-
Our Man
- Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 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 $24.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography
Winner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize
"Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exasperating self-willed glory.... Both a sweeping diplomatic history and a Shakespearean tragicomedy.... If you could read one book to comprehend American's foreign policy and its quixotic forays into quicksands over the past 50 years, this would be it." (Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review)
"By the end of the second page, maybe the third, you will be hooked.... There never was a diplomat-activist quite like [Holbrooke], and there seldom has been a book quite like this - sweeping and sentimental, beguiling and brutal, catty and critical, much like the man himself." (David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe)
Richard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, America's greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy.
From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. His story is thus the story of America during its era of supremacy: Its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence.
In Our Man, drawn from Holbrooke's diaries and papers, we are given a nonfiction narrative that is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Last Best Hope
- America in Crisis and Renewal
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides.
-
-
Terribly disappointing
- By Bill Lauderback on 07-13-21
By: George Packer
-
The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
-
-
Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
-
-
Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
Romney
- A Reckoning
- By: McKay Coppins
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, McKay Coppins
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection.
-
-
Political and intellectual biography at its best!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-23
By: McKay Coppins
-
Last Best Hope
- America in Crisis and Renewal
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides.
-
-
Terribly disappointing
- By Bill Lauderback on 07-13-21
By: George Packer
-
The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
-
-
Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
-
-
Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
-
MBS
- The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman
- By: Ben Hubbard
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
MBS is the untold story of how a mysterious young prince emerged from Saudi Arabia’s sprawling royal family to overhaul the economy and society of the richest country in the Middle East - and gather as much power as possible into his own hands. Since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne in 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has leveraged his influence to restructure the kingdom’s economy, loosen its strict Islamic social codes, and confront its enemies around the region, especially Iran.
-
-
Suffers from 'Objective Journalism' Syndrome
- By Anonymous User on 05-09-20
By: Ben Hubbard
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
-
The Wise Men
- Six Friends and the World They Made
- By: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 33 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day. In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman.
-
-
Dull with poor narration
- By KD6161 on 03-31-17
By: Evan Thomas, and others
-
Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
-
-
That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
-
The World
- A Brief Introduction
- By: Richard Haass
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The World is designed to provide listeners of any age and experience with the essential background and building blocks they need to make sense of this complicated and interconnected world. It will empower them to manage the flood of daily news. Listeners will become more informed, discerning citizens, better able to arrive at sound, independent judgments. While it is impossible to predict what the next crisis will be or where it will originate, those who listen to The World will have what they need to understand its basics and the principal choices for how to respond.
-
-
Excellent Primer for young adults
- By Howells on 05-24-20
By: Richard Haass
-
Not One Inch
- America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate
- By: M.E. Sarotte
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
America's NATO problem
- By Jeffrey D on 03-24-22
By: M.E. Sarotte
-
The Back Channel
- A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal
- By: William J. Burns
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, William J. Burns
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time - from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post-Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post-9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career.
-
-
A Definitive look at Diplomacy
- By Jean on 07-19-19
By: William J. Burns
-
The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
-
-
Sam's Power: Privilege in U.S. Politics
- By RelizzScholar27 on 11-09-19
By: Samantha Power
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
-
American Midnight
- The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a groundbreaking reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threated by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor
-
-
Disturbing yet Reassuring
- By Sams95 on 11-18-22
By: Adam Hochschild
-
Alexander Hamilton
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
-
-
An Outstanding & Riveting Book!
- By Kevin on 03-04-05
By: Ron Chernow
-
Churchill
- Walking with Destiny
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 50 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In this landmark biography of Winston Churchill based on extensive new material, the true genius of the man, statesman, and leader can finally be fully understood.
