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By All Means Available
- Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy
- Narrated by: Michael G. Vickers
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
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Publisher's summary
A vivid insider's account of a life in intelligence, special operations, and strategy from the Cold War to the war with al-Qa’ida • "[An] illuminating and richly detailed memoir." —The New York Times Book Review
"Deeply insightful...A sweeping and breathtaking journey that gives the reader unprecedented access to the courage, sacrifice, and bravado of our nation’s finest warriors, in their finest hours." —Admiral William H. McRaven, author of Wisdom of the Bullfrog and #1 New York Times bestseller, Make Your Bed
In 1984, Michael Vickers took charge of the CIA’s secret war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. After inheriting a strategy aimed at imposing costs on the Soviets for their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, Vickers transformed the covert campaign into an all-out effort to help the Afghan resistance win their war. More than any other American, he was responsible for the outcome in Afghanistan that led to the end of the Cold War.
In By All Means Available, Vickers recounts his remarkable career, from his days as a Green Beret to his vision for victory in Afghanistan to his role in waging America’s war with al-Qa’ida at the highest levels of government. In captivating detail, he depicts his years in the Special Forces—including his training to parachute behind enemy lines with a backpack nuclear weapon in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe—and reveals how those experiences directly influenced his approach to shaping policy. Vickers has played a significant role in most of the military and intelligence operations of the past four decades, and he offers a deeply informed analysis of the greatest challenges facing America today, and in the decades ahead.
Riveting and illuminating, this is a rare and important insider’s account of the modern military and intelligence worlds at every level.
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Critic reviews
"[An] illuminating and richly detailed memoir . . . In America’s very long confrontation with stirred-up Islamists, Vickers became the nation’s pre-eminent silent warrior." —Andrew J. Bacevich, The New York Times Book Review
“Gripping reading, but also much more than that . . . Over a period of decades, Vickers formulated and executed policy toward almost every hotspot in the world. But this outstanding memoir is not merely an account of one official’s doings during his service. It is also a searching treatise on low-intensity warfare, counterterrorism, and covert action, along with a postmortem of key chapters of national-security policy, with judgments of American policymakers along the way . . . [By All Means Available] is about some things that, amid the deepening degradation of our political culture, have been lost: sacrifice, integrity, leadership, and patriotism.” –Gabriel Schoenfeld, Bulwark
"He was the CIA whiz kid in Charlie Wilson's War. His new book offers advice for the U.S. in Ukraine [and] reviews what the U.S. can learn from its past missteps and missed warnings in Afghanistan." —Nomaan Merchant, Associated Press
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Helpful for the Army War College
- By BBP on 02-24-18
By: Peter R. Mansoor, and others
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The Bomb
- Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories - based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents - of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.
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Excellent, important book, bad narration.
- By Richard L. Hubbell on 02-06-20
By: Fred Kaplan
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Dirty Wars
- The World Is a Battlefield
- By: Jeremy Scahill
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 24 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen, Somalia, and beyond, Scahill speaks to the CIA agents, mercenaries, and elite Special Operations Forces operators who populate the dark side of American war-fighting. He goes deep into al Qaeda-held territory in Yemen and walks the streets of Mogadishu with CIA-backed warlords. We also meet the survivors of US night raids and drone strikes - including families of US citizens targeted for assassination by their own government - who reveal the human consequences of the dirty wars the United States struggles to keep hidden.
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Non political BUT very anti-violence
- By aaron on 05-11-13
By: Jeremy Scahill
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The Endgame
- The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama
- By: Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 32 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Endgame is Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor's most ambitious and news-breaking book to date. A peerless work of investigative journalism and historical recreation ranging from 2003 to 2012, it gives us the first comprehensive, inside account of arguably the most widely reported yet least understood war in American history - from the occupation of Iraq to the withdrawal of American troops.
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Interesting Perspective, but One-Sided
- By Benjamin on 02-09-14
By: Michael R. Gordon, and others
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Kill Chain
- The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins
- By: Andrew Cockburn
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This essential, pause-resister narrative on the history of drone warfare by the acclaimed author of Rumsfeld explores how this practice emerged, who made it happen, and the real consequences of targeted killing.
