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Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier
- The Lives and Legacies of Haiti’s Most Notorious Rulers
- Narrated by: Daniel Houle
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
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Publisher's summary
“Bullets and machine guns capable of daunting Duvalier do not exist. They cannot touch me.... I am already an immaterial being. No foreigner is going to tell me what to do!” (Papa Doc Duvalier)
The island of Hispaniola is the second largest island in the Antilles chain behind Cuba, and host to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti covering the western third of the island, is a French-speaking territory, while the Dominican Republic, which occupies the other two thirds, is a Spanish-speaking territory. The Dominican Republic, although classified as a developing nation, has never been struck to the same degree by the malaise of poverty, corruption of its neighbor, languishing in the lower 10 percent of nations ahead only of some of the most conspicuous failed states in Africa. Many historians and analysts have posed the question of why, and the answer seems to lie in Haiti’s uniquely tortured history.
The improbable Haitian Revolution, and in particular the 1804 massacres, lived on to bedevil the West and the process of emancipation in every corner of the slave-owning world, hobbling the progress of the republic and lending substance to calls for a continuation of slavery. During the American Civil War, as the Union closed in on the Confederacy, the specter of the 1804 massacres was regurgitated time and again to rally Southerners to defend their territory and their policies. Southerners insisted that if the door was opened even slightly to admitting blacks into the population of free America, no white man, woman, or child would be safe.
As for Haiti, the potent symbolism of its success in self-emancipation and the establishment of a black republic was not reflected in the forward march of the nation itself. To date, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. Numerous government coups have taken place over the years, and insecurity and periodic unrest have been a perpetual blight. Poverty and crime are widespread, and corruption endemic. Besides that, as a weak and impoverished nation, Haiti has been subject to outside interference, both direct and indirect, mainly on the part of the United States, which frequently introduced efforts to destabilize an already unstable political environment, and in the age of the Cold War, to sustain and justify dictatorship in exchange for the nominal loyalty of Haiti in the face of Soviet activities in Cuba.
The 30-year regime of Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier, who ruled between 1957 and 1986, was arguably the most repressive in the Western hemisphere. During this period a substantial portion of the Haitian budget was made up of foreign aid, in particular from the United States ($15 million annually), with whom, during the term of President John F. Kennedy, Duvalier had a difficult and often fractious relationship. Millions of dollars of foreign aid was openly appropriated by the Duvalier family, and in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination (which Duvalier claimed was as a result of a curse placed on the president by him), the government of the United States took a pragmatic view of the Duvalier regime as pro-West in the context of the Cold War.
Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier: The Lives and Legacies of Haiti’s Most Notorious Rulers looks at how the father and son duo rose to power, and the results of their tight grip over Haiti.
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Story
Ukraine's sudden prominence in American politics has compounded an already-widespread misunderstanding of what is actually happening in the nation. In the American media, Ukraine has come to signify an inherently corrupt place, rather than a real country struggling in the face of great challenges. Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know addresses Ukraine's relations with the West, particularly the United States, from the perspective of Ukrainians.
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Everyone Should Read This Book in 2022
- By Theo Horesh on 03-09-22
By: Serhy Yekelchyk
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Foundation
- The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: The History of England, Book 1
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house.
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The Most Annoying Narrator EVER
- By JudieBee on 12-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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Heaven on Earth
- The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism
- By: Joshua Muravchik
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Socialism was man's most ambitious attempt to supplant religion with a doctrine claiming to ground itself in "science". Each failure to create societies of abundance or give birth to "the New Man" inspired more searching for the path to the promised land: revolution, communes, social democracy, communism, fascism, Arab socialism, African socialism. None worked, and some exacted a staggering human toll. Then, after two centuries of wishful thinking and bitter disappointment, socialism imploded in a fin de siecle drama of falling walls and collapsing regimes.
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A biased yet informative masterpiece
- By CodyPeacock12349 on 04-04-21
By: Joshua Muravchik
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Central America's Forgotten History
- Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
- By: Aviva Chomsky
- Narrated by: Aida Reluzco
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence in search of refuge in the United States. In Central America’s Forgotten History, Aviva Chomsky answers the urgent question “How did we get here?” Centering the centuries-long intertwined histories of US expansion and indigenous and Central American struggles against inequality and oppression, Chomsky highlights the pernicious cycle of colonial and neocolonial development policies.
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Outline of a rigged game
- By Buretto on 02-07-22
By: Aviva Chomsky
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In the Dragon's Shadow
- Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century
- By: Sebastian Strangio
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A timely look at the impact of China's booming emergence on the countries of Southeast Asia.
