
Lost Enlightenment
Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Stillwell
About this listen
In this rich and sweeping history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds - remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia - drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China.
Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects. They gave algebra its name, calculated the earth's diameter with unprecedented precision, wrote the books that later defined European medicine, and penned some of the world's greatest poetry.
One scholar, working in Afghanistan, even predicted the existence of North and South America - five centuries before Columbus. Rarely in history has a more impressive group of polymaths appeared at one place and time. No wonder that their writings influenced European culture from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas down to the scientific revolution, and had a similarly deep impact in India and much of Asia.
Lost Enlightenment chronicles this forgotten age of achievement, seeks to explain its rise, and explores the competing theories about the cause of its eventual demise. Informed by the latest scholarship yet presented in a lively and accessible style, this is a book that will surprise general listeners and specialists alike.
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- Unabridged
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Long neglected in world history, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. Yet, despite its towering influence and centrality to the rise of our modern world, the Ottoman Empire's history has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and even suppressed in the West. Now Alan Mikhail presents a vitally needed recasting of Ottoman history, retelling the story of the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520).
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Entertaining narrative, but poor scholarship
- By Yosemite on 09-15-20
By: Alan Mikhail
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1453
- The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.
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A well written narrative with bizarre and biased commentary
- By Patrick D. Flynn on 08-17-17
By: Roger Crowley
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By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean
- The Birth of Eurasia
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 18 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering more than 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the 13th century AD.
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Remarkable research!
- By B. Dillon on 07-21-22
By: Barry Cunliffe
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The Restoration of Rome
- Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In AD 476, the last of Rome's emperors, known as "Augustulus", was deposed by a barbarian general, the son of one of Attila the Hun's henchmen. With the imperial vestments dispatched to Constantinople, the curtain fell on the Roman empire in Western Europe, its territories divided among successor kingdoms constructed around barbarian military manpower. But, if the Roman Empire was dead, Romans across much of the old empire still lived, holding on to their lands, their values, and their institutions.
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Byzantine Empire Stands Tall!
- By Placeholder on 05-22-14
By: Peter Heather
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In God's Path
- The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire
- By: Robert G. Hoyland
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.
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Islamic conquest history from the outside
- By SAMA on 01-22-15
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Tamerlane
- Conqueror of the Earth
- By: Harold Lamb
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In yet another superb historical work, Harold Lamb brings the mighty Tatar leader to vivid life and shows how this ruthless commander used his superior intellect and magnetic leadership to overcome one obstacle after another. Tamerlane was truly one of the most remarkable personalities ever to emerge from the steppes of Central Asia.
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The man that conquered Afganistan
- By curt on 12-23-08
By: Harold Lamb
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Shahnameh
- The Epic of the Persian Kings
- By: Ferdowsi
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson, Francis Ford Coppola - introduction
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
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The new, impeccable translation and adaptation of the Epic of Persian Kings by Ahmad Sadri brought to life a host of heroic characters and wove their adventures into a thrilling story spanning thousands of years. Containing four grand tragedies and four beautiful love stories, the audiobook is currently going into its fifth edition. It has been a smashing success. We are delighted to present a 12-hour audio experience of this text (performed by the award-winning voice actor, Marc Thompson) against the backdrop of evocative sound design and music editing of Hamid Rahmanian the creator of the Shahnameh project.
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Learn about Persian culture through epic tales
- By Anonymous User on 01-23-19
By: Ferdowsi
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The Dream Machine
- By: M. Mitchell Waldrop
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 27 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Behind every great revolution is a vision, and behind perhaps the greatest revolution of our time, personal computing, is the vision of J.C.R. Licklider. In a simultaneously compelling personal narrative and comprehensive historical exposition, Waldrop tells the story of the man who not only instigated the work that led to the internet, but also shifted our understanding of what computers were and could be.
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Biographies, not technical
- By D. Garber on 01-16-20
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Empires of the Steppes
- By: Kenneth Harl
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These nomadic tribes have produced some of the world’s greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among others. Their deeds still resonate today. Indeed, these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated the first global trade of the Silk Road and disseminated religions, technology, knowledge and goods of every description that enriched and changed the lives of so many across Europe, China and the Middle East.
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Interview with Dan Carlin
- By Laurie A. Steuart on 08-17-23
By: Kenneth Harl
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Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
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In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective.
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You cannot know a person until you know how he sees himself.
- By Chaim J. on 05-02-25
By: Tamim Ansary
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The Silk Roads
- A New History of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 24 hrs and 4 mins
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It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.
