-
Cowardice
- A Brief History
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Coward. It’s a grave insult, likely to provoke anger, shame, even violence. But what exactly is cowardice? When terrorists are called cowards, does it mean the same as when the term is applied to soldiers? And what, if anything, does cowardice have to do with the rest of us? Bringing together sources from court-martial cases to literary and film classics such as Dante’s Inferno, The Red Badge of Courage, and The Thin Red Line, Cowardice recounts the great harm that both cowards and the fear of seeming cowardly have done, and traces the idea of cowardice’s power to its evolutionary roots. But Chris Walsh also shows that this power has faded, most dramatically on the battlefield. Misconduct that earlier might have been punished as cowardice has more recently often been treated medically, as an adverse reaction to trauma, and Walsh explores a parallel therapeutic shift that reaches beyond war, into the realms of politics, crime, philosophy, religion, and love. Yet, as Walsh indicates, the therapeutic has not altogether triumphed - contempt for cowardice endures, and he argues that such contempt can be a good thing. Courage attracts much more of our attention, but rigorously understanding cowardice may be more morally useful, for it requires us to think critically about our duties and our fears, and it helps us to act ethically when fear and duty conflict. Richly illustrated and filled with fascinating stories and insights, Cowardice is the first sustained analysis of a neglected but profound and pervasive feature of human experience.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Tribe
- On Homecoming and Belonging
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians - but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life.
-
-
The most profound book on the subject
- By joseph on 05-26-16
By: Sebastian Junger
-
The Warrior Ethos
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are all warriors. The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs, and other warriors in other walks of life. The audiobook examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and "mental toughness".
-
-
Not my thing, but still enjoyed it
- By Book Monster on 06-13-19
-
Things That Matter
- Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics
- By: Charles Krauthammer
- Narrated by: Charles Krauthammer, George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listeners will find here not only the country’s leading conservative thinker offering a passionate defense of limited government, but also a highly independent mind whose views - on feminism, evolution and the death penalty, for example - defy ideological convention. Things That Matter also features several of Krauthammer’s major path-breaking essays - on bioethics, on Jewish destiny and on America’s role as the world’s superpower - that have profoundly influenced the nation’s thoughts and policies.
-
-
Charles K, author and narrator ..... enuf said
- By Alan on 12-11-13
-
Courage Is Calling
- Fortune Favors the Brave
- By: Ryan Holiday
- Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.
-
-
Not his best effort
- By Amazon Customer on 09-30-21
By: Ryan Holiday
-
The Point of It All
- A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors
- By: Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Krauthammer - editor
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Daniel Krauthammer
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Created and compiled by Charles Krauthammer before his death, The Point of It All is an intimate collection of the influential columnist’s most important works. Spanning the personal, political, and philosophical - including never-before-published speeches and a major new essay about the effect of today’s populist movements on the future of global democracy - this is the most profound work yet by the legendary writer and thinker.
-
-
Brilliant
- By robert on 12-11-18
By: Charles Krauthammer, and others
-
Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first new collection of essays by Christopher Hitchens since 2004, Arguably offers an indispensable key to understanding the passionate and skeptical spirit of one of our most dazzling writers, widely admired for the clarity of his style, a result of his disciplined and candid thinking. Topics range from ruminations on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men to the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell.
-
-
Grab it
- By Davol2449 on 09-02-11
-
Tribe
- On Homecoming and Belonging
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians - but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life.
-
-
The most profound book on the subject
- By joseph on 05-26-16
By: Sebastian Junger
-
The Warrior Ethos
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are all warriors. The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs, and other warriors in other walks of life. The audiobook examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and "mental toughness".
-
-
Not my thing, but still enjoyed it
- By Book Monster on 06-13-19
-
Things That Matter
- Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics
- By: Charles Krauthammer
- Narrated by: Charles Krauthammer, George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listeners will find here not only the country’s leading conservative thinker offering a passionate defense of limited government, but also a highly independent mind whose views - on feminism, evolution and the death penalty, for example - defy ideological convention. Things That Matter also features several of Krauthammer’s major path-breaking essays - on bioethics, on Jewish destiny and on America’s role as the world’s superpower - that have profoundly influenced the nation’s thoughts and policies.
-
-
Charles K, author and narrator ..... enuf said
- By Alan on 12-11-13
-
Courage Is Calling
- Fortune Favors the Brave
- By: Ryan Holiday
- Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.