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Great book
- By Alex Noble on 12-13-20
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Born in Blood and Fire: Fourth Edition
- A Concise History of Latin America
- By: John Charles Chasteen
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The most highly regarded and affordable history of Latin America for our times. Born in Blood and Fire, Fourth Edition has been extensively revised to heighten emphasis on current cultural analyses of Latin American society and facilitate meaningful connections between the Encounter and the present.
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Excellent synopsis of a very broad history.
- By Carina Rahn on 01-11-21
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A Concise History of Italy
- By: Christopher Duggan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West to the present day, and surveys the difficulties Italy has faced during the last two centuries in creating a unified country. Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist and idealist programs for forging a nation-state.
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Concise indeed
- By nikex on 03-22-21
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The Invention of Sicily
- A Mediterranean History
- By: Jamie Mackay
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by the Phoenicians and Greeks, the Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, and the Spanish and the French for thousands of years, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture. In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places.
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Wonderful overview of Sicily
- By jay lazier on 01-28-24
By: Jamie Mackay
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Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
- By: Tony Judt
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 43 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world’s most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep readers through 34 nations and 60 years of political and cultural change—all in one integrated, enthralling narrative.
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Great book, but not terrific listening
- By History on 10-18-11
By: Tony Judt
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Socialism 101
- From the Bolsheviks and Karl Marx to Universal Healthcare and the Democratic Socialists, Everything You Need to Know About Socialism
- By: Kathleen Sears
- Narrated by: Samantha Desz
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In today’s political climate, more and more presidential candidates are espousing socialist - or democratic socialist - policies. Once associated with oppression, socialism is now a current topic of conversation with everyday Americans, including policies like taxing the rich and healthcare for all. But what exactly is socialism and why does it spark such an intense debate? Socialism 101 provides an easy-to-understand, unbiased overview to the nearly 300-year-old origins of this mode of government, its complex history, basic constructs, and modern-day interpretations....
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Teeth
- By Ein on 03-05-20
By: Kathleen Sears
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The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
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Ukraine's Maidan, Russia's War
- A Chronicle and Analysis of the Revolution of Dignity
- By: Mychailo Wynnyckyj, Serhii Plokhy - foreword
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In early 2014, sparked by an assault by their government on peaceful students, Ukrainians rose up against a deeply corrupt, Moscow-backed regime. Initially demonstrating under the banner of EU integration, the Maidan protesters proclaimed their right to a dignified existence; they learned to organize, to act collectively, to become a civil society. Most prominently, they established a new Ukrainian identity: territorial, inclusive, and present-focused with powerful mobilizing symbols.
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Says he is a Christian but totally ignores God
- By Viktor V. Choban on 08-11-20
By: Mychailo Wynnyckyj, and others
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Russia in Revolution
- An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928
- By: S. A. Smith
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Russian Revolution of 1917 transformed the face of the Russian empire, politically, economically, socially, and culturally and also profoundly affected the course of world history for the rest of the 20th century. Historian S. A. Smith presents a panoramic account of the history of the Russian empire, from the last years of the 19th century, through the First World War and the revolutions of 1917 and the establishment of the Bolshevik regime, to the end of the 1920s.
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Excellent centenary look at the complete revolutio
- By Privet on 09-13-18
By: S. A. Smith
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The Hidden History of Burma
- Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century
- By: Thant Myint-U
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Precariously positioned between China and India, Burma's population has suffered dictatorship, natural disaster, and the dark legacies of colonial rule. But when decades of military dictatorship finally ended and internationally beloved Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from long years of house arrest, hopes soared. As historian, former diplomat, and presidential advisor, Thant Myint-U saw the cracks forming. In this insider's diagnosis of a country at a breaking point, he dissects all of the elements that came together to challenge the incipient democracy.
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Comprehensive Account on Burma’s recent problems
- By Anonymous User on 11-18-19
By: Thant Myint-U
What listeners say about Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Theo Horesh
- 12-16-21
A Lot of History in a Short Time Span
This is my second Charles River Edition history, and like the first it has surprised me for its seriousness, clarity, conciseness, and thoroughness. This book will teach you about a particularly grim period of Haitian history, which covered a large portion of the late twentieth century. But it will also teach you a good bit about the nation’s history more generally, and it is quite a fascinating history that every American should get to know at least a little better.
Theo Horesh, author of The Fascism This Time: And the Global Future of Democracy
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- Mike
- 06-27-22
Excellent just wish it were longer!
I'd love more information organized and presented like this about Haiti, the history of all the leaders.
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