The title may sound forbidding, but this impressive audiobook encompasses in one clear and highly accessible narrative all of Western Civilization from antiquity to the 1700s. Narrator Mark Bramhall is a reliable guide for such a vast undertaking. Steady, fluent, in full command of names and nomenclature, he has a bit of amiability and gravel in his voice. Such ease and precision can only be the result of meticulous preparation. Without frills, he maintains a narrative thread that crosses innumerable centuries, languages, and boundaries both temporal and ecclesial. The narrative is divided into discrete chapters that can be listened to in order, or not. Hour for hour, few audiobooks are as profitable and enriching, and few narrators as satisfying.
Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
Duration: 27 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593550946
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Highly engaging for a wide variety of listeners.
Four exceptional narrators unfailingly capture the full relevance of every sentence and broad idea in this epic audiobook. With this monumental economic and social history, the author traces the growth of capitalism’s decisive impact on human society, from 15th-century traders to the invention of money and the seemingly unstoppable power of capital markets today. Beckert describes capitalism’s fraught relationship with forced and paid labor as it changed with advances in agriculture, transportation, industry, and political trends. Despite the idealized dream of free markets under capitalism, Beckert shows how it flourished only with the cooperation of governments that enforced the social and economic order necessary for wealth accumulation.
Highly engaging for a wide variety of listeners.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
Duration: 42 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217163571
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2026
Author Baconi is the best choice to narrate his memoir of family and political upheaval. The emotional undercurrent he projects suits a story spanning Haifa, Beirut, Amman, and London. His delivery gives clarity to the family history he recounts--his grandmother Eva's flight from Haifa in 1948, his mother Rima's escape from Beirut during the civil war, his own displacement, and a deepening love for his childhood friend, Ramzi. As Baconi moves into his London years, his narration highlights his search for belonging, his emerging political awareness during the Iraq War, and his effort to understand himself across cultures. His voice brings cohesion to these interwoven timelines. Baconi guides listeners through an intimate exploration of identity, inheritance, displacement, and return.
Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
Duration: 7 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668114834
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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