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Inside the Five-Sided Box
- Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon
- Narrated by: Ash Carter
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
The 25th Secretary of Defense takes listeners behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of the Pentagon, its vital mission, and what it takes to lead it.
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the single largest institution in America: the Department of Defense. The DOD employs millions of Americans. It owns and operates more real estate and spends more money than any other entity. It manages the world’s largest and most complex information network and performs more R&D than Apple, Google, and Microsoft combined. Most important, the policies it carries out, in war and peace, impact the security and freedom of billions of people around the globe.
Yet to most Americans, the dealings of the DOD are a mystery and the Pentagon nothing more than an opaque five-sided box that they regard with a mixture of awe and suspicion.
In this new book, former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter demystifies the Pentagon and sheds light on all that happens inside one of the nation’s most iconic and most closely guarded buildings. Drawn from Carter’s 36 years of leadership experience in the DOD, this is the essential book for understanding the challenge of defending America in a dangerous world - and imparting a trove of incisive lessons that can guide leaders in any complex organization.
In these times of great disruption and danger, the need for Ash Carter’s authoritative and pragmatic account is more urgent than ever.
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Critic reviews
One of The Washington Post’s 10 Leadership Books to Watch for 2019
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Inside view of five decades in politics
- By Brooks on 02-19-11
By: Donald Rumsfeld
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Surge
- My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War
- By: Peter R. Mansoor, General David Petraeus - foreword
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Surge is an insider's view of the most decisive phase of the Iraq War. Using newly declassified documents, unpublished manuscripts, interviews, author notes, and published sources, Surge explains how President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Ambassador Crocker, General Petraeus, and other U.S. and Iraqi political and military leaders shaped the surge from the center of the maelstrom in Baghdad and Washington.
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Helpful for the Army War College
- By BBP on 02-24-18
By: Peter R. Mansoor, and others
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Good Hunting
- An American Spymaster's Story
- By: Jack Devine
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the CIA, where he served for more than 30 years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the agency's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering - all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this audiobook also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers.
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Fascinating, An education on spying
- By Anthony on 12-13-15
By: Jack Devine
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Obama's Wars
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
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Woodward Does a Service
- By Roy on 10-01-10
By: Bob Woodward
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The Bomb
- Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories - based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents - of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.
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Excellent, important book, bad narration.
- By Richard L. Hubbell on 02-06-20
By: Fred Kaplan
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The Afghanistan Papers
- A Secret History of the War
- By: Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: Defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off-course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives.
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Eye-Opening Book
- By David J Ray on 09-01-21
By: Craig Whitlock, and others
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Plan of Attack
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
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Plan of Attack is the definitive account of how and why President George W. Bush, his war council, and allies launched a preemptive attack to topple Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq. Bob Woodward's latest landmark account of Washington decision making provides an original, authoritative narrative of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, examining the causes and consequences of the most controversial war since Vietnam.
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Rorschach Test
- By Michael on 05-03-04
By: Bob Woodward
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The War State
- The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963
- By: Michael Swanson
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Today when you factor in the interest on the national debt from past wars and total defense expenditures the United States spends almost 40% of its federal budget on the military. It accounts for over 46% of total world arms spending. Before World War II it spent almost nothing on defense and hardly anyone paid any income taxes. You can't have big wars without big government. Such big expenditures are now threatening to harm the national economy.
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Surprisingly Good
- By ohmie on 04-22-14
By: Michael Swanson
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How Ike Led
- The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions
- By: Susan Eisenhower
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne, Susan Eisenhower
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to Little Rock, from the Korean War to Cold War crises, from the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, he was able to give our country eight years of peace and prosperity by relying on a core set of principles. These were informed by his heritage and upbringing, his strong character and his personal discipline, but he also avoided making himself the center of things. He tried to be the calmest man in the room, not the loudest.
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A President of the UNITED States
- By Happy Doc on 09-10-20
By: Susan Eisenhower
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Black Site
- The CIA in the Post-9/11 World
- By: Philip Mudd
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When the towers fell on September 11, 2001, nowhere were the reverberations more powerfully felt than at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Almost overnight, the intelligence organization evolved into a warfighting intelligence service, constructing what was known internally as "the Program": a web of top-secret detention facilities intended to help prevent future attacks on American soil and around the world. With Black Site, former deputy director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center Philip Mudd presents a full, never-before-told story of this now-controversial program.
