The Spirit of the Laws
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The Spirit of the Laws
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Narrated by:
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Wanda McCaddon
About this listen
Originally published in 1748, this is possibly the most masterful and influential book ever written on the subject of liberty and justice. Accordingly, it is a work that profoundly influenced America’s Founding Fathers. Its success was due partly to the fact that it was the first systematic treatise on politics, partly to Montesquieu’s championship of the nobility and the Parlements, but above all, to the brilliant style of his prose.
By the “spirit of the laws,” Montesquieu means their raison d’être and the conditions determining their origin, development, and forms. Montesquieu discusses numerous topics, including the general functions of government, relations between the sexes, the morals and customs of the nation, economics and religion, and the theory of law and legislative practice.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 435
Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, published in three parts from 1794, was a best seller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. Promoting a creator-God while advocating reason in the place of revelation, Paine’s controversial pamphlet caused his native British audience, fearing the results of the French Revolution, to receive it with more hostility than their American counterparts.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Amazed by the energy, originality & bravery
- By Darwin8u on 10-06-12
By: Thomas Paine
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The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
- By: Ferdinand Lot
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
Ferdinand Lot (1866-1952) was one of the great historians of his generation, and the transition from Roman to Medieval civilization was a process that fascinated him most of his life. Rather than placing the emphasis for Rome’s fall on purely political or military reasons, Lot put forth multiple explanations for the birth of the Middle Ages which embrace not only politics and war, but linguistic, geographic, cultural, social and economic factors.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Rome "too vast, too complicated and too cunning"
- By Philo on 11-26-15
By: Ferdinand Lot
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The Law
- By: Frederick Bastiat
- Narrated by: Floy Lilley
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 157
How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in jail? These are among the most intriguing issues in political and economic philosophy. More specifically, the problem of law that itself violates law is an insurmountable conundrum of all statist philosophies. The problem has never been discussed so profoundly and passionately as in this essay by Frederic Bastiat from 1850. This essay might have been written today. It applies to our own time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is abridged
- By Kipling Oren on 09-10-14
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Democracy in America
- By: Alexis de Tocqueville
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 34 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 724
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 595
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 603
In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and civil servant, made a nine-month journey through the eastern United States. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s evolving politics. His insightful work has become one of the most influential political texts ever written on America.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Most Listenable, if not the Best Translation
- By Michael Allen on 10-04-13
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Democracy in America (Excerpts)
- By: Alexis de Tocqueville
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Highlights
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
Alexis de Tocqueville's renowned analysis of American democracy still has relevance today. In 1831 de Tocqueville was sent to America by the French government to study the U.S. penal system, but his real aim was to observe a democratic republic firsthand to see if such an entity could function with dignity and humanity. His travels, which took him to the cities of the Northeast, to the frontier and the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi and through the South, showed him a great deal about the United States. In 1834, he wrote Democracy in America, in which he examines the advantages and pitfalls of democracy, the conditions and conflicts among the races, and the movements that grip the country.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Democracy in America
- By Michael on 02-18-10
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Dialogues of Plato
- By: Plato
- Narrated by: Pat Bottino
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 413
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 310
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 308
The Dialogues of Plato rank with the writings of Aristotle as the most important and influential philosophical works in Western thought. In them Plato cast his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not Complete Dialogues
- By Jill on 08-30-07
By: Plato
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The History of Rome, Book 1
- Roman Origins Before the Monarchy
- By: Theodor Mommsen
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Book 1 begins in the dim prehistory of Latium and describes the society that emerged there in the centuries leading up to the establishment of the first Roman king. This penetrating look at emerging Latin culture takes us into the strange world of their religion; their family structure; and their legal system, trade, alliances, and relationships with neighboring tribes and kingdoms. It brilliantly sets the stage for what is to come in the following volumes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Details beyond imagination
- By David C. on 01-23-17
By: Theodor Mommsen
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The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 22 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 252
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 228
Some 250 years after its first publication, Gibbon's Decline and Fall is still regarded as one of the greatest histories in Western literature. He reports on more than 1,000 years of an empire which extended from the most northern and western parts of Europe to deep into Asia and Africa and covers not only events but also the cultural and religious developments that effected change during that time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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DAVID TIMSON IS AMAZING!
