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  • Madness and Civilization

  • A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
  • Written by: Michel Foucault
  • Narrated by: Dave Gillies
  • Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
  • 3.0 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

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Madness and Civilization

Written by: Michel Foucault
Narrated by: Dave Gillies
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Publisher's Summary

In this classic account of madness, Michel Foucault shows once and for all why he is one of the most distinguished European philosophers since the end of World War II. Madness and Civilization, Foucault's first book and his finest accomplishment, will change the way in which you think about society. Evoking shock, pity, and fascination, it might also make you question the way you think about yourself.

©1972 Editions Gallimard; English translation copyright 1965 by Random House, Inc. (P)2016 Tantor

What the critics say

"Superb scholarship rendered with artistry." ( The Nation)

What listeners say about Madness and Civilization

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Great book, but distracting, poor narration.

This is a great book in the history of 20th century thought. However, the narration is so bad it's distracting.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Poor performance, missing discussions

My biggest problem with the title is poor performance.
Foucault approaches the topic of madness with his signature historic analysis. However, I find many limitations to his analysis:
First, as was not very strong with English and other languages, his analysis is very much concentrated on France history.
Secondly, I believe he could spend more time elaborating the relationship of madness and violence, drug trophy, drug misuse, depression, etc. The subject simply can be developed far more.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worst narrator accent ever!

They couldn’t find an English speaking narrator that doesn’t have a heavy Scottish accident apparently. This is the best way to ruin the work of one of the greatest philosophers, just give it to a mediocre narrator with a weird accent!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great narration

i saw a review when i bought this that said the narration was bad, but i could listen to this guy read the phone book. the book was great, and i loved the reading of it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator

Couldn't pay attention to the content because the narrator speaks as if reading a fantasy novel or a thriller. He whispers half the sentence and almost shouts the other half. We do not need that much intonation when listening to a book about history. This is an exposition, not a plotline with twists and unexpected characters. I couldn't listen to more than an hour... and I really tried because the topic is fascinating to me.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Horrible narration

The narration was so bad it was distracting. It made it difficult to retain any of the information, and I am an avid fan and reader of Foucault.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Overly dramatic narration for the content.

The narrator makes this almost unlistenable - he sounds as if is trying to turn the content into soliloquy. The read is so heavily characterized that the content becomes obscured.

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1 person found this helpful