-
-
Not his best effort
- By Amazon Customer on 09-30-21
By: Ryan Holiday
-
The Point of It All
- A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors
- By: Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Krauthammer - editor
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Daniel Krauthammer
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Created and compiled by Charles Krauthammer before his death, The Point of It All is an intimate collection of the influential columnist’s most important works. Spanning the personal, political, and philosophical - including never-before-published speeches and a major new essay about the effect of today’s populist movements on the future of global democracy - this is the most profound work yet by the legendary writer and thinker.
-
-
Brilliant
- By robert on 12-11-18
By: Charles Krauthammer, and others
-
Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first new collection of essays by Christopher Hitchens since 2004, Arguably offers an indispensable key to understanding the passionate and skeptical spirit of one of our most dazzling writers, widely admired for the clarity of his style, a result of his disciplined and candid thinking. Topics range from ruminations on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men to the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell.
-
-
Grab it
- By Davol2449 on 09-02-11
-
On Grand Strategy
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
-
-
Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.
- By Zack on 07-04-18
-
Looking for the Good War
- American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Elizabeth D. Samet
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans - all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States' "exceptional" history and destiny.
-
-
Essential reading for military officers and political decision makers.
- By Arlene S. Burke on 02-23-22
-
Being George Washington
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you think you know George Washington, think again. This is the amazing true story of a real-life superhero who wore no cape and possessed no special powers—yet changed the world forever. It's a story about a man whose life reads as if it were torn from the pages of an action novel: Bullet holes through his clothing. Horses shot out from under him. Unimaginable hardship. Disease. Heroism. Spies and double-agents. And, of course, the unmistakable hand of Divine Providence that guided it all.
-
-
Awe Inspiring!!
- By Bryce on 12-14-11
By: Glenn Beck
-
Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.
-
-
Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
-
The Declaration of Independence (Revolutions Series)
- Michael Hardt Presents Thomas Jefferson
- By: Thomas Jefferson, Michael Hardt
- Narrated by: Eric Myers
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1776 Thomas Jefferson, a future president, authored the most explosive document in the history of America: "The Declaration of Independence", formally severing the link between America and the British state. Michael Hardt, co-author of the groundbreaking "Empire and Multitude", examines this and other texts by Jefferson, arguing that his powerful concept of democracy is, seen through contemporary eyes, a biting critique of the current American administration's tyranny.
By: Thomas Jefferson, and others
-
Why Courage Matters
- The Way to a Braver Life
- By: John McCain, Mark Salter
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring meditation on courage, Senator John McCain shares his most cherished stories of ordinary individuals who have risked everything to defend the people and principles they hold most dear. These are some of the examples McCain turns to for inspiration and offers to others to help them summon the resolve to be both good and great. He explains the value of courage in both everyday actions and extraordinary feats. Most of all, listeners discover how sometimes simply setting the right example can be the ultimate act of courage.
-
-
A book to read
- By Benedict on 04-27-04
By: John McCain, and others
-
Letters to a Young Contrarian
- By: Christopher Hitchens
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, angry young (wo)men, and dissidents. Who better to speak to that person who finds him or herself in a contrarian position than Hitchens, who has made a career of disagreeing in profound and entertaining ways.
-
-
Independent Thinkers & Those Seeking Truth
- By erin hawk on 12-07-20
-
Achilles in Vietnam
- Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
- By: Jonathan Shay MD
- Narrated by: David Strathairn
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this strikingly original and groundbreaking audiobook, Dr. Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the Iliad was written 27 centuries ago, it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
-
-
A phenomenal narration of a PTSD classic.
- By Henri on 12-21-18
By: Jonathan Shay MD
-
Killing from the Inside Out: Moral Injury and Just War
- By: Robert Emmet Meagher
- Narrated by: Paul Fleschner
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Armies know all about killing. It is what they do, and ours does it more effectively than most. We are painfully coming to realize, however, that we are also especially good at killing our own ''from the inside out,'' silently, invisibly. In every major war since Korea, more of our veterans have taken their lives than have lost them in combat. The latest research, rooted in veteran testimony, reveals that the most severe and intractable PTSD - fraught with shame, despair, and suicide - stems from "moral injury".
-
-
Helpful but not thorough
- By Candy Coated Consumer on 08-04-21
-
A Hobbit, A Wardrobe and a Great War
- How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918
- By: Joseph Loconte
- Narrated by: Dave Hoffman
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War laid waste to a continent and brought about the end of innocence — and the end of faith. Unlike a generation of young writers who lost faith in the God of the Bible, however, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis found that the Great War deepened their spiritual quest. Both men served as soldiers on the Western Front, survived the trenches, and used the experience of that conflict to ignite their Christian imagination.
