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How the World Made the West
- A 4,000 Year History
- Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
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Publisher's summary
An award-winning Oxford history professor overturns the way the West thinks about itself, tracing its innovations and traditions to societies from all over the world and making the case that the West is, and always has been, truly global.
“Superb, refreshing, and full of delights, this is world history at its best.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity
In How the World Made the West, Josephine Quinn poses perhaps the most significant challenge ever to the “civilizational thinking” regarding the origins of Western culture—that is, the idea that civilizations arose separately and distinctly from one another. Rather, she locates the roots of the modern West in everything from the law codes of Babylon, Assyrian irrigation, and the Phoenician art of sail to Indian literature, Arabic scholarship, and the metalworking riders of the Steppe, to name just a few examples.
According to Quinn, reducing the backstory of the modern West to a narrative that focuses on Greece and Rome impoverishes our view of the past. This understanding of history would have made no sense to the ancient Greeks and Romans themselves, who understood and discussed their own connections to and borrowings from others. They consistently presented their own culture as the result of contact and exchange. Quinn builds on the writings they left behind with rich analyses of other ancient literary sources like the epic of Gilgamesh, holy texts, and newly discovered records revealing details of everyday life. A work of breathtaking scholarship, How the World Made the West also draws on the material culture of the times in art and artifacts as well as findings from the latest scientific advances in carbon dating and human genetics to thoroughly debunk the myth of the modern West as a self-made miracle.
In lively prose and with bracing clarity, How the World Made the West challenges the stories the West continues to tell about itself. It redefines our understanding of the Western self and civilization in the cosmopolitan world of today.
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Critic reviews
“As our leaders and pundits glorify ‘Western Civilization’ and excoriate migration and wokeness, Josephine Quinn offers a momentous correction: the Greeks and Romans were hodgepodge people, and if we are their heirs it is only because of globe-spanning connections that always produce multifarious ways of life. . . . Brilliant and essential.”—Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times
“Bold, beautifully written, and filled with insights, How the World Made the West demands that we challenge traditional views of the past. An extraordinary achievement.”—Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Earth Transformed
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The history of the tablets translated in the following book is strange and beyond the belief of modern scientists. Their antiquity is stupendous, dating back some 36,000 years. The writer is Thoth, an Atlantean Priest-King, who founded a colony in ancient Egypt after the sinking of the mother country. He was the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, erroneously attributed to Cheops. In it he incorporated his knowledge of the ancient wisdom and also securely secreted records and instruments of ancient Atlantis.
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Excellence...
- By Light Worker on 04-21-18
By: M. Doreal
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The Pagan World
- Ancient Religions Before Christianity
- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
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Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
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- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
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Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration. Taught by acclaimed Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, these 24 captivating lectures offer you the chance to experience this story like never before, incorporating the latest historical insights that challenge our previous notions of Rome’s decline.
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Gregory S. Aldrete is a treasure
- By Laurel Tucker on 02-04-19
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Tribal Justice
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On September 26, 2020, Michael was in a great mood. He’d recently returned home to Oklahoma after years in the military. He’d bought a house and had a job teaching and coaching basketball at the local high school. But that night, Michael’s life would turn upside down. Around two o’clock in the morning, he heard people banging on the doors and windows of his home. He called 911 for help. This is the story of what happened next, and why. To understand it, we have to go back to the Trail of Tears that the Five Tribes were forced to walk.
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The next great battleground for Native America and Racial Justice
- By AGifford on 10-14-24
By: Allison Herrera, and others
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Decline of the West
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The decline of the West, which at first sight may appear, like the corresponding decline of the Classical Culture, a phenomenon limited in time and space, we now perceive to be a philosophical problem that, when comprehended in all its gravity, includes within itself every great question of Being.
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What listeners say about How the World Made the West
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sinustrunz
- 10-09-24
Great read
How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn is an excellent and thought-provoking journey through 4,000 years of history. Quinn masterfully presents a broad and engaging narrative that traces the key influences that shaped Western civilization, making this book both informative and captivating for history enthusiasts.
However, as is often the case in works like this, there is a noticeable lack of focus on African civilizations. This omission is perhaps due to the scarcity of surviving historical records, but it remains a gap worth acknowledging. While African contributions to global history are significant, they are not thoroughly explored here.
That said, Quinn’s book is outstanding in every other respect, providing a sweeping view of cultural, political, and intellectual exchanges that defined the Western world. Her insights are clear, well-researched, and accessible. I would highly recommend How the World Made the West to anyone interested in understanding the forces that shaped our world today.
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- Sandra C Hinson
- 10-15-24
A fascinating and challenging journey
I loved listening to this book over the course of two weeks. I felt a deep connection with the richness of human history, from the ancient world to the classical period to late medieval times, through a framework that challenges the received wisdom of a Eurocentric reading of history. Both the writer and the narrator bring the stories to life so well that I could almost hear, smell, taste, and feel the places, and recognize the humanity of the peoples who gave rise to what became the 'known world' by the end of the 18th century. Because of my interest in linguistics, I've long assumed that cultural exchanges from India to Northern Africa shaped both European and Asian societies. I hope this book helps readers appreciate the many strands of history and culture that contribute to who we are today, whether we are in what became the Americas, Europe, West Asia, East Asia, and all the places in between.
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- Reader
- 09-27-24
It’s comprehensiveness. Very few people know this history and its value to the West.
It’s complete history of the Silk Road history. The best book in this category that I have read. Necessary to fully appreciate the role of the “Silk Road” countries in the growth and power of the West.
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- E. Protzman
- 09-16-24
Convincing defense of the thesis that the world created the west.
You better like your history straight, no chaser. I certainly do. If your interest in BCE is just starting, this book would be a real struggle to assemble five thousand years before CE. It is scholarly and wonderful. Fills in gaps I didn’t know existed. Brilliant.
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- Placeholder
- 10-19-24
just a Chronicle of events and times.
this book is just a history book. It is filled with a chronology of events and times, but no concepts about history as implied in the title. The title is designed to sell books, but the book itself is simply a very long and boring history book.
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