
Fall of Civilizations
Stories of Greatness and Decline
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Narrated by:
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Paul Cooper
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By:
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Paul Cooper
About this listen
"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."-The Times
Based on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.
Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.
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Populus
- Living and Dying in Ancient Rome
- By: Guy de la Bédoyère
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Frenzied crowds, talking ravens, the stench of the Tiber River: life in ancient Rome was stimulating, dynamic, and often downright dangerous. The Romans relaxed and gossiped in baths, stole precious water from aqueducts, and partied and dined to excess. From the smells of fragrant cookshops and religious sacrifices to the cries of public executions and murderous electoral mobs, Guy de la Bedoyere's Populus draws on a host of historical and literary sources to transport us into the intensity of daily life at the height of ancient Rome.
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Narration is excellent!
- By Richard Curry on 08-10-24
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Blood, Dust and Snow
- Diaries of a Panzer Commander in Germany and on the Eastern Front
- By: Friedrich Sander, Robin Schafer - editor translator, Roger Moorhouse - foreword
- Narrated by: Stephan Goldbach
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the bloodiest combat theater in the bloodiest war in history. Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander experienced this bloodshed firsthand when serving with the 11th Panzer-Regiment. This regiment made up the core of the 6th Panzer-Division, one of Hitler's top armored formations, which was involved in most of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front; campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa and Operation Winter Storm.
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Great account of a light tank commander during WWII, BUT
- By William T. on 09-16-23
By: Friedrich Sander, and others
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Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood
- The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade
- By: Anthony Kaldellis
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the second half of the tenth century, Byzantium embarked on a series of spectacular conquests. By the early eleventh century, the empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean. Yet this imperial project came to a crashing collapse fifty years later, when political disunity, fiscal mismanagement, and defeat at the hands of the Seljuks and the Normans brought an end to Byzantine hegemony. By 1081, Byzantium's very existence was threatened.
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Very Detailed but Tedious
- By Amazon Customer on 09-06-24
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The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 126 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Here in a single volume is the entire, unabridged recording of Gibbon's masterpiece. Beginning in the second century A.D. at the apex of the Pax Romana, Gibbon traces the arc of decline and complete destruction through the centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean. It is a thrilling and cautionary tale of splendor and ruin, of faith and hubris, and of civilization and barbarism. Follow along as Christianity overcomes paganism... before itself coming under intense pressure from Islam.
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Masterpiece - Best Audiobook I’ve Listened To
- By Student on 09-18-18
By: Edward Gibbon
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Weavers, Scribes, and Kings
- A New History of the Ancient Near East
- By: Amanda H. Podany
- Narrated by: Amanda H. Podany
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.
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word of advice
- By Jim Davis on 08-04-23
By: Amanda H. Podany
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The Lost World of Byzantium
- By: Jonathan Harris
- Narrated by: Gareth Richards
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than a millennium, the Byzantine Empire presided over the juncture between East and West, as well as the transition from the classical to the modern world. Rather than recounting the standard chronology of emperors and battles, leading Byzantium scholar Jonathan Harris focuses on a succession of archetypal figures, families, places, and events.
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a survey of Byzantium
- By Salvador on 12-22-23
By: Jonathan Harris
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
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Golden Horde/Platinum Listen
- By Cynthia on 12-11-13
By: Jack Weatherford
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Ancient Africa
- A Captivating Guide to Ancient African Civilizations, Such as the Kingdom of Kush, the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, and the Mali Empire with Its Timbuktu
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers, such as the Nile and the Niger. Some of the earliest great civilizations were born there, and they give us an insight into the smaller kingdoms of ancient Africa.
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Why isn't this taught in school?
- By Doris on 01-18-22
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Spice
- The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
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Spice or Megellan?
- By BarbieAlaska on 06-21-24
By: Roger Crowley
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Lost Cities of the Ancient World
- By: Philip Matyszak
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The ruins of ancient Athens, Luxor, and Rome are familiar cornerstones of world history, visited by travelers from across the globe. But what about the cities that have dropped off the map? Where are they, and what can they tell us about our past? In this compendium of forgotten cities, Philip Matyszak explores the trials, tribulations, and triumphs these cities faced.
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The presentation of the reader
- By Eugene D. on 07-28-24
By: Philip Matyszak
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The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
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Less caffeine, narrator
- By Jeff Joyner on 02-12-24
By: Peter H. Wilson
What listeners say about Fall of Civilizations
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- Cati Rolland
- 11-12-24
As good as the podcast!
I have been listening to this authors podcast for years. He does such great work and I loved listening to this. Whenever I am stuck at what to listen to I go back to this audiobook.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Archi-rancher
- 04-20-25
History is comforting
Liked the variety of civilizations covered; was hoping to hear about the culture of the Great Zimbabwe but it was relatively short-lived so I understand why it didn't make the cut.
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- Dr. Phd III Esq.
- 11-20-24
New fave book to tell people about
It's all in the title. Loved the book, great entertaining and informative listen. The podcast is great too!
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3 people found this helpful
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- O. Espinoza
- 01-18-25
Highly recommended
This is a great book about the rise and fall of several civilizations. Because of my background, I particularly liked the chapters on civilizations in the Americans (Aztec, Mayan, Inca, and Easter Island). Illustrated by interesting facts and quotes from chroniclers and poems/songs, it gives a fact-based and balanced view. I like when authors narrate their own books, and while Mr Cooper's voice is not particularly stimulating, it does a good job. I really loved the end, when the author speculates on how the fall of our civilization would look like. I did not know this author has a podcast, and I am not motivated to listen to it.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Cosmos
- 03-18-25
The way history was told.
Love this book. Got angry a couple of times for what was done to the new world indigenous.
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- EquineBallet
- 08-03-24
Great audiobook
If you’ve been following his podcast series you’ll find this to be very interesting! Shortened version of each stories from his series. It’s a great audiobook and really helps you gain perspective on modern life, to see that the issues we face today are not that different from ancient times. Highly recommend for history lovers!
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4 people found this helpful
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- M. Fink
- 01-13-25
Extensive and Organized
This was a very enjoyable and informative audiobook. I was mainly interested in the early Middle-Eastern civilizations when I started the audiobook, but I was equally captivated by the stories of the American, South-East Asian, and Pacific Island civilizations' declines.
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- Veronica
- 04-06-25
Unique Historical content told masterfully
One of the best books you’ll ever find . Read by the author who’s voice is incredible
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- Christoper E.
- 08-05-24
As good as the podcasts
Great book. A collection of cases of a “collapse of civilization.” More than just the old podcasts stitched together.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Pippi Momma
- 02-09-25
Bittersweet cycles of humanity
I discovered a fascination with ancient history as a means of coping with and understanding the present, and the podcast version of this book was the first or second narrative to introduce me to these topics. While the audiobook is less audio rich than the podcast (which features music and voice actors amid the primary narration), Paul’s solo narration remains engaging, evocative, melancholic at times, and always worthy of listening to again and again.
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1 person found this helpful