-
How to Be a Dictator
- An Irreverent Guide
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 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 $14.36
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 tongue-in-cheek guide to becoming a dictator, based on the outrageous, scandalous, and excessive behavior of dictators past and present.
Who hasn't dreamed of one day ruling your own country? Along with great power comes unlimited influence, control, admiration, and often wealth. How to Be a Dictator will teach you the tricks of the trade - how to rise to the top and stay in power, and how to enjoy the fruits of your excellence.
Featuring examples from the most successful leaders and regimes in the business, including Kim Jong Il, Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Nicolae Ceauşescu, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, and many others, this handy guide offers 10 easy lessons on becoming and acting like a dictator: from how to rig an election and create your own personality cult to the do's and don'ts of dictator fashion and palace architecture, how to become wealthy and spend your fortune the right way, expressing your literary genius, and how to avoid being toppled, exiled, and/or meeting any other dismal end.
Combining black humor with political insights, How to Be a Dictator is peppered with horrifying and hilarious stories from some of the most eccentric modern world leaders.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
How to Be a Dictator
- The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
- By: Frank Dikötter
- Narrated by: Jack Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No dictator can rule through fear and violence alone. Naked power can be grabbed and held temporarily, but it never suffices in the long term. A tyrant who can compel his own people to acclaim him will last longer. The paradox of the modern dictator is that he must create the illusion of popular support. Throughout the 20th century, hundreds of millions of people were condemned to enthusiasm, obliged to hail their leaders even as they were herded down the road to serfdom.
-
-
Worth a listen
- By Amazon Customer on 12-06-19
By: Frank Dikötter
-
The Dictator's Handbook
- Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics
- By: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they must. Newly updated to reflect the global rise of authoritarianism, this clever and accessible book illustrates how leaders amass and retain power. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction.
-
-
Post covid revised edition, Avoid this.
- By mike on 02-22-24
By: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, and others
-
Voice-Overs for Podcasting
- How to Develop a Career and Make a Profit
- By: Elaine A. Clark
- Narrated by: Elaine A. Clark
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Voice-Overs for Podcasting is exactly what podcasters of all levels need: an essential handbook to create, build, improve, and connect with audiences around the globe. Written by veteran voice-over coach and author, Elaine A. Clark, this book delivers the nuts and bolts of podcasting and elevates it to a new creative level where the voice is the star and the listener is the happy recipient.
-
-
Great step by step guide
- By Dhandforth on 07-31-23
By: Elaine A. Clark
-
The Ultimate Art of War
- A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to Sun Tzu's Teachings
- By: Antony Cummins
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Composed in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu's Art of War is the earliest-known treatise on military strategy, and is still hugely popular around the world for its perceptive tactical advice to commanders on how to win at war with minimal bloodshed. Aimed at all those who want to study the text in depth, this is the first step-by-step guide to the famous treatise, breaking down the 13 chapters of the original into 200 easily digested lessons, from 'do not press a desperate enemy' to 'control your troops through bond of loyalty' to "when you are weak, beware attack".
-
-
A great book
- By Clarence Sheets on 09-17-20
By: Antony Cummins
-
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
- Bobiverse, Book 1
- By: Dennis E. Taylor
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.
-
-
Ignore the Publisher's Summary! This is Amazing!
- By PW on 04-12-17
By: Dennis E. Taylor
-
Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up
- By: Tom Phillips
- Narrated by: Nish Kumar
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern humans have come a long way in the 70,000 years they’ve walked the earth. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we’re true winners. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we’ve managed to truly f--k things up.
-
-
Doesn’t live up to promise
- By Shirley Y. Thomas on 11-09-19
By: Tom Phillips
-
How to Be a Dictator
- The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
- By: Frank Dikötter
- Narrated by: Jack Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No dictator can rule through fear and violence alone. Naked power can be grabbed and held temporarily, but it never suffices in the long term. A tyrant who can compel his own people to acclaim him will last longer. The paradox of the modern dictator is that he must create the illusion of popular support. Throughout the 20th century, hundreds of millions of people were condemned to enthusiasm, obliged to hail their leaders even as they were herded down the road to serfdom.
-
-
Worth a listen
- By Amazon Customer on 12-06-19
By: Frank Dikötter
-
The Dictator's Handbook
- Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics
- By: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they must. Newly updated to reflect the global rise of authoritarianism, this clever and accessible book illustrates how leaders amass and retain power. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction.
-
-
Post covid revised edition, Avoid this.
