
Lawless Republic
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
3 months free
Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
David Holt
-
By:
-
Josiah Osgood
About this listen
In its final decades, the Roman Republic was engulfed by a crime wave. An epidemic of extortions, murders, and acts of insurrection tested the court system's capacity to maintain order. As case after case filled the docket, an ambitious young lawyer named Cicero seized every opportunity to litigate, forging a reputation as a master debater with a bright future in politics. In Lawless Republic, historian Josiah Osgood recounts the legendary orator's ascent and fall, and his pivotal role in the republic's lurch toward autocracy.
Cicero's first appearance in the courts came shortly after the end of a brutal civil war. After leveraging his fame as a lawyer to become a consul, he ruthlessly crushed a coup by suppressing the liberties of Roman citizens. The premiere legal mind of Rome came to argue that the pursuit of a higher justice could sometimes justify sweeping the law aside, laying the groundwork for Roman history's most famous act of political violence—the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Lawless Republic vividly resurrects the spectacle of the courts in the time of Cicero and Caesar, showing how politics trumped the rule of law and sealed the fate of Rome.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Buried City
- Unearthing the Real Pompeii
- By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Jamie Bulloch - translator
- Narrated by: Nick Biadon
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Buried City, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Pompeii and reveals new archaeological finds that are being unearthed at the site’s biggest dig in a generation. As director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Zuchtriegel presents a uniquely intimate perspective on this city that was tragically destroyed and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Among the ruins, we find unmade beds, dishes left drying, and bodies of victims encased in ash, but Zuchtriegel shows that we’ve only begun to understand this fascinating place.
By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, and others
-
Penelope’s Bones
- A New History of Homer's World Through the Women Written Out of It
- By: Emily Hauser
- Narrated by: Emily Hauser
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Penelope’s Bones, award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser pieces together compelling evidence from archaeological excavations and scientific discoveries to unearth the richly textured lives of women in Bronze Age Greece—the era of Homer’s heroes. Here, for the first time, we come to understand the everyday lives and experiences of the real women who stand behind the legends of Helen, Briseis, Cassandra, Aphrodite, Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso, Penelope, and more.
By: Emily Hauser
-
Laughter in Ancient Rome
- On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?
-
-
Laugh along with the Romans
- By JRuth Dempsey on 04-26-25
By: Mary Beard
-
The Battle of Salamis
- The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a late September day in 480 BC, Greek warships faced an invading Persian armada in the narrow Salamis Straits in the most important naval battle of the ancient world. Overwhelmingly outnumbered by the enemy, the Greeks triumphed through a combination of strategy and deception. More than two millennia after it occurred, the clash between the Greeks and Persians at Salamis remains one of the most tactically brilliant battles ever fought.
-
-
Barry Strauss delivers an epic clash…
- By rzlbrk on 10-20-23
By: Barry Strauss
-
Ancient Christianities
- The First Five Hundred Years
- By: Paula Fredriksen
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.
-
-
Among the best
- By Jacob Kilgore on 04-17-25
By: Paula Fredriksen
-
Demetrius
- Sacker of Cities
- By: James Romm
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of Demetrius (337-283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander (323-282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander’s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces. Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world-state, with a new Alexander—himself—at its head.
-
-
A chapter is missing
- By Brendon miller on 12-02-22
By: James Romm
-
The Buried City
- Unearthing the Real Pompeii
- By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Jamie Bulloch - translator
- Narrated by: Nick Biadon
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Buried City, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Pompeii and reveals new archaeological finds that are being unearthed at the site’s biggest dig in a generation. As director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Zuchtriegel presents a uniquely intimate perspective on this city that was tragically destroyed and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Among the ruins, we find unmade beds, dishes left drying, and bodies of victims encased in ash, but Zuchtriegel shows that we’ve only begun to understand this fascinating place.
By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, and others
-
Penelope’s Bones
- A New History of Homer's World Through the Women Written Out of It
- By: Emily Hauser
- Narrated by: Emily Hauser
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Penelope’s Bones, award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser pieces together compelling evidence from archaeological excavations and scientific discoveries to unearth the richly textured lives of women in Bronze Age Greece—the era of Homer’s heroes. Here, for the first time, we come to understand the everyday lives and experiences of the real women who stand behind the legends of Helen, Briseis, Cassandra, Aphrodite, Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso, Penelope, and more.
By: Emily Hauser
-
Laughter in Ancient Rome
- On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?
