Paths of Dissent
Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars
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About this listen
American veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan offer invaluable firsthand perspectives on what made America’s post-9/11 wars so costly and disastrous.
Twenty years of America’s Global War on Terror produced little tangible success while exacting enormous harm. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States sustained tens of thousands of casualties, expended trillions of dollars, and inflicted massive suffering on the very populations that we sought to “liberate.” Now the inclination to forget it all and move on is palpable. But there is much to be learned from the immense debacle. And those who served and fought in these wars are best positioned to teach us.
Paths of Dissent collects fifteen original essays from American veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan—hailing from a wide range of services, ranks, and walks of life—who have come out in opposition to these conflicts. Selected for their candor and eloquence by fellow veterans Andrew Bacevich and Daniel A. Sjursen, these soldiers vividly describe both their motivations for serving and the disillusionment that made them speak out against the system. Their testimony is crucial for understanding just how the world’s self-proclaimed greatest military power went so badly astray.
A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books
©2022 Andrew Bacevich and Daniel A. Sjursen (P)2022 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
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The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
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History not Politics
- By Scott on 08-10-06
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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A Higher Standard
- Leadership Strategies from America's First Female Four-Star General
- By: Ann Dunwoody
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A Higher Standard takes a candid look at the exciting military career of US Army General Ann Dunwoody, who received her fourth star - a rank never before reached by a woman - in her fourth decade of service. From her first command leading 200 soldiers to her final one leading 69,000, Dunwoody reveals the challenges she faced and the changes she initiated by sharing both the smallest moments and the most pivotal events in her career.
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outstanding general, less than great author
- By Matt L on 08-03-19
By: Ann Dunwoody
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Hammerhead Six
- How Green Berets Waged an Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in Afghanistan's Deadly Pech Valley
- By: Ronald Fry, Tad Tuleja - contributor
- Narrated by: Ronald Fry
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2003, the Special Forces soldiers entered an area later called "the most dangerous place in Afghanistan". Here, where the line between civilians and armed zealots was indistinct, they illustrated the Afghan proverb "I destroy my enemy by making him my friend." Fry recounts how they were seen as welcome guests rather than invaders. Soon after their deployment ended, the Pech Valley reverted to turmoil. Their success was never replicated.
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A compelling read from start to finish
- By Gregory on 03-05-16
By: Ronald Fry, and others
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The Assassins' Gate
- America in Iraq
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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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?
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Highly Recommended
- By Drapeau on 02-01-07
By: George Packer
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The Nightingale's Song
- By: Robert Timberg
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Timberg weaves together the lives of Annapolis graduates John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter to reveal how the Vietnam War continues to haunt America. Casting all five men as metaphors for a legion of well-meaning if ill-starred warriors, Timberg probes the fault line between those who fought the war and those who used money, wit, and connections to avoid battle.
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Too Long
- By Tom Carroll on 11-15-18
By: Robert Timberg
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Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
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Crisis of Command
- How We Lost Trust and Confidence in America's Generals and Politicians
- By: Stuart Scheller
- Narrated by: Stuart Scheller
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Combat-decorated Marine officer Stuart Scheller speaks out against the debacle of the Afghan pullout as the culmination of a decades-long and still-ongoing betrayal of military members by top leadership, from generals to the commander in chief, comes to light.
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Amazing!
- By Jake M on 12-08-22
By: Stuart Scheller
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Where Men Win Glory
- The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
- By: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.
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Good book, painful narration
- By Daniel on 09-23-09
By: Jon Krakauer
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The Mirror Test
- America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan
- By: J. Kael Weston
- Narrated by: J. Kael Weston
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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J. Kael Weston spent seven years on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan working for the US State Department in some of the most dangerous frontline locations. Upon his return home, while traveling the country to pay respect to the dead and wounded, he asked himself: When will these wars end? How will they be remembered and memorialized? What lessons can we learn from them?
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A Must Read
- By Jessica Myrick on 06-04-16
By: J. Kael Weston
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They Marched Into Sunlight
- War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: David Maraniss
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Here is the epic story of Vietnam and the sixties told through the events of a few tumultuous days in October 1967. With meticulous and captivating detail, They Marched Into Sunlight brings that catastrophic time back to life while examining questions about the meaning of dissent and the official manipulation of truth, issues that are as relevant today as they were decades ago.
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Overwhelming
- By Kay M on 11-17-03
By: David Maraniss
What listeners say about Paths of Dissent
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Suzanne E. Bott, PhD
- 08-19-22
This collection is a Must- Read~
Everyone who's been there will recognize the truths the authors describe. WAR IS HELL INDEED.
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- James Johnson
- 08-27-22
A Valuable Collection of Veteran Experiences
Andy Bacevich's best work yet. A valuable collection of veteran experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and after redeploying. A must have in any military professional's library.
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