The History of the Peloponnesian War

(2.5 stars)

Rick

good history but had a problem with the first readers level of literacy if you cannot properly pronounce the names involved then you should not be reading instead of infecting others with your mispronunciations you should learn to properly pronounce Greek names

Important history, but....

(0.5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

20 hours, i cant believe i listened to the whole thing. one reader was drinking water, gulping into the microphone. way too dry, this book is.

(2 stars)

mafinokc

The first reader, Ryan, immediately gets off to a bad start by mispronouncing "Thucydides." Getting the name of the author wrong is inexcusable. Add to that the room echo, the grating nasality of his voice, and his not bothering to shield his microphone from the pop-pop-pop of his plosives, and what you've got is an adventure in bad reading so execrable that it's unlistenable. But Ryan isn't unique. Librivox may be performing a service, but the readers are all volunteers, and you get what you pay for. Nine out of ten Librivox readers are bad readers in one way or another. Some of them are SO bad they shouldn't be allowed in front of a microphone.

Exceptional work of history

(5 stars)

simon murdoch

I find this book exceptional. It is difficult to write a review which does justice to the text. There is so much in here besides a simple narration of the war. Thucydides has such a deep understanding of the causes of things, and all the different aspects of war and politics. There is real pathos in this account. Thucydides' writing has gravity and seriousness, and he never displays partiality, yet still manages to convey his personal opinions. The paired speeches, putting forward opposing arguments, are exceptional. I find myself convinced by both speakers!

Great Book Poor Narration

(2.5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

The book becomes hard to understand because the poor capabilities of the narrator. Blunders on punctuation, mis pronunciation, Blowing into the microphone, gulping water. Going back an editing in mistakes that can be differentiated from the original reading. Reads like he is in a race to get all the words out with no context to the actual text version of this book. at least for the first 3 books. the second narrator seems at least a little better.

Great History Some Indifferent Narration.

(3 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Unfortunately too many poor narrators. A lack of a proper cadence and a knowledge of Greek pronunciations has let down a number of narrators.. Their halting and stuttering style made many chapters a hard listen. However some excellent narrators did a great job.

Challenging work well done

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Having many difficult greek names and places to pronounce, this is a challenging work to be sure. The narrators did well in their efforts to read this already challenging classical work.

Awesome

(5 stars)

Chesterton Cobb

sure, the audio quality and the readers are poor, but the history and social theory is incredible. I am grateful for the days of recording and editing that went into making this available.