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An Absolutely SUPERB Book for Lovers of History
- By Dipam on 06-27-21
By: Peter Frankopan
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The Ultimate John Muir Collection: Our National Parks, Stickeen, My First Summer in the Sierra, The Yosemite, Travels in Alaska, & A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
- By: John Muir
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks cast
- Length: 36 hrs and 13 mins
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The pioneering advocate of wilderness preservation, John Muir (1838-1914) was influential in the creation of many national parks.
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Chapter Numbers cheat sheet (you're welcome!)
- By Terry Angel on 07-14-21
By: John Muir
What made the experience of listening to Lost Enlightenment the most enjoyable?
Mr. Starr paints a very interesting picture of Central Asia (say, modernly, eastern Iran through the -stan countries and western China) and for very many centuries. He does not fail his claim that the region has a "Lost Enlightenment." The numerous parallels to the better known European Enlightenment are most striking: right down to the Brethren of Purity as a rough counterpart to the 18th century Masons (my comparison, not his). The huge debt which world civilization would seem to owe the nowadays-obscure region is most impressive. And at any rate you can be confident it's a good read if you did click for pre-modern Central Asia with any idea that the subject could interest you.What did you like best about this story?
It's always particularly titillating to learn about a time and place you know little about.I'd wonder that any Central Asian specialists browse the book on audible, so I think it's sure to be fresh to anyone who might hear it.Have you listened to any of Kevin Stillwell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I had not heard Mr. Stillwell before. I thought his intonation was maybe the slightest bit idiosyncratic in how often it gave a questioning lilt, but it certainly wasn't anything objectionable: endearing after a while, even.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I think this question disregards the length of the work. I listened to it without listening to anything else.Impressively follows up an interesting claim
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Legendary unique in both prospect and details
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Great
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Central Asia, in the centuries both before and during its Enlightenment, was at the crossroads of vast commercial activities. These included the famous Silk Road to China, as well as routes to India, the Middle East and Europe. Starr focuses on how Central Asia was able to use the interactions and wealth brought by such trade to create an intellectual class. This class was both familiar and comfortable with different cultures and languages and was also used to serving as middlemen between different peoples and cultures. Those intellectuals took the ancient knowledge, sifted it through the other influences of the region, integrated it with knowledge from India and China and made substantial contributions of their own.
The book contrasts the acme of the Central Asian Enlightenment with the comparative backwardness of Europe at the time and then further contrasts the opposite trajectories in intellectual history each area subsequently followed.
Starr argues that religious dogmatism and conflict were prime causes of the decline in the Central Asian Enlightenment. While outside the scope of this book, Starr’s other comparisons of Central Asia and Europe lead to the fascinating question of why European intellectuals were able to escape the intellectual conformity imposed, frequently quite violently, by the Roman Catholic Church, which was even more organized and bureaucratic than Islam, while those in Central Asia could not do so.
Thorough Account of an Overlooked Age and Area
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But overall, fantastic book and would highly recommend for anyone who is interested in the subject. I would be surprised to find another book that covers this area and this time so thoroughly and in such an entertaining fashion.
Wow what a thorough and well written book!
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As there are several factors at play in the rise of intellectual cultures same goes for the fall of them. But it seemed to me that there are no certain factors that doubtlessly come at play. Rather like Ibn Khaldun pointed out, it follows a sign curve. Starting from the discussion of ancient maestro reaches to the zenith of original ideas and ground breaking thoughts. The decline entails the mere commentaries and debate on the ideas of the zenith.
The book paints a detailed picture of the genius works and time of central Asian intellectual culture. A culture that allowed a vibrant but dialectic freedom of thought.
A must read for those that seek knowledge for he sake of it. As it will give a methodical insight to the challenges of free knowledge seeking.
It clarifies the processes of thought
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Another great story of what might have been... The lessons are timely today and I suspect will be as well as 300 years.
A great through history that is rarely covered
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enlightening read!
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Some parts of the book can get a bit dry, but having the pertinent background to some of these stories is necessary to understand the overall arc of the history. Also some names tended to crop up repeatedly and I would be temporarily confused as to whether the author was moving backwards in time or whether a particular person was a namesake of an earlier historic figure.
I highly recommend pairing this book with Lars Brownworth's "Lost to the West" which is a very good overview of a similar time period in the lands just to the West of Central Asia. Both books cover histories that should be given more prominence in Western education, especially since much of the golden ages of these civilizations occurred during the so-called Dark Ages of the West.
Excellent overview of a remarkable age
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Must read book
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