- By Allen L. Harris on 04-23-14
By: Edward Gibbon
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The Founders' Key
- The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It
- By: Dr. Larry Arnn
- Narrated by: Van Tracy
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story5 out of 5 stars 23
Dr. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, reveals this integral unity of the Declaration and the Constitution. Together, they form the pillars upon which the liberties and rights of the American people stand. United, they have guided history's first self-governing nation, forming our government under certain universal and eternal principles. Unfortunately, the effort to redefine government to reflect "the changing and growing social order" has gone very far toward success.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Linking Declaration and Constitution.
- By Ed Bethune on 04-26-24
By: Dr. Larry Arnn
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The Prince
- By: Nicolo Machiavelli
- Narrated by: Joseph Gomez
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20
The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513, after he was forced to leave Florence as a political exile. Dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the work is Machiavelli’s advice to the ruler of Florence on how to stay in power.
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No Treason: The Anarchist Classic with a New Introduction
- By: Lysander Spooner
- Narrated by: Ayrton Parham
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 193
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story5 out of 5 stars 168
Lysander Spooner was one of slavery’s fiercest enemies. As a lawyer, he offered free legal services to escaped slaves, defending them in court. He advocated smuggling guns to slaves, with which to overthrow their masters, and take possession of their property. “Give the Slave-holders, then, a taste of their own whips.”
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5 out of 5 stars
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I HAVE SEARCHED FOR THE WORDS FOR A LONG TIME
- By devon on 07-16-19
By: Lysander Spooner
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The Secret History
- By: Procopius
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Bit Hyperbolic
- By HalfWit on 10-13-19
By: Procopius
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Our Constitution the Way it Was
- By: Madalyn Murray O'Hair
- Narrated by: David Smalley
- Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
In these transcripts of her American Atheist Radio programs, Dr. Madalyn Murray O'Hair tells us about Freedom of Religion in Colonial America, American Deism, Rewriting of History by Christians, The Christianity of our Founding as a Nation, Free thought in American Historical Documents, Free thought Organizations in the Early U.S., Thomas Paine - American Deist and Freethinker, Colonel Ethan Allen, James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Jefferson's Idea of Religious Freedom, and Jefferson on Christianity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Phenomenal!!!
- By Average Joe on 01-17-18
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Common Sense
- By: Thomas Payne
- Narrated by: Mike Vendetti
- Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. The pamphlet explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence in clear, simple language. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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very funny
- By Drew on 03-13-17
By: Thomas Payne
What listeners say about The Spirit of the Laws
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca Thomas
- 09-30-16
Challenging but Worthwhile!
Learned so much! So much more to learn! If I had a greater knowledge of history I think I would have understood more. Here lies the reason for thoughtful review and introspection of classic works from great minds!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- No to Statism
- 09-19-18
Excellent Masterpiece! But...
This is truly a great treatise, and deserves to be re-recorded! It was in its current state, recorded in 1990 - errors included; there were a number places where whole paragraphs were repeated. I would like to also add that if this audiobook, were to be re-recorded, a good British male performer would greatly enhance this valuable historic masterpiece. If Audible were to undertake to do this, I would willingly, and happily pay the full asking price!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr. Terence M. Dwyer
- 05-12-17
Subject fascinating, reader not so good
Montesquieu deals with some surprisingly modern themes. Take "marriage equality". He discusses Tartars marrying their daughters, sons their mothers, polygamy and so on - modern ideas seem passé before they start! The separation of powers discussion is justly famous.
The reader is not so good, her voice is harsh and fast and thee is background noise on what is an old tape.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- uriah1970
- 05-07-20
The Spirit of the Laws By Baron De Montesquieu
Overall the book was boring; if you're working on a law degree might have a better understanding of it. There are a few interesting parts. Lots about Medieval Central Europe law. The recording was from analog tapes, so there are lots of repeated sentences at about the 30 minutes marks through out the reading. Good luck.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Matt
- 01-18-17
Narrator difficult to follow.
I'd really like to get a sense of Montesquieu. Unfortunately this reading made it difficult.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-08-13
I doubt I can finish listening to this narrator.
What would have made The Spirit of the Laws better?
Had I listened to this before I purchased it, I would not.
Please let me know if I can return this audio book.
Has The Spirit of the Laws turned you off from other books in this genre?
No, although I will make sure I never purchase an audio book,
Narrated by Wanda McCaddon.
How could the performance have been better?
Different narrator.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Yes, Baron De Montesquieu.
Any additional comments?
Please let me know if you have the audio book by a different narrator.
I really want to listen to any book by Montesquieu.
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4 people found this helpful