
The Ornament of the World
How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
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Narrated by:
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Tanya Eby
About this listen
Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
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- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It was a moment unique in human history: the face-to-face meeting between two men from civilizations a world apart. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived on the shores of Mexico, determined not only to expand the Spanish empire but to convert the natives to Catholicism and carry off a fortune in gold. That he saw nothing paradoxical in his intentions is one of the most remarkable and tragic aspects of this unforgettable story.
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A Great Book
- By Victor on 02-27-11
By: Buddy Levy
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The Battle for Spain
- The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Antony Beevor has written a completely updated and revised account of one of the most bitter and hard-fought wars of the 20th century. With new material gleaned from Russian archives and numerous other sources, this brisk and accessible audiobook (Spain's number-one best seller for 12 weeks) provides a balanced and penetrating perspective, explaining the tensions that led to this terrible overture to World War II and affording new insights into the war - its causes, course, and consequences.
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Not an Accurate History Book
- By Jose on 10-16-19
By: Antony Beevor
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Isabella
- The Warrior Queen
- By: Kirstin Downey
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history.
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Poorly narrated
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-15
By: Kirstin Downey
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Spain
- The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country
- By: Michael Reid
- Narrated by: Asa Siegel
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Spain's transition to democracy after Franco's long dictatorship was widely hailed as a success, ushering in three decades of unprecedented progress and prosperity. Yet over the past decade, its political consensus has been under severe strain. A stable two-party system has splintered, with disruptive new parties on the far left and far right. No government has had a majority since 2015. Michael Reid overturns the stereotypical view of Spain as a country haunted by its Francoist past.
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Ok book
- By "btomaz" on 06-27-23
By: Michael Reid
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Isabella of Castile
- Europe's First Great Queen
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1474, a 23-year-old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Ahead of her lay the considerable challenge not only of being a young female ruler in an overwhelmingly male-dominated world but also of reforming a major European kingdom that was riddled with crime, corruption, and violent political factionism. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and setting the stage for its golden era of global dominance.
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Enlightening
- By Jean on 03-07-17
By: Giles Tremlett
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Medieval Christianity
- A New History
- By: Kevin Madigan
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign - a miraculous, brutal, and irrational time of superstition and strange relics. The pursuit of heretics, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the domination of the "Holy Land" come to mind.
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New Standard Text for This Period
- By Bill Martin on 10-22-16
By: Kevin Madigan
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Sailing from Byzantium
- How a Lost Empire Shaped the World
- By: Colin Wells
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping intellectual adventure story, Sailing from Byzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forests of northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy to the final moments of a millennial city under siege.
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The Missing Years
- By Nikoli Gogol on 12-29-07
By: Colin Wells
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Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun
- Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms
- By: Charles Hudson, Robbie Ethridge - foreword
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Between 1539 and 1542, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led a small army on an expedition of almost four thousand miles across Southeastern America. De Soto's path had been one of history's most intriguing mysteries until the publication of Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. Using a new route reconstruction, anthropologist Charles Hudson maps the story of the de Soto expedition, tying the route to a number of specific archaeological sites.
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detailed analysis
- By Waylan Cooper on 03-19-25
By: Charles Hudson, and others
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Conquerors
- How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Conquerors tells the almost forgotten story of how Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.
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Beautifully balanced
- By Nigel Roberts on 05-08-16
By: Roger Crowley
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The Moor's Last Sigh
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie combines a ferociously witty family saga with a surreally imagined and sometimes blasphemous chronicle of modern India and flavors the mixture with peppery soliloquies on art, ethnicity, religious fanaticism, and the terrifying power of love. Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby, the last surviving scion of a dynasty of Cochinese spice merchants and crime lords, is also a compulsive storyteller and an exile.
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The performance is enchanting.
- By Kelly on 05-04-18
By: Salman Rushdie
What listeners say about The Ornament of the World
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- M. Gage
- 06-04-24
She pronounces it Izlum.
The narrator pronounces Islam as Izlum. It’s grating and unfortunately every fourth word in the book. Story is actually kinda boring too.
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- Zahid Ahmad
- 08-14-18
Excellent Book
Excellent book that reinforces my conviction that people of all faiths should have extraordinary tolerance for others to create and maintain superior societies.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Majed S
- 11-26-17
Needs to be rewritten
The book contains good historical information. However it needs to be streamed and reorganised based on historical time with clear objectives. As is it hard to fellow.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Paul H.
- 07-30-24
Most relevant to today’s global state of affairs.
I learned quite a bit about the long history of the Iberian Peninsula, Northern Africa & Europe during Roman, Visigothic & Al-Andalus & impacts on religions, culture & conflict. I don’t think the term tolerance can be applied broadly to the interplay of the 3 monotheistic religions & societies. Also, I think the performance by the narrator could have been much better had she done a bit of research on better/more accurate & consistent pronunciations of Spanish words, names & terms.
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- Amal Amireh
- 06-19-23
Painful mispronunciation
The narrator slaughtered Arabic words beyond recognition. No effort was made to approximate the correct pronunciation. I found this distracting and irritating.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Eric Erwin
- 08-20-22
A Must-Read for all Medieval Enthusiasts
Sometimes, readers encounter a book that is so unbelievably wonderful, so life-transforming, that they must share it with everyone. So it is with this marvelous history of Al Andalus (Islamic Medieval Spain). The text is so well written it is like melted butter, covering a wide variety of topics seamlessly and ideas. One can almost feel the warm Iberian sun on your skin and smell the delicious orange and lemon blossoms from the Caliph's gardens as the words wash over you. Once you start, you will not be able to stop listening. A host of topics, from religion to warfare, from language to commerce, are covered. This book proves that Medieval lives were mostly 'nasty, brutish and short' in Christian Europe, but in Spain Christian kings read and spoke Arabic, and Jews eagerly read and wrote Islamic poems of love, and the followers of Mohammad translated and preserved the treatises of the ancient Greeks, and where foods and music filled lives with joy and contentment... It is also a cautionary tale about how free and open societies can so easily be destroyed by religious fanaticism and conservative intolerance. Highly recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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- TAMIM SAIDI
- 12-04-18
Refreshing, realistic, reflective
Beautifying written &
Painfully realistic
Mandates one to ponder over if the fate of multi-religious America & the world.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Abuzar Mahmood
- 04-22-22
Informative and well-told
Clearly narrated, and well composed. An account of not only facts, but of feelings and ideologies over centuries.
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- O. Awad
- 01-14-24
Interesting
Well done overall. Could have been more concise. The did learn a lot and that’s what it is all about
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- Jeff
- 06-27-17
Important lessons for today on tolerance and intolerance
Import topic for today. As I finish The Ornament of the World and sit down to Immediately reread it I must admit that I found the story difficult to follow. Perhaps due to the dense topic, perhaps the writing style. Worth the read and reread though
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4 people found this helpful