Lars Brownworth Audiobooks

Lost to the West restores Byzantium to the Western story, from a podcaster turned historian

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.6/5 average

1 listener rating

Who is Lars Brownworth?

Lars Brownworth, born around 1975, is an American author and history teacher who found his audience in an unusual way: through headphones. With his brother Anders he created 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of the Byzantine Empire, a podcast started on a whim that climbed into the top fifty and, in effect, launched a writing career.

In 2007 he resigned from teaching to write Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization, published in 2009. The books that followed – The Normans, The Sea Wolves, In Distant Lands and The Caesars – cemented the reputation, his earlier books all reaching the New York Times bestseller lists, and he made a television debut in the Netflix series Rise of Empires: Ottomans. He now teaches history, political science and humanities at The Stony Brook School on Long Island, New York.

Lars Brownworth in audiobooks

Lost to the West is the Brownworth title we feature, and it does what its subtitle promises: it restores the forgotten Byzantine Empire to its proper place in the story of Western civilisation. Because Brownworth built his audience by podcasting, his history is shaped for listening – clear lines, strong characters, real momentum – and the audiobook feels like the book’s natural home rather than an afterthought.

For UK listeners who get through narrative history on the commute, this is an easy recommendation: the sweep of an empire delivered at a conversational pace, by a storyteller who learned his trade out loud.