Revolution 1989
The Fall of the Soviet Empire
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Narrated by:
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Paul Hecht
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By:
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Victor Sebestyen
About this listen
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Editorial reviews
If it were fiction nobody would believe it. Real life events just don’t happen in such dramatic and thematic sync, right? A succession of aged, feeble, and sclerotic Soviet leaders General Secretaries Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko become embodiments of the total moral rot that was the Soviet Union. The next in line, Mikhail Gorbachev, believed in communism and, unlike almost all of his colleagues, admired Lenin. Who would have thought that a man with such beliefs would introduce glasnost (openness), and perestroika (restructuring), and that he would be serious about it? That he would insist upon the unthinkable: that the Soviet satellite states independently make their own political decisions? The Soviet Union was ideologically, militarily, and fiscally bankrupt, and in cutting loose the satellite states, Gorbachev believed these states would choose communism. Victor Sebestyen’s Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire chronicles the transformation of the Soviet leadership under Gorbachev and the revolutions in the six nations of the Warsaw Pact East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria that toppled the old guards of the Soviet Union and altered the course of history.
Sebestyen had access to the Soviet archives, and the finely detailed narrative renderings that pervade Revolution 1989 indicate the archives were extensively used. Paul Hecht, with his rich baseline baritone voice, his precise dramatic control, his evocative vocal cadences and inflections, and careful detailing of characters and events, is the perfect narrator for this book. At 18 hours, 40 minutes in length, the narrative is presented both chronologically and by shifts to and from the six Warsaw Pact states and Soviet Russia. The narrative architecture of the Soviet Union’s deconstruction is a complex and involved and exhilarating story. For this listener and reviewer, the effect of dynamic events of such scale and on all fronts produced a stark, dramatic, and fluid rendering of visual images. Without Hecht’s superb narration I doubt this visual enhancement would have been present in the audiobook. Revolution 1989 is a richly compelling, historically important, and very exciting listen. David Chasey
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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it's Nearly perfect
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Caffeine
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Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.
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Leaves much to be desired
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Mythology: Mega Collection
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
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I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
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Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.
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I'm sure its great if you are a mother ....
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The Strange Death of Europe
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The Strange Death of Europe is a highly personal account of a continent and culture caught in the act of suicide. Declining birth rates, mass immigration, and cultivated self-distrust and self-hatred have come together to make Europeans unable to argue for themselves and incapable of resisting their own comprehensive alteration as a society and an eventual end.
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Fear-mongering
- By Kat Cat on 01-22-19
By: Douglas Murray
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Lenin totally took an extra piece of that cake.
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insightful
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In 1929, Stalin plunged Soviet Russia into a coercive "revolution from above", a decade-long effort to amass military-industrial power for a new war. He forced 25 million peasant families into state-run collectives and transformed the Communist Party into a servile instrument. In 1939, he concluded the pact with Hitler that enabled him to grasp at Eastern Europe while Hitler made war in the West.
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Metternich has a reputation as the epitome of reactionary conservatism. Historians treat him as the archenemy of progress, a ruthless aristocrat who used his power as the dominant European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century to stifle liberalism, suppress national independence, and oppose the dreams of social change that inspired the revolutionaries of 1848. Wolfram Siemann paints a fundamentally new image of the man who shaped Europe for over four decades. He reveals Metternich as more modern and his career much more forward-looking than we have ever recognized.
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In 1941, Russian-born British journalist Alexander Werth observed the unfolding of the Soviet-German conflict with his own eyes. What followed was the widely acclaimed book, Russia at War, first printed in 1964. At once a history of facts, a collection of interviews, and a document of the human condition, Russia at War is a stunning, modern classic that chronicles the savagery and struggles on Russian soil during the most incredible military conflict in modern history.
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Written with great energy and authority - and using the newly available personal archives of Napoleon himself - the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror.
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On October 31, 1517, an unknown monk nailed a theological pamphlet to a church door in a small university town and set in motion a process that helped usher in the modern world. Within a few years, Luther's ideas had spread like wildfire. His attempts to reform Christianity by returning it to its biblical roots split the Western Church, divided Europe, and polarized people's beliefs.
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The purpose of this book is not to be a biography
- By LionsCalling09 on 01-25-18
By: Lyndal Roper
What listeners say about Revolution 1989
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Walter
- 02-12-12
The puzzle fits together
What did you love best about Revolution 1989?
