The Rise of the West
A History of the Human Community; with a Retrospective Essay
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Narrated by:
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Paul Brion
About this listen
The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The author suggests that, from the Neolithic beginnings of grain agriculture to the present, major social changes in all parts of the world were triggered by new or newly important foreign stimuli, and he presents a persuasive narrative of world history to support this claim.
In a retrospective essay titled "The Rise of the West after Twenty-five Years," McNeill shows how his book was shaped by the time and place in which it was written (1954-63). He discusses how historiography subsequently developed and suggests how his portrait of the world's past in The Rise of the West should be revised to reflect these changes.
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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
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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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
- By Kelly on 09-05-19
By: Graham Hancock
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The Secret History of Christmas
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
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Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.
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Fascinating and Entertaining
- By Laura Carrington on 11-23-22
By: Bill Bryson
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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
- Length: 66 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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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
By: Robert Lackie, and others
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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
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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
- By William Sanders on 01-25-15
By: John G. Neihardt
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The Birth of the West
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The tenth century dawned in violence and disorder. Charlemagne’s empire was in ruins, most of Spain had been claimed by Moorish invaders, and even the papacy in Rome was embroiled in petty, provincial conflicts. To many historians, it was a prime example of the ignorance and uncertainty of the Dark Ages. Yet according to historian Paul Collins, the story of the tenth century is the story of our culture’s birth, of the emergence of our civilization into the light of day.
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Europe
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The Birth of Classical Europe
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
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By: Simon Price, and others
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The Decline of the West
- Vol 1: Form and Actuality. Vol 2: Perspectives of World History
- By: Oswald Spengler
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The Decline of the West - Volume 1 published in 1917, Volume 2 in 1922 - has exercised and challenged opinion ever since. It was a huge undertaking by Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), formerly an unpublished historian and philosopher who set out to radically reconsider history - the rise and fall of world civilisations and their cultures. His primary view was to reject the established Eurocentric paradigm (ancient/classical, Medieval - and, following the Renaissance - modern) and to take a totally new perspective.
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Stunningly deep work of philosophy
- By J. Martin on 05-16-21
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Heart of Europe
- A History of the Holy Roman Empire
- By: Peter H. Wilson
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Story
The Holy Roman Empire lasted 1,000 years, far longer than ancient Rome. Yet this formidable dominion never inspired the awe of its predecessor. Voltaire quipped that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire. Yet as Peter H. Wilson shows, the Holy Roman Empire tells a millennial story of Europe better than the histories of individual nation-states.
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Mixed feelings on this one.
- By Stuart Seymour on 09-19-17
By: Peter H. Wilson
What listeners say about The Rise of the West
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- William Lexner
- 10-18-24
Magnificent.
Though noticeably dated, this is the greatest single volume history of humanity I have encountered.
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- Ariel
- 12-18-23
The greatest world history book in English
If you're trying to understand what happened in the human past on the broadest level, there's no better book that I know of. From the rise of agriculture to 1963, the story is of the formation of new communities and their interaction, the diffusion of new and better ways of living, culminating in the rise of science and the democratic revolution in the last several centuries. Dense, meant for a knowledgable reader, an attempt to capture 'all there is' in the entire field of history all in one book. It has its failings, but they're trivial next to its merits. Read this book.
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