-
-
Laugh along with the Romans
- By JRuth Dempsey on 04-26-25
By: Mary Beard
-
The Battle of Salamis
- The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a late September day in 480 BC, Greek warships faced an invading Persian armada in the narrow Salamis Straits in the most important naval battle of the ancient world. Overwhelmingly outnumbered by the enemy, the Greeks triumphed through a combination of strategy and deception. More than two millennia after it occurred, the clash between the Greeks and Persians at Salamis remains one of the most tactically brilliant battles ever fought.
-
-
Barry Strauss delivers an epic clash…
- By rzlbrk on 10-20-23
By: Barry Strauss
-
Ancient Christianities
- The First Five Hundred Years
- By: Paula Fredriksen
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.
-
-
Among the best
- By Jacob Kilgore on 04-17-25
By: Paula Fredriksen
-
Demetrius
- Sacker of Cities
- By: James Romm
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of Demetrius (337-283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander (323-282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander’s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces. Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world-state, with a new Alexander—himself—at its head.
-
-
A chapter is missing
- By Brendon miller on 12-02-22
By: James Romm
-
Habsburgs on the Rio Grande
- The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire
- By: Raymond Jonas
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on research in five languages and in archives across the globe, Habsburgs on the Rio Grande fundamentally revises narratives of global history. Far more than a footnote, the Second Mexican Empire was at the center of world-historic great-power struggles—a point of inflection in a contest for supremacy that set the terms of twentieth-century rivalry.
-
-
Missing Piece of History
- By Jonathan on 06-09-25
By: Raymond Jonas
-
The Classical World
- An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian
- By: Robin Lane Fox
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome once dominated the world, and they continue to fascinate and inspire us. Classical art and architecture, drama and epic, philosophy and politics - these are the foundations of Western civilization. In The Classical World, eminent classicist Robin Lane Fox brilliantly chronicles this vast sweep of history from Homer to the reign of Augustus.
-
-
Homo-erotic classical history
- By Gail Norman on 04-28-23
By: Robin Lane Fox
-
Plato and the Tyrant
- The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece
- By: James Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed historian and classicist James Romm draws on personal letters of Plato to show how a philosopher helped topple the leading Greek power of the era: the opulent city of Syracuse. There, Plato encountered two authoritarian rulers, a father and son both named Dionysius, and tried to steer them toward philosophy. At the same time, he worked on his masterpiece, Republic, in which he conceived a ruler who unites perfect wisdom with absolute power.
By: James Romm
-
The Death of Caesar
- The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Shakespeare's gripping play showed Caesar's assassination to be an amateur and idealistic affair. The real killing, however, was a carefully planned paramilitary operation, a generals' plot put together by Caesar's disaffected officers and designed with precision. Brutus and Cassius were indeed key players, but they had the help of a third man - Decimus. He was the mole in Caesar's entourage, one of Caesar's leading generals, and a lifelong friend.
-
-
Absorbing
- By Jean on 03-24-15
By: Barry Strauss
-
At the Gates of Rome
- The Fall of the Eternal City, AD 410
- By: Don Hollway
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It took little more than a single generation for the centuries-old Roman Empire to fall. In those critical decades, while Christians and pagans, legions and barbarians, generals and politicians squabbled over dwindling scraps of power, two men—former comrades on the battlefield—rose to prominence on opposite sides of the great game of empire. Roman general Flavius Stilicho, the man behind the Roman throne, dedicated himself to restoring imperial glory, only to find himself struggling for his life against political foes.
-
-
EXCELLENT
- By Gavin Michelli on 01-17-25
By: Don Hollway
-
Inventing the Renaissance
- The Myth of a Golden Age
- By: Ada Palmer
- Narrated by: Candida Gubbins
- Length: 30 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we’re told) heralds the dawning of a new world—a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! or so says award-winning novelist and historian Ada Palmer. In Inventing the Renaissance, Palmer turns her witty and irreverent eye on the fantasies we’ve told ourselves about Europe’s not-so-golden age, myths she sets right with sharp clarity.
-
-
Completely changed my perspective of Machiavelli
- By Amazon Customer on 04-30-25
By: Ada Palmer
-
The Golden Road
- How Ancient India Transformed the World
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: William Dalrymple
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Golden Road, revered historian William Dalrymple corrects the record, telling the captivating story of ancient India’s ascent through a swift and breathtaking tour of the ideas and places Indians created. Treks into the sunless depths of cave monasteries illuminate the origins and spread of Buddhism. Far-flung archaeological expeditions—from the sand-blown Red Sea coast of Egypt, to Afghan mountain refuges, to verdant Cambodian jungles—reveal the impact of Indian commerce.
