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The World
- A Family History of Humanity
- Narrated by: Simon Sebag Montefiore, full cast
- Length: 68 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A magisterial world history unlike any other that tells the story of humanity through the one thing we all have in common: families • From the author of The Romanovs
A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, Smithsonian
“Succession meets Game of Thrones.”—The Spectator • “The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues and psychopaths to life...An epic that both entertains and informs.”—The Economist, Best Books of the Year
Around 950,000 years ago, a family of five walked along the beach and left behind the oldest family footprints ever discovered. For award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, these poignant, familiar fossils serve as an inspiration for a new kind of world history, one that is genuinely global, spans all eras and all continents, and focuses on the family ties that connect every one of us.
In this epic, ever-surprising book, Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history through palace intrigues, love affairs, and family lives, linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, and technology to the people at the heart of the human drama. It features a cast of extraordinary diversity: in addition to rulers and conquerors, there are priests, charlatans, artists, scientists, tycoons, gangsters, lovers, husbands, wives, and children. There is Hongwu, the beggar who founded the Ming dynasty; Ewuare, the Leopard-King of Benin; Henry Christophe, King of Haiti; Kamehameha, the conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, the Arab empress who defied Rome; Lady Murasaki, the first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, the Moroccan pirate-queen. Here too are moderns such as Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky. Here are the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads. These powerful families represent the breadth of human endeavor, with bloody succession battles, treacherous conspiracies, and shocking megalomania alongside flourishing culture, moving romances, and enlightened benevolence. A dazzling achievement as spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the whole human story in a single, masterful narrative.
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Critic reviews
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The New Yorker and The Economist • The Times (UK) History Book of the Year • a Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of the Year • a Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
“This is not the history you learned in school. . . . The World tells the story of humanity through families, be they large or small, powerful or weak, rich or poor. It is a book for people who want to read about people. . . . The World pulsates with the hundreds of human stories Mr. Montefiore brings to life in vivid, convincing fashion. . . . This is history as collective biography, a journey across almost two million years, from the appearance of Homo erectus in east Africa to the rise of Xi Jinping’s China. . . .”—The Wall Street Journal
“In his new book, Simon Sebag Montefiore traces the perilous and prescriptive power of ancestry through centuries riddled with rivalry, betrayal, and violence. . . . As the title suggests, [The World] approaches the sweep of world history through the family—or, to be more precise, through families in power. In the course of some thirteen hundred pages, The World offers a monumental survey of dynastic rule: how to get it, how to keep it, how to squander it. . . . The World has the heft and character of a dictionary. . . . Montefiore energetically fulfills his promise to write a ‘genuine world history, not unbalanced by excessive focus on Britain and Europe.’ In zesty sentences and lively vignettes, he captures the widening global circuits of people, commerce, and culture.”—The New Yorker
"Simon Sebag Montefiore knows how to keep our attention. Perhaps understanding that facing down 1,300 pages of human history might cause even the most committed reader to quail, he makes certain to pepper The World with enough inventive gore, twisted villainy, and seriously kinky sex to keep those pages turning. This book may be huge, but the author ensures it is thoroughly accessible. . . . Montefiore’s accomplishment here is nothing short of breathtaking. It is no mean feat to create a comprehensive timeline of human history that is deeply researched, illuminating, addictively compelling, and—quite simply—a rowdy good time.”—The Washington Independent Review of Books
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Father-daughter duo Jonathan and Emily Jordan uncover the ingenious wartime tactics of some of history’s most powerful female leaders across millennia and continents, from the stifling battlefields of ancient Egypt to the frigid waters off the Falkland Islands.
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Interesting boook.
- By TMK on 11-13-22
By: Jonathan W. Jordan, and others
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The Roman Emperors
- Hadrian, Constantine the Great, Commodus, Caracalla, Etc.
- By: Coby Evans
- Narrated by: Adam Forsyth
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This guide will guide you to the right knowledge about all the historical details you need to know about Nero, Caligula, Hadrian, Commodus, Constantine the Great, Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, Augustus, and others. Some were pure evil, abusive, and sheer dictators with their own self-interest that was their only focus. Others had the best intentions for the empire. These emperors left their mark on the people, the history of the entire empire, and the cultural influence the Romans had on us.
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Great book
- By Ruth on 01-10-20
By: Coby Evans
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Emperors of Rome: Julius Caesar, Constantine, Nero, Caligula, and More
- By: Kelly Mass, Summaries from History
- Narrated by: Miriam Webster
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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What do you know about the emperors of Rome? Rome had good and bad emperors, selfish and selfless ones. Some were wise, others were foolish. And each left their legacy and their imprint on historical concepts of the Roman empire itself. In this book, we will explore the details of a number of these emperors, especially some of the best-known ones that have been hand-picked by the editors of this book.