- By mike on 02-22-24
By: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, and others
-
Voice-Overs for Podcasting
- How to Develop a Career and Make a Profit
- By: Elaine A. Clark
- Narrated by: Elaine A. Clark
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Voice-Overs for Podcasting is exactly what podcasters of all levels need: an essential handbook to create, build, improve, and connect with audiences around the globe. Written by veteran voice-over coach and author, Elaine A. Clark, this book delivers the nuts and bolts of podcasting and elevates it to a new creative level where the voice is the star and the listener is the happy recipient.
-
-
Great step by step guide
- By Dhandforth on 07-31-23
By: Elaine A. Clark
-
The Ultimate Art of War
- A Step-by-Step Illustrated Guide to Sun Tzu's Teachings
- By: Antony Cummins
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Composed in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu's Art of War is the earliest-known treatise on military strategy, and is still hugely popular around the world for its perceptive tactical advice to commanders on how to win at war with minimal bloodshed. Aimed at all those who want to study the text in depth, this is the first step-by-step guide to the famous treatise, breaking down the 13 chapters of the original into 200 easily digested lessons, from 'do not press a desperate enemy' to 'control your troops through bond of loyalty' to "when you are weak, beware attack".
-
-
A great book
- By Clarence Sheets on 09-17-20
By: Antony Cummins
-
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
- Bobiverse, Book 1
- By: Dennis E. Taylor
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.
-
-
Ignore the Publisher's Summary! This is Amazing!
- By PW on 04-12-17
By: Dennis E. Taylor
-
Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up
- By: Tom Phillips
- Narrated by: Nish Kumar
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern humans have come a long way in the 70,000 years they’ve walked the earth. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we’re true winners. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we’ve managed to truly f--k things up.
-
-
Doesn’t live up to promise
- By Shirley Y. Thomas on 11-09-19
By: Tom Phillips
-
A Spark of Light
- A Novel
- By: Jodi Picoult
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Jodi Picoult
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The number-one New York Times best-selling author of Small Great Things returns with a powerful and provocative new novel about ordinary lives that intersect during a heart-stopping crisis. The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center - a women’s reproductive health services clinic. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter. Then he finds out that his 15-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.
-
-
✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 10-05-18
By: Jodi Picoult
-
Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
-
-
Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila R on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
-
The Book of Levi
- The Demon Accords, Book 0.5
- By: John Conroe
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do you raise a boy who can bend reality with his mind? How do you keep him levelheaded, sane, and good? Raising any child is a tremendous undertaking, let alone one blessed by the goddess herself. Levi Guildersleeve, retired soldier and successful collector of rare books, finds himself as the only male role model of the most powerful witch ever born.
-
-
This could have been amazing, went on too long.
- By Justin on 11-22-22
By: John Conroe
-
The Lifestyle Business Owner
- How to Buy a Business, Grow Your Profits, and Make It Run Without You
- By: Aaron Muller
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lifestyle Business Owner reveals how ordinary people can buy a small business in their community, earn a six-figure income, and make the business run without them. Aaron Muller, founder of Lifestyle Business Owner Academy, reveals the three-step formula he utilized to go from a kid who didn't attend college to the owner of eight companies that run without him. Now it’s your turn to discover the secrets to owning a business that gives you the financial freedom, lifestyle, and contribution you desire.
-
-
Self-Promoting Business Broker
- By Pat Lazure on 07-27-19
By: Aaron Muller
-
Surrender, White People!
- Our Unconditional Terms for Peace
- By: D. L. Hughley, Doug Moe
- Narrated by: D. L. Hughley
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Surrender, white people! After 400 years of white supremacy in America, a reckoning is here. Time to listen up, look history in the face, and surrender unjust privilege. These are the terms of peace - and they are unconditional. Hope you have a sense of humor, because this is going to sting. The legendary activist/comedian and author of the “hilarious yet soul-shaking” (Black Enterprise) best seller How Not to Get Shot returns to address a nation on the edge of civil war.
-
-
This book trivializes racism and is embarrassing
- By Bradley on 08-22-20
By: D. L. Hughley, and others
-
Whispers of the Bayou
- By: Mindy Starns Clark
- Narrated by: Jill Smith
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Swept away from Louisiana bayou country as a child, Miranda Miller is a woman without a past. She has a husband and child of her own and a fulfilling job in a Manhattan museum, but she also has questions - about the tragedy that cut her off from family and caused her to be sent away and about those first five years of her life, which were erased from her memory entirely. Summoned to the bedside of Willy Pedreaux, the old caretaker of her grandparents' antebellum estate, Miranda goes back to Louisiana at last, hoping to learn the truths of her past and receive her rightful inheritance.
