A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST

The writers pack a few thousand years, hundreds of names, and too many dates into 18 hours of listening. The information about culture, religion, and geography comes so fast that the density could negate its suitability for audio. Although the authors claim students will benefit most from their encyclopedic work, beginners might consider reading it from the page. Narrator Tom Weiner occasionally changes his normal voice into a nuanced speech that could be perceived as the use of italics or a dramatic aside. He doesn’t stumble on the hundreds of Arabic words, but it’s clear they don’t come from a native speaker. He inflects by raising and lowering his volume, which works for an earphones-wearing listener in a quiet environment, but without earphones a lot may get lost. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010]