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That's interesting
- By Bettie on 10-05-19
By: Kelly Mass, and others
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The Habsburgs
- To Rule the World
- By: Martyn Rady
- Narrated by: Simon Boughey
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive history of a powerful family dynasty who dominated Europe for centuries - from their rise to power to their eventual downfall.
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An Excellent and Interesting History
- By Darrel Bishop on 09-14-20
By: Martyn Rady
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A Brief History of China
- Dynasty, Revolution and Transformation: From the Middle Kingdom to the People's Republic
- By: Jonathan Clements
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society - from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings listeners through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping.
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Succinct and detailed overview of a huge topic
- By Stephen Sheafer on 08-19-20
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Ghost on the Throne
- The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire
- By: James S. Romm
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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When Alexander the Great died at the age of 32, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea in the west all the way to modern-day India in the east. In an unusual compromise, his two heirs - a mentally damaged half brother, Philip III, and an infant son, Alexander IV, born after his death - were jointly granted the kingship. But six of Alexander's Macedonian generals, spurred by their own thirst for power and the legend that Alexander bequeathed his rule "to the strongest," fought to gain supremacy.
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ends a bit short
- By RIR on 06-14-21
By: James S. Romm
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Vanished Kingdoms
- The Rise and Fall of States and Nations
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 30 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind. This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from listeners of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.
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needs a good editor.
- By Ryan Anderson on 09-25-21
By: Norman Davies
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A History of France
- By: John Julius Norwich
- Narrated by: John Julius Norwich
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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John Julius Norwich - called a "true master of narrative history" by Simon Sebag Montefiore - returns with the book he has spent his distinguished career wanting to write, A History of France, a portrait of the past two centuries of the country he loves best. Beginning with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the first century BC, this study of French history comprises a cast of legendary characters - Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Marie Antionette, to name a few - as Norwich chronicles France's often violent, always fascinating history.
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Kings and Wars
- By Awake Tex on 08-22-19
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The Roman Empire
- The Amazing History of a Great Empire That Has Fallen
- By: Kelly Mass, Summaries from History
- Narrated by: Miriam Webster
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Roman Empire has been in the spotlight for ages. It has been studied, research, and taught in schools across the world. Inventions, words, vocabulary, and philosophy have been derived from those important transition in human history. The Romans were ruthless in some ways yet civilized in others. They were a peculiar people who did things differently than those they called barbarians. Their warfare, their habits, their vision of the future...these all made their empire what it became. What is that makes us so obsessed with this particular time period?
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This is great
- By Edwin on 09-26-19
By: Kelly Mass, and others
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The White Ship
- Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream
- By: Charles Spencer
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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By 1120, Henry was perhaps the most formidable ruler in Europe, with an enviable record on the battlefield, immense lands and wealth and unprecedented authority in his kingdoms. Everything he had worked so hard for was finally achieved, and he was ready to hand it on to his beloved son and heir, William Ætheling. Henry I and his retinue set out first. The White Ship - considered the fastest afloat - would follow, carrying the young prince. Spoilt and arrogant, William had plied his comrades and crew with drink from the minute he stepped aboard....
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Brilliant and concise
- By Kindle Customer on 11-28-20
By: Charles Spencer
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Roman Emperors
- Marcus Aurelius, Vespanian, Hadrian, Nero, and Others
- By: Ron Carver
- Narrated by: Brandon Woodall
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
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In this historical yet somewhat dramatic account of the Roman emperors, you'll find judgments, opinions, and for the most part, hard facts about the rulers of the vast empire that controlled the Mediterranean Sea and beyond for centuries. You'll discover the disgust of historians with Nero's and Caligula's murderous inclinations, their incest, their sexual orgies, and their betrayal. You'll hear of Julius Ceasar's success and totalitarianism during his despot reign.
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You gotta appreciate things like this
- By Anonymous User on 02-14-20
By: Ron Carver
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Ten Caesars
- Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling classical historian Barry Strauss tells the story of three-and-a-half centuries of the Roman Empire through the lives of 10 of the most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.
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Good for beginners
- By Richferguson1 on 03-01-20
By: Barry Strauss
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Nero
- Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome
- By: Anthony Everitt, Roddy Ashworth
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her. But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero
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An amazing 360 degree portrait
- By Cooper A Day on 01-01-23
By: Anthony Everitt, and others
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Crusaders
- The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
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Gripping but not tidy
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-20
By: Dan Jones
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Scholarly but gripping
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Historical Novel That Touches Your Soul...
