
Practicing History
Selected Essays
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Narrated by:
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Wanda McCaddon
About this listen
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The fateful quarter-century leading up to World War I was a time when the world of privilege still existed in Olympian luxury and the world of protest was heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate. The age was the climax of a century of the most accelerated rate of change in history, a cataclysmic shaping of destiny.
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Very interesting take on a complex problem
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Overall
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Performance
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Performance
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The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
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Julian Jackson uses Petain's three-week trial as a lens through which to examine one of history's great moral dilemmas. Was the policy of collaboration "four years to erase from our history," as the prosecution claimed? Or was it, as conservative politicians insist to this day, a sacrifice that placed pragmatism above moral purity? Jackson blends courtroom drama, political intrigue, and brilliant narrative history to highlight the hard choices and moral compromises leaders make in times of war.
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Stephen E. Ambrose draws from hundreds of interviews with US Army veterans and the brave Allied soldiers who fought alongside them to create this exceptional account of the day that shaped the twentieth century. D-Day is above all the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their existence, when the horrors, complexities and triumphs of life are laid bare and courage and heroism come to the fore.
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For more than 1,000 years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era.
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Gripping but not tidy
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Masuo Yasui arrived in America in 1903 with big dreams and empty pockets. He worked on the railroads, in a cannery, and as a houseboy before settling in Oregon to open a store, raise a large family, and become one of the area's most successful orchardists. But his family's life changed forever on December 7, 1941, when they were forced from their homes into vast inland camps. Although shamed and broken, the Yasui family would yet endure to claim their place as Americans.
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Outstanding.
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Churchill
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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.
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Superb Biography
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Churchill
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James C. Humes reveals the astonishingly accurate predictions of Britain's most famous prime minister and how his critics' perceptions of them shaped his political career. Who could have foreseen the start of World War I twenty-five years before the assassination of a Serbian archduke plunged Europe into war? Who could have predicted the rise of al-Qaeda nearly eight decades before anyone had heard of Osama bin Laden? Winston Churchill did.
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The voice in the wilderness--Are we listening yet?
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The Naked Communist
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The Naked Communist has sold almost two million copies. It found its way into the libraries of the CIA, the FBI, the White House, and homes all across America and the world. The Naked Communist contains a distillation of more than a hundred books and treatises on communism, many written by Marxist authors. We see the communist the way he sees himself - stripped of propaganda and pretense. Explained here is the amazing appeal of communism, its history, and its basic and unchanging concepts.
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The History of Communism
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Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
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The first new collection of essays by Christopher Hitchens since 2004, Arguably offers an indispensable key to understanding the passionate and skeptical spirit of one of our most dazzling writers, widely admired for the clarity of his style, a result of his disciplined and candid thinking. Topics range from ruminations on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men to the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell.
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Grab it
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On Grand Strategy
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Performance
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For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
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Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.
- By Zack on 07-04-18
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Gandhi & Churchill
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Overall
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Performance
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In this fast-paced epic, best-selling historian and master storyteller Arthur Herman spotlights two giants of the 20th century. Gandhi & Churchill shows how their 40-year rivalry revolutionized India and the British Empire, paving the way for a new era. Gandhi championed India's independence, Churchill the British Empire.
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A motif that works well
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By: Arthur Herman
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Hitler
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This masterful biography by one of Germany’s best known journalists was the leading nonfiction best seller in Germany. Fest shows Hitler as the receptacle of the dreads and resentments of a shaken social order, gifted with an uncanny instinct for all that was hollow behind the appearance of power, at home and abroad. Though a warped human being, he was neither clown nor puppet, as many liked to think; Hitler appears here as an enormously astute politician, impressing and hypnotizing Germans and foreigners alike with the scope of his projects and the theatricality of their presentation. Fest uncovers in Hitler a constantly destructive personality....
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Should be part of high school education
- By Rex Riethmeier on 12-25-18
By: Joachim C. Fest, and others
Critic reviews
"Persuades and enthralls...I can think of no better primer for the nonexpert who wishes to learn history." (Chicago Sun-Times)
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-
-
Fascinating history
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Two hundred years ago China's imperial rulers sensed a threat to a past-oriented society in the dynamism of the West and tried to frustrate foreign entry.
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In the dark winter of 1917, as World War I was deadlocked, Britain knew that Europe could be saved only if the United States joined the war. But President Wilson remained unshakable in his neutrality. Then, with a single stroke, the tool to propel America into the war came into a quiet British office. One of countless messages intercepted by the crack team of British decoders, the Zimmermann telegram was a top-secret message from Berlin inviting Mexico to join Japan in an invasion of the United States.
