-
Flashpoints
- The Emerging Crisis in Europe
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk, George Friedman
- Length: 11 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 $20.25
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
A major new book by New York Times best-selling author and geopolitical forecaster George Friedman (The Next 100 Years, The Next Decade) with a bold thesis about coming conflict in the world, this provocative work examines the geopolitical flashpoints - particularly in Europe - in which imminent future conflicts are brewing.
George Friedman has forecasted the coming trends (politics, technology, population, and culture) of the next century in The Next 100 Years, and focused his predictions on the coming ten years in The Next Decade. Now, in Flashpoints, Friedman zooms in on the region that has, for 500 years, been the cultural hotbed of the world - Europe - and examines the most basic and fascinating building block of the region: culture. Analyzing the fault lines that have existed for centuries - and which have led to two world wars and dozens more conflicts - Friedman walks us through the "flashpoints" that are still smoldering beneath the surface and are on course to erupt again.
In Flashpoints, George Friedman begins with a fascinating history of the events leading up to the horrific wars that nearly tore apart Western civilization - killing over 100 million people on the "civilized" European continent. Modern-day Europe, and the formation of the European Union, were designed to minimize the built-in geopolitical tensions that led to catastrophic war, but as Friedman shows with a mix of history and cultural analysis, those plans have failed. "Flashpoints" are now simmering as dangerously as in the early twentieth century. Zeroing in on half a dozen locations, borderlands, and cultural dynamics, George Friedman does what few historians can - he explains precisely how certain trends are unstoppable, and what the future holds... both in terms of conflict and also opportunity. Flashpoints also explains in riveting detail how events in Europe will affect the rest of the world.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Storm Before the Calm
- America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his riveting new book, noted forecaster and best-selling author George Friedman turns to the future of the United States. Examining the clear cycles through which the United States has developed, upheaved, matured, and solidified, Friedman breaks down the coming years and decades in thrilling detail.
-
-
For the kids, a golden age
- By C. Walker on 03-01-20
By: George Friedman
-
The Fourth Turning Is Here
- What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End
- By: Neil Howe
- Narrated by: Neil Howe
- Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly 80 to 100 years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about 25 years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization.
-
-
A little baffled
- By John Coleman on 07-18-23
By: Neil Howe
-
The Next Decade
- Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of the acclaimed New York Times best seller The Next 100 Years now focuses his geopolitical forecasting acumen on the next decade and the imminent events and challenges that will test America and the world, specifically addressing the skills that will be required by the decade’s leaders. The next 10 years will be a time of massive transition. In The Next Decade, George Friedman offers listeners a provocative and endlessly fascinating prognosis for the immediate future.
-
-
Jaw-dropping apolitical analysis
- By Amazon Customer on 01-31-11
By: George Friedman
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
-
Everyone dies except Americans
- By preetam on 06-22-22
By: Peter Zeihan
-
Disunited Nations
- The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan, Roy Worley
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Disunited Nations, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan presents a series of counterintuitive arguments about the future of a world where trade agreements are coming apart and international institutions are losing their power. Germany will decline as the most powerful country in Europe, with France taking its place. Every country should prepare for the collapse of China, not North Korea. We are already seeing, as Zeihan predicts, a shift in outlook on the Middle East: it is no longer Iran that is the region’s most dangerous threat, but Saudi Arabia.
-
-
brilliant geopolitical primer re the future
- By Howard on 04-11-20
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Absent Superpower
- The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Toby Sheets
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014's The Accidental Superpower, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan made the case that geographic, demographic, and energy trends were unravelling the global system. Zeihan takes the story a step further in The Absent Superpower, mapping out the threats and opportunities as the world descends into disorder.
-
-
Only worthwhile if you're curious about updates
- By Anon on 02-27-18
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Storm Before the Calm
- America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his riveting new book, noted forecaster and best-selling author George Friedman turns to the future of the United States. Examining the clear cycles through which the United States has developed, upheaved, matured, and solidified, Friedman breaks down the coming years and decades in thrilling detail.
-
-
For the kids, a golden age
- By C. Walker on 03-01-20
By: George Friedman
-
The Fourth Turning Is Here
- What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End
- By: Neil Howe
- Narrated by: Neil Howe
- Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly 80 to 100 years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about 25 years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization.
