The Mosquito
A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator
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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Mosquito
Buy for $24.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Deakins
About this listen
**The instant New York Times bestseller.**
*An international bestseller.*
Finalist for the Lane Anderson Award
Finalist for the RBC Taylor Award
“Hugely impressive, a major work.”—NPR
A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate
Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution?
The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito.
Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. As the mosquito transformed the landscapes of civilization, humans were unwittingly required to respond to its piercing impact and universal projection of power.
The mosquito has determined the fates of empires and nations, razed and crippled economies, and decided the outcome of pivotal wars, killing nearly half of humanity along the way. She (only females bite) has dispatched an estimated 52 billion people from a total of 108 billion throughout our relatively brief existence. As the greatest purveyor of extermination we have ever known, she has played a greater role in shaping our human story than any other living thing with which we share our global village.
Imagine for a moment a world without deadly mosquitoes, or any mosquitoes, for that matter? Our history and the world we know, or think we know, would be completely unrecognizable.
Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito’s reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.
©2019 Timothy C. Winegard (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Ingredients
- The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us
- By: George Zaidan
- Narrated by: George Zaidan
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 245
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 243
Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. George Zaidan reveals what will kill you, what won’t, and why - explained with high-octane hilarity, hysterical hijinks, and other things that don’t begin with the letter H. Ingredients offers the perspective of a chemist on the stuff we eat, drink, inhale, and smear on ourselves. Apart from the burning question of whether you should eat that Cheeto, Zaidan explores a range of topics.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed in the nutrition conclusion
- By Anonymous User on 01-30-22
By: George Zaidan
-
Pathogenesis
- A History of the World in Eight Plagues
- By: Jonathan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 113
According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Devolves into political advocacy
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-23
By: Jonathan Kennedy
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 143
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
More about people than salmon
- By Anonymous User on 02-10-21
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration.
- By Anonymous User on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
Road to Disaster
- A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 76
Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite many words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Vietnam Veteran
- By Jim Rollins on 04-02-19
By: Brian VanDeMark
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 309
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 257
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
Ingredients
- The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and on Us
- By: George Zaidan
- Narrated by: George Zaidan
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 245
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 243
Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. George Zaidan reveals what will kill you, what won’t, and why - explained with high-octane hilarity, hysterical hijinks, and other things that don’t begin with the letter H. Ingredients offers the perspective of a chemist on the stuff we eat, drink, inhale, and smear on ourselves. Apart from the burning question of whether you should eat that Cheeto, Zaidan explores a range of topics.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed in the nutrition conclusion
- By Anonymous User on 01-30-22
By: George Zaidan
-
Pathogenesis
- A History of the World in Eight Plagues
- By: Jonathan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 113
According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Devolves into political advocacy
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-23
By: Jonathan Kennedy
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 143
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
More about people than salmon
- By Anonymous User on 02-10-21
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible narration.
- By Anonymous User on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
Road to Disaster
- A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 76
Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite many words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Vietnam Veteran
- By Jim Rollins on 04-02-19
By: Brian VanDeMark
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 309
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 257
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Cold War's Killing Fields
- Rethinking the Long Peace
- By: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting but Biased
- By Anonymous User on 08-13-18
-
Our First Civil War
- Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 169
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 169
What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not a fresh take on the Revolution
- By Anonymous User on 01-05-22
By: H. W. Brands
-
Life's Edge
- The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 359
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What is Life?
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-21
By: Carl Zimmer
-
The Worst Hard Time
- The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Jacob York
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 228
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 199
The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, he does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent history ruined by Egan's bias & cynicism
- By Anonymous User on 03-21-23
By: Timothy Egan
-
Operation Chastise
- The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Wish He Had Stuck to the Core Story
- By Anonymous User on 06-22-20
By: Max Hastings
-
Super Fly
- The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects
- By: Jonathan Balcombe
- Narrated by: Jonathan Balcombe
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're annoying, and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In Super Fly, the myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera in all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play in every ecosystem in the world as pollinators, waste-disposers, predators, and food source; and how flies continue to reshape our understanding of evolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 02-13-22
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,295
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,062
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,009
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Anonymous User on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,338
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,369
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,325
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Anonymous User on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,899
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,232
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,226
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Still Lost...
- By Anonymous User on 01-12-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
Plagues upon the Earth
- Disease and the Course of Human History
- By: Kyle Harper
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues all around us, in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Waste of time...endless dribble.
- By Anonymous User on 12-29-21
By: Kyle Harper
-
The Great Influenza
- The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
- By: John M. Barry
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,855
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,370
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,354
In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book but very disturbing...
