I'm trying to teach myself some of the broad narrative/trends of (European/Western) history, to fill a major gap left by school. I wondered if anyone had any views on the 'Great Courses' website, which seems to generally provide series of 24-48 lectures, each half an hour https://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/category/history.html?CFM=mega_menu Are the people who do them serious academics, and are they pitched at a reasonable level (I guess college-level rather than high school).
I'd be looking to get these through audible and listen to during commutes, so any views on if they are really designed for just audio or need visual would be really helpful too.
PS: this is an example of the sort of thing I find really helpful for this sort of thing, giving an overview/structure for more detailed reading: Yale: The Early Middle Ages 284-1000
I am not one of the scholars here, but since nobody else has taken a stab at answering . . .
I study biblical history as a hobby, and own a number of their religious studies courses. I cannot speak for the other fields, but all of the professors in this category are recognized and respected scholars in their field. I have really enjoyed them and am always inspired listening to people speak about something they are passionate about.
I cannot speak to other fields, but the lectures I've listened to are an appropriate level for an adult audience. The site is frustratingly not loading this morning, so I apologize that I cannot share links, but they actually do have a handful of courses available for high school students, which I used when I homeschooled my kids.
As for whether they are suitable for solely audio, that depends on the lecture. You'll notice the older lectures are simply the professor standing at a podium speaking in front of an audience, while the newer videos definitely incorporate more photo/video. While I think they all can stand alone as audio, whether you are going to be missing out is going to depend on the topic. I had my kids watch a series called something like 'World's Greatest Geological Wonders', which would have been rather pointless to watch without the visuals.
I saved your question for later response... and completely forgot about it, and it disappeared into my "loose links" folder.
At the time you asked this, I had just gotten into the Audible versions of the "Great Courses." My job was such that I could listen while I worked, all day long if I wished.
When one of the offerings showed up in a 2-for-1 deal, I took a shot. I've since listened to a few more, and my feelings are... mixed.
For a "casual" course, or one where you know something about the topic already, I think listening to one of these is a great way to spend time. The first one I did was How Great Science Fiction Works by Gary K Wolfe. I've been reading SF for roughly 40 of my 50 years, so I've a decent starting point to reference on the topic.
It was quite good. It filled in a few gaps in my history, mainly at the beginning of SF in general (Jules Verne, Mary Shelly, that sort of thing), and was an entertaining experience for the whole of its run.
On the other hand, if you're NOT familiar with the topic at hand, the audio version may not be as good. For example, I have only a very cursory knowledge of the Civil War... mostly of the "North vs South, slavery, Gettysburg, Lee vs US Grant, Battle of the Wilderness, the South loses, the end" variety.
So I gave The American Civil War by Gary W Gallagher a run.
One thing about my job,it was a paperless environment. We worked with medical information, so there were some stringent HIPAA rules we needed to follow, rules our client made even tougher. So having the attendant PDF for the course was right out... and I believe having maps and other information in front of me would have made the class MUCH more useful.
Understand: there's nothing wrong with the course. It just wasn't meant to be listened to in my circumstance.
Meanwhile, in the Science Fiction course, I needed no PDF... hell, I'd read most of the books published before 1995 or so that were referenced. Because of that, however, I think I actually got more out of it, despite knowing much of the material, than I did the Civil War class.
Recently, the powers that be at my job decided that my services were no longer wanted or needed. So now I've got plenty of time, and I'm going to go back and listen to the class again but this time with the reference material open.
But until then, I've got to say that the Great Courses concept is... um... great, but may not always work in an audio-only format.
I listen to many of the great courses and find audio is very good. Till April 5th I think, audible has a promo on. You can get 12 credits for 99 dollars. Go to r/audible and learn more there.
The courses are often at university level and are taught by excellent professors.