-
-
Completely unknown until now
- By Reader on 05-07-25
-
The Trojan War
- A New History
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Trojan War is the most famous conflict in history, the subject of Homer's Iliad, one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Although many listeners know that this literary masterwork is based on actual events, there is disagreement about how much of Homer's tale is true. Drawing on recent archaeological research, historian and classicist Barry Strauss explains what really happened in Troy more than 3,000 years ago. For many years it was thought that Troy was an insignificant place that never had a chance against the Greek warriors who laid siege and overwhelmed the city.
-
-
Good summary of a great myth and its realities.
- By Kenneth M. Northrup on 07-09-20
By: Barry Strauss
-
The Good Kings
- Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World
- By: Kara Cooney
- Narrated by: Kara Cooney
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in the tradition of historians like Stacy Schiff and Amanda Foreman who find modern lessons in ancient history, this provocative narrative explores the lives of five remarkable pharaohs who ruled Egypt with absolute power, shining a new light on the country's 3,000-year empire and its meaning today.
-
-
Ancient Egypt as Metaphor for the Trump Administration
- By Orlando R. Murgado on 12-09-21
By: Kara Cooney
-
The Siege of Tyre
- Alexander the Great and the Gateway to Empire
- By: David A. Guenther
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The island city of Tyre along the coast of Lebanon was for centuries an impregnable fortress and key to unlocking Phoenician and Persian power in the Near East. Its fall was first prophesied in the Book of Ezekiel; but it would not be Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who would take the city as the Bible foretold, but a Macedonian warrior king, Alexander. Alexander's siege of 332 BC was one of the most remarkable events in the classical world. The Siege of Tyre is the first book-length treatment of this critical and fascinating campaign
-
-
wonderful detail
- By Daniel Grinuk on 03-12-25
-
The Eastern Front
- A History of the Great War 1914-1918
- By: Nick Lloyd
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 22 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on the latest scholarship as well as eyewitness reports, diary entries, and memoirs, Lloyd moves from the great battles of 1914 to the final collapse of the Central Powers in 1918, showing how a local struggle between Austria-Hungary and Serbia spiraled into a massive conflagration that pulled in Germany, Russia, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria.
-
-
Exceptional
- By Christian Lewis on 05-26-25
By: Nick Lloyd
-
The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome
- The Fall of the Roman Empire, Book 1
- By: Nick Holmes
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a time of revolution. The Roman Revolution describes the little known "crisis of the third century", and how it led to a revolutionary new Roman Empire. Long before the more famous collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, in the years between AD 235-275, barbarian invasions, civil war, and plague devastated ancient Rome.
-
-
Poor History, with an axe to grind with Christianity
- By Anonymous User on 03-08-25
By: Nick Holmes
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Buried City
- Unearthing the Real Pompeii
- By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Jamie Bulloch - translator
- Narrated by: Nick Biadon
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Buried City, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Pompeii and reveals new archaeological finds that are being unearthed at the site’s biggest dig in a generation. As director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Zuchtriegel presents a uniquely intimate perspective on this city that was tragically destroyed and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Among the ruins, we find unmade beds, dishes left drying, and bodies of victims encased in ash, but Zuchtriegel shows that we’ve only begun to understand this fascinating place.
By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, and others
-
The Last Dynasty
- Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander the Great and Cleopatra may be two of the most famous figures from the ancient world, but the Egyptian era bookended by their lives—the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BC)—is little known. In The Last Dynasty, Toby Wilkinson unravels the incredible story of this turbulent era.
-
-
Interesting history of an oft overlooked period
- By Tom on 05-07-25
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
Plato and the Tyrant
- The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece
- By: James Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed historian and classicist James Romm draws on personal letters of Plato to show how a philosopher helped topple the leading Greek power of the era: the opulent city of Syracuse. There, Plato encountered two authoritarian rulers, a father and son both named Dionysius, and tried to steer them toward philosophy. At the same time, he worked on his masterpiece, Republic, in which he conceived a ruler who unites perfect wisdom with absolute power.
By: James Romm
-
Uncommon Wrath
- How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic
- By: Josiah Osgood
- Narrated by: Ana Clements
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Uncommon Wrath, historian Josiah Osgood tells the story of how the political rivalry between Julius Caesar and Marcus Cato precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. As the champions of two dominant but distinct visions for Rome, Caesar and Cato each represented qualities that had made the Republic strong, but their ideological differences entrenched into enmity and mutual fear. The intensity of their collective factions became a tribal divide, hampering their ability to make good decisions and undermining democratic government.