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Introduction
- By Batman on 03-24-15
By: Andrew Cockburn
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Drone Wars
- Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence, and the Battle for the Future
- By: Seth J. Frantzman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Drones are transforming warfare through the use of artificial intelligence, drone swarms, and surveillance - leading to competition between the US, China, Israel, and Iran. Who will be the next drone superpower?
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Great history of drone warfare
- By CJ on 02-08-24
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Twilight Warriors
- The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War
- By: James Kitfield
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In Twilight Warriors, award-winning foreign correspondent James Kitfield introduces us to the tight-knit brotherhood that strives to keep the United States safe from the dimly understood threats it now faces. Together these men have broken down the boundaries between their respective agencies to engineer a network-centric way of fighting using a seamless web of intelligence analysts, information networks, FBI forensics experts, and Special Forces units to take the fight to America's enemies as never before.
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South African Perspectives
- By Bernard Remacle on 03-22-17
By: James Kitfield
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Black Ops
- The Rise of Special Forces in the C.I.A., The S.A.S., and Mossad
- By: Tony Geraghty
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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After eight challenging years in Afghanistan, the new U.S. strategy, aimed at winning hearts and minds rather than search-and-destroy, refocuses the conflict on Special Forces: unorthodox soldiers who work outside of traditional military forces to combine secret military operations with nation building.
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Painful narration
- By JWS on 12-18-20
By: Tony Geraghty
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Killer Elite: Completely Revised and Updated
- The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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A top-secret US Army Special Operations unit has been running covert missions all over the world, from leading death squads to the hideout of drug baron Pablo Escobar to capturing Saddam Hussein and, in one of the greatest special operations missions of all time, helping to track down al-Qa'eda leader Osama bin Laden. "The Activity," as it became known to insiders, has achieved near-mythical status, even among the world's Special Operations elite.
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Narrator is awful
- By Vinny on 09-20-17
By: Michael Smith
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The ISIS Solution
- How Unconventional Thinking and Special Operations Can Eliminate Radical Islam
- By: Jack Murphy, Brandon Webb, Peter Nealen
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The ISIS Solution takes a look at the current geopolitical situation, organizational structure of ISIS, and provides new thinking and strategies for dealing with the Islamic State in the Middle East. Its authors and contributors have over 50 years of combined experience in the intelligence, analyst, and Special Operations communities. Leadership and a new philosophical conversation of action is needed to eliminate violent terrorism. This book starts the conversation.
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Short, to the point, crammend full of information.
- By Joseph on 11-27-14
By: Jack Murphy, and others
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Your Government Failed You
- Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters
- By: Richard A. Clarke
- Narrated by: Richard A. Clarke
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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In Your Government Failed You, Clarke looks at why failures have continued and how America and the world can succeed against the terrorists. But Clarke goes beyond terrorism to examine the recurring U.S. government disasters. Despite the lessons of Vietnam, we've gotten involved in Iraq. Drawing on his 30 years in the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and Intelligence Community, Clarke discovers patterns in the failure and suggests ways to stop the cycle.
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Stellar Criticism
- By Tim on 04-01-09
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In the Shadows of the American Century
- By: Alfred W. McCoy
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In a completely original analysis, prizewinning historian Alfred W. McCoy explores America's rise as a world power - from the 1890s through the Cold War - and its bid to extend its hegemony deep into the 21st century through a fusion of cyberwar, space warfare, trade pacts, and military alliances. McCoy then analyzes the marquee instruments of US hegemony - covert intervention, client elites, psychological torture, and worldwide surveillance. Peeling back layers of secrecy, McCoy exposes a military and economic battle for global domination fought in the shadows.
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Covert war history, frameworks, tech, dark sides
- By Philo on 02-03-18
By: Alfred W. McCoy
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The Shadow War
- Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America
- By: Jim Sciutto
- Narrated by: Jim Sciutto
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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CNN’s chief national security correspondent reveals the invisible fronts of 21st-century warfare and identifies the ongoing battles being waged - often without the public’s full knowledge - from disinformation campaigns to advanced satellite weaponry.