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Stalin
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In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
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Stalinist Tyranny
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Catherine the Great & Potemkin
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Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these “twin souls” never stopped loving each other.
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Liked the book, hated the narrator
- By Michelle on 03-09-21
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In-depth and gripping history of 3,000 years
- By A reader on 12-16-11
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The Romanovs
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This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
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Scholarly but gripping
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Stalinist Tyranny
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Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these “twin souls” never stopped loving each other.
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Liked the book, hated the narrator
- By Michelle on 03-09-21
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Young Stalin
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Young Stalin tells the story of an exceptional, charismatic, darkly turbulent young man born into obscurity, fancying himself a poet and a priest, and finally embracing revolutionary idealism as his Messianic mission in life. Equal parts scholar and terrorist, a mastermind of bank robberies, extortion, piracy, and murder, he was so impressive in his brutality that Lenin made him, along with Trotsky, his chief henchman.
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Really Good Read/Listen
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Written in History
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Written in History: Letters that Changed the World celebrates the great letters of world history, and cultural and personal life. Bestselling, prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion—whether passion, rage, humor—from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal, coarse, and frankly outrageous, many are erotic, others heartbreaking.
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A great collection.
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History of the World (Updated)
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In his monumental History of the World, J.M. Roberts delivered a powerful vision of human history as a story of change, a deliberate shaping of experience and environment. This revised and updated edition takes into account the great range of events and discoveries that have altered our views on everything from early civilizations to post-Cold War globalism.
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Superb...
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Voices of History
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In this exuberant collection, acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us on a journey from ancient times to the 21st century. Some speeches are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and atrocious. Some are exquisite and poignant; others cruel and chilling. The speakers themselves vary from empresses and conquerors to rock stars, novelists and sportsmen, dreamers and killers, from Churchill and Elizabeth I to Stalin and Genghis Khan, and from Michelle Obama and Cleopatra to Ronald Reagan, Nehru, and Muhammad Ali.
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Famous and infamous speeches
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Seasons in the Sun
- The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979
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In the early 1970s, Britain seemed to be tottering on the brink of the abyss. Under Edward Heath, the optimism of the '60s had become a distant memory. Now the headlines were dominated by strikes and blackouts, unemployment and inflation. As the world looked on in horrified fascination, Britain seemed to be tearing itself apart. And yet, amid the gloom, glittered a creativity and cultural dynamism that would influence our lives long after the nightmarish '70s had been forgotten.
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Carry on, Britain!
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Europe
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Norman Davies captures it all - the rise and fall of Rome, the sweeping invasions of Alaric and Atilla, the Norman Conquests, the Papal struggles for power, the Renaissance and the Reformation, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Europe's rise to become the powerhouse of the world, and its eclipse in our own century, following two devastating World Wars.
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My Favorite Historian
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For Profit
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Americans have long been skeptical of corporations, and that skepticism has only grown more intense in recent years. Meanwhile, corporations continue to amass wealth and power at a dizzying rate, recklessly pursuing profit while leaving society to sort out the costs. In For Profit, law professor William Magnuson argues that the story of the corporation didn’t have to come to this. Throughout history, he finds, corporations have been purpose-built to benefit the societies that surrounded them.
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Selected stories give great explanations
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A History of the World
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From the earliest civilizations to the 21st century: a global journey through human history, published alongside a landmark BBC One television series. Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean.
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25 hours of enjoyment
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Native Nations
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A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today. Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.
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An outstanding survey with many surprises
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Material World
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Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials have created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and greed for thousands of years. Without them, our modern world would not exist, and the battle to control them will determine our future. In Material World, Ed Conway embarks on an epic journey across continents, cultures, and epochs to reveal the underpinnings of modern life on Earth—traveling from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan to the eerie green pools where lithium originates.
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Insightful
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A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth
- 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters
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- Narrated by: Henry Gee
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In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place—in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions. Amid all this tumult and disaster, life began. The earliest living things were no more than membranes stretched across microscopic gaps in rocks, where boiling hot jets of mineral-rich water gushed out from cracks in the ocean floor. In A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee zips through the last 4.6 billion years with infectious enthusiasm and intellectual rigor.
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incredibly annoying
- By A reader on 12-22-21
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The Eagle and the Hart
- The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV
- By: Helen Castor
- Narrated by: Helen Castor
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard of Bordeaux and Henry of Bolingbroke, cousins born just three months apart, were ten years old when Richard became king of England. They were thirty-two when Henry deposed him and became king in his place. Now, the story behind one of the strangest and most fateful events in English history (and the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s most celebrated history plays) is brought to vivid life by the acclaimed author of Blood and Roses, Helen Castor.
