Conquest of the Tropics
The Story of the Creative Enterprises Conducted by the United Fruit Company
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Conquest of the Tropics
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Heidi Wall
About this listen
This narrative about the creation and early growth of the United Fruit Company comes across like an adventure novel.
The author whisks the listener to Central America to experience the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a group of visionaries who carved a commercial empire out of virtually uninhabited Central American tropical jungles.
These American businessmen and the people who worked for them were the early pioneers. They overcame tropical disease, financial problems, weather, and other obstacles by innovation and sheer grit.
All of this is splendidly narrated in this important audiobook about a critical driving force in the history of Central America.
©2019 Heidi Wall (P)2019 Heidi WallListeners also enjoyed...
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,175
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,301
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5,264
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Everyone dies except Americans
- By preetam on 06-22-22
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Wealth of Nations
- By: Adam Smith
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 36 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,306
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,295
The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
ADAM SMITH
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 01-20-15
By: Adam Smith
-
Collapse
- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,707
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Jared Diamond Downs You in Explanation
- By Rob on 07-20-18
By: Jared Diamond
-
1493
- Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,769
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,768
More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating Mindbending History.
- By Betsy Powel on 12-19-11
By: Charles C. Mann
-
The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,456
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,996
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,001
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
-
Open Veins of Latin America
- Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
- By: Eduardo Galeano, Isabel Allende - Foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,000
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 990
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please up-date the addition
- By fishrock on 02-20-10
By: Eduardo Galeano, and others
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,175
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,301
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5,264
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Everyone dies except Americans
- By preetam on 06-22-22
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Wealth of Nations
- By: Adam Smith
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 36 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,306
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,295
The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
ADAM SMITH
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 01-20-15
By: Adam Smith
-
Collapse
- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,707
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Jared Diamond Downs You in Explanation
- By Rob on 07-20-18
By: Jared Diamond
-
1493
- Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,769
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,768
More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating Mindbending History.
- By Betsy Powel on 12-19-11
By: Charles C. Mann
-
The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,456
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,996
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,001
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
-
Open Veins of Latin America
- Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
- By: Eduardo Galeano, Isabel Allende - Foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,000
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 990
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please up-date the addition
- By fishrock on 02-20-10
By: Eduardo Galeano, and others
-
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
- By: Walter Rodney, Angela Y. Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 555
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 471
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 462
Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the West and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the repercussions of European colonialism in Africa remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Superb must read for everyone
- By Joy on 04-16-19
By: Walter Rodney, and others
-
A Splendid Exchange
- How Trade Shaped the World
- By: William J. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 246
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports listeners from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the 16th.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting and Germane to Today's World
- By Mark on 07-18-08
-
The Tycoons
- How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
- By: Charles R. Morris
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 324
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 294
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 292
The modern American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet. Acclaimed author Charles R. Morris vividly brings these men and their times to life. The Tycoons tells the incredible story of how these four determined men wrenched the economy into the modern age, inventing a nation of full economic participation that could not have been imagined earlier.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book wrong title
- By Hectoris on 10-06-16
-
The United States of Beer
- A Freewheeling History of the All-American Drink
- By: Dane Huckelbridge
- Narrated by: Corey Snow
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Huckelbridge shows how beer has evolved along with the country - from a local and regional product (once upon a time, every American city had its own brewery and iconic beer brand) to the rise of global megabrands, like Budweiser and Miller, that are synonymous with US capitalism. We learn of George Washington's failed attempt to brew beer at Mount Vernon with molasses instead of barley and of the 19th-century "beer barons", like Captain Frederick Pabst, Adolphus Busch, and Joseph Schlitz.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
History Humanized
- By Dave on 06-25-16
-
The Big Oyster
- History on the Half Shell
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 309
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 225
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants, the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
history of the oyster in America
- By Andy on 01-01-20
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Hershey
- Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
- By: Michael D'Antonio
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The Benchmark for Chartiable, Rich Men
- By Boyd Tschaggeny on 01-30-19
-
Indian Givers
- How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 438
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 350
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 352
After 500 years, the world's huge debt to the wisdom of the Indians of the Americas has finally been explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford. He traces the crucial contributions made by the Indians to our federal system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture, architecture, and ecology, and in this astonishing, ground-breaking book takes a giant step toward recovering a true American history.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
All things Jack Weatherford
- By Robert on 06-03-10
By: Jack Weatherford
-
Uncommon Grounds
- The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
- By: Mark Pendergrast
- Narrated by: Matthew Boston
