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The Modern Scholar
- Wars That Made the Western World: The Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War
- Narrated by: Timothy Shutt
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
The three wars to be investigated here are (1) the Persian Wars, between a coalition of Greek city-states or "poleis", most notably Athens and Sparta, and the Achaemenid Persian empire, the central and decisive portion of which took place between 490 and 479 B.C.E.; (2) the later Peloponnesian War between Athens and her allies and Sparta and hers, 431-404 B.C.E.; and finally (3) the three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, which stretched, on and off, for well more than a century, from 264 to 146 B.C.E.
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
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Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration. Taught by acclaimed Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, these 24 captivating lectures offer you the chance to experience this story like never before, incorporating the latest historical insights that challenge our previous notions of Rome’s decline.
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Gregory S. Aldrete is a treasure
- By Laurel Tucker on 02-04-19
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
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Tribal Justice
- The Struggle for Black Rights on Native Land
- By: Allison Herrera, Adreanna Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Allison Herrera
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
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On September 26, 2020, Michael was in a great mood. He’d recently returned home to Oklahoma after years in the military. He’d bought a house and had a job teaching and coaching basketball at the local high school. But that night, Michael’s life would turn upside down. Around two o’clock in the morning, he heard people banging on the doors and windows of his home. He called 911 for help. This is the story of what happened next, and why. To understand it, we have to go back to the Trail of Tears that the Five Tribes were forced to walk.
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The next great battleground for Native America and Racial Justice
- By AGifford on 10-14-24
By: Allison Herrera, and others
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Love it
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In this fascinating course of lectures, Professor Fred Baumann, leads us on an engaging exploration of this penetrating work. Taking in each of the eight books, we examine the complex juxtaposition of events Thucydides demonstrates without much comment of his own. We see how democrats and oligarchs, Athenians and Spartans, understand the world and misunderstand each other. We explore how Thucydides contrasts Sparta - so deliberately narrow, provincial, overtly moral, and covertly cynical - with Athens....
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Best lecture made so far (I almost said ever)
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nice audio
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Important story badly recorded
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Erudite but boring
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The Modern Scholar
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Of all the civilizations that have ever existed, none have inspired as much wonder and awe as Ancient Rome. No society has replicated the achievements nor enjoyed the longevity that the Roman Empire did. This course explores the world of Ancient Rome as students investigate important events and key figures of the epoch. At the end of this course, students will possess a thorough understanding of Ancient Rome's legacy to the modern world.
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It is what it is...
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The Modern Scholar: Europe's Dark Journey
- The Rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany
- By: Professor Beth A. Griech-Polelle
- Narrated by: Professor Beth A. Griech-Polelle
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In Europe’s Dark Journey, Beth A. Griech-Polelle examines the factors that led to the ascendance of Adolf Hitler during the rebuilding of post-WWI Germany. Moving from the birth of modern Germany through the First World War, Polelle then focuses on Hitler’s early years and the creation of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
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Valuable view of historical background
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What listeners say about The Modern Scholar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- UNC-Tarheels
- 08-05-13
OK, not great, but OK
Where does The Modern Scholar rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Medium. The Great Courses presentation of the Peloponnesian War by Kenneth Harl is far more thorough and accurate.
What did you like best about this story?
The connections drawn between the 3 wars
How could the performance have been better?
More detail on the sources as well as the inaccuracies and biases of the sources (e.g.., Thucydides bias as an Athenian)
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
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Overall
- Steven A. Miller
- 03-01-10
Wars that made the Western world
Timothy Shutt is not only a great scholar, but a great reader. If you are interested at all in ancient Greek, Persian and Roman history through the yes of the wars that were fought and the characters who fought them and those who recorded them, it's a must read.
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4 people found this helpful
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- EmilyK
- 12-21-23
Excellent audio from Prof. Shutt
I would probably enjoy any lecture series from Prof. Shutt on a topic he was passionate about - but this is one of his best offerings. I've read a lot on the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars, and this is one of the most enjoyable romps through the tales I have ever heard. It would make a wonderful introduction to someone new to the topic!
Prof. Shutt's lectures have the spontaneity of the best college lecturers. Sometimes there are missteps but these are typical of oral performance, and much better than a highly rehearsed reading.
