Explore some of the most powerful theological ideas, economic tensions, and political struggles that shaped Western civilization. This series traces western European civilization - with detours to the East - from the transformation of the Roman Empire to a thousand-year medieval period that started slowly before 1000, flowered for 300 years, and then declined sharply with the Black Death and social revolts until Constantinople fell in 1453 and Columbus sailed in 1492.

In this fascinating audio course on the Roman monarchy, republic, and empire, you will explore the essentials of Roman civilization: the creation of a city at the center of world history, its political legacy, its architectural and cultural achievements, its treatment of women and slaves, and its tragic flaws. You will begin by placing ancient Rome in world history by looking at its origins and contexts in terms of geography and chronology.

This brilliantly taught audio course will ignite your imagination and enrich your mind. In 12 illuminating lectures, award-winning professor and acclaimed historian Prof. Christopher M. Bellitto (PhD, Fordham University) makes medieval history both engaging and enlightening. Throughout history, humans have conjured images to understand their relationships with other Christians, the wider world, and God. For medieval men and women, those images came from Christendom, which was the air they breathed.

The relationship between church and state is a powerful thread stitching the medieval era to modern history. Through this captivating course on Charlemagne, you can follow it back to its inception in the Holy Roman Empire.

Alexander the Great (ca. 356-323 BCE) was a Macedonian general who brought Greek civilization to the edge of modern-day India. After studying the Iliad, he believed himself to be Achilles reincarnated, imitating the hero of the epic poem in his own military campaigns. Even before he died barely into his 30s, the legends surrounding him were larger than life. In this compelling new audio course, you’ll explore the history and lore surrounding this real man and mythic figure, often by consulting the ancient sources themselves.

Ancient Greece was one of the most fertile civilizations in history, and its influence on Western philosophy, theology, and civilization is undeniable. Now, you can discover the fascinating legacy of ancient Greece through entertaining and enlightening lectures. With Prof. Bellitto, you will gain a deeper understanding of what made ancient Greece so unique: its polis and democracy, its great battles and personalities, its soaring artistic and literary achievements.

The American Revolutionary War has inspired best-selling books, iconic paintings, and hit Broadway musicals. More than 250 years after the “shot heard around the world” was fired in Concord, we remain fascinated by the causes and legacy of the Revolution. In 18 dynamic audio lectures, West Point history professor Robert McDonald leads you past the politics and battle tactics to explore the underlying ideas that sparked the Revolution.

Not since the Civil War had the American national consciousness been as strained as it was by the conflict in Southeast Asia. Indeed, the controversies that the Vietnam War spurred on the home front are more familiar to many Americans than the policies and motives that guided the conflict. The History of the Vietnam War fills that gap. From a distance of 50 years, you will reexamine the war and its lessons. Throughout, Prof. Brigham sheds light on the United States and its place in the world today.

What causes wars? How are they fought, and why do they ultimately end? Join West Point Chief of Military History Bryan Gibby to learn how factors such as politics, economics, ideology, geography, and technology have influenced military conflict.

The chronicle of Catholicism can seem daunting: full of names, dates, places, and phrases. Getting ahold of such a rich and diverse history requires guidance and a skillful approach. In this brilliant survey course, you'll explore traditions of belief and innovate ways to describe, share, and live that faith. With Dr. Bellitto as your guide, you'll look at the major periods of church history: early, medieval, reformation, and modern. As you take this journey, you'll examine changes and continuities across the centuries.

The winner of the “Nobel Prize of Theology” guides you into the world of the first Christians to explore the circumstances, faith, and ideas that indelibly shaped Christianity. In this best-selling audio series by world-renowned patristic scholar Professor Brian E. Daley, S.J., you will encounter the first Christians and the beginnings of our Church.

In 24 engaging lectures, WWII historian and celebrated Vanderbilt professor Michael Bess introduces you to the men and women who faced some of history’s toughest choices. You will meet the man who stopped Hitler’s atomic bomb, the pilots who won the Battle of Midway, the Soviet “Man of Steel”, the pacifist who built the bomb, and many more. World War II was the quintessential “good war”. But it was not free of moral ambiguity, painful dilemmas, and unavoidable compromises. How could ordinary citizens have brought themselves to perpetrate atrocities?

World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, involving the majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities into the war effort. It was by far the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 70 to 85 million fatalities, due to actual battles as well as genocides (the Holocaust), starvation, massacres, and disease.

Drawing on the letters and records of individual soldiers, this compelling audio course invites you to explore the relationship between events on the battlefield and life on the home front. With more than 600,000 casualties, the Civil War cannot be understood by looking exclusively at famous figures like Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant. As you’ll see, ordinary people — volunteer soldiers, runaway slaves, civilians in both the North and South — shaped the course of history.

This concise, three-segment audio series by award-winning Catholic historian Christopher Bellitto is designed to thoughtfully answer your questions. In Picking Popes, Dr. Bellitto reviews the colorful history of picking popes, conclaves, and cardinals. You'll find plenty of anecdotes and analyses from a history professor who works with the media during papal transitions.