The Shortest History of Democracy
4,000 Years of Self-Government-A Retelling for Our Times
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The Shortest History of Democracy
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Narrated by:
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Grant Cartwright
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By:
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John Keane
About this listen
From The Shortest History series comes the complete history of democracy, its champions, and its detractors—from the assemblies of ancient Mesopotamia to present perils
This tumultuous global story begins with democracy's radical core idea: We can collaborate, as equals, to determine our own lives and futures. John Keane traces how this concept emerged and evolved, from the earliest "assembly democracies" to European-style electoral democracy to our present system of "monitory democracy." Today, governments answer not only to voters on Election Day, but to intense public scrutiny (monitoring) every day. Keane calls this media- and communication-driven system "the most complex and vibrant form of democracy yet"—but it is not invulnerable.
We live in an age of political and environmental crisis, when despots in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere reject the promises of power-sharing. At this urgent moment, Keane's book mounts a new defense of a precious global ideal.
©2022 John Keane (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 147
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 130
A penetrating look at the necessity of constitutional limits upon government and exceptional men to lead those governments, uniquely taken by overlaying the life and writings of Winston Churchill with the American experiment.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Masterpiece of Political Philosophy
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By: Dr. Larry Arnn
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The Lost History of Liberalism
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
The Lost History of Liberalism challenges our most basic assumptions about a political creed that has become a rallying cry - and a term of derision - in today's increasingly divided public square. Taking listeners from ancient Rome to today, Helena Rosenblatt traces the evolution of the words "liberal" and "liberalism", revealing the heated debates that have taken place over their meaning. In this timely and provocative book, Rosenblatt debunks the popular myth of liberalism as a uniquely Anglo-American tradition centered on individual rights.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Educative and informative
- By Amazon Customer on 06-05-19
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Free Speech
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- By: Jacob Mchangama
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
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Hailed as the “first freedom”, free speech is the bedrock of democracy. But it is a challenging principle, subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat. In Free Speech, Jacob Mchangama traces the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of this idea.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great review of free speech and history
- By Anonymous User on 02-22-22
By: Jacob Mchangama
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Behold, America
- The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream"
- By: Sarah Churchwell
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
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In Behold, America, Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of 20th-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. It follows the stories of two phrases - the "American dream" and "America First" - that once embodied opposing visions for America. Starting as a Republican motto before becoming a hugely influential isolationist slogan during World War I, America First was always closely linked with authoritarianism and white supremacy. The American dream, meanwhile, initially represented a broad vision of democratic and economic equality.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History we need to know
- By Caroline Pufalt on 12-09-18
By: Sarah Churchwell
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Liberal Fascism
- The Secret History of the American Left
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,183
-
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"Fascists", "Brownshirts", "jackbooted stormtroopers" - such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book
- By Mark on 05-10-08
By: Jonah Goldberg
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Suicide of the West
- How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,401
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,265
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,243
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history. If democracy, individualism, and the free market were humankind’s destiny, they should have appeared and taken hold a bit earlier in the evolutionary record. The emergence of freedom and prosperity was nothing short of a miracle.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Put some gratitude in your attitude
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By: Jonah Goldberg
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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
- By: Robert Middlekauff
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,296
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,093
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
- By John on 10-06-11
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The Habsburg Empire
- A New History
- By: Pieter M. Judson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 372
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 320
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 319
Rejecting fragmented histories of nations in the making, this bold revision surveys the shared institutions that bridged difference and distance to bring stability and meaning to the far-flung empire. By supporting new schools, law courts, and railroads along with scientific and artistic advances, the Habsburg monarchs sought to anchor their authority in the cultures and economies of Central Europe. A rising standard of living throughout the empire deepened the legitimacy of Habsburg rule.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Ideal for students of empires, nationalism, minorities and ethnic groups
- By Uther on 02-11-17
By: Pieter M. Judson
-
The Idea of America
- Reflections on the Birth of the United States
- By: Gordon S Wood
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
The preeminent historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event in our history
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Sophisticated analyses
- By Roger on 01-25-12
By: Gordon S Wood
![Communism [Modern Library Chronicles] Audiobook By Richard Pipes cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31eeTPckVLL._SL320_.jpg)
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Communism [Modern Library Chronicles]
- By: Richard Pipes
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but lacks objectivity
- By Mazen on 07-06-06
By: Richard Pipes
-
The People vs. Democracy
- Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It
- By: Yascha Mounk
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
The world is in turmoil. From India to Turkey and from Poland to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power. As a result democracy itself may now be at risk. Two core components of liberal democracy - individual rights and the popular will - are at war with each other. As the role of money in politics soared and important issues were taken out of public contestation, a system of "rights without democracy" took hold. Populists who rail against this say they want to return power to the people. But in practice they create a system of "democracy without rights."