-
-
A little baffled
- By John Coleman on 07-18-23
By: Neil Howe
-
The Next Decade
- Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of the acclaimed New York Times best seller The Next 100 Years now focuses his geopolitical forecasting acumen on the next decade and the imminent events and challenges that will test America and the world, specifically addressing the skills that will be required by the decade’s leaders. The next 10 years will be a time of massive transition. In The Next Decade, George Friedman offers listeners a provocative and endlessly fascinating prognosis for the immediate future.
-
-
Jaw-dropping apolitical analysis
- By Amazon Customer on 01-31-11
By: George Friedman
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
-
Everyone dies except Americans
- By preetam on 06-22-22
By: Peter Zeihan
-
Disunited Nations
- The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan, Roy Worley
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Disunited Nations, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan presents a series of counterintuitive arguments about the future of a world where trade agreements are coming apart and international institutions are losing their power. Germany will decline as the most powerful country in Europe, with France taking its place. Every country should prepare for the collapse of China, not North Korea. We are already seeing, as Zeihan predicts, a shift in outlook on the Middle East: it is no longer Iran that is the region’s most dangerous threat, but Saudi Arabia.
-
-
brilliant geopolitical primer re the future
- By Howard on 04-11-20
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Absent Superpower
- The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Toby Sheets
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014's The Accidental Superpower, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan made the case that geographic, demographic, and energy trends were unravelling the global system. Zeihan takes the story a step further in The Absent Superpower, mapping out the threats and opportunities as the world descends into disorder.
-
-
Only worthwhile if you're curious about updates
- By Anon on 02-27-18
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Painful to listen to
- By Bookworm on 12-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- By: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Great history, but could poor narration
- By Lily Wong on 10-26-22
By: Chris Miller
-
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
- Why Nations Succeed or Fail
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the number-one New York Times best seller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes - and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well.
-
-
Ray Dalio, Chinas New Minister of Propoganda
- By Dudley on 01-04-22
By: Ray Dalio
-
The Next 100 Years
- A Forecast for the 21st Century
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Next 100 Years, Friedman turns his eye on the future. Drawing on a profound understanding of history and geopolitical patterns dating back to the Roman Empire, he shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, experiencing the dawn of a new historical cycle.
-
-
Interesting topic but a boring book
- By Fjolnir on 01-30-09
By: George Friedman
-
The Future of Geography
- How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World (Politics of Place)
- By: Tim Marshall
- Narrated by: Tim Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are venturing up and out, and we’re taking our competitive spirit with us. Soon, what happens in space will shape human history as much the mountains, rivers, and seas have impacted civilizations around the world. It’s no coincidence that Russia, China, and the USA are leading the way. The next fifty years will change the face of global politics and the world order as we know it. In this must-listen work, bestselling author Tim Marshall navigates the new astropolitical reality to show how we got here and where we’re heading.
-
-
Insightful Map for the Space race
- By Rafael Hiciano on 09-20-24
By: Tim Marshall
-
2030
- How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything
- By: Mauro F. Guillén
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is changing drastically before our eyes - will you be prepared for what comes next? A groundbreaking analysis from one of the world's foremost experts on global trends, including analysis on how COVID-19 will amplify and accelerate each of these changes. By 2030: there will be more grandparents than grandchildren; the middle class in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will outnumber the US and Europe combined; the global economy will be driven by the non-Western consumer for the first time in modern history; and much more....
-
-
Anti border wall and anti Trump
- By Jim Dupuis on 12-05-20
By: Mauro F. Guillén
-
Upheaval
- Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his earlier best sellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in the final audiobook in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crisis through selective change - a coping mechanism more commonly associated with personal trauma.
-
-
The Urine of the Earth in a Teacup
- By Marian on 05-12-19
By: Jared Diamond
-
Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
-
-
Pros and Cons of "Why Nations Fail"
- By Joshua Kim on 05-01-12
By: Daron Acemoglu, and others
-
World Order
- By: Henry Kissinger
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hormann
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Kissinger offers in World Order a deep meditation on the roots of international harmony and global disorder. Drawing on his experience as one of the foremost statesmen of the modern era Kissinger now reveals his analysis of the ultimate challenge for the 21st century: How to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historical perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology, and ideological extremism.
-
-
More retrospective than future oriented
- By Scott on 10-23-14
By: Henry Kissinger
-
The Hundred-Year Marathon
- China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
- By: Michael Pillsbury
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the US government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise - and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world's leading superpower.
