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The Origin of Civilization
- Narrated by: Scott MacEachern
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
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Publisher's summary
What defines a civilization? How did the first states emerge? How were the world's ancient states similar and different? Answer these and other dramatic questions with this grand 48-lecture course that reveals how human beings around the world transitioned from small farming communities to the impressive cultural and political systems that would alter the course of history.
Taking a gripping archaeological and historical approach to formative states such as the ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Maya, Professor MacEachern completes your understanding of the history of civilization by exploring it at its earliest stages. Unlike traditional surveys of ancient civilizations, which tend to focus only on the glorious achievements of these cultures, you'll look at those first all-important steps that the world's first civilizations would take on the road to glory.
You'll investigate places such as Mesopotamia, where agriculture laid the foundation for groundbreaking experiments in social and political development in places like Uruk and Sumer; the eastern Mediterranean, where expanding maritime trade during the Bronze Age increasingly knit the different societies of these islands into a web of political and economic relationships; and Mesoamerica, where the indigenous states in and around what are now Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua reveal the full flowering of Olmec and Maya civilization.
You'll also take an engaging look at what archaeologists have learned from some of the world's oldest and most intriguing sites. In the end, these lectures will leave you awestruck at the diverse ways that ancient people crafted complex systems - systems whose broad strokes remain with us even today.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
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Black Elk Speaks
- Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition
- By: John G. Neihardt
- Narrated by: Robin Neihardt
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
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Tale of tears
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Fingerprints of the Gods
- The Quest Continues
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Fingerprints of the Gods is the revolutionary rewrite of history that has persuaded millions of listeners throughout the world to change their preconceptions about the history behind modern society. An intellectual detective story, this unique history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain.
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Classic in Historical Mysteries
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World War 2 in the Pacific Collection: Across Wake Island, Bataan, Guadalcanal, Corregidor, and Iwo Jima
- Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, The Saga of Pappy Gunn, On Valor's Side, The Coastwatchers, They Call it Pacific, Joe Foss Flying Marine, South from Corregidor, The Story of Wake Island, & Mission Beyond Darkness
- By: Robert Lackie, General George C. Kenney, T. Grady Gallant, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks Cast
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This is a nine-book bundle on the Pacific War, the theatre of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and Oceania. The Pacific War saw the Allies pitted against Japan, aided by Thailand and its Axis allies, Germany and Italy. Fighting included some of the largest naval battles in history, and the war culminated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Good collection, great bargain well worth a credit
- By R. Denton on 08-13-21
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The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean
- By: M. Doreal
- Narrated by: John Marino
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
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The history of the tablets translated in the following book is strange and beyond the belief of modern scientists. Their antiquity is stupendous, dating back some 36,000 years. The writer is Thoth, an Atlantean Priest-King, who founded a colony in ancient Egypt after the sinking of the mother country. He was the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, erroneously attributed to Cheops. In it he incorporated his knowledge of the ancient wisdom and also securely secreted records and instruments of ancient Atlantis.
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Excellence...
- By Light Worker on 04-21-18
By: M. Doreal
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What listeners say about The Origin of Civilization
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jessica Anderson
- 12-15-18
by design, a less-narrative presentation.
this is about the 8th or 9th of these history oriented great courses that I have listened to. They are all wonderful in their own way and I've enjoyed them all. It was great to listen to this one after I had listened to several others, because this gave me an analytical framework for looking at the information that I had received from the other courses. It is more analytical, and less narrative, so it's different from the other courses. but I think that's a good feature and I enjoyed it. this is important subject matter and I encourage people to give it a good listen.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Carlo Cardella
- 04-10-23
Good content, bad reader
Good content and interesting topic, but very painful to listen to; slow, too many pauses and dead time every few words... I usually listen at 1.1x or 1.2x speed, for this one I had to go to 1.3x and even tried 1.4x.
Deninitely needs a good edit and some silence trimming
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- David M. Hollingshead
- 05-19-22
knowing the past will guide us in the future
we should look for parallels from fallen civilizations to predict the outcome of our current civilization.
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- Quinn
- 06-05-23
Great course
Great course covering the origins of civilization. Each lecture covers a new civilization from a different part of the world and is extremely entertaining. Worth the listen!
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- Hilton
- 08-15-18
Global survey finds
I was sold on this course when the first review I saw remarked--fairly--that it'd be more interesting to someone who brings some grounding in ancient history to it than to the total novice. I do recommend this lecture course if you are interested in the details of archaeological theory and the details of peoples not easily accessible in popular and audio literature. Should my reader be interested primarily in the most famous cases such as Egypt or China, Great Courses specializing in them may be well recommended, in my experience. Whereas anyone seeking specifically for bold or comprehensive theses on how and why some people invent the state might listen elsewhere.
The strength of this course is in its (2008-2009) compilation of archaeological cases. Dr. MacEachern (as well as the course guide) gives substantial attention to less popularly studied as well as to the most famous cases of "ancient" (read something akin to Before Encountering States of Other Origins) state formations. Not every region or case one could possibly expect is covered, but the ratio of breadth to depth in the survey seems quite reasonable. The inclusion of four Sub-Saharan and one South East Asian lectures, not to mention over a dozen on Meso- and South American peoples, in the 40 civilization-focused lectures are in no way to be taken for granted in surveys of world civilization! Similarly, this course is an interesting source for another "rare pick," if you will, in its his extensive discussions of the archaeological theory, its aims, methods, and limitations. I love world history and I don't know now how many comparative works I've read from how many angles: I didn't know everything here (if you did, I accuse you of being an archaeologist).
