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Bobby Fischer Goes to War
- How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match
- Narrated by: Sam Tsoutsouvas
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the summer of 1972, with a presidential crisis stirring in the United States and the cold war at a pivotal point, two men, the Soviet world chess champion Boris Spassky and his American challenger Bobby Fischer, met in the most notorious chess match of all time. Their showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, held the world spellbound for two months with reports of psychological warfare, ultimatums, political intrigue, cliffhangers, and farce to rival a Marx Brothers film.
Thirty years later, David Edmonds and John Eidinow, authors of the national best seller Wittgenstein's Poker, have set out to re-examine the story we recollect as the quintessential cold war clash between a lone American star and the Soviet chess machine, a machine that had delivered the world title to the Kremlin for decades. Drawing upon unpublished Soviet and US records, the authors reconstruct the full and incredible saga, one far more poignant and layered than hitherto believed.
Against the backdrop of superpower politics, the authors recount the careers and personalities of Boris Spassky, the product of Stalin's imperium, and Bobby Fischer, a child of post-World War II America, an era of economic boom at home and communist containment abroad. The two men had nothing in common but their gift for chess, and the disparity of their outlook and values conditioned the struggle over the board.
Then there was the match itself, which produced both creative masterpieces and some of the most improbable gaffes in chess history. And finally, there was the dramatic and protracted off-the-board battle, in corridors and foyers, in back rooms and hotel suites, in Moscow offices and in the White House.
A mesmerizing narrative of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair, Bobby Fischer Goes to War is a biting deconstruction of the Bobby Fischer myth, a nuanced study on the art of brinkmanship, and a revelatory cold war tragicomedy.
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- Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Three Days in Moscow, Baier explores the dramatic endgame of America’s long struggle with the Soviet Union and President Ronald Reagan’s central role in shaping the world we live in today. On May 31, 1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable - yet now largely forgotten - speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital.
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Amazing!
- By Brian W. Barton on 05-20-18
By: Bret Baier, and others
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Kissinger
- A Biography
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a Gallup poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world’s imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued.
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A dissapointment
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-16-13
By: Walter Isaacson
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Nixon and Mao
- The Week That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret MacMillan brings her extraordinary gifts to two of the most important countries today, the United States and China, and one of the most significant moments in modern history: Richard Nixon's week in China in February 1972, which opened relations between America and China (closed since the communists came to power in 1949).
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Incisive
- By Roy on 08-23-10
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Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography, we see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.
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What Might Have Been?
- By Mel on 12-06-11
By: Chris Matthews
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The Irregulars
- Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Prior to the U.S. entering WWII, a small coterie of British spies in Washington, D.C., was formed. They called themselves the Baker Street Irregulars after the band of street urchins who were the eyes and ears of Sherlock Holmes in some Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
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Spying in Washington
- By Sara on 10-03-14
By: Jennet Conant
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Reagan at Reykjavik
- Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War
- By: Ken Adelman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A dramatic account of the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Iceland - the turning point in the Cold War - by Ken Adelman, Reagan's arms control director and a key player in that weekend's world-changing events. In October 1986, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a forty-eight-hour summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Planned as a short gathering to outline future talks, the meeting quickly turned to major international issues, including SDI ("Star Wars") and the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons.
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Outstanding Tribute
- By MOV on 11-17-23
By: Ken Adelman
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The Dirtiest Race in History
- Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100M Final
- By: Richard Moore
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of athletics, and more indelibly etched into the consciousness of the sport, the Olympics, and a global audience of millions, than any other athletics event before or since.
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Great story
- By sosnows8 on 07-08-20
By: Richard Moore
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Moscow, December 25,1991
- The Last Day of the Soviet Union
- By: Conor O'Clery
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking “bulldozer,” wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by hardline communists, shook Gorbachev’s authority and was a triumph for Yeltsin.
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Gorbachev is GOD!
- By Rodney on 03-07-19
By: Conor O'Clery
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Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
By: Michael Shelden
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JFK's Last Hundred Days
- The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s final days that asks what might have been. Fifty years after his assassination, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, both in his family and in the key issues of his day: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.
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In Depth and Beautifully Written
- By grace on 06-03-23
By: Thurston Clarke
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The Fifties
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the 10 years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon; but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; and more.
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one of the very best
- By Chester Chellman on 09-25-18
By: David Halberstam
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Three Days in January
- Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this debut history from one of America's most influential political journalists, Bret Baier casts the three days between Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic "farewell address" on the evening of January 17, 1961, and his successor John F. Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the final mission of one of modern America's greatest leaders.
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Gently In Manner, Strongly In Deed...
- By Gillian on 01-20-17
By: Bret Baier, and others
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What listeners say about Bobby Fischer Goes to War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Julia
- 11-14-05
A fascinating event, a peculiar man
What a truly peculiar individual Bobby Fischer is/was! I found myself, as an American, ashamed of Fischer's behavior throughout the match. It comes under the category of truth being stranger than fiction.
