Guerin Shea
- 15
- reviews
- 55
- helpful votes
- 63
- ratings
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Herbert Hoover
- A Life
- By: Glen Jeansonne
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 255
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
Prize-winning historian Glen Jeansonne delves into the life of our most misunderstood president, offering up a surprising new portrait of Herbert Hoover - dismissing previous assumptions and revealing a political Progressive in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt and the most resourceful American since Benjamin Franklin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Thought provoking
- By Jean on 10-26-16
- Herbert Hoover
- A Life
- By: Glen Jeansonne
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
Excellent
Reviewed: 11-05-16
It was such a joy to hear of this great President and even better humanitarian. President Hoover has been vilified by the hateful and LYING democrats for causing the Great Depression - for they well knew the Great Depression emanated in 12 European countries months before October 29, 1939 - but the fact of the matter is Franklin Roosevelt utilized many of the measures Hoover attempted to get through during his administration, then bastardized them with his unconstitutional New (RAW) Deal.
Herbert Clark Hoover had more wisdom and integrity in his little finger than the woman who will be elected POTUS in 3 days has in her whole body. Period.
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2 people found this helpful
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The Fall of Heaven
- The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran
- By: Andrew Scott Cooper
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 223
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 204
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 204
In this remarkably human portrait of one of the 20th century's most complicated personalities, author Andrew Scott Cooper traces Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's life from childhood through his ascension to the throne in 1941. He highlights the turbulence of the postwar era, during which the shah survived assassination attempts and coup plots to build a modern, pro-Western state and launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent account of a pivotal and sad time
- By Guerin Shea on 09-05-16
- The Fall of Heaven
- The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran
- By: Andrew Scott Cooper
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
Excellent account of a pivotal and sad time
Reviewed: 09-05-16
This book is an excellent account of a pivotal and sad time. The Iranian Devolution was the first international crisis I was old enough to fully grasp, and in addition to the scope of Carter's complete ineptitude this work shined a great light on how both the Shah has been mischaracterized by leftist historical revisionists but also how radical Islamists (is that so hard to say, dems?) manipulate the masses to meet their own diabolical aims. This is just as pertinent now as it was in 1979, since the current POTUS obviously hasn't learned from relatively recent history.......
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10 people found this helpful
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Act of War
- Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo
- By: Jack Cheevers
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 620
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 556
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 558
In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking, ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Mesmerizing book
- By Jean on 09-18-14
- Act of War
- Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo
- By: Jack Cheevers
- Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
Excellent recount of an all too forgotten struggle
Reviewed: 08-11-16
Breezed through this fine work in 4 days, such was my interest in the subject and my love for the author's narrative of same. I HIGHLY recommend it - what I heretofore thought was an ancillary by-product I've now come to appreciate as a pivotal benchmark in our relations with the DPRK.
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3 people found this helpful
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The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,335
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,199
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,194
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
- The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
Glorious and tragic
Reviewed: 07-18-16
Just finished this magnificent tome and enjoyed every bit of it. It is a most comprehensive documentation of the glorious and tragic 305 year epoch that was the Romanov dynasty.
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6 people found this helpful
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When the Church Was Young
- Voices of the Early Fathers
- By: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Narrated by: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,006
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 871
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 871
Marcellino D'Ambrosio dusts off what might have been just dry theology to bring you the exciting stories of great heroes such as Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Jerome. These brilliant, embattled, and sometimes eccentric men defined the biblical canon, hammered out the Creed, and gave us our understanding of sacraments and salvation. It is they who preserved the rich legacy of the early Church for us.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterful summary of the early Church Fathers
- By Mike C on 08-22-14
- When the Church Was Young
- Voices of the Early Fathers
- By: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Narrated by: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
An excellent work on the founders of my Faith
Reviewed: 04-14-16
This book is a great introduction to the Early Church Fathers! Marcellino D'Ambrosio helps the reader understand the conflict and tension that took place in the years after the death of Christ and how these great men helped to keep it true to the Church that Jesus established on earth.
