Blood Rites
Origins and History of the Passions of War
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Blood Rites
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Narrated by:
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Amy Landon
About this listen
A New York Times Notable BookAn ALA Notable Book
"Original and illuminating." (The Washington Post)
What draws our species to war? What makes us see violence as a kind of sacred duty, or a ritual that boys must undergo to "become" men? Newly reissued, Blood Rites takes listeners on an original journey from the elaborate human sacrifices of the ancient world to the carnage and holocaust of 20th-century "total war."
Ehrenreich sifts deftly through the fragile records of prehistory and discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place - not in a "killer instinct" unique to the males of our species, but in the blood rites early humans performed to reenact their terrifying experiences of predation by stronger carnivores.
Brilliant in conception and rich in scope, Blood Rites is a monumental work that continues to transform our understanding of the greatest single threat to human life.
©1997, 2020 Barbara Ehrenreich (P)2020 TwelveListeners also enjoyed...
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For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
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4 out of 5 stars
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If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
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War: How Conflict Shaped Us
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 231
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4 out of 5 stars 186
Margaret MacMillan looks at the ways in which war has influenced human society and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight. War: How Conflict Shaped Us explores such much-debated and controversial questions as: When did war first start? Does human nature doom us to fight one another? Why has war been described as the most organized of all human activities? Why are warriors almost always men? Is war ever within our control?
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2 out of 5 stars
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Horrible choice of narrator derails this book
- By Steve Winnett on 02-25-21
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The Chalice and the Blade
- Our History, Our Future
- By: Riane Eisler
- Narrated by: Riane Eisler
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 298
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 252
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 250
Riane Eisler believes that war and the "war of the sexes" are concepts neither divinely nor biologically ordained. Join the author as she reconstructs a prehistoric culture based on partnership rather than domination and traces the roots of the global shift to patriarchy. Eisler, an acclaimed scholar, futurist, and activist, also presents new scripts for living based on a more socially, economically, ecologically, personally, and spiritually balanced society. This script is in direct opposition to the tension and violence typical of what she calls the dominator model. Her vision is the partnership model, which today is struggling to reemerge. This program is an important contribution to that struggle.
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1 out of 5 stars
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the chalice and the blade
- By Anne on 07-25-08
By: Riane Eisler
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Huitzilopochtli
- The History of the Aztec God of War and Human Sacrifice
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Bill Hare
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
To the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli wore a blue-green hummingbird helmet and was draped in pure white heron feathers. He carried a smoking mirror, an obsidian mirror, a shield, darts, and the serpent Xiuhcoatl that carried with it the fury and might of the sun. Everything about him - from his clothes to his weapons - emanated and defined royalty.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The flow
- By sammy potashnick on 07-22-24
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The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
- The Conflict Between Word and Image
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Can't Even Get Started
- By Marie on 02-08-19
By: Leonard Shlain
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Genghis Khan
- A Captivating Guide to the Founder of the Mongol Empire and His Conquests Which Resulted in the Largest Contiguous Empire in History
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Around the year 1162, near the modern capital of Mongolia, a baby boy was born into a fractious and violent world. The birth of this child must have caused quite a stir among the members of the nomadic tribe that he had been born into. Word soon traveled that the son of Yesügei, the Borjigin tribal leader, had been born clutching a blood clot in his tiny hand.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this book.
- By Jeff Trevino on 04-21-20
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The Human Swarm
- How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall
- By: Mark W. Moffett
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 189
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 167
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
In this paradigm-shattering book, biologist Mark W. Moffett draws on findings in psychology, sociology, and anthropology to explain the social adaptations that bind societies. He explores how the tension between identity and anonymity defines how societies develop, function, and fail. Surpassing Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, The Human Swarm reveals how mankind created sprawling civilizations of unrivaled complexity - and what it will take to sustain them.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Worthless
- By Richard on 11-24-19
By: Mark W. Moffett
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Norse Paganism
- A Comprehensive Guide to Viking History and Culture - Gods, Rituals, Runes & Magic, Afterlife, and the Nine Realms of Norse Mythology
- By: Erik Hansen
- Narrated by: Aries Studio
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 70
Committed to a life of learning and teaching, author Erik Hansen shares his knowledge and passion in this book. As a recognized expert in Norse history and mythology, his interest in this fascinating culture was sparked by his Norwegian ancestry. If you share that passion for ancient history and religion, this book is for you.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great introduction to Norse Paganism
- By L.B. on 12-04-22
By: Erik Hansen
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The Better Angels of Our Nature
- Why Violence Has Declined
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,349
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,500
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,453
Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I'd kill for another book this good
- By Eric on 11-11-11
By: Steven Pinker
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Who Cooked the Last Supper?
- The Women's History of the World
- By: Rosalind Miles
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
Without politics or polemics, this brilliant and witty book overturns centuries of preconceptions to restore women to their rightful place at the center of culture, revolution, empire, war, and peace. Spiced with tales of individual women who have shaped civilization, celebrating the work and lives of women around the world, and distinguished by a wealth of research, Who Cooked the Last Supper? redefines our concept of historical reality.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Waste of Time
- By Chihuahua Mom on 11-18-19
By: Rosalind Miles
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War Without Mercy
- Race and Power in the Pacific War
- By: John W. Dower
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
War Without Mercy has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States." In this monumental history, professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific War - race - while writing what John Toland has called "a landmark book...a powerful, moving, and evenhanded history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan."
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1 out of 5 stars
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War without Mercy
- By rbergen on 05-02-17
By: John W. Dower
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The Outline of History
- Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 44 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Having coined the phrase "the war that will end war," H. G. Wells was disillusioned by the World War I peace settlement. Convinced that humanity needed to awaken to the instability of the world order and remember lessons from the past, the author of science-fiction classics set out to write about history. Wells hoped to remind mankind of its common past, provide it with a basis for international patriotism, and guide it to renounce war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it
- By Eric on 05-07-15
By: H. G. Wells
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The End Is Always Near
- Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
- By: Dan Carlin
- Narrated by: Dan Carlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,283
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,054
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,001
In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore? The questions themselves are both philosophical and like something out of The Twilight Zone.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Steven Glover on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
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Last Stands
- Why Men Fight When All Is Lost
- By: Michael Walsh
- Narrated by: Michael Walsh
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 368
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 369
What is heroism? What are its moral components - altruism, love, self-sacrifice? Why was it once celebrated, and now often dismissed as anachronistic? In this dramatic and readable account of last stands in history - famous or otherwise - Walsh explores the stakes that led men at very different times and places to face overwhelming odds and certain death for the sake of family, home and country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent historical facts
- By Mark Twain on 02-18-21
By: Michael Walsh
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American Holocaust
- The Conquest of the New World
- By: David E. Stannard
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 169
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Story5 out of 5 stars 169
For 400 years - from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the US Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s - the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Most important book I never heard of
- By Robert Bourque on 03-16-18
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God
- A Human History
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,533
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,340
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,331
In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."
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5 out of 5 stars
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His best work yet
- By Jeff M on 11-15-17
By: Reza Aslan