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. In this updated edition of the classic work, Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous "Coffee Crisis" that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the "third-wave" of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Décent overarching review of coffee history digressing into its American commercialization
- By seajaywood on 05-23-19
By: Mark Pendergrast
-
Trees in Paradise
- A California History
- By: Jared Farmer
- Narrated by: Kevin Scollin
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
California now has more trees than at any time since the late Pleistocene. This green landscape, however, is not the work of nature. It’s the work of history. In the years after the Gold Rush, American settlers remade the California landscape, harnessing nature to their vision of the good life. Horticulturists, boosters, and civic reformers began to "improve" the bare, brown countryside, planting millions of trees to create groves, wooded suburbs, and landscaped cities.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
lovely audiobook
- By Michael M. on 08-02-22
By: Jared Farmer
-
A Perfect Red
- By: Amy Butler Greenfield
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
A Perfect Red recounts the colorful history of cochineal, a legendary red dye that was once one of the world's most precious commodities. Treasured by the ancient Mexicans, cochineal was sold in the great Aztec marketplaces, where it attracted the attention of the Spanish conquistadors in 1519. Shipped to Europe, the dye created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Soon Spain's cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune. Desperate to find their own sources of the elusive dye, the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans tried to crack the enigma of cochineal.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
History of a peculiar substance through the ages
- By Tobia on 08-17-16
-
When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
-
Stuffed and Starved
- The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
- By: Raj Patel
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
It's a perverse fact of modern life: There are more starving people in the world than ever before, while there are also more people who are overweight. To find out how we got to this point and what we can do about it, Raj Patel launched a comprehensive investigation into the global food network. It took him from the colossal supermarkets of California to India's wrecked paddy-fields and Africa's bankrupt coffee farms, while along the way he ate genetically engineered soy beans and dodged flying objects in the protestor-packed streets of South Korea.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible. well written and comprehensive
- By Anonymous User on 05-06-21
By: Raj Patel
Related to this topic
-
A Splendid Exchange
- How Trade Shaped the World
- By: William J. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 246
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports listeners from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the 16th.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting and Germane to Today's World
- By Mark on 07-18-08
-
Nature's Metropolis
- Chicago and the Great West
- By: William Cronon
- Narrated by: Jonah Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving
- By JB on 02-09-18
By: William Cronon
-
Coffeeland
- One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug
- By: Augustine Sedgewick
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 104
Coffee is an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people around the world - one of the most valuable commodities in the history of global capitalism, the leading source of the world's most popular drug, and perhaps the most widespread word on the planet. Augustine Sedgewick's Coffeeland tells the hidden and surprising story of how this came to be, tracing coffee's 500-year transformation from a mysterious Muslim ritual into an everyday necessity.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Unfortunately
- By Brian on 06-06-20
-
Banana
- The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
- By: Dan Koeppel
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 115
Banana combines a pop-science journey around the globe, a fascinating tale of an iconic American business enterprise, and a look into the alternately tragic and hilarious banana subculture (one does exist) - ultimately taking us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Good Book - History, Science, and Economics
- By Jose on 11-08-17
By: Dan Koeppel
-
Open Veins of Latin America
- Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
- By: Eduardo Galeano, Isabel Allende - Foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,000
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 990
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please up-date the addition
- By fishrock on 02-20-10
By: Eduardo Galeano, and others
-
The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,456
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,996
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,001
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
-
A Splendid Exchange
- How Trade Shaped the World
- By: William J. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 246
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein tells the extraordinary story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. He transports listeners from ancient sailing ships that brought the silk trade from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the 16th.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting and Germane to Today's World
- By Mark on 07-18-08
-
Nature's Metropolis
- Chicago and the Great West
- By: William Cronon
- Narrated by: Jonah Cummings
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving
- By JB on 02-09-18
By: William Cronon
-
Coffeeland
- One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug
- By: Augustine Sedgewick
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 104
Coffee is an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people around the world - one of the most valuable commodities in the history of global capitalism, the leading source of the world's most popular drug, and perhaps the most widespread word on the planet. Augustine Sedgewick's Coffeeland tells the hidden and surprising story of how this came to be, tracing coffee's 500-year transformation from a mysterious Muslim ritual into an everyday necessity.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Unfortunately
- By Brian on 06-06-20
-
Banana
- The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
- By: Dan Koeppel
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 115
Banana combines a pop-science journey around the globe, a fascinating tale of an iconic American business enterprise, and a look into the alternately tragic and hilarious banana subculture (one does exist) - ultimately taking us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Good Book - History, Science, and Economics
- By Jose on 11-08-17
By: Dan Koeppel
-
Open Veins of Latin America
- Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
- By: Eduardo Galeano, Isabel Allende - Foreward
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,000
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 990
Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Please up-date the addition
- By fishrock on 02-20-10
By: Eduardo Galeano, and others
-
The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,456
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,996
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,001
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
-
The Conquest of Bread
- By: Peter Kropotkin
- Narrated by: Jim D Johnston
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 28
Originally written in French, The Conquest of Bread first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal Le Révolté. It was first published in Paris with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also suggested the title. Between 1892 and 1894, it was serialized in part in the London journal Freedom, of which Kropotkin was a co-founder. In the work, Kropotkin points out what he considers to be the defects of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism and why he believes they thrive on and maintain poverty and scarcity.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
If we were all perfect. That's a big if.