- By Anonymous User on 01-15-09
By: John M. Barry
-
1491
- New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Darrell Dennis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,740
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,217
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,203
Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Exposes Non-Academic Audience to The Debate Between Ideas of Pre-Colombian America's
- By Anonymous User on 01-19-17
By: Charles C. Mann
Critic reviews
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 RBC TAYLOR PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 LANE ANDERSON AWARD
An instant New York Times bestseller
“Timothy C. Winegard's The Mosquito is as wildly entertaining as any epic narrative out there. It's also all true . . . Winegard masterfully weaves historical facts and science to offer a shocking, informative narrative that shows how who we are today is directly linked to the mosquito.”—NPR
“Winegard’s reminder of their enormous potential for destruction is a timely one for all of us…we modern folk are also guilty of believing that our hopes and our technology will somehow make us exempt from the workings of the natural world. The entire time that humanity has been in existence, the mosquito has been proof that we are not.”—The New Yorker
“Thrilling . . . a lively history of mosquitoes. Mr. Winegard convincingly argues that the insect has shaped human life as well as delivering death… Mr. Winegard is an engaging guide, especially when he combines analysis with anecdote.”—The Economist
Related to this topic
-
Indigenous Continent
- The Epic Contest for North America
- By: Pekka Hamalainen
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
indigenous Continent
- By Anonymous User on 07-09-23
By: Pekka Hamalainen
-
A Short History of the World
- By: Christopher Lascelles
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
While this book explores world history from the big bang to the present day, it principally covers key people, events, and empires since the dawn of the first civilizations in and around 3500 BC. Epic in scope but refreshingly concise, A Short History of the World is an excellent place to start to bring your historical knowledge up to scratch.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Apt introduction to World's History
- By Anonymous User on 12-22-16
-
India
- A Captivating Guide to the History of India, the East India Company and Dutch East India Company
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 17
This three-in-one audiobook includes three books on the captivating history of India. The first book covers the history of India from the ancient times to the modern era. The second book focuses on the East India Company, and the third book is about the Dutch East India Company. Learn more about India with this audiobook.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By Anonymous User on 05-11-20
-
What Is America
- A Short History of the New World Order
- By: Ronald Wright
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Ranging with dazzling expertise through anthropology, history, and literature, Wright reconfigures our self-perception, arguing that the "essence" of America can be traced to the foundations of our history--literally to the collision of worlds that began in 1492, as one civilization subsumed another--and exploring how these currents continue to shape our world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
insightful overview
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-12
By: Ronald Wright
-
God's Shadow
- Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Alan Mikhail
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 227
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 190
Long neglected in world history, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. Yet, despite its towering influence and centrality to the rise of our modern world, the Ottoman Empire's history has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and even suppressed in the West. Now Alan Mikhail presents a vitally needed recasting of Ottoman history, retelling the story of the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520).
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining narrative, but poor scholarship
- By Anonymous User on 09-15-20
By: Alan Mikhail
-
Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds
- Ebola and the Ravages of History
- By: Paul Farmer
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 81
In 2014, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea suffered the worst epidemic of Ebola in history. The brutal virus spread rapidly through a clinical desert, where basic health-care facilities were few and far between. Causing severe loss of life and economic disruption, the Ebola crisis was a major tragedy of modern medicine. But why did it happen, and what can we learn from it?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
CRITICAL LISTENING for 2020!
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-20
By: Paul Farmer
-
Indigenous Continent
- The Epic Contest for North America
- By: Pekka Hamalainen
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
indigenous Continent
- By Anonymous User on 07-09-23
By: Pekka Hamalainen
-
A Short History of the World
- By: Christopher Lascelles
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
While this book explores world history from the big bang to the present day, it principally covers key people, events, and empires since the dawn of the first civilizations in and around 3500 BC. Epic in scope but refreshingly concise, A Short History of the World is an excellent place to start to bring your historical knowledge up to scratch.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Apt introduction to World's History
- By Anonymous User on 12-22-16
-
India
- A Captivating Guide to the History of India, the East India Company and Dutch East India Company
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 17
This three-in-one audiobook includes three books on the captivating history of India. The first book covers the history of India from the ancient times to the modern era. The second book focuses on the East India Company, and the third book is about the Dutch East India Company. Learn more about India with this audiobook.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By Anonymous User on 05-11-20
-
What Is America
- A Short History of the New World Order
- By: Ronald Wright
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Ranging with dazzling expertise through anthropology, history, and literature, Wright reconfigures our self-perception, arguing that the "essence" of America can be traced to the foundations of our history--literally to the collision of worlds that began in 1492, as one civilization subsumed another--and exploring how these currents continue to shape our world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
insightful overview
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-12
By: Ronald Wright
-
God's Shadow
- Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Alan Mikhail
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 227
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 190
Long neglected in world history, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual fervor, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. Yet, despite its towering influence and centrality to the rise of our modern world, the Ottoman Empire's history has for centuries been distorted, misrepresented, and even suppressed in the West. Now Alan Mikhail presents a vitally needed recasting of Ottoman history, retelling the story of the Ottoman conquest of the world through the dramatic biography of Sultan Selim I (1470-1520).
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining narrative, but poor scholarship
- By Anonymous User on 09-15-20
By: Alan Mikhail
-
Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds
- Ebola and the Ravages of History
- By: Paul Farmer
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 81
In 2014, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea suffered the worst epidemic of Ebola in history. The brutal virus spread rapidly through a clinical desert, where basic health-care facilities were few and far between. Causing severe loss of life and economic disruption, the Ebola crisis was a major tragedy of modern medicine. But why did it happen, and what can we learn from it?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
CRITICAL LISTENING for 2020!
