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Presidents in Crisis
- Tough Decisions inside the White House from Truman to Obama
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's summary
Every American president, when faced with a crisis, longs to take bold and decisive action. When American lives or vital interests are at stake, the public - and especially the news media and political opponents - expect aggressive leadership. But, contrary to the dramatizations of Hollywood, rarely does a president have that option.
In Presidents in Crisis, a former director of the Situation Room takes the listener inside the White House during 17 grave international emergencies handled by the presidents from Truman to Obama: from North Korea's invasion of South Korea to the revolutions of the Arab Spring, and from the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the taking of American diplomats hostage in Iran and George W. Bush's response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. In narratives that convey the drama of unfolding events and the stakes of confrontation when a misstep can mean catastrophe, he walks us step-by-step through each crisis. Laying out the key players and personalities and the moral and political calculations that the leaders have had to make, he provides a fascinating insider's look at modern presidential decision making and the fundamental role in it of human frailty.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for those interested in history - books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times best seller or a national best seller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
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Story
On September 6, 2007, shortly after midnight, Israeli fighters advanced on Deir ez-Zour in Syria. Israel often flew into Syria as a warning to President Bashar al-Assad. But this time, there was no warning and no explanation. This was a covert operation, with one goal: to destroy a nuclear reactor being built by North Korea under a tight veil of secrecy in the Syrian desert. Shadow Strike tells, for the first time, the story of the espionage, military might and psychological warfare behind Israel’s operation to stop one of the greatest known acts of nuclear proliferation.
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Important Book!
- By Gerald J. Vogt on 05-10-19
By: Yaakov Katz
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Obama's Wars
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Working behind the scenes for 18 months, Bob Woodward has written the most intimate and sweeping portrait of President Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan, and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
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Woodward Does a Service
- By Roy on 10-01-10
By: Bob Woodward
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1983
- Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink
- By: Taylor Downing
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting, real-life thriller about 1983 - the year tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly brought the world to the point of nuclear Armageddon. The year 1983 was an extremely dangerous one - more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the United States, President Reagan vastly increased defense spending, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and launched the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative to shield the country from incoming missiles.
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Great story, poor narration choices.
- By John Gray on 02-11-19
By: Taylor Downing
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Berlin 1961
- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- By: Frederick Kempe
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A former Wall Street Journal editor and the current president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe draws on recently released documents and personal interviews to re-create the powder keg that was 1961 Berlin. In Cold War Berlin, the United States and the Soviet Union stand nose to nose, with the possibility of nuclear war just one misstep away.
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I am scared in retrospect
- By theenglishmajor on 06-26-11
By: Frederick Kempe
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Gambling with Armageddon
- Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Mining new sources and materials, and going far beyond the scope of earlier works on this critical face-off between the United States and the Soviet Union — triggered when Khrushchev began installing missiles in Cuba at Castro's behest....
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Important History
- By J. B. Evans on 06-12-21
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Camelot's Court
- Inside the Kennedy White House
- By: Robert Dallek
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years after John F. Kennedy's assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls "Kennedy's leading biographer", delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors, their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot's Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration - including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam - were indelible.
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Well Researched but Critically Flawed
- By brent lloyd on 02-08-22
By: Robert Dallek
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Confront and Conceal
- Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.
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Sobering reminder on what the presidency requires
- By Marilyn on 09-03-12
By: David E. Sanger
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Directorate S
- The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Resuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars, best-selling author Steve Coll tells for the first time the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11.
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Slow At Times But Always Horrifying And Engaging
- By Gillian on 02-20-18
By: Steve Coll
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In My Time
- A Personal and Political Memoir
- By: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Dick Cheney
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
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In his unmistakable voice and with an insider's eye on history, former Vice President Dick Cheney tells the story of his life and the nearly four decades he has spent at the center of American politics and power. In My Time is truly the last word about an incredible political era, by a man who lived it and helped define it - with courage and without compromise.
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Great Book
- By reader on 09-05-11
By: Dick Cheney, and others
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
What listeners say about Presidents in Crisis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jean
- 10-02-16
Thought Provoking Analysis
The author was the director of the White House Situation Room under President Reagan. In this book he describes seventeen challenges faced by presidents. Bohn states “circumstances beyond their control more often than not constrained their actions, resulting in temporary fixes rather than long term successes”. Bohn shows how the modern presidents are caught up in rivalries between civilian and military or in what is called “groupthink” which prevents a thorough analysis of each crisis.
Bohn provides a description of the crisis followed by a brief assessment of the consequences of the presidential action. I noticed an interesting theme began to reveal itself throughout the book: the importance of “muddling through” and the avoidance of a long term solution to the problem. Bohn discusses some events that I was most interested in such as the Cuban Missile Crisis with President Kennedy, the 1973 Yom Kipper War with Nixon and Kissinger, and the U2 spy plane with Eisenhower. Bohn provided more detail with the 1978-1981 Iranian Hostage Crisis with President Jimmy Carter. There were more events but I will not list them.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. It is a good study on how to or not to handle a crisis. Bohn does provide background history to the events which helps put them into context. I noted the author had more problems staying the neutral reporter with the more current events than he did with the events with more historical perception to draw on. Overall, it is an interesting study of crisis and presidents’ management styles.
Kevin Stillwell does a good job narrating the book. Stillwell is an actor and experienced audiobook narrator.
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- Uri Pilichowski
- 11-21-22
Don’t read this book
Book Review: Presidents in Crises by Michael Bohn
I enjoy reading books on American Presidents and the events of their administrations. Even more enjoyable than books on a President and their administration, I enjoy meta-books on many presidencies and themes that compare different administrations and how they handled similar situations.
I was looking forward to Michael Bohn’s examination of how different American Presidents handled crises they faced during their administrations. Unfortunately I was disappointed by this book. Its examination of each crises is superficial, it doesn’t quote sufficient facts and is riddled with inaccuracies. No matter how disappointing a book is I rarely stop reading in the middle - I couldn’t even finish this book.
I do not recommend this book.
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