-
Worlds at War
- The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 36 mins
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Publisher's summary
The relationship between East and West has always been one of turmoil. In this historical tour de force, a renowned historian leads us from the world of classical antiquity, through the Dark Ages, to the Crusades, Europe's resurgence, and the dominance of the Ottoman Empire, which almost shattered Europe entirely. Pagden travels from Napoleon in Egypt to Europe's carving up of the finally moribund Ottomans - creating the modern Middle East along the way - and on to the present struggles in Iraq.
Throughout, we learn a tremendous amount about what "East" and "West" were and are, and how it has always been competing worldviews and psychologies, more than religion or power grabs, that have fed the mistrust and violence between East and West. In Pagden's dark but provocative view, this struggle cannot help but go on.
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- The Struggle Between Faith and Reason: 1798 to Modern Times
- By: Christopher de Bellaigue
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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This absorbing account of the political and social reformations that transformed the lands of Islam during the 19th and early 20th centuries offers a game-changing assessment of the Middle East. Beginning his account in 1798, de Bellaigue demonstrates how the Middle East has long welcomed modern ideals and practices, including the adoption of modern medicine, the emergence of women from seclusion, and the development of democracy.
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fascinating story not told.elsewhere in one place
- By Joseph Sullivan on 11-30-21
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Empires of Trust
- How Rome Built - and America Is Building - a New World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In Empires of Trust, Professor Thomas F. Madden explores surprising parallels between the Roman and American republics. By making friends of enemies and demonstrating a commitment to fairness, the two republics - both "reluctant" yet unquestioned super-powers - built empires based on trust. Madden also includes vital lessons from the Roman Republic's 100-year struggle with "terrorism."
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Bork, Reagan, and Honest of Rome
- By Nelson Alexander on 12-20-08
By: Thomas F. Madden
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In God's Path
- The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire
- By: Robert G. Hoyland
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.
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Islamic conquest history from the outside
- By SAMA on 01-22-15
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Ancient Rome
- By: Thomas R. Martin
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall.
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Great review and understanding of Christianity
- By David on 12-08-20
By: Thomas R. Martin
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Alexander the Great
- The Hunt for a New Past
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Cartledge, one of the world's foremost scholars of ancient Greece, illuminates the brief but iconic life of Alexander (356-323 B.C.), king of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and founder of a new world order. Alexander's legacy has had a major impact on military tacticians, scholars, statesmen, adventurers, authors, and filmmakers.
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NOT a Chronology of Alexander’s Life
- By Blane Richoux on 12-30-20
By: Paul Cartledge
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The Bright Ages
- A New History of Medieval Europe
- By: Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The word medieval conjures images of the “Dark Ages”. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors. The Bright Ages takes us through 10 centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them.
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Does exactly what it claims to clarify
- By Aaron Rapozo on 12-13-21
By: Matthew Gabriele, and others
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Thermopylae
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In 480 B.C., a huge Persian army, led by the inimitable King Xerxes, entered the mountain pass of Thermopylae to march on Greece, intending to conquer the land with little difficulty. But the Greeks, led by King Leonidas and a small army of Spartans, took the battle to the Persians at Thermopylae and halted their advance: almost. It is one of history's most acclaimed battles, one of civilization's greatest last stands.
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Requires full attention
- By Euryleia on 01-18-08
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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Egyptian history is fascinating, this book is not.
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Meticulously Researched
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Alexander the Great
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Empire of the Normans tells the extraordinary story of how the descendants of Viking marauders in northern France came to dominate European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern politics. It is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce pirates, of fortunes made and fortunes lost. Across the generations, the Normans made their influence felt across Western Europe and the Mediterranean, from the British Isles to North Africa, and even to the Holy Land, with a combination of military might, political savvy, deeply held religious beliefs, and a profound sense of their own destiny.
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disappointing
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Confronting the Classics
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One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
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Annoying narrator
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The Ornament of the World
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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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Excellent Book
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What listeners say about Worlds at War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Tp
- 07-19-11
Unapologetic pitch for secularism
The author states his preference for secularism in a very straightforward fashion. He gives an interesting and occasionally fresh overview of the conflicts between Europe and Asia over the last 2,500 years. The focus is intensely on the philosophic or religious features of those conflicts. The last third is devoted to struggles between the cultures of what he calls the three major monotheisms. Worth the time.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Neil Chisholm
- 01-08-12
Sweeping historical saga
This is a fantastic review of what makes the West western and the East oriental and why there has been constant war between the East and the West since early history. Its not a book for school children and some times it takes a bit of concentration on the part of the adult listener but overall it is learned, interesting and very illuminating. Highly recommended.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kristin
- 01-26-14
Good to listen to.
Very interesting and well done. I went on to read Lawrence in Arabia and thought this had been an excellent prelude to that amazing book.
