
The World
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About this listen
THE TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
From the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to the present day, told through the one thing all humans have in common: family.
We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us on an exhilarating epic journey through the families that have shaped our world: the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads.
A rich cast of complex characters form the beating heart of the story. Some are well-known leaders, from Alexander the Great, Attila, Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan to Hitler, Thatcher, Obama, Putin and Zelensky. Some are creative, from Socrates, Michelangelo and Shakespeare to Newton, Mozart, Balzac, Freud, Bowie and Tim Berners-Lee.
Others are lesser-known: Hongwu, who began life as a beggar and founded the Ming dynasty; Kamehameha, conqueror of Hawaii; Zenobia, Arab empress who defied Rome; King Henry of Haiti; Lady Murasaki, first female novelist; Sayyida al-Hurra, Moroccan pirate-queen. Here are not just conquerors and queens but prophets, charlatans, actors, gangsters, artists, scientists, doctors, tycoons, lovers, wives, husbands and children.
This is world history on the most grand and intimate scale - spanning centuries, continents and cultures, and linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, medicine and technology to the people at the centre of the human drama. As spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the story of humankind in all its joy, sorrow, romance, ingenuity and cruelty in a ground-breaking, single narrative that will forever shift the boundaries of what history can achieve.
©2021 Simon Sebag Montefiore (P)2021 Orion Publishing GroupCritic reviews
A history of the world from the Neanderthals to Trump. It's a rollicking tale, a kaleidoscope of savagery, sex, cruelty and chaos. By focusing on family, Montefiore provides an intimacy usually lacking in global histories. [It] has personality and a soul. It's also outrageously funny . . . an enormously entertaining book (Gerard DeGroot)
The issue with the audiobook is purely down the performance of the readers. One reader in particular covers an inordinate amount of the book, from beginning to end. Just as I found myself really engaging with a particular story, this narrator would suddenly pop up again and again to ruin it with a monotonous, machine-like delivery and bizarre pronunciation choices.
Great story though.
Fantastic story marred by poor narration
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worth the time
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Poor narration
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Narration
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Like many reviews here I was disappointed by some of the narration. Much is excellent but three or four of the reader are very amateurish and quite spoilt their sections for me. Two appeared to be both reading the text for the first time and also new to english. Very disappointing, as presumably the large cast was brought together to add to the listening experience rather than detract from it.
there were also some odd decisions on when to switch from one narrator to the other - sometimes right in the middle of the action. Most odd and very distracting.
interesting book - narration very patchy
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if it hadn't been a SSM book, I wouldn't have struggled through to the end.
fascinating, but spoiled by some of the narration
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Huge grasp of world events and their Importance
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What irritated me were basic errors that should have been spotted. Just three that spring to mind -
How could Pitt the younger have a duel with another MP in 1898 when he was long dead by then ?
Lord Mountbatten’s father wasn’t from an illegitimate marriage - it was morganatic and legal and non of the children were illegitimate
Mountbatten didn’t die in 1981 .
Enjoyed it but some schoolboy errors
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Some of the narrators are far below the expected standard.
Interesting book weakened by some weak narrators.
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Worth it if you have the time
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