Herodotus's histories run 700 pages unabridged, and this excellent rendering by Bill Kelsey is a full season's undertaking. Kelsey's calmly erudite delivery captures the subtle thread of skepticism that runs throughout Herodotus's narrative--which has a voice and style often similar to Mark Twain's. Herodotus was a great compiler of the oral history of the Mediterranean world, and its notions about the workings of the natural world. His account is rich in anecdotes, tall tales, kings who misread prophesies and paid, misinformation about crocodiles, arguments for and against the superiority of one ancient language or another--an amazing richness of detail and insight into how the ancient world lived, behaved, thought. Herodotus was a great traveler as well, and he writes both as tour guide and chronicler. The sly charm of his style is best experienced through the ear. Wise and learned, keen of sight and not easily swayed--his is a distinctive sensibility and voice, which Kelsey captures in this impressively sustained reading.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2001
Duration: 30 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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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