Overthrow
America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
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Narrated by:
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Michael Prichard
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By:
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Stephen Kinzer
About this listen
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is the latest, though perhaps not the last, example of the dangers inherent in these operations.
In Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer tells the stories of the audacious politicians, spies, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers. He also shows that the U.S. government has often pursued these operations without understanding the countries involved; as a result, many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences.
©2006 Stephen Kinzer (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
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A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
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Arik
- The Life of Ariel Sharon
- By: David Landau
- Narrated by: Waler Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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From the former editor in chief of Haaretz, the first in-depth, comprehensive biography of Ariel Sharon, the most dramatic and imposing Israeli political and military leader of the last forty years. The life of Ariel Sharon spans much of modern Israel’s history. A commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, played decisive roles in the 1956 Suez War and the Six-Day War of 1967, and is credited here with the shift in the outcome of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
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Larger than Life Hero
- By Eugene Choong on 10-07-24
By: David Landau
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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
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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.
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Indispensable for understanding the US China relationship
- By D. Keith on 03-12-17
By: John Pomfret
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The Death of Democracy
- Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
- By: Benjamin Carter Hett
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In this dramatic audiobook, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time. Benjamin Carter Hett is one of America’s leading scholars of 20th-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of the feckless politicians of the Weimar Republic show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it.
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I can't trust the author's account of these events
- By Example: Mark Twain on 11-10-19
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Descent into Chaos
- The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
- By: Ahmed Rashid
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Rashid examines Central Asia, and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe, to see how the promised nation building in the region has progressed. His conclusions are devastating.
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Useful!
- By John Robert BEHRMAN on 02-24-09
By: Ahmed Rashid
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A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
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Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
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Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
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The World Remade
- America in World War I
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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After years of bitter debate, the United States declared war on Imperial Germany on April 6, 1917, plunging the country into the savage European conflict that would redraw the map of the continent - and the globe. The World Remade is an engrossing chronicle of America's pivotal, still controversial intervention into World War I, encompassing the tumultuous politics and towering historical figures that defined the era and forged the future.
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"100% America" - a disturbing place to be
- By DPM on 04-01-17
By: G. J. Meyer
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Forgotten Ally
- China's World War II, 1937 - 1945
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China two full years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.
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Bland
- By Rodney on 01-23-14
By: Rana Mitter
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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
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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.
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Gross Negligence!
- By Donald Hill on 05-31-18
By: James Bradley
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Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally. But even before the surrender, the US government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating nature of these experimental weapons. The cover-up intensified as Occupation forces closed the atomic cities to Allied reporters, preventing leaks about the horrific long-term effects of radiation that would kill thousands during the months after the blast.
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Required reading (listening, too)!
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Legacy of Ashes
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Flawed but Important
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Atoms and Ashes
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- By: Serhii Plokhy
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Atoms and Ashes recounts the dramatic history of nuclear accidents that have dogged the industry in its military and civil incarnations since the 1950s. Through the stories of six terrifying major incidents—Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima—Cold War expert Serhii Plokhy explores the risks of nuclear power, both for military and peaceful purposes, while offering a vivid account of how individuals and governments make decisions under extraordinary circumstances.
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This was a pretty sensational and biased book.
- By J. Seawright on 06-11-22
By: Serhii Plokhy
What listeners say about Overthrow
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jess
- 08-06-18
Eye Opening and Entertaining History at it's best
Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow is an incredibly well written account of America's control of other nations throughout the 20th century and beyond. This book is a great read! It doesn't drag or get bogged down in tedious details. Rather, Mr. Kinzer uses jaw-dropping quotes, excerpts, and first-hand accounts from eyewitnesses to bring this history to life. Every American would do well to know this history as it is often not covered in schools. (I should know, I teach history for a living!)
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- John E
- 12-28-11
A Great read.
