This book, by the author of 1421 (which posits that the Chinese discovered America ahead of Columbus), is about an ancient shipbuilding and trading culture on Crete about 1500 BCE. It’s part history and part travelogue. And that’s both its strength and its weakness. The conversational tone makes for easy listening. A dry litany of facts and theories could put listeners to sleep, so the author spices it up with observations about the contemporary landscape and culture. Yet he sometimes dawdles over those passages, clearly slowing the pace of the work. Gildart Jackson does an able job as narrator, giving the personal sections just the right touches of lightness but not making the history sound too ponderous. References are made regularly to illustrations in “the enhanced form” of the audiobook, which are helpful and enlightening but of little help to someone listening on an audio-only device.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2011
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780062097446
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
GENERAL HISTORY | ANCIENT | WORLD | HISTORY
Quite interesting, if ancient history is one’s interest.
Born in Wales, Llewellyn-Jones is professor of ancient history at Cardiff University, and his narration is both heavily accented and professorial. His history of one of the world's first great metropolises is based on hard archeological evidence and is in equal parts a debunking and a rehabilitation. Much of Babylon still remains, in fact. While all those layers of grit are still being sifted and those thousands of mostly mundane cuneiform tablets translated, what Llewellyn-Jones focuses on here is primarily a line of kings and some epics. His research is thorough, scrupulous, and detailed. A particular high point is his retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Quite interesting, if ancient history is one’s interest.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
Duration: 19 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318569005
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2026
Addis delivers a satisfying performance that will keep listeners engaged in this commendable history.
Matt Addis narrates Bayliss’ detailed but straightforward history of Sparta, from prehistory to the destruction of the Spartan hegemony in the 360s B.C.E., both ably and amiably. His resonant voice is likeable, if sometimes scratchy. And his manner is so thoroughly friendly that the program seems like history as narrated by a kindly uncle—but an astute one. His understanding and interpretation of the text are precise, and his tones and emphases are correct and helpful. Addis’ pacing is slightly slow, with notable pauses between text blocks, but given the complicated interurban politics of the ancient Greek city-states, moderate pacing is helpful rather than distracting.
Addis delivers a satisfying performance that will keep listeners engaged in this commendable history.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 27 mins
DD ISBN: 9798899749254
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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