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A lot of insight and context
- By Syrus Tam on 05-16-22
By: Philip Mudd
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
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The Insurgents
- David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on previously unavailable documents and interviews with more than 100 key players, including General David Petraeus, The Insurgents unfolds against the backdrop of two wars waged against insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the main insurgency is the one led at home by a new generation of officers - including Petraeus, John Nagl, David Kilcullen, and H. R. McMaster - who were seized with an idea on how to fight these kinds of "small wars" and who adapted their enemies' techniques to overhaul their own army.
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How to fight a war and win
- By Chupuk on 05-03-16
By: Fred Kaplan
What listeners say about Inside the Five-Sided Box
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rick from 1620
- 07-08-19
great story about our past and future
Ash is a little less than riviting, but the story content makes up for it!
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- John Moua
- 11-20-22
listening after death of SecDef
great account of Pentagon history and view point from his position. great insights. Highly recommended for DoD and fed employees
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-10-22
Great read and very informative.
A good book by a great American. Ash Carter was a loyal and faithful servant.
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- Anon
- 06-26-19
If you find studying the ins and outs of orgs interesting - you’ll like this book
Ash goes in-depth on how the org is structured and how he ran it. His book starts with procurement. If that sounds interesting to you, you’ll like the book.
Not only did the book provide a look at the DoD, it also provided insight into the personality of the secretary himself. He’s clearly very pleased with himself and doesn’t tend to admit to many mistakes. He also continually criticizes a sitting President which I find less than great form for a senior cabinet secretary. In terms of narration, it sometimes sounds like he’s falling asleep reading his own book.
However, I did enjoy the read. Though he can come across as arrogant he's also clearly very intelligent and his background in science is genuinely impressive. He also knows how to run a very large org... at least according to him... but based on the org procedures he outlines in the book I believe he probably did do a reasonably good job. In reading certain passages, he really comes alive and even manages to flash a little personality - I really enjoyed these parts - I just wished they’d happened a little more often.
All in all this was a thorough look through an amazing org by a thoughtful person. I’m glad I listened.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-25-19
A Must Read
Secretary Carter’s lessons in leadership is a must read for leaders and aspiring leaders at all levels-military, business, political and academic. It is a straight forward no fluff account of his 30 plus years serving our Nation. Filled with numerous examples and antidotes there is a lesson to be learned on every page. You won’t be disappointed.
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- UNCLE SAM
- 09-01-19
Great Story Very Informative Sightly Biased
Like Bob Gates’ book Duty; here is a rare opportunity to get a firsthand look at the workings of our military at the highest level. Ashe Carter describes the details of the position of Secretary of Defense and some workings of the Pentagon.
Occasionally, Carter colors outside the lines with his support of Obama and his dislike of Trump. If you read between the lines and study actual policy and exec; you will find that he simply enjoyed working with Obama and personally disliked Trump.
Carter wasted a chapter plus numerous other remarks basically saying he disliked Trump but not necessarily saying his policies were wrong. If you listen closely he had a good working relationship with Obama but disagreed with a lot of his policies and really found Obama’s advisers way over the top and woefully inadequate to the important tasks at hand.
Recommend you forget YOUR BIASES and learn from the book and you will have a better appreciation for the enormity of responsibility of the job and office of both the President and the Secretary of Defense.
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3 people found this helpful
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- petrex pvg
- 06-22-19
He's kicked the ball out there
Let's hope the USA some personal depth, to keep it going. The current political administration has laid waste to the State Department, the judiciary is being politicised.... 🌏
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-11-23
Every leader should listen to this book.
Ash Carter is the epitome of a brilliant and moral leader. No matter what field you are in, this book provides exceptional guidance and serves as an example of what leadership should be.
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- Scott Ohrt
- 06-28-20
Be sure and turn the speed to 1.25 minimum.
It was amazing and mind blowing how the Department of Defense operates. It was also very eye opening the politics involved in the operation of oversight and budgeting or lack thereof! Some of it was pretty technical but not overwhelming.
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- Dallas
- 07-27-19
Save your money
Unless you think Barack Obama walks on water, this book is a waste of your time and money. Carter lost me when he wrote glowingly about Obama's decision making - when Obama was the least decisive president in my lifetime. Carter also writes glowingly about Susan Rice - she of the 5 Sunday shows wherein she defended the Obama administration's waffling on Benghazi.
I'm going to ask for my money back.
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3 people found this helpful