The Golden Road
How Ancient India Transformed the World
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
3 months free
The Golden Road
Buy for $20.30
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
William Dalrymple
About this listen
The internationally bestselling author of The Anarchy returns with a sparkling, soaring history of ideas, tracing South Asia’s under-recognized role in producing the world as we know it.
For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilization, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific.
In The Golden Road, William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India's oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it.©2025 William Dalrymple (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
Proto
- How One Ancient Language Went Global
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Emma Spurgin-Hussey
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant research and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 05-16-25
By: Laura Spinney
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,224
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
India
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 33 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the listener up to present-day India, John Keay’s India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best book on India I've ever read or listened to
- By djay on 10-03-24
By: John Keay
-
The Library of Ancient Wisdom
- Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Selena Wisnom
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria’s last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia.
By: Selena Wisnom
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
Proto
- How One Ancient Language Went Global
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Emma Spurgin-Hussey
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant research and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 05-16-25
By: Laura Spinney
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,224
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
India
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 33 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the listener up to present-day India, John Keay’s India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best book on India I've ever read or listened to
- By djay on 10-03-24
By: John Keay
-
The Library of Ancient Wisdom
- Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Selena Wisnom
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria’s last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia.
By: Selena Wisnom
-
The Once and Future World Order
- Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
- By: Amitav Acharya
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 2
Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers—especially China—threaten to unravel today’s Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos. But the West has never had a monopoly on order.
By: Amitav Acharya
-
Smoke and Ashes
- Opium's Hidden Histories
- By: Amitav Ghosh
- Narrated by: Ranjit Madgavkar
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
When Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis trilogy ten years ago, he was startled to learn how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote about were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history were swept up in the story. Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, a memoir, and an essay in history, drawing on decades of archival research.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting Research, Terrible Reading
- By Paula de la Cruz on 03-09-24
By: Amitav Ghosh
-
Inventing the Renaissance
- The Myth of a Golden Age
- By: Ada Palmer
- Narrated by: Candida Gubbins
- Length: 30 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 10
From the darkness of a plagued and war-torn Middle Ages, the Renaissance (we’re told) heralds the dawning of a new world—a halcyon age of art, prosperity, and rebirth. Hogwash! or so says award-winning novelist and historian Ada Palmer. In Inventing the Renaissance, Palmer turns her witty and irreverent eye on the fantasies we’ve told ourselves about Europe’s not-so-golden age, myths she sets right with sharp clarity.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Completely changed my perspective of Machiavelli
- By Amazon Customer on 04-30-25
By: Ada Palmer
-
Rome and Persia
- The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
The Roman empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between Rome and Persia, historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows how these two great powers evolved together
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great Book for History Buffs
- By Dav on 07-09-24
-
Ocean
- A History of the Atlantic Before Columbus
- By: John Haywood
- Narrated by: Ben Eagle
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
A dazzling and ambitious history of the pre-Columbian Atlantic seas, Ocean is a story that begins with the formation of the mid-Atlantic ridge some 200 million years ago and ends with the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century, providing a template for the methods used by the Spanish in their colonization of the New World.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Prehistory of the Atlantic
- By Sarah C on 03-14-25
By: John Haywood
-
Lawless Republic
- By: Josiah Osgood
- Narrated by: David Holt
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
In its final decades, the Roman Republic was engulfed by a crime wave. An epidemic of extortions, murders, and acts of insurrection tested the court system's capacity to maintain order. As case after case filled the docket, an ambitious young lawyer named Cicero seized every opportunity to litigate, forging a reputation as a master debater with a bright future in politics. In Lawless Republic, historian Josiah Osgood recounts the legendary orator's ascent and fall, and his pivotal role in the republic's lurch toward autocracy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining and educational
- By N. Mammen on 02-25-25
By: Josiah Osgood
-
Spice
- The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Spice or Megellan?
- By BarbieAlaska on 06-21-24
By: Roger Crowley
-
Ancient Christianities
- The First Five Hundred Years
- By: Paula Fredriksen
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 9
The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Among the best
- By Jacob Kilgore on 04-17-25
By: Paula Fredriksen
-
Gods, Guns & Missionaries
- The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
- By: Manu S. Pillai
- Narrated by: Manu S. Pillai
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
In Gods, Guns and Missionaries, Manu S. Pillai takes us through these remarkable dynamics. With an arresting cast of characters―maharajahs, poets, gun-wielding revolutionaries, politicians, polemicists, philosophers and clergymen―this book is ambitious in its scope and provocative in its position.