Kinzer's books should be must reading for all high school kids so they can understand where the previous leaders of our country went completely wrong. My 14 year old is reading them and going to drive his History teacher crazy.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Thone
- 08-16-19
The History We All Need To Read
This is the best story of America's failed collective egotism and political greed and crimes.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Robert J. Ruhf
- 05-22-22
Things we were not taught about in school
I must admit that I fell for the false narrative that Bush used to justify the Iraq War in 2003. For the most part, however, I have always been disturbed by America's endless wars. Nevertheless, I don't think I was fully aware of the extent of America's injustices until I listened to this book (and I still might not be fully aware). This book describes how America overthrew 14 governments by creating or supporting revolutions and coups, starting in the late 1800s with Hawaii and its queen. I learned about wars I never knew happened. I had no idea, for example, about the particularly brutal Philippine-American War that went from 1899 to 1902. I have also never heard the events that led to the Vietnam War that are described in this book. The sad part is that our actions have not stopped since this book was published in 2006. We can probably add Libya, Syria, and, yes, even Ukraine to this list. It is truly tragic how much suffering we have caused as a country for many people (although this book does acknowledge that there have been exceptions). I'm actually not surprised that we are not taught these things in school. It's easier to cover things up and pretend they never happened.
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- Stephen Embry
- 05-26-16
Mistakes
More than a century of miss steps and mistakes as the United States stumbled from overthrow to overthrow of nations and governments with little understanding of what it meant.
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- Don Gwinn
- 01-11-20
Required Reading for Americans
I wish I had read Kinzer’s work before I fell for the hype surrounding the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Any American can benefit from Kinzer’s thorough but accessible rundown of American regime change.
Just remember that this work was published in 2006, so while Kinzer covers the Iraq and Afghanistan situations in reasonable detail, don’t expect discussion of the “troop surge,” the Obama administration’s policies, or the Trump administration.
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- Amy L Cooper
- 03-05-24
Required reading for every US voter.
Ideas and history that are being neglected and leading the empire of the US to it’s grave.
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- Scott
- 04-04-24
What’s with all the weird accents?
This is a great book that shows many of the problems with foreign policy of the United States over the past 130 years. The only problem I have is with the narration. The narrator chooses to use accents that have nothing to do with the person who is speaking. I found it very annoying.
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Overall
- Stanley
- 08-02-06
Looking at the dark side
Like most countries, the US tends to highlight its successes and downplay its failures, thinking itself an idealistic champion and denying avaricious or base motivations.
This book provides some balance to that PR-driven view by filling in some of the darker chapters of our history, ones rarely taught in our public schools.
As the author states in his introduction, "The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not an isolated episode. It was the culmination of a 110-year period during which Americans overthrew fourteen governments that displeased them for various ideological, political and economic reasons."
The author isn't talking here about the world wars. He describes actions that were often based on a desire to protect American (sometimes multinational) corporations, though the public rationale was spun as protecting our national security or liberation of those in the country whose government was to be overthrown.
Some of these histories are well known, most are not to anyone who hasn't benefited from some college-level exposure to the history and politcs of the 20th century.
There's plenty here that will help put our actions into better perspective.
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Overall
- Nelson Alexander
- 03-27-09
What Every President Should Know
This is an excellent, concise look at fourteen cases of American "regime change" overseas, from Hawaii in the 1890s to Iraq in 2003. Most Americans are simply unaware of this dismal history of violent prerogative, much of it at the behest of American companies. (United Fruit actually zaps two countries.) The book provides a good historical background to Bush's wars and makes for a compelling antidote to audiobooks of gauzy patriotism like "Empire of Trust."
While much of the tale is grisly and infuriating, especially in Guatemala and Chile, there are lighter moments. It is well worth it to learn that McKinley saw it as his Christian duty to save the souls of heathens in the Philippines, not even realizing they were already Christian; or to be reminded that the marine assault with which Reagan toppled about a handful of homegrown "socialists" in the tiny island of Grenada to save about 30 American medical students who didn't know they needed to be saved was named "Operation Urgent Fury!"
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