-
-
Superb Biography
- By Jean on 03-03-19
By: Andrew Roberts
Critic reviews
"It is impossible to read George Packer’s new biography of Richard Holbrooke without a piercing sense of melancholy, not only that a man so supremely alive should be dead, but also because such people - Our Man, in Packer’s title, the incarnation of vanished glory, imperial hubris, exceptional Americanism - no longer walk the earth.... Extraordinary." (James Traub, Foreign Policy)
"This book is a real accomplishment; it’s hands down the best biography I have read this year.... Deeply researched and reported.... Sure to win a prize (or two or three) in the 2019 literary-awards sweepstakes." (Adam B. Kushner, Philadelphia Inquirer)
"This is the kind of biography (massive, detailed) by the kind of author (respected, experienced) reserved for great books on great men.... Packer make[s] a case for Holbrooke’s place in the pantheon, showing that there was real idealism and skill buried beneath the layers of self-regard." (Mary Ann Gwin, The Seattle Times)
Related to this topic
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
-
-
Sam's Power: Privilege in U.S. Politics
- By RelizzScholar27 on 11-09-19
By: Samantha Power
-
The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
-
-
Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
-
Three Days at the Brink
- FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the number-one best-selling author of Three Days in Moscow and anchor of Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier, a gripping history of the secret meeting that set the stage for victory in World War II - the now-forgotten 1943 Tehran Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin plotted the war's endgame, including the D-Day invasion.
-
-
A history lesson and SO much more
- By ScottG on 11-18-19
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
The Quiet Americans
- Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - a Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Scott Anderson
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Tragedy for One
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-20
By: Scott Anderson
-
The Man Who Ran Washington
- The Life and Times of James A. Baker III
- By: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser
- Narrated by: Michael Quinlan
- Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency without his help or ran the White House without his advice. James Addison Baker III was the indispensable man for four presidents because he understood better than anyone how to make Washington work at a time when America was shaping events around the world. The Man Who Ran Washington is a pause-resisting portrait of a power broker who influenced America's destiny for generations.
-
-
We Need Baker Now More Than Ever
- By @Gazi2a on 01-08-21
By: Peter Baker, and others
-
The Education of an Idealist
- A Memoir
- By: Samantha Power
- Narrated by: Samantha Power
- Length: 21 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her memoir, Power offers an urgent response to the question "What can one person do?" and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign.
-
-
Sam's Power: Privilege in U.S. Politics
- By RelizzScholar27 on 11-09-19
By: Samantha Power
-
The Kennedys
- An American Drama
- By: Peter Collier, David Horowitz
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who are the Kennedys? Are they the brilliant, heroic, extraordinary people their admirers believe them to be? Or are they arrogant, competitive, self-absorbed children of a willful and immensely rich patriarch, as their detractors claim? In fact, they are all of these things, and more.
-
-
Well-written (and narrated) Kennedy history.
- By SBG on 09-17-19
By: Peter Collier, and others
-
Three Days at the Brink
- FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the number-one best-selling author of Three Days in Moscow and anchor of Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier, a gripping history of the secret meeting that set the stage for victory in World War II - the now-forgotten 1943 Tehran Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin plotted the war's endgame, including the D-Day invasion.
-
-
A history lesson and SO much more
- By ScottG on 11-18-19
By: Bret Baier, and others
-
JFK
- Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history.
-
-
Excellent Portrait of JFK & His Times
- By John David on 12-14-20
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
The Quiet Americans
- Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - a Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Scott Anderson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Scott Anderson
- Length: 22 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Tragedy for One
- By Amazon Customer on 09-23-20
By: Scott Anderson
-
Landslide
- The Unmaking of the President, 1984-1988
- By: Jane Mayer, Doyle McManus
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The explosive tale of the unraveling of an American president. For six years, Ronald Reagan seemed invincible. But behind the glowing image of success was an administration courting disaster. In this spellbinding book, two top Washington reporters trace the origins of the Iran-Contra affair and the unraveling of the Reagan presidency, taking us deep inside a white house that cared more for stagecraft than statecraft and that mistook a landslide reelection for an unlimited mandate.