By: Manu S. Pillai
-
Herod the Great
- Jewish King in a Roman World
- By: Martin Goodman
- Narrated by: Will Tulin
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 8
A vivid account of the political triumphs and domestic tragedies of the Jewish king Herod the Great during the turmoil of the Roman revolution.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
perhaps biased. not bad overall
- By Dmitry on 12-29-24
By: Martin Goodman
-
Persians
- The Age of the Great Kings
- By: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Narrated by: Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 171
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
The Achaemenid Persian kings ruled over the largest empire of antiquity, stretching from Libya to the steppes of Asia and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world’s first superpower—one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good History and Historiography
- By David A on 04-19-22
-
Korea
- A New History of South and North
- By: Victor Cha, Ramon Pacheco Pardo
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 25
Korea has a long, riveting history—it is also a divided nation. South Korea is a vibrant democracy, the tenth largest economy, and is home to a world-renowned culture. North Korea is ruled by the most authoritarian regime in the world, a poor country in a rich region, and is best known for the cult of personality surrounding the ruling Kim family. But both Koreas share a unique common history. Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo draw on decades of research to explore the history of modern Korea, from the late nineteenth century, Japanese occupation, and Cold War division to the present day.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Focus on modern history yet adequate background history to give perspective.
- By JamesD on 06-07-25
By: Victor Cha, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,224
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
The Once and Future World Order
- Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
- By: Amitav Acharya
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 2
Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers—especially China—threaten to unravel today’s Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos. But the West has never had a monopoly on order.
By: Amitav Acharya
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
In Xanadu
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 30
Here is William Dalrymple's highly praised and greatly entertaining account of his 1986 trip made while a student at Cambridge, which retraced Marco Polo's route across land from Jerusalem to Xanadu. With him, he took a phial of Holy Oil, 600 pounds and Laura until Lahore, and Louisa from there to Xanadu.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
I found it was read v fast and I could not adjust
- By Sandra on 05-04-15
-
India
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 33 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the listener up to present-day India, John Keay’s India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best book on India I've ever read or listened to
- By djay on 10-03-24
By: John Keay
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,224
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,017
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
excellent book but awkward narration
- By TexasVC on 02-25-20
-
The Once and Future World Order
- Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
- By: Amitav Acharya
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 2
Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers—especially China—threaten to unravel today’s Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos. But the West has never had a monopoly on order.
By: Amitav Acharya
-
Return of a King
- The Battle for Afghanistan
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sagar Arya
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 90
In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk. On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the 19th century.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Read the hard copy
- By Gina Czupka on 11-28-23
-
In Xanadu
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 30
Here is William Dalrymple's highly praised and greatly entertaining account of his 1986 trip made while a student at Cambridge, which retraced Marco Polo's route across land from Jerusalem to Xanadu. With him, he took a phial of Holy Oil, 600 pounds and Laura until Lahore, and Louisa from there to Xanadu.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
I found it was read v fast and I could not adjust
- By Sandra on 05-04-15
-
India
- A History
- By: John Keay
- Narrated by: Mike Fraser
- Length: 33 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
Fully revised with forty thousand new words that take the listener up to present-day India, John Keay’s India: A History spans five millennia in a sweeping narrative that tells the story of the peoples of the subcontinent, from their ancient beginnings in the valley of the Indus to the events in the region today.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Best book on India I've ever read or listened to
- By djay on 10-03-24
By: John Keay
-
Koh-i-Noor
- The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond
- By: Anita Anand, William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 117
On 29 March 1849, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal act of submission not only swathes of the richest land in India but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 07-08-17
By: Anita Anand, and others
-
The Library of Ancient Wisdom
- Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Selena Wisnom
- Narrated by: Catherine Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria’s last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia.
By: Selena Wisnom
-
The Great Mughals and Their India
- By: Dirk Collier
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 8
A definitive, comprehensive and engrossing chronicle of one of the greatest dynasties of the world—the Mughal—from its founder Babur to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of the clan the magnificent Mughal legacy is an inexhaustible source of inspiration to historians, writers, moviemakers, artists and ordinary mortals alike. Here is a fascinating and riveting saga that brings alive a spectacular bygone era—authentically and convincingly.
