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Not One Inch
- America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
A leading expert on foreign policy reveals how tensions between America, NATO, and Russia transformed geopolitics in a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2021
"Sarotte is the unofficial dean of 'end of Cold War' studies.... With her latest book, she tackles head-on the not-controversial-at-all questions about NATO’s eastward growth and the effect it had on Russia's relations with the west." (Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post)
"The most engaging and carefully documented account of this period in East-West diplomacy currently available." (Andrew Moravscik, Foreign Affairs)
Based on over a hundred interviews and on secret records of White House - Kremlin contacts, Not One Inch shows how the United States successfully overcame Russian resistance in the 1990s to expand NATO to more than 900 million people. But it also reveals how Washington's hardball tactics transformed the era between the Cold War and the present day, undermining what could have become a lasting partnership.
Vladimir Putin swears that Washington betrayed a promise that NATO would move "not one inch" eastward and justifies renewed confrontation as a necessary response to the alliance's illegitimate "deployment of military infrastructure to our borders." But the United States insists that neither President George H. W. Bush nor any other leader made such a promise.
Pulling back the curtain on U.S.-Russian relations in the critical years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and Putin's rise to power, prize-winning Cold War historian M. E. Sarotte reveals the bitter clashes over NATO behind the facade of friendship and comes to a sobering conclusion: the damage did not have to happen. In this deeply researched and compellingly written book, Sarotte shows what went wrong.
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On Christmas, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: Earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades. As Serhii Plokhy reveals, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the US.
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Full of Holes; Horrid Narrator
- By Donald on 03-02-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
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Known and Unknown
- A Memoir
- By: Donald Rumsfeld
- Narrated by: Donald Rumsfeld
- Length: 30 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A powerful memoir from the late former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled with previously undisclosed details and insights about the Bush administration, 9/11, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also features Rumsfeld's unique and often surprising observations on eight decades of history. Both a fascinating narrative and an unprecedented glimpse into history, Known and Unknown captures the legacy of one of the most influential men in public service.
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Inside view of five decades in politics
- By Brooks on 02-19-11
By: Donald Rumsfeld
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Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
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Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
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Potsdam
- The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
- By: Michael Neiberg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.
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Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg
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The Marshall Plan
- Dawn of the Cold War
- By: Benn Steil
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning author of The Battle of Bretton Woods reveals the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan—told with verve, insight, and resonance for today.
In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, US officials under new secretary of state George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events.
Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steil’s thrilling account brings to life the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relations—the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, we see and understand like never before Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe.
Given current echoes of the Cold War, as Putin’s Russia rattles the world order, the tenuous balance of power and uncertain order of the late 1940s is as relevant as ever. The Marshall Plan provides critical context into understanding today’s international landscape. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steil’s account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan and the birth of the Cold War. A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, this is an instant classic of Cold War literature.
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A Deeply Researched Narrative
- By Jean on 10-18-18
By: Benn Steil
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How Wars End
- Why We Always Fight the Last Battle
- By: Gideon Rose
- Narrated by: Gideon Rose
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1991, the United States Army trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war.
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Excellent book
- By Luis on 11-04-10
By: Gideon Rose
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Asia's Reckoning
- China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century
- By: Richard Mcgregor
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard McGregor's Asia's Reckoning is a compelling account of the widening geopolitical cracks in a region that has flourished under an American security umbrella for more than half a century. The toxic rivalry between China and Japan, two Asian giants consumed with endless history wars and ruled by entrenched political dynasties, is threatening to upend the peace underwritten by Pax Americana since World War II.
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Good info to learn, but...
- By Neal on 02-24-18
By: Richard Mcgregor
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Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
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The Netanyahu Years
- Translated by Ora Cummings
- By: Ben Caspit
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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A portrait of the current Israeli prime minister, one of Israel's more noticeable leaders in recent decades. Benjamin Netanyahu is currently serving his fourth term in office as prime minister of Israel, the longest serving prime minister in the country's history. Now Israeli journalist Ben Caspit puts Netanyahu's life under a magnifying glass, focusing on his last two terms in office.
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weak
- By kay on 06-11-18
By: Ben Caspit
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Road to Disaster
- A New History of America’s Descent into Vietnam
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite many words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to explain why such decent and previously successful men stumbled so badly. That changes with Road to Disaster. Historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own interviews with many of those involved, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark Clifford, who served as Defense Secretaries for Kennedy and Johnson.