-
-
Fascinating perspective.
- By Rocky Mackintosh on 01-05-17
-
Danger Zone
- The Coming Conflict with China
- By: Hal Brands, Michael Beckley
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sino-American contest is driven by clashing geopolitical interests and a stark ideological dispute over whether authoritarianism or democracy will dominate the twenty-first century. But both history and China's current trajectory suggest that this rivalry will reach its moment of maximum danger in the 2020s. The Chinese challenge will most likely prove more manageable than many pessimists currently believe—but during the 2020s, the pace of Sino-American conflict will accelerate, and the prospect of war will be frighteningly real.
-
-
Quality control issues
- By Rock Island on 09-17-22
By: Hal Brands, and others
-
The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
-
-
Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others
Related to this topic
-
The Return of Marco Polo's World
- War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.
-
-
Essays on the Region of the Silk Road
- By Jeff Beardsley on 05-19-18
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Future of Geography
- How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World (Politics of Place)
- By: Tim Marshall
- Narrated by: Tim Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are venturing up and out, and we’re taking our competitive spirit with us. Soon, what happens in space will shape human history as much the mountains, rivers, and seas have impacted civilizations around the world. It’s no coincidence that Russia, China, and the USA are leading the way. The next fifty years will change the face of global politics and the world order as we know it. In this must-listen work, bestselling author Tim Marshall navigates the new astropolitical reality to show how we got here and where we’re heading.
-
-
Insightful Map for the Space race
- By Rafael Hiciano on 09-20-24
By: Tim Marshall
-
The Jungle Grows Back
- America and Our Imperiled World
- By: Robert Kagan
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response, based as it is on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world. Like a jungle that keeps growing back after being cut down, the world has always been full of dangerous actors who, left unchecked, possess the desire and ability to make things worse.
-
-
Out of date: covid, Trump nobel nominations etc
- By David on 11-13-18
By: Robert Kagan
-
The Shortest History of Germany
- From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel: A Retelling for Our Times
- By: James Hawes
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871 - yet today, Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy.
-
-
The narrator can’t pronounce German
- By Vauras Ilmari on 03-22-19
By: James Hawes
-
Blood and Iron
- The Rise and Fall of the German Empire; 1871-1918
- By: Katja Hoyer
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?
-
-
Misleading title/subtitle
- By Ethan Brown on 12-15-21
By: Katja Hoyer
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Painful to listen to
- By Bookworm on 12-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Return of Marco Polo's World
- War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.
-
-
Essays on the Region of the Silk Road
- By Jeff Beardsley on 05-19-18
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The Future of Geography
- How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World (Politics of Place)
- By: Tim Marshall
- Narrated by: Tim Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are venturing up and out, and we’re taking our competitive spirit with us. Soon, what happens in space will shape human history as much the mountains, rivers, and seas have impacted civilizations around the world. It’s no coincidence that Russia, China, and the USA are leading the way. The next fifty years will change the face of global politics and the world order as we know it. In this must-listen work, bestselling author Tim Marshall navigates the new astropolitical reality to show how we got here and where we’re heading.
-
-
Insightful Map for the Space race
- By Rafael Hiciano on 09-20-24
By: Tim Marshall
-
The Jungle Grows Back
- America and Our Imperiled World
- By: Robert Kagan
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response, based as it is on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world. Like a jungle that keeps growing back after being cut down, the world has always been full of dangerous actors who, left unchecked, possess the desire and ability to make things worse.
-
-
Out of date: covid, Trump nobel nominations etc
- By David on 11-13-18
By: Robert Kagan
-
The Shortest History of Germany
- From Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel: A Retelling for Our Times
- By: James Hawes
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A country both admired and feared, Germany has been the epicenter of world events time and again: the Reformation, both World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not emerge as a modern nation until 1871 - yet today, Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy and a standard-bearer of liberal democracy.
-
-
The narrator can’t pronounce German
- By Vauras Ilmari on 03-22-19
By: James Hawes
-
Blood and Iron
- The Rise and Fall of the German Empire; 1871-1918
- By: Katja Hoyer
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?