-
-
Uncommonly Good
- By Aneil and Karen Mishra on 04-27-23
By: Josiah Osgood
-
Epic of the Earth
- Reading Homer's "Iliad" in the Fight for a Dying World
- By: Edith Hall
- Narrated by: Edith Hall
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The roots of today's environmental catastrophe run deep into humanity's past. Through this unprecedented reading of Homer's Iliad, the award-winning classicist Edith Hall examines how this foundational text both documents the environmental practices of the ancient Greeks and betrays an awareness of the dangers posed by the destruction of the natural landscape. Underlying Homer's account of brutal military operations, alliances, and cataclysmic struggle is a palpable understanding that the direction in which humanity was headed could create a world that was uninhabitable.
By: Edith Hall
-
The First and Last King of Haiti
- The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
- By: Marlene L. Daut
- Narrated by: Don Elivert
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.
-
-
learned a lot i think
- By Katari on 06-27-25
By: Marlene L. Daut
-
The Buried City
- Unearthing the Real Pompeii
- By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Jamie Bulloch - translator
- Narrated by: Nick Biadon
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Buried City, Gabriel Zuchtriegel takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Pompeii and reveals new archaeological finds that are being unearthed at the site’s biggest dig in a generation. As director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Zuchtriegel presents a uniquely intimate perspective on this city that was tragically destroyed and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Among the ruins, we find unmade beds, dishes left drying, and bodies of victims encased in ash, but Zuchtriegel shows that we’ve only begun to understand this fascinating place.
By: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, and others
-
The Last Dynasty
- Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander the Great and Cleopatra may be two of the most famous figures from the ancient world, but the Egyptian era bookended by their lives—the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BC)—is little known. In The Last Dynasty, Toby Wilkinson unravels the incredible story of this turbulent era.
-
-
Interesting history of an oft overlooked period
- By Tom on 05-07-25
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
Plato and the Tyrant
- The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece
- By: James Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed historian and classicist James Romm draws on personal letters of Plato to show how a philosopher helped topple the leading Greek power of the era: the opulent city of Syracuse. There, Plato encountered two authoritarian rulers, a father and son both named Dionysius, and tried to steer them toward philosophy. At the same time, he worked on his masterpiece, Republic, in which he conceived a ruler who unites perfect wisdom with absolute power.
By: James Romm
-
Uncommon Wrath
- How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic
- By: Josiah Osgood
- Narrated by: Ana Clements
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Uncommon Wrath, historian Josiah Osgood tells the story of how the political rivalry between Julius Caesar and Marcus Cato precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. As the champions of two dominant but distinct visions for Rome, Caesar and Cato each represented qualities that had made the Republic strong, but their ideological differences entrenched into enmity and mutual fear. The intensity of their collective factions became a tribal divide, hampering their ability to make good decisions and undermining democratic government.
-
-
Uncommonly Good
- By Aneil and Karen Mishra on 04-27-23
By: Josiah Osgood
-
Epic of the Earth
- Reading Homer's "Iliad" in the Fight for a Dying World
- By: Edith Hall
- Narrated by: Edith Hall
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The roots of today's environmental catastrophe run deep into humanity's past. Through this unprecedented reading of Homer's Iliad, the award-winning classicist Edith Hall examines how this foundational text both documents the environmental practices of the ancient Greeks and betrays an awareness of the dangers posed by the destruction of the natural landscape. Underlying Homer's account of brutal military operations, alliances, and cataclysmic struggle is a palpable understanding that the direction in which humanity was headed could create a world that was uninhabitable.
By: Edith Hall
-
The First and Last King of Haiti
- The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
- By: Marlene L. Daut
- Narrated by: Don Elivert
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.
-
-
learned a lot i think
- By Katari on 06-27-25
By: Marlene L. Daut
-
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this dynamic and engaging biography, Anthony Everitt plunges us into the fascinating, scandal-ridden world of ancient Rome in its most glorious heyday. Accessible to us through his legendary speeches but also through an unrivaled collection of unguarded letters to his close friend Atticus, Cicero comes to life here as a witty and cunning political operator.
-
-
An eloquent man, and a patriot
- By Darwin8u on 01-19-15
By: Anthony Everitt
-
Summer of Fire and Blood
- The German Peasants' War
- By: Lyndal Roper
- Narrated by: Rose Akroyd
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The German Peasants’ War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as well over a hundred thousand people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. The peasants took control of vast areas of southern and middle Germany, torching and plundering the monasteries, convents, and castles that stood in their way. But they proved no match for the forces of the lords.