-
-
Excellent story!
- By Lynette Eppley on 12-14-19
-
Who Ate the First Oyster?
- The Extraordinary People Behind the Greatest Firsts in History
- By: Cody Cassidy
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who wore the first pants? Who painted the first masterpiece? Who first rode the horse? Who invented soap? This madcap adventure across ancient history uses everything from modern genetics to archaeology to uncover the geniuses behind these and other world-changing innovations. With a sharp sense of humor and boundless enthusiasm for the wonders of our ancient ancestors, Who Ate the First Oyster? profiles the perpetrators of the greatest firsts and catastrophes of prehistory.
-
-
It could be better...
- By Alex on 04-06-21
By: Cody Cassidy
-
The Dungeon Traveler
- By: Alston Sleet
- Narrated by: Doug Tisdale Jr.
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I spent most of my life trying to get by with whatever happiness I could, that included alcohol, food, and porn. My death was unpleasant and humiliating. However, death is something we all need to go through. A bit like a proctology exam: necessary, but never anything one wants to go through while it's happening. However, death was supposed to be the end of it. Either way, the pain, suffering, and failures were supposed to be over. No, I ended up as a small stone, strapped to a table, while a pimple-faced teenager rubbed my facets and told me how "lovely" I was.
-
-
Thumbs up!
- By Alsor2000 on 04-26-19
By: Alston Sleet
-
The Dungeon Fairy Box Set, Books 1-4
- By: Jonathan Brooks
- Narrated by: Miles Meili
- Length: 42 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All that Tacca GloomLily ever wanted to be since she was very little was a fairy assistant to a Dungeon Core. After her negatively portentous birth, however, she was never fully accepted by her superstitious peers and instructors at the Dungeon Assistant Preparatory School. Nevertheless, she persisted in her studies and graduated at the top of her class. Unfortunately for her, the “hands-on” training she was supposed to receive from a mentor and his bonded Dungeon Core didn’t go the way she would’ve hoped.
-
-
Great Entertainment
- By Karyn Hart on 01-29-22
By: Jonathan Brooks
-
India
- A Portrait
- By: Patrick French
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India’s political, economic and social complexities.
-
-
An Epic Book by Award-Winning Author
- By morton on 10-31-11
By: Patrick French
-
SPQR
- A History of Ancient Rome
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.
-
-
Shallow and unsatisfying
- By Joe on 02-19-17
By: Mary Beard
-
The Year of Living Danishly
- Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?
-
-
Interesting content. Unfortunate delivery.
- By Jennifer Soudagar on 11-13-15
By: Helen Russell
Related to this topic
-
India
- A Portrait
- By: Patrick French
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India’s political, economic and social complexities.
-
-
An Epic Book by Award-Winning Author
- By morton on 10-31-11
By: Patrick French
-
The Italians
- By: John Hooper
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Hooper's marvelously entertaining and perceptive new book is ideal for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Looking at the facts that lie behind and often belie the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.
-
-
Mi piace molto!
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-30-16
By: John Hooper
-
Midnight at the Pera Palace
- The Birth of Modern Istanbul
- By: Charles King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At midnight, December 31, 1925, citizens of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic celebrated the New Year. For the first time ever, they had agreed to use a nationally unified calendar and clock. Yet in Istanbul - an ancient crossroads and Turkey's largest city - people were looking toward an uncertain future. Never purely Turkish, Istanbul was home to generations of Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, as well as Muslims.
-
-
INTERESTING SUBJECT - CONFUSED WRITING
- By The Louligan on 01-18-15
By: Charles King
-
The Red Prince
- The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Michael Damon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the palaces of the Habsburg Empire to the torture chambers of Stalin's Soviet Union, the extraordinary story of a life suspended between the collapse of the imperial order and the violent emergence of modern Europe. Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and, every so often, a dress.
-
-
little known story about Hapsburgs
- By Janice on 03-30-10
By: Timothy Snyder
-
The Bin Ladens
- An Arabian Family in the American Century
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national best seller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member's rebellion changed America.
By: Steve Coll
-
David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
-
-
Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
-
India
- A Portrait
- By: Patrick French
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. Melding on-the-ground reports with a deep knowledge of history, French exposes the cultural foundations of India’s political, economic and social complexities.
-
-
An Epic Book by Award-Winning Author
- By morton on 10-31-11
By: Patrick French
-
The Italians
- By: John Hooper
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Hooper's marvelously entertaining and perceptive new book is ideal for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Looking at the facts that lie behind and often belie the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.
-
-
Mi piace molto!
