War: How Conflict Shaped Us
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Narrated by:
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Deepti Gupta
About this listen
Is peace an aberration? The New York Times bestselling author of Paris 1919 offers a provocative view of war as an essential component of humanity.
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“Margaret MacMillan has produced another seminal work. . . . She is right that we must, more than ever, think about war. And she has shown us how in this brilliant, elegantly written book.”—H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World
The instinct to fight may be innate in human nature, but war—organized violence—comes with organized society. War has shaped humanity’s history, its social and political institutions, its values and ideas. Our very language, our public spaces, our private memories, and some of our greatest cultural treasures reflect the glory and the misery of war. War is an uncomfortable and challenging subject not least because it brings out both the vilest and the noblest aspects of humanity.
Margaret MacMillan looks at the ways in which war has influenced human society and how, in turn, changes in political organization, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight. War: How Conflict Shaped Us explores such much-debated and controversial questions as: When did war first start? Does human nature doom us to fight one another? Why has war been described as the most organized of all human activities? Why are warriors almost always men? Is war ever within our control?
Drawing on lessons from wars throughout the past, from classical history to the present day, MacMillan reveals the many faces of war—the way it has determined our past, our future, our views of the world, and our very conception of ourselves.
©2020 Margaret MacMillan (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“[A] richly eclectic discussion of how culture and society have been molded by warfare throughout history . . . as colorful and tightly woven as a Persian carpet, showing us not just the many ways that men and women make war, but how war makes women and men . . . MacMillan writes with enormous ease, and practically every page of this book is interesting, even entertaining. . . . The greatest pleasures of this book are the historical anecdotes, moments and quotations that MacMillan marshals on nearly every page to illustrate her points. They are bold, arresting and various, and they make the book come alive.”—Dexter Filkins, The New York Times Book Review
“War is awful but somehow alluring, dreaded but too often welcomed. On these pages, with her vast gifts as a historian and storyteller, Margaret MacMillan explains why.”—Evan Thomas, journalist and historian, author of Sea of Thunder and Ike’s Bluff
“A foremost historian explores one of the central forces of human history. This readable and convincing work is yet another tour de force from Margaret MacMillan!”—Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus, author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump
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Overall
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Taking us from the French Revolution to the Cold War, Andrew Roberts presents us with a bracingly honest and deeply insightful look at nine major figures in modern history: Napoleon Bonaparte, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, George C. Marshall, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Margaret Thatcher. Each one of these leaders fundamentally shaped the outcome of the war in which their nation was embroiled.
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Fantastic
- By Amazon Customer on 01-15-20
By: Andrew Roberts
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History of Germany
- A Captivating Guide to German History, Starting from 1871 through the First World War, Weimar Republic, and World War II to the Present
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Germany is one of the richest and most influential countries in the world, which is amazing when you consider that the nation is only about the size of the US states of Oregon and Washington combined. It’s even more astounding when you consider that at the end of World War II, every major German city (and many minor ones) had been flattened by the Allied bombing campaign. Still more amazing is that the country has gone from international pariah and home of the Holocaust to one of the most well-regarded and humanitarian nations on Earth.
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Concise
- By J Stewart on 04-09-24
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The End Is Always Near
- Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
- By: Dan Carlin
- Narrated by: Dan Carlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore? The questions themselves are both philosophical and like something out of The Twilight Zone.
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Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Steven Glover on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
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The Korean War
- A History
- By: Bruce Cumings
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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In sobering detail, The Korean War chronicles a US home front agitated by Joseph McCarthy, where absolutist conformity discouraged open inquiry and citizen dissent. Cumings incisively ties our current foreign policy back to Korea: an America with hundreds of permanent military bases abroad, a large standing army, and a permanent national security state at home, the ultimate result of a judicious and limited policy of containment evolving into an ongoing and seemingly endless global crusade.
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A real eye-opener
- By Bookworm on 10-09-19
By: Bruce Cumings
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The Greek Revolution
- 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe
- By: Mark Mazower
- Narrated by: John Lee, Mark Mazower
- Length: 20 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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As Mark Mazower shows us in his enthralling and definitive new account, myths about the Greek War of Independence outpaced the facts from the very beginning, and for good reason. This was an unlikely cause, against long odds, a disorganized collection of Greek patriots up against what was still one of the most storied empires in the world, the Ottomans. The revolutionaries needed all the help they could get.
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Excellent, had it not been for the narrator
- By Jean N on 05-15-22
By: Mark Mazower
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Russia
- The Story of War
- By: Gregory Carleton
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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No nation is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their "motherland" has been the battlefield where some of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage battles have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe no other nation has sacrificed so much for the world.
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A bit dry and academic
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-16-17
By: Gregory Carleton
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A History of Warfare
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 19 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Starting with the premise that all civilizations owe their origins to warmaking, Keegan probes the meanings, motivations, and methods underlying war in different societies over the course of more than two thousand years. Following the progress of human aggression in its full historical sweep, from the strangely ritualistic combat of Stone Age peoples to the warfare of mass destruction in the present age, his illuminating and lively narrative gives us all the world's great warrior cultures.
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Not what I expected
- By Mark on 12-05-06
By: John Keegan
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The Viking Heart
- How Scandinavians Conquered the World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers — including the most famous, the Vikings — would reshape Europe and beyond.
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Confused and not worth the time and money
- By Jacob The Dane on 08-16-21
By: Arthur Herman
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No Simple Victory
- World War II in Europe, 1939-1945
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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If history really belongs to the victor, what happens when there's more than one side declaring victory? That's the conundrum Norman Davies unravels in his groundbreaking book No Simple Victory. Far from being a revisionist history, No Simple Victory instead offers a clear-eyed reappraisal, untangling and setting right the disparate claims made by America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union in order to get at the startling truth.
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The Best Account of WWII in Europe
- By Nikoli Gogol on 12-27-07
By: Norman Davies
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Napoleon
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Johnson's book is a refreshing return to a concept whose time has come once again: the Great Man theory of biography. It serves as "the greatest possible refutation of those who hold that events are governed by forces, classes, economics, and geography rather than the powerful wills of men and women". Napoleon truly was the Great Man of his age, a towering and terrible genius who managed to conquer the Continent.
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Not your standard biography
- By Mark Grannis on 04-24-05
By: Paul Johnson
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What If? Part 1
- Reshaping the 20th Century
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose, John Keegan, more
- Narrated by: John Cunningham, Janet Zarish
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Abridged
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What if Hitler had won the war, if Japan had another sneak attack, or if the cold war turned hot? What If? provides a fascinating new perspective on history's most pivotal events. Featuring today's foremost historians speculating on what could have happened, we discover where we might be if history had not unfolded the way it did.
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For history buffs
- By Charles Elmore on 05-11-04
By: Stephen E. Ambrose, and others
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire
- By: H. W. Crocker III
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing offends liberals more than Western imperialism—it is racism, sexism, and chauvinism all in one. And of course the epitome of Western imperialism is the British Empire, covering at its height a quarter of the globe’s surface and ruling a quarter of the world’s population. Here, best-selling author H. W. Crocker III exposes how the British Empire was actually one of the greatest establishers and defenders of freedom in history.
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More Propaganda than History
- By Mike on 10-21-19
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The Great Commanders
- Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ulysses S. Grant, Georgi Zhukov
- By: Phil Grabsky
- Narrated by: Phil Grabsky
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The Great Commanders is a masterly portrait of six men - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ulysses S. Grant and Georgi Zhukov - whose military genius changed the course of world history.
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Broad, and High Level History
- By Mark on 11-20-14
By: Phil Grabsky
What listeners say about War: How Conflict Shaped Us
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mary K. Bohm
- 12-06-20
Greatest Book Ever
Margaret MacMillan, the best diplomatic historian of the twentieth century and David Lloyd George’s great-granddaughter, has written a paradigm shattering study of war.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Manuel A. Moreno
- 06-17-21
Excelent Narrative About Wars
Once again Margaret Macmillan provides a though provoking book on Humans and war. A must read.
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- Rachel
- 01-11-21
non fiction, quite interesting
Quite good with the history or war and different viewpoints with civilians and military, that is often not seen but greatly appreciated with this book by this combat veteran!
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- Ryan
- 11-12-21
Loved the depth. Missing a direction.
Loads of information. Obscure facts, varied perspective, scattershot timeline, but the dates bring you back. Had to use my knowledge, or lack of, history to follow along in some chapters.
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- Aaron Sadino
- 10-07-20
Outstanding Exploration of War and Mankind
This is an incredibly thought provoking and comprehensive exploration of how war and human civilization have influenced each other. Margaret MacMillan is a well respected historian and she has really outdone herself with this book. She takes a philosophical approach to why we fight wars and how those reasons have evolved along with human civilization. She touches on the paradoxes that have presented themselves as our world moves away from dictatorships and monarchies and into an age of governance dominated by democratically elected leaders. She also touches on the future of warfare and how we must face the grim reality that war is a beast that is far from being tamed. I highly suggest this book for anyone who loves history and wishes to gain a deeper understanding of how human nature and war are connected.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 08-14-21
Amazingly researched and written - truly one of the best audiobooks
As someone who care deeply about issues of war and peace, this book extended my understanding of the history and concepts of war to another level.
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- John Faithful Hamer
- 04-22-22
Great book, beautifully read
Margaret MacMillan’s writing is almost as lovely as Deepti Gupta’s voice. This audiobook is highly recommended!
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-11-24
The historical detail was outstanding.
I liked the many facets of the subject that are often overlooked like how war influences art and how art influences war.
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- Tom
- 06-12-21
Incredibly Comprehensive but Sad Tale
Macmillan has done an amazing job of tracing the sad, warts and all, history of Warfare from its earliest roots in the Human Community. She looks at all its motivations and rationales and is unflinching in pointing them out in all their ugliness, cruelty, and venality.
She looks at her subject from all sides: History, Politics, Religion, Arts, Culture, Impact on Society and Economics, etc. If this work has a weakness at all, and I think it’s because of the Author’s intent to write a complete historical analysis rather than a political screed, it is that it leaves out first-person accounts of the real victims of War: the soldiers and innocent civilians whose lives have been impacted or totally destroyed by their voluntary or involuntary participation in its horrible folly.
To get the whole picture I would recommend reading War in combination with works by Chris Hedges, Tim O’Brian, Sebastian Junger, Dalton Trumbo or Michael Herr.
But MacMillan has effectively done what she set out to do and for that I commend her and give War Four Stars. We need to read and listen. We could learn a lot.
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- Robert D Hunter
- 01-03-21
Book Without a Purpose
A compendium of everything you ever want to know about war but no thesis/premise .
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