Narration style does not match the content

This review is not concerning the content of the book but rather its adaptation as an audio book.
This seems like a classic case of where the author should have read it. Tom Holland does read the forward of the book and it was just fine. However when Mark Meadows takes over is when things go wrong. There is nothing wrong per se with Meadow's performance, it just doesn't match the style need for a history book. What I'm looking for in an audio history book is a narration that is almost totally transparent, this performance is almost the opposite. When listening to the book rather than hearing the statements as just "matter of fact" instead you end up with the impression that a character from a Shakespearean play has burst into a grand monologue. It is very distracting. Tom please do it yourself next time.

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Too much to understand and learn.

Remarkable book. The finals remarks from im Holland are a clever ending to the story.

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An eclectic narrative history of Christianity

In Genesis 32:22-32, Jacob wrestled with what he thought was a man but turned out to be God, and he received a blessing. This blessing was a confirmation of the promises and blessings God had given his grandfather before him.
In a way, this book is about the author, as a historian, wrestling with God.
It's fairly humble and clearly it tries to be objective.
It falls short of making some of the conclusions that it hints at and leads you towards, and it glosses over aspects of the history that reveal more fundamental facets of the faith.
For someone steeped in history, there's nothing revolutionary here. However, for someone brought up in a system or tradition that derided, scorned, or dismissed Christianity, this is an important book that shows how Christianity is still alive in many of the best facets of civilisation and culture, even though it has also been perverted by politics and academics.

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Great book, but poorly read

The reader finishes his sentences as if catching his breath. Also, the pauses between sentences are annoyingly long.

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Great book, terrible reader

This is a really well-researched piece of work by Tom Holland. He has clearly done his homework and knows his history.

If only though the author had read the whole book instead of just the introduction. While the introduction really grabbed me with the way it was read, the rest of the book is read by someone trying desperately to emphasise certain points but coming off as dead boring. I found myself constantly tuning out while listening, which is disappointing for such a fascinating topic. Someone needs to tell the reader of the book that it’s not a novel; it’s history and therefore needs to be read differently.

I would still recommend the book for its great content, but perhaps the paper version would hold my attention a lot more.

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Wow

Eye opening and decently thorough considering the scope of history this book is covering. definitely recommend.

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great work of scholarship

magnificient story telling
great insight into contemporary culture
a great work of scholarship for lay people

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Interesting argument on the history of Secularism

Tom Holland makes an interesting argument for the intertwined history of Secularism and Christianity. In Dominion by showing the roots of the modern world in those of the early church, Mr Holland makes the point that concepts about society and justice that the modern world take to be self evident were far from it when Christianity was born.

It's an argument that many people both conservative and liberal I am sure will both find aspects that both clash and reflect their own worldview. An outlook both snowflakey and problematic. In this way it is in itself a reflection that the current culture war in the west is a civil war that stretches back to early Christendom. A civil war between people who fundamentally believe in the power of love and mercy.

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This one not his best

I have read it listened to every book written by Tom Holland, truly a great historian and I have never been disappointed but this one is a bit too rambling, a bit too anecdotal and well, too LONG. Many of its assertions are interesting but remain assertions, many connections inspired but not demonstrated. The last three hours or so the 20th century truly taxed my patience, hopping here and there while endlessly pontificating...I wish I could like it better but I just can’t. Once it left the first Millenium A.D it just lost its way.

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ad hoc hypothesis the modus operandi

good. decent narration, intresting tidbits.

bad. cheery picked examples to further the red line of christianity's bedrock values made a fundation of the west. Certainly a reasonable argument, this book does not challenge but seek only to proclaim. Spanning the scope of centuries, dynastic politics, war, plauge etc seems to all be whims of man when a random pope finally says no more sex for priests or challenge a monarch to whom appoints biachops. Anecdotal all the way.

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