-
-
My Tolkien-Lewis students will read this book
- By Orson on 10-14-15
By: Joseph Loconte
-
What Gandhi Says
- About Nonviolence, Resistance and Courage
- By: Norman G. Finkelstein
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Occupy movement and the protests that inspired it have focused new attention on the work of Mahatma Gandhi, who set out principles of nonviolent resistance during the struggle for Indian Independence, principles that found their echo in Tahrir Square, Puerta del Sol and Zuccotti Park some half a century later.
-
-
an important work by Finkelstein
- By Spyder on 11-10-19
-
God and Churchill
- How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours
- By: Wallace Henley, Jonathan Sandys
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Winston Churchill was a boy of 16, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. "This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion...I shall be in command of the defenses of London...it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire." It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II.
-
-
Just excellent
- By Claude T. Stauffer on 01-10-17
By: Wallace Henley, and others
Related to this topic
-
Looking for the Good War
- American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Elizabeth D. Samet
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans - all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States' "exceptional" history and destiny.
-
-
Essential reading for military officers and political decision makers.
- By Arlene S. Burke on 02-23-22
-
Achilles in Vietnam
- Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
- By: Jonathan Shay MD
- Narrated by: David Strathairn
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this strikingly original and groundbreaking audiobook, Dr. Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the Iliad was written 27 centuries ago, it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
-
-
A phenomenal narration of a PTSD classic.
- By Henri on 12-21-18
By: Jonathan Shay MD
-
Soldaten
- On Fighting, Killing, and Dying
- By: Sonke Neitzel, Harald Welzer, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a visit to the British National Archive in 2001, Sonke Neitzel made a remarkable discovery: reams of meticulously transcribed conversations among German POWs that had been covertly recorded and recently declassified. Neitzel would later find another collection of transcriptions, twice as extensive, in the National Archive in Washington, D.C. These were discoveries that would provide a unique and profoundly important window into the true mentality of the soldiers in the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the German navy, and the military in general - almost all of whom had insisted on their own honorable behavior during the war.
-
-
More accounts less analysis please!
- By Tony on 01-14-13
By: Sonke Neitzel, and others
-
Stay
- A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It
- By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.
-
-
Informative but oddly dispassionate
- By Scott on 01-07-14
-
God and Churchill
- How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours
- By: Wallace Henley, Jonathan Sandys
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Winston Churchill was a boy of 16, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. "This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion...I shall be in command of the defenses of London...it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire." It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II.
-
-
Just excellent
- By Claude T. Stauffer on 01-10-17
By: Wallace Henley, and others
-
Practicing History
- Selected Essays
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Master historian Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees. This accessible introduction to the subject of history offers striking insights into America's past and present, trenchant observations on the international scene, and thoughtful pieces on the historian's role. Here is a splendid body of work, the story of a lifetime spent "practicing history".
-
-
Barbara Tuchman fan faced with reality
- By J. Whittle on 09-27-18
-
Looking for the Good War
- American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Elizabeth D. Samet
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans - all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States' "exceptional" history and destiny.
-
-
Essential reading for military officers and political decision makers.
- By Arlene S. Burke on 02-23-22
-
Achilles in Vietnam
- Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
- By: Jonathan Shay MD
- Narrated by: David Strathairn
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this strikingly original and groundbreaking audiobook, Dr. Shay examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the Iliad was written 27 centuries ago, it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
-
-
A phenomenal narration of a PTSD classic.
- By Henri on 12-21-18
By: Jonathan Shay MD
-
Soldaten
- On Fighting, Killing, and Dying
- By: Sonke Neitzel, Harald Welzer, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a visit to the British National Archive in 2001, Sonke Neitzel made a remarkable discovery: reams of meticulously transcribed conversations among German POWs that had been covertly recorded and recently declassified. Neitzel would later find another collection of transcriptions, twice as extensive, in the National Archive in Washington, D.C. These were discoveries that would provide a unique and profoundly important window into the true mentality of the soldiers in the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the German navy, and the military in general - almost all of whom had insisted on their own honorable behavior during the war.
-
-
More accounts less analysis please!
- By Tony on 01-14-13
By: Sonke Neitzel, and others
-
Stay
- A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It
- By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.
-
-
Informative but oddly dispassionate
- By Scott on 01-07-14
-
God and Churchill
- How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours
- By: Wallace Henley, Jonathan Sandys
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Winston Churchill was a boy of 16, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. "This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion...I shall be in command of the defenses of London...it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire." It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II.
-
-
Just excellent
- By Claude T. Stauffer on 01-10-17
By: Wallace Henley, and others
-
Practicing History
- Selected Essays
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Master historian Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lessons from what she sees. This accessible introduction to the subject of history offers striking insights into America's past and present, trenchant observations on the international scene, and thoughtful pieces on the historian's role. Here is a splendid body of work, the story of a lifetime spent "practicing history".
-
-
Barbara Tuchman fan faced with reality
- By J. Whittle on 09-27-18
-
Tyrant
- Shakespeare on Politics
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.
-
-
Too Close for Comfort
- By C. Gross on 05-10-18
-
The Honor Code
- How Moral Revolutions Happen
- By: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Narrated by: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking work, Kwame Anthony Appiah, hailed as "one of the most relevant philosophers today" (New York Times Book Review), changes the way we understand human behavior and the way social reform is brought about. In brilliantly arguing that new democratic movements over the last century have not been driven by legislation from above, Appiah explores the end of the duel in aristocratic England, the tumultuous struggles over foot binding in 19th-century China, the uprising of ordinary people against Atlantic slavery, and much more.
-
-
Horribly Boring
- By Merle N. Savedow on 02-10-21
-
The Warrior Ethos
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are all warriors. The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs, and other warriors in other walks of life. The audiobook examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and "mental toughness".
-
-
Not my thing, but still enjoyed it
- By Book Monster on 06-13-19
-
Russia
- The Story of War
- By: Gregory Carleton
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No nation is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their "motherland" has been the battlefield where some of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage battles have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe no other nation has sacrificed so much for the world.
-
-
A bit dry and academic
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-16-17
By: Gregory Carleton
-
This Republic of Suffering
- Death and the American Civil War
- By: Drew Gilpin Faust
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers lost their lives - equivalent to six million in today's population. This Republic of Suffering explores the impact of the enormous death toll from material, political, intellectual, and spiritual angles. Drew Gilpin Faust delineates the ways death changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation and describes how a deeply religious culture reconciled the slaughter with its belief in a benevolent God.
-
-
a unique civil war perspective
- By D. Littman on 04-21-08
-
This Mighty Scourge
- Perspectives on the Civil War
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and many other award-winning books, James M. McPherson is America's preeminent Civil War historian. Now, in this collection of provocative and illuminating essays, McPherson offers fresh insight into many of the most enduring questions about one of the defining moments in our nation's history.
-
-
An Introduction to McPherson
- By Roy on 05-03-09
-
War Without Mercy
- Race and Power in the Pacific War
- By: John W. Dower
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
War Without Mercy has been hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most original and important books to be written about the war between Japan and the United States." In this monumental history, professor John Dower reveals a hidden, explosive dimension of the Pacific War - race - while writing what John Toland has called "a landmark book...a powerful, moving, and evenhanded history that is sorely needed in both America and Japan."
-
-
War without Mercy
- By rbergen on 05-02-17
By: John W. Dower
-
On Grand Strategy
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
-
-
Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.
- By Zack on 07-04-18
-
President Lincoln
- The Duty of a Statesman
- By: William Lee Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American president has come to be the most powerful figure in the world. And back in the 19th century, a great man held that office. William Lee Miller's new book closely examines that great man in that hugely important office: Abraham Lincoln as president.
-
-
An analysis of Lincoln's life, not a history
- By D. Rairigh on 05-24-09
-
Rites of Spring
- The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
- By: Modris Eksteins
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dazzling in its originality, Rites of Spring probes the origins, impact, and aftermath of World War I from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet "The Rite of Spring" in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War", as Modris Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places."
-
-
Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
By: Modris Eksteins
-
Year Zero
- A History of 1945
- By: Ian Buruma
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Year Zero is a landmark reckoning with the greatdrama that ensued after war came to an end in 1945. One world had ended and anew, uncertain one was beginning. Regime change had come across Asia and all of continental Europe. It was the greatest global powervacuum in history, and out of the often vicious power struggles thatensued emerged the modern world as we know it.
-
-
Great historical overview
- By marykk on 10-14-13
By: Ian Buruma
-
Why Honor Matters
- By: Tamler Sommers
- Narrated by: Tamler Sommers
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the modern mind, the idea of honor is outdated, sexist, and barbaric. It evokes Hamilton and Burr and pistols at dawn, not visions of a well-organized society. But for philosopher Tamler Sommers, a sense of honor is essential to living moral lives. In Why Honor Matters, Sommers argues that our collective rejection of honor has come at great cost. Reliant only on Enlightenment liberalism, the United States has become the home of the cowardly, the shameless, the selfish, and the alienated. Properly channeled, honor encourages virtues like courage, integrity, and solidarity.
-
-
A critical, yet seemingly impossible, topic!
- By Anonymous User on 03-10-20
By: Tamler Sommers