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- JB
- 07-26-12
One of the best audio books that I own!
What did you love best about Worlds at War?
A scholarly and riveting book for history fans.
Any additional comments?
This book has become one of the 5 audio books that I carry at all times. An interesting subject, well written by the author, and beautifully read by the narator. For those who are interested in the ageless battle between east and west, and how we've come to be where and what we are today, this book is facinating and instructive.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jim
- 04-11-11
Great survey of the seeds of discontent
This is a great survey of the thousands of years of mistrust, misunderstandings and the planting of the seeds of discontent that still are very much with us today. John Lee was the perfect narrator for this book. Loved it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Anna
- 05-04-11
The beat goes on.
This book was fascinating to listen to at a time,rather later than some earlier reviews, when a new wave of unrest sweeps through middle eastern muslim countries.Just what is behind it all is something of a mystery, but the persisting differences in world views that Pagden discusses continue with undiminished potency today. The book illuminates so many salient points in the long and everlasting socio- religious history of the human race.One muslim belief I share: history does repeats itself, on and on and on.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Douglas
- 06-18-18
Very illuminating
I wish I had read this a long time ago. A must read if you have any desire to understand the way the conflict of East and West arose. I am going to listen to it again.
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- Troy
- 03-27-12
Great start but petered out
Pagden did an excellent job up to the French Revolution. From the French Revolution on, he lost his way and went down esoteric side roads totally ignoring the 1500 lb gorilla in the room.
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- Julio
- 08-25-24
western bias
Wery good ancient and intellectual history. But it's handling of recent history is a self serving western perspective. Pagden is a top tier scholar of ancient Greek history and of the Spanish Empire, especially on Colonial Spanish American intellectual history. So the strengths of this book naturally are in his dealings with ancient and medieval texts. But his views on recent history lack the same depth and one can sense he is a little bit out of his depth and tends to take on the unquestioned intuitions and beliefs of a basic classical liberal perspective. For example, in his partial discussion of 20th C anti-colonial nationalism in the Middle East, he relies less on evidence than on the negative associations with "nationalism" that liberals already have. Knowing that such movements were part of a larger Third World Movement for national sovereignty that largely failed due to western intervention/neocolonialism, none of which Pagden mentions, one can only surmise that this antipathy comes precisely from the fact that these movements were anti-western influence. Thus, by the end of the book the author is conflating the ideals of democracy with its practice and this idealized version of the political culture of liberalism with the social culture of the West. Indeed, it concludes as a kind of subtle apology for the recent history of American imperialism as well as the occupation of Palestine (whitewashes the origins of Zionism). Although it is wary of religious extremism in the West, it also ultimately badly underestimates the anti-democraric ethos of American citizens. The resurgence (not " rise," as it is nothing new) of Christian ethnonationalism among white Americans shows flies in the face of the entire last chapter of the book. I think it's still worth reading, but there is a noticable decline in the quality of scholarship in roughly the last fourth of the book.
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- Ryan
- 10-15-11
Absorbing, well-researched, not unbiased history
I found this book a fascinating exploration of the long history of conflict between East and West, and the way the powers in charge of each sphere (whether Greek, Trojan, Roman, Persian, Christian, Muslim, French, Ottoman, British, or Arabic) have often seen themselves as inheritors of all the earlier struggles. Of course, it should be noted right away that by ???The East???, Pagden generally means the near and middle east, the lands from Asia Minor to the region that's modern Iran -- China, India, and Japan don???t figure into the book at all. In fact, his focus is really more on the development of the West and its experience with the East than the reverse.
It should also be noted that Pagden has a strong bias towards liberal, secular, democratic values, which he feels are the essence of Western culture (he states as much in the forward). Religion, both Christianity and Islam, are portrayed in a dim light, as institutional obstacles to reason, human rights, and progress. Not that I don???t largely agree with this assessment, but some readers might take offense. Still, he seems to be fair-minded about it, giving Muslim societies credit for brief periods of learning and relative tolerance, and indicting the modern West for its more counterproductive forays into the Middle East, which understandably stoked the fires of Muslim distrust and resentment. Indeed, the final chapter warns, convincingly, of continued bloody conflict between an uncompromising pan-Islamic worldview, whose adherents have enjoyed few of the fruits of the West and see little of their value, and countries like the US, whose leaders naively assume that their own democratic attitudes are universally held, and fail to account for a divide with deep historic roots.
However, I don???t want to place too much emphasis on modern politics, which take a back seat to the fact that this is a comprehensive, well-researched history, outlining many episodes over 2,500 years that I was only dimly aware of (e.g. Napoleon???s adventures in Egypt), and pulling them into a readable, continuous narrative. Especially interesting was reading of the ways in which the West???s often-skewed perception of the East as an "other" to strive against has nonetheless shaped its own attitudes towards freedom, tolerance, and science.
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