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-20
By: Paul Farmer
-
The Fate of Rome
- Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
- By: Kyle Harper
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 397
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 331
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 329
Interweaving a grand historical narrative with cutting-edge climate science and genetic discoveries, Kyle Harper traces how the fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by volcanic eruptions, solar cycles, climate instability, and devastating viruses and bacteria. He takes listeners from Rome's pinnacle in the second century, when the empire seemed an invincible superpower, to its unraveling by the seventh century, when Rome was politically fragmented and materially depleted.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting and worthwhile
- By Anonymous User on 06-15-19
By: Kyle Harper
-
The Viking Heart
- How Scandinavians Conquered the World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 159
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 137
Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers — including the most famous, the Vikings — would reshape Europe and beyond.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Confused and not worth the time and money
- By Anonymous User on 08-16-21
By: Arthur Herman
-
History of Mexico
- A Captivating Guide to Mexican History, Starting from the Rise of Tenochtitlan Through Maximilian's Empire to the Mexican Revolution and the Zapatista Indigenous Uprising
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
This fascinating journey through Mexico’s history, from its amazing pre-Hispanic past to the end of the 20th century, will reveal more surprises than the listener can imagine. In the words of the self-proclaimed Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, “Mexico has magic. I looked for that magic, and I found it there.”
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Narration
- By Anonymous User on 01-05-21
-
An African American and Latinx History of the United States
- By: Paul Ortiz
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 454
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 399
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 394
Spanning more than 200 years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I had to return
- By Anonymous User on 05-19-20
By: Paul Ortiz
-
Carnage and Culture
- Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 311
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 279
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 278
Examining nine landmark battles from ancient to modern times - from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes' conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive - Victor Davis Hanson explains why the armies of the West have been the most lethal and effective of any fighting forces in the world. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, Hanson argues that it is in fact Western culture and values which have consistently produced superior arms and soldiers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow! This truly is a great book. A rarity!
- By Anonymous User on 11-12-19
-
The Mental Floss History of the World
- An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization's Best Bits
- By: Steve Wiegand, Erik Sass
- Narrated by: Johny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 569
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 373
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 371
About 60,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens were just beginning their move across the grasslands and up the ladder of civilization. Everything since then, as they say, is history. Just in case you were sleeping in class that day, the geniuses at mental_floss magazine have put together a hilarious (and historically accurate) primer on everything you need to know---and that means the good stuff.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant and Funny. What more could you want?
- By Septimus MacGhilleglas on 01-22-09
By: Steve Wiegand, and others
-
A History of the World
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: Andrew Marr, David Timson
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 492
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 430
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 431
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
25 hours of enjoyment
- By Anonymous User on 04-26-13
By: Andrew Marr
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,295
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,062
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,009
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Anonymous User on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
-
War: How Conflict Shaped Us
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 232
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 189
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 187
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?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Horrible choice of narrator derails this book
- By Anonymous User on 02-25-21
-
Born in Blackness
- Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 171
Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the "dark" continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
American History World History Our History
- By Anonymous User on 06-13-22
By: Howard W. French
-
World History
- Ancient History, United States History, European, Native American, Russian, Chinese, Asian, Indian and Australian History, Wars Including World War 1 and 2
- By: Adam Brown
- Narrated by: Sarah Moore
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
Have you ever wondered how the world got to where it is today? Get ready to discover the rich history of our planet. You will be astonished to learn about some of the events that have occurred! Subjects include: Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, The Roman Empire, Constantine and Christianity, India, Ancient Korea, Chinese Dynasties, Napoleonic Europe, Foundation of USA, The 1812 War, Australia and Wars, World War I, World War II, The Ottoman Empire, Greece and North Africa, The Diem Regime, Pearl Harbor, and much more!
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Truly a fine book
- By Anonymous User on 09-08-19
By: Adam Brown
-
Empire
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
The British Empire was the largest in all history: the nearest thing to global domination ever achieved. The world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's age of empire. The global spread of capitalism, telecommunications, the English language, and the institutions of representative government - all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the 17th century until the mid-20th. On a vast and vividly colored canvas, Empire shows how the British Empire acted as midwife to modernity.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not Balanced till Conclusion
- By Anonymous User on 08-13-20
By: Niall Ferguson
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Science Fictions
- How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
- By: Stuart Ritchie
- Narrated by: Stuart Ritchie
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 182
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 175
Science is how we understand the world. Yet failures in peer review and mistakes in statistics have rendered a shocking number of scientific studies useless—or, worse, badly misleading. Such errors have distorted our knowledge in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, physics, nutrition, education, genetics, economics, and the search for extraterrestrial life. As Science Fictions makes clear, the current system of research funding and publication not only fails to safeguard us from blunders but actively encourages bad science—with sometimes deadly consequences.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Needed Now More Than Ever
- By Anonymous User on 08-06-20
By: Stuart Ritchie