Another commendation, Dr. MacEachern's personal passion for Sub-Saharan archaeology is truly remarkable even among the compelling lecturers I've heard from the Great Courses. One hears in his voice in his African lectures, he would feel truly gratified if he did well to make his listener appreciate some of the unsung African variants of ancient civilization. I respected the depth of his conviction greatly. I believe he succeeds.
On the other hand, I think that no one shall scold Dr. MacEachern for overreaching in his conclusions. Much of the time, he seems intent to inform us what not to think as what to think. Often he's probably right to ward off unexamined biases from days gone by. But sometimes it's a little amusing that he thinks we all know enough about South East Asian historiography, say, to require lengthy convincing to stop conceptualizing it through the term 'mandala' ;)
He can make himself sound a little One Darn Thing After Another in his resistance of bringing conclusions too hastily from his data. He does argue, ultimately, that there are no simple answers to how and why states arise generally: flood plains, urbanization, distance trade in elite goods, specialist non-food-producers and social stratification, intensive agriculture, starchy crops, and numerous other phenomena MAY be associated with early states. But Dr. MacEachern's survey finds that none is present in EVERY case, and so none is necessary, and no general explanation of the causation of states is anticipated. Amusingly, it would appear that the one thing we can count on archaeologists' finding in early states is a budding ideology to justify the state; this, though archaeologists have rather a hard time digging up ideologies.
All told, if you want to hear the very diverse descriptions of numerous famous and "rarer" early civilizations, with intellectually honest and careful attention paid to the limitations of archaeological theory, listen up!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Peter J. Ward
- 07-07-22
Great summary of prehistory with passion
Loved it but please I just have to note that "efflorescence" means "flowering or blooming"; not "fluorescence ".
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- Lucy
- 12-24-22
Great course - take it, pay for it too!
What I love about it -
It treats ALL civilizations, Peoples and geographies the same.
MacEachern is a member of a very small scientist, archeologist and anthropologist that study the diverse Human groups with in the same framework, meaning, he is not applying the Western superiority or the well-worn path as "the way",
IMO - the "western path" it is the better documented, and all the rest were "undocumented" by the west.
True science calls for challenging all the taboos.
Civilization is old, it evolves in different rates and path from one people to the other, the wieners wrote the popular history; let Science re-write history and uncover truths.
This course is a great was to start the journey of learning the truth.
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- Cody
- 01-11-23
really needs an edit to remove dead air
takes a while to get going, but info is good. REALLY needs to be edited to remove long pauses in speech as the prof takes a lot of long breaks
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- january
- 08-17-13
Bueller....Bueller....Bueller.....
I was so excited when I got the email from Audible about The Great Courses series. I love lectures and there's a lot to choose from in this collection. I was a little bit overwhelmed by the prices, though. So I decided to pick something that I love, but would like to know more about.
As an art student in college, I learned about ancient civilizations through beautiful works they created. But I've always wanted to know more. I want to know what they wore, what they talked about, what they worried about, how they lived and what they held sacred. This lecture promised to tell me all of those things. And it did.
In the first few lectures, Scott MacEachern talks about archeological theory. It's boring and interesting at the same time. It's a tedious topic, but something that I was previously unaware of. He talks about getting away from researching grand structures and, instead, looking at how commoners lived. That's very much what I wanted to know. He also stressed that we make a mistake when we compare ancient cultures to modern. They lived and thought in completely different ways than we do. I'm not sure why, but it's very hard for me to think of it in that way, as I'm sure it is for many others, including those that study such things.
There were some things that I didn't like about this lecture series, and one thing I absolutely loved. First, dislikes. Professor MacEachern is from Canada, so I expected him to say things in a "Canadian" way, and I was willing to overlook it. What bothered me about the way he spoke is that he often used words improperly and in the wrong context. (It's been awhile since I finished listening to these lectures, so I can't think of any specifics.) If you're looking up to someone as an expert, it's disappointing when they misuse grammar in such a fundamental way. Another thing that bothered me is something that has bothered me about other lectures that I've taken in the past. Namely, lack of enthusiasm. One of my art history professors in college was soooo.... boring that no one wanted to take her class. In fact, art is the thing I love most in life, and I could barely stay awake in her class. But, if you spoke to her one on one, her passion for art was clear. She lit up. I've always wondered why people who obviously love what they're talking about, and want you to love it too, can't make the subject more enjoyable. There was a point in this lecture, near the end, when Professor MacEachern got fired up. But it was too, little too late.
Now for what I did love about it. I think that experts are often too certain of themselves and what they think. They present their ideas and things that are currently known as hard, solid fact. But the truth is, facts are relative and constantly changing as we discover new and wonderful things. It's rare and refreshing to hear someone in authority say, "This is what we know right now, but it might change as we research this topic further." I really appreciated that aspect of this lecture.
Overall, I'm satisfied with this lecture series. I learned quite a few things. But, I may wait awhile to listen to another of these lectures. Even though it didn't cost as much as an actual college course, and I could listen to them in my pajamas, they are still rather expensive.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-21-23
Dude works in Chad
He will make this known. You’d think he would put it on your final for 30% of your grade by the amount of times he mentions it. Reminds me of that episode of Big Bang Theory when Howard comes back from space and won’t stop talking about being an astronaut.
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