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Title: The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta

Subtitle: The Persian Challenge

Author: Paul A. Rahe

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-24-15

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

More than 2,500 years ago, a confederation of small Greek city-states defeated the invading armies of Persia, the most powerful empire in the world. In this meticulously researched study, historian Paul Rahe argues that Sparta was responsible for the initial establishment of the Hellenic defensive coalition and was, in fact, the most essential player in its ultimate victory.

Drawing from an impressive range of ancient sources, including Herodotus and Plutarch, the author veers from the traditional Athenocentric view of the Greco-Persian Wars to examine from a Spartan perspective the grand strategy that halted the Persian juggernaut. Rahe provides a fascinating, detailed picture of life in Sparta circa 480 BC, revealing how the Spartans' form of government and the regimen to which they subjected themselves instilled within them the pride, confidence, discipline, and discernment necessary to forge an alliance that would stand firm against a great empire, driven by religious fervor, that held sway over two-fifths of the human race.

Members Reviews:

Excellent Investigation Undermined by Bad Editing

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It would be reedited, which would involve rerecording parts of the narration.

What did you like best about this story?

For those who enjoy Herodotus, Rahe presents an excellent integration of Herodotus's story with current research into the details of that story based on other accounts of history and archaeological research. Rahe's account is fascinating, if perhaps mis-titled since it struck me that rather than really focusing on a thesis about Sparta's strategy, he was really giving worthy study of Herodotus.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bronson Pinchots performances?

Maybe. The real question with this one is why the final product turned out so bad. At times Pinchot's reading is great. However--and it is a gigantic 'however'--about every 30-120 seconds, there is an awkward pause, followed by a phrase with Greek names (cities, people, etc.) which are then pronounced with an intonation that does not at all fit the rest of the sentence. Whether these terms are mispronounced or have been rerecorded to be properly pronounced according to someone's understanding of correct pronunciation I do not know. I can only note that some of them vary considerably from pronunciation used commonly in some academic circles (but 'correct' with ancient Greek pronunciation is a tricky topic). Regardless, the final result is jarring and often painful to listen to. It has forced me to return this book to audible despite the fact that, were it more polished, it would be joy to listen to Rahe's account at least 2-3 more times.

This much I can say with complete conviction: Whomever gave the final go ahead on releasing this version and selling it to people should be personally very, very ashamed. This goes for everyone on that chain of command, whether it be Pinchot, the producers, the audio editors, or even Rahe himself if he was asked to OK the audio before it was released.

Any additional comments?

Someone should have the sense of decency to repair this very flawed final product and present the improved version to all who purchased it at no additional cost.

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Title: Battling the Gods

Subtitle: Atheism in the Ancient World

Author: Tim Whitmarsh

Narrator: James Langton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-10-15

Publisher: HighBridge, a Division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 51 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms. They developed mathematical tools that could be applied to the world around them and tried to understand that world in material terms. Their skepticism left a rich legacy of literature, philosophy, and science and was defended by great writers like Epicurus, Lucretius, Cicero, and Lucian.

Tim Whitmarsh tells the story of the tension between orthodoxy and heresy with great panache, a story that ended - for the moment - with the imposition of Christianity on the Roman Empire in 313 CE.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: The Illumined Heart: Capture the Vibrant Faith of the Ancient Christians

Author: Frederica Mathewes-Green

Narrator: Frederica Mathewes-Green

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-15-15

Publisher: Frederica Mathewes-Green

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

Why are modern Christians so indistinguishable from everyone else? How come Christians who lived in times of bloody persecution were so heroic, while we who live in safety are not? How could the first Christians fast valiantly, but we feel deprived without dessert? How did New Testament believers pray without ceasing? How could the early Christian martyrs actually forgive their torturers? What did the Christians of the first centuries know that we don't? This book explores these questions.

Members Reviews:

Illuminating wisdom! Thank you!

What a lovely gem of a book that dives deep in the heart. For those new to the ancient faith and those who've been around a while, it meets us where we are. It is a refuge, a cool drink, a deep, cleansing breath on this spiritual road to 'the illumined heart'.

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Title: East African Origin of the Ancient Egyptians

Author: Gert Muller

Narrator: Sorrel Brigman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-28-15

Publisher: Pomegranate Publishing

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

The ancient Egyptians originated in East Africa. Evidence for this can be found in the ancient religious texts of the Egyptians, which describe the people and places in the afterlife. These places coincide with real people and places in East Africa. These real people of East Africa, the Nubians, were considered, in some contexts, demigods by the Egyptians. The ancient Egyptian afterlife paradise was called the Tuat. It was imagined to be a place of lakes and mountains like East Africa. The Egyptians knew these places because they originated in this region and called it Place of the First Time.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

it's an excellent and concise study of the subject. a good book i would highly recommend!

the information I received was really a great help to me

the information I received was really a great help to me,if only other peoples were informed with the knowledge that Africa can offer the.

Five Stars

These books met my expectations -Thanks

Five Stars

grest

Five Stars

love it. thank you. trillion of stars to you. love this knowledge. should be taught schoolll.

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Title: Hannibal Barca, the Greatest General: The Meteoric Rise, Defeat, and Destruction of Rome's Fiercest Rival

Author: Barry Linton

Narrator: Jim D Johnston

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-22-15

Publisher: Make Profits Easy LLC

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

Author Barry Linton chronicles the adventures, myth, and legacy of Hannibal Barca. Hannibal accomplished many great successes, experienced personal tragedies, and yet persevered through it all. Nearly 2,200 years ago, he waged a 15-year-long campaign against the Romans called the Second Punic War. He's a polarizing character in history, and continues to be mysterious. Many documents of his exploits were most likely destroyed or altered by the conquering Romans, but what remains of his story has been studied by historians for over a thousand years. A military genius, he survived in enemy lands and defeated nearly every army that ever assembled against him. His great strategic victories and stunning crossing of the Alps have been esteemed by modern-day military leaders. Hannibal is considered to be one of the most brilliant generals in history, fathering many strategies that would later be applied by leaders such as Napoleon.

Distinguished generals, such as Napoleon and George Patton, have looked to his campaigns for guidance. He led from the front, never asking his men to do what he would not. This book examines his life and his accomplishments. Follow along as we learn about his origins, beginning with his rise to power and ending with his eventual suicide. His life and legacy remains the subject of art, literature, as well as other mediums. Hannibal often faced numerically superior enemy forces, but through ingenuity and the loyalty of his men, he would win battle after battle against the Romans.

Members Reviews:

Terrible audio

Honestly I can't tell you if it's a good book or not, I listened to maybe an hour and couldn't take it anymore. Every time the author says a word with the letter "s" it makes a whistle sound. I think it's a poor recording/audio editing. If someone could somehow edit out that it might be a descent story, I don't know. It literally hurt my ears every time a word with "s" was spoken.

Insightful and heavily detailed

Great read to learn about the politics behind the wars. A detailed lesson on the great general and one of the greatest enemies time had.

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Title: The World's Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Minoans

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Maria Chester

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-08-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

Nearly 2,500 years after the golden age of Athens, people across the world continue to be fascinated by the ancient Greeks. But who did the ancient Greeks look up to? The answer to that question can be found in Homer's The Odyssey, in which Odysseus makes note of "a great town there, Cnossus, where Minos reigned." It was perhaps the earliest reference to the Minoan civilization, a mysterious, ancient civilization that historians and archaeologists still puzzle over, but a civilization that renowned historian Will Durant described as "the first link in the European chain."

Nearly 2,000 years before Homer wrote his epic poems, the Minoan civilization was centered on the island of Crete, a location that required the Minoans to be a regional sea power. And indeed they were, stretching across the Aegean Sea from about 2700-1500 BC, with trade routes extending all the way to Egypt.

The Minoans may have been the first link in the "European chain", leading to the ancient Greeks and beyond, but questions persist over the origins of the civilization, the end of the civilization, and substantial parts of its history in between, including its religion and buildings.

The World's Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Minoans shines a light on this Bronze Age civilization, providing a comprehensive overview of the reign of the Minoans and their lasting influence on European art, culture, trade, and more. Along with a description of Minoan life, you will learn about the civilization some have dubbed the first Europeans.

Members Reviews:

this is a computer reading this not a human

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

apparently this is read by 'maria chester', but it's obviously a computer not a real human being. they should make that clearer before u buy this as it makes a BIG difference

Would you ever listen to anything by Charles River Editors again?

no

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Maria Chester?

a REAL HUMAN BEING

Any additional comments?

seriously audible can u get to the bottom of this narrator..

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Title: The Library of Alexandria: The History and Legacy of the Ancient World's Most Famous Library

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Maria Chester

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

"When I wrote 'The Alexandria Link,' I discovered that we are only aware of about 10 percent of the knowledge of the ancient world. In the ancient world, most of the knowledge was destroyed." (Steve Berry)

In the modern world, libraries are taken for granted by most people, perhaps because their presence is ubiquitous. Every school has a library, large libraries can be found in every major city, and even most small towns have public libraries. However, the omnipresent nature of libraries is a fairly recent historical phenomenon because libraries were still few and far between before the 19th century. For centuries in the Western world, during what is known as the Middle Ages, written knowledge was guarded closely and hidden away in private repositories, usually by the religious classes.

The lack of libraries in the West has helped contribute to the popular imagination of the ancient Library at Alexandria and all the myths and legends that have come to be associated with it, but the Library of Alexandria deserves its reputation. Before the Middle Ages, Greek scholars carefully collected and inventoried books and other written materials in the Library of Alexandria, which truly made it a sort of precursor to all modern libraries. In fact the Library of Alexandria proved to be one of the greatest institutions created in the ancient world because it influenced the minds of countless people in profound ways for centuries.

Members Reviews:

Great Synopsis

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Very interesting look at the famous library. The narration seemed choppy and almost robotic computer generated reading. Narrator Maria Chester has read a number of books, and gives clear, crisp smooth delivery.

Review

Informative audiobook about the library of Alexandria, a great place to start if your interested in the subject. The narrator sounded like a computer reading a text file which made it difficult to get into the book more.

Waste of time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Doing more than skim the surface and presenting common knowledge.

Would you ever listen to anything by Charles River Editors again?

No

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Maria Chester?

Not sure

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment

Any additional comments?

I want a refund

This is not the thesis you were looking for.

If you were expecting a decent college level thesis, this is not it. I'm sure that is would be adequate for freshman high school, but the writing is sloppy and boring. Combine that with a soporific narrator who seems to be reading it for the first time, and this is what you get. The author seems to have done this at the last minute and tried hard to make the word quota. The narrator has halts frequently and inappropriately. Not worth the minimal cost to purchase.

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Title: The Assyrians: The History of the Most Prominent Empire of the Ancient Near East

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Tom McElroy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-16-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 31 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

"I fought daily, without interruption, against Taharqa, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, the one accursed by all the great gods. Five times I hit him with the point of my arrows, inflicting wounds from which he should not recover, and then I laid siege to Memphis, his royal residence, and conquered it in half a day by means of mines, breaches, and assault ladders." (Esarhaddon)

"I captured 46 towns...by consolidating ramps to bring up battering rams, by infantry attacks, mines, breaches, and siege engines." (Sennacherib)

When scholars study the history of the ancient Near East, several wars that had extremely brutal consequences (at least by modern standards) often stand out. Forced removal of entire populations, sieges that decimated entire cities, and wanton destruction of property were all tactics used by the various peoples of the ancient Near East against each other, but the Assyrians were the first people to make war a science. When the Assyrians are mentioned, images of war and brutality are among the first that come to mind, despite the fact that their culture prospered for nearly 2,000 years.

Like a number of ancient individuals and empires in that region, the negative perception of ancient Assyrian culture was passed down through biblical accounts, and regardless of the accuracy of the Bible's depiction of certain events, the Assyrians clearly played the role of adversary for the Israelites.

Members Reviews:

A nice but brief summary.

An easy to understand factual summary. No real narrative is applied; it just covers some of the very basic information about the Assyrians. While I knew the short length going in, it still felt like the time went by really quickly.

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Title: The Philistines: The History of the Ancient Israelites' Most Notorious Enemy

Author: Charles River Editors

Narrator: Colin Fluxman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-11-15

Publisher: Charles River Editors

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

"Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, 'Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.' Then the Philistine said, 'This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.'...David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.'" - 1 Samuel 17

Today, the term "Philistine" is often used as a euphemism for a person who is particularly uncouth, uncultured, ignorant, and possibly violent. Most people probably do not know the etymology of the word when they use it, and those that do probably only know the Philistines as villains from the Old Testament who were the eternal enemies of the Hebrews prior to and immediately after the latter formed the kingdom of Israel. Others may know the Philistines from the Biblical story of David and Goliath, as the "giant" was not only much larger than David but also a Philistine leader who commanded a large host of men.

Members Reviews:

Kopp

I need to close this book I don't want to review this book good by.

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Title: The Day Democracy Died

Author: Anselm Audley

Narrator: Julian Elfer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-26-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: History, Ancient

Publisher's Summary:

How scapegoating and hysteria doomed the world's first democracy. From the chaos of a sea-battle to the fury of a lynch mob, from personal bravery to political machinations, The Day Democracy Died tells in vivid detail the tragic story of the Arginusae trials and the fall of Athens: a cautionary tale of democracy's demons which is as relevant in the age of instant news and mass media as in the volatile city-states of ancient Greece. October, 406 BC: on the darkening waters of the eastern Aegean, an inexperienced Athenian fleet prepared to face the might of Sparta. With the fortunes of the Peloponnesian War turning inexorably against it, a beleaguered Athens badly needed a victory - and it got one.

The Battle of Arginusae, won by raw recruits against a battle-hardened Spartan armada, saved Athens from disaster at a heavy cost in sunken ships. Yet in the confusion following the battle, neither the survivors nor the bodies of the dead were ever recovered. When the fleet returned to an apprehensive, overcrowded Athens, recriminations between its leaders escalated into a vicious, hysterical witch-hunt which convulsed the democracy and swept aside custom, sense, and law. In an extraordinary and chilling sequence of events, six victorious generals were arrested and put on trial for their lives before the Athenian people. On a day of violent passions, before a crowd of thousands, a handful of brave men including the philosopher Socrates struggled to save Athens from itself.

Members Reviews:

Almost a Legal drama of Socrates as the judge

excellent. bulk of this book is about the last year of the Peloponnesian War, and emphasis on a court-martual of two Athenian generals presided by Socrates as the judge (epistatus) . The Athenian courtroom drama illustrates the degradation of Athenian democracy over the course of the Peloponnesian War and this sham car against the two victorious generals and subsequent execution led directly to the Conquest and Siege of Athens by the Spartans.

Dramatic account of a self-inflicted catastrophe.

Dramatized reconstruction of the final tragedy of the Peloponnesian War: At the very end, after surviving disaster upon disaster, the people of Athens were so intent on assigning blame and seeking immediate advantage against political opponents that they threw away their last real chance. The author does a great job of filling in the background and navigating the twists, as everything inexorably goes to hell in a handbasket.