For those who want to know why the Berlin wall fell
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- Rock Ottoman
- 02-15-23
Engaging Informative Entertaining
Six stories of revolution - from Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, and bloodiest of all, Romania - filled with details and eye and earwitness accounts. Fine read and very good and steady narration.
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- LifetimeRoad
- 02-01-13
Cold War "101"
Would you consider the audio edition of Revolution 1989 to be better than the print version?
Never read the print.
What did you like best about this story?
The author researched well and I enjoyed the flow of information.
Have you listened to any of Paul Hecht’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I don't remember but he does a great job.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When Nicolae Ceaușescu showed absolutely no remorse when confronted with his crimes.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Alkemann
- 04-04-18
Informative but exciting
Reads almost like fiction, it is well put together. A great way to learn more about how the Cold War ended.
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- Katherine
- 01-10-15
Top notch popular history
If you're interested in this topic in a general way, you can't go wrong with this book. It was very readable, with great characterizations of the principals involved, plus lots of subtle humour. If it ever dragged slightly, it was never for long. By necessity, it had to jump from one country to another to cover them all and their interactions, but the descriptions of each were so vivid, I didn't find it hard to keep track. The fall of the Berlin Wall wasn't as emotional to me in its portrayal as it had been in another book, but that's fine too. The other book, one of fiction, works well as a companion piece to this one. The fiction one that I read first was Ken Follett's final book in the Century Trilogy, called the "Edge of Eternity". They each have their place, but really I'd say this one, 1989, is a stronger book, with no bias to speak of and entertaining enough to hold one's interest. Ken Follett's book covers a broader topic than eastern Europe, of course, with a major focus on the civil rights struggle. They are both great for casual history buffs who aren't really willing to slog through anything too dry in their free time!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Johnathon
- 06-10-16
Factual, historical and we'll written recollection
If you are even considering reading this, do it. This book offers a compelling recollection of the failures and subsequent fall of the failed communist states in Eastern Europe from the Brezhnev period up until the fall of Ceausescu in Romania.
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- Joe
- 12-12-13
A Beautiful Collapse
I've always felt the best compliment I can give a book is to say I wished it was longer. Revolution 1989 deserves my greatest compliments. This story is nearly 20 hours long I wished the whole while that it was at least 25. There is so much here and it is so interesting. You'll watch it unfold with wonder and excitement, I promise.
It examines the Soviet Union, specifically the satellite states, from the appointment of Pope John Paul II in 1978, to Nicolae Ceausescu's execution in December of 1989. The scope of this book is immense, we watch three Russian dictator's come and go and see the progression that will lead to the collapse of Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, the Ukraine, and Poland. At the end, Russia stands as a completely different country. How did all these events happen within months of each other in relatively bloodless uprisings?
That's a lot of ground to cover and I wanted to get to know all the amazing people who made it happen. As it is, we get to see them on a cursory level but have to move quickly through time, as there is so much to cover (my favorite two chapters were in Chernobyl and the revolution in Romania during Ceausescu's last speech.) It's incredible that a 20 hour book can feel rushed, but this does.
That said, it's an amazing book. Even though these events happened in my lifetime, I did not see them for all their colors and intrigue. So here it is, a book that isn't perfect, but one that's on my Highly Recommended List.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jeffrey
- 05-23-11
Terrific overview; well-written; wonderfully read
An outstanding review of the events leading up to the Fall of the Wall and relatively peaceful revolutions in the Soviet satellite states.
The book is detailed but never dry. The author tells a balanced story, explaining that the economic decay of the Warsaw Pact nations ultimately doomed its members while describing the individuals, events, and specific actions that perpetuated the historic changes of 1989.
Excellent reader - interesting voice and never annoying.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Dan Greene
- 11-08-12
Excellent - Everyone should know this stuff
Would you listen to Revolution 1989 again? Why?
I would and I am - I finished it and immediately started again.
What about Paul Hecht’s performance did you like?
Good pace, good pronunciation.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Too long for one sitting - But I got through it very quickly. I was using Wikipedia to get more details and check out some maps as I progressed through the book. This is fascinating stuff!
Any additional comments?
Get this and listen. Even being aware of a lot of this stuff I still found tons of new insight and information. If you don't know much about the Revolutions of 1989 and how the Commies fell apart this is a GREAT resource. EVERYONE should know ALL about this stuff!!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Charlie Brown
- 03-31-19
Masterpiece
Great book about the end of the cold war. Wonderful. Well presented and great narrator.
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