By: Dirk Collier
-
Destiny Disrupted
- A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
- By: Tamim Ansary
- Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You cannot know a person until you know how he sees himself.
- By Chaim J. on 05-02-25
By: Tamim Ansary
-
Proto
- How One Ancient Language Went Global
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Emma Spurgin-Hussey
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history’s most unlikely journeys. All four languages—along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish—trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant research and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 05-16-25
By: Laura Spinney
-
The Story Girl
- By: L. M. Montgomery
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 272
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 227
Sara Stanley is only 14, but she can weave tales that are impossible to resist. In the charming town of Carlisle, children and grown-ups alike flock from miles around to hear her spellbinding narratives. And when Bev King and his younger brother, Felix, arrive for the summer, they, too, are captivated by the Story Girl.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Spring Always Comes
- By Joseph R on 01-07-10
By: L. M. Montgomery
-
Scorched Earth
- A Global History of World War II
- By: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 23 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
In popular memory, the Second World War was an unalloyed victory for freedom over totalitarianism, marking the demise of the age of empires and the triumph of an American-led democratic order. In Scorched Earth, historian Paul Thomas Chamberlin dispatches the myth of World War II as a good war. Instead, he depicts the conflict as it truly was: a massive battle beset by vicious racial atrocities, fought between rival empires across huge stretches of Asia and Europe.
-
Ancestors
- Identity and DNA in the Levant
- By: Pierre Zalloua
- Narrated by: Sean Rohani
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
In recent years, genetic testing has become easily available to consumers across the globe, making it relatively simple to find out where your ancestors came from. But what do these test results actually tell us about ourselves? In Ancestors, Pierre Zalloua, a leading authority on population genetics, argues that these test results have led to a dangerous oversimplification of what one’s genetic heritage means. Genetic ancestry has become conflated with anthropological categories such as “origin,” “ethnicity,” and even “race” in spite of the complexities that underlie these concepts.
By: Pierre Zalloua
-
Accidental Shepherd
- How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway
- By: Liese Greensfelder
- Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
In May 1972, Liese Greensfelder arrived in the small Norwegian town of Øystese to startling news: Johannes, the farmer who hired her for the summer, had just been hospitalized after a stroke. Could she please watch over his place for a month or so, until he got back on his feet? Twenty years old and with no farming experience, Liese was dropped off the next day at a centuries-old mountain farm at the end of a dirt road high above the magnificent Hardanger Fjord—with 115 sheep, two cows, one calf, a draft horse, and a Norwegian herding dog to care for.
-
Mesopotamian Civilizations and Empires
- An Enthralling Journey Through Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria (Exploring the Past)
- By: Billy Wellman
- Narrated by: Jay Herbert
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Discover the Amazing Empires of Mesopotamia: Learn About the World’s First Cities, Laws, and Legends!
By: Billy Wellman
-
India
- 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent
- By: Audrey Truschke
- Narrated by: Audrey Truschke
- Length: 24 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Much of world history is Indian history. Home today to one in four people, the subcontinent has long been densely populated and deeply connected to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas through migration and trade. In this magisterial history, Audrey Truschke tells the fascinating story of the region historically known as India--which includes today's India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Afghanistan—and the people who have lived there.
By: Audrey Truschke
-
536 AD
- The Worst Year to Be Alive in the History of Humankind
- By: Kamal Khalaf
- Narrated by: Zack Zimbler
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
In 536 AD, the sun dimmed, the sky turned a ghostly gray, and global temperatures plummeted. Crops withered, famine spread like wildfire, and entire civilizations were thrown into chaos. Historians and scientists now recognize this year as one of the most catastrophic climate events in human history—a volcanic winter that reshaped the world.
By: Kamal Khalaf
-
A History of Europe
- From Pre-History to the 21st Century
- By: Jeremy Black
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
A History of Europe is a masterful narrative, bringing together the continent's common threads of history from the end of the ice ages until the present day. Leading historian Professor Jeremy Black takes a journey through the vast sweep of European history, examining events as diverse as the rise of the Roman Empire, the brutal Viking raids, the cultural explosion of the Renaissance period, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the rise of consumer culture in the 21st century.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A detailed timeline following the beginnings of Europe to the present
- By Bylajohn on 12-18-23
By: Jeremy Black
Completely unknown until now
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.