sammons on 10-25-24
By: Michael Inwood
-
Fascism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Kevin Passmore
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fascism is notoriously hard to define. How do we make sense of an ideology that appeals to streetfighters and intellectuals alike? That is overtly macho in style, yet attracts many women? That calls for a return to tradition while maintaining a fascination with technology? And that preaches violence in the name of an ordered society? In the new edition of this Very Short Introduction, Kevin Passmore brilliantly unravels the paradoxes of one of the most important phenomena in the modern world
-
-
Brings Clarity to a Resurging Topic
- By Fernanda Araujo on 03-24-20
By: Kevin Passmore
-
Schopenhauer
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Christopher Janaway
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Schopenhauer is considered to be the most accessible of German philosophers. This book gives a succinct explanation of his metaphysical system, concentrating on the original aspects of his thought, which inspired many artists and thinkers including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer's central notion is that of the will-a blind, irrational force that he uses to interpret both the human mind and the whole of nature.
-
-
am OK review
- By Arnulfo Perez on 01-25-23
-
Nietzsche
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Michael Tanner
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his well known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"
-
-
Presumes way too much
- By Kim M. on 04-30-24
By: Michael Tanner
-
Hegel
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Peter Singer
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hegel is regarded as one of the most influential figures on modern political and intellectual development. After painting Hegel's life and times in broad strokes, Peter Singer goes on to tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Hegel's philosophy. Offering a broad discussion of Hegel's ideas and an account of his major works, Singer explains what have often been considered abstruse and obscure ideas in a clear and inviting manner.
-
-
Great introduction
- By I'm all ears on 02-17-22
By: Peter Singer
-
Nothing
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Frank Close
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about "nothing". What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - "nothing" - exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there.
-
-
Wow
- By Tracey Norris on 11-16-24
By: Frank Close
-
Classics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Mary Beard, John Henderson
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are all classicists - we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their original reality?
-
-
Beard guides the reader through the Classics
- By Darwin8u on 10-29-24
By: Mary Beard, and others
-
Continental Philosophy
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Simon Critchley
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this enlightening Very Short Introduction, Simon Critchley shows us that Continental philosophy encompasses a distinct set of philosophical traditions and practices, with a compelling range of problems all too often ignored by the analytic tradition. He discusses the ideas and approaches of philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Habermas, Foucault, and Derrida. He also introduces key concepts such as existentialism, nihilism, and phenomonology, by explaining their place in the Continental tradition.
-
-
narrator and book 5 star
- By Wesley Bishop on 10-11-24
By: Simon Critchley
-
Kant
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Roger Scruton
- Narrated by: Kyle Munley
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but also one of the most difficult. Roger Scruton tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background to Kant's work and showing why the Critique of Pure Reason has proved so enduring.
-
-
Comprehensive, Well Read, But Very Abstract
- By Drone Boy on 09-09-21
By: Roger Scruton
-
Critical Theory (Second Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Stephen Eric Bronner
- Narrated by: Justin Price
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose—and, if at all possible, cure—the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations.
-
-
Excellent content and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 11-18-24
-
Socrates (2nd Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: C.C.W. Taylor
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Christopher Taylor explores the life of Socrates and his philosophical activity, before looking to the responses his philosophical doctrines have evoked in the centuries since his betrayal and execution at fellow Athenian hands.
-
-
Unhelpful
- By Abi Saraga on 07-08-24
By: C.C.W. Taylor
-
Buddhism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Damien Keown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This very short introduction offers listeners a superb overview of the teachings of the Buddha, as well as a succinct guide to the integration of Buddhism into daily life.
-
-
Engage the services of a Very Short boatman
- By Darwin8u on 10-22-18
By: Damien Keown
-
Aristotle
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Jonathan Barnes
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The influence of Aristotle, the prince of philosophers, on the intellectual history of the West is second to none. In this book, Jonathan Barnes examines Aristotle's scientific researches, his discoveries in logic and his metaphysical theories, his work in psychology and in ethics and politics, and his ideas about art and poetry, placing his teachings in their historical context.
-
-
Great Book Moderate Storyteller
- By Brad on 08-23-24
By: Jonathan Barnes
-
Hume
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: James A. Harris
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Hume, philosopher, historian, economist, librarian, and essayist, was one of the great figures of the European Enlightenment. Unlike some of his famous contemporaries, however, he was not dogmatically committed to idealized conceptions of reason, liberty, and progress.
By: James A. Harris
-
Philosophical Method
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Timothy Williamson
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences.
-
-
Great book. Well read.
- By Jorge on 10-09-23
What listeners say about Albert Camus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-23-22
Good summary
A good summary of Camus’ thoughts and experiences and of his disputes with Sartre. Also a fair treatment of his internal contradictions.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Lynch
- 12-28-21
Camus: Great poet but not a good man.
Excellent analysis of Camus' life and work in spite of its brevity. Gloag reviews the unsavory attitudes and views of Camus in his later works that most biographers and many of his admirers do not want to discuss. Camus, although always insisting that he was never a follower of any ideology, was at the end of his life firmly in the camp of Algeria remaining a colony of France today, tomorrow and forever. In one of his novels he glamorized French colonists (pied noirs) who utter racist epithets and describe the Algerians as contemptible animals. To the end he described the French as having an inalienable right to their holdings in Algeria. You do not get exposed to this poison by reading The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus or The Plague, books which I loved as a teen. But in his later works, especially The Last Man, the full extent of his lack of humanity is exposed.
In the end, Camus was a magnificent writer of poetic prose and gorgeous essays. His lyricism was in many cases, without peer. But as a human being, he failed miserably to consider the plight of anyone other than himself and his beloved settler/invader class. Just like Mersault in The Stranger, he imagined that the nameless others, the original inhabitants of Algeria, could be disregarded and erased from history with a few pulls of the trigger.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-05-24
Tedious and uninformative
Half of this book is a shallow and disjointed introduction to the life and work of Albert Camus.
The other half is the author incessantly announcing their contempt for Camus for not being a communist.
That's all well and good, but unfortunately the two halves alternate with each sentence, so every fact you're given about Camus or his work, is followed by a breathless analysis of how it relates to his nihilism, his cowardice, and his love of imperialism,
I came away from this book with a sense that a good author could have taken the same source material and written a good book on the topic of Camus's weakness and irrelevance.
I wouldn't have read it, because I wanted to read a very short introduction to Albert Camus.
But if you want a bad introduction and a bad critique, this book is for you.
And I mean it, I can't think of anyone else this book is for.
The narration is terrific.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fritz Tegularius
- 09-19-23
Too much biography, not enough philosophy
The historical context was useful but the book barely touched on Camus’s philosophical views. His personal and social bickering with Sartre and others get way too much airtime. His thoughts on life, almost none. Left me feeling like I got a lot of tawdry gossip and not much insight.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful