
The War of the Three Gods
Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam
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Narrated by:
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James Lurie
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By:
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Peter Crawford
The War of the Three Gods is a military history of the Near and Middle East in the seventh century - with its chief focus on the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius (AD 610-641) - a pivotal and dramatic time in world history. The Eastern Roman Empire was brought to the very brink of extinction by the Sassanid Persians before Heraclius managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Sassanids with a desperate, final gambit. His conquests were shortlived, however, for the newly converted adherents of Islam burst upon the region, administering the coup de grace to Sassanid power and laying siege to Constantinople itself, ushering in a new era.
Peter Crawford skillfully explains the threeway struggle between the Christian Roman, Zoroastrian Persian, and Islamic Arab empires, a period of conflict peopled with fascinating characters, including Heraclius, Khusro II, and the Prophet Muhammad himself. Many of the epic battles of the period - Nineveh, Yarmuk, Qadisiyyah, and Nahavand - and sieges such as those of Jerusalem and Constantinople are described in as rich detail. The strategies and tactics of these very different armies are discussed and analyzed, while plentiful maps allow the listener to follow the events and varying fortunes of the contending empires. This is an exciting and important study of a conflict that reshaped the map of the world.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Peter Crawford. First published 2013 Pen & Sword Books Limited (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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I'm usually very forgiving of readers / narrators unless their reading negatively affects my opinion of the book. Here, Lurie did influence my listening satisfaction. In terms of his reading, he's fine and his voice seems reasonably matched to the material. However, given the size of the empires discussed and wide range of "characters" his mispronunciations made it harder to follow a book already packed with perhaps unfamiliar places and people. As this is an avoidable problem, it's harder to forgive.
Three Gods is an insightful work which provokes questions about the validity of Eurocentric views of the "Dark Ages."
Recommended listen for history buffs
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Filled in some blanks
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The author strikes a good balance between creating an entertaining narrative and acknowledging when the historical sources are too spotty to be dogmatic about what actually occurred. Though not as compelling as similar titles in the genre, the book is well-written overall.
The narration of this book is nearly unbearable. The narrator has a professional voice and good pronunciation but doesn't project well, resulting in a whisper-like, grumbly, bass-heavy recording. This is problematic for me, since I do the majority of my listening while engaged in sometimes-noisy manual labor and almost always listen to my books at 2x or 3x normal playback speed. Even while driving, I've found it difficult to concentrate on the content unless I play the audio at high volume and at 1x or 1.25x speed.
I'm pleased that Audible has provided a PDF supplement with this audiobook, featuring political and battle strategy maps which have proved more fascinating than the book itself. This is a welcome change to the several books and lectures I have downloaded which advertise supplementary content but fail to deliver.
Having trouble finishing this one...
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Interesting book, a bit dry
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a secularist writing about what he doesn't underst
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An educational trip back thirteen centuries in time
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A historical drama, but lots of facts
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There's no standing still in human history.
What Dark Ages
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Superb
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Good historical narrative
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