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not worth it
- By DailyShopper on 06-07-18
By: Yascha Mounk
-
American Dialogue
- The Founders and Us
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 249
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 215
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 213
The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue, Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing impasse of today's political conflicts.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A fine work, even with the editorializing
- By Casey Kerrick on 11-24-18
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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The Unfinished Symphony
- The Clash of the Two Americas, Volume 1
- By: Matthew Ehret, Cynthia Chung
- Narrated by: Hugh Trudeau
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
This volume will showcase the international grand design led by Benjamin Franklin that manifested in the establishment of the American republic and trace the next 130 years of world history as the USA was targeted for destruction by oligarchical forces from London and also from within leading up to the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Timeless overview of world history
- By Greg W. on 07-06-24
By: Matthew Ehret, and others
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Empires of Trust
- How Rome Built - and America Is Building - a New World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
In Empires of Trust, Professor Thomas F. Madden explores surprising parallels between the Roman and American republics. By making friends of enemies and demonstrating a commitment to fairness, the two republics - both "reluctant" yet unquestioned super-powers - built empires based on trust. Madden also includes vital lessons from the Roman Republic's 100-year struggle with "terrorism."
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1 out of 5 stars
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Bork, Reagan, and Honest of Rome
- By Nelson Alexander on 12-20-08
By: Thomas F. Madden
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The American Revolution
- A History [Modern Library Chronicles]
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
The American Revolution signalled a great change in the course of world history and progress. From this colonial revolt sprouted ideals of liberty and democracy, and all the aspirations and ambitions of a new people. In this work, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood discusses the character and consequences of the revolution, grounding the events and ideas that shaped the American consciousness.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The foremost scholar on the subject
- By Robert on 08-20-05
By: Gordon S. Wood
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From the Ruins of Empire
- The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia
- By: Pankaj Mishra
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
A little more than a century ago, as the Japanese navy annihilated the giant Russian one at the Battle of Tsushima, original thinkers across Asia, working independently, sought to frame a distinctly Asian intellectual tradition that would inform and inspire the continent's anticipated rise to dominance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Breathtaking Scale, Cohesion and Vision of Asian History
- By Oscar C. Huerta on 03-18-19
By: Pankaj Mishra
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4
England—begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor—is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors, and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else. This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented—yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mildly entertaining, simplistic, only filler
- By Buretto on 09-16-22
By: James Hawes
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The Shortest History of India
- From the World's Oldest Civilization to Its Largest Democracy—A Retelling for Our Times
- By: John Zubrzycki
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
5,000 years of history—from the Bhagavad Gita to Bollywood—fill this masterful portrait of the world's most populous nation and a rising global power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Quick paced coverage of a very great deal of India’s History
- By Caleagle on 03-22-24
By: John Zubrzycki
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Caesar
- Life of a Colossus
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,908
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,474
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,468
Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of Julius Caesar's life, Adrian Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor's accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but also lesser-known chapters. Ultimately, Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of Caesar's character and shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate some 2,000 years later.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Caesar and his times
- By Mike From Mesa on 08-31-15
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The Last Empire
- The Final Days of the Soviet Union
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story5 out of 5 stars 65
On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Full of Holes; Horrid Narrator
- By Donald on 03-02-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
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Fatal Decision
- The Freeman Files Series, Book 1
- By: Ted Tayler
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 19
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4 out of 5 stars 14
Gus Freeman is a retired detective inspector who has spent the past three years alone. Freeman’s wife, Tess, died from a brain aneurysm six months to the day after his retirement. He is still coming to terms with his enforced solitary existence. His old boss wants Gus to head up a Crime Review Team investigating cold cases. Old witness statements plus fresh clues, and the hunt would be on. But Freeman wonders whether his superiors need his old-style methods.
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5 out of 5 stars
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New Author to Read
- By LuvBks on 03-21-23
By: Ted Tayler
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The Violence Project
- How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic
- By: Jillian Peterson, James Densley
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
The Violence Project is about an examination of the phenomenon of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to implement evidence-based strategies to stop these tragedies. Using first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, along with data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very insightful, apolitical, and well written
- By mk_89 on 09-18-21
By: Jillian Peterson, and others
What listeners say about The Shortest History of Democracy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-31-23
Too Ideological
The author too often tries to champion his own personal views without providing the reader with evidence. He starts the book by claiming democracy originated in the east, and provides evidence, but does not take into account that democracy could have originated earlier, but without surviving evidence for the lack of writing. He seems to want to connect homosexuality to democracy, when of course democracy is not inherently pro- or anti-gay. The book contains a very interesting part about spain. He tries too hard to connect the emergence of different kinds of democracy to different communication technology without adding enough evidence. Democracies collapsing in europe during ww2 is portrayed as a inside failure, when in fact many of them (Czhechia, Norway, Denmark, Benelux, France) collapsed from invasion. He falsley claims that JFK claimed to be a type of food in his "Ich bin ein berliner" speech, a misconception that will hopefully go away some day. He makes statements about the poor state of democracy in hungary, india, and turkey (even calling Erdogan a despot), but refuses to get specific. international observers have called the most recent election in Turkey "free".
The audio performance itself is top notch!
Take everything with a spoon of salt, and be sceptical if you want to listen to this audiobook. It is less like a textbook, and more like an opinion piece.
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