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Owning the Earth
- The Transforming History of Land Ownership
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
From the author of the acclaimed Measuring America, a dazzling chronicle, through history and across cultures, about how the ability to own the land we inhabit has shaped modern society. Barely two centuries ago, most of the world's productive land still belonged either communally to traditional societies or to the higher powers of monarch or church. But that pattern, and the ways of life that went with it, were consigned to history by, Andro Linklater persuasively argues, the most creative and at the same time destructive cultural force in the modern era - the idea of individual, exclusive ownership of land.
Spreading from both shores of the north Atlantic, it laid waste to traditional communal civilizations, displacing entire peoples from their homelands, but at the same time brought into being a unique concept of individual freedom and a distinct form of representative government and democratic institutions. By contrast, as Linklater demonstrates, other great civilizations, in Russia, China, and the Islamic world, evolved very different structures of land ownership and thus very different forms of government and social responsibility.
The history and evolution of land ownership is a fascinating chronicle in the history of civilization, offering unexpected insights about how various forms of democracy and capitalism developed, as well as a revealing analysis of a future where the Earth must sustain nine billion lives. Seen through the eyes of remarkable individuals - Chinese emperors; German peasants; the 17th century English surveyor William Petty, who first saw the connection between private property and free-market capitalism; the American radical Wolf Ladejinsky, whose land redistribution in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea after WWII made possible the emergence of Asian tiger economies - Owning the Earth presents a radically new view of mankind's place on the planet.
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The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles, and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company's practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today.
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Not what I expect from a history book
- By Bobby on 10-09-18
By: Nick Robins
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Blood Oil
- Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules That Run the World
- By: Leif Wenar
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West - and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the gas station and the mall.
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Caveat: Human beings -- Totally untrustworthy
- By lost the power cord could you send me another cord address 13 east wilmont ave somers point nj 08244 on 05-17-16
By: Leif Wenar
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Open Veins of Latin America
- Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
- By: Eduardo Galeano, Isabel Allende - Foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation.
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Please up-date the addition
- By fishrock on 02-20-10
By: Eduardo Galeano, and others
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Inglorious Empire
- What the British Did to India
- By: Shashi Tharoor
- Narrated by: Shashi Tharoor
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 18th century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannons, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalized racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial "gift" was designed in Britain's interests alone.
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An entertaining and provocative history
- By James Moseley on 01-07-20
By: Shashi Tharoor
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Brazil
- The Troubled Rise of a Global Power
- By: Michael Reid
- Narrated by: Michael Healy
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Experts believe that Brazil, the world's fifth largest country and its seventh largest economy, will be one of the most important global powers by the year 2030. Yet far more attention has been paid to the other rising behemoths: Russia, India, and China. Often ignored and underappreciated, Brazil, according to renowned, award-winning journalist Michael Reid, has finally begun to live up to its potential but faces important challenges before it becomes a nation of substantial global significance.
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Good short history of Brazil, lame pronunciation
- By Bubu Mungani on 07-21-19
By: Michael Reid
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The Age of Acquiescence
- The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power
- By: Steve Fraser
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. Hierarchies based on inheritance, wealth, and political preferment were treated as obnoxious and a threat to democracy. Mass movements envisioned a new world supplanting dog-eat-dog capitalism. But over the last half-century that political will and cultural imagination have vanished. Why? The Age of Acquiescence seeks to solve that mystery.
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Excellent
- By Brad on 05-03-15
By: Steve Fraser
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For a New Liberty
- The Libertarian Manifesto
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Rothbard proposes a once-and-for-all escape from the two major political parties, the ideologies they embrace, and their central plans for using state power against people. Libertarianism is Rothbard's radical alternative that says state power is unworkable and immoral, and ought to be curbed and finally overthrown.
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I'm a Ron Paul Libertarian but this is a good
- By monte reed on 03-20-12
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A Brief History of the Future
- A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-first Century
- By: Jacques Attali
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What will planet Earth be like in 20 years? At mid-century? In the year 2100? Prescient and convincing, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future. Never has the world offered more promise for the future and been more fraught with dangers. In this powerful and sometimes terrifying work, Attali analyzes the past and pinpoints nine distinct periods of human history, each with its world center of power and prestige, and predicts what the tenth will bring by the end of this century.
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feels like a popular mechanics article
- By Robin on 07-11-17
By: Jacques Attali
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American Character
- A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The struggle between individualism and the good of the community as a whole has been the basis of every major disagreement in our history, from the debates at the Constitutional Convention and in the run-up to the Civil War to the fights surrounding the agenda of the Progressives, the New Deal, the civil rights movement, and the Tea Party.
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Biased Misrepresentation
- By Jay Ehret on 06-24-16
By: Colin Woodard
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Unfinished Empire
- The Global Expansion of Britain
- By: John Darwin
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In Unfinished Empire, he marshals his gifts to deliver a monumental one-volume history of Britain's imperium - a work that is sure to stand as the most authoritative, most compelling treatment of the subject for a generation.
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Perfect
- By gogojimmy on 01-27-15
By: John Darwin
What listeners say about Owning the Earth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- wbiro
- 05-14-19
Should Be a History Course
There is a lot of general history here, which just happens to be about owning land, and which itself just happened to have been at the center of history. You see humanity maturing here.
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- Yusuf Abu al-Ward
- 02-07-23
Magisterial
One of the best books on any subject I’ve ever read. Somehow Linklater manages to tell a history of land ownership which not only imparts something of real value in terms of its explanatory power, but does so in a way which is riotously fun. Far from a slog, the book shows that even the most abstract ideas can possess drama and immediacy when framed properly. Although exquisite throughout, the work really hits its stride in the chapters on private property and the classic liberal tradition. Indeed these chapters are rendered with such great clarity that they could serve as an entrée into the classic liberal tradition. Above all, this book manages to do what so many books set out to do but which so few actually achieve. And that is to engender a paradigm shift in the mind of the reader. I can truly say that after reading this book, I will never see the world the same again; I will approach new geographies and time periods by first asking, “who owns the earth?”
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- S. Olsen
- 06-30-15
Interesting
What did you love best about Owning the Earth?
I love books that make you look at the world from a different angle. This book showed the powerful impact of property ownership through cultures, countries and time and weaved together the driving force of ownership impact on governments (or changes in government) and history.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Owning the Earth?
I actually enjoyed the conclusion that brought the ideas of the book together. It changed the way I look at the world, by breaking out these ideas that are so fixed in my mind to show the progress and change in them over time.
Any additional comments?
The book is well written and easy to follow and as you jump through countries and time to bring forward a comprehensive understanding of property ownership. That sounds a little boring but I never found it boring, the analysis and story were so well done that it kept me intellectually curious to the end. I as I said before it really helped me to see and understand the world a little different.
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- Kimberly Brewster
- 02-27-19
COMPREHENSIVE!
I stumbled upon this book while in the library and the title caught my eye, especially as a local real estate agent. I renewed it several times because the book is THICK. Presently, my schedule would not allow me the time to visually read so I found it on Audible. I AM SO GLAD I DID. Hearing the book made it much more enjoyable and retentive. The comprehensive world history provided in this book is absolutely amazing. This book will remain in my library and will be read over and over again. It is an excellent resource and its fluidity is brilliant. The 17 hrs and 9 mins were worth it and I have already recommended it to a few people who I know will appreciate it as I have. Wow...just wow!
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