-
-
Misleading title/subtitle
- By Ethan Brown on 12-15-21
By: Katja Hoyer
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Painful to listen to
- By Bookworm on 12-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
Black Earth
- The Holocaust as History and Warning
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the twenty-first. Based on untapped sources from eastern Europe and forgotten testimonies from Jewish survivors, Black Earth recounts the mass murder of the Jews as an event that is still close to us, more comprehensible than we would like to think and thus all the more terrifying.
-
-
Tough book but worth it!
- By Amazon customer on 11-20-15
By: Timothy Snyder
-
Bully of Asia
- By: Steven W. Mosher
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The signs are everywhere. China unilaterally claims the entire South China Sea as sovereign territory, then builds artificial islands to bolster its claim. It suddenly activates an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, and threatens to down any aircraft that does not report its position. It builds roads into Indian territory, then redraws the maps to show that it is actually Chinese territory. The People's Republic under President Xi Jinping is quickly becoming The Bully of Asia.
-
-
Eye opening, up to date
- By Silomi on 01-01-19
By: Steven W. Mosher
-
Someone Has to Say It
- The Hidden History of How America Was Lost
- By: Tom Kawczynski
- Narrated by: Jeff Winston
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starting at the turn of the last century, this book lays out systematically how Americans have lost control of our government, of our civil society, of our schools, of our companies, and in many cases, even our families.
-
-
Great and inspiring book
- By K. E. Davila on 07-09-20
By: Tom Kawczynski
-
Empires of Trust
- How Rome Built - and America Is Building - a New World
- By: Thomas F. Madden
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Empires of Trust, Professor Thomas F. Madden explores surprising parallels between the Roman and American republics. By making friends of enemies and demonstrating a commitment to fairness, the two republics - both "reluctant" yet unquestioned super-powers - built empires based on trust. Madden also includes vital lessons from the Roman Republic's 100-year struggle with "terrorism."
-
-
Bork, Reagan, and Honest of Rome
- By Nelson Alexander on 12-20-08
By: Thomas F. Madden
-
Catch-67
- The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War
- By: Micah Goodman, Eylon Levy - translator
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the Six-Day War, Israelis have been entrenched in a national debate over whether to keep the land they conquered or to return some, if not all, of the territories to Palestinians. In a balanced and insightful analysis, Micah Goodman deftly sheds light on the ideas that have shaped Israelis' thinking on both sides of the debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Contrary to opinions that dominate the discussion, he discovers that the paradox of Israeli political discourse is that both sides are right in what they affirm - and wrong in what they deny.
-
-
Very good book!
- By Kindle Customer on 12-11-18
By: Micah Goodman, and others
-
The Cold War
- A World History
- By: Odd Arne Westad
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 22 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Cold War, Odd Arne Westad offers a new perspective on a century when a superpower rivalry and an ideological war transformed every corner of our globe. We traditionally think of the Cold War as a post-World War II diplomatic and military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. But in this major new work, Westad argues that the conflict must be understood as a global ideological confrontation with roots in the industrial revolution and with continuing implications for the world today.
-
-
A lenghy treatise on the Cold War
- By Donald Hill on 11-21-17
By: Odd Arne Westad
-
Fire in the Lake
- By: Frances FitzGerald
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial work, based on Frances FitzGerald's many years of research and travels, takes us inside the history of Vietnam - the traditional, ancestor-worshiping villages, the conflicts between Communists and anti-Communists, Catholics and Buddhists, generals and monks, the disruption created by French colonialism, and America's ill-fated intervention - and reveals the country as seen through Vietnamese eyes. Originally published in 1972, Fire in the Lake was the first history of Vietnam written by an American, and subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize.
-
-
American Hubris; Vietnamese Misery
- By gunnerThrax on 01-24-21
-
America in Retreat
- The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder
- By: Bret Stephens
- Narrated by: Bret Stephens, Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America in Retreat identifies a profound crisis on the global horizon. As Americans seek to withdraw from the world to tend to domestic problems, America’s adversaries spy opportunity. Vladimir Putin's ambitions to restore the glory of the czarist empire go effectively unchecked, as do China's attempts to expand its maritime claims in the South China Sea, as do Iran's efforts to develop nuclear capabilities.
-
-
The Burden of American Exceptionalism
- By Harry Paget on 08-15-15
By: Bret Stephens
-
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
-
Destined for War
- Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
- By: Graham Allison
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
War with China is much more likely than anyone thinks. When Athens went to war with Sparta some 2,500 years ago, the Greek historian Thucydides identified one simple cause: A rising power threatened to displace a ruling one. As the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains, in the past 500 years, great powers have found themselves in "Thucydides's Trap" 16 times. In 12 of the 16, the results have been catastrophic.