By: Helen Castor
What listeners say about The World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Asha Sceanca
- 07-05-23
Maybe worth another chance
I struggled to follow the book in audio format. I think this book would be excellent to read. Nonetheless, the chapters I did follow were enjoyable and informative.
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- Robin Guynn
- 07-04-23
Interesting, but not quite what I expected
An ambitious project. I appreciate that it discusses what is going on in different parts of the world at the same time. In terms of a “family history” though, I was kind of disappointed, it talks about the interrelatedness of important families… not so much about family life through history. It still felt a lot like wave after wave of names and dates.
Interesting - yes. Educational - yes. But, not really what I was hoping it would be.
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- Sarah
- 10-22-23
Best to Let the Stories Wash Over You
I have mostly enjoyed the experience of listening to this book. It’s the first time I’ve listened to this kind of book: 62 hours of nonfiction encompassing so much time and so many people and places. As such, I can’t really judge it as history or even really understand how the approach of through the lens of the family would apply compared to another history of similar scope. At any rate I did enjoy letting thestories wash over me and I do feel more well-rounded in my general understanding of world history and some important interconnections. I liked the cast of various readers, though there was one whose cadence and rhythm was distractingly bad. Multiple times in any of their sections it seems as though a sentence is over only to be a poorly timed pause. Another narrator did well except for attempts at characterization of others which came off silly at times.
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- Jacki Carton
- 05-03-24
War since the beginning of man.
We have been fighting one another since beginning of mankind. Families for power and land. Cruelty, deceit, murder
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- josh neiderman
- 06-14-23
Awful Narration
I’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks, and this one, by far, is the worst performance I have ever heard. It sounds as if it’s computer generated.
I just can’t believe this was considered acceptable.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-21-23
The promise is not fullfilled.
I loved the idea of history through the lense of family but this sadly does not deliver. on top of this, the scope of the book and its relatively small size leaves the listener with a tiktok version of history. If your attention span lasts 30 seconds perhaps its for you. Lastly, the book has censored sections. I am returning the title half way through on principal. I expect to listen to a complete, unedited version of the text.
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- Anneke García
- 07-03-23
Really hard to follow as an audiobook
This book attempts to put story behind the names and dates of history, which does help the reader remember and understand what was happening when. But the scope remains so huge and sweeping that it's hard to really digest and comprehend the people and their contexts.
The audio performance made it very, very hard to follow. I appreciate the attempt to have different readers with different accents but there is no cohesion or quality check. Names are not pronounced consistently from chapter to chapter and since you don't have the written spelling to reference it's hard to know whether this is a person you've already heard about or somebody entirely new. Some of the worst pronunciations were ones that could have easily been standardized by good directing; the first reader who had Chinese names to pronounce was all over the place, rhyming Shang and Yang with the English "bang". They more accurately rhyme with "wrong." But this reader did pronounce Shi Huang Di more accurately, proving that they were able to pronounce those sounds, they just didn't bother to check what Chinese orthography was like before starting. And then a few chapters later, one of the readers was obviously a bilingual speaker of Mandarin and English and the pronunciations were spot on; why couldn't there have been coordination between this reader and the others who had chapters with Chinese places and names? And that's just a language I know a bit about; who knows how consistent the Persian or Arabic or Greek names were.
And please for the love of all that's holy to the person who talked about Teotihuacan: you were almost there. Just Google it. There is no language in which it would be pronounced "tay-oh-tee-wah-KWAN." I would have preferred a super gringo interpretation of it to whatever that was.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-19-24
Disappointed
Woke history of the world. History viewed in thru a modern narrow sociopolitical lens. Too bad a woman of color didn’t write it.
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- AG
- 06-01-23
Good book, poor performance
The idea was excellent: Multiple narrators, their names suggesting they come from different cultures. I had hoped this would solve a common problem with performances, which is mispronounciation.
Alas, all it produced is terrible mispronounciation in different voices, which is even more grating. And not only that, some of the performers are almost machine-like in their reading, unable to distinguish between punctuation marks.
Collectively, they spoil an excellent book. What a shame.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Aldy
- 06-06-23
Great Story, Presentation Subpar
The story of course is excellent, the breadth is astounding. Equally astounding, in a very bad way, is the inability for some of the presenters to speak and pronounce English. And for one presenter in particular the pronunciations border on the comically bad. This is laugh out loud not funny. You can and must do better.
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4 people found this helpful