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Informative and interesting, but incomplete.
- By ZenBowman on 05-25-19
By: Jim Sciutto
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What listeners say about By All Means Available
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John T Campbell
- 12-06-23
Must read for all Americans
This book is amazing and written by a patriot who understands the threats this nations is facing. Best book I have read in years! Thank you sir for your service and thank you for such an amazing book of history and prophecy.
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- Daniel
- 01-11-24
The Secret National Hero
This was an amazing recounting of some the clandestine undertakings of the last 43 years. Mr. Vickers is a true national hero, and a visionary in the defense and intelligence space, and his thoughts are absolutely worth deep consideration. As a reader, I find myself deeply inspired to contribute to our nations success. Well done Mr. Vickers.
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- Buddy
- 02-25-24
keep unknown politics out
You had a 5 star review from me until at the very end. you started knocking a president you never work for. No President is perfect. We are all humans. I think we all do the best we can with what we have. I realize with your background. You have enormous connections and informchin. Unfortunately , all of them you mention seem to be liberal.. Thank you for your service. It sounds astounding. I know those are empty words i. I'm a thirty year veteran myself and hear it all the time and words are empty. I did truly love hearing your story and what you did for this country. Thank you again.
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1 person found this helpful
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- J. Wells
- 05-10-24
Glosses over some really important points
I have the background to have some insights on this book, so take it for what it’s worth. This man had an incredible career, no doubt. Two points….. He glosses over that in Afghanistan, the mujahideen evolved into the Taliban and instead of picking a fight with the Taliban to fight Al qaeda, we should have paid them off and worked with them again. We fought the wrong people. Also, while he doesn’t
totally agree with the invasion of Iraq, he doesn’t condemn it and I believe he’s not putting everything he knows on paper. The invasion of Iraq was one of the biggest mistakes in military history. It was a disaster. The chaos, death and destruction it caused will go on for decades. Most of the problems America has had in that region since 2003 can be traced to that war. He is spot on about Russia and China. We are in a new Cold War and he does an excellent job of laying out the logic for his thesis.
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- William
- 09-19-23
Excellent Read
This guy managed to be involved in pretty much every disaster and triumph of the past 50 years. He offers very good insights and opinions, not all that are agréable.
He comments on leaders current and past.
There is a certain amount of well earned braggadocio. Enjoy
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- P B.
- 04-23-24
Outstanding
A superb and captivating read. I have recommended this as required reading to friends and family.
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- Brian V
- 07-21-24
fantastic life story
This is a very good life story and how one individual can make such a difference. Definitely worth listening to.
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- Rick Hardy
- 07-22-23
Amazing memoirs of an amazing American!
Loved it, all of it! Thank you Mike Vickers for your service as a Special Forces soldier, an intelligence community civilian, and as a senior executive in government. Thoroughly loved the audio book and have been recommending it to all at every turn. Having grown up during the latter parts of the Cold War, I found his recollections and context about those times fascinating and intriguing. Working in the DIB and in spaces in and around some of the post-9/11 topics he covered, I am truly grateful he was where he was, doing what he was doing, and that he took the time to collect, organize, and share his experiences and reflections. In the last sections of the book, I appreciate his wisdom and insights on what the United States needs to do moving forward, especially when considering the sheer magnitude of experience and varied perspectives that he has to draw from. Truly enjoyed the listen! Highly recommend this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- A fan
- 04-02-24
Very good
What an interesting life he shared with us. I’m so glad I read this book.
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- Robert Warren
- 07-11-23
Amazing career - ended with Clapper/Brennan disgrace
A long and detailed book regarding mike’s impressive career. Sadly, he is in direct conflict with the people on the ground in Benghazi. There was no protest- only pre strike reconnaissance. He provided cover for Hillary who lied to the American people.
Also, he was a signatory to the infamous Russian disinformation letter that provided cover for Biden just before the debate with Trump.
Too bad he ended his career associating himself with criminal liars Brennan and Clapper. It seems like he is proud of it.
Time to drain the swamp.
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4 people found this helpful