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Summary

What is Western civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.

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This broad and panoramic series, ripe with the telling detail on which history can turn, will help you pull an enormous sweep of history together into one coherent - though by no means closed - framework as you watch history develop under the influence of such critical factors as ecology and environment, geography, and climate; government and economics; technology; religion; work and leisure; philosophy; literature; art and architecture; and virtues, values, and aesthetics.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2002 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2002 The Great Courses

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Audible.co.uk reviews
Audible.com reviews
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it - I'll be ordering more

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

It's a series of 48 lectures, covering over 5000 years of history. I think it was well suited to me because I have some background knowledge of most of the period. But I'm not an expert, I still learned a lot and it helped connect everything together. If you are fresh to the subject don't be put off - just take it more slowly, perhaps repeat a lecture that you didn't connect with the first time.

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

I was disappointed that it ended at 1600 (Early Modern Period). I would have liked it to continue beyond that. I will move on to "Foundations of Western Civilization II", but it's with a different lecturer. Perhaps that lecturer will be as good. Some people would prefer homework, visual material, study certificates etc. Not something I would want/need - but everyone will have to decide themselves.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I thought Thomas Noble was excellent. He has his mannerisms, of course (asides, chortles, pauses) - perhaps that would bother some people. I found it added charm. It felt like I had a personal guide through history, not some Wiki-bot. I am considering getting his "Late Antiquity: Crisis and Transformation" series.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

A couple of feelings (1) I wish I'd had this overview when I was growing up. When studying more detailed history I would be better able to put everything in context. (2) This series shows that it is possible to creditably cover over 5000 years in 48 short lectures. A complement to, rather than a replacement for, serious study of more focused history.

Any additional comments?

I didn't know if a lengthy lecture series would be for me, but decided it was worth a gamble. It turns out that it suits me very well - indeed, I'm amazed - a whole new method of learning has opened up. This hasn't replaced my reading of books, but it supplements them nicely.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lots of good stuff

I have been positively impressed by the amount of ideas that Prof. Noble managed to present. Not only that, but he's really good at showing similarities in ideas between different cultures living in different times. One can hear echoes of the ideas that were popular 3000 years ago even today. It teaches you humility, I'd say.
I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the course ends almost right after Columbus discovers America.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well told and very interesting

If you're interested in history but never had the time to study it, curious about the Greeks, Romans, the church and just how Europe came to be how it is? If you kind of know the famous names and event and phrases but not really in any great detail or context then you'll love this relatively unbiased appraisal of western history. Brilliantly told and engaging.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great course indeed

Very refreshing if you got some knowledge of subject already and has lots of unexpectedly enlightening bits in it too.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

General Outline of western history

These lectures cover all the aspects of western history. Naturally they're not very detailed. By it serves as a start point so one can have a general idea of what time period what happens.
The downside for me would be some of the names are very difficult to remember, so it's kind of hard to remember whose idea is what at a later lecture. Another thing is, the narrator sometimes spoke too slow or even paused for no apparent reason (not like give audience time to think). On the topic front, it's probably just me, I was totally lost in the lectures about philosophy, the great thinkers.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Mike Keith
  • 08-08-16

Highly recommended

Where does The Foundations of Western Civilization rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top 10
I loved the material but a history major may already know all this stuff.
I will proceed directly to Vol 2.

Who was your favorite character and why?

n/a

What about Professor Thomas F. X. Noble’s performance did you like?

This is the weakness. The Prof is a good lecturer but his dynamic range is large so the audio volume varies greatly making it at times a difficult listen in the car. I frequently needed to replay sections that had fallen to a near whisper.
A *dynamic range compressor* add-on to the audible app would be a great idea! This same problem appears in many other recordings.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

n/a

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

24 of 24 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Tommy D'Angelo
  • 05-03-17

Not Engaging or Very Interesting

What disappointed you about The Foundations of Western Civilization?

I really wanted to like this course. I am a big history buff and this course covers so much history both in relation to time and place. But I just could not get into it. The professor’s general style was just not a hit with me and the following became increasingly annoying: his voice would fluctuate from high to low, his humor just wasn’t effective, he would talk fast, and I didn’t get the sense he was teaching as much as he was having a discussion.

It felt like the professor did not spend enough time “pulling it all together”. He only lightly touched on why certain civilizations like the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Persians, etc. are considered “western civilization”. A lot of times I was left wondering why certain peoples or topics were included in such a course or what defines the “western tradition”. While a huge expanse of history was covered there was almost no time spent on what the foundations were or how one would define "western civilization".

Lectures 25-26 finally felt like he was hitting his stride and connecting with me so I went back and re-listened to the previous 24 lectures thinking maybe I should give him another chance with an open mind. Alas I had the same reaction to his lectures and just didn't find much that was interesting in them. Here are the lectures I did find enjoyable:

18 (Roman expansion)
25-26 (Roman crisis and the Barbarian "problem")
30 (Byzantium)
31 (Barbarian kingdoms of Europe)
36-37 (political formations of European countries in medieval times)

However, your experience may be better. For those of you willing to give it a shot here are the basics: time period covered is generally between 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1600. Here are some of the general topics covered:

• Civilization begins at Sumer
• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Hebrews
• Assyrians
• Neo-Babylonians & the Medes
• Persia
• Ancient Geeks
• Macedonia’s Hellenistic conquests
• Roman Republic and Empire
• Christianity and the church
• Islam
• Byzantine Empire
• Barbarian (Germanic, Celtic, Slavic) kingdoms of Europe
• The Franks under Carolingian rule
• England and France
• Germany and other European countries in the medieval period
• The Renaissance
• The Reformation

I am going to listen to Professor Harl's "Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor" course hoping it engages me and succeeds where this course fails. I really wish The Great Courses would do a course on medieval Europe focusing on the formation of current states like France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, etc. I know there are some courses on 1600 Europe onward but I'd be interested in a course on political history of the major countries prior to that time period.

45 of 48 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Josh Hopper
  • 13-12-17

great

All of the Great Courses are fantastic. a problem occurs when the narrator constantly slides in the slanted left-wing viewpoint prevalent in academia. This is not the issue here however. Magnificently unbiased. Absolutely engrossing.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Star
  • 07-06-15

loved it

an eye opening book! loved it. I highly recommend it. it inspired me to learn about a lot of other topics for which I had to stop this book and investigate those topics further..then I would return back to this book to continue.. as a result it took me a year to finish this book and 10 others (including : the persian empire , foundation of eastern civilization , off the edge of the map , a short history of nearly everything )

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Zach (USA)
  • 21-02-17

Dan Carlin-esque

If you could sum up The Foundations of Western Civilization in three words, what would they be?

This is a good summary course of a western development from early civilization up through late antiquity.

Any additional comments?

I'm not sure who influenced whom, or if it's simply a coincidental speaking style, but Professor Noble comes off like Dan Carlin in his start-stop, sometimes manically-rapid delivery and tone. It's not for everyone because it doesn't sound much like a lecture recorded in a lecture hall, nor is it going to delve deep enough into any one subject to enlighten true scholars, but fans of Carlin's "Hardcore History" will feel right at home with this course. I found it plenty entertaining and worth listening to.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • AAA
  • 18-01-16

Extremely annoying speaking style

I'm interested in the subject matter but can barely focus on what's being said because the speaker is so irritating. It's like he's trying to get a class of 8 year olds interested in history by being the cool professor, but all he is really succeeding in doing is dumbing material down and delivering information very poorly. I'm really struggling to make myself listen to this one.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Tyler
  • 04-03-14

Excellent course!

This is my second, all time favorite history course thus far. I have only been a patron of the Great Courses for about 7 or 8 months when my favorite podcaster mentioned they were now on Audible. I highly recommend this particular course. The professor is very good at what he does, captivating, interesting, and knowledgeable.

12 of 15 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Ruby Dickson
  • 20-02-18

Very annoying, somewhat informative

An interesting survey of thousands of years of history. Tracks some themes from ancient Mesopotamia through the early modern period. I would say that this series is good for giving an overview of the periods discussed, but in the course of the survey there are many serious over generalizations that will grate on anyone who already has an interest in history.

The professor has an extremely annoying and condescending way of speaking - - he will explain something very obvious, and make the reader feel like they're in a remedial class. Then in the same lecture, he will pretend like certain obscure facts are as obvious as could be, and frequently says things like "as you all know well, Clovis was not actually a carolingian leader," making the listener feel like a idiot who should know these things.

Overall, a good course with some serious flaws. Even as a huge history nerd, I learned some new things. But beware, the lecturer is certainly not for everyone.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Sean
  • 08-06-17

Fascinating

I enjoy the study if history and this pulled together so many other components that i have read about.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Adrian Delatorre
  • 14-05-16

Excellent Course!

Any additional comments?

I have listened to numerous courses from the Teaching Company, but this one is by far the best! Clear, concise and very engaging Professor

2 of 2 people found this review helpful