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Life in Year One: What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine Audiobook
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(3.04) - 123 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
What was it like to live during the time of Jesus? Where did people live? Who did they marry? What was family life like? And how did people survive?
These are just some of the questions that Scott Korb answers in this engaging new book, which explores what everyday life entailed two thousand years ago in first-century Palestine, that tumultuous era when the Roman Empire was at its zenith and a new religion—Christianity—was born.
Culling information from primary sources, scholarly research, and his own travels and observations, Korb explores the nitty-gritty of real life back then—from how people fed, housed, and groomed themselves to how they kept themselves healthy. He guides the contemporary listener through the maze of customs and traditions that dictated life under the numerous groups, tribes, and peoples in the eastern Mediterranean that Rome governed two thousand years ago, and he illuminates the intriguing details of marriage, family life, health, and a host of other aspects of first-century life. The result is a book for everyone, from the armchair traveler to the amateur historian. With surprising revelations about politics and medicine, crime and personal hygiene, this book is smart and accessible popular history at its very best.
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"Really interesting read, easy to get into and the foot notes are sometimes amusing. As the author says "this is not a book about Jesus"..it's much more of a history book, or cultural history. Found out "leprosy" in those days was not what we tend to think it was at all. "
— Marz (4 out of 5 stars)
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Easygoing in pace, Morey's narration is more conversational than dramatic, a style that makes this detailed work accessible and interesting from the beginning.
— AudioFile -
“Korb’s vivid, breezy prose makes accessible a mountain of scholarship that illuminates the past.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Easygoing in pace, Morey’s narration is more conversational than dramatic, a style that makes this detailed work accessible and interesting from the beginning.”
— AudioFile
Life in Year One Listener Reviews
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" It was interesting. It wasn't too dense or academic, which I was thankful for. It reads like an entertaining lecture on life during the time of Jesus. "
— David, 12/12/2013 -
" Very odd. Learned a few new facts, but not much. Found the footnotes and high-ho cheerio style more than distracting. The conclusion is just plain off. "
— Erin, 11/12/2013 -
" Nice popular social history extrapolating everyday details (food, housing, social customs) from first century sources--What Have the Romans Done For Us? Well, let you pay your back-breaking taxes with specially minted non-iconic coins, for one. "
— Margaret, 10/3/2013 -
" Quite enjoyable, but not anything that's going to stick with me. "
— Schmerica, 10/1/2013 -
" A very good breakdown of everyday life, to the extent that it can be imagined from the source materials available. Especially enjoyed the comparison of these materials to what is said in the Bible, shining new light on old verses. Epilog is particularly enjoyable. "
— Thom, 7/5/2012 -
" Really interesting read, easy to get into and the foot notes are sometimes amusing. As the author says "this is not a book about Jesus"..it's much more of a history book, or cultural history. Found out "leprosy" in those days was not what we tend to think it was at all. "
— Marz, 7/2/2012 -
" Fun and informative. Not probably appealing to the hard-core historian. They don't like "fun." "
— Bob, 3/19/2012 -
" Very enjoyable read as far as the writing goes, and the format is nice and simple (each chapter focuses on on one topic, such as food, death, etc.). A few of his observations, however, are a little too speculative and the research, at times, is incomplete. "
— Dave, 6/19/2011 -
" Very odd. Learned a few new facts, but not much. Found the footnotes and high-ho cheerio style more than distracting. The conclusion is just plain off. "
— Erin, 3/31/2011 -
" Very enjoyable read as far as the writing goes, and the format is nice and simple (each chapter focuses on on one topic, such as food, death, etc.). A few of his observations, however, are a little too speculative and the research, at times, is incomplete. "
— Dave, 3/18/2011 -
" Quite enjoyable, but not anything that's going to stick with me. "
— Schmerica, 5/26/2010 -
" Fun and informative. Not probably appealing to the hard-core historian. They don't like "fun." "
— Bob, 5/21/2010 -
" It was interesting. It wasn't too dense or academic, which I was thankful for. It reads like an entertaining lecture on life during the time of Jesus. "
— David, 5/9/2010
About Scott Korb
Scott Korb, a writer and documentary editor, has been published in Harper’s, Gastronomica, Commonweal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Baltimore Sun. He is coauthor, with Peter Bebergal, of The Faith Between Us and associate editor of the Harriet Jacobs Family Papers, the first and possibly only papers collection that will ever exist of a woman held in slavery. Korb earned master’s degrees from Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University and currently teaches at New York University.
About Arthur Morey
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.