On Politics
A History of Political Thought: From Herodotus to the Present
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Narrated by:
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David Stifel
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By:
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Alan Ryan
About this listen
Three decades in the making, one of the most ambitious and comprehensive histories of political philosophy in nearly a century.
Both a history and an examination of human thought and behavior spanning three thousand years, On Politics thrillingly traces the origins of political philosophy from the ancient Greeks to Machiavelli in Book I and from Hobbes to the present age in Book II. Whether examining Lord Acton's dictum that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" or explicating John Stuart Mill's contention that it is "better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied," Alan Ryan evokes the lives and minds of our greatest thinkers in a way that makes hearing about them a transcendent experience. Whether writing about Plato or Augustine, de Tocqueville or Thomas Jefferson, Ryan brings a wisdom to his text that illuminates John Dewey's belief that the role of philosophy is less to see truth than to enhance experience. With this unparalleled tour de force, Ryan emerges in his own right as one of the most influential political philosophers of our time.
©2012 Alan Ryan (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
When John Dewey died in 1952, he was memorialized as America's most famous philosopher, revered by liberal educators and deplored by conservatives, but universally acknowledged as his country's intellectual voice. Many things conspired to give Dewey an extraordinary intellectual eminence: He was immensely long-lived and immensely prolific; he died in his 93rd year, and his intellectual productivity hardly slackened until his 80s.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fine biography
- By R. M. Lucas on 07-21-13
By: Alan Ryan
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By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean
- The Birth of Eurasia
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 18 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering more than 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the 13th century AD.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Remarkable research!
- By B. Dillon on 07-21-22
By: Barry Cunliffe
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The Rise of American Democracy
- Jefferson to Lincoln
- By: Sean Wilentz
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story5 out of 5 stars 30
In this magisterial work, Sean Wilentz traces a historical arc from the earliest days of the republic to the opening shots of the Civil War. One of our finest writers of history, Wilentz brings to life the era after the American Revolution, when the idea of democracy remained contentious, and Jeffersonians and Federalists clashed over the role of ordinary citizens in government of, by, and for the people. The triumph of Andrew Jackson soon defined this role on the national level, while city democrats, Anti-Masons, fugitive slaves, and a host of others hewed their own local definitions.
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4 out of 5 stars
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If you need to sleep...
- By HueDCypher39 on 08-04-20
By: Sean Wilentz
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The Boundless Sea
- A Human History of the Oceans
- By: David Abulafia
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 41 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, David Abulafia's new book guides listeners along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans - the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian - which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and, of course, people across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Like Reading a Dictionary.
- By aaron on 01-10-21
By: David Abulafia
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The Cosmopolitan Tradition
- A Noble but Flawed Ideal
- By: Martha C. Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 15
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
The cosmopolitan political tradition in Western thought begins with the Greek Cynic Diogenes, who, when asked where he came from, responded that he was a citizen of the world. Rather than declaring his lineage, city, social class, or gender, he defined himself as a human being, implicitly asserting the equal worth of all human beings. Nussbaum pursues this "noble but flawed" vision of world citizenship as it finds expression in figures of Greco-Roman antiquity, Hugo Grotius in the 17th century, Adam Smith during the 18th century, and various contemporary thinkers.
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Poland
- The First Thousand Years
- By: Patrice M. Dabrowski
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 25 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the country grew to be the largest in continental Europe, only to be later wiped off the map for more than a century. Yet even under these constraints, Poles persisted in their desire to wrest from their oppressors a modicum of national dignity and, ultimately, managed to achieve much more than that.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Easy listen.