Great Courses has good lectures on these topics by Professors Harl and Hale too.
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- D. Littman
- 05-25-12
a good overview of 3 ancient wars
Even if you think you know quite a bit about the Greek/Persian wars, the Peloponnesian war and the wars between Rome & Carthage, Prof Shutt provides a lecture with interesting surprises and interpretations of what happened a couple of thousand years ago, how it has been remembered (rightly or wrongly) and how it is relevant to the world of today (surprisingly so).
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Carole
- 04-28-10
The wars that nade the Western World
Proff. Shutt made this era come alive. His lectures were clear, presise and at times, humourous. My previous techers had skipped over these wars, but Timothy Shutt brings home the importance of them to our world today.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Steven Harold
- 04-20-10
Great subject, great teacher!
Timothy Shutt tells a good story in an expressive manner.
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1 person found this helpful
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- FLewis
- 08-07-18
Dante’s comedia
This was an awesome listen, but it’s about the divine comedy. I enjoy mr schutts voice and cadence.
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- John
- 09-26-13
Those Are Names to Remember...
The names Professor Shutt has in mind are Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea and all the other places where the Greeks turned back Persia. Places where primarily Spartan and Athenian forces, fighting against overwhelming odds, ensured that political liberty, the rule of law and free intellectual inquiry were given a chance to flourish and ultimately shape the world in which we live.
This is the best kind of military history, covering organization, commanders, tactics and battles while never losing sight of the cultures that were squaring off or the issues that were at stake. Indeed, Shutt presents those organizations, commanders and tactics as inevitable outcomes of the cultures involved. And he makes it clear that the issues were just as inevitably the result of the differences between those cultures.
Best of all, in presenting the wars that shaped the Western World—the very theme of these lectures must drive the politically correct mad—he never cringes or flinches, as if he were going through someone's dirty laundry basket or cleaning out their refrigerator. Rather, he admires the Greeks and Romans who fought for their way of life and thus shaped and informed our own culture, no matter how hard our leading educational institutions are trying to jettison what those long-dead Greeks and Romans won. As Professor Shutt makes plain in his concluding lecture, the Greco-Roman synthesis forged in these wars was a far more durable, flexible and creative entity than either Greece or Rome could have been on its own.
This is not to say that it’s all glory and cultural self-congratulation. That attitude can lead, as Shutt freely admits, to cultural blindness and for that reason has been, and should be, jettisoned “to a point”. Then he adds, “but only to a point”. Because he understands that the culture that ceases to believe in itself—and ceases to believe itself worth fighting for—is a culture in trouble. As an alternative he offers Leonidas, Themistocles and Scipio Africanus, names which countless generations have used to define what the West is and what the West means, as “touchstones”, as sources of inspiration, for us. Not a bad notion.
There are other refreshing differences between Professor Shutt’s approach and my own school days. In college the Peloponnesian War was taught in terms of Viet Nam—pointless, wasteful, unnecessary. Shutt offers a more astute, illuminating—and less predictable—analyses: perhaps the war was the inevitable conflict between the two sides of the Western character, discipline (Sparta) and imagination (Athens). Athenian overreach had certainly sparked the conflict and Shutt puts this too in the context of its time: the Greek concept of hubris. But, he asks, what of Athens had won? What of it was Athens and not Rome who made the Mediterranean basin its empire? How would that have shaped the Western World? It is a far more fruitful exploration than I—or, I daresay, most undergraduates—have experienced.
Yes, he sometimes says “Athens” when he means “Sparta”, “Rome” when he means “Carthage”. So did your professor when he or she was on a roll at the podium. You loved it then and you’ll love it now; Professor Shutt’s enthusiasm for outlandish personalities (especially Alcibiades) and mind-boggling events (particularly Cannae and Rome’s reaction to that defeat) is infectious. Just pay attention and the little verbal jumbles won’t matter.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- K. Hemstreet
- 08-22-10
Very Interesting and Entertaining
This is one of my favorite periods of history, and this audio book was excellent. The pacing was good, the delivery was good, and the material was very interesting. I highly recommend it.
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3 people found this helpful