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Vietnam Veteran
- By Jim Rollins on 04-02-19
By: Brian VanDeMark
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At the end of World War II, the United States was considered the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear—to some—that the Soviet Union was already seeking to expand and foment revolution around the world, and the American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly formed CIA. Chronicling their fascinating lives, Scott Anderson follows the exploits of four spies. Despite their ambitions, time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by ham-fisted politicking and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government.
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Revolution 1989
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For more than 40 years, communism held eight European nations in its iron fist. Yet by the end of 1989, all of these nations had thrown off communism, declared independence, and embarked on the road to democracy.
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The Cold War
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Drawing on new and often startling information from newly opened Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives, this thrilling account explores the strategic dynamics that drove the Cold War, provides illuminating portraits of its major personalities, and offers much fresh insight into its most crucial events. Riveting, revelatory, and wise, it tells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand as America once more faces an implacable ideological enemy.
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WOW
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What listeners say about Not One Inch
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- Lorenzo Coopman
- 02-02-23
important stuff.
it's a great starting point if you want to know more about how the world got in this terrible mess it is currently in.
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- See Reverse
- 05-29-22
Unresolved Order: 30 Years On
In contrast to the new world order established in Europe following WW2, the decline and demise of the Soviet Union preserved the seeds of future conflict between the world and Russia. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the author describes a short window where many different outcomes were possible to heal the wounds of the Cold War. While opportunities identified and cultivated from this period led to a period of global peace and economic growth, the unresolved issues of the time continue to weigh over Europe more than 30 years onward. If you're curious about the conflict of Russia and Ukraine, or about Russia's isolation from the rest of the world, the foundation is covered in this relevant, and timely book.
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- Thucydides
- 01-03-23
Fascinating, well-researched & timely
I thought that I had a good understanding of the history of NATO expansion, but this book really expanded my understanding. It is well-argued and provides a valuable perspective on NATO expansion that connects well to today’s U.S.-Russia relationship.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-29-22
Great work
A must read if you want to understand the conflict in Ukraine. Future historians will definitely use it.
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- Arne Oehme
- 10-15-24
Thorough, neutral and fact-dense
Absolute mesmerizing, well researched recounting of a formative period. Not being a witness benefits the author in their focus on sources from all parties as opposed to recounting (potentially colored) memories.
It is fascinating how much happened in these short years and how fluid, unpredictable and volatile the situation was. Hidden ultimatums, late night negotiations in bathrobes, government infighting, economic collapse and pride all throw the future of europe around like a boat in a storm.
I would have liked the author to give more time to the economic woes Gorbatchov had to deal with and illustrate more the precarious security situation the former Warsaw Pact states and especially Soviet Republics found themselves in, which must have had a huge impact on their decision making.
But this is nitpicking, this is a stellar compilation of events and due to the sheer density of what happened a real nail-biter.
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- joshua
- 04-26-22
Thorough
Wonderfully thorough and well-sourced accounting of the thinking and decisions behind post-Soviet expansion of NATO. Provides thoughtful study of immediate and broader repercussions throughout the entire decade.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-21-22
Informative history but tead too fast
This book provides a very well researched and informative history of US-Russian relations from the collapse of the Berlin Wall to the present day. It helps the reader understand the geopolitical shifts on the European continent that contributed to the current invadion of Ukraine. I highly recommend this book but personally would have preferred reading the print version. The narrator reads too fast. I was very interested in the subject matter but had difficulty processing the information at the speed at which it was presented, which was rapid fire. I constantly had to go back and replay (and I am a prolific reader of non-fiction). It was tiring and very annoying. The only reason I could follow it at all was because I lived through the era and took a few college courses on Russian history. For such a heavy subject matter, the narrator should have read more slowly.
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- Randall Mayer
- 04-29-22
Relevant to where we are today in Ukraine
Interesting narratives from behind the scenes how NATO expanded and came into being in the last 30 years
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- Sophie
- 06-25-24
Wonderful book. Must read.
The author has done such a great research. For the first time we have been introduced from the German side of story.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-12-23
Solid book!
Great insight on post-cold war geopolitics. Obviously incredibly well researched. 4.5 stars because it dragged a bit in a few chapters.
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