In the Shadow of the Sword
The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World
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In the Shadow of the Sword
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Keeble
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By:
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Tom Holland
About this listen
In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt, in effect, the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning from Constantinople to the Arabian desert, and starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived, he tells a story vivid with drama, horror, and startling achievement.
©2012 Tom Holland (P)2012 Hachette DigitalCritic reviews
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What listeners say about In the Shadow of the Sword
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rick
- 10-13-17
Captivating and informative
The author and the narrator cooperate to tell the story of the march of religion and culture through the end of late antiquity in a way that often has the feel of a rollicking adventure.
Though the information content is dense, it comes at the reader with the pace of a good story, and the picture it paints is illuminating and satisfying.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Naade
- 07-20-18
Extremely Good, Informative and Eye Opening Read
An essential must read for anyone trying to truly understand today's geopolitics and social turmoil
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Barry J. Crompton
- 09-22-12
Another great book from Tom Holland
What did you love best about In the Shadow of the Sword?
I've read and listened to four of Tom Holland's books, he has the ability to capture a lot of historical fact and put into a way of making it understandable.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BK
- 01-07-19
Excellent overview of the ending of late antiquity
The narrator is great, and the amount of information in this book is staggering. That said, I found it far too long, especially compared to Rubicon. That's to be expected, as the topic is so much larger, but I still struggled to finish this book. The highlight for me was all the information on Sassanids and white huns etc. Recommended for history buffs.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-20-24
Too many details…
The message got lost among all the details and sylistic flourishes. Also as the author keeps jumping hundreds of years in time, the lack of dates makes the book even more opaque.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jaffar
- 11-02-21
out. of. control. prose, didactics, cheekyness
The Narrator is a stellar. The Author celestial. Must read for any anyone interested in history. Also, a triumph of scholarship. The thing good.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Charles
- 01-06-15
Great history
Yet another fantastic book from Tom Holland. Yet more history is made interesting and accessible. The performance is also great.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-15-24
Encompassing, detailed, epic, but suffers from misguided attempts at revisionism and some questionable narratives.
This one is an epic history of the fall of the Sassanian and Roman Empires at the intersection of a rising Arab hegemony backgrounded by the nascent religion of Islam. While the arcs and narratives are interesting, riveting, and overall well-written, it started to lose steam in the last couple of chapters when it started to tackle the historicity of Muhammad, the rise of Islamic as a religious concept, and the nature of the movement itself that began in Arabia. I appreciate the attempt at the critical examination of the Islamic and Arabian chapters in history, just wish it was more well executed and backed up by more reputable sources. Maybe this book will benefit from an updated edition, who knows?
As for the narration, it was great. It made for some good listening during the 17 and so hours of this long book. Overall, the book left me disappointed and yearning for more orthodox historical books about this particular era.
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