- By Pieter Reyneke on 01-11-23
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Virtue Politics
- Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy
- By: James Hankins
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 23 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 13
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story5 out of 5 stars 10
Convulsed by a civilizational crisis, the great thinkers of the Renaissance set out to reconceive the nature of society. Corrupt and reckless tyrants sowing discord and ruling through fear; elites who prized wealth and status over the common good; military leaders waging endless wars. Their solution was simple and radical. They would rebuild their city, and their civilization, by transforming the moral character of its citizens. Soulcraft, they believed, was a precondition of successful statecraft.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A very Good Book
- By John R Gaither on 02-16-23
By: James Hankins
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The Socratic Dialogues: Middle Period, Volume 3
- The Republic
- By: Plato, Benjamin Jowlett - translator
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story5 out of 5 stars 67
The Republic is perhaps the single most important, the most studied and the most quoted text of all of Plato's Socratic Dialogues. Through the medium of Socrates, Plato outlines his view and ideas concerning the ideal working of the city-state. Socrates narrates a conversation that took place the previous day with Cephalus, Glaucon, Thrasymachus and others. The dialogue is organised into 10 books and covers a broad range of topics, including the ideal community and the ideal rulers of the community.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By Arnar Styr Björnsson on 12-12-19
By: Plato, and others
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The Enchantments of Mammon
- How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity
- By: Eugene McCarraher
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 34 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
If socialists and Wall Street bankers can agree on anything, it is the extreme rationalism of capital. Ignoring the motive force of the spirit, capitalism rejects the awe-inspiring divine for the economics of supply and demand. Eugene McCarraher challenges this conventional view. Capitalism, he argues, is full of sacrament, whether or not it is acknowledged. Capitalist enchantment first flowered in the fields and factories of England and was brought to America by Puritans and evangelicals whose doctrine made ample room for industry and profit.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Horrible narration
- By Anchor Ranch Farmers on 12-18-21
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The Russian Revolution
- By: Richard Pipes
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 41 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 306
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 264
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 262
Groundbreaking in its inclusiveness, enthralling in its narrative of a movement whose purpose, in the words of Leon Trotsky, was "to overthrow the world", The Russian Revolution draws conclusions that aroused great controversy. Richard Pipes argues convincingly that the Russian Revolution was an intellectual, rather than a class, uprising; that it was steeped in terror from its very outset; and that it was not a revolution at all but a coup d'etat - "the capture of governmental power by a small minority."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Destruction of the Lenin Myth
- By philip on 09-08-19
By: Richard Pipes
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Danubia
- A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
- By: Simon Winder
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 191
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
From the end of the Middle Ages to the First World War, Europe was dominated by one family: the Habsburgs. Their unprecedented rule is the focus of Simon Winder's vivid third book, Danubia. This is a narrative that, while erudite and well researched, prefers to be discursive and anecdotal. In his survey of the centuries of often incompetent Habsburg rule which have continued to shape the fate of Central Europe, Winder does not shy away from the horrors, railing against the effects of nationalism, recounting the violence that was often part of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Magnificent history of the Habsburg Empire
- By Skeptical on 10-25-18
By: Simon Winder
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Carthage Must Be Destroyed
- The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
- By: Richard Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 700
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 604
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 601
An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding! This is THE book on Carthage.
- By Haakon B. Dahl on 01-21-13
By: Richard Miles
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The Puritans
- A Transatlantic History
- By: David D. Hall
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 21 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4 out of 5 stars 28
This book is a sweeping transatlantic history of Puritanism from its emergence out of the religious tumult of Elizabethan England to its founding role in the story of America. Shedding critical new light on the diverse forms of Puritan belief and practice in England, Scotland, and New England, David Hall provides a multifaceted account of a cultural movement that judged the Protestant reforms of Elizabeth's reign to be unfinished.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent History and Legacy for today
- By GallowsJudge on 02-12-21
By: David D. Hall
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Political Science for Dummies
- By: Marcus A. Stadelmann
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
The global political climate is dynamic, at times even volatile. To understand this evolving landscape, it's important to learn more about how countries are governed. Political Science for Dummies explores the questions that political scientists examine, such as how our leaders make decisions, who shapes political policy, and why countries go to war. The book is the perfect course supplement for students taking college-level introductory political-science courses.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I was looking forward to learning something until chapter 2.
- By Leland on 06-06-21
Very Thorough
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Open, honest
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Simply no book quite like this
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A concise overview for curious laymen
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A fascinating and thorough review
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Political philosophy made clear
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A truly great book
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listening to this book is a torture
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