-
-
Great reporting
- By daisey on 09-03-23
By: Jane Mayer, and others
-
Watching Darkness Fall
- FDR, His Ambassadors, and the Rise of Adolf Hitler
- By: David McKean
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As German tanks rolled toward Paris in late May 1940, the US Ambassador to France, William Bullitt, was determined to stay put, holed up in the Chateau St. Firmin in Chantilly, his country residence. Bullitt told the president that he would neither evacuate the embassy nor his chateau. As German forces closed in on the French capital, Bullitt wrote the president, "In case I should get blown up before I see you again, I want you to know that it has been marvelous to work for you."
-
-
Interesting book
- By Rodney on 05-29-24
By: David McKean
-
The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
-
-
Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
-
Team of Five
- The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump
- By: Kate Andersen Brower
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Residence and First Women - also a New York Times best seller - comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Jean on 06-18-20
-
The Secretary
- A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power
- By: Kim Ghattas
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 2008, Hillary Clinton agreed to work for her former rival. As President Barack Obama's secretary of state, she set out to repair America's image around the world - and her own. For the following four years, BBC foreign correspondent Kim Ghattas had unparalleled access to Clinton and her entourage, and she weaves a fast-paced, gripping account of life on the road with Clinton in The Secretary.
-
-
Never got to the heart...
- By Mel on 04-17-13
By: Kim Ghattas
-
The Hawk and the Dove
- Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War
- By: Nicholas Thompson
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning---and surviving---that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War's most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades.
-
-
Two outstanding people in the US Government
- By Nina Donnard on 11-05-09
-
The Road Not Taken
- Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 27 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War. In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908-1987) best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy.
-
-
An honest look at Vietnam Nam and USA
- By Catherine on 01-16-18
By: Max Boot
-
The Ambassador
- Joseph P. Kennedy at the Court of St. James's 1938-1940
- By: Susan Ronald
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed biographer Susan Ronald reveals the truth about Joseph P. Kennedy's shockingly controversial tenure as ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II.
-
-
Needs a bit of editing
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-02-21
By: Susan Ronald
-
Lyndon
- An Oral Biography
- By: Merle Miller
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling presidential biographer Merle Miller has crafted a candid portrait of one of the most complex, fascinating, difficult, and colorful figures in American history. From his birth in 1908 to his death in 1973, the story of Lyndon B. Johnson is told with no sparing his personal excesses and contentious public image - while also highlighting the strength of his greatest accomplishments in Washington.
-
-
Flawless
- By Jeffrey on 01-04-21
By: Merle Miller
-
Agents of Influence
- A British Campaign, a Canadian Spy, and the Secret Plot to Bring America into World War II
- By: Henry Hemming
- Narrated by: Henry Hemming
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As World War II raged into its second year, Britain sought a powerful ally to join its cause - but the American public was sharply divided on the subject. The Canadian-born MI6 officer William Stephenson, with his knowledge and influence in North America, was chosen to change their minds by any means necessary.
-
-
Shaken, not stirred.
- By Reeka on 06-21-20
By: Henry Hemming
-
The Gatekeepers
- How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
- By: Chris Whipple
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers", wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and - most crucially - enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Through extensive, intimate interviews with 18 living chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history.
-
-
Interesting, but lacking in political objectivity
- By Stephen Watson on 09-04-17
By: Chris Whipple
-
The Washington War
- FDR's Inner Circle and the Politics of Power That Won World War II
- By: James Lacey
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, James Lacey
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Washington War is the story of how the Second World War was fought and won in the capital’s halls of power - and how the United States, which in December 1941 had a nominal army and a decimated naval fleet, was able in only 30 months to fling huge forces onto the European continent and shortly thereafter shatter Imperial Japan’s Pacific strongholds. Three quarters of a century after the overwhelming defeat of the totalitarian Axis forces, the terrifying, razor-thin calculus on which so many critical decisions turned has been forgotten....
-
-
interesting but tedious
- By Joey on 06-07-20
By: James Lacey
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Last Best Hope
- America in Crisis and Renewal
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides.
-
-
Terribly disappointing
- By Bill Lauderback on 07-13-21
By: George Packer
-
The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
-
-
Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
-
Justice for Some
- Law and the Question of Palestine
- By: Noura Erakat
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians'. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.
-
-
Excellent book bizarrely NOT narrated by the author
- By Rosa on 10-12-23
By: Noura Erakat
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
Betrayed
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Jeremy Beck, Kevin Daniels, Andrea Gabriel, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the journalist-playwright's original article in The New Yorker, Betrayed is the story of three young Iraqi translators who risk everything for America's promise of freedom while their country collapses around them.
By: George Packer
-
Blood of the Liberals
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An acclaimed journalist and novelist explores the legacy and future of American liberalism through the history of his family's politically active history. Searching, engrossing, and persuasive, this is an original, intimate examination of the meaning of politics in American lives.
By: George Packer
-
Last Best Hope
- America in Crisis and Renewal
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides.
-
-
Terribly disappointing
- By Bill Lauderback on 07-13-21
By: George Packer
-
The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
-
-
Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
-
Justice for Some
- Law and the Question of Palestine
- By: Noura Erakat
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians'. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.
-
-
Excellent book bizarrely NOT narrated by the author
- By Rosa on 10-12-23
By: Noura Erakat
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
Betrayed
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Jeremy Beck, Kevin Daniels, Andrea Gabriel, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the journalist-playwright's original article in The New Yorker, Betrayed is the story of three young Iraqi translators who risk everything for America's promise of freedom while their country collapses around them.
By: George Packer
-
Blood of the Liberals
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: George Packer
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An acclaimed journalist and novelist explores the legacy and future of American liberalism through the history of his family's politically active history. Searching, engrossing, and persuasive, this is an original, intimate examination of the meaning of politics in American lives.
By: George Packer
-
The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Assassins' Gate, so dubbed by American soldiers, is the entrance to the American zone in the city of Baghdad. In 2003, the United States blazed into Iraq to depose dictator Saddam Hussein. But after three years and unknown thousands killed, that country faces an escalating civil war and an uncertain fate. How did it get to this point?
-
-
Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
-
The World as It Is
- A Memoir of the Obama White House
- By: Ben Rhodes
- Narrated by: Ben Rhodes, Mark Deakins
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly 10 years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration - first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President’s Daily Brief, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now, he tells the full story of his partnership with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
-
-
An immersive read; a thoughtful book; a tribute to
- By Jonathan Callies on 06-06-18
By: Ben Rhodes
-
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
- J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
- By: Beverly Gage
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 36 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Jessica Armas on 12-06-22
By: Beverly Gage
-
The Power Broker
- Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 66 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Caro's monumental book makes public what few outsiders knew: that Robert Moses was the single most powerful man of his time in the City and in the State of New York. And in telling the Moses story, Caro both opens up to an unprecedented degree the way in which politics really happens—the way things really get done in America's City Halls and Statehouses—and brings to light a bonanza of vital information about such national figures as Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the genesis of their blood feud), about Fiorello La Guardia, John V. Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller.
-
-
AMAZING read
- By jeff on 09-15-11
By: Robert A. Caro
-
Black Rednecks and White Liberals
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Hugh Mann
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This explosive new audiobook challenges many of the long-held assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans and Nazis, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on the trendy intellectuals of our times as well as historic interpreters of American life.
-
-
Great Book, Somewhat Misleading Title
- By ComputerBastard on 05-15-09
By: Thomas Sowell
-
The Devil's Chessboard
- Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful - and secretive - colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers.
-
-
Disturbing. Makes you question the company line.
- By KTS on 02-06-16
By: David Talbot
What listeners say about Our Man
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- IBH
- 07-14-19
Haunting
I didn’t know much about Holbrooke, I’m too young to have known of him in Vietnam, and while I recall hearing about him frequently on the news about Bosnia and Pakistan after that, I never really understood who he was. That’s kind of the story the book and of Holbrooke, a man who wanted greatness, but fell short. After listening to this book, I feel that those blanks in my education have been corrected.
Packer is harsh in some ways, making it difficult to understand how Holbrooke did as well as he did, and yet it’s a sympathetic portrait too.
In the end it left me unsettled; many of us fail to achieve all our goals, but few have goals as lofty as Holbrooke. I’m not sure if that says more about him, or the rest of us.
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
- Michael S.
- 06-24-19
Breathlessly, unrelentingly good.
This worked on so many levels: an intimate portrait of a man; an Insider's view of the making of American foreign policy. Highly recommended.
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
- Tim
- 06-25-19
Lived thru it
What a great book. Grew up with all the events but now see deeper Great work George
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tomas A. Rio
- 06-13-19
Late 20th Century History
Richard Holbrooke was a man of talent and aspirations. He served his country and the world well. A human with both strengths and weaknesses. Well written and narrated.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul Frandano
- 11-16-21
Stupendous...
...and beautifully written by George Packer, who addresses his readers in the first person, as though sitting with us, sipping warming libations in deep library chairs before a comfy fire in an elegant lodge, The scores of photos helped tell the story, and Joe Barrett's raspy, journalistic narration navigated briskly and generally accurately through many a tricky name, foreign term, and place.
This is a story of a brilliant, cringe-worthily ambitious man who craved a greatness that would earn his place in history history. Warts and all. I'd say, on sum, the warts tip the scale. In Packer's admiring, then cringing, telling, Holbrooke was his own worst enemy. He made the Dayton Accords happen, which was seen as a prodigious achievement in 1995. But this luster, and Holbrooke's, faded quickly, and Holbrooke's own domineering, bigger-than-life, non-introspective personality blocked--like a high, thick cinderblock wall--the way to his life's ambition, the 7th Floor Secretary's Suite at the Department of State.
In sum, a ripping yarn, particularly for Boomer national security/foreign policy wonks of my age who lived, mostly vicariously via news media but sometimes in our own work, through the important public moments of Richard Holbrooke's life, work, and struggle for greatness.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Nelson
- 09-02-19
Riveting Story!
Never expected such a riveting and enthralling book on modern US foreign policy. Yes Holbrooke's “bull in china shop” personality and career warrants such an interesting book though George Packer goes the extra mile in covering many aspects of US foreign policy since the Vietnam War (when Holbrooke started his career) up to the Obama administration in such a way that you just can’t stop listening / reading. Fascinating to learn about Holbrooke’s life in all the nitty-gritty details. For a man that accomplished so much in diplomacy, it's amazing to see how undiplomatic he was throughout his life. Not a surprise that he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, though he definitely deserved it. Incredible read!
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
- George
- 01-18-20
Fabulous book
Best portrait of diplomacy I’ve ever read.
Through one mans extraordinary life we get much of the back story from Vietnam Nam to Afghanistan.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-25-21
Great Book, Poor Performance
The book is fascinating. The author effortlessly weaves the personal story of Holbrooke with the larger story of US Foreign Policy in the latter half of the 20th Century. However, the narrator is tough to get past. The combination a his hoarse voice, disjointed inflections, and seemingly random emphasis really takes you out of what is a rich story(also he does weird voices for in text quotes). If you can tolerate this narrator I highly recommend this audiobook.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patricia Marquez
- 05-07-23
Great
A very good story that arches ambition and achievement and failure. Worth a read anytime.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- FTroop
- 06-19-24
He was great & obnoxiously insisted you knew it too. (and he was right)
it's hard to write about complex characters. Packer spent extra care painting the history of joining to Foreign Service to his moments, thoughts, loves, confusion, insights, writing, his humanitarianism, during his time in Vietnam. Most importantly, his early onset health neglect in the name of self sacrifice. It makes everyyhing else that happens including his desth- make sense. #RIP
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!