First Contact/The Cult of Progress cover art

First Contact/The Cult of Progress

Civilisations

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

First Contact/The Cult of Progress

By: David Olusoga
Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Oscar Wilde said 'Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.' Was he right? In Civilisations, David Olusoga travels the world to piece together the shared histories that link nations.

In Part One, First Contact, we discover what happened to art in the great Age of Discovery, when civilisations encountered each other for the first time. Although undoubtedly a period of conquest and destruction, it was also one of mutual curiosity, global trade and the exchange of ideas.

In Part Two, The Cult of Progress, we see how the Industrial Revolution transformed the world, impacting every corner, and every civilisation, from the cotton mills of the Midlands through Napoleon's conquest of Egypt to the decimation of both Native American and Maori populations and the advent of photography in Paris in 1839.

Incredible art - both looted and created - relays the key events and their outcomes throughout the world.©2018 David Olusoga (P)2018 Hachette Audio
Africa Ancient Art Civilization Great Britain England Ancient History Ancient Greece Cult
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

A House Through Time cover art
The Story of Greece and Rome cover art
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano cover art
The Dawn of Language cover art
The Silk Road cover art
Great Zimbabwe cover art
African and Caribbean People in Britain cover art
The Roman Empire cover art
The Ocean of Churn cover art
The Whole Picture cover art
A History of the World cover art
Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power cover art
Black Tudors cover art
The History of Western Art cover art
The Renaissance cover art
Lost Enlightenment cover art

What listeners say about First Contact/The Cult of Progress

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent short insights

Excellent short insights into first contacts between civilisations and the role art played in documenting such events.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Real truth brought to bear...

Amazingly told allegory, of the truth, of the history of yesteryear. this brought to light the many lies of the colonisers. Their barbaric and uncivilized ways in which they took over the world.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Methodical

Olussoga writes about important subjects, namely the close, frequent and often surprising interactions of cultures, from Japan to Benin. The book reads as a series of vignettes, loosely connected but distinct enough that it can feel overly methodical at parts. The narrator is impassioned, emotive.Overall definitely worth a read, especially as a survay-text for greater study in the field of history of art or global relations.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed the book very much, but

I have no idea why narrators take on the cliched accent of the subject in a non-fiction book - I cringed at the brash American and effete French accents (but strangely not the German accent for Otto Dix). It’s a distraction and ridiculous. Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting and informative

A longtime fan of David Olusoga’s work, I expected this to be a worthwhile ‘read’. I was not disappointed. It demonstrates the power and importance of all cultures in civilizations whilst leaving you feeling frustrated that European colonialism allowed such a narrow view of the world to shine through.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!