Past Mistakes
How We Misinterpret History and Why It Matters
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Past Mistakes
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Narrated by:
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Alex Wyndham
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By:
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David Mountain
About this listen
From the fall of Rome to the rise of the Wild West, David Mountain brings colour and perspective to historical mythmaking.
The stories we tell about our past matter. But those stories have been shaped by prejudice, hoaxes and misinterpretations that have whitewashed entire chapters of history, erased women and invented civilisations. Today history is often used to justify xenophobia, nationalism and inequality as we cling to grand origin stories and heroic tales of extraordinary men.
Exploring myths, mysteries and misconceptions about the past - from the legacies of figures like Pythagoras and Christopher Columbus, to the realities of life in the gun-toting Wild West, to the archaeological digs that have upset our understanding of the birth of civilisation - David Mountain reveals how ongoing revolutions in history and archaeology are shedding light on the truth.
Full of adventures, and based on detailed research and interviews, Past Mistakes will make you reconsider your understanding of history - and of the world today.
©2020 by David Mountain. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Narrator Alex Wyndham's smooth voice and English accent voice are perfect for this fascinating dive into the myths and mistakes in what we 'know' about history.… Most importantly, he sounds engaged with the historical stories he is telling, and that keeps the listener interested as well." --AudioFile magazine
“Whether discussing Pythagoras’ legacy, Athenian democracy, the myth of Progress, or the Wild West, Mountain quickly points out how the truth is more nuanced than - or completely different from - stories we may know. …the work’s main thrust is the conversation between present and past and how our view of the past influences current behavior - most clearly outlined in a chapter about the Wild West mythos shaping American gun culture to this day.” --Booklist
“Past Mistakes takes what we think we remember from history class and sets the record straight! Definitely worth reading if you’re ready to have your mind blown and then be filled with rage that you’ve been hoodwinked for this long.” --The Tiny Activist
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- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by the Phoenicians and Greeks, the Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, and the Spanish and the French for thousands of years, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture. In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful overview of Sicily
- By jay lazier on 01-28-24
By: Jamie Mackay
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The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,861
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,400
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,389
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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exactly what I've been looking for
- By DankTurtle on 11-10-21
By: David Graeber, and others
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The Greeks
- A Global History
- By: Roderick Beaton
- Narrated by: Anna Crowe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An Ethnography of the Greeks
- By gmurphy92 on 03-27-22
By: Roderick Beaton
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How the West Won
- The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 547
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 481
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 478
Modernity developed only in the West - in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization.
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4 out of 5 stars
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We all have a bias
- By Adam Shields on 04-21-15
By: Rodney Stark
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Germany
- A Nation in Its Time: Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500-2000
- By: Helmut Walser Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 41
For nearly a century, historians have depicted Germany as a rabidly nationalist land, born in a sea of aggression. Not so, says Helmut Walser Smith, who, in this groundbreaking 500-year history, challenges traditional perceptions of Germany's conflicted past, revealing a nation far more thematically complicated than 20th-century historians have imagined.
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3 out of 5 stars
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He may understand the past but he does not comprehend the present.
- By Max TN on 06-23-23
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The Fall of Rome
- And the End of Civilization
- By: Bryan Ward-Perkins
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
In The Fall of Rome, eminent historian Bryan Ward-Perkins argues that the "peaceful" theory of Rome's "transformation" is badly in error. Indeed, he sees the fall of Rome as a time of horror and dislocation that destroyed a great civilization, throwing the inhabitants of the West back to a standard of living typical of prehistoric times. Attacking contemporary theories with relish and making use of modern archaeological evidence, he looks at both the wider explanations for the disintegration of the Roman world and also the consequences for the lives of everyday Romans.
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5 out of 5 stars
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best book ever on Fall of Rome
- By james m. on 01-30-22
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Arabs
- A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires
- By: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 25 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 288
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good book bad narration
- By Anonymous User on 09-18-19
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European History
- A Captivating Guide to the History of Europe, Starting from the Neanderthals Through to the Roman Empire and the End of the Cold War
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Europe’s past is characterized by fighting and warfare, and it is punctuated with great works of art, philosophy, science, and technology. Even its recent history is much the same - that’s why, so much of the globe was once ruled by European monarchies. Despite all the infighting and territorial exploits, Europeans have managed to create some of the most beautiful pieces of literature, architecture, political structures, and ideas the world has ever seen.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Highly Recommended
- By Jean Marshall on 08-06-20
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The Nutmeg's Curse
- Parables for a Planet in Crisis
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
A powerful work of history, essay, testimony, and polemic, The Nutmeg’s Curse argues that the dynamics of climate change today are rooted in a centuries-old geopolitical order constructed by Western colonialism. At the center of Ghosh’s narrative is the now-ubiquitous spice nutmeg. The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation—of both human life and the natural environment. In Ghosh’s hands, the story of the nutmeg becomes a parable for our environmental crisis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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performance....
- By Bonnie on 11-15-22
By: Amitav Ghosh
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A History of the World
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: Andrew Marr, David Timson
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 491
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 430
From the earliest civilizations to the 21st century: a global journey through human history, published alongside a landmark BBC One television series. Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean.
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5 out of 5 stars
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25 hours of enjoyment
- By Mark on 04-26-13
By: Andrew Marr
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Thebes
- The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Among the extensive writing available about the history of ancient Greece, there is precious little about the city-state of Thebes. At one point the most powerful city in ancient Greece, Thebes has been long overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, acclaimed classicist and historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks' achievements - whether politically or culturally.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Why is this author considered an expert scholar of Ancient Greece?
- By DaneDeer on 11-06-20
By: Paul Cartledge
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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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Lost Enlightenment
- Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
- By: S. Frederick Starr
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 502
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 434
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 432
Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Subject worthwhile but repetative narrative
- By F-M on 04-10-14
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 145
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Story4 out of 5 stars 118
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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5 out of 5 stars
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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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America's Expiration Date
- The Fall of Empires and Superpowers...and the Future of the United States
- By: Cal Thomas
- Narrated by: John Dowd
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
In this powerful and prophetic audiobook, nationally syndicated columnist and trusted political commentator Cal Thomas offers a diagnosis of what exactly is wrong with the US by drawing parallels to once-great empires and nations that declined into oblivion. Citing the historically proven 250-year pattern of how superpowers rise and fall, he predicts America's expiration date is just around the corner and shows us how to escape their fate.
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2 out of 5 stars
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No Renewed Hope Here. We’re done!
- By Dave Kuper on 02-02-20
By: Cal Thomas
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Lost Civilizations
- 10 Societies That Vanished without a Trace
- By: Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
Whether it is Plato's lost city of Atlantis, a technological advanced utopia that sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune"; the colony of Roanoke, whose early American settlers were swallowed up in the wild forest lands of the unexplored continent, or the Ancient American Explorers, who managed to arrive to the New World 2,000 years before Columbus, the disappearance of these societies is as cryptic as it is implausible. This book will look at cultures of the 10 greatest lost civilizations in history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another Great Book from Michael Rank
- By MICHAEL H on 07-17-14
By: Michael Rank
What listeners say about Past Mistakes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Alison Hyatt
- 08-30-21
Rubbish
Absolute rubbish. Trying to give a man with a fancy accent more credibility then deserved. Nothing but another way to divide the population through a bunch of pseudo-intellectual’s. Don’t waste your money
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