-
-
Balances, Counter-Balances and Traps
- By Joyce U. Olewe on 10-09-17
By: Graham Allison
-
How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too)
- By: David Goldman
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Past and present civilizations failed and fail for many reasons, but the number-one predictor of a civilization’s survival is its sense of religion—or lack thereof. So argues David Goldman in How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too). The strength of a civilization’s religion affects its purpose, its fertility rate, and ultimately, its fate, says Goldman—who then argues that, contrary to popular belief, Islamic countries are in the last throes of death while Christian America is in a position to flourish.
-
-
Pseudointellectual Clickbait
- By Sam on 12-22-20
By: David Goldman
-
Everything Under the Heavens
- How the Past Helps Shape China's Push for Global Power
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Nicholas Hormann
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China maintained an attitude of false modesty about its ambitions. That role, reports Howard French, has been set aside. China has asserted its place among the global heavyweights, revealing its plans for pan-Asian dominance by building its navy, increasing territorial claims to areas like the South China Sea, and diplomatically bullying smaller players.
-
-
Unique Concept
- By John on 02-24-20
By: Howard W. French
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Next Decade
- Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of the acclaimed New York Times best seller The Next 100 Years now focuses his geopolitical forecasting acumen on the next decade and the imminent events and challenges that will test America and the world, specifically addressing the skills that will be required by the decade’s leaders. The next 10 years will be a time of massive transition. In The Next Decade, George Friedman offers listeners a provocative and endlessly fascinating prognosis for the immediate future.
-
-
Jaw-dropping apolitical analysis
- By Amazon Customer on 01-31-11
By: George Friedman
-
The Storm Before the Calm
- America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his riveting new book, noted forecaster and best-selling author George Friedman turns to the future of the United States. Examining the clear cycles through which the United States has developed, upheaved, matured, and solidified, Friedman breaks down the coming years and decades in thrilling detail.
-
-
For the kids, a golden age
- By C. Walker on 03-01-20
By: George Friedman
-
The Next 100 Years
- A Forecast for the 21st Century
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Next 100 Years, Friedman turns his eye on the future. Drawing on a profound understanding of history and geopolitical patterns dating back to the Roman Empire, he shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, experiencing the dawn of a new historical cycle.
-
-
Interesting topic but a boring book
- By Fjolnir on 01-30-09
By: George Friedman
-
America's Secret War
- Inside the Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dubbed by Barron's as "The Shadow CIA", Stratfor, George Friedman's global intelligence company, has provided analysis to Fortune 500 companies, news outlets, and even the U.S. government. Now Friedman delivers the geopolitical story that the mainstream media has been unable to uncover, the startling truth behind America's foreign policy and war effort in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond.
-
-
Outstanding book, answers so many questions.
- By Steve on 01-02-05
By: George Friedman
-
2030
- How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything
- By: Mauro F. Guillén
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is changing drastically before our eyes - will you be prepared for what comes next? A groundbreaking analysis from one of the world's foremost experts on global trends, including analysis on how COVID-19 will amplify and accelerate each of these changes. By 2030: there will be more grandparents than grandchildren; the middle class in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will outnumber the US and Europe combined; the global economy will be driven by the non-Western consumer for the first time in modern history; and much more....
-
-
Anti border wall and anti Trump
- By Jim Dupuis on 12-05-20
By: Mauro F. Guillén
-
The Accidental Superpower
- Ten Years On
- By: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Near the end of the Second World War, the United States made a bold strategic gambit that rewired the international system. Empires were abolished and replaced by a global arrangement enforced by the U.S. Navy. With all the world's oceans safe for the first time in history, markets and resources were made available for everyone. Enemies became partners. We think of this system as normal—it is not. We live in an artificial world on borrowed time.
-
-
Only worth it if you don't already own
- By Anonymous User on 12-30-23
By: Mr. Peter Zeihan
-
The Next Decade
- Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of the acclaimed New York Times best seller The Next 100 Years now focuses his geopolitical forecasting acumen on the next decade and the imminent events and challenges that will test America and the world, specifically addressing the skills that will be required by the decade’s leaders. The next 10 years will be a time of massive transition. In The Next Decade, George Friedman offers listeners a provocative and endlessly fascinating prognosis for the immediate future.
-
-
Jaw-dropping apolitical analysis
- By Amazon Customer on 01-31-11
By: George Friedman
-
The Storm Before the Calm
- America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Bruce Turk
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his riveting new book, noted forecaster and best-selling author George Friedman turns to the future of the United States. Examining the clear cycles through which the United States has developed, upheaved, matured, and solidified, Friedman breaks down the coming years and decades in thrilling detail.
-
-
For the kids, a golden age
- By C. Walker on 03-01-20
By: George Friedman
-
The Next 100 Years
- A Forecast for the 21st Century
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Next 100 Years, Friedman turns his eye on the future. Drawing on a profound understanding of history and geopolitical patterns dating back to the Roman Empire, he shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, experiencing the dawn of a new historical cycle.
-
-
Interesting topic but a boring book
- By Fjolnir on 01-30-09
By: George Friedman
-
America's Secret War
- Inside the Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dubbed by Barron's as "The Shadow CIA", Stratfor, George Friedman's global intelligence company, has provided analysis to Fortune 500 companies, news outlets, and even the U.S. government. Now Friedman delivers the geopolitical story that the mainstream media has been unable to uncover, the startling truth behind America's foreign policy and war effort in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond.
-
-
Outstanding book, answers so many questions.
- By Steve on 01-02-05
By: George Friedman
-
2030
- How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything
- By: Mauro F. Guillén
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is changing drastically before our eyes - will you be prepared for what comes next? A groundbreaking analysis from one of the world's foremost experts on global trends, including analysis on how COVID-19 will amplify and accelerate each of these changes. By 2030: there will be more grandparents than grandchildren; the middle class in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will outnumber the US and Europe combined; the global economy will be driven by the non-Western consumer for the first time in modern history; and much more....
-
-
Anti border wall and anti Trump
- By Jim Dupuis on 12-05-20
By: Mauro F. Guillén
-
The Accidental Superpower
- Ten Years On
- By: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Near the end of the Second World War, the United States made a bold strategic gambit that rewired the international system. Empires were abolished and replaced by a global arrangement enforced by the U.S. Navy. With all the world's oceans safe for the first time in history, markets and resources were made available for everyone. Enemies became partners. We think of this system as normal—it is not. We live in an artificial world on borrowed time.
-
-
Only worth it if you don't already own
- By Anonymous User on 12-30-23
By: Mr. Peter Zeihan
-
The Fourth Turning Is Here
- What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End
- By: Neil Howe
- Narrated by: Neil Howe
- Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly 80 to 100 years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about 25 years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization.
-
-
A little baffled
- By John Coleman on 07-18-23
By: Neil Howe
-
Disunited Nations
- The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan, Roy Worley
- Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Disunited Nations, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan presents a series of counterintuitive arguments about the future of a world where trade agreements are coming apart and international institutions are losing their power. Germany will decline as the most powerful country in Europe, with France taking its place. Every country should prepare for the collapse of China, not North Korea. We are already seeing, as Zeihan predicts, a shift in outlook on the Middle East: it is no longer Iran that is the region’s most dangerous threat, but Saudi Arabia.
-
-
brilliant geopolitical primer re the future
- By Howard on 04-11-20
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Absent Superpower
- The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Toby Sheets
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2014's The Accidental Superpower, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan made the case that geographic, demographic, and energy trends were unravelling the global system. Zeihan takes the story a step further in The Absent Superpower, mapping out the threats and opportunities as the world descends into disorder.
-
-
Only worthwhile if you're curious about updates
- By Anon on 02-27-18
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Revenge of Geography
- What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Revenge of Geography, Robert D. Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world's hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands.
-
-
Painful to listen to
- By Bookworm on 12-27-13
By: Robert D. Kaplan
-
The New Map
- Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
- By: Daniel Yergin
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is being shaken by the collision of energy, climate change, and the clashing power of nations in a time of global crisis. The "shale revolution" in oil and gas - made possible by fracking technology, but not without controversy - has transformed the American economy, ending the "era of shortage", but introducing a turbulent new era. Almost overnight, the United States has become the world's number one energy powerhouse - and, during the coronavirus crisis, brokered a tense truce between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
-
-
Not his best: Overly broad, kind of sloppy
- By Jonathan Kelman on 02-23-21
By: Daniel Yergin
-
The Return of Great Powers
- Russia, China, and the Next World War
- By: Jim Sciutto
- Narrated by: Jim Sciutto
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 dawned what Francis Fukuyama called “The End of History.” Three decades later, Jim Sciutto said on CNN’s air as the Ukraine war began, that we are living in a “1939 moment.” History never ended—it barely paused—and the global order as we have known it is now gone. Great powers are reinvigorated and determined to assert dominance on the world stage. And as it escalates, this new order will affect everyone across the globe.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Douglas Peifer on 03-14-24
By: Jim Sciutto
What listeners say about Flashpoints
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dmitriy
- 01-07-19
Another increadible book by George
More in-depth analysis. I do not know anyone that sees the world more clearly and can analyze the world more thoroughly than GF.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jfp2081
- 04-04-15
Great performance and great content
Garnered an understanding on the historical interconnectedness b/w nations surrounding Europe. Great performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anon
- 09-27-19
Sophisticated, yet clear appraisal of the European situation
Among the best written and clearest assessments concerning the state of Europe that I’ve ever read (and I’ve read several).
Personal experience, a life of relevant work, and clarity of thought guide Mr Friedman’s work. He makes a compelling case for his view and personally, he’s convinced me of his worldview... with one caveat.
He makes the case that Europe hasn’t actually evolved away from its bloody past nor previous rivalries. History does show us that old habits do indeed die hard... but sometimes they do eventually die. How do we know Europe hasn’t fundamentally changed, as has happened centuries prior? He makes a clear case for the European periphery being in shambles but it’s not clear to me that the European core won’t step up. However, I do think he’s probably right - the core probably won’t step up - but there’s always hope.
A must read for those interested in European geopolitics/economics.
(Other reviewers have complained of the narration but I thought it was fine. On par for every other nonfiction book I’ve ever read)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bryan E. Canter
- 08-26-20
Well Done
Excellent analysis of the European situation and its roots in history. It is well worth a listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doris Serheev
- 06-20-15
A resume
Pretty good review of the history of Europe and U.S. role in rebuilding it after the war.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephen Goldenberg
- 04-04-15
Most important book I've ever read.
Should be read in high school and in adult book clubs. It explains how the world got where it now is.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H.H.
- 06-03-15
Excellent book to understand how the world got to the state it's in!
The historical perspective contained in this book is sweeping and at the same time interwoven with the author's personal experiences. The narrator had a tendency to drone a bit but otherwise it was great. I highly recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Gershon Ballas
- 02-06-22
Like it, but...
I'm not much of a geopolitics guy, but I thought this was an interesting and thorough (at least for those with no prior background) overview of European geopolitics. However, I wish the author would have touched on the change of geopolitical dynamics due to 21st century technology. Nuclear weapons, other technologies, and the exploding tech sector changed the logic of violence to the point that it doesn't make as much sense to wage war anymore. The author has completely disregarded that.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kristen
- 06-16-22
So timely
This book should be required reading for anyone with an opinion about current events in Europe.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 02-21-15
Important Reading: Old Grievances Do Not Go Away
This is an important book for anyone interested in contemporary geopolitics. Friedman takes us on a quick tour of European history which focuses on the rise of Germany three times: As an economic and military power leading to World War I, as a military power under Hitler, and as the greatest post-war economic power. Now being a rich, but militarily weak, country, Friedman explains the many challenges that Germany faces for itself, and that it creates for the rest of Europe. His discussion also chronicles the reemergence of Russia, and its need to move its "buffer" to the west, having been re-positioned far to the east after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Friedman also weighs in on the enigma of France and how it is neither really a northern European economic power or a weak southern European country, but a curious mixture of both. And, of course, Great Britain's role is analyzed. No longer a world power, Britain needs Europe and keeps a watchful eye on it, but does not really want to commit to the European Union. Friedman's most incisive discussion, however, involves borderlands across the quilt of many nations that form Europe. Some borderlands are peaceful and will likely remain that way, while others--most notably Ukraine--form the flashpoint for future conflicts. Friedman's main point is that the contention that the European Union ushered in an age of prosperity for all that made conflict and war a thing of the past is simply not true. Very thought provoking. I may listen again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful