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The Invention of Power
- Popes, Kings, and the Birth of the West
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the tradition of Why Nations Fail, this book solves one of the great puzzles of history: Why did the West become the most powerful civilization in the world?
Western exceptionalism - the idea that European civilizations are freer, wealthier, and less violent - is a widespread and powerful political idea. It has been a source of peace and prosperity in some societies, and of ethnic cleansing and havoc in others.
Yet in The Invention of Power, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita draws on his expertise in political maneuvering, deal-making, and game theory to present a revolutionary new theory of Western exceptionalism: that a single, rarely discussed event in the 12th century changed the course of European and world history. By creating a compromise between churches and nation-states that, in effect, traded money for power and power for money, the 1122 Concordat of Worms incentivized economic growth, facilitated secularization, and improved the lot of the citizenry, all of which set European countries on a course for prosperity. In the centuries since, countries that have had a similar dynamic of competition between church and state have been consistently better off than those that have not.
The Invention of Power upends conventional thinking about European culture, religion, and race and presents a persuasive new vision of world history.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and non-secular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason.
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Absolutely incredible history book!
- By Daniel on 01-02-20
By: Rodney Stark
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Victorious Century
- The United Kingdom, 1800-1906
- By: David Cannadine
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 24 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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To live in 19th-century Britain was to experience an astonishing series of changes, of a kind for which there was simply no precedent. There were revolutions in transport, communication and work; cities grew vast; and scientific ideas made the intellectual landscape unrecognisable. This was an exhilarating time but also a horrifying one. In his new book, David Cannadine has created a bold, fascinating new interpretation of the British 19th century in all its energy and dynamism, darkness and vice.
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Blandly toeing the line between macro and micro
- By Max Shafer-landau on 10-17-17
By: David Cannadine
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A Concise History of Italy
- By: Christopher Duggan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West to the present day, and surveys the difficulties Italy has faced during the last two centuries in creating a unified country. Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist and idealist programs for forging a nation-state.
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Concise indeed
- By nikex on 03-22-21
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A Concise History of Spain
- By: William Phillips Jr., Carla Rahn Phillips
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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This audiobook traces Spain's development from prehistoric times to the present, focusing particularly on culture, society, politics, and personalities. It introduces listeners to key themes that have shaped Spain's history and culture, including its varied landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse human migrations; the importance of its location as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism.
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Underwhelmed
- By Anonymous User on 02-20-20
By: William Phillips Jr., and others
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The Reformation for Armchair Theologians
- By: Glen Sunshine
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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This listenable, accessible narrative story of the Protestant Reformation provides a solid grounding in the history of the Reformation and its leading ideas. The and the inclusion of "Questions for Discussion" and "Suggestions for Further Reading" make this book excellent for study groups, or as a refresher "course" for students - and even as a good starting point for those interested in the larger discipline of church history.
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Sunshine Shines Brightly!
- By LP on 03-14-16
By: Glen Sunshine
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The Habsburg Empire
- A New History
- By: Pieter M. Judson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Rejecting fragmented histories of nations in the making, this bold revision surveys the shared institutions that bridged difference and distance to bring stability and meaning to the far-flung empire. By supporting new schools, law courts, and railroads along with scientific and artistic advances, the Habsburg monarchs sought to anchor their authority in the cultures and economies of Central Europe. A rising standard of living throughout the empire deepened the legitimacy of Habsburg rule.
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Ideal for students of empires, nationalism, minorities and ethnic groups
- By Uther on 02-11-17
By: Pieter M. Judson
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When China Rules the World
- The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order
- By: Martin Jacques
- Narrated by: Scott Peterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood.
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Lucid explanation of global economic trends
- By David Blake on 01-04-10
By: Martin Jacques
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The New Road to Serfdom
- A Letter of Warning to America
- By: Daniel Hannan
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In The New Road to Serfdom, British conservative Daniel Hannan argues forcefully and passionately that Americans must not allow Barack Obama to take us down the road to EU-style social democracy. Instead, he pleads with Americans not to abandon the founding principles that made their country a beacon of liberty for the rest of the world.
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An excellent read from a brilliant man...
- By Martin on 10-30-11
By: Daniel Hannan
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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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How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too)
- By: David Goldman
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Past and present civilizations failed and fail for many reasons, but the number-one predictor of a civilization’s survival is its sense of religion—or lack thereof. So argues David Goldman in How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too). The strength of a civilization’s religion affects its purpose, its fertility rate, and ultimately, its fate, says Goldman—who then argues that, contrary to popular belief, Islamic countries are in the last throes of death while Christian America is in a position to flourish.
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Pseudointellectual Clickbait
- By Sam on 12-22-20
By: David Goldman
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The Great Delusion
- Liberal Dreams and International Realities
- By: John J. Mearsheimer
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony, the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended, is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad.
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Dense, fact filled, sober analysis and prescription
- By John Brynjolfsson on 12-15-18
What listeners say about The Invention of Power
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Susan
- 08-26-22
Great follow-on to previous work.
This was a great detailed work that examines the cause and effect of Church vs. State power sharing. Before this book, scholars offered weak, unscientific arguments that should have never been accepted in the first place. DeMesquita convincingly makes his argument from first principles. Another timeles work from one of the great social scientists of our time!
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- Flash
- 03-17-22
Facinating and mostly compelling account
This title takes a deep dive at applying Bueno de Mesquita's Selectorate Theory to the competition between Church and State in Europe. Detractors of the Selectorate theory can no doubt poke holes in his argument for lack of historical and social nuance, but the overarching logic and innovative measures makes for an interesting if not compelling account. Bueno de Mesquita is no friend, but no foe either to Church or State giving an "honest" secular political economic account about how competition between Church and State, for silver (and souls), was THE significant shaping event of Western Exceptionalism. He takes on explaining why Catholic Europe tends to be poorer than protestant Europe, attempts to turn Weber's Protestant Ethic and Tilly's "War makes the State" on its head, as well as makes a case for how Church-Crown competition shaped a number of key democractizing innovations through out Europe (e.g. Magna Carta). It meshes well with other accounts (To me Francis Fukuyama comes to mind) who make the argument that the Investiture Conflict sewed the first seeds of accountable government in Europe. My one general critique is the author could be accused of being paid by the word, it can seem somewhat repetitious at points but not so bad as to undermine a sense of progress through the account. If you liked the Dictators Handbook, or any of his other writings this will not disappoint. Over all well worth the listen or read.
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- Miri
- 08-30-23
Eye-opening!!
My one and only gripe with the book was that it had not come my way sooner. The author does a phenomenal job of breaking down the incentives of various actors that make up ancient and contemporary power structures and how these very understandable, very logical incentives come to shape traditions and systems that we follow to this day.
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- Avery Dague
- 02-09-22
I expected more breadth and depth
A very narrow view of the powers that led to western civilization. The Church gets hijacked by the Roman empire. The Roman empire falls. The Church asserts its own power. States rise into nations. Nations take power from Catholic church. The end.
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- Lawowl
- 01-21-22
Blah, blah, blah.
Could not finish. Very poorly edited, as I am sure everything could be said with fewer words and less repitition. Also, author is in love with his methodology. While I understand he is proud, he takes too much joy in it, taking away from his thesis.
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1 person found this helpful