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-30-16
By: John Hooper
-
Midnight at the Pera Palace
- The Birth of Modern Istanbul
- By: Charles King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At midnight, December 31, 1925, citizens of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic celebrated the New Year. For the first time ever, they had agreed to use a nationally unified calendar and clock. Yet in Istanbul - an ancient crossroads and Turkey's largest city - people were looking toward an uncertain future. Never purely Turkish, Istanbul was home to generations of Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, as well as Muslims.
-
-
INTERESTING SUBJECT - CONFUSED WRITING
- By The Louligan on 01-18-15
By: Charles King
-
The Red Prince
- The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Michael Damon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the palaces of the Habsburg Empire to the torture chambers of Stalin's Soviet Union, the extraordinary story of a life suspended between the collapse of the imperial order and the violent emergence of modern Europe. Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and, every so often, a dress.
-
-
little known story about Hapsburgs
- By Janice on 03-30-10
By: Timothy Snyder
-
The Bin Ladens
- An Arabian Family in the American Century
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national best seller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family's rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member's rebellion changed America.
By: Steve Coll
-
David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
-
-
Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
-
The China Mirage
- The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia
- By: James Bradley
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In each of his books, James Bradley has exposed the hidden truths behind America's engagement in Asia. Now comes his most engrossing work yet. Beginning in the 1850s, Bradley introduces us to the prominent Americans who made their fortunes in the China opium trade. As they - good Christians all - profitably addicted millions, American missionaries arrived, promising salvation for those who adopted Western ways.
-
-
Gross Negligence!
- By Donald Hill on 05-31-18
By: James Bradley
-
Havana Nocturne
- How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Havana Nocturne takes listeners back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island's brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others.
-
-
Not for reactionaries
- By sunsolid on 02-17-09
By: T. J. English
-
The Imperial Cruise
- A Secret History of Empire and War
- By: James Bradley
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous 21 year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise, which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.
-
-
Over the Top - Why did I waste my time?
- By Kent on 01-25-10
By: James Bradley
-
Inside the Kingdom
- Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Robert Lacey
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Robert Lacey tells us what happened in the Middle East's oil-rich powerhouse---while we weren't looking.
-
-
Inside the Kingdom
- By Ibrahim on 03-19-10
By: Robert Lacey
-
The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
- America and China, 1776 to the Present
- By: John Pomfret
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 30 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our relationship with China remains one of the most complex and rapidly evolving and is perhaps one of the most important to our nation's future. Here, John Pomfret, the author of the best-selling Chinese Lessons, takes us deep into these two countries' shared history and illuminates in vibrant, stunning detail every major event, relationship, and ongoing development that has affected diplomacy between these two booming, influential nations.
-
-
Indispensable for understanding the US China relationship
- By D. Keith on 03-12-17
By: John Pomfret
-
The Future Is History
- How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and grandchildren of the very architects of the new Russia, each with newfound aspirations of their own - as entrepreneurs, activists, thinkers, and writers, sexual and social beings.
-
-
The author is an international treasure
- By ThreeGems on 10-16-17
By: Masha Gessen
-
The Fall of Heaven
- The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran
- By: Andrew Scott Cooper
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkably human portrait of one of the 20th century's most complicated personalities, author Andrew Scott Cooper traces Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's life from childhood through his ascension to the throne in 1941. He highlights the turbulence of the postwar era, during which the shah survived assassination attempts and coup plots to build a modern, pro-Western state and launch Iran onto the world stage as one of the world's top five powers.
-
-
Excellent account of a pivotal and sad time
- By Guerin Shea on 09-05-16
-
North Korea Confidential
- Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors
- By: Daniel Tudor, James Pearson
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
North Korea is one of the most troubled societies on earth. The country's 24 million people live under a violent dictatorship led by a single family, which relentlessly pursues the development of nuclear arms, which periodically incites risky military clashes with the larger, richer, liberal South, and which forces each and every person to play a role in the "theater state" even as it pays little more than lip service to the wellbeing of the overwhelming majority.
-
-
Interesting portrait of North Korea marred by awful pronunciation
- By Amazon Customer on 08-03-21
By: Daniel Tudor, and others
-
Reset
- Iran, Turkey, and America's Future
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What can the United States do to help realize its dream of a peaceful, democratic Middle East? Stephen Kinzer offers a surprising answer in this paradigm-shifting book. Two countries in the region, he argues, are America's logical partners in the 21st century: Turkey and Iran.
-
-
challenges stereotypes
- By R.S. on 06-14-10
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
French Revolution
- A Captivating Guide to the French Revolution, the Life of Marie Antoinette and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman, Duke Holm
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to this audiobook now if you want to learn more about the French Revolution! Includes two audiobooks in one.
-
-
A worthy read!
- By ThomasP on 05-16-20
-
Korea
- The Impossible Country
- By: Daniel Tudor
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long overshadowed by Japan and China, South Korea is a small country that happens to be one of the great national success stories of the postwar period. From a failed state with no democratic tradition, ruined and partitioned by war, and sapped by a half-century of colonial rule, South Korea transformed itself in just 50 years into an economic powerhouse and a democracy that serves as a model for other countries. With no natural resources and a tradition of authoritarian rule, Korea managed to accomplish a second Asian miracle.
-
-
Amazing book
- By Antoine on 12-14-18
By: Daniel Tudor
-
1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War
- By: Charles Emerson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today, 1913 is inevitably viewed through the lens of 1914: as the last year before a war that would shatter the global economic order and tear Europe apart, undermining its global pre-eminence. Our perspectives narrowed by hindsight, the world of that year is reduced to its most frivolous features last summers in grand aristocratic residences or its most destructive ones: the unresolved rivalries of the great European powers, the fear of revolution, violence in the Balkans.
-
-
Good book ruined by bad read
- By GANESHi on 08-02-13
By: Charles Emerson
What listeners say about How to Be a Dictator
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rodney Hall
- 05-08-23
Informing and entertaining
I like the sarcastic approach of the book. It is filled with interesting trivia and the lifestyles of the rich and tyrannical. Fun adventure in poetical science.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AnaM
- 11-15-21
Not really informative, mediocre entertainment
Title sums it up. You won’t walk away from this with any deep knowledge, maybe a fun fact or two. The narrative itself is just not that fun either. It jumps around a lot within a single chapter and you get a really shallow view of a bunch of dictators instead of more illustrative case studies of fewer dictators. This is the one time where the Netflix story is better than the book.
That being said, the audio is fine. Reader does a good job at giving the tone of the book and in a nice cadence.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nik
- 01-01-21
People are weird
A bizarre parade of stories that display the amusing behavior of those with too much excess.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cruis46
- 05-10-21
interesting with a few chuckles
Liked it althought I'm not sure I'd count it as a comedy but rather a documentary with some satirical dialogue. Some chuckles mixed in with the interesting facts. Worth a listen.
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
- Alvi
- 07-12-22
Describes Donald J. Trump to a T
Describes Donald J. Trump to a T. Must read for anyone trying to understand trump
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Zachary
- 10-02-22
Better title - How to identify a dictator
Please do not become a dictator.
This is an excellent guide to identify a dictator, and it serves as a reminder how delicate democracy and freedom can be for all. I thought the examples were fantastic and I learned a lot about global politics, and world history through the processes.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joy
- 01-30-21
if I ever decide to be a dictator
if I ever take the notion to become a dictator I will definitely need this book... being is average as I am this book was very informative and believe it or not extremely funny extremely funny the author has a great sense of humor and I love this book it was wonderful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Evie M
- 04-30-23
Entertaining, Easy Listen, Interesting History
Title says it all. It's a light 'read', but it has a great number of interesting historical details. I quite like it. After I started listening to it, my partner began listening to it independently and surprised me when he put it on. That was neat. He enjoyed it as well, and I got to hear it a second time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- StephenH
- 04-10-21
Tongue in cheek
A tongue in cheek and somewhat satirical review of 20th century despots. There are some factual errors and How-to Be doesn't seem to have a point beyond offering dictator trivia. Perhaps surprisingly, there's very little discussion of Soviet leaders and not much more about Chinese leaders. Instead, there's a focus on dictators of "banana republics," particularly Haiti, Kazakhstan, and North Korea. Organization seems thematic but in practice feels haphazard. The reader is good.
How to Be is a fairly short, entertaining romp, and people with an interest in the eclectic might enjoy it. While I've given the book four stars, I generally wouldn't recommend the book. it was free as part of my Audible membership but I wouldn't pay for How to Be a Dictator.
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
- Bruce Cline
- 04-25-22
So much to know!
Having misread the title, I’d been hoping for a guide to BECOMING a dictator. Sadly, I’ll have to look elsewhere for that, but once I am an autocrat, this little book will be a fantastic guide about how to act as one. True, there are some great hints about how to seize power, but that’s just a bonus. Mostly, it’s a review of how to act like a dictator, from fashion, spending, housing, marriage (or not), propaganda, repression, lawlessness, and so much more! Truly, this is a treasure chest of ideas about looking and acting like the most important and powerful person in your respective sovereign state.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!