-
-
A Lost History Recovered
- By C. C. Kissinger on 03-12-25
By: Lyndal Roper
-
The Neverending Empire
- The Infinite Impact of Ancient Rome
- By: Aldo Cazzullo, Loredana Maria Rinaldi - translation
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its mythical foundations and epic construction to its enduring historical and cultural impact, the ancient Roman Empire has long fascinated people across the world. In The Neverending Empire esteemed Italian journalist Aldo Cazzullo describes an exciting new historical perspective: that the Roman Empire never fell. In fact, its influence reaches further and deeper than ever.
By: Aldo Cazzullo, and others
-
Roman Britain
- A New History: Revised Edition
- By: Guy de la Bédoyère
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author first outlines events from the Iron Age period immediately preceding the conquest in AD 43 to the emperor Honorius's advice to the Britons in 410 to fend for themselves. He then tackles the issues facing Britons after the absorption of their culture by an invading army, including the role of government and the military in the province, religion, commerce, technology, and daily life. For this revised edition, the text and bibliography have been updated to reflect the latest discoveries and research in recent years.
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Very Detailed but Tedious
- By Amazon Customer on 09-06-24
-
Homer and His Iliad
- By: Robin Lane Fox
- Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it composed and why does it endure? Robin Lane Fox addresses these questions, drawing on a lifelong love and engagement with the poem. He argues for a place, a date, and a method for its composition—subjects of ongoing controversy—combining the detailed expertise of a historian with a poetic reader’s sensitivity.
-
-
Masterful!
- By J. C. Weaver on 01-08-24
By: Robin Lane Fox
-
Rain of Ruin
- Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan
- By: Richard Overy
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, US air attacks in Japan killed 300,000 civilians in three hours of night bombing and two nuclear strikes. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned almost the entire city, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than 1 million homeless. The atomic blast in Hiroshima in August killed some 119,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers. After a second nuclear attack days later in Nagasaki and a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, Japan accepted defeat.
-
-
The Voice ruins the book.
- By Bryce on 05-28-25
By: Richard Overy
-
The Nazi Mind
- Twelve Warnings from History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How could the SS have committed the crimes they did? How were the killers who shot Jews at close quarters able to perpetrate this horror? Why did commandants of concentration and death camps willingly—often enthusiastically—oversee mass murder? How could ordinary Germans have tolerated the removal of the Jews? In The Nazi Mind, bestselling historian Laurence Rees seeks answers to some of the most perplexing questions surrounding the Second World War and the Holocaust.
-
-
Disturbing parallels to current events.
- By A. Fitting on 06-26-25
By: Laurence Rees
-
Marcus Aurelius
- The Stoic Emperor
- By: Donald J. Robertson
- Narrated by: Donald J. Robertson
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel biography brings Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE) to life for a new generation by exploring the emperor’s fascinating psychological journey. Donald J. Robertson examines Marcus’s relationships with key figures in his life, such as his mother, Domitia Lucilla, and the emperor Hadrian, as well as his Stoic tutors. He draws extensively on Marcus’s own Meditations and correspondence, and he examines the emperor’s actions as detailed in the Augustan History and other ancient texts.
-
-
Robertson does it again
- By J. Gilmore on 02-17-24
-
Tequila Wars
- Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico
- By: Ted Genoways
- Narrated by: Andrew Joseph Perez
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the dawn of the twentieth century, José Cuervo inherited his family's humble distillery, La Rojeña, in the Tequila Valley. Within a decade, it would become Mexico's leading producer of tequila. But when the Mexican Revolution erupted, a charge of treason and a death threat against him by Pancho Villa forced Cuervo to flee. In Tequila Wars, award-winning author Ted Genoways restores Cuervo to his place as a key player in Mexico's formative period. Before the revolution, Cuervo's acclaim spread worldwide, and once war broke out, Cuervo remained an impresario, kingmaker, and cultural force.
-
-
The writing was heavy on descriptions but light on historical content.
- By George Q. Bissonnette on 06-06-25
By: Ted Genoways
-
Proto
- How One Ancient Language Went Global
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Emma Spurgin-Hussey
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west.
-
-
Brilliant research and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 05-16-25
By: Laura Spinney
-
The Anglo-Saxons
- A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 - 1066
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the vikings.
-
-
"Pretty Good"
- By Stephen on 05-30-21
By: Marc Morris
Entertaining and educational
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.