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The Rule of Laws
- A 4,000-Year Quest to Order the World
- Narrated by: Ana Clements
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
From ancient Mesopotamia to today, the epic story of how humans have used laws to forge civilizations.
Rulers throughout history have used laws to impose order. But laws were not simply instruments of power and social control. They also offered ordinary people a way to express their diverse visions for a better world.
In The Rule of Laws, Oxford scholar Fernanda Pirie traces the rise and fall of the sophisticated legal systems underpinning ancient empires and religious traditions, while also showing how common people - tribal assemblies, merchants, farmers - called on laws to define their communities, regulate trade, and build civilizations. Although legal principles originating in Western Europe now seem to dominate the globe, the variety of the world’s laws has long been almost as great as the variety of its societies. What truly unites human beings, Pirie argues, is our very faith that laws can produce justice, combat oppression, and create order from chaos.
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"The Rule of Laws is a fascinating, comprehensive study that forces us to think again about what law is, and why it matters. Far from being a dry set of rules, Fernanda Pirie argues, law is nothing less than a way of creating order and civilization. For those who want to understand why human society has emerged as it has, this is essential reading.” (Rana Mitter, University of Oxford)
"The Rule of Laws offers a pathbreaking and stimulating account of how societies across different regions and epochs drew upon secular, sacred, and scholarly traditions to create laws that organized the lives of their citizens. Pirie leads readers across five millennia to show the diverse and sophisticated legal systems developed in states across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas before explaining how the European-derived legal structures of our time achieved a rather unlikely and historically anomalous global dominance. This expansive narrative challenges what we think we know about legal history and the assumptions we make about law’s future.” (Edward J. Watts, author of Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny)
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- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Ancient Greece first coined the concept of democracy, yet almost every major ancient Greek thinker - from Plato and Aristotle onward - was ambivalent toward or even hostile to democracy in any form. The explanation for this is quite simple: The elite perceived majority power as tantamount to a dictatorship of the proletariat. In ancient Greece, there can be traced not only the rudiments of modern democratic society but the entire Western tradition of antidemocratic thought.
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Great Listen!
- By Timothy on 06-01-21
By: Paul Cartledge
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Ancient Greece, Second Edition
- From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times
- By: Thomas R. Martin
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In this compact yet comprehensive history of ancient Greece, Thomas R. Martin brings alive Greek civilization from its Stone Age roots to the fourth century BC. Focusing on the development of the Greek city-state and the society, culture, and architecture of Athens in its Golden Age, Martin integrates political, military, social, and cultural history in a book that will appeal to students and general audiences alike. Now in its second edition, this classic work now features updates throughout.
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Just the way I like it!
- By TracyB on 07-25-18
By: Thomas R. Martin
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Magna Carta
- A Captivating Guide to the History of the Great Charter and its Influence on Medieval England and the Rest of the World
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The Magna Carta is celebrated as one of the most important documents in human history. It is the main source of constitutional law around the world, promising people liberties and protection from the arbitrary power of the government. If you want to discover the captivating history of the Magna Carta, buy this book today.
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Great fun for all ages!
- By Robert S Johnson on 07-14-20
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Colonialism
- A Moral Reckoning
- By: Nigel Biggar
- Narrated by: Matt Bates
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the ‘End of History’—that the global dominance of liberal democracy had been secured forever. Now, however, with Russia rattling its sabre on the borders of Europe and China rising to challenge the post-1945 world order, the liberal West faces major threats. These threats are not only external. Especially in the Anglosphere, the ‘decolonisation’ movement corrodes the West’s self-confidence by retelling the history of European and American colonial dominance.
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Outstanding Report on one of the greatest empires ever.
- By mcasteli on 02-22-23
By: Nigel Biggar
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A History of Iran
- Empire of the Mind
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Although frequently vilified, Iran is a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world. Its political impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbors in the Middle East but also throughout the world. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis, and the current standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Michael Axworthy vividly depicts the nation’s rich history.
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Lazy Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 11-05-16
By: Michael Axworthy
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Slavery and Islam
- By: Jonathan A.C. Brown
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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What happens when authorities you venerate condone something you know is wrong? What does this mean about what you’ve been venerating? No issue brings this question into starker contrast than slavery. Every major religion and philosophy condoned or approved of it, but in modern times there is nothing seen as more evil. Americans confront this crisis of authority when they erect statues of Founding Fathers who slept with their slaves. And Muslims faced it when ISIS revived sex slavery, justifying it with verses from the Quran and the practice of Muhammad.
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A Bold and Broad Study of a Difficult Topic
- By Rob Squires on 02-21-20
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The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise
- Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
- By: Dario Fernandez Morera
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Scholars, journalists, and politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain - "al-Andalus" - as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony. There is only one problem with this widely accepted account: It is a myth. In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its "multiculturalism" and "diversity", Fernández-Morera sets the record straight.
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I should have known better all along.
- By David on 07-31-16
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A History of Christianity
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1976, Paul Johnson's exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude. Weaving a great range of material, the scholar and author Johnson creates an ambitious panoramic overview of the evolution of the Western world since the founding of a little-known "Jesus sect".
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Read Brant Pitre's the case for Jesus instead.
- By Catherine BFT on 05-08-17
By: Paul Johnson
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History of Europe
- A Captivating Guide to European History, Classical Antiquity, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance and Early Modern Europe
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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If you want to discover the captivating history of Europe, then this audiobook might be what you're looking for. It includes five books that cover topics like ancient history, influence of ancient Greece and Rome, fall of the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, important events, and much more.
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fake reviews?
- By Natalie on 09-09-22
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Heart of Europe
- A History of the Holy Roman Empire
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 34 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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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 Rule of Laws
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jonah
- 12-09-22
Lots of interesting facts; minimal synthesis
The author has compiled a lot of interesting facts about the law at different times and places. Alas, she did very little synthesis of her vast research. What were the major ways law differed across cultures? What drove its change? What were its major breakthroughs over time and why were they breakthroughs? How does the historical laws she describes differ from subsequent and current laws? The answers to many of these questions are perhaps implicit in her narrative. But I am not qualified to tease them out. I give the book four stars rather than five because of this narrow historical focus and emphasis on providing facts rather than deep insight. Perhaps now that the author has gathered all these impressive facts, her next book can attempt to provide more insight about why they should interest the reader.
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- paro
- 01-21-22
Perfect introduction with enough depth
This was my first book on the issue, I am no expert, but I found it to be perfectly right in introducing the main historical schools and providing enough details on each. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of laws.
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- Tomas Lankenau
- 03-08-22
Great idea, not sure if the best excecution
Summary:
-The book focuses on describing the history of the different legal systems that have existed and compares them: from Mesopotamia, China and India to the laws of international organizations that govern today.
-The book is divided into three parts or periods of time
-The origin of the first attempts to codify systems of laws and the differences between them
-A comparison between slightly more systematized codes after the fall of Rome
-Finally the product of European expansion, the integration of other regional systems to this, the decentralization of power and the current legal systems
What I liked:
-A focus beyond just Europe (I love to understand other possible realities beyond the one in which I was educated)
-The number and diversity of examples (from Tibet to Iceland)
-The relationship of laws with other systems (religion, politics, economy and finance)
What I didn't like:
-Too descriptive, could benefit from a comparative analysis or the conclusions of the big picture, the famous so what's
-Something repetitive and in some cases too specific for a text that summarizes the entire history of a field of knowledge
-There is a lack of a systematic description of the different components of the law
Recommendation:
-Honestly...hardly enough to recommend it
-Within its benefits, the book leaves much to be desired, sometimes it can be boring and it feels somewhat textbookish
-I recommend it to those who have an intermediate level of world history, otherwise the amount of detail you get can be overwhelming. Like drinking water from a fire hose.
-I would recommend it because apart from legal history you learn a lot about religion, economics and history in general,.. that's always a win
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- Daniel
- 09-27-23
Wonderful journey along the long road of the rule of law.
Highly recommend. A tour guide along the long road of the rule of law across societies, customs, and history.
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