The cold war aspects are truly interesting and integrated well into the narrative.
I admit that I have a new interest and appreciation for chess and the people who play it with great skill. The story is read well (especially all those challenging Russian names).
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gene
- 02-09-05
Engrossing
This is the enjoyable background story behind the immortal Fischer-Spassky chess match of 1972, the one that held the world spellbound and caused chess to become fashionable. No chess knowledge is necessary to appreciate this book. It not only sheds light on the chess world but on the relationship between the USSR and the US, a relationship that is no doubt being forgotten by the post-USSR generation. The most revealing moments in the book are the descriptions of the behind-the-scene struggles of the Soviets as it became clear that Spassky was losing the match. Much of the story is familiar to chess afficionados, but this retelling adds a bit of depth. It not only discusses Fischer's life and demise, but that of Spassky and many others in the chess world, from Steinitz to Paul Morphy to Tal, Petrosian, Smyslov, and even current #1 Garry Kasparov. This is a must-listen for chessplayers. Recommended further reading: "The Pathetic Endgame of Bobby Fischer", which I think is still available on the Atlantic Monthly web site. The only drawbacks of the book are its popular and somewhat superficial approach and the indications that its narrator and/or author are not particularly outstanding chess players. Fischer's incredible 6-0 victories over Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen are also discussed, along with various paranoid theories about how he achieved his victories, when it is clear that he was always a formidable talent and thus didn't need skullduggery to shake the chess world.
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17 people found this helpful
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- john
- 02-19-17
awesome
great book. well done. u loced it and u will too. enjoy this great book
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- Zackary Sporcic
- 05-04-17
Great info, a little dry for first half
A great reading, the beginning is dry as we talk about the background that helped to build up the match. I have done a lot of personal research on this match and felt like all of the information was accurate but some items were glossed over, id imagine to focus on the match itself, the analog about Regina Fisher is probably one of the best insights to Bobbys early life and may have been my favorite part, despite it being at the very end, it's a great 40 min. Enjoy!
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- Siobhan Ricci
- 06-29-21
Great but too critical
Bobby Fischer Goes to War is about the most epic chess match in the history of mankind... Fischer vs Spassky in Iceland... That being said, the writers go out of their way to portray Fischer in a negative light. I do think a lot of what they say about him is accurate, but clearly Bobby Fischer had his issues and I don’t think he needs to be roasted for that. Besides that, this book is a great walk down memory lane for chess fans or really anyone who is interested in Bobby Fischer. Enjoy!
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Overall
- Nate
- 06-15-05
I'm listening to it again!
I was somewhat reluctant to commit myself to listening to a book about chess for 12 hours. As soon as the book was finished I immediately started over. A great story about really strange people and an even more strange event.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- AMS
- 12-25-05
Not a chess book, but a book about chess
If you are looking for a move-by-move analysis, this is not the book. If you are interested in the phenomenon of chess events, oddball players, and how Fischer became world champ, listen up. The only real minus is that the authors delve so deeply into the Soviet politics of chess that the book sometimes sounds like the minutes of a Polit Bureau meeting. Also, there are a lot of long Russian names to get through.
But, the study of Fischer and Spasky--their foibles, flaws, and accomplishments--is fascinating. And, the story of how the event came off is, at times, funny as any Marx Brothers (not Karl) movie.
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7 people found this helpful
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- John David
- 11-05-19
A Well-Done Blend of Chess, History & Biography
This is a very interesting & well-executed book about Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky, the 1972 World Chess Championship & a good deal more. There is just the right amount of chess detail for the average reader, although devotees would doubtless enjoy more. There is also enough history -- of chess, the Cold War, the '70s -- to both educate and contextualize. And there is fascinating biography of Fischer and Spassky as very different individuals and as representatives of their respective chess and governmental systems. The pacing is good, although stories of Fischer's serial unreasonable demands do bog down the narrative a bit, and the reading is excellent. Enjoyed it, learned from it, and was glad I listened to it.
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Overall
- irene
- 10-14-09
If you like chess
I listened to this book after listening to the "Immortal Game" (excellent. and I very much enjoyed it. Very interesting inside look at Soviet era chess and the length they would go to for victory and the devastation sown after a loss. I knew Fischer to be a bit eccentric but not this over the top. Recommended.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Johnathan
- 02-11-10
Great for lovers of chess history.
I am a very dedicated amateur chess player and loved soaking up the historical information in this audiobook. There is an abundance of biographical and political discussion, and very little talk of the chess games themselves, apart from how the two players battled psychologically throughout the match. I was highly intrigued by the extent to which the American and Soviet governments got involved in and placed such value in the outcome of the match. That being said, I would not recommend this book to any of my friends who don't play chess. I think it's a prerequisite for appreciating the mystique of the match. The narrator is somewhat bland and the recording sounds as if it's decades old, but it's not - which makes my previous point even more important. Chess players interested in a fascinating chapter in chess history (and American history as well), you won't be disappointed.
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