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Empire
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
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Publisher's summary
The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to global domination ever achieved. The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's age of empire. The global spread of capitalism, telecommunications, the English language, and the institutions of representative government - all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the 17th century until the mid-20th.
On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity. Displaying the originality and rigor that have made him the brightest light among British historians, Ferguson shows that far from being a subject for nostalgia, the story of the Empire is pregnant with lessons for the world today - in particular for the United States as it stands on the brink of a new kind of imperial power. A dazzling tour de force, Empire is a remarkable reappraisal of the prizes and pitfalls of global empire.
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Careless production mars storytelling
- By Brenda Thomas on 03-31-16
By: Carrie Gibson
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Unfinished Empire
- The Global Expansion of Britain
- By: John Darwin
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In Unfinished Empire, he marshals his gifts to deliver a monumental one-volume history of Britain's imperium - a work that is sure to stand as the most authoritative, most compelling treatment of the subject for a generation.
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Perfect
- By gogojimmy on 01-27-15
By: John Darwin
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Inglorious Empire
- What the British Did to India
- By: Shashi Tharoor
- Narrated by: Shashi Tharoor
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 18th century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannons, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalized racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial "gift" was designed in Britain's interests alone.
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An entertaining and provocative history
- By James Moseley on 01-07-20
By: Shashi Tharoor
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Fire and Blood
- A History of Mexico
- By: T. R. Fehrenbach
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 35 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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T. R. Fehrenbach brilliantly delineates the contrasts and conflicts between the many Mexicos, unraveling the history while weaving a fascinating tapestry of beauty and brutality: the Amerindians, who wrought from the vulnerable land a great indigenous Meso-American civilization by the first millennium BC; the successive reigns of Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Mexic masters, who ruled through an admirably efficient bureaucracy and the power of the priests, propitiating the capricious gods with human sacrifices; the Spanish conquistadors, and much more.
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Good book bad narration
- By M. A. Chris Raine on 03-23-19
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
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The Great Democracies
- A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Volume IV
- By: Sir Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The fourth and last volume in Churchill's famous account spans 1815 to 1901. It closes when the British Empire is at its peak, with a staggering one-fifth of the human race presided over by the longest reigning monarch in British history: Queen Victoria.
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A fitting conclusion to Sir Winston's narrative.
- By Vradeen Sengir on 02-11-19
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The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Liberty's Exiles
- American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
- By: Maya Jasanoff
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Maya Jasanoff won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her groundbreaking work Liberty's Exiles. After the American Revolution, 60,000 British loyalists fled the U.S. for Canada, the Caribbean, India, and other points abroad. Jasanoff traces their harrowing journeys across the globe, shedding light on their ambitions, the post-revolutionary world they encountered, and their legacies.
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Staggering in its Breadth
- By Anders P Morley on 02-21-21
By: Maya Jasanoff
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Imperial Twilight
- The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
- By: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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As one of the most potent turning points in the country's modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today's China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to "open" China even as China's imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country's decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China's advantage.
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Balanced readable narrative about the Opium Wars
- By Carl A. Gallozzi on 09-05-18
By: Stephen R. Platt
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How the Scots Invented the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics - contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. This book is not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world.
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Eagerly Awaited Audiobook
- By Lulu on 09-01-16
By: Arthur Herman
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The Scratch of a Pen
- 1763 and the Transformation of North America
- By: Colin G. Calloway
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In February, 1763, Britain, Spain, and France signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War. In this one document, more American territory changed hands than in any treaty before or since. As the great historian Francis Parkman wrote, "half a continent...changed hands at the scratch of a pen."
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Poor account - there are better
- By Brian on 07-18-06
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George Washington: The Founding Father (Eminent Lives)
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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By far the most important figure in the history of the United States, George Washington liberated the 13 colonies from the superior forces of the British Empire against all military odds, and presided over the production and ratification of a constitution that (suitably amended) has lasted for more than 200 years. Yet today, Washington remains a distant figure to many Americans, a failing that acclaimed author Paul Johnson sets out to rectify with this brilliantly vivid, sharply etched portrait.
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Ideology interferes with story line
- By Miranda on 05-01-15
By: Paul Johnson
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What listeners say about Empire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Oliver
- 03-17-24
Delightfully and accidently nationalistic
Fun stories, good sinew to connect them. So genuine was the telling. I’d reread it twice.
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- Kico M
- 03-09-24
Great
This was a very good book with an unbiased view of the history of this great empire. Ferguson does not hide the sins of Britain, but at the same time is bold in recognize the outstanding value of the Empire to the modern world. Britain and his Empire were not perfect, but gave to the world great contributions and is questionable how better is the world after their end.
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- simonefix
- 01-21-20
The rise and the fall of the British Empire
There are many misconceptions about the impact of the British Empire in the whole planet earth. Probably the main one is that the British empire simply exploited countries that today are struggling. On the other hand, the British Empire wasn't a charitable enterprise, as many depict.
With this book, Niall Ferguson counters those superficial statements by bringing to surface the facts and people who shaped the history of the British Empire, and the lessons we can learn from it. All this supported by data and historical documents that Ferguson assembles in a catching and entairtaining fashion.
What I would suggest to improve is the narration, the reader did an excellent job, however (and it's probably just me), in some points it's difficult to understand what he says, and not even rewinding several times helps.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Mike_A
- 07-19-24
Excellent overview with great narration
Very detailed & authentic with excellent naration. Requires a 2nd or even 3rd reading to really get into it as there's so much to cover. Great work however
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- James G.
- 12-16-20
Powerful insight of history we need to know.
This book is as powerful as Howard Zinn's "The people's history".... it ought to be a must read for every citizen in any democracy.
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- paul b mays
- 10-13-23
well worth the listen!
Ferguson presents things in such a clear and understandable way! Of course from a British point of view.
Much to glean from this author's research and presentation of the British empire. Also, of the conclusion comparing the current US Empire and what the future may hold.
Excellent narrator as well!
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- Mark A Collins
- 01-04-24
Re wrote my understanding of British empire
Honest regarding British histories failures but hopeful that certain aspects can be re- utilized by usa
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- Hectoris
- 08-13-20
Not Balanced till Conclusion
The book goes over all the faults of the empire in today's terms, Britain did do wrong. The problem with the book it isn't until the conclusion he points out the many benefits brought to the colonies, trial by jurists, property rights, parliamentary systems.
The fact that democracy and free speech were sufficiently advanced in the 19th century Britain that abuses could be rectified by parliamentary representation by the people could happen, shows how far advanced the UK culture was compared to the rest of the world. When we consider that the most populous country in the world today has banned free speech, Europe's largest country routinely authorizes state murders across the globe, imprisons and murders it's citizens that Britain was so far ahead of its world rivals in then and now is hard to take in.
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4 people found this helpful