- By DesmoProfundis on 06-07-21
By: Peter Kropotkin
-
Fordlandia
- The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
- By: Greg Grandin
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 204
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 144
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 150
Fordlandia by National Book Award finalist Greg Grandin tells the enthralling tale of Henry Ford’s failed attempts to transform a Connecticut-sized chunk of Brazilian rainforest into a homespun slice of American utopia.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An eye-opening account of an arrogant man's folly
- By Melissa on 09-17-13
By: Greg Grandin
-
The Conquest of Bread
- By: Pyotr Kropotkin
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 400
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 330
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 324
In The Conquest of Bread, first published in 1892, Kropotkin set out his ideas on how his heightened idealism could work. It was all the more extraordinary because he was born into an aristocratic land-owning family - with some 1,200 male serfs - though from his student years his liberal views and his fixation on the need for social change saw him take a revolutionary path. This led rapidly to decades of exile. It is a passionate, even a fierce polemic for dramatic social change.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
“All is for All”
- By Gabriel on 01-02-19
By: Pyotr Kropotkin
-
An Edible History of Humanity
- By: Tom Standage
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 569
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 466
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 466
Throughout history, food has acted as a catalyst of social change, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict, and economic expansion. An Edible History of Humanity is a pithy, entertaining account of how a series of changes---caused, enabled, or influenced by food---has helped to shape and transform societies around the world.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Flawed, but worthwhile
- By Ary Shalizi on 12-28-17
By: Tom Standage
-
Sugar
- The World Corrupted from Slavery to Obesity
- By: James Walvin
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
How did a simple commodity, once the prized monopoly of kings and princes, become an essential ingredient in the lives of millions, before mutating yet again into the cause of a global health epidemic? Prior to 1600, sugar was a costly luxury, the domain of the rich. But with the rise of the sugar colonies in the New World over the following century, sugar became cheap, ubiquitous, and an everyday necessity. Less than 50 years ago, few people suggested that sugar posed a global health problem.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I should have listened to the other reviews
- By L. Bergman on 12-31-18
By: James Walvin
-
Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 421
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 355
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 354
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Audiobook Version is the Best!
- By semarla on 01-31-21
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
- Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
- By: David S. Landes
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 21 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes' acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A detailed explanation
- By Kaarlis on 12-07-21
By: David S. Landes
-
Americana
- A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
- By: Bhu Srinivasan
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Bhu Srinivasan
- Length: 21 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 634
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 553
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 544
From the days of the Mayflower and the Virginia Company, America has been a place for people to dream, invent, build, tinker, and bet the farm in pursuit of a better life. Americana takes us on a 400-year journey of this spirit of innovation and ambition through a series of Next Big Things - the inventions, techniques, and industries that drove American history forward: from the telegraph, the railroad, guns, radio, and banking, to flight, suburbia, and sneakers, culminating with the Internet and mobile technology at the turn of the 21st century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent history!
- By L. Maranto on 10-14-17
By: Bhu Srinivasan
-
Slavery's Capitalism
- A New History of American Economic Development
- By: Sven Beckert - editor, Seth Rockman - editor
- Narrated by: William Hughes, Kevin Kenerly, Bahni Turpin, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 432
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 367
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 367
During the 19th century, the United States entered the ranks of the world's most advanced and dynamic economies. At the same time, the nation sustained an expansive and brutal system of human bondage. This was no mere coincidence. Slavery's Capitalism argues for slavery's centrality to the emergence of American capitalism in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
The volume is so low I can't hear it.
- By Anonymous User on 01-30-18
By: Sven Beckert - editor, and others
-
Collapse
- How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,707
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion, and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilization. Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Jared Diamond Downs You in Explanation
- By Rob on 07-20-18
By: Jared Diamond
-
A Perfect Red
- By: Amy Butler Greenfield
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
A Perfect Red recounts the colorful history of cochineal, a legendary red dye that was once one of the world's most precious commodities. Treasured by the ancient Mexicans, cochineal was sold in the great Aztec marketplaces, where it attracted the attention of the Spanish conquistadors in 1519. Shipped to Europe, the dye created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Soon Spain's cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune. Desperate to find their own sources of the elusive dye, the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans tried to crack the enigma of cochineal.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
History of a peculiar substance through the ages
- By Tobia on 08-17-16
-
Panama Fever
- By: Matthew Parker
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, William Dufris
- Length: 17 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 49
The building of the Panama Canal was one of the greatest engineering feats in human history. A tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicine, Panama Fever charts the challenges that marked the long, labyrinthine road to the building of the canal. Drawing on a wealth of new materials and sources, Matthew Parker brings to life the men who recognized the impact a canal would have on global politics and economics.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book, marginal narrator
- By CmH - HB, CA on 06-02-08
By: Matthew Parker
What listeners say about Conquest of the Tropics
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emily
- 10-22-19
Liked this audiobook a lot!
Excellent audiobook with a very interesting subject. Good to listen to when driving in the car.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sherry Johnson
- 10-31-19
Narrative
Good information I really enjoyed this narrator. She’s clear and very precise in her annunciations.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Eduards J. Vucins
- 09-10-19
Horrible reader
Never again would I listen to this reader!!! Historical story only, written in 1914. Not related to current times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful