Listen free for 30 days
-
Everything Under the Heavens
- How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hormann
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Categories: History, Asia
People who bought this also bought...
-
China's Second Continent
- How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exciting, hugely revealing account of China’s burgeoning presence in Africa - a developing empire already shaping, and reshaping, the future of millions of people. A prizewinning foreign correspondent and former New York Times bureau chief in Shanghai and in West and Central Africa, Howard French is uniquely positioned to tell the story of China in Africa. Through meticulous on-the-ground reporting, French crafts a layered investigation of astonishing depth and breadth.
-
-
Woeful pronunciation spoils an interesting text
- By Nick Branson on 08-03-15
-
This Is Not Propaganda
- By: Peter Pomerantsev
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of influence operations run amok, a world of dark ads, psy-ops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, Trump. We've lost not only our sense of peace and democracy - but our sense of what those words even mean. As Peter Pomerantsev seeks to make sense of the disinformation age, he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, 'behavioural change' salesmen, Jihadi fan-boys, Identitarians, truth cops and much more.
-
-
Lots of potential but went nowhere
- By The king David on 14-02-20
-
Has China Won?
- The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy
- By: Kishore Mahbubani
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China and America are world powers without serious rivals. They eye each other warily across the Pacific; they communicate poorly; there seems little natural empathy. A massive geopolitical contest has begun. America prizes freedom; China values freedom from chaos. America values strategic decisiveness; China values patience.America is becoming society of lasting inequality; China a meritocracy. America has abandoned multilateralism; China welcomes it.
-
-
An East Asian perspective on this contest
- By Chris on 21-04-20
-
China’s Good War
- How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization - and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home.
-
-
Fascinating subject
- By Amazon Customer on 22-11-20
-
Stealth War
- How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
- By: Robert Spalding
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
-
-
Extremely biased, sounds like Trump's puppy
- By Luic on 04-09-20
-
The New Silk Roads
- The Present and Future of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'All roads used to lead to Rome. Today, they lead to Beijing.' When The Silk Roads was published in 2015, it became an instant classic. A major reassessment of world history, it compelled us to look at the past from a different perspective. The New Silk Roads brings this story up to date, addressing the present and future of a world that is changing dramatically. Following the Silk Roads eastwards, from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, The New Silk Roads provides a timely reminder that we live in a world that is profoundly interconnected.
-
-
Fascinating. I learned something in every chapter
- By J.F.Penn on 19-01-19
-
China's Second Continent
- How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exciting, hugely revealing account of China’s burgeoning presence in Africa - a developing empire already shaping, and reshaping, the future of millions of people. A prizewinning foreign correspondent and former New York Times bureau chief in Shanghai and in West and Central Africa, Howard French is uniquely positioned to tell the story of China in Africa. Through meticulous on-the-ground reporting, French crafts a layered investigation of astonishing depth and breadth.
-
-
Woeful pronunciation spoils an interesting text
- By Nick Branson on 08-03-15
-
This Is Not Propaganda
- By: Peter Pomerantsev
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of influence operations run amok, a world of dark ads, psy-ops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, Trump. We've lost not only our sense of peace and democracy - but our sense of what those words even mean. As Peter Pomerantsev seeks to make sense of the disinformation age, he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, 'behavioural change' salesmen, Jihadi fan-boys, Identitarians, truth cops and much more.
-
-
Lots of potential but went nowhere
- By The king David on 14-02-20
-
Has China Won?
- The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy
- By: Kishore Mahbubani
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China and America are world powers without serious rivals. They eye each other warily across the Pacific; they communicate poorly; there seems little natural empathy. A massive geopolitical contest has begun. America prizes freedom; China values freedom from chaos. America values strategic decisiveness; China values patience.America is becoming society of lasting inequality; China a meritocracy. America has abandoned multilateralism; China welcomes it.
-
-
An East Asian perspective on this contest
- By Chris on 21-04-20
-
China’s Good War
- How World War II Is Shaping a New Nationalism
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most of its history, the People’s Republic of China limited public discussion of the war against Japan. It was an experience of victimization - and one that saw Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek fighting for the same goals. But now, as China grows more powerful, the meaning of the war is changing. Rana Mitter argues that China’s reassessment of the World War II years is central to its newfound confidence abroad and to mounting nationalism at home.
-
-
Fascinating subject
- By Amazon Customer on 22-11-20
-
Stealth War
- How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
- By: Robert Spalding
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
-
-
Extremely biased, sounds like Trump's puppy
- By Luic on 04-09-20
-
The New Silk Roads
- The Present and Future of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'All roads used to lead to Rome. Today, they lead to Beijing.' When The Silk Roads was published in 2015, it became an instant classic. A major reassessment of world history, it compelled us to look at the past from a different perspective. The New Silk Roads brings this story up to date, addressing the present and future of a world that is changing dramatically. Following the Silk Roads eastwards, from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, The New Silk Roads provides a timely reminder that we live in a world that is profoundly interconnected.
-
-
Fascinating. I learned something in every chapter
- By J.F.Penn on 19-01-19
-
The Fifth Risk
- Undoing Democracy
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The morning after Trump was elected president, the people who ran the US Department of Energy - an agency that deals with some of the most powerful risks facing humanity - waited to welcome the incoming administration's transition team. Nobody appeared. Across the US government, the same thing happened: nothing. People don't notice when stuff goes right. That is the stuff government does. It manages everything that underpins our lives from funding free school meals, to policing rogue nuclear activity, to predicting extreme weather events.
-
-
A love letter to undemocratic institutions
- By Sebastian D'Anconia on 31-12-18
-
Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
-
-
Repetitive, but interesting.
- By M on 25-09-14
-
Children of Ash and Elm
- A History of the Vikings
- By: Neil Price
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
-
-
As a Child of Ash and Elm
- By Stuart Bailey on 02-10-20
-
The New Map
- Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
- By: Daniel Yergin
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize and The Quest reveals how climate battles and energy revolutions are mapping our future. The New Map tells a sweeping story about how the role of energy in climate change is shaping geopolitical discussions, challenging our industries and our lifestyles and accelerating a second energy revolution - the quest for renewables. It also brings realism to the debates over the energy transition.
-
-
Excellent
- By Ted F. on 01-03-21
-
The New Climate War
- The Fight to Take Back Our Planet
- By: Michael E. Mann
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A renowned climate scientist shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a 30-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet.
-
-
Forensic assessment of the climate war by General Mann
- By Bodd Man on 30-01-21
-
Mao's Great Famine
- By: Frank Dikötter
- Narrated by: David Bauckham
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1958 and 1962, 45 million Chinese people were worked, starved or beaten to death. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward. It lead to one of the greatest catastrophes the world has ever known. Dikotter's extraordinary research within Chinese archives brings together for the first time what happened in the corridors of power with the everyday experiences of ordinary people. This groundbreaking account definitively recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.
-
-
Good book, poorly written
- By Mr on 28-11-15
-
Chinese Communist Espionage
- An Intelligence Primer
- By: Peter Mattis, Matthew Brazil
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil present an unprecedented look into the murky world of Chinese espionage both past and present, enabling a better understanding of how pervasive and important its influence is, both in China and abroad.
-
The Anarchy
- The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
- By: William Dalrymple
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 15 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires disintegrated and came to be replaced by a dangerously unregulated private company, based thousands of miles overseas in one small office, five windows wide, and answerable only to its distant shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting audiobook to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power.
-
-
Interesting story spoilt by poor narration
- By Gillian on 09-11-19
-
Radical Uncertainty
- Decision-Making for an Unknowable Future
- By: Mervyn King, John Kay
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Uncertainty pervades the big decisions we all make in our lives. How much should we pay into our pensions each month? Should we take regular exercise? Expand the business? Change our strategy? Enter a trade agreement? Take an expensive holiday? We do not know what the future will hold. But we must make decisions anyway. So we crave certainties which cannot exist and invent knowledge we cannot have.
-
-
An important topic we’ll described but lacking advice
- By Philip Thorne on 04-05-20
-
The Habsburgs
- The Rise and Fall of a World Power
- By: Martyn Rady
- Narrated by: Simon Bowie
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium. From modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the 15th century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe stretching from Hungary to Spain and from the Far East to the New World. The family continued to dominate Central Europe until the catastrophe of the First World War.
-
-
4 Minutes per year is a tough ask.
- By Turquelblue on 07-08-20
-
China and Japan
- Facing History
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back 1,500 years. But today, their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years, less than 10 percent of each population had positive feelings toward the other, and both countries insist that the other side must deal openly with its history before relations can improve. Ezra Vogel's China and Japan examines key turning points in Sino-Japanese history.
-
-
Excellent book
- By M. Ismail on 16-12-20
-
Putin's People
- How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Turned on the West
- By: Catherine Belton
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton tells the untold story of the rise of Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him. Delving deep into the workings of Putin's Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the free-wheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs who in turn subverted their country's economy and legal system and expanded its influence in the West.
-
-
Chilling expose of Putin’s People and there control and abuse of Russia
- By Mr M J Wheatland on 16-06-20
Summary
From the former New York Times Asia correspondent and author of China's Second Continent, an incisive investigation of China's ideological development as it becomes an ever more aggressive player in regional and global diplomacy.
For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China maintained an attitude of false modesty about its ambitions. That role, reports Howard French, has been set aside. China has asserted its place among the global heavyweights, revealing its plans for pan-Asian dominance by building its navy, increasing territorial claims to areas like the South China Sea, and diplomatically bullying smaller players. Underlying this attitude is a strain of thinking that casts China's present-day actions in decidedly historical terms, as the path to restoring the dynastic glory of the past. If we understand how that historical identity relates to current actions, in ways ideological, philosophical, and even legal, we can learn to forecast just what kind of global power China stands to become - and to interact wisely with a future peer.
Steeped in deeply researched history as well as on-the-ground reporting, this is French at his revelatory best.
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Everything Under the Heavens
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- John
- 24-02-20
Unique Concept
First ignore the 50 cent review titled "Slanted views, lack of understand {sic} of China." Second the author takes a look a the historical significance of 天下. No surprises there, unless your name is daryl darwin and you didn't quite understand what you were getting yourself into even after you read the subtitle.
When I began the book, my initial thought was that Howard French was a bit of a western chauvinist. But if you don't allow your own short sightedness steer you adrift, you realize Mr. French is just using historical facts as a lens to explain present day Chinese foreign policy. Moreover, he does not single out the chauvinism of China alone, but also that of Japan, Vietnam, and the US. While doing this, I never felt that he was attempting to castigate foreign policy errors, rather he presents them to the reader so as to enlighten them to the geopolitical realities of East Asia.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- harsh critic
- 11-12-18
Dense, Long, Necessary
A great voice reads a lengthy, comprehensive review of Chinese history to explain current geostrategic facts in and around China specifically, and concerning Chinese interests globally.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carl A. Gallozzi
- 04-08-17
China - a clear and present danger for the future.
Where does Everything Under the Heavens rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Very high in the ranking. Well researched and narrated - gives extensive Chinese and Chinese-Japanese History and provides the appropriate historical context.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Recent Chinese Leaders who made changes to made a great positive difference for their country.
Have you listened to any of Nicholas Hormann’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No basis for an evaluation
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No extreme reaction.
This is a very serious book.
This is a very serious subject.
People interested in U.S. Foreign Policy and its future would do well to read and understand this book and the challenges it represents.
Any additional comments?
Are the American people sleeping? Do they recognize their world position is being actively challenged? Do they care? Are they willing to stop the clown show(s) and do something about it? Are they willing to accept the consequences of inaction?
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David M
- 22-04-17
Thoughtful and thorough analysis
This thoughtful and thorough analysis casts current events in historic context, taking the long view so often missing from contemporary american sociopolitical discussion.
Neither alarmist nor apologist, the author presents a well reasoned and supported argument for caution and consistency in responding to a resurgent and confident China's regional and geopolitical strategic goals.
For me as an Australian this work provides additional and valuable context to current affairs in south east asia and, notwithstanding Goff's reassignment of nationality, is well worth listening to.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Frank Fei
- 26-04-19
Slanted views, lack of understand of China.
the book is slanted against China and doesn't seem to really understand the Chinese perspective
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Richard E Hartley
- 14-09-17
Eye Opening
The author has opened my eyes to ideas and concepts I had not considered. Very enlightening. The long historical view of Chinese self image helps me see why we must be careful in our diplomacy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- daryl
- 19-03-17
Some Notable Errors
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Way too much historical detail
Would you ever listen to anything by Howard W. French again?
Probably not.
How could the performance have been better?
Some notable errors. For example Gough Whitlam was the Prime Minister of Australia NOT New Zealand.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Bits were satisfying.
1 person found this helpful