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Practicing History—Selected Essays
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The critically-acclaimed historian’s insights, sense of humor, and sharp pen take on everything from Vietnam, Israel, and the Great War to writing history and its meaning. Includes these essays: Why Policy-Makers Do Not Listen; When Does History Happen?; Is History a Guide to the Future?; America as an Idea; How We Entered World War I; and more
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Amazing!
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By: Barbara Tuchman
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Overall
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Performance
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In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
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-
Wonderful
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning historian’s fresh look at the people and events that decided America’s struggle for independence. Its suspenseful climax is the 500-mile march undertaken by General Washington to surround Cornwallis at Yorktown.
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A different view of the American Revolution
- By uriah1970 on 11-29-15
By: Barbara Tuchman
What listeners say about Practicing History
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- KnightT
- 09-12-20
Enjoyed Barbara Tuchman’s Views
Excellent collection of works by a great historian who expounds on what she has learned from family connections (her grandfather was very rich and powerful and became an ambassador) and research. Great analysis on a wide range of subjects, including Israel, China, Vietnam, Woodrow Wilson, and Nixon. Truly she had a great meaningful career as a historian and voice of caution and reason for the present and future.
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- CB
- 05-03-24
Wonderful!
I read this book back in the mid-90"s, a few years after the author's death. When I saw this work was available as an audio book, I decided it was time to reconnect with this insightful historian. Some of her assessments have turned out to be incorrect, but her analysis is still incisive. She could not have foretold some events would take a different turn than she anticipated. I also snagged the audio versions of her other books, all of which I read back in the day. I recommend The Bible and the Sword as especially relevant right now. Barbara Tuchman was a popular historian in the manner of Doris Kearns Goodman...before DKG (no dis to DKG--I love her work as well)! Special compliments to the narrator. Her delivery is just right. Tuchman was American and she did not have a British accent but, based on this performance, she SHOULD have.
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- Kyle B.
- 11-11-23
Surprisingly Relevant and Well Narrated
Tuchman’s perspectives on citizen involvement in the military and the power of the presidency are prescient. Great narration!
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- Jam Lam
- 02-01-22
Missing Table of Content :(
Such a simple thing as providing a Table of Contents is sadly missing making navigating impossible.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Reckoning
- 12-19-23
Delightfully crafted essays
Closely observed essays, great prose, outstanding reader. What’s not to love? Yes, she has opinions and designates them as such.
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- Mandy
- 05-17-24
A mixed bag but definitely worth reading
There are some pieces that are absolutely fantastic and some that have aged less well. My highlights were the review of Kissinger’s book, most of the first third on how to write history, and the watergate pieces at the end.
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- Bruce Cline
- 08-01-22
Diverse collection of insightful essays
This book is a series of essays, including speeches, by well-known historian Barbara Tuchman. Respected books of hers include The Guns of August, A Distant Mirror, The First Salute, and The Zimmerman Telegram. In Practicing History’s collection of diverse writings, she covers a lot of ground. Of particular interest to me were her commentaries on writing history, the inevitability of bias in history, the uses of history for present day decision making (rather difficult she contends), and other aspects of her difficult trade. She also presents a variety of essays that, to me, appear to be subjects of her research that for the most part never developed into full blown books. She expounds on subject matter as diverse as Mao Tse Dong, Richard Nixon, Woodrow Wilson, the Israeli military, and Vietnam. Knowing her work, I found her insights and commentary to be quite fascinating. Loved it!
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-30-24
Hard to argue with Tuchman
I know this piece was written decades ago, but as a fan of most of the things Tuchman has written, I cannot help but thank her for putting this body of work for us to read. She explores topics and her point of view in a way that frankly, I was not smart enough to know I didn't know, and then once I knew, felt nothing but thankful to her for placing it so delicately so I could follow. I'm not sure there are the right words, especially as Tuchman talks at length about the importance of using the language well, to even review something with so many important insights into the brain/work of an amazing artist. Sometimes, as those who can govern no appropriate will power to even attempt this kind of work, I just have to read this in awe. A piece with so many parts, so many views into the behind the scenes of her books, an so many incredible little nuggets of knowledge. I'm not a historian, nor a writer, nor am I smart enough to understand most that she writes... but for me this collection of Tuchman's work so much informs her other books that it makes me even more a fan.
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- Joseph White
- 02-07-16
A Great Mind Shares a Lifetime of Experience
One of the great historians of the Twentieth Century meditates upon the methods of her craft and the lessons of our history.
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- John Ray
- 01-19-22
Excellent and entertaining, but cut short
Barbara Tuchman’s prose is highly entertaining and the content highly enriching.
Unfortunately, it is cut short (in mid-sentence) at the end. Perhaps the administrators could investigate.
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1 person found this helpful