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Mastering the West
- Rome and Carthage at War
- Narrated by: Tom McElroy
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
To say the Punic Wars (264-146 BC) were a turning point in world history is a vast understatement. This bloody and protracted conflict pitted two flourishing Mediterranean powers against one another, leaving one an unrivalled giant and the other a literal pile of ash. To later observers, a collision between these civilizations seemed inevitable and yet to the Romans and Carthaginians at the time hostilities first erupted seemingly out of nowhere, with what were expected to be inconsequential results.
Mastering the West offers a thoroughly engrossing narrative of this century of battle in the western Mediterranean, while treating a full range of themes: the antagonists' military, naval, economic, and demographic resources; the political structures of both republics; and the postwar impact of the conflicts on the participants and victims. The narrative also investigates questions of leadership and the contributions and mistakes of leaders like Hannibal, Fabius the Delayer, Scipio Africanus, Masinissa, and Scipio Aemilianus.
Dexter Hoyos, a leading expert of the period, treats the two great powers evenly, without neglecting the important roles played by Syracuse, Macedon, and especially Numidia. Written with verve in a clear, accessible style, Mastering the West will be the most reliable and engaging narrative of this pivotal era in ancient history.
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By the Spear
- Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire
- By: Ian Worthington
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time, By the Spear offers an exhilarating military narrative of the reigns of these two larger-than-life figures in one volume. Ian Worthington gives full breadth to the careers of father and son, showing how Philip was the architect of the Macedonian empire, which reached its zenith under Alexander, only to disintegrate upon his death.
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Bueller..... Bueller...... Bueller...... Monotone
- By Jonathan Allen Beard on 02-15-15
By: Ian Worthington
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The War of the Three Gods
- Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam
- By: Peter Crawford
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The War of the Three Gods is a military history of the Near and Middle East in the seventh century - with its chief focus on the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (AD 610-641) - a pivotal and dramatic time in world history. The Eastern Roman Empire was brought to the very brink of extinction by the Sassanid Persians before Heraclius managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Sassanids with a desperate, final gambit.
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Filled in some blanks
- By Cory on 10-19-15
By: Peter Crawford
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The Race for Paradise
- An Islamic History of the Crusades
- By: Paul M. Cobb
- Narrated by: Paul M. Cobb
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Race for Paradise, Paul M. Cobb offers a new history of the confrontations between Muslims and Franks we now call the "Crusades", one that emphasizes the diversity of Muslim experiences of the European holy war. There is more to the story than Jerusalem, the Templars, Saladin, and the Assassins. Cobb considers the Arab perspective on all shores of the Muslim Mediterranean, from Spain to Syria.
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A heady piece of history and a romp.
- By Meeno on 05-28-15
By: Paul M. Cobb
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The War That Made the Roman Empire
- Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium.
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Highly detailed accounts
- By LEE on 03-28-22
By: Barry Strauss
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Cleopatra's Kidnappers
- How Caesar's Sixth Legion Gave Egypt to Rome and Rome to Caesar
- By: Stephen Dando-Collins
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Julius Caesar was nothing if not bold. When, in the wake of his defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus his victorious legions refused to march another step under his command, he pursued his fleeing rival into Egypt with an impossibly small force of Gallic and German cavalry, raw Italian recruits, and nine hundred Spanish prisoners of war - tough veterans of Pompey's Sixth Legion. Cleopatra's Kidnappers tells the epic saga of Caesar's adventures in Egypt through the eyes of these captured, but never defeated, legionaries.
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Should be titled: The 6th Legion: Cleopatra's...
- By jv on 01-03-13
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Marathon
- The Battle That Changed Western Civilization
- By: Richard A. Billows
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Published to coincide with Marathon's 2500th anniversary, a riveting history of the historic battle. The Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. is not only understood as the most decisive event in the struggle between the Greeks and the Persians, but can also be seen as perhaps the most significant moment in our collective history. 10,000 Athenian citizens faced a Persian military force of more than 25,000.
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Effectively evokes the world of ancient greece
- By Aaron on 11-02-10
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Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
- By: Richard Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
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Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
- By Haakon B. Dahl on 01-21-13
By: Richard Miles
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The Rise of Rome
- The Making of the World's Greatest Empire
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Emerging as a market town from a cluster of hill villages in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., Rome grew to become the ancient world's preeminent power. Everitt fashions the story of Rome's rise to glory into an erudite book filled with lasting lessons for our time. He chronicles the clash between patricians and plebeians that defined the politics of the Republic. He shows how Rome's shrewd strategy of offering citizenship to her defeated subjects was instrumental in expanding the reach of her burgeoning empire.
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Rome from the fall of Troy through Julius Caesar
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-11-12
By: Anthony Everitt
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God's Battalions
- The Case for the Crusades
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression.
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A lively and useful introduction
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-10
By: Rodney Stark
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Genghis Khan
- His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy
- By: Frank McLynn
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Mongol leader Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known. His empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to Central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East, and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power and subdue most of the known world, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon?
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Well Researched but Poorly Written
- By Sean V. Werner on 08-10-16
By: Frank McLynn
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An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
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Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
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Horrible narrator
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In the Shadow of the Sword
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- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
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Misleading title
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Populus
- Living and Dying in Ancient Rome
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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!
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By 330 B.C.E., Alexander the Great had reached the pinnacle of success. Or so it seemed. He had defeated the Persian ruler Darius III and seized the capital city of Persepolis. His exhausted and traumatized soldiers were ready to return home to Macedonia. Yet Alexander had other plans. He was determined to continue heading east to Afghanistan in search of his ultimate goal: to reach the end of the world.
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Lots of detailed information
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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.
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By 330 B.C.E., Alexander the Great had reached the pinnacle of success. Or so it seemed. He had defeated the Persian ruler Darius III and seized the capital city of Persepolis. His exhausted and traumatized soldiers were ready to return home to Macedonia. Yet Alexander had other plans. He was determined to continue heading east to Afghanistan in search of his ultimate goal: to reach the end of the world.
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What listeners say about Mastering the West
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Michael S Healy
- 02-05-15
Great story -- coughing, breathy narrator.
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Overall, I learned a lot from the author but laughed at the poor production.
What did you like best about this story?
The history is compelling and insightful.
How could the performance have been better?
The producer did not catch the cough at 5:27 in audio CHAPTER 5 nor the loud inhalations throughout the recording.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
yes
Any additional comments?
AUDIBLE's quality is starting to drop.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Richard
- 03-17-15
Great Book, Not the Best Reader for It
Would you consider the audio edition of Mastering the West to be better than the print version?
No, because the reader struggled with the plethora of Latin names and such.
What did you like best about this story?
Very well written history, with a concise narrative drive.
What didn’t you like about Tom McElroy’s performance?
Just not equipped to read a book so full of classical names.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
How the West Was Won
Any additional comments?
This is a recent title, so I am mystified why there wasn't more careful vetting of the reader for it. It is a bit specialized, so a good reader for classical history was in order. Is there none? I'm sure McElroy is quite competent as a reader for other things.
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- Mr Mock
- 09-29-17
Jarring narration ruins an otherwise great history
Did no one at the publisher think to give a proof read listen to this audiobook before letting it be submitted to the public?
I was soldiering my way through, forgiving the slightly mispronounced words at first such as instead of Hannibal, it was more like Han E. Ball, much like saying John F Kennedy.
But it got worse, and not steadily, but suddenly! As soon as we begin with the 2nd Punic War, the narrator suddenly forgets how to pronounce Latin names. And boy is it jarring! Fabius the Delayer becomes Fab A Uass. The narrator actually pronounces the same name about 4 different ways to the point that the listener isn't quite sure if he is talking about the same person anymore or not.
Had the narrator pronounced names like that from the start, I could have gotten over it and finished the book. It is the fact that half way through he forgets how to read Latin!
Geez.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Mitch
- 02-01-19
interesting subject, poor quality narration
narration was not of the level professional quality one would expect of a commercial product.
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- Kevin R. Muir
- 07-15-18
Excellent
Great look at the Punic Wars and what was the birth of the Roman Empire. Highly recommended.
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- Bronwen
- 10-08-15
Interesting book, indifferent reader and editing
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
The pros: The book is great. I will probably buy a copy so I can finish the story. Well written and engaging. The narrator's voice has a lovely tone.
The cons: the narrator's flat vowels and indifferent Latin pronunciation is grating. It is also not well edited; there are a few instances where the narrator repeats a sentence and one point where he coughs.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Brian
- 06-17-18
Very informative
This book was very well researched. The only reason I gave four stars, rather than five stars, was that I was a bit overwhelmed by the geographic references and names that sound similar after a while. The narrator was quite good.
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- chris
- 04-22-15
An brief history of the Punic Wars
What did you like best about Mastering the West? What did you like least?
I liked the battle information but it seemed that the author could've added more I think. It's very concise, which isn't really a bad thing, I just hoped for more.
What didn’t you like about Tom McElroy’s performance?
The author had some trouble with pronunciation, but overall he did a good job. There was one part where he literally cleared his throat during the reading. Of course reading out loud for a long time will make any person need to do that, but the people who didn't edit that out or re record that bit really dropped the ball. (The 2 star rating is because of the editing. I'd give the author higher marks on his own, and higher still for pronunciation. He's probably very good in other books).
Any additional comments?
"Carthage Must Be Destroyed" was a better read I think. Other books on the Punic Wars were better as well. This wasn't poorly done by any means. Its just not my favorite.
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