Fun course but Professor Fears is not for everyone

If you could sum up The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History in three words, what would they be?

Storytime with Grandpa

Any additional comments?

I LOVE The Great Courses, but this was the first course I've listened to from the late Rufus Fears, and he is definitely not for everybody.

If you are on the fence, check out The Great Courses podcast in which Professor Fears was recently featured. It will give you a sense of what he's like (of course, you can also just take the plunge and check out the course, because of the Audible/Great Courses terrific satisfaction guarantee).

This was my first course with Rufus Fears. I know a lot of Great Courses fans and most of them LOVE Rufus Fears. Visit The Great Courses Facebook page and the fans there just can't get enough Rufus Fears. Why is this so? As far as I can tell, it's all about style. In the recent podcast I learned that Professor Fears was one of the only Great Courses professors to lecture without scripts or notes. That makes sense, because listening to Rufus Fears is like listening to your grandpa tell stories. He is first and foremost a storyteller.

Don't get me wrong. His courses are fact filled, educational, and definitely entertaining, but the criticisms in some of the other reviews are also accurate. His approach to history is to embellish. For example, he recounts events of 3000 years ago by imagining conversations between the key players of the time. Fun, yes. Illustrative, yes. Accurate historically? Obviously not.

And then there are his opinions. His worldview is distinctly Christian and distinctly American (and a flag waving American at that). So it should be no surprise that Fears' list of events that changed history is heavily weighted towards western civilization, and particularly towards 20th century America. If that sort of thing bothers you, you will be bothered.

I recommend checking out one of his courses, because if you like Fears, the good news is that he has a large library of interesting courses that will keep your Wish List busy for months. But if all this makes you pause, then I recommend starting with a different one of The Great Courses. If you like history, there are many great ones. The two they have on Foundations of Western Civilization are outstanding.

P.S. - He is a slow speaker. I recommend using the speed controls on the app to go faster.

129 people found this helpful

Entertaining but flawed

Any additional comments?

This is an entertaining but flawed series of lectures. They are marred by an indiscriminate blending of fact, myth, and speculation with no clear distinctions being made among them. Prof. Fears's treatment of religious history is distorted by an obvious conservative Protestant Christian bias. I prefer my history to be factual and presented in an evenhanded manner. I see that Prof. Fears has other lectures in the Great Courses series. I do not plan to get any of them.

44 people found this helpful

He makes history fun to read (listen to)

This is the second of the Great Courses I have read which is done by Professor Fears, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both of them. He has a very lively and at times humorous way of telling his stories which is very easy to listen to. Also, he goes into detail enough about background and culture so that we can really understand why these stories matter to us today.

He covers a really large variety of topics, too. There are political events like Caesar crossing the Rubicon or the Athenians driving off the Persians or the ascension to power of Adolf Hitler. There are religious events like the life of Buddha or Jesus. There are scientific or medical events like the lives of Hippocrates, Pasteur or Darwin. There were a few events I had never heard of, but there were many more events I had heard of but didn't know much about. He brought these events into sharp focus and helped me understand that my life today would be very different than what it is if this or that event had not taken place.

Many of the events in the early part of the course were religious in nature--because, I suppose, religion was such an integral part of the lives of ancient peoples. I am not a believer in any religion, but I can see that these events were still very important in shaping our world into what it is today, so they needed to be included in this course.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this, and I recommend it to you.

32 people found this helpful

*not actually history

Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor J. Rufus Fears?

No

Would you be willing to try another one of Professor J. Rufus Fears’s performances?

No

What character would you cut from The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History?

The bible stories

Any additional comments?

I was pretty disappointed to hear Prof. Fears telling the story of the Jews in Egypt and the first Passover as if these were historical events; they're not. I thought I was getting a serious history course, not a sermon or a course on myth and legend. If you're looking for a serious course presented with academic rigor, this isn't it. I'd like to get my credit back, honestly.

15 people found this helpful

Not My Cup of Tea

Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting with this course. I love the concept and thought the selection of the 36 events was well done (minus a few quibbles). But Professor Fears' delivery and teaching style did not resonate with me.

The professor doesn’t hide his biases much. He is a proud defender of Christianity and of the United States’ way of governing. He bases a lot of his message on two main points: Christianity is the truth of the world (everything in the Old and New Testament occurred as part of history) and the democracy of the United States is superior to every other ruling model of every other country (he constantly gushes at the Constitution and refers to it as “our Constitution” or “our country…” or "our way of doing things..."…didn't he know this course would be available internationally?).

Some of the things he says just don’t seem right or don’t match what we’ve heard from numerous other professors or scholars:

- He says the U.S. is not a republic but a democracy (his exact words)
- He says the ancient civilizations of the Indus Valley and of China came into existence thousands of years after the ones in Mesopotamia and Egypt (when most scholars surmise all four developed around the same time)
- He mentions numerous times that freedom is not a universally cherished ideal: he labels any non-democratic country as a despotism and claims the people of China do not value freedom (can't people desire freedom but struggle with oppression?)

After listening to these curious statements I began wondering what else he was teaching that wouldn't be considered mainstream or even true.

The professor employs a technique made famous by the ancient historian Thucydides: he uses made-up dialogue between two people to illustrate his point or articulate how dialogue MAY HAVE gone in that situation. This simulated conversation style just falls flat. I understand he is trying to create a story around the events and convey how things likely went but stating "Roosevelt thought xxx when he discovered xxx and responded by doing xxx" would've been much more effective than putting words in the mouth of Roosevelt. How do we know that is actually what he said or how he responded to things?

The professor does excel on these fronts:
- He is easy to understand and refrains from using esoteric language or making points which are so difficult to understand that make your brain hurt

- He closes lectures very well either with a description of how the event changed history or on a true dramatic note that fosters further reflection; He understands these lectures should be informing AND entertaining; The only other professor that comes to mind that rivals him on this front is Profesor Guelzo

I get the sense that people either love Professor Fears or they don't. He has a cult following and then there are people who just don't like his style. After spending 18 hours listening to him I think I have fallen in the latter camp. But if you are in the other then you will likely love this course. If you have not listened to one of his courses yet and are not familiar with a lot of the events in this series then you will certainly learn a lot (the content is there) but if, like me, you are familiar with a lot of the content already then you may not learn too much new and after listening to some questionable statements he made in early lectures and his made up dialogue, I wondered how much of what I listened to was even factual. My impression is he would be a great storyteller of mythology but factual history....I'm not so sure....

14 people found this helpful

Beautiful Lecture Series by The Great Dr. Fears

First, I came to The Teaching Company after discovering Dr. Fears's course Books That Will Change Your Life. Today, I own every course he's taught. If you are not already a fan or prior student of Dr. Fears you may start with BTWCYL or his Famous Romans and Greeks. Dr. Fears lectures in an engaging storytelling style. He follows the model of Plutarch's great lives as he shares biographies and anecdotes. Listeners will easily retain the complicated information the professor shares because of his genius for storytelling.

In this course of 36 lectures, begins in the ancient world and covers the beginnings of law, government & God in the East and West. Dr. Fears builds up to a finale of present day challenges and he leaves us, as always, with a grand and optimistic vision for the future. Throughout the lectures, one gains greater historical knowledge and the capacity to see history in context. Over time, listeners will learn to apply historical knowledge to the present day.

I love everything about Dr. Fears and regret that he died before I had an opportunity to meet and thank him. His lectures not only awakened a love of history but it gave me the desire to be a better person.

14 people found this helpful

Not an academic history text

What would have made The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History better?

If it the author took a neutral stance on Christianity and the Bible.

What could The Great Courses have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Focus just on history, and cut out Christian dogma.

How could the performance have been better?

Cut out the Christian dogma (see chapter 2, for example). The author loses credibility in chapter 2 and his enthusiasm is misplaced.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Chapter 1 was quite promising.

Any additional comments?

This book should come with a disclaimer and perhaps not be labelled as a history book.

14 people found this helpful

J. Rufus Fears, a Genius in our time.

You can tell from all of Professor Fear’s accolades right at the beginning of this audiobooks that he is a genius and a great professor. That becomes evident the second his first lecture begins.

There’s a reason that Professor Fears is one of the most loved professors hired by the Teaching Company. 10/10

11 people found this helpful

"Entertaining, but underwhelming"

[{ answer : I recognize the challenging scope of the project, but felt the final product did not measure up to my expectations. I was unimpressed by the amount of speculation and opinion presented as facts. , type : Overall, question : What disappointed you about The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History?, id : 34, typeString : overall }, { answer : No, but I will more carefully screen the reader comments prior to listening., type : Story, question : Has The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History turned you off from other books in this genre?, id : 23, typeString : story }, { answer : , type : Performance, question : What about Professor J. Rufus Fears’s performance did you like?, id : 35, typeString : performance }, { answer : Disappointment. Though he was enthusiastic, I found Professor Fear to be more of a storyteller than a historian. , type : Genre, question : What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment? , id : 92, typeString : genre }, { answer : I had listened to one other book from The Great Courses: \World War II: A Military and Social History.\ In comparison to Professor Childers, I found Professor Fears sadly lacking. Frankly, I expected better from The Great Courses., type : Misc, question : Any additional comments?, id : -1, typeString : misc } ]

11 people found this helpful

Not for well-read history buff

Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor J. Rufus Fears?

This would not be a bad series for a person who thinks they might like history and the subject of events that changed history, but if you are a fairly well-read history buff, you will already know most of the events and details provided.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Perhaps found less known events that made a difference or else, provided unknown details or connections in the ones provided.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

About average for a lecturer. I don't expect class lecturers to be greatly dynamic. It is nice if they are, but as long as I can understand them and they provide good information, I don't care.

11 people found this helpful