As this is an objective depiction of the times and of the men, I would recommend this book to anyone who has romanticized the early years of the Church or who thinks that the problems and conflicts we face today are unique to our times.
In the end, this book helped me to value every word of the Creed I profess each time I attend Mass.
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Empress Dowager Cixi
- The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Jolene Kim
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 440
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 378
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 376
At the age of 16, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor's numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband and made herself the real ruler of China - behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An insult to audiobooks. Get a print version.
- By Reademandweep on 02-23-15
- Empress Dowager Cixi
- The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Jolene Kim
Magnificent
Reviewed: 03-26-16
This book was an absolute joy for me. Cixi was a remarkable woman who hasn't gotten ANYWHERE NEAR the credit she deserves for steering China into the modern age. While she was certainly no Saint, I think her biggest flaw was that she came a generation too early. I can't recommend this book highly enough - even if one has no interest in Chinese history whatsoever this work WILL totally captivate the reader, for it truly flows as a novel rather than a history book.
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1 person found this helpful
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How the Irish Saved Civilization
- The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 955
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 633
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Story4 out of 5 stars 632
Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization, they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task. As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating book
- By P on 08-15-04
- How the Irish Saved Civilization
- The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: Donal Donnelly
One proud Irishman here
Reviewed: 03-20-16
Revisiting this book after 20 years was an incredible journey for this Irishman. I can't stress its importance enough.
Our civilization is undergoing massive changes in the 21st century. Cahill's book provides a blueprint for how we may continue to transmit our civilization's fundamental values to future generations. Change is inevitable - loss is not.
Cahill presents an a history which has been forcibly suppressed by the British for 5 centuries of a tolerant, democratic, and lusty religion in the portraits of Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid, Saint Columba, and others of the early Irish Church. We should look back to these figures as spiritual leaders in the 21st century.
Thanks, Aunt Sara. 😇
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The Immortal Irishman
- The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,449
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,090
The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man. A dashing young orator during the Great Famine of the 1840s, in which a million of his Irish countrymen died, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony. He escaped and six months later was heralded in the streets of New York - the revolutionary hero, back from the dead, at the dawn of the great Irish immigration to America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Yes, but....
- By Dale and Carol on 04-01-16
- The Immortal Irishman
- The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
Inspiring
Reviewed: 03-16-16
It was such a joy to hear this magnificent work. There's SO many things this taught me, including the fact that Meagher was at one point living in my hometown of Nashville. I have such an immense appreciation for what he achieved for my people in Ireland and in America.
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1 person found this helpful
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Dead Presidents
- An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders
- By: Brady Carlson
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4 out of 5 stars 87
In Dead Presidents, NPR host Brady Carlson takes listeners to presidential gravesites, monuments, and memorials to tell the death stories of our greatest leaders. Mixing biography and travelogue, Carlson explores whether William Henry Harrison really died of a cold, why Zachary Taylor's remains were exhumed 140 years after his death, and how what killed James A. Garfield wasn't an assassin's bullet.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Dead ends and in depth history.
- By ellie on 03-04-16
- Dead Presidents
- An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders
- By: Brady Carlson
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
Fun
Reviewed: 02-16-16
Finished this on Presidents' Day. Rather lightweight but enjoyable work on the subject I've held in most esteem since I was a boy.
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1 person found this helpful
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Goebbels: A Biography
- By: Peter Longerich, Alan Bance - translator, Jeremy Noakes - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 315
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 288
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 287
In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal acolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers firsthand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for years to come.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Account of the Private Goebbels, But...
- By Derek on 05-29-15
Great study of a truly sick man
Reviewed: 01-23-16
I've read several tomes on Nazi Germany. This is definitely a valuable contribution to the analysis of how a civilized nation could succumb to murderous fanatics. The author probes Goebbels' diaries in parallel with news reports, other historical documents and more to try to understand how Goebbels, head of propaganda, could become what he became and do what he did.
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3 people found this helpful