The Barbarous Years Audiobook By Bernard Bailyn cover art

The Barbarous Years

The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Barbarous Years

By: Bernard Bailyn
Narrated by: Henry Strozier
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $30.09

Buy for $30.09

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Bernard Bailyn gives us a compelling account of the first great transit of people from Britain, Europe, and Africa to British North America, their involvements with each other, and their struggles with the indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard.

©2012 Bernard Bailyn (P)2013 Recorded Books
17th Century Colonial Period Emigration & Immigration World United States Imperialism Colonial New England
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Barbarous Years

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    71
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    60
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    57
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant and fascinating

Bailyn has constructed a book that is extremely well organized and loaded with details that flesh out the basic story of America' beginning European settlements. Bailyn uses the available statistical data to show that the settlers of Virginia are a completely different set of Englishmen than those that settled New England. I found that Bailyn's point that the early English saw themselves as natives of the west country, the north, the midlands, etc. rather than as English - until they had define themselves against other peoples. A melting pot indeed. And he points out that the Dutch only started become 'Dutch' when they were conquered by the English.
This book let me look at the early settlers in a nre light, or rather from a different angle. I was sorry to see the book end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Listen

Bailyn added details to the past I wasn’t aware of. The reader did a fine job of cadence & as far as I could tell only mispronounced one English word. If you want to understand America’s founding past, this is an excellent read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Long but excellent and worth it

The storytelling of Bernard Baylin. The excellent narration. the barbarity of the stories make this book worth listening to and reading.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First rate history.

Probably the best book you can read on the earliest English settlers to North America.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great for going deep on American history

Not for a casual listen - this book is a comprehensive look at British North America in the first 70 years. It stands at an intermediary level between a high level survey and diving into local histories of early american towns. Great for knowledge hounds. Because it focuses on the political history it is, as was the politics of the time, grim. But it is not simply knee jerk revisionist to fit a simplistic narrative of America being founded in evil - the reasons and causal factors of why history played out like it did are fully explored in detail with no prearranged moral being sought.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Had to stop about half way through.

The book and narration started out balanced. But the narrator clearly became more prejudiced against the colonists. Despite the author’s efforts to balance every horrific, savage action by the indigenous people with a reactionary behavior by the colonists, the narrator’s sneering voice came through and spoiled any balance the author attempted to make.

I could not stomach any more of it. A shame.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A bold historiography supported by a well-modulated Audible performance

Henry Strozier, whose rich voice is a mix of Walt Disney and Walter Cronkite gives a well-modulated performance of Bernard Bailyn’s vastly researched, detailed, and boldly sophisticated historiography of the population and development of America’s colonization (through the English and Dutch Indies Companies) during the seventeenth century. Not the Thanksgiving myth of the peaceful coming together of the English pilgrims and the native Indians, but a barbarous period for survival.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A feast for genealogy/history buffs

Would you consider the audio edition of The Barbarous Years to be better than the print version?

After listening to the audio edition, I purchased a paperback copy because I have been working on family genealogy for over 10 years and the information about religion, birthplace of immigrants and where they chose to settle in British America is priceless to my understanding of several generations of my family.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Finally a clear description of the sometimes subtle differences between Puritans, Pilgrims, Anabaptists, Quakers and other religious groups.

What about Henry Strozier’s performance did you like?

Easy to listen to, appropriate gravitas for the subject matter.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Much too much information for one sitting or even several. I have listened to it twice and will listen to portions again. A treasure trove that helps to explain how we got to where we are in America today.

Any additional comments?

Not a book for the faint hearted. Very long, very detailed but one of my favorites ever.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Text Book

The book is filled with unnecessary flowery vocabulary. It is on a reading level of a Masters Degree. The author seems to think the bigger the word, the better it is. There is some interesting information if you can persevere through the rest. The narrator can put you to sleep. Some words were mispronounced. That leaves doubt about other words whose pronunciation is unknown to me. Some of these are Indian tribe names. Here is how it comes across to me: The supercilious pomposity demonstrated by this author - narrator team is unsurpassed. They may have impressed someone, but not me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disjointed and overly detailed

After listening to this book, I am starting to realize that Pulitzer Prize-winning histories are hit or miss. The subject of this book could be extremely interesting, but unfortunately Professor Bailyn's delivery is very disjointed and replete with details that keep the listener wondering how the travails of various settlers fit into the larger context of colonization.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful